“I second that,” Kavy stutters out between laughs.
“I concur,” Cally breathes, trying to regain his composure so he can drive without killing us all.
“Who said I would fuck any of you in the first place? My standards may be low, but give me some credit guys,” I can’t say it with a straight face, as hard as I try. Now we’re all laughing. This is going to be good. Really good.
“Yello,” Uncle Mick answers the phone in a rough tone.
“Hey, Uncle Mick,” I coo.
“Shannon. Where have you been?” He’s pissed. I don’t blame him. I haven’t been in touch in two weeks. His approach is hands-off, but two weeks is a bit much after moving to a new city.
“I’m sorry, Uncle Mick. I’ve been really busy and I got sick last week.” I decided I would lie before I called, doing it feels shittier than I had imagined. He’s dying and I’m hours away. He doesn’t need the stress of my reality right now. I won’t do that to him.
“I don’t mean to be a jerk. I’m stuck in this fuckin’ hospital with nothin’ to do. Makes my mood shitty.”
“I know you hate it there. I hate that you’re there. You want me to come home? I’ll do it tomorrow if you need me to.”
“Don’t start Shannon. We’ve talked about this. You need to be in school and I need to be in this God forsaken place. I’ll be fine. How’s school goin’?”
“Good. I’ve actually made some friends if you can believe that!”
“Really? Tell me about ’em.”
“Get this. It’s three guys,” I declare.
“Uh huh. Not a good way to start out and you know it.” I sigh steeling myself for his reaction.
“I met them my first day of class. They’re all the same major as me and want to go to law school too. We hit it off.” He huffs into phone, but doesn’t comment.
“It’s not like that, Uncle Mick. We’re just friends. It’s like they’re my long lost brothers or somethin’. You’ll like them. They actually took care of me when I was sick. I stayed at their place off campus. They have a guest room so it worked out well. They got me all my work and helped me not to fall behind. They kept me safe.” There’s a waver in my voice at the end that I try my damnedest to cover. I can’t tell him the truth.
“I’m glad you’ve made friends. You’ve always been more like a boy than a girl and I blame myself for that. I raised you the only way I knew. It’s not a surprise you made friends with guys. You keepin’ your gun on you?”
“Yes.”
“Any of those boys tries anything with you that you don’t want, you know what to do. Don’t take any chances. Keep your emotions in check Shannon, they’ll only get you in trouble. Remember what I taught you. I trust you. I know you’ll make me proud.” My heart sinks. I’m nothing but a letdown. He just doesn’t know it. I swear to myself that I’ll spend the rest of my life making him proud.
“I always keep your lessons close to heart. You’ve trained me well and I know how to keep myself safe. These guys aren’t a threat. They’re like extensions of you watching over me. I promise.”
“You get them on a plane and I’ll decide that for myself,” he decrees.
“I have something else to tell you.”
“You better not be pregnant!”
“Jesus, fuck no, I’m not!”
He laughs a deep belly chuckle. “Good!”
“I’m moving in with the guys.” He doesn’t respond. I just wait, allowing the information to sink in.
“Shannon…you just turned seventeen. We’re in a precarious position here. I’m not sure you movin’ in with adults is a good idea.”
“They know how old I am. I told them. This is a good move for me. The dorms aren’t working out and I feel safer here with them.” I play the safety card.
“I can’t tell you what to do. I can only tell you I’m concerned. If you feel safe, that’s what’s most important. I want these guys on a plane this weekend, Shannon. If I don’t like what I see, you and I come up with a new option to make you feel safe.”
“I’ll see if they can come this weekend. It may be a couple weeks though, Uncle Mick. Okay?” I can’t go to Kansas City looking like this. He’ll know what Liam did before I start to lie. I have to be healed first.
“First chance you get.”
“Okay.”
“I love you, Shannon. You call me when you and these boys get a plan together.”
“I will. I love you too.”
“Talk to you soon,” he says softly.
“Bye,” I coo in return.
“I know you three are standing there,” I say over my shoulder from my new bed, in my new bedroom.
“How’d that go?” Cally asks plopping down next to me.
“Fine. He wants us on a plane this weekend. He wants to size you perverts up.”
“Kid, I don’t think that’s a great idea. You’re still in rough shape. Can’t you put it off a few weeks?” Sully asks flopping down on my other side.
“I know I can’t go home looking like this. I lied to him. I told him I was sick and that’s why I hadn’t called. I can’t tell him about the attack.”
“We get it,” Kavy assures me as he climbs on my bed behind me pulling my back to his front. My bed creaks under our weight.
“I don’t think this bed is meant to hold the four of us,” I tease.
“I had three girls in here with me last month,” Sully states.
“Good to know. I’ll keep that in mind for my future exploits,” I snark and slap his chest.
“If you’re in here with three chicks, I better be invited,” Sully says without a hint of humor.
“Oh you will be,” I say matter-of-factly. “You guys think we could fly down to Kansas City in a couple weeks? I know I’ve done nothing but impose on you for the last two weeks, but if this is what Uncle Mick needs I have to give it to him.” I lean into Kavy’s chest a little more for comfort. I can’t believe how close I feel to these guys. I meant what I said about them being like my long lost brothers to Uncle Mick. I know it’s weird, but I feel like I’ve known them my whole life.
“Stop with that shit,” Cally chides. “You’re not an imposition. Say it again and you and I are gonna fight.” I’ve never heard him be that stern before. I take notice and nod.
“We’ll go wherever you need us to go, whenever,” Kavy informs me. “Where you go, we go.”
And with that our future together is settled. Where one goes, we all go.
That’s how undergrad went, the four of us together all the time. During volleyball season one of them always picked me up from, and took me to, practice. They were at every game, screaming for me like wild men. Kavy played rugby and we went to all of the games. I dated one of his teammates for a few weeks during sophomore year. It wasn’t meant to be anything more than friendship, so that fizzled. Sully was a boxer (my first night assumption turned out to be right) and had a few fights a year. I went to all of them and cheered him on like my life depended on it. He was a good fighter and never lost a match that I watched. Then there was Cally and me. We were study and workout buddies. Cally had been a basketball player, but a knee injury ended that; he still worked out like an athlete. With our personalities we just worked really well together, he could tell when I was frustrated and I could push him to his limit without pushing him over the edge.
Kavy still crawled in my bed almost every night. I would go to sleep alone and wake up with him wrapped around me. We all dated people, never seriously. Cally can’t get to a fourth date, never has. Sully can’t keep his dick in his pants long enough not to cheat, or “wander” as he puts it. Kavy, well he never bangs the same girl twice. It’s some kind of rule or code he lives by. Neither he nor the girls seem to mind so it works out. I dated some off and on, but nothing ever went anywhere beyond a handful of dates.
Our group grew as their brothers joined our circle. Kavy’s twin brothers, Ryan and Adam were one year behind us. Collin and Hugh, Sully’s brothers, were o
ne and two years behind us respectively. Cally’s brother, Finn, was a year ahead of us and their little brother, Aidan, was the baby of the group, starting his first year during our last. At full strength our group had ten and watch out if we were all together. Trouble didn’t begin to describe!
Three weeks after I told Uncle Mick about the boys we flew to Kansas City. The boys bonded with him almost as quickly as they had bonded with me. I think Uncle Mick felt better with me in Chicago knowing the boys had my back. He also saw that they weren’t trying to get in my pants. He gave them his blessing combined with many lessons and warnings before we went back to school.
Uncle Mick died in November of my sophomore year. I was devastated and the boys, all nine of them, and their parents, got me through it. I spent Thanksgiving in Kansas City that year with Uncle Mick, right before he passed. My boys all came with me to help. He died two days later so I had to stay in Kansas City, plan his funeral and get his affairs in order. He had done most of the leg work, always looking out for me. I sold his land because I don’t hunt or fish, but I kept his house. I love that house. It’s in Mission Hills, a very exclusive neighborhood. Uncle Mick’s family had made a fortune in the stockyard business. He wasn’t affected by the money or lifestyle, but he had put it to good use. His wife and two sons had died in a car accident twelve years before I came to live with him. They were his world and when they were gone, so was he. He told me once, that if it wasn’t for me he would have checked out long before he did. I was special to him and he was special to me, we helped each other live when there was nothing to live for.
The house is huge with six bedrooms, ten bathrooms, home office, gourmet kitchen, formal living and dining rooms, great room and breakfast area off the kitchen. There’s a media room, game room and gym in the basement, with a pool and hot tub in the perfectly manicured backyard. A dream house to most. I couldn’t let it go; it was the only home I knew. My trust fund was now available to me, but I didn’t want to touch that money…it made me sad, so I put it to good use in a local children’s charity in Chicago. Uncle Mick left me everything he had, and it was sizeable…millions. We had talked about me taking the money, to live on and make a life for myself, which I tried endlessly to argue against. Uncle Mick had informed me that not using the money was not an option, he made me promise him I would use it…I never break my word. I was a multimillionaire at eighteen, and I fucking hated it because it came from the loss of my loved ones. I hired a housekeeper to live at the Mission Hills house to care for it while I was away at school. I was used to taking care of myself, but not running a household from a different state.
I came home during the quarterly breaks and the boys were always with me in some combination. With nine of them, and one of me, it wasn’t difficult to have one or some of them with me most of the time. I spent holidays with the boys. I made my rounds to each of their houses. The Callaghans, Kavanaghs, and O’Sullivans all brought me into their families like I was one of their own. I came to love these people and they loved me.
Our group had to break up though at the end of undergrad. By some miracle or maybe some string pulling (more likely) by Kavy’s dad (Mr. Kavanagh is a highly successful attorney with his own firm and a Stanford alumni) the four of us got into Stanford Law. Holy Shit, I know!
Ryan, Adam, Collin, and Hugh all moved into our place and we migrated to the West coast. What a change from the Midwest that was! We worked our asses off for three years. Cally was a contracts genius. Sully and Kavy were in criminal law and amazing at it. I went into family law. We were a harmonious group of legal expertise. During our second year Kavy’s father made us an offer, to start our own branch of his law firm in Kansas City, once we graduated. My boys and I talked about it for a week and agreed it was a good step for us. Mr. Kavanagh would send a few attorneys to help us get on our feet, and then once we were comfortable he would turn us loose.
Once we graduated we moved into my house and Finn came with us. He was a private investigator for the Chicago branch of the firm, so it was a good move for him. Three years later we got rid of our chaperones at the firm. Kavanagh Law was ours to run. And boy did we run.
Enough reminiscing
“Kavy, if I wanted you to stop coming in my room at night I would tell you, and lock the door for good measure,” I scowl at him. What the fuck is his issue right now?
“Why’d you attack me with your icy feet then? You were pissed this morning. You’ve never gone off like that…well maybe not never.” I roll my eyes. “Hey Kid, I know when you’re pissed, and you were pissed at me this morning, why?”
“Kavy, I was at the office until nine. I came home and we all went out until two. Your random keeps me up until three thirty and your ass wakes me up at five forty-five. Why do you think I was pissed?” I give him the stare of “take that”.
“I know this Mia case is takin’ it outta you. I shoulda thought before I rolled in here. The random was fuckin’ obnoxious!! That’s my bad for sure. You sure we’re cool?” I smack his cheek lightly a few times and stick out my bottom lip.
“Ahhhh. My little Kavy is afraid of the Kid. I forgive you big guy.” I wrap my arms around his neck while he constricts his arms around my waist and stands up, carrying me off my feet into the bedroom. We both chortle.
He sets me down and kisses my hair. “Love you Kid,” he murmurs in my hair.
“Love you too,” I smile up at him. “Now feed me before I attack you again!”
We are pathetically dragging ass by the time we’ve gorged on pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and multiple pitchers of coffee. We all crawl onto our large sectional in our usual spots. We have a gigantic brushed leather squared off horse shoe couch in the great room, facing our enormous fireplace. Above that hangs a sixty-inch flat screen TV that fills the space perfectly. The great room, kitchen, and breakfast area are all open to each other with twenty-five foot ceilings and dark beam work. The kitchen is a chef’s dream and I put it to good use as often as I can. Carrera marble counters with dark mahogany cabinets show off the Sub-Zero and Wolf appliances. I could spend all day in that kitchen. The house has warm buttermilk walls and rich wide plank, dark walnut floors. It’s a comfortable happy home.
Sully and I lay head to head in the middle section and Kavy’s head is by my feet on his section, while Cally’s head is by Sully’s feet. ESPN is on and we’re snoring before I even know what we’re watching.
I wake to the sound of the house alarm chirping. Someone just came in the garage door.
“Shit,” I hear Finn curse from beyond the kitchen. He knows the code and disables the alarm before we’re in full alarm mode. “Ry?” Finn yells through the house. Why is it that men just yell without first looking around?
“Ugh,” Cally groans into the pillow he has over his head to drown out the alarm from moments ago. Finn walks over to us and stands at the back of the couch, looking down at us with a bit of glee in his eyes.
“You guys look like shit!” He says a little louder than necessary. We all simultaneously point in Kavy’s direction.
“Whadya do Kavanagh? Bring home a cheerleading squad again?” He laughs, jumping over the couch and lands almost on my hip but not quite. I wrap my arm around his waist and he lies down beside me. I roll on my side and curl up on his chest.
“What’s goin’ on, Finn?” I mumble into is rock hard chest. Finn is a few inches shorter than Cally, but he’s way more ripped. He works out for hours every day, staying in shape for his P.I. jobs, he says. He has the same blond hair and bright blue eyes as his brother but no dimples. He’s still a fine specimen without them.
“Just got done at the gym. Wanted to see what the weekend was lookin’ like.” He glances around and sighs, “It’s lookin’ pretty sorry from where I’m layin’.” I smack his chest and feign personal offence. “Not you Kid. You look good enough to eat. It’s these tools that look like sorry sacks of shit.” He nudges Kavy with his foot. No response.
“You want me to make you some lunch
, Finn?” I glance at my watch realizing it’s past noon.
Finn presses his lips to my head and murmurs, “Yeah, if you’re up for it.”
“I want lunch too, Kid,” Sully grumbles behind my head. I reach my arm back to pat his face/head, whatever I can reach really. I think I get some nose and lip.
“Me too,” Cally and Kavy sound off in unison. I push off Finn and sit up, stretching my arms over my head to get some blood moving.
“You smell like pancakes, Kid,” Finn sits up and sniffs my hair.
“It’s eau de IHOP.” I beam, “You like it Finn?” suggestively shimmying my shoulders. He snickers and stands up, pulling me off the couch.
“I told you, you were good enough to eat,” he smirks as he smacks my ass. I squeal and run to the kitchen out of his reach. Finn and I have always flirted. It’s never gone anywhere and never will, but it drove his ex insane. They moved in together three years ago after dating for a year. She hated him living here with me, and I plain hated her, so we were clear on that. She gave him an ultimatum to either buy a place for them to live or she was done. He loved that bitch, I don’t know why (cotton candy flavored cooch was my guess), so he bought a place in Prairie Village near us.
Six months later he came home to find the neighbor’s son, home for the summer from college, buried balls deep in her on the dining room table. I was so sad to see Finn that devastated, but happy the bitch was gone. I helped “move” her shit out. That consisted of me shoving all of it in giant black garbage bags and letting all the guys piss in them. Then we left them on the front porch to bake in the Kansas July heat for a week before he told her to come collect her shit. I had tears running down my face from laughing when she drove away, knowing the hideousness that awaited her! Finn didn’t move back in with us, said he was too old for roommates. I think he felt like a failure and didn’t want to give up a house too. He might as well live here because he’s here all the damn time and crashes in his old room most weekends and some weeknights too.
Blackness Takes Over & Blackness Awaits Page 5
