I cleared my throat. “The guys that I told you about last week. You know the ones who helped me when I first got here? Well a couple of nights ago my house was broken into and I called them to come over.” My eyes unfocused as I remembered that night. “Duchess, my dog, was hurt, and so two of them stayed to help clean up and talk to the police while one of them went with me to take my dog to the vet.” I focused back on the girls. “And after we got back, I asked one of them to stay the night.”
“Two questions, who the fuck broke into your house and did you sleep with him?”
Leave it to Betty to go for my metaphorical balls.
“Well as for the first question, the police said that they would investigate, but they weren’t likely to find the ones responsible.” I lowered by voice, “And as for the second...I might have slept with him.”
“You slut!” Prudence yelled.
What the fuck.
“Excuse me?”
She patted my hand.
What was with these women and the patting of the hands?
“No honey, it’s a good thing. You get some, life’s too short to say no to sex. Always, say yes.”
What did someone say to that. I pinched the bridge of my nose, where a headache started to form.
“Oh, okay well thanks, I think. But what do I do, they’re downstairs now, waiting to see me.”
Iris piped up, “Tell them to come up.”
That’s exactly what I should do. Not. “What, why?”
Gertie chimed in then, “Because men will usually behave themselves when faced with grandmother figures. This way all the cards are in your hands.”
Hmm, I’m starting to see the benefits of being in this book club.
Finally.
“Okay, let me text them.”
I pulled out my phone, texting them to come up and meet the girls. Maybe this way, seeing them after my night with Damon won’t be too awkward.
Buzz
Quickly reading their reply, I glanced up at the girls. “They’re coming.”
Their footsteps echoed through the stairwell as they climbed the stairs, getting closer and closer. To me.
And the closer they got the more I felt nervous about what would happen. Was this going to happen?
Now almost to the top of the stairs, my heart rate started to speed up. I felt weak. What would Dean and Kasper’s reaction be? How would the girls act? Did I want to move forward?
Soon their figures filled the doorway, and I couldn’t look away. Even after seeing them just two days ago on one of the worst nights of my life I missed them. Already I felt a tug to go to them. To touch them. To…
“Merry Christmas to me.”
“It's not Christmas you lustful hussy!” Betty retorted back to Prudie.
“Well, it could be.”
Dean leaned over whispering to Kasper, “Did she just call us a Christmas present?”
Well that went downhill fast.
I decided that this first meeting needed saving fast so I took the situation into my own hands,
because I felt if left in the ladies’ hands…
Well something might actually wind up into the ladies’ hands.
Be that men or liquor.
I stepped in front of the guys, drawing the ladies’ attention to me. Though my insides were quaking from seeing Dean and Kasper after the break-in, I smiled trying not to look too much at them. At least right now.
I had some elderly women to deal with.
“Guys, this is my book club.” I gestured to the ladies, introducing each.
“This is Betty, Iris, and sisters Gertrude and Prudence.”
Before I could say more, hands and hips shoved me aside as the ladies went forward, on a mission to get a closer look at the men in front of them.
I watched in fascination, as Gertrude and Prudence made their way to Dean. Hands came up quickly on each of his arms surrounding his bicep as if to keep him from running. Which to be honest… he might. I would. Dean taken back by their forwardness stood shocked as Gertrude rubbed her hand up and down his arm, whispering, “You can call me Gertie, handsome.”
The Adam’s apple in his neck bobbed as he swallowed hard. “Okay.”
Not one to be out done by her sister, Prudence tugged him closer to her, hard.
Huh, senior citizens could still be strong, who knew.
“You can call me Prudie, I think me and you can get along just fine.”
I held the laughter behind my hand, as I covered my mouth, while the sisters played tug of war with Dean.
Not worried too much for him, I looked to see how the others were doing. Betty apparently had decided to take Damon in hand.
Literally. With her arms wrapped around his one arm, she resembled the fragile old lady, that I knew she wasn’t, in her black and white polka dotted dress and black shoes. Of course the image was promptly ruined when her hand raced up and down his chest, and then you could see the perverted old lady that she was.
I tried to decide if I should help the three or leave them to their fate, when the sound of a soft sweet voice belonging to Iris reached my ears.
“Wanna see what I can do with my tongue?”
It was always the quiet ones.
Decision made, I made my way to Iris, who looked like she could have come out of a senior citizen magazine. Not standing too close, for fear of being scratched or maimed, I gently untangled her arms that had somehow managed to wrap around Kasper’s neck pulling his face closer to hers. Hands on Iris’s arms, I made eye contact with Kasper, who mouthed a quick thank you as I turned her towards me.
“Iris, weren’t we just saying that we needed to not be so open about the book club and other things?”
I directed my attention to the other girls, who still had an arm or other body part on the men. I raised my eyebrows. “Right ladies, we were just saying about how certain things needed to be dialed down?”
They hated me.
I could see it in their beady eyes.
Somehow I had cancelled their early Christmas. Santa wasn’t come down their chimney or anything else tonight. Which I didn’t even want to think what they were going to do with their Christmas presents or Santa. My body shivered at the now gory pictures that went through my mind.
Reluctantly, they made their way back to their sacred chairs. Once they were seated and safe away from my men... my men? I made my way to my assigned chair. Hand on the back of the chair I pulled it slightly back to sit but Iris stopped me with her question.
“So, which one are you dating?”
The bitch did that on purpose. We just had this conversation.
Blood rushing to my face, in mere seconds the many complications and outcomes that could come from that line of questions ran through my head. How would I answer that? We haven’t gotten to talk about any of this, what with the break-in, the vet visit and… Camille. Our dating arrangement was kind of low on the totem pole so to speak.
“All of us, she's dating all of us.”
Silence descended around me and the blood that had been rushing to my head plummets causing my face to go pale and leaving me shaky. Why did Kasper do that? Did he not care what everyone thought about us? Me?
You could’ve heard a pin drop at the stares I received from the girls. Their faces unreadable, emotionless until slowly they each cracked a smile, but Betty being Betty was the first to speak.
“See I knew you were a hussy, just like the rest of us. You get you some of those men.”
Ten
Dean
“Where are we going? C’mon tell me. I’ve got to check on Duchess. And what was that back there? Strutting in there, were you trying to woo the older ladies?”
With a smile at her goofiness, I turned around and looked at Kelly sitting in the back seat of Kasper’s truck with Damon. I couldn’t keep the grin from my face at having her back, with us, with me. Through the goofiness I could tell she was slightly nervous. Truth be told, I was slightly nervous too. I didn�
��t want to screw this up. When I had first suggested skating, I thought it would be perfect. She was always wanting to try something new, but now I kept second guessing myself. Maybe I picked the wrong thing and the whole adventure would blow up in our faces. And it wouldn’t be Damon messing up. It would be me.
“Kelly, we handled Duchess, we checked on her before we went to the library. Dog was drooling all over your pillow. And quit trying to figure out where we are going. We wanted to take your mind off of everything that’s happened so let us do that.”
Mouth opened to argue, I’m surprised when Damon grabs her around the waist, nuzzling her neck while whispering something in her ear, that ends up having her giggling and nodding at whatever he said.
Wow.
He was so different now. Being with Kelly had changed him.
A touch of melancholy hit me at the fact that he could now get her to relax and trust him so easily, when in the beginning he was the biggest asshole.
Still was to most, but with her…he cherished her.
I wanted that with her. I knew I just had to wait for my turn. It would come.
Maybe after today this would cement myself closer to her. Make us a family.
I turned back around and looked at Kasper who always seemed to be watching everything. Kasper might be quiet but that allowed him to be that much more observant. Leaning slightly towards me so Kelly and Damon didn’t hear, Kasper whispered, “Just remember this is new to her. And right now Damon’s the only one who’s put everything out there after the big Camille thing. Plus, he was there for her when she had to take Duchess to the vet. Everything will be fine, today will work. It’ll get better.”
He picked up on everything.
“What are you guys, talking about?”
Her voice from behind me made me jump slightly. So caught up in what Kasper was saying I failed to notice her moving. Not wanting to lie, but at the same time not wanting to openly admit I was slightly insecure I went to answer, but Kasper beat me to it. “We were just discussing your surprise, and how much you will love it. Ya know, Dean came up with it all by himself. We just followed his lead.”
And that was my best friend.
Kelly turned her eyes back to me. She looked at me so long that it started to feel like she was looking for something deeper.
Appeased at whatever she saw, she scooted back once more leaning against Damon and curled up against him. Never had I wanted to be my brother so bad.
“Okay.”
She pulled me out of my wishful thinking. “What, do you mean okay?”
Looking at me smiling softly with the sun coming through the window and highlighting her face, she explained, “I mean, that if you picked the surprise out, then I'll wait. Because I'm sure it’ll be great.”
I couldn’t tell if I was stunned because she said my surprise would be great or the fact that I could feel my nervousness melt away at seeing how calm and relaxed she seemed to be now. After whatever realization she had come to.
I wish I knew what was going on in that pretty little mind of hers. She was an enigma and she didn’t know to the depth that she had me completely enthralled. She was the spider and I was the fly, and I was already in her grasp. And I think the other guys felt that way too. Though I think Damon probably offered himself on a plate, and she didn’t even ask.
Relaxed.
Everyone seemed so content.
Kelly relaxed against Damon, Kasper hummed along to whatever stupid country songs that were on the radio. And me...I just relaxed and watched as the road went by. This was what I wanted. This felt like completeness.
As I sat there in my musing, I realized something very important all at once. That I had started humming Kasper’s stupid country song, too. I hated country. I didn’t need that much completeness.
Suddenly I felt the need to fix the errors of my ways, with desperation I quickly reached over and twisted the dial.
“Hey!”
Yep, much better.
Eleven
Kasper
“Mother!”
My ass felt numb as I wiped out and fell on my ass for the sixth maybe seventh time today. This was not how I pictured skating for the first time. In my mind, the semantics of skating and watching numerous people skate, I had figured it would be easy enough.
But I was wrong. My ass let me know how wrong I was, as I sat there on the cold ice and watching someone as big as Damon have more grace than me was slightly unnerving.
Twisting my body this way and that, I tried to grab the side of the rink to pull myself up without falling back over again.
“Hey, I’ve got you.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Kelly who had gotten her arm under mine as she attempted to help lift me. With her being as tiny as she was, I didn’t want to tell her that she wasn’t really helping as much as hindering me. But the feeling of her against my back and her hands touching my chest sent signals down to certain areas, and I thought maybe I could live with her making things a little harder.
I grabbed the edge of the rink to make sure I was secure, then turned and smiled at her. “Thanks. Who knew you and Damon would be the ones to show me and Dean how it was done?”
Kelly opens her mouth to reply, when yelling from across the rink, started up.
“Son of a bitch!!”
Kids and their mothers stopped to look at Dean as he ended up in the same position I was minutes ago. The only difference was, that I had a gorgeous caramel haired girl to help me.
Dean was stuck with a blonde headed asshole.
Damon pulled at his brother’s arm pulling him up quickly as Dean blushed under the scrutiny of the mothers who were still staring at him waiting for an apology for his colorful language. From here, I could see him hold up his hand in a placating gesture with Damon standing at his side, arms crossed across his chest.
“Sorry, sorry, that was a very bad word kids, don’t ever say it. Well unless it really hurts, then yell away.”
When the mothers remained he quickly backtracked, “Okay, even if it hurts real bad don’t ever say it, sheesh!”
Somewhat mollified, the kids and mothers started skating again and I looked back at Kelly. “Do you think you can help this uncoordinated fool across the rink, so I don’t fall on my ass again?”
Instead of answering, she helped me turn and try again. I loved seeing happiness splashed across her face after what happened a few days ago. If anyone deserved it, it was Kelly. I was humbled that she chose to be here with not only me but my best friends. Though I will admit that I was glad that I was the one who was holding her hand right now as we crossed the rink to the guys. I might be smart, but I wasn’t perfect.
Kelly glided effortlessly across the rink with her hair tumbling down her back and her cheeks pink from exertion. I wish that I could see this everyday. To have a chance to make her happy everyday, all of us. Across the rink Dean and Damon waited for us, watching us. Watching her.
I think they were probably thinking the same as me right then.
She’s it.
For all of us.
Twelve
Kelly
1. Who knew I’d have to fight a seventy year old for my men.
2. Skating was fun, who knew me and Damon would be the graceful ones.
3. I think I have become addicted to Tate James books. (Reverse harem, I think it might hit close to home.)
I hated grocery shopping.
Road rage with a buggy happened to be a real thing. At least for me. Why did people just stop in the middle of the aisle? And what about leaving your cart and walking off? Move to the side people!
And don’t get me started on forgetting things. You meandered through aisle after aisle for hours only to realize after getting home, you somehow still forgot something. Even though you went down every flippin aisle.
It was a vicious cycle.
Though I had never forgotten the chocolate or the coffee. Those were life. Like zombie apocalypse life. Serious stuff.
>
Anyways, I needed to focus on grocery shopping. This could be why I usually forgot stuff, my mind might sometimes wonder about things such as an zombie apocalypse.
Which could happen.
I pushed my buggy down the aisle as I rummaged in my purse trying to find the list I had brought with me, so screw ups like forgetting certain things wouldn’t happen.
Though I had to find the list first...
I wanted to make something special for the guys on our movie night Saturday. After our three weeks apart and being almost shoved together because of the break-in and Duchess, I wanted to let them know how much I appreciated them. Besides every time I was with them it seemed we ate out and I had done that with Trevor. I didn’t want this relationship to become what Trevor and I had. So I was cooking. Even if I never really cooked, the food shows made it look easy.
Aha! Found it!
Okay, so what did I need to still get?
Carrots. Check.
Celery. Check.
Pot roast. Check.
Gravy. Gravy? Where was the gravy?
God! I perused through my buggy as I moved food around hoping in vain that I missed a small envelope of gravy mix, somewhere in this wild chaos of food. But I saw nothing.
Fuck.
Under my breath I grumbled about how the gravy was of course all the way across the store, and why it couldn’t be near the potatoes. Which of course made more sense. To me.
I turned my buggy around still cursing the stupid potatoes, and not using grocery shopping etiquette 101. Rule 1 Always look when turning. But I didn’t look, and I was left with the clanging of metal ricocheting off the tin cans on the aisle. Of course the buggy that hit me was being pushed by a very familiar kinky woman.
“Gertie?”
Standing behind the buggy looking slightly alarmed was Gertie. Though instead of the confident sassy vulgar woman at the book club, here stood a nervous, slump shouldered mouse.
Road to Them: The Road Series Book Two Page 8
