Road to Them: The Road Series Book Two

by Erica Andrews

  Forcing out a breath, with keys in hand, I got out of the truck and headed for the landlord’s office and what was soon to be my new beginning.

  Well, that was easy.

  One hour and twenty-five minutes later, my mission was accomplished. I was officially moving in with the guys. Now, I just had to let my mother and father know. Which it couldn’t be any harder then dealing with Mrs. Mulligan, my landlord. That lady, while sweet, never knew when the end...well, was the end. And so four photo albums, and three sugar cookies later I was finally able to extradite myself from her grasp. For being so frail and small, Mrs. Mulligan still had a hearty grasp. Maybe in forty years, that’s what Kelly would be like. I just hoped I’d be there to see it. Me, the guys, and her. It painted a nice picture, and this step of moving out of my place and moving in with them. Maybe just maybe that picture would become reality.

  Damnit Kelly!

  Once again she’s screwed with my phone as my butt began to vibrate along with the sound of Cher believing in love and I struggled to get it to stop. People halted in the parking lot as I held onto my small box of things and fished inside my jeans to answer whoever was calling just to shut the song up.

  I didn’t really want to know what Cher felt inside herself.

  Got it.

  Then I saw the name on the screen. Maybe Cher was a better option.

  Hello, Mother.

  Kasper? What took you so long to answer? Are you okay?

  Fine. Mother, I was having a little bit of an issue. But it’s fine now.

  I could almost see her grasping at the word issue, like a dog with a bone.

  Issue? What issue did you have?

  I was correct.

  But I guess, it was now or never to tell her about moving in with the guys…and about Kelly.

  Actually, I just let my building manager know that I was not going to re-up my lease.

  Crickets chirped.

  Mother? Are you there?

  Oh. What? Yes, yes, I’m here. Well what’s this about, you know me and your father have been trying to get you to move back home ever since you divorced Nicole.

  Patience was a virtue when dealing with my mother.

  I didn’t divorce Nicole, mother. It was a mutual decision. And I just felt like it was time, to move forward.

  Move forward? Why would you…..This is about a girl isn’t it?

  I opened my car door and dropped my stuff in the driver’s seat.

  Kasper? Kasper are you there?

  Yes, mother I’m here, just getting in the truck.

  Well, am I right? It is a girl isn’t it? Who is it? Please tell me it’s that nice girl Virginia, Savannah, or Caroline.

  No, mother ‘fraid not, I have a thing about dating women named after states. Just not a good visual, you know what I mean?

  What? Kasper was that a joke? Don’t joke, Kasper. You know you’ve never been good at those things.

  I know, Mother, people keep reminding me.

  Well that’s fine. I guess Sunday works for us. One o’clock? You’re father will be so excited that you have a girlfriend.

  Now, Mother, I never said she was my girlfriend, and you don’t even know her name.

  Well what is it?

  What is what?

  Her name, Kasper. What is her name?

  Kelly. Kelly Green.

  Silence reigned again.

  Mother?

  She’s a color?

  No, she’s not a color. It’s just her dad... you know what it doesn’t matter.

  Of course, it doesn’t matter, I just don’t know why, you can date a color but not a state.

  Now, Mother….

  Oh, I’ve got to go, see you and Miss.Green Sunday, and bring Dean and Damon too. Lovely boys. Maybe they will date a state.

  Click.

  Ladies and gentlemen that was how it was done.

  My forehead felt hot against the steering wheel as I laid my head across it. I knew there would be ramifications from what I was just corralled into. This was going to be fun. And by fun I meant stressful.

  Emily Stone, was like a tornado who pulled you into her funnel and didn’t let you out until she was through with you. The guys and I are experts at dealing with Emily and Marshall Stone, but Kelly. She didn’t stand a chance.

  How was I going to tell her? I lifted my head, cranking the car to head out. It wasn’t like sitting in a hot car was giving me any ideas. As I looked both ways, I pulled out onto the main road.

  My fingers danced along the steering wheel to the song on the radio. Man, I loved music. And I loved that Kelly seemed to love music just as much as me. Maybe she could sing?

  Sing?

  Wait. That’s it!

  I figured out how to loosen Kelly up, to tell her that she was meeting the parents.

  We were going to go drink and…

  Karaoke.

  Twenty

  Kelly

  1. Men liked to keep secrets.

  2. Some men (Kasper) cooked better than me.

  3. I didn’t know how I really felt about Kasper moving in with the brothers. Is that bad of me?

  We were at a karaoke bar. Or more specific, we were at the only karaoke bar in Hazelton. With the stunning and eye catching name, Froggy’s, complete with neon light to attract even the most gregarious of singers. I mean who wouldn’t want to sing along with a neon sign with a dancing frog?

  Apparently the man on stage did, singing along to the sweet melody of Nine to Five. There was a version of that song that I wouldn’t ever forget. It was now forever seared into my mind.

  Dirty dancing to Dolly Parton.

  The smokey bar atmosphere made the area appear small and confined with old refurbished wood that lined the bar and matching bar stools. Not far from the bar the Karaoke stage sat with refurbished round tables surrounding it. The tables perfectly matched the bar, while the barrel chairs seemed to tie it all in. All in all, not something I would have expected from a bar, with a frog sign, but it worked.

  “Hey, gorgeous, you want a drink?”

  Dean’s voice came from behind, his breath caressing my ear. I shivered tipping my head slightly, my eyes drifting to his lips. The warmth and energy of the room causing them to redden.

  I smiled at my thoughts and answered.

  “I think I do.”

  His lips pulled back into a smile, his tongue slipping out to wet his lips. “You think you do what?”

  My eyes found his. “What were you saying?”

  He laughed softly. “I said do you want a drink?”

  A simple question, I realized that I didn’t have the answer for. Drinks weren’t my thing. White or red wine was the most I knew. I mean unless you counted a few drunken nights in college and I couldn’t tell you what was in it. Just that it was in a red cup.

  And I didn’t really want to tell Dean or the others about my limited experiences.

  So I lied.

  “Uh, sex on the beach? No, wait! Uh, Bahama mama…”

  He twisted me the rest of the way around, our bodies perfectly aligned. Smiling he took my hand and laced our fingers together.

  “You don’t know what you want do you?”

  I tried not to show my surprise at his ability to figure me out so quickly. When would I learn that with these guys to always expect the unexpected.

  And since they always surprised me, maybe I should do something unexpected too.

  Like bluff.

  “I know what I want, I just couldn’t decide. And now I’ve decided.”

  I took a long breath hoping my bluff would pay off. “I want an adios motherfucker.”

  He brought our joined hands up to his lips kissing my fingers. “You want an adios motherfucker? You?”

  Instead of coming clean and telling him that I had no clue what it was and to please help me decide, I felt my head nod in agreement. “Yes, I want an adios motherfucker.”

  And since I was digging my own grave, I added, “Hell,l I want two adios motherf
uckers.”

  “What’s in it?”

  I blinked. “Excuse me?”

  Dean smirked. “What’s in a adios motherfucker, since you want one, you must know what’s in it.”

  Flustered at his pushiness to call my bluff, I raised my voice at an attempt to get him to drop his line of questioning. I refused to admit defeat. “Don’t get smart with me Dean Avery Timbers! I know what’s in an adios motherfucker.”

  Still holding my hands to his lips, he kissed them again softly. “Then tell me.”

  Shit.

  He was like a dog with a bone. He wasn’t going to stop. And it was my own dang fault for putting myself into a corner. Why did I let my mouth get me into trouble? I could’ve just said ‘why, no Dean, I don’t know what it is why don’t you tell me.’ Instead, I said I knew and judging by his smirk we both knew I didn’t know.

  So I did the only thing I could...I conceded… nothing.

  I was going down with my ship.

  “Fine, I’ll tell you since you don’t seem to know. It’s got rum.”

  He smirked.

  “Rum? It’s got rum?”

  Who was he, repeat Jones. Smartass.

  “Yes, now are you going to keep interrupting or do you want to know?”

  He waved his hand for me to continued, “Oh, yes I’m sorry, please continue, I’m fascinated.”

  Jackass.

  “Thank you, now, where was I? You messed me up.”

  “Rum.”

  “Rum?”

  His smirk grew bigger. “You were at rum.”

  Bastard knew and still let me continue.

  “Yes, well,” I cleared my throat, “you need rum and lemon, and tequila and a dash of siracha. And that my friend is an adios motherfucker.”

  Dean glanced over my shoulder, at the other guys at the bar. I turned to see what he was looking at but he tugged on my hand and pulled me closer.

  The bar forgotten I stilled when he tipped his head forward his eyes catching mine. “Well you got something right, like the tequila, and lemon.” He bent closer, his lips stopped mere centimeters to mine and whispered, “As for the rest….just admit you don’t know.”

  Despite his smaller frame compared to his brother, I still felt dwarfed and wonderfully cocooned with his arms.

  Which is why I abandoned ship.

  And called my bluff.

  “Fine, I don’t know what it is. All I know is white or red wine which is what Trevor always got me.”

  He smiled and waggled his eyebrows at me. “Now, was that so hard?”

  “Pfft, harder than you know.”

  He squeezed me slightly.

  “I’ve got an idea, since you don’t know your drinks, and we are at a bar. Let’s do a test.”

  Where was he going with this? I mean it was Dean, and with that giant smile on his face, it could be anywhere.

  Hands suddenly came around my waist from behind causing me to jump.

  Damon. The hard thick blunts of his fingers were easy to distinguish. I knew those hands anywhere now.

  “Are we going to stand in the middle of the bar all night or go find a seat?”

  Dean grinned at his brother. “We were going to find a seat, but Kelly and I had to come to an understanding.”

  Not letting go of my waist Damon rubbed his thumb up and down my stomach, in a soft gentle motion. “And what was the understanding you guys had to come to?”

  Dean dropped his gaze to Damon’s fingers caressing my stomach. Eyebrows drawn together he watched Damon’s fingers and seemed to be in deep concentration.

  “Dude, did you hear me?”

  Dean shook his head as if to clear the thoughts from his mind, looking up at Damon. Bringing the smile back to his face.

  “Nothing, Damon, just wait and see.” Dean turned back to me picking up my fingers as he kissed them slowly and winked.

  “Princess, go with Damon and find a table. I’ll be back, and we can solve your predicament.”

  With his vague statement, Dean dropped my hands and headed towards the bar.

  “C’mon, darling let’s go find a table.”

  Damon kept his arms around my waist, as he tugged me to the table in front of the stage.

  “Damon, I don’t know if this table is such a good idea. That last dude almost fell off the stage dirty dancing to Dolly Parton. There’s probably a reason this table is open.”

  He pulled my chair out for me, and raised his eyebrows up at me. ‘Yeah, the reason is that I told them to leave it open for me.”

  I sat down in my barrel chair, moving around a bit to get comfortable. Hmm, not so bad for a barrel.

  Damon pulled the chair out beside me and sat down, leaving the other chair beside me, for I assumed, Dean or Kasper.

  “What do you mean, you told them to leave it open? Were you and the guys planning this?”

  He rolled his massive shoulders, making his shirt tighten around his biceps. There was something about him and his arms and shoulders that did me in. Even him just sitting there in the barrel chair while the perfect size for me seemed to be dwarfed with Damon in it. His whole body was massive, but it wasn’t so long ago that it was those massive arm that had held me up against the wall, while his lower half, had done the most amazing things to my body.

  Damon grunted as he finally got settled in his chair.

  “We may or may not have had this little get together planned, but you can’t tell me you aren’t enjoying yourself.”

  I rolled my eyes and smiled. “Oh, yes, fifty year old man grinding to Dolly Parton and butchering the words, plus the twins up there earlier trying to be K.C. and Jo Jo were very entertaining.”

  He leaned forward on to the rounded table and winked. “Aw, see that’s the spirit, glad you’re so positive darling.”

  Before I could make a smart retort, Dean and a waitress, showed up with a tray full of drinks.

  What in the sam hill were they up too? Were they trying to get me liquored and drunk?

  I gestured to the mountain of drinks. “Um, what is all this?”

  Dean giving the waitress a tip, went behind me, and trailed his fingers along my shoulders and neck as he went. These men and their touches. Even something as innocent as fingers trailing across my shoulders. Dean took a step and sat down in the chair beside me. “This Princess, is your one-step course in learning your drinks. You said you didn’t know them, well we figured we’d show you.”

  I waved my hand to at least a dozen drinks on the table. “You mean by getting me drunk.”

  Damon sighed. “Darling if we wanted to get you drunk, you’d already be drunk. You know how to take a sip, right? I mean, I know you guzzle your coffee, but this you have to sip.”

  “Ass.”

  He bopped me on the nose. “Yeah, and you love it.”

  Did I? Did I love all three of them?

  Not wanting to think about this right now, I asked Dean, “So, I’m going to try all these under yours and Damon’s steady eyes?”

  He nodded his head. “Yes, and I know you’ve been stressed about finding the person who trashed your house. Have you heard any more from Detective Rodriguez?”

  I shook my head. “No, I talked to him a couple of days ago and he said they found some fingerprints, but that it had to be sent to the lab, and that could take days to weeks. So right now, I’m just waiting. He did say that he thought it was just some kids wanting to prank the new teacher and maybe Duchess just got hurt trying to defend the house.”

  Damon grunted. “Asshole kids then. Let me find out who did it and I’ll get ahold of their parents.”

  Dean pointed his finger at his brother. “And now you are officially old.”

  Damon narrowed his eyes at his brother. “Eat a dick, if they’re kids I can’t touch them. So what am I supposed to do?”

  This conversation was going downhill fast and I wanted to get off of it.

  “Okay, good, now one more question.”

  Dean and Damon stopped their
bickering, both turning to look at me.

  Dean shot his brother a look and pushed some blue concoction towards me. “Anything Princess.”

  “Where the hell is Kasper!”

  His eyes darted to Damon, then back at me. “Well, ya see Kasper has a thing…”

  “Good evening ladies!”

  A familiar voice resounded over the microphone, center stage.

  I knew that voice!

  Tearing my eyes away from Dean, I made out a pair of worn tight jeans and red flannel shirt.

  That was my Kasper up there and he was fixing to sing… karaoke?

  “Who’s ready for some music tonight?”

  Who was this man, and where was my slightly shy Kasper?

  I narrowed my eyes glancing between the two brothers.

  “Alright, where is my Kasper, and please tell me that this doesn’t happen often?”

  Dean nervously cleared his throat, “Well…

  “He had a few shots of liquid courage before stepping up to bat.”

  Leave it to Damon to butt in, and be bluntly honest.

  “Define a few.”

  Before Damon could say, Dean jumped in shrugging his shoulders. “What like three?”

  He looked at Damon for confirmation.

  “Maybe four.”

  Between the two, I pointed towards the stage. “That is what three or four shots does? He’s a walking country Justin Bieber!”

  Damon snorted. “How else did you expect him to get up there? He wanted you to see him sing, so he did what needed to be done.”