by Dyble, S R
Kit
Carson Brothers #1
S R Dyble
Contents
Reader’s note
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Coming Soon
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Copyright © 2019 S R Dyble
All rights reserved.
* * *
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any other information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. This book is a work of fiction, all names, characters, places, and events are the products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
KIT is set in my home city of Hull, in the United Kingdom (UK). We can speak rather weird sometimes, and I was unaware of how foreign our speech can be at times. It was brought to my attention during the editing process of KIT. Our slang isn’t only different to anywhere else in the world, but strangely we’re rather proud of it. I’m hoping that it will add interest to the book and the characters, and that it offers an insight into my strange but wonderful city.
I could never make out their faces.
Not properly, anyway.
As defeat threatened to consume me, I pulled yet again at the straps tying my wrists together behind my back.
I whimpered as they stayed tough and sliced at my skin.
Only then did the real terror begin, each time like a clock fast forwarding, and then everything shot past my eyes.
See, I knew I was dreaming.
Reliving it was worse than it happening.
Each time the worst of the memory would skip until I sat screaming and sobbing on the cold hard floor, beaten and lashed by the ropes tying my arms together.
They were holding me here, only metres away from where my family were being dragged out of the room after being brutally murdered.
Hearing fast footsteps approaching me, I scuttled back as far as I could get.
“Now, what to do with you, sweetheart?”
His face was a blurred blackness – his voice hard to forget. He was Australian and his accent tore through me like a blunt blade.
He moved forward and gripped my face in his hand before I could move away and tears continued streaming down my face.
I looked him in the eyes and could only see two holes of darkness with no pity in them. As my body faltered against the pain, I heard a huge bang and he rushed off to join the shouting and commotion and I fell to the floor in a heap. I thought I heard gunshots as I sat back up, but my eyes were blackening. As my cheek hit the floor again, I saw a tall figure approaching me, dressed all in black with a black mask on to match. Only, his eyes weren’t black, they were a beautiful grey and it was the last part of life I saw before mine was about to end, or at least, so I thought…
* * *
“Eve?”
I blinked a few times, feeling the familiar sting that came each time I came back down from a daydream.
Or day-nightmare, I liked to call them.
“Hmm?” I looked at Maddison and waited for her to speak.
“You were daydreaming,” she smiled. “Chris told me to come and ask you for the USB you borrowed?”
It took me a second to even register what she’d said but as soon as it hit me, I fumbled for the USB and handed it to her, smiling.
“You okay?”
I nodded, “Yeah, just tired - rough night.”
She snorted and nodded, “Me too.”
I doubted my night was any way the type of night Maddison was referring to.
She was a model - drop dead gorgeous with blonde hair and killer long legs, and she always looked amazing. Her nights were eventful, whilst mine were eventful but only in my mind.
I had blonde hair too, but was missing the thigh gap and perfect wardrobe she had, instead, I had huge hips and a huge arse to match…
“Oh, by the way, you’ve gotta come see the new guys that just started. They’re hot as frig!”
“New guys? But we’re like half-way through the course already?”
“Yep,” she nodded. “I’m not complaining though,” she grinned and said bye before heading back to the main classroom.
I couldn’t help but smile at how excited Maddison was. She was always energetic at the best of times and sometimes it got a bit annoying, even though she was really nice considering how she looked. Most girls who looked like her were total bitches, and most of the girls here were younger than me because I started college a little later than most…
I had a job in a café and loved it too much to leave. At least, that was what I’d told myself. Really, I guess I’d just settled because my head had been such a mess after my parents had died a year ago. It hadn’t been until one day, making my fiftieth cappuccino that day that I realised I wanted more. I had signed up to college and started studying photography shortly after. It was something I was always passionate about and my parents had bought me an expensive camera for my sixteenth birthday which I used religiously.
I blinked a few times, trying to shake the familiar uneasiness that came with my usual nightly and daily nightmares. No matter where I went, no matter how many counsellors that tried to rack my brains for answers, they still haunted me.
I’d put an end to the therapy, once I started college. I might be known at home as the girl whose parents had been kidnapped and murdered but here, at college, I was able to be completely invisible and just go about with my work.
I reached for my drink just as people started entering the Mac room, only to find my bottle was empty. My water intake was the only thing keeping my body functioning and it was currently empty. I rolled my eyes and got up. Leaving my account logged in, I went into the hallway to the water dispenser.
Taking a moment to myself, I slouched against the wall and sipped at my drink and rubbed my head. The hall was empty apart from me and I closed my eyes briefly to try and stop the stinging not only in them but in my head. It had been thumping all morning and made me feel so unwell. I considered just saving my project on the Mac and going home but instead, I headed back into the room where everyone was currently working.
As I walked back into the Mac room, I brushed my hair back with my hand and glanced around for my seat and Mac, only to frown when I saw a guy currently occupying my seat and talking to Maddison who sat beside him.
I took a slow walk down the chairs and to the Mac to confirm it was indeed mine that had been taken.
“You’re using my Mac,” I said before realising I was speaking my thoughts out loud.
It surely wasn’t hard to see that my account was logged in and this guy clearly didn’t care. The fact that I already felt like crap and the thought
that this tool may well have lost my full work-load from that morning, riled me up more than it probably should have.
The guy turned around and caught me off guard with his striking good looks. Maddison wasn’t kidding. He was seriously hot and I found myself staring into his grey eyes like a fool. He must have noticed because he revealed a set of dazzling white teeth that complimented his face perfectly. He had dark short hair that was styled and I could see through his t-shirt that he was incredibly well built.
Maddison’s giggle knocked me from my obvious perving and I felt my whole face heat like a ball of lava as the guy in front of me continued smirking.
“Hi,” he eventually said, but as I looked around and back at him, I noticed his face had turned serious; like I had suddenly turned into a ghost. It made me feel really uncomfortable as he looked me up and down like he’d seen me before, or something.
“Your Mac?” he asked.
Damn, Australian.
“Yes, my Mac. I was using this Mac, did you even save my work before nabbin’ it?” I said, looking around him at the screen.
“Nabbin’ it?” His smirk was back and he looked me over again. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise they were assigned,” he added.
“They’re not.” Maddison piped up.
What the fuck?
I seriously was not in the mood for this. I felt so ill that I considered just walking away but the Australian guy moved and gestured for me to pass him like royalty.
I frowned at him but took the seat back at my Mac and logged back in.
He must have moved to the table behind because I could hear Maddison’s annoying giggle over whatever he was saying.
“Fuck sake,” I said quietly. It turned out that the dozy shit had indeed lost a chunk of my work from that morning and I sat back in my seat and groaned.
“Problem?” Australian guy came into my space quickly, causing me to shift to a side to look at him.
He smelled so good and him just looking at me made me feel self-conscious. I hated how I let pretty boys affect me so easily.
“Who even are you?” I asked, glaring at him.
“They call me Kit,” he sat down in the spare seat beside mine and glanced over at Maddison who sat at the table behind us with her long legs on display.
“Because I’m fast like a rabbit…” he winked which awarded him a giggle from Maddison and an awkward look from me.
“Kits are what they call baby rabbits… and baby rabbits grow into…”
“I got it,” I nodded. “You’re fast like a horny rabbit, right?” I rolled my eyes and got up.
As I reached for the door, I glanced back to see him smirking at me and checking me out, then the door opened, nearly swiping me.
“Sorry, sweetheart, are you okay?”
“Err,” I began mumbling and wondered how messed up my head had gotten as I looked back at Kit and at his very similar copy that now stood in front of me.
The copy laughed. “We’re brothers, not identical. We’re actually not even the same age but we look the same. I’m Nick,” he smiled and offered me his hand.
“Ah, makes sense.” I shook his hand and felt super awkward under the contact.
“Eve, right?” he asked.
“Yeah… but how do you know that?” I eyed Nick as he looked at Kit and then back to me as if he’d just screwed something up.
“I heard Chris asking Maddison to get something from you, I just assumed…” he smiled and I noticed the dimples he had that I hadn’t noticed on Kit.
I nodded and smiled as he moved out of the way for me to walk through.
Once I was out of sight, I took a deep breath and let go of the social awkwardness I felt being around hot guys and headed back to the main classroom where I took on some written work.
As I settled, Chris, our tutor, came over and crouched in front of my desk.
“How’s the editing going?” he beamed at me. He was referring to my photos that I had been working on all morning and just as he spoke, I noticed Maddison returning with both Kit and Nick.
Kit looked over at us and kept his eyes on Chris, and I wondered why.
“Good,” I nodded. I really didn’t want to talk. I still felt ill and was praying for the day to just be over so I could go to bed.
As the rest of the class descended back into this room, Chris moved to the front of the room where he began explaining his next project for us.
“In this bowl, I have written subjects on pieces of paper and folded them, and in pairs, you’ll pick a paper from the bowl and that will be your project. Each subject will require your own photos, research and your choice of inspiration based on the subject you choose. So, just go with whoever is closest to you.”
I looked from my left to my right and noticed Maddison was closest so she smiled and edged closer.
Chris came to us first and Maddison reached out with her polished fingernails and picked out a piece of paper, then took her time unfolding the piece as Chris moved on to the next students.
I watched as Maddison’s face scrunched up. “Fitness, come on, Chris. Let one of the guys do that, give us flowers or something.”
“I’ll swap, we got weddings.”
I looked over at Kit who looked disgusted by the piece of paper he had chosen.
“No swaps. A photographer may choose what they wish to photograph but they must also learn different skills, especially if you get a job being told what to photograph.”
Maddison sighed and I gave her a sympathetic look, rubbing my forehead.
I wanted to beg Chris to hurry up so I could get some fresh air. He’d let us go our separate ways after explaining how to start our projects and I was going to go straight outside.
“I want to see real inspiration here, people, not just sections from a magazine. Be different, surprise me,” he grinned and headed back to the front of the room which usually suggested we were free to proceed.
“You wanna go to the library and see what we can find?” Maddison asked.
I nodded, I’d have agreed to anything at that point, and I followed her into the hallway where she rushed up behind Kit and Nick.
“As if we got weddings,” Nick said.
“Yeah, good luck trying to get good shots of that,” Maddison said as we reached the stairs and a funny thought came to mind. I snorted out loud and it even shocked myself.
“What’s so funny?” Nick asked as they both looked back at me.
“Nothing,” I said casually and carried on walking past them, I needed to get outside for some air.
“What’s the joke, Blondie?” Kit said after me and every fibre in my body froze on edge before I looked back at him.
“Blondie?” I questioned him.
“You don’t like it? I could always call you bae. Or fat ass?”
I glared at him, deciding instantly that I didn’t like him.
“I was just thinking, you could always dress Kit up in a wedding dress and take photos, you could use crossdresser as a reference and an inspiration…”
I smiled as Nick burst out with laughter and placed his hand on Kit’s shoulder for support.
Smiling at Kit I turned around to carry on down the stairs.
“She owned you there, mate,” he said as I took a few more steps down.
“Shut up,” Kit replied. “That’s funny, have you ever seen a gym before let alone photographed one?” he said after me and I spun around and looked directly at him as he passed me.
Thankfully no one else was on the stairs but us, because we’d stopped at least three times already.
“I didn’t realise me having a joke and defending myself would result in you crying and insulting me again,” I said before pushing past him.
“I didn’t insult you…” he said after me.
“You called me fat, you lying little shit, and then backed it up by insinuating I’d never been to a gym before…” I bit back.
“I said you had a fat ass, not that you were fat. Having a fat ass
is a good thing. It doesn’t mean fat like you think it does.”
“Don’t try and hide the fact you called me fat, I can handle...”
Catching my breath in my throat, I fell before I had a chance to finish my sentence, and boy did I fall…
I’d somehow cockled sideward onto my ankle and I fell headfirst against the railings, it knocked the colour from my eyes and the shock caused my body to react and just before my eyes closed and I passed out, I felt someone grab me.
I mumbled as I woke, my head feeling like it was the size of a rugby ball. I clamped my eyes shut as the pressure became too much.
“I don’t know where she lives, we’re not close,” I heard Maddison say.
“Eve, where do you live?” Maddison asked.
I scrunched up my face as her words hurt my head and I cuddled back into the warmth that I’d found.
“Fuck it, I’m taking her,” the familiar accent caught me off guard and as much as I wanted to wake up so he couldn’t see me like this, my body was on complete shutdown and my head went numb again as exhaustion took over.
I felt myself being shifted a few times until I once more settled into the warmth and then everything went peaceful for a long time until I finally woke up.
I stared at the ceiling and blinked a few times, rubbing my head. I hissed and closed my eyes before adjusting myself to what had happened.
I shot up so fast that I cursed and grabbed my head once more.
“Woah, calm down.”
I searched the unfamiliar room for the source of his voice and I found Kit in a chair in the corner of the room. He was leaning forward and holding his hands up together against his chin like a businessman overseeing everything.
