Her green eyes lose their happiness. “They’re dead,” she says and turns around to walk to the cars. Crap, my heart tightens.
Chapter 9
Kailey
I purposely didn’t tell Trey about my parents. How many horrible things can you inform someone about your life before they cross you off, thinking you’re bad luck? Starting a conversation with ‘I lost my parents when I was ten due to drunkenness, and, no, it wasn’t someone else’s fault but my fathers’, isn’t the best way to keep someone around. There was no one to blame, except the first man I ever loved. The same man that taught me to ride a bike and fly a kite. He’s the one who left me an orphan due to a careless decision to drink too much at a holiday party and wrap his car around a pole with my mother inside.
Lucky for me, my parents had Jen and me so far apart; I didn’t go into foster care, but was able to live with my sister. She turned her life upside down for me, leaving the college she had been attending and coming back home to care for me. We made it work, though. She transferred to Western, and during the first few summers I stayed at Aunt Holly’s while she took a full course load to try and graduate early. She got a part-time job in the library. That was how she met Caden. He’s was in the reference section of the library, doing research for his thesis, when he stumbled across my sister looking a little bewildered. He smoothly asked her if she knew where a certain reference could be located, knowing it didn’t exist. But the wild goose chase turned into coffee, which turned into dinner, and the rest is history.
After that first summer at Aunt Holly’s, I got off the plane to find Jen waiting with Caden by her side. She’d mentioned him briefly on the phone, but to find him there with his arm wrapped around her was surprising. A small giggle hits me remembering how mean I was to him. Jen would hire a babysitter for them to go out, and I would answer the door telling him she was gone, or sometimes just slamming the door in his face. My sister was all I had left, and he was interfering. If I was being truthful, I was scared she would leave me like our parents. Oh poor Caden, what a trooper he was.
“I’ll bring you back tomorrow,” Trey’s voice tears me out of my memories. I pick up my head and must look confused because he clarifies, “For your car.” He motions with his head.
“You assume I’ll be sleeping over,” I joke, my best defense mechanism, but he just gives me a tight smile and opens the door for me.
Before he shuts it, he reminds me, “You said you wanted me alone. The stipulation is in my bed for the night.” He chuckles quietly and the door clicks shut, leaving his last statement hanging in the air.
See, he gets me. I needed humor in that moment and he understood it. We make the drive back to the house they all share in silence. I’ve only ever heard about it, I’ve never actually stepped foot in there. When he pulls his car in the driveway, there’s a line of cars and a feeling of dread, not able to be alone, comes over me. “We live so close to downtown, we walk a lot. They might not be home,” he assures me, getting out of the car.
We enter through the back door into the kitchen, and he’s wrong because a group of guys is sitting around the table, slinging back shots with a pile of cards in front of them. I spot Dex, but I don’t recognize the others. They all stop what they’re doing and eye us at the door.
“TREY!” a guy yells.
“About time, grab a chair,” another says.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Trey says to one of them with dark spiky hair. Instantly the guy stands and walks toe to toe with him.
“Isn’t she a little too girl next door for you?” The guy stares me up and down, making me inch behind Trey slightly.
“Fuck off, jackass,” Trey places his arm in front of me, scooting me the rest of the way behind him.
“Give it a rest, Rob,” Dex says from his position shuffling the cards.
That’s Rob? Jessa’s ex Rob? Man, he’s an ass, but a hot ass. Not that I would ever tell that to Trey. But the guy’s got a jaw line that could crack marble. No piercings, but just as many tats as Trey.
“Hey, Trey’s never been opposed to me looking at the goods before. What’s up, Michaels? You’ve gone all soft, like Brady? Shit another one loses the battle,” he calls out as he makes a check mark in the air with his finger, and the table of guys laugh. He peeks around Trey, staring directly at my chest. “She might be worth it–might,” he sneers, and Trey’s hand leaves my hip and cracks him across that perfectly lined jaw.
He stumbles back before catching his footing, cupping his chin. “Get used to seeing me, Michaels, since Jessa’s living with her Frat Boy, I’m back in.” He gives Trey a condescending smirk and sits back down, turning his attention to the game.
Trey grabs my hand and two beers before pulling me to the stairs. “I’m gonna fucking kill Brady,” he mumbles as we get to the top of the stairs. And this is exactly my reason for not living with your best friends. Don’t get me wrong Kim and I are acquaintances and go out occasionally, but for the most part, we live separate lives. Unlike this house where all their lives intertwine somehow like a labyrinth.
“Kill me, huh?” Brady appears at the top of the stairs with Sadie two steps behind. If those two ever do anything separate, I’d be floored.
“What the hell? Why would you allow him back in?” Trey shakes his head in disbelief.
“Trey—,” Sadie starts, but Brady places his hand on her arm.
“Listen, Jessa’s living at Grant’s now. He’s down, the band threw him out. I’m sure he’ll find another band soon and leave. I know he’s done some questionable things, but haven’t all of us,” Brady tries to reason, and, surprisingly, Trey relents.
“Don’t expect me to be here much then,” Trey says over his shoulder, walking to his room.
“You have to leave what happened between him and Jessa between them. She’s forgiven him, you should too,” Brady adds, and I just give them an uncomfortable tight smile while being pulled by Trey into his room.
Trey slams the door after we’re both in the room, cracking open the beer, he guzzles half of it down before resting it on the nightstand. Not sure what to do, I stand there in front of his bed, shifting my feet from side to side. “Sorry,” he mumbles, “that guy just knows what buttons to press with me.” He quickly stands and places his arms around me. “This isn’t how I planned this night to go.” Me neither, I think to myself.
“Why do you hate him so much? Other than his vulgar mouth,” I ask, knowing there’s something with Jessa, since they used to date.
“Mostly Jessa, the way he treated her when they were together. The way they broke up, it’s unacceptable the way he treated her,” Trey begins to tell me, but stops and shakes his head. “Enough about the dickhead, I finally have you alone in my bedroom, willingly,” he chuckles.
“Are you telling me you had thoughts of dragging me up here against my will?” I saunter over, positioning my legs on each side of his.
“The idea of tossing you over my shoulder and locking you in my room might have crossed my mind a time or two,” he admits while his hands grab a hold of my ass, pulling me to him.
“I might not have objected,” I say, keeping my voice low and sultry. My hands reach around clasping at the back of his neck. The stubble of his short dark hair rubbing against my palms.
“Let’s not waste any more time.” His hands roam up my back, bringing chills in the wake of his path. Then his tongue licks across his lips before bringing my face to his. At first he’s gentle and soft, letting our lips graze over each other. His teeth tug on my bottom lip, dragging it down, teasingly. My hands firm against his neck, not wanting him to stop. He releases my lips with a pop and smiles up at me before licking his way down my jaw line and up to my earlobe. “I want you tonight,” he whispers and the chills reappear, making my body shiver.