Bigger Than the Sky (Serenity Point) (24 page)

When I sit, he asks how things went at the garage and I tell him how my day went then I ask him about his. He tells me about the bathroom he’s redoing at some guy’s house in Seaford. He’s finished his third taco when he asks about Aidan.

“He’s a partner in my firm.”

As he chews, he watches me, waiting for more. When I don’t give it to him, he says, “And?”

“And I dated him for almost a year.”

He sits back in his chair then reaches for his beer, taking a long pull from the bottle. He places it back on the table and sits for a minute more. “You love him?”

I frown. “Oh, God, no. Found out he was married and broke up with him about seven months ago.”

“Sounds like a real winner.” He’s staring at me probably wondering why I gave him such a hard time about Missy when I thought he was going out with a married woman, and here I’m guilty of it myself. Well, going out with a married man, not a woman.

“Yeah.” I look at him. “I honestly didn’t know he was married. If I had, I never would’ve gone there.”

I can tell he’s kind of pissed about this, but he had to have known I dated some after I left.

“How many?” he says.

“What?” I ask not sure what he’s wanting to know.

“How fucking many?” He slams his hand on the table.

Shit!

I jump about a foot in the air, and from his scowl, I gather he’s wanting to know how many men I went out with since him, which kind of pisses me off now because he went out with so many.

“Two, Kade.
Only
two.”

“You fuck them?” His eyes are boring into mine and I’m thinking this really isn’t fair.

“Really?” I can’t believe he’d go there with me with all the notches he’s earned on his bedpost since we broke up.

“Yeah. Really,” he spits hatefully.

“Oh, my God. You can’t be mad at me when you slept with how many women? I can’t even believe you’re go-”

“
You fuck them?”
he yells and scares the shit out of me again, and I stand, tired of this inquisition.

“Yes! Yes, I fucked them! Happy now?” I go to the counter and start putting things away knowing I’ll be sleeping at the garage tonight because he’s being ridiculous right now.

“Not even close.” He stands up so quickly, his chair falls down behind him and when I see him stalking toward me, I frown because I have no idea what he’s going to do.

I turn to face him, leaning my butt against the counter. “Kade, it’s not what you th-”

He spins me around and presses his body against me, his hands on either side of mine on the counter. “You like fucking them?” he says close to my ear.

“Kade…”

Ah. I get it. He was my first. He was my only for a long time. I guess like me, he didn’t think of me being with anyone else, so I know exactly where he’s coming from. But his realization is amped up with testosterone, so I’m not quite sure if what he’s feeling is the same as I did.

His hand moves forward coming to my belly then his fingers strum at the hem of my fitted button down chambray shirt. His other hand comes up to hold my chin, keeping me pressed against him. I know he won’t hurt me, but I’m not sure I like how this is going.

“You let them touch you here?” he asks when his fingers move under my shirt and over my stomach, against the spandex tank top I’m wearing.

“Kade…”

He glides his hand up and grabs my breast roughly. “They touch you here?”

He’s mad and now I know I don’t like how this is going. I try to move away from him but he keeps me where I am. He unbuttons my shirt and pulls it off my shoulders, throwing it to the side. I can feel his heart hammering against my back. God, he’s so angry.

“Kade, you’re mad. This isn’t a good idea,” I say while one hand moves up over my tank then dips down into the top of it where he grabs my breast again and rolls my nipple between his thumb and finger, the other hand slipping into my jeans and cupping me. My body betrays me as I moan and my head goes back against his chest.

“You like their hands on you?”

And now I’m alert again, out of the fog he just put me in and I succeed in stepping away from him.

“I understand how you feel right now. I know it hurts, and I’m sorry.” I look at him and his eyes flash at me, God, so angry. “I should go,” I say as I bend and put my shirt back on leaving it unbuttoned. I
grab my purse off the desk in the kitchen and go to the mudroom, pulling my coat off a hook and then I’m out the door. As far as I know, Kade’s still standing there looking daggers at where I last stood.

Chapter 23

I call Cassie on my way home and tell her what happened.

“How can he be that mad? He slept with a ton of women and I forgave him.”

“He’s a man. It’s the old double standard bullshit. Guess it’s the fact that men think they can jab their dick inside anyone and anything and it’s not that big a deal. But a woman actually takes someone inside, know what I mean? I can kinda understand where he’s coming from yet not.”

“Well, that clears everything up,” I say with a humorless chuckle.

“Hey, I’m just as clueless as you are when it comes to this shit.”

“Oh, Brody called Kade and told him that Aidan’s at Jen’s talking shit on me, I guess. What should I do?”

“Oh, I’ve got to see this guy!” she exclaims. “I’m coming into town. I’ll meet you at the garage.”

I sigh. “You can go. I don’t wanna see him.”

“’Kay! I’ll call Lacey to go!”

“No!” I yell. “She doesn’t know about Aidan, does she?” Great. Cassie told her about my affair with a married man.

“It might’ve slipped out. We were drunk at some conference we went to last year. Sorry. But I only told her because she told me about the same thing happening to her! She totally understands, Mill.”

“Note to self: Never tell you anything I don’t want someone else to know because you’ll get drunk and blab,” I mumble.

“C’mon, Mill. That’s one thing I’ve told in over twenty years. And Lacey was crying. I had to make her feel better.”

“Whatever. Anyway, fine, go. Just don’t start any shit with him.”

We hang up just as I pull up into town. The clock on the bank says it’s almost nine. Well, I’m opening tomorrow, so I needed a good night’s sleep anyway.

~~~

I’m awakened by someone pounding on the door downstairs. I sit up and wait to hear it again in case I was only dreaming I heard it, but, nope, not a dream. Someone’s really beating the shit out of the front door. When I turn on my lamp, I look at my alarm to see it’s two seventeen and groan. Good grief. Then I see my phone flash and pick it up. I turned the sound off because I didn’t want to get into it with Kade in case he called, but now I see Cassie’s calling.

“What?” I answer.

“Mill! He’s fucking hot!” she says then giggles. She’s got me on speaker and I hear Lacey giggling in the background.

“You guys are drunk. Don’t you have school tomorrow?”

“We’re taking a personal day!” More giggles.

The pounding on the door begins again. “You didn’t happen to tell Aidan where my garage is, did you?”

“No! He guessed! I mean, there are only two stations in town. It’s not hard to figure out which one has a garage. And he told me he already knew about your grandparents and that their last name was Hale.”

“I think he’s downstairs knocking.” I know it’s not Kade. He has a key.

“Lacey! Aidan’s at the garage!”

“You’d better not answer, Mill! Kade was at Jen’s scoping him out!”

Ugh. “I don’t have time for this shit,” I mumble.

“Want us to come over and help you out?” Cass offers.

“No! Was Kade drinking?” I ask thinking I can call him to see if he can help out.

“He was trashed!” Lacey calls out.

And the night just keeps getting better. The pounding starts again. “Is Brody working?”

“Think so. Call him!” Cass answers.

“I will. You guys be careful. You’re not driving, are you?”

“No. Randy’s giving us a ride to Lacey’s. Say hi to Randy!”

Lord. “Hey, Randy. How are you?” I ask. He graduated high school a year ahead of us and is now an electrician.

“Hey, Mill. I’m good. See you’re still a drama magnet.” He chuckles. He was there when I’d flipped shit on Peyton at the prom.

“Always,” I reply shaking my head. “Okay, calling Brody. You guys be safe. Talk to you later. Bye, Randy.”

I hang up and call Brody twice. He didn’t answer the first time, but I get him the second time.

“Yeah?” he answers sleepily.

“Brody, It’s Amelia. I’m sorry to wake you, but do you think you could come help me out?”

“Why? What’s going on?” He’s alert now and I hear him sitting up.

“Well, that guy that was in Jen’s tonight? He’s an old boyfriend and I think he’s about to knock down my door.”

“Where’s Kade?”

“He and I kinda got into it. And now I guess he’s drunk, so I really don’t want him here,” I explain.

I hear him making a weird sound with his breath and I figure he’s rubbing a hand over his face quickly trying to wake up. “’Kay. I’ll be there in five.”

“Thanks, Brody,” I say and hang up. I get up and put my robe on then head downstairs.

When I come around the corner, I see Aidan is really at my door, his hands cupped on the glass as he peers inside. Oh, yay. I huff out a breath then go to the door and open it.

“Amelia!” he says drunkenly then staggers a bit as he tries to get in the door. “Can I come in?”

I block him because I really don’t want him here. “I’d rather you not. What are you doing here, Aidan?”

“I miss you, duck,” he whines, “duck” sounding like “dook” which rhymes with “book.” He’d had to spell it for me to realize what he was saying. We’d had a good laugh over it then. It’s not so funny now.

“Go home, Aidan.”

“But, love, I miss you so much,” he says, again trying to push his way inside.

Brody finally pulls up in his truck and gets out, thank God. “Hey, buddy, you might wanna go get yourself a room,” he says to Aidan trying to pull him away from my door.

Aidan jerks himself free and spins on Brody, almost falling in the process. “Keep your hands off me, you wanker!” Aidan hisses. Oh, lord.

Brody cracks up. “Wanker? Seriously?” He looks at me like, would you get a load of this guy?

“Who is this, Amelia?” Aidan asks.

“His name is Brody. Let him take you to the motel,” I tell him.

“Come on, buddy. I’ll take you to Shull’s. You can sleep it off, okay?” Brody puts an arm around Aidan’s shoulders and leads him toward his truck.

“I’ll be back tomorrow, Amelia!” Aidan yells back at me. “I guess I am a bit pissed tonight.”

“He means drunk, Mill!” Brody looks at me with glee, proud that he knows what Aidan’s said.

I snort as I nod.”Thanks, Brody.” I wave at them as they drive away, Brody taking them to the other end of town where Aidan can book a room in Mr. and Mrs. Shull’s motel they’ve owned since before I was born.

I start to go in and hear Kade call out my name. I stop and hang my head. What else is going to happen tonight? I turn to face him and when he gets near, I stiffen because I don’t want to argue anymore and I’m sure he just saw Aidan here.

“Was that him?” he asks.

“Yes, that was him,” I answer and see that he’s most definitely trashed.

“Baby, I’m sorry,” he says, then puts a hand behind my head and pulls me in for a kiss.

I taste the whiskey he’s been drinking but his kissing technique does not suffer due to his drunkenness. No, he’s a great kisser and even drunk, his kiss is mind blowing.

“Can I stay with you tonight?” he asks sweetly. And this is something I’ve forgotten about him. He’s always been the sweetest drunk and that makes me giggle. “What, baby?” He smiles goofily down at me.

“I love you. Yes, you can stay with me,” I say.

He leans down and rubs his nose a little clumsily against mine, which makes me giggle more. “Love you too, Mill.”

I take his hand and lead him inside then upstairs where he immediately falls on my bed and passes out.

I take his boots off then climb in bed, pulling the covers over us. As I stare at the ceiling before falling asleep, I have to admit that even though tonight was kind of shitty, having Kade here beside me is the nicest thing that’s happened to me since I woke up next to him this morning.

~~~

The next morning I’m up and at it at six. It’s our opening day! I sit at the counter downstairs drinking coffee and working on the computer looking at the information I recently entered. I’d found Meemaw’s ledger last week, as in a physical ledger book, and entered the information into a ledger program I’d downloaded online then I’d created balance sheets for each quarter. I’d only entered the past three years’ worth of information but planned to go as far back as ten when I download my own software.

Clara and Jason come in at seven and Chance shows up at a quarter after. The garage doesn’t open until eight, so they’re all early which is promising. I go over some things I’d forgotten to tell them yesterday morning and when I’m finished, I hear Kade moving around upstairs. I’d left some aspirin and a glass of ice water on the nightstand for him and I’m hoping he found it. I hear the shower start and guess he’s okay, but I go up and check on him anyway as my employees busy themselves getting prepared for opening time.

Upstairs, I stick my head into the bathroom and say, “Good morning.”

Kade looks out around the curtain and smiles sheepishly at me. “Hi, babe.”

God, he’s insanely hot. His hair’s wet and dripping at the ends and that chest. Damn. “Just making sure you found the aspirin.”

“Yeah, I got it. Thanks.”

“Welcome.” I give him a small smile. This is kind of awkward and I worry for a second that we’ve hit a wall and things won’t go back to normal.

“Sorry,” he offers then. “I was an asshole. You know I’ve always been insanely jealous when it comes to you.” He looks at me regretfully. “Forgive me?”

I go to him now not able to stay away any longer. “You’re forgiven,” I say then tiptoe up as he leans down, and putting my hand to the back of his head, kiss him hard feeling the water from his beard trickle onto my face and down my chin, which makes me giggle and I pull away. “Coffee’s on downstairs. And it’s my first day!”