Over the Hills and Far Away (NOLA's Own #1) (49 page)

His eyes shone down into mine, and I felt the buzz of excited energy zipping through him. “You liked?”

“I
loved.
”

“Good,” he said. He grinned.

Alys and Lili were giving him their feedback, and X joined us, too. However, I wasn’t paying any attention to them, and neither was Phil. We were just lost in each other’s eyes while the rest of the world could go to hell.

All it took for me to let him in completely was to hear him sing the songs of my childhood. There’s no going back now. If he ever thinks of leaving me, I’ll be the one who’ll need to be locked up because I’ll never leave him alone.

Phil totally got the gist of my thoughts, too. His eyes lit up like the Fourth of July, and he gave me the Lady Killer before lifting me up and planting a very inappropriate kiss on me—in front of everyone
.

“Phil!” I gasped, pulling back and blushing madly.

“Fuck ’em!” he growled, going in for seconds.

“Stop it!” I hissed.

He laughed at my flaming face. “I adore you, Baby Girl.”

“I adore you, too,” I huffed.

X cleared his throat, and we both turned our heads to look at Alys, Lili, and X.

Shit, we completely forgot they were even there.

Phil looked at me and bit his lip to keep from going full-on Lady Killer again. “Hungry?”

“I could eat,” I replied.

“Go find someplace to sit. I’ll get us some grub.”

“All right,” I said and smiled.

X looked at Alys. “Can I get you some grub, too?”

She blushed and smiled shyly.

Uh-oh.

“Sure,” she answered.

X beamed and followed Phil, looking back once more to throw her a really sweet smile.

“No, that’s cool. I can get my own plate. Thanks,” said Lili sarcastically. She made her way to the buffet. “Asses.”

Free of his woman, poor Phil immediately got flanked by Erika and Becca. We saw Lili’s shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter, and X was laughing with her.

“I think X has the hots for you,” I said to Alys as we made our way to a picnic table.

“Or he just wants to get laid,” she replied dryly.

“I get the feeling it’s more than that.”

She said nothing, but she smiled all the same.

They returned with heaps of food. After dropping our plates on the table, Phil actually lifted me and deposited me on his lap, making me straddle one of his thighs so that I could face forward to eat. He kept me securely anchored to him with an arm wrapped around my waist.

Flipper and Vivian sat down in front of us, and X parked it next to Alys. Lili quickly snatched the spot on Phil’s right side, taking it right under Becca’s nose.

Phil was so thankful and impressed that he dropped a kiss on top of her dark head.

“You’re awesome, Pygmy.”

“I try.”

The guys began telling us stories about how they’d practically lived here as kids. X had lost his virginity in the tree house, and that had made Erika turn beet red while the rest of us howled with laughter. At some point, Sheri brought us all some beers, which Alys and X both declined due to driving responsibilities.

“We should get the shit back in the garage before we’re too fat ’n’ sassy to move,” said Flipper.

“Too fuckin’ right,” grunted Phil. Kissing my cheek, he said, “We’ll just break down, and then I’m all yours, yeah?”

“Do what you gotta do,” I replied.

We all got up as the guys traipsed off. Sheri, Alys, Lili, and I decided to help the food settle by hanging out in a little circle next to the bar.

“I’ve never seen Phil so happy,” Sheri said shyly. “I didn’t know he had such a sweet side, and it just blazes through when he looks at you—which is all the time really.” She laughed.

“Jason looks at you the same way,” remarked Alys. “Aren’t you guys together?”

Sheri shrugged. “I’m not sure what we are really.”

“Speak of the devil,” Lili said, spotting Jason heading our way.

We all clammed up as he strolled over, and he draped his arm around Sheri’s thin shoulders. I was surprised she hadn’t buckled under the weight of it.

“What’s up, ladies?” drawled Jason in a lazy, laid-back sort of way.

“Just remarking about how sweet Phil has become since finding his Baby Girl,” said Sheri, a genuine smile on her face. “I never knew he had this side to him. It’s like he’s transformed.”

Jason let loose a derisive snort, “Yeah, okay.”

With that, the atmosphere turned bitter, acidic. Beside me, Alys and Lili bristled, and I felt it, too. This was going nowhere good.

“He has,” Sheri insisted, throwing him a glare.

“Into a pussy maybe.”

Removing his arm from around her shoulders, she shot a shrewd glare his way. “What? Are you drunk?”

“Nope.”

“Then, why are you being such a jerk?” she demanded.

Okay…this is extremely awkward.

“I’m just sayin’ how it is. I just don’t see what’s so special about any of it. Now, when he was with Brigid, I could see somethin’ in
that
. She was awesome.”

Lili hissed like a cat.

Who the fuck is Brigid?

“Jason!” Sheri admonished.

He simply shrugged. “To be honest, Phil was a lot more fun after the show we played at Bougainvillea. That’s the night we met Sheri. Did you know that?” His eyes flashed with malicious intent, and his smile slicked his gorgeous face with pure evilness. His hateful gaze was directed at me. “He busted me and Sheri in the van—”

Alys gasped and pointed at poor Sheri. “Silver Tissue Paper!” she ejected like a bad case of Tourette’s.

Lili and I both stared at Sheri in shock—and yeah, maybe a little bit of horror as well.

Holy shit, Sheri is
that
girl! She was one of the five sleazeballs in high heels, the one who tried to shove Alys out of her spot! No wonder she fucking looked so familiar!

“Ja-Jason, don’t!” she cried, tears welling up and spilling out. “
Please
, don’t do this!” The blood drained from her face, and she looked…
terrified.

Why is he doing this to her?

“Yeah, he busted me nailin’ her from behind—”

“Ugh!” grunted Lili, completely disgusted.

I knew it wasn’t because he had nailed Sheri from behind but because he had the nerve to stand there and tell us about it—and in front of her, too.

“Jason,
please—
” she begged him, choking up and shaking like a leaf.

“So, Phil dropped his fly and told her to suck him off. Shocked the shit out me. He was always such a prude. But that was a fun night. He ended up bangin’ the shit out of your friend after you sucked him dry. Right, babe? What was her name? Linda? Lindsey? I forget.”

The bottom of the universe fell away, leaving nothing for my soul to stand on. Floating in a sick sense of limbo, my brain, my heart…it was as though they had no idea what to do with this information. Shriveled up and confused, they berated me for opening myself up to this. Something within me crumbled.

That night had meant
everything
to me. It had meant so much that the kiss we shared had made it impossible for me to even
think
of allowing another man to touch me for nearly six years.

Phil hadn’t bothered to wait six
hours
before he was getting head and fucking some chick.

Wow.

I’m going to be sick. Even my heart feels nauseous.

“Hey, wasn’t that the night y’alls met?” Jason asked, feigning innocence and tilting his beer bottle in my direction.

It felt as though all my blood pooled in my gut and then fell to my feet. A buzzing, hollow ringing ricocheted around between my ears.

“Yeah, guess you weren’t so special after all,” he sneered.

I heard the words Phil had spoken to me earlier.

“My whole life, I’ve searched for you, waited for you, hoped and prayed I’d find you one day.”

What utter bullshit.

“Ke-kenna,” Sheri whispered brokenly. Poor girl was openly weeping. She looked how I felt on the inside. “I-I’m s-so—”

Laughing, Jason lightly elbowed her in the ribs. “And
that
is how you take a bitch down a peg or two!”

“Fuck
that!” snarled Alys.

With the speed of a striking snake, she swooped down and arced up, planting a spectacular uppercut to Jason Jones’s overinflated nut sac. The air
whooshed
from his lungs, and he dropped to the ground like a sack of wet meal.

“And
that
, ladies, is how you take a douche bag down a peg or three!”

“Holy shit!” X yelled, coming from around the side of the house. “What happened?” he shouted as he jogged over.

“Kenna—” Sheri choked.

“It’s fine, Sheri. No worries.”
It’s
not
fine. My heart has just curled up and died.

Alys and Lili pulled in ranks around me.

“What do you want to do?” asked Lili.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” I whispered.

People were starting to take notice of the situation.

“I need to go home.”

“We need to go now then,” said Alys, also noting our growing audience. “Our stuff?”

“Living room,” replied Lili.

“Hurry, before we’re stopped,” commanded Alys, grasping my elbow and yanking me toward the sliding glass kitchen door.

As one, we turned and booked it into the house. In the living room, we found our bags and grabbed them just as Mr. Deveraux came out from fucking
nowhere.

“Hey, girls! I was just coming to…” He took one look at my face, and I didn’t know what it was he saw, but he knew something was very, very wrong. “Are you all right?”

“It was a pl-pleasure me-meeting y-you, Mr. De-Deveraux—”
Fuck! Can I please quit shaking for two minutes? For the love of all that’s fucking holy!

“What has Philip done?” His voice contained that deadly ring that must be hereditary because I would hear it in Phil’s voice at least five times a day.

Well, sir, your son lied to me. He told me the night we’d met actually meant something to him when not even an hour after we’d lost each other, he had gotten head in the back of a van by one skank before proceeding to bang her friend directly after. Now that I know this, I’m questioning everything I’ve put myself through these past six years, including a diabolical stint of self-imposed celibacy, all in the name of the love I carried in my heart for your son. I would like to escape this whole fucking situation, so I can figure out how I’m supposed to fuse the pieces of my shattered soul back together and continue on with my life.

“Uh…”
Brilliant. Fucking brilliant. Med tech graduate, and all I can do is grunt. Wonderful.

“Don’t go anywhere!”
he told me, jabbing a finger in my general direction.

What the fuck is it with the men in this fucking family telling me not to fucking go anywhere?

“Philip!” Louis roared, stomping out of the room.

When he was out of sight, I hissed, “Go! Go! Go!”

We hauled ass out the front door. Halfway to the car, Alys clicked the unlock button, and we started running. Out of habit, Lili literally dived into the backseat, and I wrenched open the passenger door, only to find the seat so far forward that I could not get the fuck in.

“Lili, you absolute pygmy!” I cursed as I searched for the handle. I found it and forced the seat back.

Alys had the key turning in the ignition, and I was finally able to throw myself into the car just as the front door to the house exploded open with a crash, and Phil burst out.

“Kenna!” His voice thundered. Even from this distance, in the fading light, he saw my face distorted with raw anguish and naked fury.

I slammed the door shut.

“
No
!” he bellowed as he started to run.

Alys clicked on the automatic four-door lock and stepped on it just as Phil’s huge hand banged on the car.

“Fuck, he’s fast!” screamed Lili, flipping him the bird.

Alys gunned it. “Shit, that was scary!” she shouted. “And I don’t even know why! It’s not like he’d hurt any of us.”

A hysterical giggle escaped out of Lili. “Shit, I feel like we’re all in some serious, serious trouble.”

“Right?” shouted Alys. She must be completely amped up on adrenaline. Usually, she never shouted for anything other than a good concert.

I was having a mental breakdown, dissolving into heaving dry sobs.

“Give her some air!” Lili cried.

Alys cracked my window.

“That bastard!” I cried. “That rat fucking bastard! He told me he’d been dreaming every day of being reunited when he couldn’t even keep it in his pants for more than an hour after we’d gotten kicked out! He made me believe he’d been heartbroken all these fucking years when the bottom line was that I would have just been the chick in the back of the fucking van!”

“You don’t know that, Kenna,” said Alys, her volume returning to normal. It was probably an attempt to calm me
.

When was the last time I was even in a fit of rage?

“You need to talk to him,” Alys added.

“You have every right to be this upset, Kenna,” Lili said.

Alys opened her mouth.

“Shut up, Alys! Don’t downplay this!” snapped Lili. “Kenna, you did the right thing, getting out of there. Who knows what kind of scene you would’ve made if you hadn’t? You just need to get your shit together and be calm when you
do
talk to him. That
asshole
! How dare he tag two bitches
that night
!”

“Right?
Right!
I went six fucking years without any fucking dick while he hadn’t waited twenty-four fucking hours!”

“Kenna—” said Alys in a reprimanding tone.

“I’m not stupid! He’s told me himself that he has no clue how many holes he’s been in—”

“Ew!” barked Lili from the backseat.

“But to get sucked off by the Silver Tissue Slut and then fuck one of the other ones on top of it?”

“Good call on that recognition, Alys,” Lili’s voice chimed.

“For real,” I concurred.

“Thanks!” chirped Alys brightly. “Kenna, Phil
loves
you. And you…you just ran away from him with no explanation—”