Episode 377
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Diane shuffled with the boxes in her arms now that she attempted to ring
the buzzer to Deidra’s apartment. She drew in a breath thinking about
how she would have much rather stayed in bed and enjoyed a lazy morning, but
instead Ben was off to work and she was here at her sister’s house hoping
to find a way to keep busy until Ben returned home. She heard Deidra buzz
her in and carefully she situated herself and made her way towards the elevators.
She tucked her purse over her shoulder more completely before pushing the
button on the elevator leading up to Deidra’s place.
“Need a hand with that?” Deidra questioned meeting Diane at the
elevator doors. Without awaiting a response from Diane, Deidra reached forward
and took a box from her sister without hesitation. “I was surprised that
you called so early considering I know how you aren’t one to get up before
now on your day off.”
“Ben had a meeting and I didn’t want to waste my time alone in an
empty bed without him,” Diane explained following her sister back to
her apartment. “I figured you wouldn’t mind the company.”
“Not at all. Dean had to go out for a while on his own, so I figured
it was a great time for us to get together,” Deidra replied in confession
as the two women entered her apartment. “I hope you’re hungry. I
made some things.”
“You’re cooking?” Diane arched a curious brow at her sister.
“Yeah, you could say I’ve picked up a few more habits since I’ve
been with Dean,” Deidra smiled proudly, “he brings out the best
in me.”
“It’s better than the alternative,” Diane groaned inwardly
thinking about her sister’s soon to be ex-husband. “Though I have
to tell you Deidra that I honestly don’t know if you’re going to
get rid of old habits as easily as you planned on.”
“What do you mean?” Deidra questioned turning around to face her
again.
“I mean with Andy,” Diane sighed thinking about her last encounter
with Deidra’s former flame. “Something’s changed in him. I
know that he’s a jerk and obviously always has been, but something is
really off with him.”
“You mean other than his mind considering that he thinks he’s actually
got something to go on in trying to keep our marriage in tact,” Deidra
groaned in response.
“Yeah, that’s part of it,” Diane nodded as she and Deidra entered
the kitchen, “but there’s something more. I mean it’s like
when I ran into him the other day he seemed so cold and distant. He’s
always been cocky and that’s not what I’m getting at, but rather
it was like he was someone else.”
“Andy’s had a dual personality for years,” Deidra replied with
a shake of her head, “I really was blind to it for so long, but now I
can see him clearly.”
“So can I and that’s why I’m worried,” Diane admitted
freely with a tiny shiver, “There is just something about him that makes
me uneasy. I can’t see how I ever found him appealing when now the very
sight of him makes me want to run screaming in the other direction.”
“It’s because you’ve grown up just like I have. You’re
no longer blinded by his charms,” Deidra offered up a dry, hollow laugh,
“How I thought he and I were in love with one another is beyond me. What
we had was sheer madness and I can’t even begin to fathom the idea of
what my life would have been like had I stayed there with him.”
“You would have been miserable. I mean with how hard he’s working
on it with you now,” Diane hesitated with another thought, “How
is Dean handling Andy’s opposition to the divorce?”
“He is supporting me the best that he can because he and I both know
that Andy isn’t going to win this one,” Deidra spun around to face
her sister again with two coffee mugs in her hands. “Andy was by far
one of the most unfaithful men I’ve ever known and no judge is going
to excuse that fact. He can go on and on about having some misguided sexual
addiction that he needs therapy for, but any judge will see through that.
Andy is just a dog plain and simple.”
“A dog who needs to be put back into his cage far away from here,”
Diane added with a small frown. “I just can’t believe that I let
him play me like I did. I mean when I think about what a total jerk I was
to you…”
“Hey, it’s in the past,” Deidra brought her sister back to
the present. “Here we are friends at long last and we both have two very
wonderful men in our lives who would do anything for us. We have both opened
our eyes where Andy is concerned, so we are finally free of him. Sure, I might
still be his wife, but only on paper. As far as I’m concerned I’m
done with Andy and I’m never looking back.”
“I can’t say I blame you,” Diane added wondering if it would
be that easy to finally rid the both of them of Andy’s hold on their
lives. As she thought of the look of madness in his eyes the last time she’d
seen him, she just hoped and prayed that Andy would take a clue and vanish
for good.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“That’s weird,” Heather muttered to herself after pushing
open the doors to the studio after she went to use her keys only to see that
the doors had still been open. She swore that she locked up before leaving
earlier, but maybe she had too much on her mind at the time. “Hello?”
Looking inside for a moment she saw that no one was around before shrugging
her shoulders and moving through the studio after closing the front doors.
Moving to her office, she saw a shadow hovering over the hallway toward the
turn as she paused in her steps and waiting seeing that the shadow was coming
closer. Pressing her back in against the wall she waited for the shadow to
get closer before rearing back and hitting the person in the center of the
face with her purse.
“I don’t know who you are, but you don’t belong here and…,”
Heather continued to hit them in the face over and over again, seeing them
go to block their face from any further damage that she might cause to them.
Seeing them fall back to his butt she saw the dark eyes of Kipp before her
as she let out an exaggerated sigh. “You scared me half to death Kipp,
what were you doing?”
“Getting beaten half to death,” Kipp winced putting his fingers
over the spot on his head that felt like he just got hit with a brick. Letting
out a small groan he looked up to see that Heather covered her mouth letting
out a small gasp knowing that he had a small lump over his forehead. “What
in the world do you have in that purse that hurts so damn much?”
“It hurts to be a woman, you have to carry around all the necessities
that makes you feel beyond pretty,” she replied reaching down to try
and help him up only to see him brush himself off and stand up by himself.
Seeing how bad he looked she looked over the suit that he was wearing, scrunching
her nose in response. “You look like hell today and isn’t that the
same suit you wore yesterday?”
“Yeah, it is,” Kipp groaned pulling at his tie to straighten it
up a bit before letting out a small sigh. Rubbing at his messy hair, he eyed
the place over before looking into Heather’s light green eyes. “I
don’t know what to tell you. Kellen locked me out of my own place, so
I couldn’t go home and I came back here.”
“You are always welcome here, just don’t sneak up on me like that
again,” Heather chuckled seeing how messy his hair was and let out a
small laugh before motioning him to follow her into her office. “You
can clean up in my bathroom if you’d like. You really look like hell.”
“Gee, thanks,” Kipp frowned moving into her office watching her
push back her long blonde hair as she followed him into the bathroom. He looked
back at her a moment before throwing his hands up in the air. “I honestly
don’t get Kellen sometimes, I really don’t Heather. I think I’m
doing something right and then I’m doing something totally wrong, I just
don’t get it.”
“Well Kellen easily gets angry when something isn’t going his way,”
Heather sat down in her office after leaving Kipp in her bathroom seeing him
walk out with a washcloth. “So, what did you do to set him off this time
since just about everything gets him to be a jealous little princess.”
“Well, I guess he could have some kind of reason to be mad at me,”
Kipp sat down on the couch next to Heather seeing her green eyes staring into
his as he nodded slowly. “He kind of walked in and saw Becca kissing
me yesterday and he flipped.”
“Okay, yeah, that would suck,” Heather agreed letting out a small
laugh and eyeing Kipp over slowly seeing the way he looked at her and shrugged
his shoulders before speaking up again. “Did you kiss her first or did
you have her kiss you? I really thought you and Kellen had a good relationship
going on, was I wrong?”
“No, nothing is going wrong in the relationship Heather, she just kissed
me out of nowhere and I would never do anything to try and hurt the relationship
Kellen and I have. He is too important to me,” Kipp assured Heather watching
the way that she looked him over knowing that she would be a bit questionable
ever since her and Kellen had gotten closer as friends. “I swear, that’s
all that happened and Kellen just walked in at the wrong moment. Trust me,
if I was to do something like that with a girl, it sure as hell wouldn’t
be Becca that I was doing it with.”
“You could have called me, I’m sure you could have crashed at my
place Kipp,” she informed him getting off the topic not even wanting
to question what girl it would be with considering their past. “Though,
you may have not liked it because Kyle has a friend crashing in our living
room.”
“Oh really?” Kipp chuckled standing up from the couch and walking
into the bathroom before looking back at her through the door. “So how
is that going for you Heather? I’m sure you like that.”
“Oh, it’s just some stupid college buddy of his, he should be gone
soon. I think he’s only in town for a little while,” she answered
in a low voice before thinking it over and taking a moment to think things
over carefully. “Though, he did cause quite a mess the other day, but
I’m sure it’s just a one day thing.”
“What was a one day thing?” Kellen questioned stepping into Heather
office seeing her talking aloud and sitting by herself on the couch. Letting
out a small laugh he turned to see her green eyes widen as he let out a long
laugh. “Did I just knock down your imaginary friend or something?”
“Actually,” Heather saw Kellen’s blue eyes narrow out at her
before he looked over his shoulder to see Kipp behind him in the bathroom
and he let out an angered breath. “Might as well be your invisible friend.
I’ll see you later Heather Babes, when someone isn’t hogging up
the whole room.”
“Oh wow,” Heather took in a long breath seeing the way that Kellen
stomped out of the room leaving her and Kipp alone together. Standing up from
the couch she moved over toward her desk before taking a seat in her desk
chair shrugging her shoulders as she spoke. “You really do have him pissed
at you.”
“You think?” Kipp rolled his eyes at the thought before resting
his hands against his hips and letting out an exaggerated breath. “I
guess I should probably talk to him and get it through his head that he is
thinking the wrong thing. I’ll talk to you later Heather, pray for me
and hope this ends nicely.”
“Okay, have fun,” Heather laughed watching Kipp roll his eyes as
he walked out of the room, closing her door after he left leaving her to herself.
Just when she was about to get to work, her phone went off and she let out
a long sigh reaching for it. “Heather Hou…Gibbons speaking.”
“Are you sure this is Heather Gibbons? If I do recall the last time
I saw you, you were in fact Melina Cherri,” the voice muttered as Heather’s
body froze, her fear growing larger as she heard the deep laugh from the other
end. “How is Dick Nitro doing Melina? I heard you two are having quite
the relationship.”
“Who is this? What do you want?” Heather demanded an answer before
hearing the click of the phone showing her that the person had hung up. Quickly
standing up from the chair, she check the ID seeing that it was blocked and
she dropped the phone before moving away from her desk. “This has to
be some sick joke. That’s all it is Heather, this is just a joke. No
one knows the truth, no one is ever going to know the truth.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“You know I never thought I would live to see the day when you were
the one playing Mr. Mom,” Paul announced walking into the kitchen to
find Kyle playing with Charles while Charles was in his high chair waiting
for his breakfast.
“And I never thought that I would live to see the day where I had my
best friend interrupting my wife and I when we were in bed together,”
Kyle frowned up at his friend before dipping the small spoon into the jar
of bananas Heather had ready for Charles. He scooped up some of the baby food
and held it out to Charles, “Now come on big boy and open up for me.
I know you can do it.”
Charles shook his head and let out a small grunting noise.
“You’re doing it all wrong Kyle,” Paul moved into the kitchen
further and motioned to the jar, “May I?”
“I don’t know,” Kyle replied giving him a weary look, “What’s
it going to cost me? A night out on the couch when my wife gets upset with
me?”
“Your wife wasn’t upset with you. She was just ticked that I was
in there, but it honestly wasn’t my fault when that door collapsed,”
Paul offered up with a simple shrug of his shoulders, “I mean I always
kind of thought that they made them stronger than that, but…”
“But the fact to the matter is that you shouldn’t have been spying
on us,” Kyle frowned up at him again, a crease forming in his brow, “Heather
did not appreciate it.”
“Well I did considering that it’s been a few days since I’ve
seen any real action,” Paul noted with a hint of a smile, “Although
I was curious to know what the whole marathon race comment was all about there.
I mean I don’t think I ever believed I would live to see the day when
you wanted a woman to slow down.”
“And I never thought I would see you spying like that,” Kyle grumbled
in response attempting to give Charles the spoonful of food again.
“Hey I wasn’t spying. I was just trying to find a way to entertain
myself considering that you don’t have anything more than basic cable
here, which sucks by the way. I think we should upgrade,” Paul added
with a tiny laugh, “Then you wouldn’t have to worry about me outside
your door because I’m sure I could find a skin flick that…”
“You’re not staying,” Kyle reminded him once again, “You
need to find a place of your own if you plan on sticking around. What happened
to your penthouse in New York or your beach house in Malibu?”
“They are still around, but my daughter’s in Coral Valley,”
Paul explained with a small sigh, “She took off from the hotel she was
staying at and I figure she’d made her way out here. Jewel is rumored
to be in the area, so I figure she’s probably with her.”
“You figure?” Kyle repeated giving him a disapproving look. “Maybe
you should call and see.”
“Call my wife,” Paul let out an uproarious laugh before slapping
Kyle’s shoulder lightly, “Oh that’s a good one. I think that’s
just about the funniest one I have heard in years.”
“I take it you and Jewel are off again,” Kyle frowned up at Paul
who now had his arm draped around his own stomach now that he bubbled over
with laughter.
“If you’re asking if Jewel and I got off with one another lately
the answer is an absolute negative, but if you’re asking if she’s
annoyed the hell out of me, I would have to say that it’s happened more
often than not,” Paul mouthed his laughter fading at the thought of his
wife. “Last time I saw her she had some Ricky Martin wanna be on her
arm and she was trying to pretend that she was eighteen again, which it just
isn’t happening. She might have the whole stripper theme down pat, but
time is still with her if you catch my drift.”
“Gee, and here I thought you two were finally seeing eye to eye on things,”
Kyle rolled his eyes before looking to Charles again.
“We are seeing eye to eye on the fact that we’d much rather be sleeping
with other people than each other,” Paul added with a small laugh, “which
is just fine by me.”
“Why not get divorced?” Kyle suggested looking to his friend again.
“And risk having her take half of what I’ve made in a settlement,”
Paul’s eyes widened before he shook his head, “No way. Let her stay
married to me and she can be miserable until she agrees to walk away with
nothing.”
“And what about Stacy? How does she feel about all of this?” Kyle
couldn’t help but ask.
“She’s a good kid. She wants what every kid her age wants from their
parents,” Paul shrugged his shoulders again.
“And what’s that exactly?” Kyle questioned.
“Freedom to do what she wants. I give it to her, but check in every now
and then when Jewel is off in her own world,” Paul explained seeing Charles
refuse Kyle’s attempt to feed him.
“Come on buddy. These are your favorite,” Kyle offered up again.
“Let me give it a whirl,” Paul suggested seeing Kyle’s hesitance,
“Come on man. It’s just bananas. It’s not like I would spike
his food or anything.”
“With you I’m not so sure,” Kyle reluctantly offered the spoon
to Paul, who took a seat beside him.
“Okay little man,” Paul focused on Charles, “now while I know
you would much rather be sucking on something that only your mom could give
you, which by the way she‘s totally hot there…”
“Paul,” Kyle spoke his name in a firm warning tone.
“The fact to the matter is that you need to give this a try,” Paul
held up the spoon seeing Charles ready to snub him again. “This is the
banana express and this plane is coming in for a landing so you’d better
be ready.”
Charles watched him closely seeing Paul spinning the spoon around in the air,
all the while making buzzing noises. Clearly interested Charles kept watching
the spoon until it came nearer to his mouth. Once Paul was close enough with
the spoon Charles took a bite, clapping his hands excitedly.
“See, it works every time,” Paul offered the spoon to Kyle, “Now
you give it a try.”
“Fine,” Kyle reluctantly sighed before mimicking Paul’s movements.
He half expected Charles to refuse, but Charles sat before him with an open
mouth ready for his breakfast.
“There you go little buddy. You’re doing it now,” Paul cheered
Charles on watching the way that Charles was very into the new eating game
that Paul had created.
“Hey, you’re not as stupid about these things as I thought you were,”
Kyle teased once Charles had eaten half of the jar of food in Kyle’s
hand.
“I do know a thing or two about kids,” Paul explained as the phone
rang. “I’ll get that.”
“Paul, I really don’t think that,” Kyle started to protest,
but before he could get anything further out Paul was already on the phone.
“Kyle and Heather’s love shack. Right now they are buried in bondage,
but as their slave boy, I’m here to fulfill your every fantasy. How may
I help you?”
“Paul,” Kyle snapped back at his friend watching Paul’s eyes
widened.
“Yes, oh of course,” Paul cleared his throat walking around the
room with the phone, “Why yes I completely understand the policy and
it’s shameful to see that it’s been violated in such a manner. Oh
of course. Yes I cannot blame you for losing it on your end. I’m sure
that a great many people find that they cannot live and breathe without the
product. Of course. Yes, since it’s a matter of life or death I’ll
get right on it. Yep, you have my word on that. Of course.”
Kyle watched Paul with confused eyes seeing Paul set the phone back on the
charger before he returned to the table again. Paul took a seat in the chair
he’d been in earlier and motioned to the jar of bananas.
“Now how about the rest of breakfast,” Paul suggested with a wink
over at Charles.
“Who was on the phone?” Kyle couldn’t help but ask thinking
about Paul’s strange conversation.
“Video store. Some pimple faced kid was about to chew your ass out because
you have a late rental. Something about a DVD that never made it’s way
back into the store and he’s going to have to send his big brother over
to beat you up or something for not returning it,” Paul shrugged his
shoulders seeing that Charles was ready to wiggle out of his chair. “Oh
it looks like breakfast is over.”
“Wait a second,” Kyle watched Paul lean in to help get Charles out
of the chair, “You’re saying that was someone from a video store?”
“That’s right,” Paul nodded stepping back and motioning to
Charles, “They are going to send the video nazis after Kyle here, which
means that your mommy is not going to be very happy with him gone.”
“I don’t know why a video store would be calling me,” Kyle
paused thinking about what he could’ve rented. Suddenly remembering when
he’d gone with Zane and Grady to the video store it dawned in on him
that he had picked up something. “Wait I think I did get something, but
I never watched it. It was just kind of here.”
“Considering that the guy on the phone said you owe like sixty dollars
it better be a damn good something,” Paul noted seeing Kyle setting the
jar of bananas aside as he opted to get Charles out of the high chair instead
of letting Paul do it. “The guy on the phone expressed the urgency in
getting it back to him as soon as possible because if not he may have a nervous
breakdown.”
“He’ll have to suffer then because right now I have a little man
who is in need of some cleaning up after the banana bath he gave himself earlier,”
Kyle noted holding Charles in closer to his chest. He motioned to the dirty
tray on the high chair before turning to Paul, “Make yourself useful
and clean that up while I take care of him.”
“Yes sir,” Paul raised his hand to his forehead to salute Kyle.
Kyle just rolled his eyes and walked out of the room with Charles in his arms
causing Paul to snicker. “Yep, no doubt about it. That man’s whipped
for sure.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Last night was the absolute greatest,” Stacy gushed lying back
against the floor as she saw Lindsay look down at her from the hammock she
was lying on in the corner of Jackie’s bedroom. The three girls had come
back home to Jackie’s place after going to the club, knowing that Jackie’s
parents would be gone for the weekend. “I can’t believe I met Caleb,
he is just so dreamy.”
“A little freaky to me,” Lindsay replied lying on her back trying
to get comfortable knowing that everything that happened last night was against
every single one of her beliefs. “I should have never went with you two
last night. I can’t believe I did that.”
“Oh you loved it because you know that you just wanted to spend some
time hanging out with real people,” Stacy glared back at Lindsay with
her blue eyes before shrugging her shoulders and speaking up again. “I
got to meet Caleb and you had fun, there is no use in not being happy about
the situation.”
“He was hot,” Jackie agreed glancing over at Lindsay from her bed
after reaching for her teddy bear next to her on the bed, pulling it in closer
to her body and giving it a long squeeze. “He had really beautiful eyes.”
“He is also nine years older than Stacy,” Lindsay pointed out seeing
the way Stacy shot her a glare again making her shrug her shoulders before
sitting up from being uncomfortable. “If the guy was a good guy I understand,
but Caleb just seems like a total slime dog. Just the way he kept looking
at you, he just seemed like a total creep to me.”
“Every male somehow seems like a creep to you Lindsay if you haven’t
noticed,” Stacy shot back before standing up and sitting down next to
Jackie on her bed letting out a long sigh. “You know, he is supposed
to be calling me soon.”
“Who is supposed to be calling you,” John walked into his sister’s
room after hearing the gossip through the wall long enough waking him up from
his slumber. Moving over toward the hammock next to Lindsay, he took a seat
next to her and gently nudged her shoulder softly. “Please tell me you
don’t have another creep coming after you Jackie.”
“This is actually Stacy this time,” Lindsay answered for the other
two seeing the glare she got from Stacy before shrugging her shoulders and
turning her attention to Jackie’s younger brother. “In all honesty,
she met this guy at a bar. When she started talking to him, he was all over
her and he was total slime dog. His hands were all over her and he is twenty-four.”
“Wow, that’s younger than what Jackie is going for,” John pointed
out feeling his sister’s pillow collide with his head before letting
out a long sigh. “Hey, what can I say? I’m only telling the truth
sis and if you can’t handle that, it’s your problem.”
“You should just leave my room because you aren’t welcome here,”
Jackie insisted going to throw her stuffed animal at him only to have Lindsay
catch it before it hit him in the face. “You can stay if you keep your
mouth shut, but one more word and…,”
“Oh my god, he’s calling,” Stacy jumped up from the bed seeing
her cell phone vibrating against the desk as she quickly reached for the phone.
Taking a look around the room she could see the quick roll of the eyes from
both John and Lindsay while the excitement was only coming from her and Jackie.
“Hello?”
“Hey sweetheart, how are you doing this morning?” Caleb questioned
sitting up from his leather couch and moving over toward the window in the
corner of the room, running his fingers through his dark hair. “I wasn’t
able to sleep last night, every part of me was thinking about you.”
“I feel the same way,” Stacy bit down on her bottom lip seeing John
mocking her every move as she talked to Caleb on the phone and she threw her
pillow at him. “I really have been thinking about us dancing last night,
I miss seeing you already.”
“Why wait then honey?” Caleb’s voice whispered in a thick,
but very faint mutter as she let out a long sigh thinking about the possibilities.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I can’t get
my head around you honey. I just keep thinking about you.”
“Are you guys really this big of idiots?” John questioned looking
to Stacy and beyond her to see his sister glare over at him as he pointed
up toward Stacy gushing on the guy over the phone. “If you continue to
let this happen, this pervert is going to get something he wants and you are
all setting it up for her. If I were you, I would stop and listen to Lindsay
and myself. We know what we are talking about.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“I’m glad that I always seemed to be left alone on most nights,”
Shannon muttered opening her brother’s bedroom door to show that she
was alone yet again. “Everyone in this house seems to just take off lately
and not care about me anymore.”
Moving into her brother’s room she reached for his newspaper he had out
on the bed before walking back into the living room to drop down to the couch
and turn on the television before letting out a long sigh.
“If I have to do something, I might as well read. There isn’t anything
better to do in the house,” she whispered to herself looking up at the
television for a moment to hear some news about Brant and reached for the
remote to turn off the television. “I never seem to get away from that
face. Never will either.”
No matter where she went or what she did, the name or face of Brant was always
bothering her. Not only did it make it worse considering that Don was Brant’s
best friend, but knowing that Don was always with Brant was what got her the
most. Don never invited her to things, but he always had Nate with him somehow
most of the time.
“He’s my brother,” Shannon rolled her eyes opening the first
page realizing how stupid it seemed for her to be jealous of her brother because
he really was a nut that didn’t get far in his life at all. He would
be the last one of her siblings that she would want to be jealous of, but
something just ticked her off inside. Not only did Matt absolutely love Nate,
but so did Don. All Nate had to do was show up out of nowhere and win his
way into their lives, while she had to work hard just to get Don to feel for
her. “It doesn’t seem fair.”
Whenever she got into trouble, Don would get severely mad at her, but when
it came to Nate he was in the clear before he ever made the mistake. There
was no way that Nate would have any heat in this house because all the heat
was left on her shoulders.
“Gee, who have I been graced with at the door,” Shannon rolled
her eyes after hearing the doorbell ring and she moved forward setting the
paper down on the coffee table. Opening the door she expected to see the dumbfounded
look on her brother, who no doubt left his keys at home and forgot them, but
instead met the blue eyes of Jewel. “What in the world are you doing
here?”
“Oh, hey Shannon,” Jewel took in a long breath, stepping back for
a quick moment as she pushed her long, blonde hair behind her shoulder. Meeting
the angered, brown eyes of Shannon Jewel let out a small laugh before shrugging
her shoulders. “Is Nate home?”
“No, he isn’t,” Shannon answered bluntly knowing that this
was the woman she wanted to take it all out on. She wanted to beat that smug
smile right off her face, not only did this girl jump into the life of Don
way back in the day, but she was moving in on her little brother too and she
didn’t like it. “And Don isn’t here either, they are both out
at work. I’m sure if they want to talk to you they will call you.”
“Yeah, I find that hard to believe considering Nate told me specifically
to come over today,” Jewel replied blankly seeing Shannon bite down on
her bottom lip and fold her arms out in front of her chest. “So really,
where is your brother Shannon?”
“Listen you,” Shannon took a bold step forward seeing Jewel move
back once Shannon clenched her fists at her sides hating to see one of the
girls she hated the most right in front of her asking for her little brother.
“I want you to stay away from my little brother. He’s only going
to be here for a while and he doesn’t need a whore like you running around
in his life. He is already confused enough and he really doesn’t need
a distraction in his life keeping him away from the more important things.
So you need to leave him alone, or else.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Why haven’t we heard anything from Kevin yet?” Ria paced
around the Ashford kitchen, still finding herself amped up after the jog she’d
taken a run around the estate grounds. Now she wanted nothing more than to
bust on over to the guest house and tell Angela where she could stick it especially
now that Kevin was still with her and…
“Ria calm down,” Brant suggested glancing over the top of the newspaper
that he was reading. “I’m sure that they will be here shortly.”
“How the hell can you be so damned calm about things?” Ria snapped
at him marching over to rip the newspaper from his hands. She crumpled it
up in her fists before tossing it across the kitchen and into the trash can.
“Kevin just spent the night with her and they are late meeting us for
breakfast.”
“Maybe Kevin slept in. He might’ve been exhausted from all the shuffling
we did last night,” Brant suggested catching Ria’s jumpiness in
all of this, “It is entirely possible that he was ready to rest after
last night.”
“Or it could be that Angela has him tied up and is trying to force him
to do her bidding considering that…” Ria started to imagine, her
fists clenching at her sides as Brant stood up placing his hands on her shoulders.
“Just stop before you start. You don’t want to go there and I certainly
don’t either. I really don’t believe that Kevin would let anything
happen with Angela even if she thinks that they are engaged,” Brant tried
to calm her down seeing that Ria’s mouth was curled in a scowl, anger
threatening to rage over her. “Look all I’m saying is have a little
faith in the man. You’re going to marry him after all.”
“I realize that, but as long as she’s manipulating him, we’re
not going to get any closer to being married,” Ria huffed reaching for
the loaf of bread on the counter and smashing it in her hand.
“Um Ria, I really don’t think that bread did anything to you,”
Don piped in walking into the kitchen to see Brant and Ria in their discussion,
“did it?”
“No, but Ria certainly felt the need to assault it. Just let it go Ria.
Set it down,” Brant spoke up in a smooth and even tone reaching out to
take the bread from Ria’s hand and place it back down on the counter
top. “Why don’t you sit down and I’ll get you some decaf or
something?”
“I don’t want coffee. I just want Kevin to be here,” Ria stomped
her foot down before marching over to the table. Plopping down and sulking,
she folded her arms in front of her chest, “This sucks.”
“Wow I feel like I’m at Matt’s pre-school class seeing someone
in time out,” Don noted before turning to his friend, “I take it
you haven’t heard anything from Kevin this morning.”
“Not at all, but if he doesn’t get here soon I think Ria’s
going to go over and kill him,” Brant noted in a low whisper hoping to
keep Ria from hearing him.
“I heard you Brant and don’t worry. I won’t kill Kevin, just
Angela,” Ria added with a small huff tapping her foot nervously on the
floor.
“Hey, you know I don’t think I would be happy with that one considering
that she’s the woman I plan on marrying. I’m not about to let you
hurt her even if you’re jealous,” Brant warned sharply, looking
over to Ria, “You’re really going too far with this whole rage thing.
Being this aggressive and hostile isn’t going to help anything. Trust
me on this.”
“How the hell can you be so calm?” Ria couldn’t help but ask
frowning over at him, “I mean you and I both know that Angela thinks
that she and Kevin are in love with one another, which means it’s only
going to be a matter of time before she gets all touchy-feely with him. You
can see already that she’s getting clingy and…”
“Wait she’s getting clingy,” Don replied tipping his head to
the side to look at Brant. “More than she was at the hospital?”
“I think she’s paranoid. Even though she can’t remember what
happened, I think somewhere in the back of her mind she fears that she’s
going to relive what she went through before when Kevin almost died and they
lost their daughter. I think that’s driving her motivations there,”
Brant offered up with a small sigh thinking about what he’d witnessed
in Angela.
“Since when the hell did you become Sigmund Freud here,” Ria rolled
her eyes at Brant’s comment. “I mean honestly for all we know she
could just be playing it up because she liked to manipulate Kevin in the past,
so why not do it now when we all will get screwed in this situation?”
“Ria come on. Cut her a break. Don, would you just tell her that Angela
is hurt? That this isn’t her faking,” Brant pleaded with his friend
hoping that Don could shed some light on the situation.
“She’s not faking Ria. You and I both know that,” Don offered
up knowing that it wouldn’t really make Ria happy or contented in the
situation.
“You know Don, I realize that we both have a medical background and if
I didn’t see her charts for myself, I would have to question whether
or not that was true considering you and Brant tried to sell his being comatose
to the whole town there,” Ria scoffed, her words thick with sarcasm.
“Hey now, you don’t have to get snarky with me. I’m just trying
to help,” Don raised his hands in the air, “It’s not my fault.”
“No it’s hers and if Kevin doesn’t get here soon, then I don’t
care what either one of you say or do, I’m going to pull him out of there
and nothing is going to stop me,” Ria vowed hoping that Kevin arrived
soon before her worries got the best of her and her worst fears became a reality.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Kevin felt the warmth of the sun pouring in over him, enveloping him in the
sweet temptation that the morning offered to him from the half open window.
He smiled keeping his eyes closed as he rolled onto his side, snuggling into
the blankets after a heavenly dream about him and Ria on the island he lived
at, sipping on strawberry daiquiris and making love on the beach. It was nothing
short of heaven and the perfect honeymoon for the perfect woman in his life.
Even now he could still taste her kisses on his lips, feel her arms around
him, her head pressing in over his chest while she curled into him lost in
the aftermath of their lovemaking.
“I love you so much,” he mouthed in a low murmur, bringing his fingers
through her dark hair wanting to savor every second of their time with one
another.
“I love you too,” he heard her whisper, her fingers tapering off
over his abdomen while he could sense the playfulness in her tone. The tip
of her index finger pressed in over the elastic waistband of his jogging pants
and his lips curled in a smile. “You’re already ready for more?”
“I’ve been more than ready since I woke up in the hospital,”
she mouthed easing her hand in beneath the soft fabric of his pants to discover
him at full attention. “And clearly so are you.”
“Do you even have to ask,” Kevin mouthed feeling her cup him with
her palm, sheathing him with heavenly temptation with her fingers when suddenly
something snapped inside of him. His eyes popped open and he let out a gulp
remembering full well he wasn’t on the island with Ria, but rather in
bed with Angela. He yelped and pulled away from her before she could continue
to try to seduce him.
“Kevin,” she spoke his name feeling him slide over to the far side
of the bed away from her. “What’s wrong?”
“We can’t do this. We’re not doing this,” Kevin spat out
quickly pulling the front of his pants back into place as he realized what
she’d set out to do with him. He gripped onto the front of his pants
damning his dream about Ria as it had given Angela motivation to want to pursue
something between them. “Not today.”
“Why not today?” she frowned sitting up straighter before leaning
in closer to him. She pressed her lips just over the side of his neck, “You
seem like you’re more than ready this morning. You must be feeling a
lot better.”
“No I don’t feel better. I feel terrible--worse than terrible. In
fact I feel so bad that I can’t even think about that,” Kevin shook
his head furiously sliding back further until he lost his balance and toppled
off of the bed onto the floor. He felt the corner of the night stand connect
with his back on the way down and he let out a yelp.
“Kevin!” Angela gasped rushing up and out of bed to take a look
at him. She found him on the floor huddled up in a defensive position, his
dark eyes looking terrified as she stood over him. “Are you okay?”
“No, not really,” Kevin tried to shake off the pain vibrating through
his spine. He shuffled to get up off of the floor, but stumbled on the way
up and fell back onto the bed.
“Let me take a look at you,” Angela suggested leaning forward placing
her hands on his shoulders to steady herself. She gazed into his dark eyes
before offering up a small smile, “You’ve obviously been having
nightmares again or something.”
“No I’m not having nightmares,” he shook his head thinking
about the delicious dream he’d had of Ria. Big mistake, he realized feeling
Angela settle in over him on his lap straddling him while her hands teased
over his muscled chest loving every inch of it beneath her touch.
“I’m sure I can help you out with those,” she leaned forward
nibbling on his lower lip. He wiggled beneath her feeling her urge him back
onto the bed, but he remained firm in the hopes of staying in control of the
situation.
“Angie, you can’t do this. The doctors said that we shouldn’t
be jumping into anything right now when…” Kevin felt her hands slide
in underneath his t-shirt pushing it up over his abdomen. He wiggled away
from her, but that only further encouraged her. She collected the material
in her hands, tugging it up over the center of his chest.
“I’m fine Kevin. Our being together isn’t going to hurt anything,”
she leaned forward biting on the side of his neck in a playful fashion reminding
him of how ruthless she could be when she was set on having something. He
closed his eyes and let out a groan knowing that a year ago this would’ve
been heaven to him, but now he felt like he was trapped in the deepest circle
of hell.
“Angie no,” Kevin blurted out bringing his hands over hers to keep
her from reaching her goal of stripping him down, “the doctors said that
we can’t risk making love right now when we have the baby to think about.
I’m not going to let you or the little one get hurt.”
“Kevin, I’m sure we’re fine,” she frowned feeling him
stiffen beneath her.
“Even if you are, I’m not taking any chances,” Kevin shook
his head in stern movement before prying her fingers away from his shirt.
“You need to just take it easy and rest for a little while.”
“I’ve had all the rest I need,” she curled her lip in a pout
writhing over him, “and right now what I want more than anything is you.”
“That’s flattering really, but I’m not going to be selfish
enough to put the baby at risk and neither should you. Angie, you need to
think about the little one and how important it is to keep from engaging in
any kind of activity that could harm the baby. That’s the most important
thing,” Kevin blurted out hoping that she would buy his reasoning there
considering it was the best thing he had to work with other than the truth.
“Okay fine,” she sighed heavily dropping her hands to her sides,
“I’ll listen to the doctors if that will make you happy.”
“It makes me very happy,” Kevin informed her letting out a breath
of relief. Now if he could just get her off of his lap he would be all set.
They could get over to the mansion and…
“Though you know,” she winked over at him licking her lips before
a crooked grin swept over her, “just because I can’t get all hot
and bothered doesn’t mean that I can’t do something to get you feeling
that way.”
“I’m already feeling bothered,” Kevin mouthed almost wishing
he hadn’t said the words out loud as it was clear that Angela was taking
it all the wrong way.
“And very hot too from what I see,” she sank her finger in beneath
his pants seeking out the source of his masculinity with a newfound determination,
“Why don’t we just test the waters to see just how far we can drive
you mad with desire?”
“How about we not,” Kevin bit down on his lower lip, his hand immediately
seeking out her wrist before she could do any damage, “I’m not in
the mood.”
“You keep saying that, but I know better,” she let out a low growl
leaning forward to bite on his lip again, “Come on baby. Show me how
bad you want me. Unleash the animal for me Kevin. He wants to come out and
play.”
“No he doesn’t. He doesn’t want to play,” Kevin shook
his head firmly fighting with her hands and letting out a yelp. His face grew
red with the urgency behind her attempts at seducing him. Still he was unrelenting
in his quest to keep her out of his pants. He tugged on her wrist roughly
and pulled it out of his pants in a quick sweep. “He’s tired. He’s
not ready to play.”
“Oh baby, you know he’s more than ready,” she reached for him
again only to feel him pull at her arms, bringing her wrists up in the air.
In a matter of moments, he flipped her over onto the bed, his body hovering
beside hers while he lay half over her, using one hand to keep her wrists
pinned up over her head, while the other kept his weight off of her. She squealed
with delight making a low, growling noise, “That’s it baby. Show
me what you’re made of.”
“Angela,” he spoke her name in a firm, warning tone, his brown eyes
meeting hers with a sudden intensity, “I’m not in the mood so don’t
try to force something that isn’t going to happen.”
“But…” she felt him push away from her stepping off of the
bed and making his way across the room. She saw him reach for the shirt he’d
been wearing the previous evening and he pulled it over his head. Frowning
she sat up and reached for a pillow bringing it in to her chest. “Kevin,
what’s wrong with you? Why are you acting like this?”
“I told Brant and Ria we would meet them for breakfast this morning and
we’re late,” he answered not bothering to look back at her, “They
have to be wondering what’s happened to us. You need to get dressed.”
“Kevin, I don’t want to get dressed. I want to talk about what’s
going on here,” she curled her lip in a pout sensing his apprehension
about the situation.
“I made a promise and I intend to keep it. Now get dressed,” he
offered up giving her a brief look before making his way towards the bathroom.
“Why are you being so cold to me?” she questioned with a wounded
expression, “This isn’t like you. You’ve never pushed me away
like that before.”
“Let’s just say…” he stopped himself before letting loose
on her. He did a mental count to ten before speaking up again. “Never
mind. Just get dressed.”
“I’m not going to never mind Kevin. What is it? What is wrong that
you’re acting this way?” she questioned pushing the pillow away
and getting out of bed with a huff.
“Honestly,” Kevin stood taller contemplating his words for a moment,
“you want the truth?”
“Of course I want the truth. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t,”
she nodded in response watching him closely.
“Okay then, but remember you asked for it,” he warned waving his
finger around in the air, “The real reason I’m like this is because
I heard what the doctors have said Angie and while you might be taking it
lightly there is a life on the line--one that should mean everything to you.
The fact to the matter is I’m turned off by the fact that you could be
so damned selfish that you want to put your own desires and wants before the
safety of the baby.”
“What?” she blinked back at him, hurt registering over her face,
“Come on Kevin. You can’t mean that.”
“I wish I didn’t, but this morning you haven’t listened to
a damn thing that I’ve been saying to you and that proves to me that
you’re too immature to think about anything or anyone but yourself,”
Kevin shot back at her with a thick air of sarcasm in his tone, “That
in itself makes me even less inclined to want to get close to you considering
that it’s always about you.”
“It’s not always about me,” she started to argue with him fighting
to contain the tears that threatened. “Kevin, you know that’s not
true.”
“All I know is that you need to get your priorities in check Angela or
else you’re going to lose everything,” he warned sharply before
going into the bathroom and closing the door behind him with a sharp slam.
Angela shuddered at the sound before sinking back onto the bed wondering if
what he was saying was true. Had she really lost thought of everyone else
in her life but herself? Was she really that horrible? She truly hoped not.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Moving into the diner that Ben had planned on meting Diane in, he looked
around the area before him trying to find the table she was seated at before
finally noticing that she wasn’t there yet. Taking in a long breath he
sat down at one of the booths before ordering the drinks for both him and
Diane.
“How am I going to break it to her?” Ben questioned to himself mumbling
as he went, rubbing at his forehead as he spoke again. There were so many
reasons he knew that she wouldn’t be happy with him, but this was something
he just had to do. “How do I…,”
“How do you what?” Diane moved in before Ben seeing him quickly
stand up from where he was seated unaware that she was standing before him
for a little bit. Feeling his arms wrap around her for a tight hug she let
out a small laugh before pressing a tender kiss against his lips. “What’s
wrong?”
“Nothing, nothing at all,” Ben quickly lied before sitting back
down and motioning her to do the same, sliding her water over toward her.
“So how were things with your sister. Everything turn out alright between
you two?”
“Everything was fine, are you okay?” she questioned realizing that
he seemed to be a little distraught with something on his mind as she reached
forward to give his hand a small squeeze. “If there is anything wrong
Ben, just let me know. My sister is okay, I’m okay, just tell me what’s
wrong.”
“I don’t think you are going to be too happy with me,” he pointed
out letting out a long sigh knowing that it was something he was going to
have to do and nothing could change that. She wouldn’t like that, but
hopefully she would have to accept what was needed of him. “At all.”
“Well, I’ll try to understand,” she assured him giving his
fingers another tight squeeze watching the way that his blue eyes looked away
from hers for a moment. Ben took in a long breath before finally owning up
to her to tell her what was going on.
“I’m going to have to leave town for a while,” Ben informed
her with a small nod seeing her eyebrows tighten together as he held her hand
tighter than before. He could see that she was confused by her expression
and he let out a long breath. “I have to go somewhere for work and I
know you aren’t happy with it, but it’s something I have to do.
I just can’t skip out on it.”
“You’re kidding,” she pulled her hand away from him taking
a long sip of her water seeing the saddened look behind his blue eyes as she
shook her head slowly. “I can’t believe that you would want to go
away now of all times. Especially with that job, I never liked that job in
the first place.”
“Right honey, but it’s my job,” Ben pleaded with her seeing
the way she looked away from him as he leaned across the table sliding his
index finger in under her chin. “Honey, you have to understand that I
have to be making money somehow. I would understand if you had to go away
for your job.”
“That’s not fair,” she blurted out seeing his lower lip curl
in a pout as she let out a small laugh knowing he was just doing it to make
her feel bad. “Ben, come on. I understand, but I just don’t like
it. I won’t be mad, it’s just something I really don’t like
and that’s why it bothers me.”
“I know honey and I swear that I won’t try and be too pushy about
things,” Ben whispered moving forward and pressing a small kiss against
her cheek feeling her hand move in over the side of his face. “I won’t
be gone long, I promise. I will be home before you even know it.”
“For now I would like to enjoy the time I have with you,” Diane
stated with a small nod before taking in a long, shallow breath realizing
that again she had been kept out of something. Just now wasn’t the time
to be complaining considering he told her and didn’t want her to be mad
about it. “I love you honey and I hope everything goes okay for you.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Or else?” Jewel laughed taking a bold step forward closer to Shannon
as she pushed her long blonde hair back again. “Shannon, what are you
going to do to me? You can’t touch me and to be honest with you, you
can’t do anything about your brother and I. He’s old enough to make
his own decision and if you have a problem with it, then you need to just
get used to it.”
“I don’t need to get used to anything if it has to deal with you,”
Shannon snapped right back closing the front door behind her as she stepped
outside closer to Jewel. “My brother is young and he makes mistakes just
like anyone would, but I know it’s hard for a man not to fall for a whore
like you.”
“What are you jealous or something? Jealous to the fact that I can get
more men than you can because I’ll be honest with you dear, it’s
nothing to be jealous of. It’s just a gift,” Jewel smirked seeing
Shannon laugh before looking down toward the ground as Jewel shrugged her
shoulders. “It obviously was a gift that not only worked on Don, but
your brother too. So, I guess both of the men in your life agree that it works
for me.”
“Listen you bitch,” Shannon hissed only to feel Jewel move forward
and push her back casually making Shannon let out a small laugh before moving
forward and spearing her down to the ground. “You want to fight, fine
let’s fight.”
“Are you crazy?” Jewel tried pushing Shannon off of her as she brought
her hand up pulling at Shannon’s hair only to get a squeal from Shannon
in response. A small gasp escaped her lips as she felt Shannon start to choke
her, bring her up to slam her back against the ground. “Let go.”
“Shannon?” a small voice whispered as Shannon looked up to see Matt
standing before her with his backpack at his side and he let out a small laugh
seeing her let go of Jewel. “What in the world are you doing? Trying
to become a female professional wrestler or something?”
“No, I was just,” Shannon went to explain feeling Jewel push her
back to the ground making her blood boil even more as they both got up ready
to attack each other more before seeing Alicia step in between the both of
them. “You are such a bi…jerk.”
“Listen you two, I just brought Matty home,” Alicia snapped shooting
a glare at the both of them seeing Jewel take a step back and push back her
now messy hair. looking to Shannon she saw her look over at Matt who rolled
his eyes and headed back toward the house with his bag to move away from the
group. “He’s a little one and he shouldn’t be seeing the two
of you fighting like this. Not only is it not good for him, but I know Don
wouldn’t respect it either coming from the both of you. You need to back
off and take some time to realize that he needs to not see things like this
either.”
Shannon nodded moving back away from the group seeing the front door close
telling her that Matt got back into the house okay as she let out a long breath.
Now with Don’s mother there, she knew she had a lot of talking to do
before it was too late.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Ria, you need to relax,” Brant glanced over at where she was seated
at the kitchen table still tapping away on the floor with her foot. It was
clear that she was stewing over what she needed to do in terms of what was
happening with Kevin and Brant was convinced if she didn’t calm down
soon the whole situation would blow up in all of their faces.
“Brant’s right. You need to just try to stop thinking about it and
just enjoy the morning,” Don added with a small smile motioning over
to where Brant was finishing up with breakfast. “Besides I have to tell
you that you’re in for a treat. Brant’s one hell of a cook.”
“Why thank you Don,” Brant nodded in response offering up another
small smile, “See Ria I do have my finer points.”
“I’m not saying you don’t, but…” Ria’s gaze
traveled over to the window before she sprung up and marched over towards
the door. “That’s it. I’m stopping this right now.”
“Oh no you’re not,” Brant rushed over to stop her, doing the
first thing he could think of and pulling her up and into his arms. He felt
her kick back into his shin causing him to buckle over in pain while releasing
her. “Damn it Ria calm down!”
“No I’m not going to calm down. I’m going over there right
now and…” she continued to argue seeing Don block the back door
before she could escape. “Don, don’t you get yourself wrapped up
in this because I swear I’m going to hurt you if you don’t move.”
“Ria, I’m sorry but I can’t let you do this. I can’t let
you make a huge mistake in all of this. You just have to trust Brant and…”
Don offered up knowing full well how upset Ria was. She stepped in closer
to him looking like she was going to tear his head off, but before she had
the chance, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye coming right
at him. A second later, scrambled eggs splattered over the front of his face
catching him off guard. “What the…”
“What in the world?” Ria blinked back in surprise wondering what
had just happened. She spun around in the direction where Brant was standing,
the pan of eggs in his arm and a spoon in the other hand. He waved the spoon
around in the air and Ria frowned. “What are you doing?”
“Don’t make me do it because I will,” Brant warned with a hint
of teasing waving the spoon around in the air.
“Oh please, like throwing eggs at me is going to stop me from going over
there and…” she rolled her eyes, but was unable to finish her comment
when she felt the distinct slap of eggs in over the front of her shirt. She
brought her hands up and pulled the spongy food from her body. “You son
of a bitch!”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Brant wiggled his brow
at her before cracking a grin. “I’ll do it again if I have to.”
“Like hell you…” she felt him launch another spoonful of eggs
at her, but this time she ducked and it went straight into Don’s chest.
“Hey, come on man,” Don protested watching Brant reach for more
eggs and send them around the room over in Ria’s direction. She kept
ducking and getting out of the way while Brant followed her around chasing
her with the pan of eggs. “Um guys that’s perfectly good food and…”
“Oh no you don’t,” Ria shook her head letting out a long squeal.
She reached out to the counter top pulling the bottle of syrup off of it.
“If you even think about getting near me again, I’ll…”
“You’ll what,” Brant taunted wiggling his brow at her while
flinging another bit of eggs into her long, dark hair.
“You’re so going to pay now,” Ria warned popping the top off
of the bottle of syrup and squeezing it at him furiously. He jumped out of
the way, but she followed sending a hot spray of syrup across the kitchen.
“You missed me,” Brant stuck his tongue out at her only to feel
her squirt him right between the eyes.
“Like hell I did,” Ria squealed in response moving in to squirt
him again and again.
“Oh yeah well take this,” Brant shoved the rest of the pan of eggs
right in the center of her blouse before attempting to snatch the syrup from
her.
“Um guys I really don’t think that…” Don began taking
a step forward and slipping on the syrup on the ground. He flew in the air
and did a bit of a summersault before landing on his butt with a loud crashing
sound that caused Brant and Ria to stop. Both paused long enough to look at
him and stare in disbelief.
“Don, what are you doing?” Brant questioned tipping his head to
the side.
“Trying to be the adult here,” Don mouthed attempting to pull himself
off of the ground only to feel himself come crashing down again.
Ria let out a wild laugh unable to contain her amusement at seeing Don in
such a state, “Yeah, um you’re doing a great job of it, aren’t
you?”
“Ha ha, laugh it up now, but this means war,” Don snarled reaching
up out onto the counter for the plate of pancakes that Brant had just put
together. He ripped the top one off of the pile and launched it over towards
Ria, but instead nailed Brant in the shoulder.
“What’s this Donny boy?” Brant pulled the pancake away from
him waving it up in the air before looking to Ria, “I think that Don
wants in on some of the action here.”
“Then why deny it to him,” Ria shrugged her shoulders taking the
pancake from Brant’s fingers and waving it around as well. “I’m
going to give you until the count of three to start running like hell Don
before I get you with this and this.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Don mouthed with a sly grin seeing Ria
positioning the bottle of syrup over at him.
“Watch me!” she shouted squeezing down on the bottle and chasing
him around the room with a newfound determination. He ran away all the while
launching pancakes over his shoulder at her, while Brant grabbed the bottle
of strawberry syrup he’d picked up for Kevin.
“Oh no you don’t,” Brant cut them both off around the side
of the table squirting his syrup out at the both of them.
“You jerk. I swear I’m going to get you!” Ria charged at him,
tackling him in one swift movement and sending him straight down to the floor.
“If I fall you’re coming down with me,” Brant mouthed grabbing
her ankle when he’d hit the ground and taking her down with him while
Don started to launch another pancake in their direction.
“Not without a fight,” Ria warned squeezing the bottle of syrup
in his face as she climbed in over him, spraying him wildly.
“Ria stop,” Brant tried to bring his hand up to prevent her from
getting him soaked in syrup.
“Nope, you started this and now I’m going to finish it,” Ria
laughed wildly keeping Brant caged between her legs as she sat on his chest.
“Don, a little help here,” Brant yelped feeling Ria continue to
attack him.
“Oh so now you want me to help,” Don chuckled with an amused grin
stepping in closer to them. “Gee before it was let’s all pick on
Don.”
“Don, just help,” Brant spit out some of the syrup while using his
hands to wipe it off of his face and into Ria’s hair. “Take that
Ria.”
“It’s nothing compared to what I’m going to do to you,”
Ria warned trying to steal Brant’s bottle of syrup after hers had run
out. Brant quickly tossed it in the air sending it across the kitchen with
a victorious grin.
“Not a chance. You’re not going to get me at my own game,”
Brant shook his head firmly smearing his hands over the top of Ria’s
head and pulling her in against him to get her covered in syrup as well.
“Oh no you don’t. You two are not getting off that easy,” Don
announced seeing the two of them overtaken with laughter while wrestling on
the floor. Now that both of them were out of syrup Don decided to make his
move. He stepped forward and tossed another pancake in the air over his shoulder
and heard it make a loud, slapping sound before he reached for another one.
“I have you now.”
“What the hell is this?” Kevin roared bringing the laughter to a
screeching halt.
Ria tipped her head up from where she lay underneath Brant on the kitchen
floor only to discover Kevin and Angela standing in the doorway watching with
surprised eyes. She noticed the lone pancake that was now in the center of
Kevin’s chest meshed with the black t-shirt he was wearing and judging
by the expression on his face, she knew full well that whatever he was going
to say next, it was only going to lead to trouble--big trouble!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Kipp pushed his key into the lock on the front door hoping that once he got
inside that Kellen wouldn’t have the place in a complete state of disarray
now that he’d gotten upset with Kipp over the simple misunderstanding
he’d walked in. Kipp just hoped he could reason with Kellen somehow,
yet as Kipp surveyed his living room he realized that nothing was out of place.
It was as if Kellen hadn’t bothered to come back to their home after
he’d rushed out of Kipp’s office. Frowning Kipp crossed the room
seeking out any sign of his lover.
“Where are you Kellen?” Kipp questioned to himself, his thoughts
running wild as he remembered the way that Kellen had rushed out of his office
in a fury.
Closing his eyes Kipp thought back to Becca kissing him and a sudden rush
of frustration carried over him. Time and time again he tried to see how he’d
managed to send Becca all the wrong signals, yet nothing came of it. No matter
how hard he’d tried he couldn’t pinpoint the moment when he’d
alluded to something more happening between them than a professional relationship.
Clearly somehow Becca had to have been mistaken.
“It’s just a misunderstanding,” Kipp mouthed to himself drawing
in a long, slow breath, “one that I’ll get to the bottom of as soon
as possible.”
Now armed with that thought Kipp started towards the front door again ready
to go seek out Kellen and explain himself further, but before he was able
to leave, he found himself face to face with Becca. She was standing before
him with a curious expression on her face. Her eyes were wide with the surprise
that came from the two of them running into one another and as Kipp started
to say something Becca cut him off.
“I hope this isn’t a bad time,” she offered up apologetically
clearing her throat uneasily before meeting his eyes again.
“Well actually,” he started with an obvious hesitation.
“I won’t be long,” she promised him in an uneasy tone, “Kipp,
I just wanted to talk about last night.”
“Yeah,” Kipp finally nodded in agreement stepping aside to allow
her access into his home, “Maybe that’s a good idea because I think
we need to clear up a few things between us.”
“Absolutely,” she nodded in response, “I think you’re
absolutely right. About last night…”
“Becca, what happened last night was something that cannot ever happen
again. Look, I’m not trying to hurt your feelings because you’re
a wonderful woman, but it’s just that, well the truth to the matter is
that I just don’t feel that way about you I mean you’re a beautiful,
wonderful woman and any man would be lucky to be with you, but I’m just
not…” Kipp started straining to find the right words to let her
down.
“Kipp, I understand,” she cut him off abruptly, “You and Kellen
are in a relationship and even if I had seriously wanted to try to step in
the way of that, it wouldn’t happen. I know that your refusal has nothing
to do with how you feel about me.”
“No, not at all. It’s just that Kellen and I, well we’re in
this relationship with one another…” Kipp began again feeling a
very distinct uneasiness inside of him.
“And the last thing you needed was me acting all crazy and kissing on
you like I did. Kipp, I honestly don’t know what prompted me to act like
such an idiot, but I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to behave so foolishly
and I hope that you can forgive me. If I would’ve been thinking about
my actions, then I never, ever would have…”
“It’s okay,” Kipp offered up with a small nod, “Becca,
it was probably my fault as well because I’m never really clear about
things, but the truth is that I really, really love Kellen. I always have
and I know I always will…”
“I realize that,” she added with a polite smile, “and if there’s
anything I can do to help clear the air between you, then all you have to
do is…”
“I think I should handle this one on my own,” he offered up apologetically.
“I know that you mean well, but Kellen’s rather high strung. When
he gets something in his head, he has to do things his way and, well, I think
it’ll just be easier if he and I settle this on our own.”
“You’re probably right,” she nodded again, “but Kipp for
what it’s worth I hope that we can still be friends.”
“Of course,” Kipp added with a polite smile of his own, “I’ve
done plenty of impulsive things in my life, so I can understand how something
like what took place could have happened and I’m flattered truly, but…”
“You’re in love and I respect that,” Becca nodded before offering
up a warm smile. “I just hope that I didn’t complicate things beyond
repair for the both of you.”
“I’m sure that isn’t the case,” Kipp replied with a hopeful
expression as he felt the doubts lingering inside of him. He just prayed that
Kellen would see beyond his anger long enough to realize that last night was
just a simple misunderstanding. Hopefully when he caught up with Kellen he
could explain and get things back to how they should be between them one way
or the other.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“I cannot believe the nerve of that man and here I thought that he was
the love of my life--that he was my soul mate that I could find happiness
with, but then to see him with that harlot. I don’t care what he says
this is unforgivable and I‘m not going to pretend it doesn‘t bother
me. I don’t care if Becca instigated it, I’m going to make him crawl
on hands and knees to get me back. He’s going to have to grovel and…,”
Kellen burst into Heather’s office making sure to shut the door behind
him before he turned to face Heather again only to discover the lost look
on her face. Stopping in his rant, he frowned and stepped in over to Heather
seeing that she hadn‘t heard a word of what he‘d just said to her.
He leaned forward waving his hand in front of her face before speaking up
again, “Heather babes, is something wrong? Heather?”
Heather blinked for a moment before tipping her head up to look at him, tears
threatening to overtake her. Suddenly Kellen’s worry shifted to full
blown concern and he spoke up again.
“Hey what’s going on? What is it?” Kellen questioned confusion
settling in over him at the sight of her upset. “Did you and Kyle get
into a fight or something? Did Sarah come back here again or…?”
“Tell me something Kellen,” Heather spat out finding the strength
to get her words out in a shaky tone, “Are you so mad at Kipp that you
have no problems taking it out on everyone else? Is that what this is about?”
“What?” Kellen blinked back at her confusion settling in over him,
“Heather babes, what are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the phone call,” she spoke up in a tight
voice, wiping at her face before she let her emotions get the best of her,
“I mean is this some kind of sick joke you’re playing here Kellen?”
“Sick joke,” Kellen frowned shaking his head at her, “Heather
I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Like hell you don’t,” she pushed her chair away from her desk
before marching over to the area behind her desk over by the fax machine.
She picked up a piece of paper dangling it in the air to show it to him.
“What’s wrong? Is this what’s wrong?” Kellen circled around
her desk, his blue eyes widening as he realized what was on the page in front
of them. He saw Heather’s lower lip quivering as her hand started to
shake.
“Kellen, how could you do this?” Heather questioned in a small voice,
waving the paper at him.
“I didn’t do this,” Kellen tried to assure her taking the paper
from her hand. He eyed it for a moment seeing the cover art of Heather from
the video that never should’ve made it’s way to the light of day.
Kellen’s eyes snapped back to hers as he started to tear at the paper
in his hand, shredding it into many little pieces, “This is sick and
I would never, ever do this to you. The last thing I would want is for anyone
to find out about this.”
“Anyone like Kyle or Kipp considering that you’re looking for a
reason to stick it to Kipp,” Heather shouted back at him, her voice screeching
with anger, “Tell me Kellen are you just dying to break it to Kipp that
you and I slept together when we made that stupid, disgusting movie with one
another? Is that it? Is that your way of hurting him and me in the process?”
“No Heather I would never, ever do that to you. I don’t know what
kind of sick son of a bitch would do that, but it’s not me,” Kellen
pleaded with her thinking about that point in time in their lives. “Heather,
you know as well as I do that I don’t want anyone else to ever know about
that. It was bad enough that we lived through it, but to see it like this
coming up…”
“Kellen no one else knows about it. You and I are the only ones who know
what we did. We were the only ones that…” Heather started to panic
worry carrying over her.
“Heather trust me on this one. I really don’t think that we are
the only ones who know about it considering that the video was made public
years ago,” Kellen stated the obvious only to get a glare from her, “I’m
just saying that it’s possible for people to have seen the film. They
could’ve found a way to get their hands on it somehow and…”
“It hasn’t ever come up before Kellen. No one in this town has seen
it because it wouldn’t make it this far outside of Los Angeles. There
was nothing special about that movie expect that it was one of the things
in my life that I would love to forget,” she shuddered at the memory
before another thought occurred to her. “Oh God. Kellen if this wasn’t
you and someone else sent that fax to me here, then who is to say that they
haven’t found a way to show Kyle? What if Kyle knows about what happened?
He’ll leave me for sure after this. He’s not going to understand.
He won’t see that we were just doing something that we had to in order
to survive. He’ll think of me like everyone else does. He’ll see
that I was a…”
“Heather stop,” Kellen snapped cutting her off sharply, “it’s
not going to be like that.”
“Yes it will,” Heather realized the color draining from her face,
“If Kyle learns about this then I’m going to lose him forever. I’m
sure of it.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Sorry about that, but when Charles is ready to sleep, he’s ready
to sleep,” Kyle announced with a small laugh seeing Paul leaning over
the side of the sofa tearing at the cushions on it. Kyle opened his mouth
to say something more when Paul launched a pillow over at him. “Paul
what are you doing?”
“Helping you look for that rental,” Paul replied with a small laugh,
“I mean that kid on the phone kind of reminded me of the one in that
movie with Mark Wahlberg--you know the one where Mark is the hit man and that
kid threatens him over and over again.”
“I remember it, but I really don’t think I’ll be intimidated
by a video store clerk. I’ll just find the rental, take it back, pay
the fine and…” Kyle stopped hearing a cracking sound from over where
Paul was standing. “What was that?”
“I’m not sure,” Paul stood up straighter hearing the cracking
sound continue. He picked his foot up before letting out a small gasp, “Oh
boy…that’s not good.”
“What’s not good?” Kyle walked around the couch to see the
case the rental was in pieces underneath Paul’s foot. Paul picked his
foot up and motioned to the floor.
“I’m so sorry man, but I swear I’ll pay for it,” Paul
offered up apologetically reaching for the case only to discover it was empty.
Letting out a long sigh of relief, he wiped his hand over his brow and offered
up a grin, “Thank God. For a minute there I thought I was in way too
deep.”
“That still doesn’t help me find it,” Kyle frowned looking
around the living room. “I mean if it’s not in the case, where in
the hell could it be? I don’t ever recall watching it considering that
I haven’t really had time to lately.”
“Maybe you started to watch it, but then got distracted,” Paul scratched
his chin lightly before surveying the room. He held his finger up in the air
and grinned, “Though perhaps if one was to ponder the logical side of
where the DVD might be, one might direct their attention to the DVD player
right over there.”
“I don’t know,” Kyle paused watching his friend walk over to
the television set and power up the DVD player. When he opened the door to
the DVD player it swung open to reveal that there was in fact a DVD inside.
“Would you look at this?” Paul reached for it carefully holding
it up to show Kyle, “It is the rental and I’m sure of it because
it says Mega Video on the little sticker on here.”
“Good, then I’ll just find an empty case around here and take it
back,” Kyle decided making a mental note to return the DVD later so that
he didn’t wind up getting another phone call.
“That sounds like a very good plan my friend, but before you do that
why not take the time to sit down, relax and see what we have here?”
Paul suggested dropping the DVD back into the player and reaching for the
remote. He walked over to the couch and glanced up at Kyle when he took a
seat, “After all you are paying a small fortune for it, so you may as
well watch it once, right?”
“I guess,” Kyle shrugged his shoulders looking around the room at
the mess Paul had made, “You know that Heather is going to have a fit
if she sees what you did to the living room.”
“She’ll survive,” Paul waved his hand dismissively pressing
a button on the remote, “but you know popcorn would be nice since you’re
already up and moving around.”
“Don’t push your luck,” Kyle rolled his eyes reaching for a
pillow and tossing it at his friend.
“Hey a man can try, can’t he?” Paul let out a tiny laugh before
the sound of sleazy sounding music played on the screen before him. Immediately
he perked up, his eyes fixed on the screen in front of him as he laughed.
“My, my Kyle. I can see why you don’t want to give this one back.
It looks like it’s going to be a…”
“A what?” Kyle questioned glancing over at the television screen
to see the title of the film in front of him. “Oh God, what did I pick
up?”
“I know what you picked up and you rock man. Seven Minutes in Heaven,”
Paul read aloud offering up a laugh as the name Heaven Delight followed the
opening credit followed by a few other cheesy obvious adult film names. Paul
rubbed his hands together and laughed, “Hell if Heaven is as delicious
as the title sounds, there sure as hell better be more than seven minutes
of action going on here.”
“You’re deranged,” Kyle rolled his eyes seeing the way in which
Paul focused on the screen again. “Honestly, we should just turn this
off.”
“Not a chance. You’re the one that rented it and besides I want
to know just what it is that Heaven has to offer,” Paul mouthed with
a small smirk watching the camera pan in over a pair of long legs stepping
into a shower. The camera slowly began it’s descent over the slender
woman’s figure, taking the time to hone in over her curves before offering
up a full shot of the clearly naked actress in front of him. “Wow, check
out the ass on this one. It’s going to be good for sure.”
“Paul, this is stupid,” Kyle moved to reach for the remote ready
to toss the DVD into a box after he’d mistakenly picked it up, but as
he stole a look over at the screen, seeing the shot of the woman from behind
as she continued to soak up the shower steam. The water sprayed over her body,
offering up all the right moves to make any man take notice of what was happening
onscreen. Immediately Kyle felt himself react to what he was seeing.
“That’s it. We’re not watching this,” Kyle decided knowing
full well the last thing he wanted to do was watch an adult film with Paul.
“We’re turning this off now.”
“Not just yet. It’s getting good,” Paul swatted at Kyle’s
hand keeping Kyle from taking the remote away from him. “She looks great
from behind, so I want to see what else she’s got to offer.”
“Paul this is ridiculous. Heather could come home at any time and after
last night she’s not going to be happy with this being on TV. She’s
already upset about what happened last night and when she walks in, if she
sees this…” Kyle started to argue with his friend thinking about
how bad it would look when Heather spotted him and Paul with an adult film
on.
“Um Kyle, I think she just did,” Paul’s jaw dropped as Kyle
spun around to look at the front door fearing his wife had returned.
“What is that supposed to mean? She’s not here Paul. Quit joking
around and turn it off,” Kyle grumbled back at his friend feeling his
annoyance level building. He turned to Paul again ready to say something more
when Paul pointed at the screen.
“No Kyle, you’re not getting it. Heather’s here all right and
she’s making one hell of an entrance,” Paul blurted out as Kyle
glanced over at the television screen finding himself faced with the shock
of his life!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
...to be continued...