Elly & Kent - The Complete Story: Includes Books 1-3 (54 page)

I laughed softly as I drank more of my wine. "Some Santa-trickery for little kids, I think."

He looked at me and gasped, "What do you mean 'Santa-trickery'? What are you saying?"

I held tightly onto my glass of wine, "Kent. It's probably time you know... Santa... Isn't... Real."

His face was one of mock-horror and I laughed so hard I almost spilled my wine all over his mother's couch. We made fun of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for hours, refilling our wine glasses twice. It was so nice feeling comfortable with him again. It was like old times and I had forgotten, momentarily, all about him trying to kiss me and his recent pronouncement of love.

After dinner, which was also lots of fun, probably due to the three glasses of wine I'd consumed, I made my way to the door. "I'd love to stay, guys, but I need to get to work."

"Elly, you work too much! Tell her, Kenny," his mother said.

He shrugged his shoulders and nodded. "It's true. You work too much. You should marry me and then you can live the sweet life." The room was silent as his words moved between all of us.

I shook my head, barely. I couldn't believe he'd just say that. Joking or not, it wasn't funny. I swallowed down my embarrassment. "I guess you forgot I'm not interested in marrying you." I watched his expression crumple into hurt.

I heard my mother gasp somewhere behind Kent. "Elly, that's not nice. What has gotten into you?"

"I've had too much to drink, I guess, Mom. My apologies for my loose tongue. I'd better go before I say anything else that would offend." I pulled my gaze from Kent and put my boots on. I was out the door before I put my coat on and inhaled deeply once I was outside. The door didn't shut as I'd expected it to and I turned around. Kent was there, a dark look on his face.

I walked down the steps, putting distance between us. "Go back inside, I don't have anything to say to you."

"What happened to us being friends?"

"I said pretend friends. And I'd ask you the same question. Marry you?" I scoffed and looked back, he was still following me. I stopped and turned around to face him. He didn't stop, he kept coming, his hands gripping my shoulders as his eyes roamed over my face. I wasn't scared of him hurting me. But it was a little scary feeling the strength he had over me.

"Is that really such a crazy thought?" he asked, his jaw worked under his skin.
 

"Yes. Go back inside. You're drunk."
 

He chuckled as he let me go. "No, Els, I'm not drunk. Not yet." He released me as he turned away and walked back inside. It took me an extra minute to compose myself after his form disappeared. Shit. Was this friendship thing going to work? I texted Stacy and walked as I waited for her and Rio to come pick me up.
 

Chapter Seventy-Three

After the gig was over Bryan pulled me to the side and whispered in my ear, "I think I see my boss at the bar. And I think he's been glaring at me all night."

I turned my gaze to the bar, shielding my eyes from the spotlights to get a good look. It was. It was Kent. What the hell was he doing here?

"Do you want me to go talk to him?" Bryan asked, his hand on my lower back.

I shook my head slowly, "No. I'll just go get his keys and get him home." I turned towards him and kissed him softly. "Happy Thanksgiving."

His beautiful eyes smiled down at me, his fingers on my lower back clutching me into his chest a little tighter. "Happy Thanksgiving."

James and Rio were already headed for the table Stacy had reserved for them. Their post-show beers were waiting. I made my way over to the bar, preparing myself for the worst. "Kent, hey." I tapped him on his shoulder and he spun around, a grin on his lips when he saw that it was me.
 

"Elly-poo. I missed you. I didn't think you were going to come say hi. Since we aren't friends or anything."

I had to take a step back, his breath heavily laced with whiskey. I looked at the bartender and pointed to Kent and then made a cutting motion with my hand. Kent should've been cut off three drinks ago. I stepped between him and the guy next to him and called to the bartender, "Close his tab, please." I turned my face and Kent's was there, his lips so very close to mine. I pushed him back and frowned. "Kent, give me your credit card."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Nope. Only my friends or my wives get my credit card."

I sighed and pushed him back as he started to lean towards me. "Kent, you're ridiculous. Stand up."

He did, wobbling a little. "Ooh, little bossy Elly is back. I missed her."

I shook my head as I shoved my hands into his pockets, looking for his wallet. Of course it was in the last pocket I'd searched. His hands had moved to my hips to steady himself as I searched him. I grabbed his credit card and shoved it towards the bartender. I watched Kent out of the corner of my eye, he was bending over slowly towards my neck. I put my hand on his chest to hold him up. I felt it rumble under my fingers.

The bartender brought me the check and I scribbled Kent's name and then grabbed the card and let him go just long enough to shove his card back into the sleeve of his wallet, fold it up, and force it back into his pocket. His lips met with my collarbone.
 

"Kent, come on." I grabbed his hand and ducked away from him, tugging him towards Stacy's table. She looked at us with wide eyes when we approached, a beer to her lips.
 

"Hey, Elly. Hey, Kent," she said after she'd set her beer down. Rio was glaring at Kent as his arms came around my waist from behind, his chin resting on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes and tried to pull Kent's arms away from my waist. James's brow puckered as he tried to figure out what was going on.

"Hey. He's had too much to drink. I'm going to drive him home," I said.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Rio piped up and raised a questioning brow.

"Not really, but I don't trust him not to puke in the cab. I'll just throw him in the back, it'll be fine."

Rio stood up, "I'll go with you."

I shook my head, "N--" I froze as Kent's lips accosted my neck again. His hands wandered up to my ribcage and then suddenly they were gone. I turned around in time to see Bryan pushing Kent down to the floor with his fist to his face. I gasped and tried to move forward but a different male arm was around my waist, holding me back. "Bryan! Don't!"

Kent was on the ground, a hand to his cheekbone. "Fuck, Bryan. That's going to fucking hurt in the morning."

"You're lucky it wasn't your fucking balls. Keep your hands off of her," Bryan snapped.
 

I tried again to get in the middle but James squeezed me and spoke in my ear, "Don't want you getting a black eye trying to break up a fight, baby. Your pretty face is probably the only reason we get paying gigs." I ignored James semi-compliment. I couldn't take my eyes off the scene before me.

Kent got up off the floor slowly. He stumbled a little and then turned to look at Bryan. "You're right. I should keep my hands to myself. But I'm feeling pretty frisky tonight." Kent swung at Bryan mid-word and it landed on his left eye.

"Oh shit," James said near my ear, his grip loosening just enough for me to get away. "Elly!" he growled but he wasn't as fast as I was. I put my arms around Bryan's waist and tried to pull him back. He pulled my arms off of him and went at Kent again but Rio stopped him this time.
 

"Dude, chill. We haven't gotten paid yet." Bryan shrugged Rio's hand off his shoulder and walked away, still seething. I was torn, not sure which way to go. Kent was holding his already bruised cheek, his eyes on Bryan's retreating back.

Rio followed after Bryan and James stood by me and Stacy. Stacy stood up and went to Kent, putting an arm around his waist tentatively. "Good fight, Kent. But we should probably get you home now. Huh, tiger?"

"I fucked her, Bryan!" Kent yelled with a grin on his face. I gasped and watched as Bryan turned on his heel and came at Kent again, faster. Pure fury on his face.

"Stacy, goddamnit, get away from him!" Rio yelled as Bryan charged forward.

I stepped in front of him but he pushed me away, "Get the fuck out of the way!" I landed against James's chest and watched with hurt eyes as Bryan made a move to punch Kent again. Kent, however, now had matched fury, not mirth, in his eyes. He rammed his shoulder into Bryan's chest, throwing them both onto the nearest table. Beer bottles and pretzels went flying everywhere.

I looked away as the punches started to land again. Stacy grabbed me and we moved out of the bar, letting the bouncer and the boys sort it out.

"Oh my god," I said to Stacy, my vision blurred from the tears.
 

"They're both being assholes, Elly. Let's go to Rio's van. We'll wait for everything to cool off."

I nodded slowly as she led me there. I sat in the passenger's seat and stared at the front door of the bar. Bryan stormed out first and made his way to his car. His tires peeled as he sped out of the parking lot.

"Well, he's alive," Stacy said, trying to sound chipper for my sake. I had no words. He'd pushed me and I wasn't sure if it had been in anger at me or at Kent. Did he think that I'd slept with Kent as Kent had implied? Did Kent just ruin my chance at a good relationship? Was he really that vindictive? It was a side of him I'd never seen before. A side to both of them that I'd never seen before.

Kent stumbled out of the bar, alone. James and Rio were behind him, watching to make sure he didn't hurt himself, I guessed. He stumbled into the backseat of his car and James closed the door behind him.

I pulled out my phone and dialed his mother. He was going to need someone to make sure he was okay and it sure as hell wasn't going to be me after the stunt he'd just pulled in there.

Chapter Seventy-Four

It had been a week since the incident after Thanksgiving and I still hadn't heard anything from Bryan. He had cancelled band practice and Kent said he'd been MIA at work. I was dressed and ready to go to his house when my apartment buzzer sounded.
 

"Hello?" I released the button after I was done speaking and applying my lip gloss as I waited.

"It's Bryan. Can I come in?" My lips were frozen, pressed together, as I contemplated what this meant. Had he come to apologize or tell me he'd found someone else? I wasn't really sure which one I wanted.

"Come on in." I buzzed him in and then opened the door after discarding the lip gloss into the little blue dish on my tiny front hall table.

He approached slowly, his shoulders set back confidently. His eyes met mine and I felt the air leave my lungs, he was as gorgeous as ever. The shiner that Kent had given him had almost disappeared, just a little trace of ugly yellow under his left eye. I stepped aside and he came in, looking around.
 

"You know we've been dating for a while and this is the first time I've actually seen the inside of your place."
 

I let out a little chuckle as I looked around. Truth be told, it wasn't much to look at. The one bedroom apartment was tiny but it served its purpose as a place for me to sleep, eat and store all my clothes, which were neatly hung on rolling racks behind the white love seat.
 

"There's not much to see." He was still looking around and it gave me a moment to look him over. He looked good, perhaps a little tired. I motioned to the couch. "Please, feel free to sit down. Do you want anything to drink?"
 

He shook his head, "No, I'm good, thanks." He sat down on my couch making it look tiny as he stretched his arms out along the back of it. His eyes looked up at me expectantly.

I mentally nudged myself and moved to sit down next to him in the little bit of space he left for me. "So what brings you here?"

He put his hand on my shoulder, his thumb slowly stroking it as he glanced down at me. "You. I've missed you."

I nodded slowly. "Oh?"

He nodded back and moved his body towards mine slowly, bringing his face closer to mine. "Oh..." I closed my eyes when his lips touched mine. His kisses still ignited a fire in my belly despite what he'd said a week earlier. I squeezed my fists together tightly and then reached up, pushing him away before he had me on my back.

"Bryan, wait." He moved his lips to my neck, kissing his way up to my ear slowly. "We have to talk about what happened."

He whispered into my ear, causing shivers, "I'm sorry, Elly." He continued to kiss my neck, drawing a moan from me as his hand moved to my breast, teasing my nipple. "I was an asshole, I said things I didn't mean. I was just so angry. I know you could never do any wrong. You're perfect." I gasped when his hand moved from my breast to the waistband of my skirt. I pressed my legs together as the heat and wetness gathered there.

I let it happen, I let his hands, lips and tongue roam my body. He assumed everything was forgiven. He made love to me on my couch, slow and sensual. He whispered about how beautiful I was, how he wanted me, how sorry he was. He made promises for the future. And I believed him. Every single word.
 

We had sex several more times that evening and in the morning he reluctantly left. He kissed me goodbye and got into his car, heading for home. He had a job interview to get to. I watched him drive away and was reminded by my stomach's loud roar that I hadn't eaten in a while. I quickly showered and then headed to the market.