Blackness Takes Over & Blackness Awaits (17 page)

“Aye, aye Captain,” I salute and burst into laughter. I don’t want him crashing my car either, so I won’t test him. That takes an amazing amount of willpower. I’m strong!

We drive in pleasant silence and I appreciate the scenery around me. I’m always the driver so this is a nice reprieve for me. We pull into the parking lot and see the boys waiting outside on a bench for us. Kavy is on his feet when he sees Kel driving. He parks and before I’m out the door Kavy’s in front of me grabbing my hand to lead me out.

“You sick, Kid?” His face and tone are concerned.

“Nope,” I reply. His face drops.

“Why’s Kellerman driving Shelby then, Kid?” His brows are furrowed so tight he has a unibrow.

“It was a thank you gift to him.” I wink, shut the door, and move around the now shocked stupid Aaron Kavanagh.

“What!?” he bellows back at me. I’m now standing with everyone in a circle, Kel has his hand on the small of my back. Kavy pushes his way between us knocking me back a bit.

“Christ Kavy,” I hiss at him.

“What the fuck, Kid? What could you possibly be thankin’ him for that earns drivin’ Shelby?” he asks incredulously. I give him the “you know why” look.

He spins on Kel. “You fucked her?” he sneers a little loud for the venue.

I grab his arm and spin him around. “Jesus fuck, Kavy. Keep it down,” I hiss under my breath and glare at him. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no he didn’t fuck me, I’m not one of your hotdog down a hallway randoms. It’s my goddamn car and I let him drive for my own personal reasons. If you don’t back the fuck off, I swear to God you and I are going to throw down. I’ve had enough of your shit this weekend to last a lifetime.”

“O’Sullivan party of six,” is called on the loud speaker and not a moment too soon. The other three start to move in the restaurant while I continue to glare at Kavy. Kel is watching us closely, trying to figure out if he needs to step in. I wait. I’m not backing down from Kavy. He grabs me around my waist and scoops me up to him. I wrap my arms under his and squeeze his rock hard torso.

“I’m done. I promise,” Kavy mutters in my hair. “Sorry.” He puts me down and turns to Kel.

“You seem like a good guy, Kellerman,” he growls, staring Kel down and Kel is holding his own. “If you ever hurt her, even think about hurting her, we’ll do shit to you that makes
Reservoir Dogs
look like child’s play.” He sticks his hand out to Kel to shake, like it’s a bet or an agreement they’ve just reached.

“If I hurt her,” Kel grasps and shakes Kavy’s, “I’ll deliver myself to you guys willingly,” he finishes emphatically. I guess what I have to say about this is unimportant; it’s only my life they’re discussing. Kavy nods and heads inside. Kel smiles at me and gestures for me to go ahead of him. He reaches in front of me to open the door and places his hand in the small of my back to lead me in. Once at our table he pulls out my chair for me, takes the empty one next to mine, and places his hand on my thigh. He doesn’t move it the whole time we eat.

We enjoy a normal lunch. Giving each other shit, telling stories about last night’s randoms (wow), and laughing our asses off. This is the family I love, even if I’m sure someone got crabs last night.

We split off from lunch, Kel and I head to the store and the guys head home to watch the Bears game. Kel and I get home with all the groceries just a few minutes into the game. The Bears and the Chiefs get equal play and respect in this house. I put away the groceries and pull out some snacks for the boys. I come over to the couch, plop down next to Kel and get into the game. We yell and scream at the TV for hours. I make us chicken for dinner with roasted vegetables. Pumpkin spice cake for dessert, and I have happy boys on my hands.

Kel and Kavy are doing the dishes. Cally, Sully, and Finn are heading downstairs to play pool in the game room. I’m supposed to be joining the three but am eavesdropping on the dish-washers instead, after hearing my name before I made it down the stairs. Classy, I know, and becoming a habit this weekend.

“Like I told ya last night, we met first day of class freshman year,” Kavy explains, “been inseparable since.”

“I know what you said,” Kel chides. “I’m just wonderin’ how three guys like you ended up, with the most amazing woman I’ve ever laid eyes on, as just friends?” The most common question we hear.

“It’s a long story to tell ya the truth. Kid’ll fuckin’ kill me for tellin’ it, but you need to know to understand us. If you’re serious about being with her you need to know we’re a package deal man. Where Kid goes, we go. If I tell you this story and it’s too much for you…you bow out now before she knows you know. If she tells you, and you bail, my previous promise becomes a reality. I’m givin’ you your one mulligan right now. You want it?”

There’s a pause and I’m holding my breath. I can’t believe Kavy’s going to tell him this story. I AM going to fucking kill him, but he’s right too. If I told Kel and he couldn’t take it…that would crush me and I don’t need any crushing. The only people that know this are the people that were there that night and the rest of the boys’ families. I’ve never told anyone, it’s too hard. I also haven’t had a serious relationship because of this. I can’t seem to open up to people. Trust isn’t something I’ve done with a man…ever. I want to trust Kel though, I feel like I already do a little. He’s different from the other guys I’ve been with. I don’t know if it’s Mia or him trusting me with his story or what, but I know that I want to try with him, and I’ve never wanted to try with anyone before him.

“Man, whatever you wanna tell me, I’m all ears. I don’t spook Kavanagh. If you want Kid to tell me, I’m happy to wait, but if you think I need to know right off the bat, then I’ll listen.” I hear two bar stools scrape against the tile and two beers open. They’re getting comfortable. Too bad I’m scrunched in a ball hiding behind a corner. Kavy starts.

“My side of the story is simple. It was love at first sight, man. She was like a shiny present on Christmas morning when I spotted her in class. She put us three in our places like she was swattin’ flies. She didn’t give a shit who we were, what we looked like, how much money our parents had, nothing. We were all so impressed with her…we didn’t know what to do. I called dibs which was important to us back then. If one of us called dibs the others had to bow out respectfully, but none of us would back off so the other could stake a claim on her. So after class we agreed none of us would make a play, no girl was worth ruining our friendships. But we were still all so intrigued with her, we invited her to a party at our place that same night, and she came. We couldn’t fuckin’ believe she agreed to come, but we promised her that we’d keep the creeps off her.” Kavy’s voice trails off. This has got to be hard for him.

“She showed up at our place when the party was in full swing. Last night was the only time I’ve seen her look better than when she walked in my place that night. I can remember every detail about her. Her hair was up, her shirt was sparkly and came up high on her collarbone, it was completely backless man.” They both sigh. “Perfect fuckin’ jeans that cupped her ass, and high heel things that made her legs look like they went on for days longer than they already do. She was breathtaking. And as I saw every dude in there start to eye fuck her and every chick in there wanting to be her, a switch flipped. I wanted to protect her not fuck her. You can ask Cal and O’Sullivan, they’ll tell you the same thing happened with them too. I can’t explain it…it was almost primal.”

“Nah man, I get that. I felt that same protectiveness last night.”

“Yeah, but you still wanna fuck her.” Kavy is a little harsh with that one. There’s silence again, and I get worried but Kavy keeps going.

“This guy I had known from high school was there that night, Liam McKinley. He was a prick, I never shoulda let him in my place but he was always around and had never caused trouble before. He was the guy with party favors. Anyway he took a liking to Kid and tried to make a play for her. Sully brushed him off and we stayed glued to her all night. She wasn’t as stubborn then as she is now and listened when we told her not to go anywhere without us.” Fucker.

“She needed to take a piss so I took her up to my room so she wouldn’t be bothered. No one went up there, and I kept the door locked. I left her in there to run down stairs. I still to this day can’t remember why. I left the key on the inside of the door but unlocked and went back down stairs. I was eighteen and fuckin’ stupid. I never shoulda done that. Never!” Kavy’s voice is pained and I want to stop him, but I let him continue. He sighs and I hear another beer crack open.

“When I went downstairs this guy Brendan I went to high school with cornered me, and started feedin’ me shots. He had this chick with him and she was talkin’ about threesomes and all kinds a shit that distracts drunk, horny, eighteen-year-olds. It had been at least twenty minutes maybe more, when I realized I had left her up there. When I said I needed to go, that fucker Brendan tells me ‘Liam’s probably not done with her yet’. I fuckin’ flipped, screamed for Cal and O’Sullivan, told Finn to keep that clown Brendan and flew up the stairs. The door was locked, and I knew shit was bad. It took me a few good tries, but I shattered that door. He was on top of her and had his teeth sunk into her hip like an animal. I ripped him off of her and threw him to O’Sullivan and my brother Ryan. I thought she was dead, Kellerman.” There’s a hitch in Kavy’s voice. Silence hangs for a long time before he continues.

“Her pants were around her ankles and her hands were zip tied behind her back. That mark he left on her hip was dripping blood, and there was a trail of blood running down the back of her neck. But her face, I still have nightmares about her face. Her eyes were swollen shut and purple, her left jaw was the size of a baseball, and she was covered in blood. If I didn’t know it was her, I wouldn’t have been able to identify her. Cal picked her up off the floor and started screaming at us to help him cut her loose and get blankets and shit. He got her to move her fingers so we knew she was still able to function a little. Sully started talkin’ about gettin’ her to the hospital and how to go about it, and she flipped. She shook her head no so hard…I don’t know how she found the strength. We weren’t gonna do anything she didn’t want so Cal called his dad, he’s a doctor, and he fixed her up for the night and hired a nurse to take care of her.

“She stayed with us for two weeks while she healed. She was fuckin’ amazing, man. Something like that would break most people, but she didn’t become a victim. She fought hard to heal her mind as much as her body…inspiring doesn’t describe. But she fixed us more than we fixed her. Cal used to be super closed off, wouldn’t talk to anyone about anything that mattered. His mom died when he was little and that shit fucked with him. With Kid around though he was just normal, it’s like she woke him up or somethin’. He’s not an open book now or anything, but he’s really close with Kid and his stepmom.

“O’Sullivan had a huge chip on his shoulder about his dad being important in the police force and people comparing them all the time. O’Sullivan went off the beaten path by not joining the force like his brothers and cousins. Sully is his dad’s nickname and Brian fuckin’ hates when anyone calls him that. I’ve seen him knock guys out for just jokin’ about it, but not Kid. She called him that and his little shriveled up black heart started to beat again. He still only let’s her call him Sully, but he’s eased that chip off his shoulder.

“I slept with her every night. I had never been able to sleep with a woman before. Too much intimacy or some shit according to Kid. We all slept with her in Cal’s bed the night of the attack and I slept with her every night for almost four years after that. She brought me peace and calm. I still crawl in her bed a few nights a month. I’ve never slept with another woman but I think someday I might be able to, because of Kid
.”
Kavy, finishes letting out a huge breath. Now I wait for Kel’s feet to come barreling toward me to exit this clusterfuck of a dysfunctional house.

“Can I ask you a couple things?” Kel sounds calm and even. Interesting. “Why wouldn’t she go to the hospital?”

“She was only seventeen. She had just turned seventeen, actually. You’d a never known it to look at her. She looks the same now as she did then. I swear to God her face and body are stuck at twenty-four. Anyway, she was a minor and her Uncle Mick was in the hospital dying of cancer. Social services woulda gotten involved so she didn’t want to go. Same reason she didn’t want the police involved. Her father’s dead and her mother might as well be. We’re all she has. Our families love her more than us, Callaghan, O’Sullivan, and me…we’re her family and have been from that day. No one knows what Liam did to Kid other than those of us that were there that night and we eventually told the rest of our families, but only after the statute of limitations ran out. Telling O’Sullivan’s dad, was the roughest part but Kid made him understand why she made the choices she did and he couldn’t be mad at her. Kid’s the daughter none of our families ever got and she means the fuckin’ world to them. If you ever meet them you better be prepared. She’s got nine brothers, three dads, and two moms…nightmare man.” Kel doesn’t respond to that last part and I’m not surprised. I doubt he wants to know me, much less my psychotically over protective family.