Bigger Than the Sky (Serenity Point) (9 page)

Resting his elbows on the armrests, he steeples his hands in front of him and looks at me. “So.”

I know he’s a man of action and words a lot of the time take a backseat, so I’m only agitated a little when he echoes me.

“Kade,” I say, giving him a gimlet eye.

He takes a breath and blows it out. “Bought the house with you in mind, Mill.”

“You already said that,” I say quietly waiting for him to continue.

He stands suddenly and starts walking around the apartment, picking up trinkets and examining them before moving on to the next and I can tell he’s struggling with what he’s trying to say.

“Had a lot of time to think. I understand now.” He picks up a paperweight off the old roll top desk, twisting it around in his hands. “Was just pleased that you wanted a life with me, but knew you had every right to leave.” He turns and looks at me. “Just wish you’d have spared us the theatrics.”

Whoa. Now wait a minute here. “There wasn’t anything theatrical about what I did,” I say indignantly, my brow coming down as I look at him.

“There was,” he says, once again looking amused.

“I know I waited until the last second to do anything, but I—I just couldn’t go through with it. Not with years of loneliness facing me.” I bite the inside of my cheek and look down at the floor.

“You say that like marrying me would’ve been a prison sentence.”

I look up at him in time to catch the hurt in his eyes before he covers it up. God. “That’s what it felt like at the time,” I whisper knowing I’m hurting his feelings but wanting to be honest with him.

He turns away and goes back to perusing the various objects on the shelves Papaw had built into the wall before he speaks again. “Had a plan for a long time. First step was rectifying things with the house.”

I’m not sure what he’s getting at but I’m also not going to fill in the blanks for him, so I sit and watch as his powerful body moves with ease to an old curio cabinet.

“Thought maybe if I fixed it, it’d fix other things.” He picks up a small, antique oil can that sits on top of the cabinet, clicking the bottom of it with his thumb. “Thought maybe…”

“Hello?” I hear a woman calling from downstairs.

I look at Kade and his face has suddenly gone hard.

“Better go see who it is,” I say and get up going to the stairs.

I find that I’m a little excited thinking it might be someone inquiring about a job, but as I hit the ground floor and come around the corner, my excitement keels over and with a flop dies right there on the floor when I see who’s standing just inside the door looking angry, arms crossed over her chest, her eyes glaring daggers at me.

“Oh, hey, Peyton,” I say, not even bothering to hide the disappointment in my voice.

Chapter 8

If I’d known it was Peyton, I would’ve come down tucking in my shirt and smoothing my hair as if Kade and I had been fooling around just to mess with her. Damn it.

Kade comes in behind me and her glare turns even more sinister, her eyes about to burn a hole right through me. When I turn to look at him, he does
not
have that look on his face that men do when they see the woman they love. No, this look is dark, his slate eyes almost expressionless except for a hint of apathy behind them as he looks at her. Whoa.

“Kade?” she peers back at him in question and I can tell she’s hurt that he’s here which almost makes me feel bad for her.

“What do you want, Peyton?” he says, his voice clipped.

Her head jerks back in surprise at his tone and she blinks several times. “I, uh, well, you were going to come out to Daddy’s today and show Toby how to saddle a horse and Sadie wants you to help her with the barrels…”

“Said I would, and I will. Now, what do you want?”

I hear a little gasp come out of her, I guess because he’s being so cold toward her, looking at her so cruelly, which makes me remember one of the reasons I never came to him and apologized about leaving because, I’m telling you, when Kade gives you The Look it makes you want to shrivel up inside yourself and disappear. The one and only time I got a sample of it was when he was questioning me about Jackson Reeves when I tried borrowing his dad’s Firebird for Prom, and I never wanted him to look at me that way again as long as I lived, so after I was gone, I stayed gone.

“Oh, well, I just wanted to make sure you remembered,” she replies forcing a smile.

“You know anything about a brick being thrown through Amelia’s window last night?” he asks.

And there it is. I see her falter for a second before she recovers, and I know she had something to do with it. Bitch!

“No! Is that what happened here?” she replies innocently, flipping her hand palm up at the window.

I can tell he’s not falling for her act either. “You know I’ve got cameras set up outside the store. I can look on the tape and see who it was.”

I look at him in surprise. He does? Well, why didn’t he tell me? Or Dwight for that matter?

And the real Peyton is back as she gets her trademark snobby look on her face with an attitude to match. “Well, why don’t you just do that and find out who it was?”

“Plan to. That all?”

My head’s been going back and forth between them like I’m watching a tennis match, and now I see that she’s on the verge of throwing a tantrum, her face flushed, hands fisted down at her sides and I swear she’s shaking with anger at the way he’s treating her.

“Yeah, that’s all,” she snaps. “So, what’s going on
here
?” she asks motioning a finger between Kade and me now. “Reliving old times?” She looks at me, her face pinched as if she’s sucked on a lemon. “You gonna skip town again and disappear for another five years? I hope so,” she snips.

Oh, now it’s on.

“I wonder.” I look at her and tap my chin in thought. “If I threw a glass of water on you, would you melt?” I counter, tilting my head to the side.

Kade snorts and she shoots him a look that kills. Then her green eyes are dark with anger are back on me with a hateful squint and I’m sure more trouble’s on its way for me and the station. Great.

“I’ll be out there in a bit… for Toby and Sadie,” he says with a nod toward the door, clearly implying that he wants her to leave.

She looks at him for a second then her eyes slice to me again, her glower making me raise an eyebrow indifferently at her, not letting her intimidate me. At that, she turns and stomps out of the store with a flip of her now bottle-blond hair and a huge huff of breath. If the door didn’t have one of those pneumatic closer thingies on it, she’d have slammed it shut for effect I’m sure.

“Well, that was fun,” I state after she’s gone and look at Kade with a wry face. I still can’t believe he’s dating her. Then I remember and ask, “Do you really have cameras outside your business?”

“No. But I know it was her. Just thought I could scare her into confessing.”

Well, crap. I now take a breath and have to ask. “So, you and Peyton?” My stomach dips at just the thought of them together.

“Not what you think,” he responds with a sigh.

“She’s your girlfriend. What’s there to think about?” I mean, what else
can
I think? Although Brody said Kade’s not in love with her, he’s still sleeping with her, which means they have a relationship.

He breathes in deep through his nose and lets it out, hands on his hips, then puts his head back and looks at the ceiling for several seconds before bringing it forward and looking at me. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

“But you’re sleeping with her,” I say.

His jaw muscles are popping again. “I’m not sleeping with her.”

“But you
have
slept with her.”

“Jesus. What is this, the Inquisition? No, I have
not
slept with her. You think I’m crazy?” he bites out giving me a trace of his scary look. Ack!

“But—” I start.

“Got shit to do. Need to get out to the house. You coming to lunch at Mom and Dad’s?” Guess he’s tired of this line of questioning and we’re changing subjects now.

Crap. Lunch. “Uh…”

“Mom would love seeing you again, Mill,” he says as he steps into me, brushing his fingers over my cheek, his almost-scary look gone as his face softens. Now what’s that all about? He’s driving me crazy with these mood swings.

“I’m, um, I don’t know, Kade.” I bite my lip in indecision. I’d love to see Carolina too but I don’t know if I can deal right now with the emotions I’m sure will be displayed by both us.

“Gimme your phone,” he says and holds out his hand.

I hesitate, not sure if I want to do this, but I go ahead anyway because he’s giving me the amused look again which is very persuasive… and very hot… and very confusing… so I hand my phone over. He punches on the keys for a few seconds then hits one last button. A second later, a ringtone sounds and he pulls his phone from his shirt pocket, clicking it to make it stop ringing then he hands me back mine.

“Now you got my number, I got yours. You decide you wanna go, call and I’ll come get you. Fancy car of yours won’t do on the roads to the house.”

“Oh, okay, uh, thanks.”

His eyes stay on me for a few seconds more like he’s memorizing my face. “Was adrift…” he mumbles cryptically reaching a hand out to cup my jaw. When I draw my brows down as I look up at him, he continues. “Every night, babe, closed my eyes, saw your face. Things are gonna change.” He watches as he slowly runs his thumb across my bottom lip then he turns and leaves.

I’m left standing there staring at the door through which he just exited not knowing what he meant by that or how I feel about any of what he’s said. I guess I don’t know him as well as I thought because everything he’s been saying
is just puzzling to me, and I don’t know if I’ll be around long enough to figure out what he’s trying to tell me.

~~~

I now sit on my bed staring at my phone as if Siri’s going to speak up and tell me what to do. But she’s no fun, either telling me she doesn’t know, she’ll search the web for everything I ask her or that the Genius Bar folks can help. It’s twelve-thirty, lunch is at one at the Kelly’s and I still haven’t decided what to do. Do I go face Carolina and Lucas and explain to them why I left their son or do I play it safe and stay here. Total dilemma. Then I start thinking of everything they did for me over the years, which was basically welcoming me into their family with open arms, treating me like one of their own and supporting me in every way they could and I realize I owe them a lot.

And how did I repay them for it? By walking away.

I flop back on the bed in a dramatic fashion even throwing my forearm across my eyes like some damsel in distress.

“Why am I so stupid?” I mutter with a kick of my feet.

“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far,” I hear someone say and with a start, I sit up quickly.

“Brody! You scared the shit outta me!” I squeak then get off the bed and go over to smack him on the chest.

“Ouch! Hey, damn, chill, woman!” he says with a chuckle, covering himself with his arms to keep me from hitting him again.

“What is it with you Kelly men thinking you can just waltz right into my station? God!”

He shrugs. “Kade called, had me get the key and here I am. Ready to go?”

“He’s not picking me up?”

“Nah. He’s busy out at the Capps’. Said he’d be at the house soon, though.”

Hm. Double-edged sword there. On the one hand, if he’s busy, I won’t have to face him at his parents’ which means the emotional load will be less, but on the other, if he’s not at his parents’, that means he’s spending time with Peyton. But again, why do I even care? “Let me grab my scarf then I’m ready,” I tell Brody as I go to the closet and get the soft, plush aubergine scarf I bought at Piper’s off a hanger and wrap it around my neck.

“Hey, you got some new stuff,” Brody comments looking around the apartment.

“Yeah. Went to Piper’s. Isn’t it all adorable?”

“Sure.
Adorable
,” he says with a roll of his eyes.

“Speaking of Piper…” I start.

“Ready? Let’s do this,” he cuts me off and heads down the stairs.

This is not lost on me, but I plan to talk to him about her in the car so I let it lie for now. Grabbing my purse and keys, I follow him down locking the door on the way out then we get in his Jeep and head north of town. The Kelly’s ranch is eight miles straight north of town then five west, and there once was a time I think I could’ve driven there blindfolded. That thought makes me sad and not a little anxious, so to avoid feeling this way, I think I’ll badger Brody.

“So about Piper,” I begin again.

“Don’t go there, Mill,” he warns.

I turn as much as I can in my seatbelt and face him. “Really, Brody? You broke up over kids that you don’t even have?”

He scowls as he stares at the road in front of him. “Leave it alone.”

“But that’s ridiculous!” I say. “You and Piper are perfect together, can’t you see that?”

He cuts his eyes at me. “How about you ask me anything you want to know about Kade and I’ll tell you, if you’ll stop talking about Piper and me.”

Hm. Well, that
is
pretty tempting.

“Okay, why’s he with Peyton?”

“Don’t know.” There’s that guilty look again. Just what’s going on with her?

“Well,
you
said they’re together
together
as in having sex, right?” I ask.

“Far as I know,” he answers with a shrug.

“Kade says they’re not.”

He shrugs again. “He says they’re not then they’re not.”

“Lotta good you’re doing here, Mr. I Don’t Know Jack about My Brother,” I scoff.

He chuckles. “You know how he is, all broody and shit. Keeps everything to himself. I mean, it’s not like we go get mani-pedis and talk about our feelings.”

“You know,” I look over at him sizing him up, “I can totally see your nails painted with Essie’s ‘Size Matters.’” I giggle at the look he gives me.

“Seriously?” He shakes his head at me then grabs his crotch. “Nothing wrong with my size. One-hundred-percent all man here, baby.”

“Whoa! No need for package grabbing especially from someone who’s like my baby brother. Gross.” He looks over and grins at me. “You’re such a dork.”