Page 8

CHAPTER 8

"Where have you been?" Shaun's demand had her nearly jumping out of her skin as she snuck in the back door of his house.

With a hand over her rapidly beating heart, she scowled at her brother and snapped out, "Don't scare me like that!"

He was sitting in the dark, on a stool at the island. The faint glow of the under-cabinet lights barely illuminated his face enough for her to see the concern in his eyes.

"I wouldn't have scared you if you weren't trying to sneak in like a rebellious teenager. Now, care to tell me where you ran off to?"

With both hands on her hips, she was prepared for a fight. After how Jayce ended things, she needed to expel some extra frustration. "I don't think that's any of your business. I didn't move in with you and Michael so you could watch my every move. I did it so you weren't forced to raise your son on your own."

"You went to see him, didn't you?" Shaun was up off the stool and pacing around the semi-large kitchen. "Dammit, Kennedy, you couldn't just leave well enough alone, could you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Deny. Deny. Deny.

"Bullshit. You were always a shit liar," Shaun spat. "Now, tell me what the hell happened when you confronted Jayce."

Uh, yeah, no. There wasn't a chance in hell she was going to tell her brother what happened between her and Jayce. He would likely storm off and kill the man.

"We talked. That's it."

"About what?"

Well, shit! She walked right into that one.

"I just wanted to form my own opinion about him, and I have. Now if you don't mind, I'm tired and would like to go to bed."

She didn't wait for her brother to respond, or give him the chance to ask any more questions. She hightailed her ass out of the kitchen and straight up the stairs to the guest bedroom she now considered hers.

She’d been the only one to use it since Shaun and Jasmine bought the house in Sammamish, despite her having an apartment further in the city. It was an easy decision to give her place up and move in with her brother when Jasmine took a turn for the worst. There were times Shaun worked late or on the weekends and he didn't want Michael to be left alone for long periods of time.

Now she wished she had kept her apartment. At least she would've had a place to escape to when Shaun took his big-brother role a little too seriously.

Then she walked into the en suite bathroom and remembered why she was so eager to move in. Her apartment didn't come close to having the large bathroom this place did. Nor did it have a luxurious claw-foot tub that she could sink into any time she wanted, and right now, that was exactly what she needed to relax her sore muscles.

Jayce was no small man and she couldn't remember the last time she had sex; before she moved to Seattle, for sure, which, now that she thought about it, was pretty damn pathetic. Then there was the fact that Jayce hadn’t spent time preparing her, so now her vagina and thighs were burning from an exercise she hadn't stretched for.

All in all, bed could wait. A bath couldn't.

Kennedy had just settled back into the hot water when her phone buzzed on the cute bench just to the left of the tub.

Who the hell could possibly be texting me at this hour?

It wasn't like she had many friends in the area. She was a loner by nature. Working from home did that to a person. Besides, she had only been in the Seattle area for two years, not nearly enough time for her to meet people. A normal person yes but she wasn’t normal.

Drying her hands off on the tea towel she’d left near her phone, she picked it up to see who was interrupting her relaxation.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: I wanted to say I'm sorry.

She scrunched her nose up. It was probably a wrong number that she should ignore but curiosity got the better of her.

KENNEDY: Sorry for what?

With any luck it would be someone groveling for something stupid they did, and would be good content for her to use in a future book.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: For what I said before I kicked you out of my hotel room.

Well, well, well.

KENNEDY: Jayce?

The response was instantaneous.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: Have you been in someone else's hotel room tonight?

She leaned back into the warm water but kept her elbows on the lip of the tub so her hands would stay dry. With any luck this would be an interesting conversation. She certainly enjoyed challenging him before he freaked out. She stored his name in her phone before responding back.

KENNEDY: I mean maybe. The first didn't end well, so why not try my luck with someone else?

JAYCE: If that's the case, then this conversation is over.

Shit! For a second she forgot all about the circumstances that led to his divorce.

KENNEDY: I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I was trying to be funny but I missed the mark big-time.

Crickets. Not even the little bubbles that showed he was typing popped up.

KENNEDY: I came straight home and argued with Shaun. He's the only other guy I've seen or spoken to since leaving your room.

Again, nothing.

KENNEDY: Jayce, I truly am sorry for what I said. I didn't mean it.

This time the little bubbles appeared but it took them disappearing a few times and plenty of anxiety on her part before his response popped up.

JAYCE: What did you and Shaun fight about?

She would take a question over him shutting her out.

KENNEDY: He figured out that I came to see you and wasn't happy about it.

JAYCE: Why?

KENNEDY: Why what?

This was probably a conversation they should've been having in person, or at least talking on the phone, rather than texting, but something told her if she tried to call him right now, he wouldn't answer.

JAYCE: Why didn't he want you to come see me?

She thought about how honest she wanted to be and, in the end, decided fuck it. She already lost her pride when she let him screw her against his hotel room door.

KENNEDY: Because I've been very vocal about my feelings toward you.

JAYCE: No offense but you don't know a damn thing about me.

He wasn’t making this easy on her.

KENNEDY: Exactly and I happen to be very protective of my nephew. I don't allow just anyone into his life.

She almost dropped the phone when it suddenly started to ring in her hand. Why was Jayce calling her? She didn't take him for a man to talk on the phone.

It almost rang out before she finally got the nerve to hit the accept button.

"Hello?" There was no hiding the question in her tone, but if Jayce noticed it, he didn't say anything.

"I'm not just anyone. I'm Michael's father."

Looked like they were going to pick up right where the texts left off.

"A fact that has yet to be confirmed."

Jayce snorted. "He's a fucking mini me."

She sighed. "Okay, I'll give you that. But I don't know anything about you."

The answer to that was nothing but silence. In fact, it lasted so long that she pulled the phone from her ear to see if the call had become disconnected.

Nope.

The call was still active, so Jayce was just being quiet.

Any other time she would've filled the space with chatter. She wasn't the type of person who sat in silence very well. Actually, she hated it. So much so that it usually made her antsy, but she was determined to ride this out and see what Jayce had to say.

Either he hated silence as much as she did—something she didn't think was accurate—or Jayce finally figured out what he wanted to say. But eventually, he spoke first.

"I don't let people get to know me anymore. Especially not of the female variety."

Well, that was just sad.

"Not every female is as bad as Jasmine."

"Maybe not, but I don't have to find out the hard way if I keep everyone at a distance."

Okay, never mind. That was heartbreaking.

"Look, I know it's not proper to badmouth a dead person, and I get that she was my sister-in-law, but you won't find me defending Jasmine. She was a shitty person, and if she was my only representation of the female population, then I too would hate women, but I can promise you we aren't all like that."

"I know."

Wait, what?

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Jayce was quiet when he answered again. "I said I know. That's why I freaked out. You showed me in just a few minutes that not every woman is like Jasmine. I promised myself, when she left, that I would never lose myself in another female the way I used to with her. Then I did with you tonight and I couldn't handle it. But I couldn't let you think you did anything wrong either."

"That's why you texted?"

"Yes, it's why I texted you."

Speaking of …

"How did you get my number, anyway?"

Jayce chuckled and she vowed to do everything in her power to get him to do it more often because it was magical. Even through the speaker of her phone, it was the best sound she ever heard in her life. She could only imagine how it would transform his face in person.

"That's kinda my job."

She doubted it was what he was going for, but she was more intrigued than ever now. But it didn't appear she was going to get the chance to find out anything more tonight.

"Good night, Kennedy. I'll be talking to you soon."

"Yeah, good night."

He hung up before she could say anything more and maybe that was best, because the frustration she felt on the way home was now long gone. It was replaced with curiosity and she knew from experience that always got her in trouble. She was sure this time wouldn’t be any different.