A deep red flush began working its way up my father's neck. “When you take a man’s money, you give him your word, and you want to talk about respect?”
Kaleb scowled. “I didn’t wrong you. I wrong your daughter. I gave her my word long before you and I made any sort of agreement. Besides, I didn’t make the agreement with you. I made the agreement with your… mouthpiece.” Kaleb tilted his head. “If it makes you feel better, I can apologize to him.”
“Stop it,” I said, cutting between Kaleb and my father before it could escalate. I appreciated the support, but this needed to be about the truth. “Dad, you have no right to be angry at Kaleb. You're the one who went behind my back and manipulated not only him, but me too.”
“You’re angry with me?” My father managed to look indignant. “This no good con artist took our money, the money we paid to protect you, and you’re mad at me?”
“We all know you didn't do it to protect me,” I snapped. “And Kaleb isn't a con artist.”
Dad scoffed. “He took my money easily enough.”
“I took it for my sister,” Kaleb said flatly.
My dad turned his head, giving Kaleb the sort of disgusted look I'd seen him give when a neighbor's dog crapped on our lawn.
“Your sister?” he asked, the doubt thick in his voice.
“Yes.”
“Let me guess, she’s suffering from some sort of terrible disease, and you need the money because she'll die without it?” Scorn ripped from his words and he shook his head. “Do you even know anything about this man, Piety?”
I was about ready to scream from frustration, but Kaleb threw a bucket of cold water on the entire thing.
“Actually, my sister is a prostitute and a drug addict. I took the money to pay off her dealer. I was hoping to get her into rehab, but that didn’t go over very well. She took what little money I had left and ran off with it.”
Well, that was one way to get my parents to shut up for nearly a full minute. I tightened my grip on Kaleb's hand as I waited for the impending explosion.
Mom finally spoke, her face white as her fingers danced at the base of her throat. “Let me get this right. You’re a stripper, and your sister is a prostitute? And you wonder why we didn’t want you around our daughter?”
I took a sidestep closer to Kaleb. “Mom!”
“You’re wrong,” he said. “I've always known exactly why you didn’t want me around Piety. I’m not good enough for her. I'm not an idiot. I know that. But then again, neither are you.”
Dad’s mouth fell open in shock. Mother’s face went red. And I couldn't find my voice to say a single word. Not that I knew what I'd say to Kaleb's declaration.
He continued, “You see, she’s got a heart that’s bigger than anyone I’ve ever met. But you two are more concerned about appearances and how things might look. She worries about people and how things will affect them. I don’t know how the two of you managed to combine your DNA and create this amazing woman.” He turned from them and looked directly at me. “Frankly, she’s the best person I've ever met. And you’re right, I’m not good enough for her. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to work my ass off trying to be.”
“You are unbelievable,” my mother whispered.
My head was spinning from what he'd said, but I managed to get out two words. “Don’t, Mom.”
She ignored me and took a step toward Kaleb. “You have no idea who we are. How dare you judge us!”
“That’s rich.” Kaleb snorted. “You don’t know anything about me either except for the fact that I stripped for money to try to help out my little sister.”
“A sister who's a drug-addicted prostitute,” my father said with a harsh laugh.
“A twenty-one-year-old girl who lost her mother and father when she was just a kid. Do you have any idea what that’s like?” I asked, unable to stay out of the conversation any longer. “Kaleb’s been raising her since he was a teenager. He gave up everything to take care of her.”
Uncertainty flickered across their faces, but my parents didn’t know how to admit they were wrong, and I knew this time wouldn't be any different.
“Just go,” I said when my dad started to open his mouth. “We’re not doing this. We’re not.”
“Piety…” Mom began, “we just–”
“No,” I raised my voice over hers. “I care about him. You have no right to interfere. This is my life, and I’m going to live it. I’m not living it just to be some sort of paragon that you can put up on a pedestal and show off when it’s election time. It’s my life, and it's about damn time you accept that!”
I turned away until I heard the door shut. Kaleb came up behind me, his hands squeezing my shoulders. “I’m sorry.”
I shook my head. “Don’t be. This has been a long time coming.”
“Still, I haven’t helped.”
I smiled up at him. “Actually, you have. This all needed to come out before it completely ate away my soul.” I sighed. “You know what? We should just pack and go to Vegas. We need to figure out how to help your sister. I can get the next few days off from work.”
After the past couple days, Felicia would understand.
Nine
Kaleb
She was quiet.
She'd been quiet ever since last night, ever since her parents had left. The fight between them…
Closing my eyes, I wondered if the rift between them was so big it might never be repaired.
I hoped not.
They were overbearing assholes, but I could tell they loved her, and I knew she loved them.
I felt guilty for my part in all of this, and that part was huge, but at the same time, I was…amazed. Nobody had ever stood up for me like that, had ever fought for me. I was the one who went to bat for people. No one did it for me.
I knew my parents would have had my back if they’d lived, but they’d been gone a long time. The years I'd had with them felt like a different life.
For too long, it had just been me and my sister, and I'd always been the one carrying the weight. Now, I had someone who had stood next to me and stood up for me.
I didn’t know how to handle it.
Finally, unable to deal with all the chaos inside me, I looked over at Piety. She was sipping from a glass of club soda, staring down at the book on her lap.
She hadn’t turned the page in ten minutes.
I reached over and took her hand. She started, and the club soda sloshed over the rim.
“Lost in thought?” I asked, reaching for a napkin to clean up the spill.
“I guess.” She smiled up at me.
“I…” Blowing out a breath, I tried to think of the right way to say what I needed to say. “I’m sorry for the problems I’ve caused between you and your parents.”
“You didn’t cause anything. The problems were already there. You just helped bring them to the surface.” She sighed and put her book down, shifting around in the seat to face me. “My parents love me. I know that. But I have no doubt that their love comes with…” She bit her bottom lip and considered her words.
“Strings?” I offered.
Her smile was sad. “Yeah. Always conditional. And they don’t understand me. They never have. And they’ve never stood up for me the way you have. You think I’ve got a big heart, but they think I’m an alien for just…caring about people.”
She lifted my hand to her lips, kissed the back of it.
“You do have a big heart.” I crooked a grin at her. “So big, I sometimes think you might be an alien.”
“Stop it.” She tipped her head back, laughing.
Some of the tension in the air dissolved, and I stroked my thumb over the inside of her wrist, feeling her pulse flutter under my touch. “I can’t tell you how many times I wished my parents were still here, still around to deal with this mess with Camry. But then I look back and realize how lucky I was to have had them for as long as I did. They always had my back. They supported me. That’s worth…a lot
.”
“More than gold, I think,” Piety said, her voice sad.
“Yeah. I bet it is.”
Her eyes met mine, the dark blue depths almost purple under the cabin lighting.
“I haven’t had anybody stand by my side the way you did since they passed away. It means a lot. Thank you.”
She squeezed my hand. “Nobody has ever stood by me like you have, other than Astra. So…same goes.”
We lapsed into silence for a long time, then she laid her head against my shoulder and opened her book. As she read, I thought about how much things had changed since that morning when I'd woken up in her bed.
“The bed,” I said against her mouth.
Piety laughed. “Who needs a bed?” She pushed my shirt up and scraped her nails down my sides.
I gasped and caught her hands. “No.”
She giggled. “You’re ticklish. I love it.”
“Bed,” I said again.
Instead, she twisted out of my grip and curled her arms around my neck, pressing her mouth to my chin, nipping at it with her teeth. “No. Too far. Way too far.”
As she rubbed against me, I had to agree. She was right. That bed was too far away. The whole other side of the suite. In a different room entirely.
“Okay, you’re right. Right here.”
I boosted her up into my arms and carried her the few steps into the dining room, laid her out on the formal table. In my wildest dreams, I never would have imagined a hotel room with a formal dining area. Then again, in my wildest dreams, I never would have imagined Piety.
I caught the hem of her flirty little skirt and pushed it up to her hip, leaving her bare from the waist down. Hooking my fingers in the silken scrap of her scarlet panties, I slid them down her legs. I wet my bottom lip, my eyes fixed on the prize between her legs.
“I want to…”
“Then do it.” She spread her legs wider. “Put your mouth on me.”
I smiled at her, then knelt down to put myself at the perfect height for tasting her. She gasped, lashes fluttering down as I licked her, opening her folds with one hand while keeping the other on her belly to hold her in place.
Pressing my mouth to her cunt, I caught the nub of her clitoris between my lips and sucked on it, deep, hard pulls that made her curse and writhe. The taste of her was heady, and knowing that I was the one to bring her that much pleasure made my already hard cock throb painfully. I'd never had a problem with oral sex in the past, but Piety was the only woman who'd ever made me crave it.
Delving into her pussy with my tongue, I coaxed her higher and higher until I knew she was hovering on the edge. Usually, I'd use my fingers to take her over, but I wanted her to come on my mouth alone. I did everything I knew would make her moan and sigh, those little sounds I loved to hear, and then she was crying out my name as she came.
I softened the passes of my tongue to short, sweet licks that made her gasp and squirm as they drew out her climax. When her body finally went limp, I stood, freeing myself from my jeans.
“I don’t even remember what it’s like not to want you,” I confessed as I wrapped my hand around my dick. “And I don’t want to.”
“Come here,” she said, the words both a plea and a demand.
I did, spreading her thighs and settling between them. It felt like coming home. Without using my fingers to prepare her, I knew she was going to be even tighter than usual, and I forced myself to take a few deep breaths. I teased the head of my cock across her clit and she scowled up at me.
“Stop teasing me.”
I grinned at her as I reached for the front of her dress with my free hand. “But it’s so much fun.”
I managed to flick open a couple of buttons, baring her silk-clad breasts. Her nipples were visible through the fabric, hard little nubs that I wanted in my mouth.
“Keep that up, and I’ll go without panties for the next two days, and you won’t get to so much as touch me.” She gave me a wicked smile, drawing my attention from her breasts.
They'd have to wait. I needed to take her now.
“That’s just mean.” I positioned myself at her entrance, and when I thrust inside, both of us shuddered.
She was almost too tight, her grip nearly painful. My cock throbbed inside her even as her muscles quivered around it. I wasn't going to last long, but we had all night.
“I need this,” she said. “All the time.”
I needed her – all the time. I was starting to wonder how I’d even existed without her. As I pulled back, my eyes met hers and I could see my own desire reflected back at me. I filled her again with one smooth stroke, letting the pace build naturally until she was begging me to fuck her harder, and I could do nothing but comply.
I pulled her up against me, needing her closer, and the change of angle sent her plummeting over the edge. I drove up into her twice more, and then her teeth were on my shoulder and I was done.
Her name was on my lips as I came, and I knew I was lost.
Ten
Piety
Light filtered in through the curtains. We hadn’t gotten around to pulling the blackouts before we'd fallen asleep the night before, tangled around each other.
The light wasn’t what woke me though.
It was the incessant, annoying chimes from my phone.
Only one person would be that persistent.
I groaned, throwing my forearm over my eyes. If I grabbed a pillow, buried my face in it, and tried really hard, I might be able to block her out.
A grunt next to me made me realize that wasn’t going to happen. Astra wasn’t just being a nuisance to me. She was annoying Kaleb too.
Sighing, I grabbed the phone and squinted at it, my eyes struggling to adjust to the light. It was too early for conversations.
It didn’t matter that it was ten o’clock back home and my body was still on that time. My body wanted it to be midnight, making it totally acceptable to still be asleep.
But logic and want never seemed to align.
Swiping a finger across the phone before I could follow that thought through, I muted the notifications, then went into my messages just as the next one came in. Without bothering to read any of them, I sent her a quick greeting.
You are such a pest sometimes. I was sleeping!
Her answer was a smiley face and LOL.
Yeah, she could laugh.
Scrolling back up, I read her messages.
With a grimace, I propped myself up. Somebody had told her that my parents had been to the loft.
Yeah, it wasn’t fun. Kaleb told them about his sister. You’d think he’d confessed to being a serial killer.
Astra texted back with another emoticon, but this was a sad face, followed by an angry one.
That pretty much sums up how I feel. I didn’t want to deal with their drama so we just came back out to Vegas. We have to figure out how to help his sister anyway.
I eyed Kaleb next to me, and then slid out of bed.
Astra texted me twice more, but I ignored her as I went into the bathroom and took care of some necessary business. Once that was done, I moved into the main area of the suite and curled up on the couch, going back to our conversation.
She wanted to know why and how things had changed with Kaleb. It was too long to go into detail about that in text, and I wasn't ready to have that talk with her, so I summarized.
My parents lied. They had Stuart pay Kaleb off so he would leave. He didn’t go to them. They went to him. It still sucks that he just disappeared, but he was feeling desperate. His sister is in serious trouble.
As I waited for her to receive and read, I stared at the door.
Her answer took a few moments, and when I read it, I saw why.
It was…long.
So let me get this straight…your parents had their dipshit lawyer claim Kaleb had blackmailed them. Am I right there? And you’ve spent the past few weeks feeling like a piece of shit thinking you put them in that position. Or that’s how you felt.
But it turns out that THEY set the whole thing up and were the ones who went to him? What sort of shit were they smoking?
There were several more expletives following the last statement and I started to laugh, muffling the sound behind my hand. But just as I went to respond, another text popped up.
And why the hell didn’t he get in touch with you and talk to you sooner? I don’t want to hear this shit that he felt like he shouldn’t. You were busting your ass to help him. Doesn’t he know that?
He didn’t though. I texted her back.
He doesn’t have what we have, A. I’ve always had you. You’ve always had me. Ever since his parents died, it’s just been him and his sister. She was a kid, always relying on him. I don’t think he knows how to rely on somebody.
This time, the little emoticon she chose to represent her mood was one sticking out his tongue. I could almost hear the raspberry.
I stuck my tongue out at the phone.
“Astra?” A deep voice came from across the room.
Startled, I almost dropped my phone.
Jerking my head up, I eyed Kaleb, who was standing in the doorway, wearing a pair of low-slung jeans, and looking sleepy-eyed and completely beautiful. “Yeah. She…um…she spent the night with a friend last night. Got my note, wanted to see what was going on.”
My gaze strayed to his chest where my nails had left their mark at some point during our sex marathon night. When I looked up, he was grinning at me.
“We’ve got things to do today.” My mouth was dry, but I knew if I wasn’t careful, the two of us would end up naked and all over each other – again – so my gaze went back to the phone and the message that had just come through.
He seems to know how to rely or at least TRUST you. So whatever you’re doing, keep it up. And keep me posted. Later, PS!
I texted bye to her and then tucked my phone into my lap, watching as Kaleb made his way over to the coffee pot, a giant yawn cracking his jaw.
“What do you need to do today?” I asked softly.
He shrugged restlessly. “I’ve texted Camry again. I texted her last night when we got in, but I haven't heard back from her. Who knows if I even will.”