Deciding Love (17 page)

Kyle

Rannon racked up the balls as I took a sip of my beer. The music in the bar was loud and mean, the perfect background noise to keep my brain from thinking about things - or beautiful girls in drop-dead gorgeous black dresses - from my mind. Okay, maybe it wasn’t working as well as I thought it was. Even Rannon seemed to notice I wasn’t quite there, but thankfully he didn’t drill me about it.

“You’re up,” Rannon said.

I just started to line up my shot when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Pulling it out, I shoved it between my ear and shoulder as I went back to the game.

“Hello?” I said, not even looking at the caller.

“K-Kyle?”

I stood up so fast I almost dropped the phone. The pool cube slipped from my hands, forgotten, as I turned away from everyone. My heart was beating from just the sound of the catch in her voice.

“Chloe? What’s wrong?” Holy shit, my heart raced and she’d only said one word.

“Kyle,” she said again, sniffling into the receiver. I could hear someone banging on something in the background, and every protective instinct inside me reared to life. “I-I need you.”

Fuck.

My heart was going to crack into pieces.

I’d never heard her sound so sad or fragile.

“Where are you, sweetheart? I’ll come get you.”

Rannon came up to stand in front of me, his usual smile gone as his eyebrows lowered, watching me with concern.

“I-I’m at P-Patrick’s.”

“Chloe, let me in,”
I heard Jax saying in the background.

“I’ll be right there. Don’t leave,”

I said, heading to the entrance without a second thought. Rannon followed, getting into my passenger side, no questions. I wasn’t surprised. Rannon might be the fun one, but he was always ready to back his friends up when something was wrong. Even when he didn’t know what was happening.

“I’m in an upstairs washroom,” she said. God, she sounded so sad. I was going to kill Jax. I didn’t know what happened, but if he made her sound like this, he needed to meet my fucking fist. I knew that little shit was a fucking waste.

“Don’t leave. I’ll find you.”

“Okay,” she said softly. “Thank you, Kyle.”

“Don’t ever thank me, sweetheart. Not for this.”

I hung up as I started to drive so I could actually make it to her and not crash on the way.

“What’s going on?” Rannon finally asked. “Is it Kitty Cat? Do I need to beat someone?”

I growled, checking my blind spot as I sped around other drivers, desperate to get to Chloe.

“No, it’s Chloe.”

He cursed under his breath. “Is she okay?”

“She’s locked herself in a fucking bathroom at the Kennedy’s, and I can hear that asshole Jax begging her to open the door, so I’m going to go with, no.”

We were both silent for a moment as I downshifted, taking corners faster than I normally would have.

“She called you, huh?” Rannon said.

“Damn right she did.”

He went silent again until he asked, “should I call Colt?”

My head was torn. If this was Cat, I would have wanted someone to call me. Shit, if they didn’t I would have taken heads. But in this case, I wanted to be the one to be there for Chloe, not her brother. She called me, not him.

It wasn’t fair though, so I told him to go ahead and listened while he explained the situation to Colt as we pulled up outside the Kennedy mansion.

The place was crawling with people. Rannon and I got out of the car like two men on a warpath. People called out, but neither one of us acknowledged them. There were murmurs of confusion when we burst through the front door, heading up the stairs without so much of a glance in anyone’s direction.

It didn’t take us long to figure out which room she was in, since we could hear Jax’s pleas from all the way down the hall.

“What did Colt say?” I asked as we ran toward the sound.

“He said to bring her to his place when we get her. Olivia has his car right now.”

I nodded. We walked into the room together, my eyes instantly going to the bed. The covers were loose and wrinkled, as though two people had been on there. My gut twisted.

Rannon moved before I could manage to. He walked straight over to a surprised looking Jax, pulling him away from the door and clocking him right in the jaw before the kid even had a chance to speak.

That should have been me, but right then, only Chloe mattered. I left Rannon to deal with him as I walked up to the bathroom door, leaning my head against it.

“Chloe,” I called out. “Open the door.”

There was no hesitation, and that alone made me feel prouder than I’d ever felt in my entire life. The lock clicked as the door opened a sliver, revealing her tear stained face. The whole left side of her face was red and swollen.

I sucked in a deep breath, turning to where Jax cowered behind Rannon.

“You hit her?” I said, my voice unrecognizable. I started toward him, my vision red. “You little piece of shit -”

Rannon grabbed me, holding me back as I tried to reach him.

“Briggs, relax,” Rannon said, pushing me back.

I distantly heard other people enter the room, but all I could see was Jax’s sniveling face. I pointed my finger at him. “You’re dead, Simpson. You’re fucking dead.”

“Kyle.”

Her voice broke through the haze clouding my mind. I stopped struggling against Rannon and turned to see her standing in the doorway, looking as though a light breeze could blow her over. One hand held onto her dress where the strap was broken, causing another wave of fury to course through me.

But I didn’t turn back to him as my eyes met hers, and I saw how embarrassed she was, her gaze flickering to the newcomers witnessing everything. She needed to leave, to be taken away from this place.

I moved toward her, stopping inches away as I raised my hand to cup her swollen cheek. My heart almost burst when she leaned into my touch, her eyes closing as though she finally felt safe with me there.

“Let’s go,” I said with a hoarse voice. I swooped her into my arms, expecting her to protest, but she just rested her head against me, burying her face against my neck. I jerked my head to Rannon and headed out of the room, anyone in my way instantly stepping aside.

“We’ll deal with you later,” I heard Rannon say to Jax. “Colt especially.”

Colt? Colt had nothing on me. I was going to tear the kid apart.

I don’t know who was a bigger mess, Chloe or Olivia. Colt’s girlfriend ran around like a mother hen, her hands constantly flapping as she worried over Chloe who sat like a statue on the coach, a blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders.

I stood off to the side against the wall, still trying to get my anger under control. Every instinct in me screamed to get back in my car and go back to that house to teach the little shit a lesson. But every few seconds Chloe’s eyes would find me, as if she were making sure I was still there. Whether it was because she wanted me around, or because she was trying to keep me from going to jail that night, I wasn’t sure.

Either way, those looks kept me rooted to my spot as I watch Colt sit beside her and hold her hand as he tried to get the story out of her. His reaction when we’d first walked in had pretty much been the same as mine. If we hadn’t been blocking the door, he would have been in his own car on the way to the Kennedy’s himself.

Olivia had eventually calmed him down enough to stay with his sister. Chloe had also started to cry again, and I think that made him want to stick close to her. I know it had that effect on me.

Pressing a bag of frozen peas into her hand, Olivia sat down on her other side. Rannon was splayed out in a chair, his mood dark.

“Chloe you need to tell me what happened, or I’m going to find out from him, and it won’t be pretty,” Colt said.

Damn straight.

“Colt,” Olivia snapped. “That is not the way to get people to talk.”

“He already won’t be pretty tomorrow,” Rannon said.

Colt grunted. “Good.”

“You didn’t do enough damage,” I muttered. Chloe looked over at me with wide, scared eyes.

“Don’t do anything,” she pleaded, looking at me first and then finally looking to her brother. “I don’t want this blown up any more than it already has been. I just want to forget it even happened.”

“They won’t do anything, sweetie,” Olivia said, casting the three of us warning looks. Not that it would do any good. Guaranteed, the second the opportunity presented itself, we were going to find him and show him exactly why you don’t hit girls.

“Did he?” Colt rubbed a hand down his mouth. “Were you...?” No one wanted to say the words, but we were all scared shitless and it needed to be asked. Especially considering she had a ripped dress.

Chloe shook her head, and some of the weight sitting on my chest lifted. “He didn’t manage to,” she said.

My anger boiled at that answer.

“He was being aggressive and I told him to stop,” she said, sniffling. “Then he said some awful things and I left the room, but he came after me and pulled me back into the room.” She reached up and held her swollen cheek.

“And then he hit you?” Olivia asked.

Chloe nodded. “I think he was just as shocked as I was.”

“He’s dead,” Colt said. Clearly the two of us were on the same page.

“Please just leave it, Colt,” Chloe said, turning to him. “I don’t want you getting in trouble.”

“Me?” He said, letting out a humorless laugh. “That asshole is the one who should worry about getting in trouble. We should charge him.”

“No,” she said with an adamant shake of her head. “I just want to go to sleep and move on.”

“You go to school with him, Chlo,” Rannon said. “You don’t think he’s going to try and contact you again on Monday?”

She let out a deep breath. “Probably, but I can handle it. I won’t ever let myself be alone with him again.”

“He’s not driving you home anymore either,” I said, speaking for the first time. She looked over at me with those big eyes and simply nodded.

Well at least one good thing came from all this. With Jax out of the picture, I felt mildly better. But then I thought of how many guys were probably waiting for their opportunity now that he was. I didn’t want any of them to touch Chloe, or be the one she called when things got tough.

That should be me. Always me. I would treat her better than any of them.

What happened to you hurting her?
An inner voice piped up.

Never
, I thought.

After this, I knew I’d never want to see that frail look on her face again. Especially not because of something I did.

“I’d like to go home,” she said, standing up.

“Are you sure? You can crash here,” Colt said. “Mom is working a double shift tonight.”

“No, thank you,” Chloe said with a grateful smile. “I appreciate it, but I just want to be in my own bed.” She turned to look at me. “Kyle, can you drive me?”

I pushed off the wall and nodded.

“Call us tomorrow then, and let us know how you are,” Olivia said, standing up and enveloping her in a big hug.

I walked outside to wait for her as Colt embraced her too, speaking quietly in her ear. As I waited in the car, Rannon came out and stood beside my door. Lowering the window, he waited until it was all the way down before leaning against it.

“Come back here once you drop her off,” he said, keeping his voice low.

I looked over where Chloe was coming out now, still speaking with Olivia.

“Colt going to come too?”

Rannon gave me a,
what do you think?,
look.

“Even though she asked him not to?”

“This is his sister we’re talking about. A message needs to be sent and heard.”

“You’re not going to hear any arguments from me,” I said.

“Good.” He stood, slapping the car. “See you later then.”

I nodded, keeping my eyes on Chloe as she approached the car, her shoulders still hunched protectively. She looked so fragile, all I wanted to do was hold her. She got in the car, pulling the blanket still around her tighter.

“You okay?” I asked, turning up the heat before backing out.

“I will be,” she said, sounding stronger than she had since I’d picked her up.

I cleared my throat, feeling a tension develop within the exterior of my car. “I’m glad you called me,” I admitted.

“I’m glad you came,” she said softly. “Thank you again.”

I reached over and grabbed one of her cold hands in mine. “I told you, you don’t need to thank me, Chloe.”

She gave my hand a small squeeze and a sense of peace washed over me as we continued to drive that way.

When I pulled up to her house it was too soon. I put the car in park and turned to look over at her. She looked so sad. I wanted to see that beautiful smile on her face again. I wanted those dimples to come out.

But I knew they wouldn’t. Not tonight at least.

“So,” I said, breaking into the silence. “Do you want me to tell Cat about tonight?”

She seemed to consider this for a second before shaking her head. “I’ll tell her.” She looked over with a weak smile. “I’m afraid you’ll make it sound worse than it is.”

I snorted, smiling back.

“Knowing her, you’d get her all wound up and she’d go over there herself looking for a fight.”

We both laughed, knowing that was exactly what my sister would do. Suddenly her laughter turned to more tears, and all my humor fled just as quickly.

“Oh, sweetheart,” I said, leaning toward her to brush back a strand of hair.

“I don’t even know why I’m still crying,” she said through her tears.

Leaning back, I opened my arms and motioned with my head for her to come to me. She didn’t hesitate to unbuckle her belt, climbing over the center console to sit on my lap, curling herself into a ball. I wrapped my arms around her, resting my chin on the top of her head.

“It’s okay,” I said softly. “I’ve got you.”

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