Kade (5 page)

******

A few days later I’m just hanging out in my room, bored as hell, when I get a phone call saying to come over to Layla’s ASAP. Layla forgave me over the Chase incident, and even came and spent a night with me just like old times. I’m glad everything is back to normal. I grab my purse and jump in my car. I love my car. It’s a red lancer, and I’ve had her since I was sixteen. I strum my fingers to the beat of some song on the radio. I have no idea who it’s by but the lines ‘I hit it first’ are super catchy. I pull up to the house and sigh when I see that I need to pump some gas; I’m almost on empty. I really need to find a place nearby soon, this drive is killing me gas-wise because I have to drive this way every damn day for work. I step out, closing my door with a bang. As I make my way to the front door, Layla is already opening it before I can even knock.

“Hey, Layla, is everything okay?” I ask her.

“Everything is fine, come in and I’ll explain” she says, smiling.

We walk into the room together, and everyone is there. Kade and I look at each other and I start to feel awkward. I go to sit on the couch, while Kade and James are standing.

Then Layla and Chase announce they are pregnant. Holy shit. Wow. I didn’t see that one coming. I’m so happy for them. I feel this ache in my chest. Do I want children one day? Before I can dwell on it any further, they announce they are getting married. Oh my god. Wow. I’m stunned.

James and Kade quickly go over and give them hugs while congratulating them on everything.

Kade kisses Layla’s forehead. “Thank you for making me an uncle,” he says sincerely to her.

She smiles. “Thank you for being happy about it.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? I love kids, I can’t wait to have my own one day.” He looks over at me as he says it. I feel something, and it’s shocking... “And I will especially love my niece or nephew,” he says softly.

I get up and make my way over to Layla and give her a big hug. “I’m so happy for you, Layla. I get to be Auntie Nikki, right?” I say with some attitude.

She laughs. “Of course, Nik.”

“Can I also be there when you tell your parents?” I ask as I give her an evil smirk and take hold of her hand to see her ring.

She shakes her head at me, eyes wide as saucers. I burst out laughing. “It'll be okay, don’t worry, Layla. Holy fuck this diamond is massive!”
Wow.

We all head out to celebrate.

While we are eating, I’m seated opposite Kade. “So, as you guys know I’ve been doing my internship at Regal Public Relations, and its going really well. I’m ready to move out of my parents', though. It’s hard to travel back and forth all the time, and I’m excited to finally break free from the nest. Anyone know of places to rent around here?"

“Why don’t you take Layla’s old room at the house, Nikki?” Chase says instantly. I freeze. Oh, shit.

“Yeah, no, I don’t think that will work,” I say, looking up at Kade, my eyes slightly narrowed.

“Why not? I think it’s a good idea,” Kade says, now smirking at me.

“You should do it, Nikki, I'd see you all of the time because I’m always over there, and Kade and James are fun to live with. Never a dull moment, that’s for sure,” Layla says, sounding hopeful.

If I do this, I can’t avoid Kade anymore. The upside would be getting to see more of Layla and it’s significantly closer to RPR. “I guess I could give it a try. It’s sort of close to my new job,” I relent.

I notice Kade instantly looking relaxed, and maybe even a little smug. He has a plan, I can sense it. I groan inwardly.

I glance up at Layla to see her eyes on me, scrutinizing me. “I need to go to the bathroom,” she announces, looking right at me, putting down her fork.

“Good for you, Layla,” Kade says cheerfully.

“Would you care to join me, Nikki?” she says, more as a demand than a question.

Uh oh, busted.

We walk into the bathroom and she glares at me. “You and Kade. Explain now. The truth.”

I sigh, resigned. “We slept together. Before you moved in with them.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asks, sounding hurt.

“You had just moved in with them, and then started dating their brother. The whole thing was awkward,” I explain.

“So what’s going on with you now?” she asks, her finely arched brows furrowed.

“Nothing. It’s complicated. But for now, nothing,” I can’t tell her anything else just yet. I hate keeping things from her, but this is something I need to do on my own. She also knows all about Ben and what he did. Heck, the girl even had her own screaming match with him. Then she sent Ryder on an errand. Ben never uttered a single word about me again, nor did anyone see him. Last I heard, apparently he moved to another state.

“Fine,” she mumbles. “Everything is okay though, right, Nikki?”

“Everything is fine, Layla. Come on, let’s go eat.”

We walk out of the bathroom, arms linked, and head back to the table.

******

I move in a week later, and all three guys help out. My parents aren’t home when I leave; they have to work, so all the guys come over to help me lug boxes into their cars and mine. Kade insists on helping me unpack, too. I'm fine with it until he starts unpacking my underwear.

“Hey, leave that, I can do it,” I shout over at him.

“Why? I’ll be getting better acquainted with these soon enough,” he says, smirking and holding up a pair of my Victoria's Secret lacy panties.

Boundaries, we seriously need some.

I shake my head, not bothering to retort. We finish unpacking all of my stuff within hours thanks to everyone pitching in.

So, I guess its official. I’m the new roommate. What the hell am I getting myself into?

Chapter Nine

My first day in the house is quiet. James isn’t home. I ask Kade where he is and he just says out. Layla is so right, everyone is so fucking secretive when it comes to James.

Kade is his normal flirty self, but honestly, I don’t want anything to do with him. Why can’t he just leave me alone? After I finish supper, which Kade bitched that I didn’t make him anything, I go to my room and lock the door. I put a TV in the room, so I wouldn’t have to spend time out in the living area around Kade.

The second night Kade isn’t home so I spend the night with James who had returned home early this morning.

“So James, where were you last night?” I ask nosily.

“Out. I had some stuff to do,” he tells me.

“Like what?” I ask, my nose scrunched up.

“Not you, too,” he mumbles under his breath.

“Me, too, what?” I ask, my brows furrowed.

“You, too. Another nosey roomie,” he says with a grin.

“Hey! I’m not nosey!” I say with mock indignation.

We both start laughing. I totally am.

The third night they all have a party. I finally met Derek, he flirts with me a bit and I can see Kade getting pissed. So, I play up the flirting some more.

“So. You and Layla are good friends, I hear,” I tell him.

“We are. I don’t get to see her much anymore with her guard dog,” he says with a smirk.

I laugh. So true, Chase keeps her well-guarded.

“I’m sure she would sneak away,” I say knowingly.

“Oh, she does. We usually have lunch once a month or so,” he says with a small smile. I can tell he is fond of her.

“I never knew Layla had such a hot best friend,” he adds, his eyes raking over me.

“Oh, really? Well, she does,” I say, waggling my eyebrows. Derek laughs out loud.

“Derek?” I hear Kade call out.

“I’ll talk to you in a bit. I think they want to play PS3,” Derek says.

“Okay,” I say, frowning. I look back to Kade, who is now grinning, total cock block.

******

I’ve been living in the house for a week, and so far, Kade and I are doing fine. No drama or anything like that, we're getting along as house mates. On my way home from work I get a call from Layla asking me to pick up some food. She messages me exactly what she wants and how much. I put it on my credit card because the amount ends up being huge. I walk into the house, hands full of bags, and make my way over to Layla.

“You're the best, Nik,” Layla says as she takes a bag and rummages through it. I put the other bags on the counter, my arms dropping with relief. I thought my arms were going to break.

“Hello, I’m Ashley. Who are you?” some short brunette introduces herself. She's wearing short shorts and a white tank top, practically see through, and her nipples are visible. Yikes. Her beady eyes are slightly narrowed, contradicting her saccharine sweet tone.

“This is my best friend, Nikki, she lives here now,” Layla says, a slight warning in her tone. Interesting.

Ashley and I eye each other for a moment. It suddenly occurs to me who this must be. Oh, I’ve heard about this chick.

“Oh yeah, you’re that bitch who told Layla to stay away from Kade!” I say, chuckling evilly.

“Oh, I’ll get Kade,” Ashley purrs smugly. “I did enjoy the other two, especially Chase,” she gives Layla a boastful smirk. Fucking bitch! My eyes narrow menacingly.

Ashley steps closer and taunts me. “So you're the trash Kade has been interested in. Don’t worry, honey, once he's done with you, he'll come back to me.”

“Is that so? Then how come you haven’t already had him?” I ask snidely.

“Oh, I’ll have him, trust me, and when I do, I’m going to be the one that’s permanent. You see, Kade cares about me too much to sleep with me and throw me away like he does with all the others. When he's ready to settle down, he's going to come looking for me. And I will be waiting,” she says in a knowing tone.

“Keep telling yourself that, Ashley,” I scoff.

“He told me he just wants to get you in bed again, Nikki. Apparently you’re the kind of girl who never says no,” she says with a raised eyebrow.

Oh, that is it, I’ve had it. She leans in once more, sealing her fate.

“I’m sure even Chase will want another taste of me once Layla gets fat with that bastard child of hers.”

Without thinking, I punch her in the face, my fist hurting like hell, but I don’t stop there. I push her to the ground, sitting on her stomach and keep hitting her. Yes, I may have anger management issues.

Suddenly, I’m grabbed and pulled back roughly. “What the fuck is going on here?!” Kade growls.

“No one talks to my fucking best friend like that!” I yell in anger, the adrenaline making me almost jump up and down. I don’t even want to repeat what she said about Layla’s baby. My godson or daughter. I'll probably hit the bitch again.

Everyone suddenly looks at Layla. Kade lets me go and goes over to Ashley.

“Layla?” Chase asks. I hear Layla mumbling something to Chase.

“Kade, get her the fuck out of here,” Chase booms. I flinch. The man can be scary sometimes.

Kade says nothing as he escorts Ashley outside, but his eyes dart to mine once before he leaves. I look away.

“Why the hell is Kade friends with her? She'll be back,” James mutters.

“Why the hell did everyone fuck her?” I blurt out. Like really, what the fuck?

“Nikki, I understand you gotta stick up for Layla, but she's fucking pregnant. She can’t be your partner in crime anymore anytime you lose your shit!” Chase explodes.

I look over at Layla. “Sorry,” I mouth to her. She gives me a small smile.

“Come on, Nikki, let’s get you cleaned up, you got blood everywhere. Who would have thought you could lay a bitch out like that?” James chuckles as he takes my arm and escorts me down the hall to the bathroom.

“Actually, she does this often,” Layla yells after us, giggling a little.

James starts laughing, his whole body shaking. I’m so glad everyone is so amused.

“I’ve never seen a girl fight like that before. Usually it’s all hair pulling and slapping,” he says, raising an eyebrow at me. I think that might be respect I see in his eyes.

“Yeah, well, I’m small. So I took some self-defense and kickboxing classes. I don’t ever want to be a victim,” I tell him frankly.

“Good, might come in handy,” James says, looking amused and at the same time deep in thought. “Want to know the funniest part about this? The song ‘Girl Fight’ was playing while you were beating her.” James throws his head back to laugh, and I can’t help but laugh along with him. I didn’t even notice the song playing. How fitting.

He cleans up my hands, since Ashley’s blood is all over them, and my knuckles are bright red. I have a quick shower and change into my red silk pajamas. I put some ice on my hand, which is now getting slightly swollen.

After the fight, people start leaving, and the party pretty much dies down. Fights usually do wreck the mood of everything. Layla and Chase are the last to leave. They help with the cleaning up before they do.

An hour or two later, Kade comes home and storms into my room, not even bothering to knock.

“Why the fuck would you do that to her? No matter what was said, she didn’t deserve that! Her face is a mess, Nikki!” he growls accusingly.

“She deserved it! She should keep her mouth shut and not talk about shit she has no right to! Just because she wants you doesn’t give her the right to say things about Layla!” I hiss back at him.

Kade looks at me, disbelieving. “She doesn’t want me, we’re just friends.”

“Yeah, right! She told me she wants you Kade, I’m not just making this shit up!” I decide to quickly tell him what she said about Layla.

“Nik, I’ve known Ashley her whole life. She loves kids, she’s not going to say that about my soon to be sister in law. You probably misunderstood, I know how you like drama.” With that infuriating and completely incorrect statement, he storms out and slams the door. What the fuck? I don’t deserve this shit. He doesn’t believe me, fine.

Fuck him.

KADE

I know Ashley can be a bitch, I’m not completely oblivious, but I also know her better than anyone else on this planet. The things Nikki claims Ashley told her is something I could never believe she'd say. She's never been that nasty before, ever, and I've known her since she was a kid. Even if Ashley did run her mouth, she didn’t deserve the ass kicking Nikki gave her. Ashley doesn’t deserve to be hit,
ever
. I know for a fact her mother used to raise her hands to Ashley.

Ashley’s older brother Damon was my best friend in the world. We met when we were five years old, in pre-primary. We stayed friends all the way through primary school and high school, until he enlisted the moment he turned eighteen. I was pissed. He kind of sprung it on me. I think he knew I wouldn’t want him to go. I know Damon and Ashley didn’t have the best childhood, their mother was always saying mean shit to them and putting them down. Damon spent a lot of time at our place growing up.

“I want to make something of myself, Kade. Someone I can be proud of,” was what he said when he told me about enlisting. I knew I was being selfish but fuck if I didn’t want him to go. He wasn’t my brother by blood, but he was still my brother. I still remember the day he left like it was yesterday. We spent the day together, pretending that tomorrow both our lives wouldn’t change drastically. We kept in contact, writing letters and what not, but it wasn’t the same. I missed my buddy. Two years later, Damon died in battle. At the tender age of fucking twenty. I was devastated. Fuck, I still am devastated.

My best friend.

NIKKI

The next morning I’m dragging my feet about the kitchen, making myself a strong coffee. I live and breathe the stuff, unlike Layla, who's just plain weird. Kade emerges from his room and I completely ignore him.

“You going to apologize to Ashley?” he asks in a soft voice. A big change from last night’s tone. I almost choke on my coffee?

“I’m sorry?” I say, thinking I must have heard wrong.

“You need to say sorry to Ashley, she’s a friend of mine and I don’t want to have to choose between you two.”

“There is no choice, you chose her, and that’s fine. And no, there's no way in hell I'm going to say sorry to that bitch,” I say frankly.

Kade sighs, like I am the bane of his existence. Well, I sure as hell am not his problem anymore.

“Just tell me when she’s coming over, I’ll go hang out with Layla. Problem solved,” I say with a shrug.

“You are fucking infuriating, Nikki,” he growls.

“Whatever, Kade,” I mumble, walking away from him.