Chapter 48 #2
The crazy shit is that he’s got a beautiful woman on his side right now who is probably talking some sense into him. The Recluse is coming out of hiding.
Eliot
No way. My brother said he saw your photo on Luxe Life, but I said he had to be mistaken. Did he see you?
Donovan
He did. My shitbag parents sent out the alert to the vultures because I flew in to see McKenna for a celebration dinner. But I’ll explain more later.
Big Mike
Sounds good.
Scotty
See ya later, man.
Elliot
Happy to see this text, Van, can’t wait to see your ugly mug.
With that weight lifted off my shoulders, my buzzer rang to let me know the coffee has arrived.
Perfect. I grabbed the caffeine and slammed it before I jumped in the shower.
When I emerged, I found Audra staring out the window drinking her coffee.
I knew she had nothing on under my shirt that came down just over the fold of her ass.
Between her looking so perfect, and the fact I’d never look out my windows the same after the other night, my dick got hard as I had a quick vision of bending her over and sinking into her just like I had.
I groaned to myself knowing that it would completely derail our day if I did that, but damn, would it feel good.
We’d save those activities for the plane.
“Morning,” I cleared my throat.
“Ahhh!” she shouted, bringing her hand to her chest. “Jesus, you scared me, Donovan...” But her voice gave out as her eyes trailed over my body and landed on my tented towel. When she finally brought her eyes back to mine, she smiled seductively.
“Are you done ogling me?” I asked, smirking at her.
“You’re just lucky that I haven’t brushed my teeth this morning. If I didn’t have dragon breath, I’d mount you right now,” she waggled her eyebrows at me.
“Argh. Don’t tempt me, Chaos. We have to get ready to go,” I said, disappointed I wasn’t being mounted.
“So what’s on our docket today?”
“Brunch with my sister first. Then, I reached out to my travel buddies to see if they wanted to meet. They all said yes, so that’s going to happen after brunch. You’re welcome to stay with Kenna or come with or do anything else you want. I haven’t seen them in an even longer time than my parents.”
“Do you want me there?”
I didn’t want to sound needy, but it came out anyway.
“This is important to me, so if you’re okay with it, I’d love it if you could be there next to me.
But if you’re not down for it, that is fine too.
It might be intense. I understand that having you come to something like this might be a little much for our first official outing as a couple. ”
“Pretty sure our first official outing was a club I almost surrendered my dignity on a dance floor. But regardless, if you want me there, I’m there,” she smiled and came over to kiss my temple.
“And then we’ll have a few hours to do any last-minute things you want to before getting back on the plane.
” I hesitated to bring up the next part, but we needed to be on the same page when I spoke to McKenna.
“I have something else to tell you, Audra, but I need you to keep this between us. Honestly, not a soul. Promise?”
She looked at me, perplexed. “Ok, I promise. What’s going on?”
“Do you know anything about travel plans for Maeve?”
“Maeve?” she replied, confused, “I know she and Tucker have been budgeting for a vacation. They have a large chunk of change saved up.”
“Remember, between us,” I said, and she nodded her head.
“Tucker is surprising Maeve with her two-week dream vacation in Hawaii. They are leaving on Sunday. She doesn’t know.
He cleared it with me because she’ll be gone for two weeks.
Part of the reason I wanted and needed to stay longer today is because I want a chance to ask McKenna to come to Savannah Springs to help me for at least one of those weeks. ”
“Donovan. Is he…” she couldn’t even say the words and just pointed to her ring finger.
“That’s the plan, I think.” As soon as I said it, I realized I never wanted to keep anything from her again. “Ok, I know so. That is his plan.”
“That’s why he’s been acting weird!” she shrieked as she brought her hands to her face. “Maeve said he has been acting off lately. Oh my God, I want to call her right now.”
My eyes shot wide. “What? No! You promised!”
“No, no, I’m not going to, I just want to. Who else knows? Just the guys?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe Juliette, because of Murphy. Wait, I meant to ask, what’s going on there?”
She sighed, “I’m honestly not sure. At no point has she ever come out with it, saying that they’re together, but they have an interesting history.
I mean, hell, she’s even cagey admitting that they’re sleeping together now, even though everyone knows.
I asked her the same thing last night after she propositioned Nathan.
Jules said they’re not exclusive, and she’s sure he’s still playing around, too. ”
“What do you think?” I asked.
Audra seemed to consider her next words carefully.
“I think my friend has a complicated relationship with men and sex in general, but especially Murphy Gannon, and she thinks she’s protecting herself.”
“Wow.” That came out more baffled than I intended it to. “That’s crazy. Their chemistry is electric when they’re together. Do you think they’d be good together?” I questioned.
“Yeah, I actually do. I think they could be great together. But she has to let someone in for that to happen.”
“I understand that all too well,” I kissed her cheek. “So, seeing as I’m still standing here in a towel, I’m going to get dressed now. Do you want to jump in the shower?”
“I’d rather jump you.”
“Save it for the plane.”
“I just might, Sir,” she winked at me and then headed to the bathroom. “I’ll be quick.”
Before we knew it, we were sitting down at the Café waiting for McKenna.
She blew in like a bat out of hell. My sister was a beautiful woman, no doubt, but she looked off right now.
McKenna rarely looked anything but perfect.
My mother always toted appearance above all.
The message never landed with me, but I knew it did with Kenna.
She was naturally beautiful, but was extra cognizant about how she appeared to the world.
Right then, she was winded, her hair was wild, and her face was flushed.
I glanced at Audra, who had her mouth slightly agape as a smile spread across her face and she snickered.
What the … then it hit me that I probably didn’t want to know the why of her flustered entrance.
“Hi, sorry I’m running behind. It’s so good to see you both!” she said as she sat down. “I’m so glad that you guys decided to take off later tonight. What changed your mind?”
“Actually, I have a very important question to ask you,” I started.
There was no sense beating around the bush.
We’d have to iron our our logistics and I wanted that out of the way.
McKenna tilted her head to look at me quizzically.
“I need help, McKenna. Remember that surprise vacation I told you about that Maeve was going on with Tucker?”
“Yes. Oh my gosh, is everything all right?”
“Yes, well, I think? I hope? Anyway, she’ll be gone for two weeks and I need help.
Now that you’ve passed the bar and don’t have your next steps planned, is there any way you can help me for at least a week?
It’s pretty much just keeping my shit in order.
We’re coming down to the last push for Quest to open, and I just can’t manage it all by myself.
I know coming to a small town probably isn’t your ideal way to celebrate your achievement, but I’m overwhelmed just thinking about everything.
Plus, I’m pretty tempted to pull the ‘you owe me’ card after dinner last night. ”
I knew it was a huge request for my sister. She hated traveling and never had the urge to explore like I did. I could say with 99% certainty she had never visited a small town like ours before-unless you classify a private island in the Caribbean as a small town. She was urban through and through.
McKenna didn’t say no right away, and I took that as a good sign. Or maybe she was just processing the fact that I had the stones to ask her in the first place.
“That’s a big ask, Van.”
“I know, it is. I just … you know how bad I am at people, but I’m making progress.
I’m on a group chat with people in South Carolina, shook my ass on stage at karaoke night, and I reached out to the rest of the travel group this morning to meet up today.
It’s been years since I’ve seen or talked to them, minus seeing Mike last night. So, progress.”
“Seriously?! Donovan, that’s huge. I mean, I’m not exactly sure how that plays into me coming to Savannah Springs, but I’m proud of you, nonetheless.”
Then she reached across the table to grab my hand with one of hers and Audra’s with the other. She looked between us as she spoke.
“Audra, you are by far the best thing that has ever happened to my brother. He never would have done that without you.”
Then she got up and hugged Audra while whispering something that I couldn’t hear. Turning back to me, she responded, “I’ll come for two weeks, Van. But I can’t come until late Monday. I’ll report for duty on Tuesday morning.”
It was my turn to hop up to hug my sister. “Thank you so much, McKenna.”
With that out of the way, we enjoyed the rest of our brunch.
Miles and Colton joined us, and the five of us fell into easy laughter again.
The knowledge that Kenna was coming to help was such a relief and a weight off my shoulders.
After brunch, we said our goodbyes, but there were assurances that we would see each other again soon.
When we were walking out, I felt so happy.
It felt like all the pieces were just sliding right into place, and I was hopeful the day would get even better when we saw my travel group.