16. We Fucked Up
WE FUCKED UP
Oh, we fucked up.
We fucked up bad.
I knew it the moment the realization hit her. Kate’s a smart woman, and even as inebriated as she is, she pieced two and two together—literally.
Not only was she visibly angry, but the fact she hurt herself trying to get away from us has a lead weight sitting on my stomach.
It’s the exact reason Ben and I are sitting in her driveway. She’s a responsible grown ass woman, but a sense of duty and guilt has us sitting in her driveway making sure she’s alright.
Her house is larger than I expected it to be and sits on more land than typical for this neighborhood. The exterior is a cottage style house, with white shingle siding and wooden accents. Large trees frame the property and her silver Audi sits in her driveway, blocked in by our car.
“What do we do?” Ben asks, his knee bouncing as we stare at her house.
“We make sure she’s okay and then we give her space.”
Ben looks at me like he hates that answer, but Kate owes us nothing. We had no reason to lie, and with her divorce being so fresh, her reaction is valid.
He’d texted me last week that he ran into her at the gym with Penny and to meet them at the diner.
I was headed there, ready to set the record straight, even though coming clean was the last thing either of us wanted to do.
Taking responsibility over a shitty action sucks, but we were going to do it.
It was the perfect opportunity to calmly explain the situation and hope for her forgiveness.
In my haste to get there as quickly as possible, I rear-ended a man in a four-way intersection. He was fine. The damage done to the cars isn’t bad. But I smacked my face and sprained my wrist.
We were going to go back to Avalon as soon as my wrist felt better and this shiner was completely gone. We were going to do the right thing, and then it all fell to shit.
It’s not Kate’s fault, and if anything, it makes me feel like a bigger piece of shit. She came to the bar to make sure that I was okay. Granted, it clearly took her a lot of liquid courage, but she’s just kind like that.
She’s kind, and beautiful, and going through it, and we just made it worse.
“I feel like there’s more we need to do,” Ben says.
“How do you apologize for…What did she call it? Parent-trapping her at a sex club. Hey, so sorry that we pretended to be one person so we could both fuck you. Here’s a bouquet of flowers?”
I glare at my brother, and he aims his narrowed gaze right back.
“She just deserves a better explanation.”
“Do you really think she’s open to hearing what we have to say anytime soon?”
Ben inhales and exhales loudly as we stare at the house.
We’ve been sitting out here for god knows how long.
Kate’s front door swings open and she looks pissed.
She’s out of the dress she was wearing earlier.
All she’s wearing is a worn FSU T-shirt and sandals.
Her hair is in a messy bun, and large glasses sit on her face as she storms down the brick walkway and roughly bangs her fist against the passenger-side window.
I roll it down, even though I know her words aren’t going to be kind.
Her arms are crossed over her chest as she glares at me for a long moment.
“Well, what are you two doing sitting in my driveway creepily staring at my house after telling me you two were pretending to be the same person?” she says, extremely bluntly.
“We wanted to make sure that you were alright.”
She blinks a few times; her lashes nearly hitting her glasses.
“What did you think I’d storm off in my car in an emotional rage? I’m fine. I’m not going anywhere. You two can leave and never come back.”
“Kate,” Ben says pleadingly, and she shoots him a dark glare, to the point he quickly shuts his mouth.
“I’m done talking about this. Please leave,” she says, without another word, turning on her heel and walking back to her house.
Knowing that she’s okay—as okay as someone can be in her position—and that we aren’t wanted. We leave her home, both of us feeling like the scum of the earth all the way back to our house.
“You did what?” my sister-in-law Jessa says, her mouth hanging wide open as she sits on my brother’s lap.
It’s Sunday night dinner. My siblings and I are all around the firepit drinking as Ben and I give a recap of what happened this last week.
“We were going to tell her, but he got into a fucking accident,” Ben says, pointing at my face dramatically and I swat his hand away.
“I’m not sure you can come back from that,” Lincoln says, unhelpfully.
“You got your adopted cousin to marry you,” I snap back.
“Yeah, well, I’m better looking, richer, and she was already in love with me. You should have waited until she was in love with one of you semi-conjoined freaks.”
I glare at my older brother and Penny swats at his arm.
“That’s rude. She seemed really sweet in the moment I saw her at the gym,” Penny says, giving me a small smile.
“You mean, when she thought you were Ben’s wife, and that my children were his?” Lincoln says and I’m about to punch my brother.
“You’re my least favorite brother,” I say to Lincoln and he grins.
“That makes sense,” my oldest brother says, and Lincoln turns his glare on him.
“So, how are you going to apologize?” Jessa says, the sweetest of anyone in the family, it’s hard to be rude to her. Even if we do occasionally mortify her by knowing the little roleplay games her and Aiden like to play.
“What do you do when you fuck up?” I ask Aiden.
He shrugs. “I don’t fuck up.”
“Me either,” Lincoln says smugly.
“Oh, be so fucking for real,” Penny says, rolling her eyes. “You were persistent as a chronic illness, trying to get me to be with you.”
“Sure, but I had nothing to apologize for,” Lincoln says.
“God, Penny, you could have done so much better,” Ben says, and we laugh as the conversation takes a turn into Lincoln’s business, which used to be our father’s.
“Dennis Commercial is crushing us right now, outbidding us on everything by lowballing our estimates. This will be the fifth commercial building this year,” he complains.
“How are they even making a profit?” Aiden asks.
“That’s the thing, we have no fucking clue, but I’m going to see what I can figure out and hopefully these clients will realize they’re making a mistake by going with them instead of us,” Lincoln huffs and nods his chin. “How’s the club coming along?”
“Good, should only be a few weeks before the grand opening. All of you degenerates are invited, of course.”
“Good, we need a good night out,” Penny says, and Lincoln’s face softens for her ever so slightly.
Jessa clears her throat, clearly still locked in on the previous conversation. “What if you see her at Avalon again?” she says.
Ben and I blink at her and then look at each other.
I hadn’t thought about that. But I know the idea of her walking back to a private room with another man has bile sizzling in my throat. It’s a foreign feeling, and I don’t like it one bit.
Ben and I go to Avalon for the next four nights in a row. Kate isn’t there, and no one interests us.