Chapter Four – Laina
My dad wasn’t home the next day, which was fine. Tessa, on the other hand, was, and she tried to coo over me like a mother hen, offering to cook for me, which was a first. Kieran stood in the background, watching me all day, though he did interject with what he thought were funny comments every now and then.
Reporters hung outside on the sidewalk, trying to get a picture of me, an interview, anything they could use. I refused to go outside, at least until they were gone. My life wasn’t some freakshow; I didn’t want to talk about what I’d been through or how I escaped.
No, the only thing I wanted to do was make my dad regret using my kidnapping as a way to get him his current job. The Laina that played nice before was gone.
Tessa left the house around two to go to the gym. My dad made enough money being mayor that she didn’t need to have a job. Kieran told me that only meant she had to be the face of the family, put in the work and the smiles at charity events and homeless shelters and anywhere else she visited to boost my dad’s numbers in the city.
There were a lot of downtrodden folks here, it was undeniable.
I took a real shower for what was the first time in forever, though it was a little difficult doing it all with one hand. I couldn’t get the bandages wet, not until my nubby fingers had healed. They would take a lot longer than any other wounds on my body, mostly because the fingers were just gone.
Yeah, I wasn’t used to it yet. I didn’t know if I’d ever get used to it.
When I was getting changed in my room, I caught myself standing in front of the closet. I’d just gotten out of it, a shirt in my hand, when I’d turned around and stared at it, memories flashing in my head.
Coming out of the shower, getting changed into my pajamas, hearing the TV’s volume all the way up. Walking to the closet, once I saw the door hung open a few inches, and pushing it wide open, seeing nothing but shadows inside. And then the black hood, and a strong body—
“You all right?” Kieran’s voice asked. He stood under the archway of my bedroom door, hands in his pockets, watching me with concern.
It was like I jumped back into my body, whirling around, turning away from the closet and meeting his concerned stare. “Yeah,” I spoke quickly, too quickly. “I’m fine. I was just… I was—” I didn’t know how to finish that without sounding insane.
I was just remembering the night my life changed forever, just thinking back to the first moment the Devil made himself known to me. How the fear had been mixed with something else inside of me… acceptance?
“Right,” Kieran spoke, nodding along sagely. “I totally get that way, too.” He flicked a thumb over his shoulder. “You sure you don’t want to change rooms? This house is pretty big. I can have all your stuff moved by the time your father gets home.”
“No, I’m good.”
Kieran didn’t answer right away. It took him a few moments to say, “Okay, if you insist. You should probably get dressed if you want to fight evil today, though.” He shrugged, turned, and walked away, right as I glanced down and realized I still held onto my shirt—meaning we’d just had that entire conversation while I stood there in pants and a bra.
Wonderful. That didn’t scream insanity or anything, and it definitely wouldn’t make things awkward between me and Kieran.
He wasn’t an ugly guy, though. As much as he annoyed me sometimes, he was sort of cute. And if I wanted to use him in my plan against my dad… I should probably start now, awkwardness aside.
So, I wriggled into my shirt and hurried out into the hall. I walked after him, turning into a room a good ways away from mine. My feet skidded to a halt when I took in his room. It was so…
Bland. So bland. No aspect of his personality at all decorating the walls.
“Uh, excuse me,” Kieran spoke, standing near his dresser. “Did I say you could come into my room, hmm?” He had untucked his shirt and taken out a gun, setting it on top of the dresser.
“Well, no, I was just—” I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to say, but any other words refused to come out of my mouth when he started to unbutton his shirt, starting at the topmost button, near his Adam’s apple.
He let out a short laugh. “I’m going to hop in the shower now, if that’s okay with you. Just a quickie, I promise.” He winked at that. Like, he actually winked when he said that, and he winked at me . “Unless I’m not allowed to have a shower.” His shirt was halfway unbuttoned, revealing a deliciously toned pair of pecs.
Was he so muscular before? I couldn’t remember. Maybe I’d found him too irritating to pay attention to his physical features.
“Uh, no, no. You’re allowed. I just… I forgot why I came in here.”
“Yeah, I bet you did.” Kieran finished taking off his shirt, tugging it off his arms. All the while, I couldn’t stop my eyes from dipping lower than his chest, taking in the six pack of abs on his stomach. He wasn’t a bad looking guy at all.
“I had a question I was going to ask you, but I can’t remember it.”
His chest hummed with a noise that made something in me twist, something in my lower half. “Did you, now?” He slipped off his shoes and bent to take off his socks, then he went for his belt, undoing it all without taking his eyes off me, almost like he was trying to tempt me. “Do you think it’ll help you remember it if you watch me undress, or are you just curious?” He had his belt off and placed it beside his gun.
This was a dangerous game I played with Kieran, a game I never would’ve been caught dead playing two years ago. But I wasn’t that girl anymore. I wanted to fuck. Shit. Up.
So, I said, “A little of both.”
That got him to grin hard, and he said, “Okay, well I hope you like the show.” His fingers worked on the button to his pants, and then the zipper. We both pretended we didn’t notice the slight bulge in his pants at that time.
Maybe the new me liked dangerous games, because, I couldn’t lie, I got a thrill out of watching Kieran take those pants off, standing there in nothing but his boxer briefs, his cock pressing against the fabric, growing harder and harder as the seconds ticked by.
He hooked a thumb into the waistband of his boxer briefs, saying, “On second thought, maybe it won’t be such a quick shower after all.” He took a hesitant step toward me, his voice dropping to a whisper, “I’d hate to still be worked up by the time my sister gets back—your stepmom, in case you forgot. That makes me your step-uncle, right?”
“Is that even a thing?” I asked, tilting my head at him. He stood three feet away from me now, close enough for me to see every detail on his body. No scars, no tattoos. He was a well-groomed man everywhere, from what I could see, let’s just say.
“You tell me.”
I’d never heard Kieran’s voice so low and gravelly. Husky, almost, like he was trying to bait me—but he wouldn’t. This was me trying to bait him , not the other way around… right?
It was harder for me to say “I think you should go shower” than I wanted to admit.
“Probably,” he whispered, taking another step toward me. “Wouldn’t want anyone to catch us like this, would we? They’d get the wrong idea, and then…” Kieran let out a sigh. “Then your father would pull me off protective duty, and you’d be someone else’s problem.”
Wearing nothing but his boxer briefs, he truly was a temptation I didn’t expect. Before I could say a word, he lifted a hand to my chin and angled my head back. “And let’s just say I hate the thought of someone else watching you.”
I fought the shiver that swept over me when he said that. When he said it like that, I hated the thought of someone else watching me, too.
Kieran smirked, just for the quickest of moments, and then he let my chin go, turning to leave the room. I remained rooted in place, waiting until I heard the bathroom door close in the hall before I let out the breath I’d been holding. That smirk of his made me feel things I shouldn’t, but I guess I could blame it on the fact that I’d been locked up in a room for the last two years, with no one’s company but myself and my Devil on occasion.
I’d missed two whole years. Two years I could’ve been dating, seeing boys, getting to know the ways their bodies moved, how they felt against mine. Two years I could’ve been rebelling against my dad.
Sighing, I left Kieran’s room and returned to mine. My feet took me to the dresser, where a mirror sat on top. The blue eyes of my reflection stared back at me, a face framed with hair such a light blond it was only a shade or two darker than white.
I looked the opposite of pretty, in my opinion. My hair hadn’t been cut this entire time; it was in vast need of one. I went for my phone—same phone I’d had before. My dad never stopped paying monthly for it, for whatever reason, so my number was the same. When my face unlocked the screen, I saw I had a few messages from Kelly, my best friend.
She heard the news. Or saw the news. However she found out I was back, she was so happy and wanted to see me and hang out, blah, blah, blah. My dad always hated Kelly, saying she was a bad influence, and back then I’d tried to care, but you know what? I was done caring. I was done caring about anything.
So, I decided to text her back after I made a very important call. After doing a quick search online for the city’s best salon, I called them up.
A woman’s voice answered after four rings, “Akryn Beauty. This is Cherise, how may I help you?”
“Yeah, hi. I want to make an appointment for a haircut—” My eyes once again found my reflection in the mirror, taking in the color. It was naturally that blond. My dad loved it. I think it was time to change it. “—and a color change. Do you do unnatural colors?”
“We do,” she told me. “We actually had a cancelation today, so we have an opening in an hour. If that doesn’t work for you, we have—”
“No,” I cut in. “Today works. What time?” As she rattled off what time, I found myself grinning ear to ear. She asked what my name was for the appointment, and I told her, “Lanie.” Not quite my real name, but not so different. I thanked her and hung up, suddenly giddy.
Odds were, I’d come home from the salon when my dad was home for the night, and he’d get a nice, long view of my new hair.
The question was: what was I going to have done? What color should I do? I definitely wanted to go for something unnatural, something that would give my dad a heart attack. Maybe pink… it was my favorite color, after all. Being stuck in a pink room the last two years didn’t make me tired of it.
Yeah, I think I’ll go with pink.
My gaze once more fixated on the mirror, on my reflection, on the blueness of my eyes. The girl staring back at me was the old me. If I was going to change things, then I wanted to change it all.
I decided to order something else online, something that would make it impossible to ignore me. If my dad thought I’d come back and be a meek daughter, someone who hid herself away in this house, he couldn’t have been more wrong.
Once it was ordered, I bounced into the hall, smiling to myself. I posted myself directly outside of the bathroom Kieran was in, waiting for my Ken. I was about to Barbie this bitch up.
I ignored any texts I got from Kelly. She could wait. I was just too damned excited about this. The old me was officially going bye-bye, and the new me would show off her feathers like a male peacock.
The sounds of the water inside the room abruptly stopped, and I heard him sliding the glass door aside. It was another minute or two before he opened the door, letting a bunch of steam out in the process. He had a towel wrapped around his waist, covering his private dangly bits, and he started to walk across the hall to his room, but he froze the instant he saw me.
“Have you been out here this whole time?” he asked, grinning. “I’d make a joke about you joining me in there, but that’s probably too inappropriate.”
“Probably,” I agreed. “You and I have somewhere to be, Kieran, so take off that towel and get dressed. I’m getting my hair done.” I couldn’t hide the notes of excitement from my voice, and he definitely noticed.
“Good. I wasn’t going to say anything, but your hair looks like a dead cat that got ran over, all mangled up, then rained on, then—”
“Shut up.”
Kieran did a mock bow, overly dramatic in the process. “As you wish.” After bowing his top half, his head was the first thing that lifted, and I saw the twinkle in his black eyes, the amusement he carried.
As he went to get dressed, I stood there, resisting my urge to roll my eyes at him. Kieran could get on my nerves sometimes… but he was like a fungus. He grew on you no matter what. Hot, cold, somewhere in between. He latched on and wouldn’t let go.
And now that I was nineteen… let’s just say he was tempting in a whole different way.