Chapter 25 – Kira
KIRA
“ C heers…” Hattie leans in from her lawn chair to clink her beer bottle with mine, and then West’s. “To Kira for pulling off the best time this town has ever seen… and West, for achieving his white whale of restoring a classic Rolls and selling it in one night!”
West grins from down where his head lays in my lap on the blanket we have spread out on the lawn of the park.
In the distance, a few people are still milling about as vendors pack up while we all bask in the aftermath by the bistro lights strung around the nearby gazebo.
And here, we’ve congregated for a few celebratory beers with plenty of blankets and lawn chairs, including the one containing a half-bombed Agnes who seems to feel the need to wear her sunglasses at night.
I can’t tell if she’s asleep or just basking like the rest of us.
“Thanks, I’ll drink to that,” I feel a pleasant smile from the buzz of accomplishment and the help of a little BushyTail. “Finally something I didn’t fuck up.”
West gives the bare skin of my knee a few strokes of his fingers, probably his way of reassuring me that I don’t suck at life.
“If you’re sick of getting fired, you could go into business for yourself,” Agnes pipes up, jolting all three of us slightly. “Seems you have a knack for event planning.”
“Huh,” I muse out loud to myself with an airy chuckle. Because planning this festival was hectic and fun; stressful as all hell but in such a good way. I feel so accomplished, like I gave something back to this little town that’s provided me with a safe haven.
“It’s not a bad idea, baby,” West gives my leg another pat. “This was your first time and look how it went. You’re a natural.”
I feel a glow at his encouragement. This guy has not once blinked at my shortcomings. Factor in how he’s handled Ryan and I swear, he sees the good in people. Maybe it’s because of his own past brushes with the law and how he’s turned it around.
“That’s sweet of you, but remember I’ve been cut off. Where would I find the startup? And don’t you try to give me the money for that damn antique car again,” I hold my finger down in front of his face when he opens his mouth. “I’ve had handouts all my life, let me struggle a little.”
“You have a degree. You’re not a dumbass,” Agnes reminds me in a surly tone.
“In historical architecture,” I point out.
“All I can do with that is tell you all that the old inn over there,” I point across the street to the borderline haunting figure of the dilapidated old building lurking in the shadows, “looks to be a Queen Anne Revival style, likely built in the 1890s if I’m going by the pitch of the roof and the size of the windows.
It could possibly be on the cusp of the Edwardian era, but I’d have to see the inside to be sure. ”
“Nice flex,” Hunt announces his presence as he strolls up with Mack at his side. “I’d kill to restore that thing,” he looks over at it wistfully, and I notice that he’s still sporting dark pink lipstick. Only, it’s smeared. Weird.
“Mack, I see you met my BFF, Hunt,” West observes lazily from my lap, unaware of the way Mackenzie’s head snaps in Hunts direction and back. Her eyes do an impression of dinner plates before she seems to shake out of it.
“Yep…” she nods primly. “Didn’t realize you were so close, though. Fuck,” she mutters under her breath as she goes to take a seat by Hattie.
“Nah, I can’t stand that motherfucker.” Hunt chuckles, looking away from West’s middle finger and back up to Mack as she sits. “How do you know him, though?”
“My sister just moved here, you oblivious clownfuck,” West rattles at him, making his eyebrows shoot up.
He clears his throat and scoffs. “Pfft, yeah. We met… briefly. I mean not too briefly but – holy shit is that beer?” He points at the cooler before walking over to take a seat on the opposite side of Agnes from Hattie, who reaches in the cooler, retrieving a beer for her.
West raises his wrist in front of his face and leans in close trying to read the time when he drops his head back with a sigh.
“I should get some sleep,” he grumbles.
“Pussy,” scoffs Agnes and we both ignore her.
“Got a lot going on tomorrow.”
“It’s Sunday,” I point out as he rolls over on the blanket and sits up.
“I know, but I’m on call for any tows, and I have to prep the Rolls for pickup.”
“Don’t you dare pick up any runaway brides. And I’m so glad to have that thing out of our lives, it’s like a bad omen.” I remark on both his claims respectively.
“He can’t hang,” Agnes adds on again as I’m given a goodbye smooch.
I’m oddly not tired at all and opt to hang back with everyone else. It must be the lingering high of the day’s success.
“Aww West, come on,” Hunt howls after his retreating form. “Don’t leave me alone with all the ladies – oh actually, never mind. I’m good,” he chuckles cockily bringing his beer to his lips .
“The only available ones are your cousin and your grandma,” West throws over his shoulder. “So, sounds like a typical night for you.”
“Don’t be gross!” Hattie yells after him.
“Yeah, who says I’m available?” Agnes tacks on.
“Now wait a minute, there’s still Mack-,”
“Make a move on my sister, and I’ll be back with a shovel,” are West’s last words before he disappears.
Hunt shuts himself up with his beer, taking a long slug before diverting. “So were you guys just talking about the Inn?”
“Yeah. Sweet cheeks over there should give a tour,” Agnes vollies.
A dark little creature comes running toward us, just as a car door slams and Toby climbs out of the driver seat looking exhausted.
“I am BatCat!” Aria declares in an excited stage whisper with her arms spread dramatically and now I notice the hood over her head has pointy ears and is accompanied with a little cape made to look like wings. It’s adorable. “I live in the shadows,” she whispers before she slinks over to her mom.
“You’re right,” Toby groans as he approaches. “I can’t get her to sleep to save my life. Please take her back, for the love of God!”
Aria crawls into her moms lap while Toby collapses onto my blanket, taking up West’s vacated spot while Hunt looks over at Mack from his seat.
“You have a child,” he observes. Someone give him a cookie.
Mack’s eyes dart around sarcastically. “Yeah.”
“Where’s Hendrix?” Hattie asks Toby about her brother.
“Passed out,” he spits out bitterly. “After the fourth attempt of getting BatCat to go to bed, he bailed.”
“Just shut up and buy that old thing,” Agnes waves her Truly can in the direction of the Inn. “Fix it up and give tours or host parties. That’s clearly your forte.”
“Right…” I sneer. “I’d have to bake biscuits for six years first to save up for it.”
“I’m sure West will loan you the dollar you need to buy it.” Hunt snickers, reaching for another beer.
“Hilarious.” I sing out, trying to shift Toby’s giant head off my lap. “I think I’ll cap this night off on a high note rather than dwell on,”
“No seriously, it’s a dollar building,” Agnes backs up her grandson. “It’s been part of one of those government dollar programs for some time.”
Wait… I’m familiar with those, my father being a real estate tycoon and all.
It’s when you can buy an old building for a dollar, but it comes with strings attached, like paying to make it liveable and turning it into a residence or turning it into a lucrative piece of property.
Either way, you have to take measures - heavy financial ones - to turn it into taxable income.
And that bastard thought I never paid attention during his drunken dinnertime ramblings. Pffft!
“So… wait a minute, how come none of you have pounced on that?”
“Whoever were to buy it would also have to renovate it and get it up and running,” Hunt continues for her. “Unfortunately, I don’t see myself making that much of a commitment. I’d have to ditch my business and I have no interest in customer service and hospitality endeavors.”
“But, so… wait,” I scrunch my forehead as a million numbers, words and facts swirl around me like puzzle pieces. “Oh my God…” I exclaim, feeling like my soul left my body for a minute and just came back to it. Could this really happen?
West
“Babe!”
I’m still under a thick blanket of sleep, but I can feel someone nudging and poking me.
“No! I don’t care if your bunk is cold, you CANNOT SNUGGLE!” I protest to the intruder of slumber.
“What? Babe!”
I feel my body shake gently before I come to and jolt awake with a yelp. “Jesus, Kira!” I shout as my heartrate resounds through my body like a bat out of hellas my beautiful girlfriend comes into focus in the darkened room. Her head drops to the side as she gives me a dubious look.
“Okay, if this relationship is going to work out, you need to seriously see a therapist about your sleep issues. Anyway,” she shifts and crisscrosses her legs, getting comfortable. “I think I’ve had some kind of breakthrough!
“Breakthrough?” She certainly broke through my state of slumber.
“Yes! I think I finally have some kind of direction; like I know what I want to do!”
She’s so excited and my sleep addled brain is trying to keep up.
“Spill,” I mumble, trying to prop myself up on my elbows.
She takes in a deep breath, clearly intent on making a big reveal. “I want to buy the Inn.”
I let her revelation sit in silence between us a moment while I try to process.
“The Inn?” I raise an eyebrow and she nods, biting her lower lip. “The old Inn. Here in town. The eyesore that’s falling apart.”
I’m stating rather than asking, and she nods along with each sentence .
“That’s the one.”
After a long pause I finally blink. “Why?”
She inhales deeply before settling into the pillow next to me.
“I don’t know… I just look at it and I I keep envisioning what it used to look like.
And this town is already so charming and I feel like having it restored would accentuate that.
Like it would shine a light on a grey area people have been overlooking. ”
I let her perspective settle over me and it seems to open a window in my mind. I can see what she’s talking about and it makes sense; beautiful sense.
“Baby…” I start, trying to find the right words.
I believe she can do this, but she doesn’t like to be bullshitted and I know she’d appreciate me helping her look at every angle.
“I think it’s the perfect venture for you.
And you’re a smart woman, and I bet you could make that place beautiful again.
But do you have any business experience? ”
Her face falls. “No,” She sighs dejectedly. “And it is a big place. Even if I got it up and running it would be a lot to take on. Oh my god what was I thinking? I just woke you up in the middle of the night to tell you something stupid,” she groans, rolling away.
“Whoa, hey…” I object, reaching over and putting a protective hand on her hip and inching closer. “Don’t toss the idea that easy. It’s not impossible. You’ve got time to figure it out. I by no means said you couldn’t do it.”
“Then why…”
“I was just trying to make sure both your eyes were open, that’s all,” he says gently. “And I could help…?” I offer.
“Really?” her beaming glow practically lights up the dark room.
“Whatever keeps you here,” I whisper sincerely, surprising myself with the depth that I feel my words. “Are you going to keep pulling the Miss Independent act and try to stop me again?”
Her eyes shift downward. “I sure want to. I hate coming into this new life; this new independence and not actually being independent.”
“Accepting help doesn’t take away from that, you know?” I point out. “God knows I got lucky when it came to hiding my racing winnings. And your dad sure as fuck didn’t start from nothing, I’d bet my bottom dollar. And again, I’ll do whatever I can to keep you here with me.”
The way her eyes light up make me feel so good it’s borderline painful.
“Wow,” she breathes out. “Are you basically telling me to…shut the fuck up and take your help like a good girl?”
“One hundred percent.”
“Just tell me you really want to do this,” she requests, adamantly. “That you’re not doing this to just be nice.”
“Kira… you and your getaway car getting dropped into this world has been a great thing for me and I want it to be that for both of us. I want to work with you on this and help you make it happen. The only reason I’ve been able to run the shop - well, besides my experience with cars - is because I had nothing to do in jail and I took some online business courses.
You could buy the inn and while it’s being renovated, you could do the same and/or I could teach you what I know. ”
She reaches over, placing a soft hand on my stomach and my dick can’t help but take notice.
“We could be partners,” She softly suggests.
“Well, you could be a silent partner if you want. You don’t have to run the place with me, you’ve already got your shop, but that way you could still get something out of it and I won’t feel like such a moocher! ”
Chuckling softly, I place her hand over mine on my stomach holding her firmly in place before she can lean away. I can feel the intensity of our connection getting thicker by the second; like in this conversation we’ve turned a pretty big corner.
“I know I haven’t known you long, but I have to say … I think it’s the best idea you’ve ever had. ”
She scoffs. “Yeah, I don’t think I ever had one of those before moving here.”
“Oh I don’t know, I think jumping in a getaway car and gunning down the freeway was a pretty good one,” I roll her to her back, placing a kiss to her lips.
“So…” I halt our movements, but she keeps a grip on the back of my neck. “Really? You’ll do this with me?”
“Oh, I’m all in,” he I insinuate, letting my lips feather over hers as I hover over her; my cock hardening against her thigh. Fun fact, I sleep naked.
“Really, or hypothetically?”
“Really.” I kiss her before adding “Completely,” before pushing my togue into her mouth. I can’t fight what this bond has done to me any longer and I sweep my tongue against hers at a lulling pace. She moans with the sudden neediness I’m coaxing her to succumb to.
“You’re not just sleep drunk and horny?” she asks breathlessly.
“I’m in this, I promise,” I husk out. “But if you, by chance, do want to fuck me back to sleep I won’t say no.”