15. William
15
WILLIAM
“ W ill you tell me about the kids?” I asked.
She tensed at the question, though I didn’t think it was because of me. It seemed like a natural reaction to whatever was weighing on her.
Kristin said she didn’t know where to start, so I repeated how Hannah Jane had talked about… them ?
Were they Kristin’s kids? How many kids? There had to be at least three. Hannah name-dropped two girls and mentioned Chase had a boy with him. Boys plural?
“I have custody of my four younger siblings,” she said.
Okay, that was something. I tightened my hold on her. I wasn’t running, and I wasn’t giving her a reason to.
I wanted to ask why she had custody of them but held back. “How long have you been responsible for them?”
Kristin sniffed. Her hand left mine, and she wiped away a tear. Something told me that she probably hadn’t cried in a long time.
“Five years,” she said, sucking in a shaky breath. “I got them when I was twenty. It’s why I never finished college. ”
She didn’t say they’re why she never finished college . She said it. There was more to the story.
“Tell me about them.”
She looked up at me with surprise painted all over her face. “What?”
“I mean, if you’re okay with it.”
Kristin was quiet for a minute and closed her eyes as we rocked in the night air. Finally, with a calming breath, she began. “Logan’s the next oldest after me. He’s seventeen, and I don’t know what to do with him sometimes. He’s such a good kid, and he was so well adjusted before everything happened. Now his grades are in the toilet, he has no ambition, and no desire to socialize.”
I trailed my fingers up and down her arm as she took a deep breath.
“Kylie’s sixteen and is the Jekyll and Hyde of hormones and being way too responsible for her age. Hunter is twelve, and I can handle him so long as his nose is in a book. If he’s not occupied, he can be more dramatic than Kylie.”
Kristin’s voice softened. “Zoey is six. She doesn’t remember our parents at all. She wasn’t even a year old when everything happened. Up until now, she’s been the easiest because she didn’t know any different. This year, though, she started first grade and is realizing that our family doesn’t look like other families.”
She finished speaking and we laid in silence while tears rolled down her cheeks. I didn’t bother filling the void with conversation. I just held her.
Sometimes life sucked. Often, there wasn’t much to do about the situation except sit with someone in their pain.
I planted a kiss on top of her head. “You’re amazing, you know that?”
I didn’t plan our date tonight to get her naked. It was obvious that Kristin needed to take things slow. But that didn’t mean I didn’t want to touch her as much as possible. My gaze lowered to her lips. Maybe I’d get a taste. Just a taste.
Kristin shook her head. “I’m barely surviving at this point. I keep thinking they’d be better off without me, but I wanted to keep them together. The foster care system would have likely split them up. There aren’t many families who could take on four kids at once.”
Her words sent a shockwave through me.
I was well acquainted with the foster system—having to pack my meager belongings into garbage bags like I was disposable. I was lucky to be placed with a good family, but I knew so many others who weren’t. I made sure that a large percentage of my money was donated every year to organizations that helped support caregivers and kids in the system. Kids aren’t disposable.
Her comment made a protective streak flare deep in my chest. My mind raced with the possibilities of what I could do to fix everything . I wanted to take all the pain away.
“When did your parents pass?” I grazed her bare arm with my fingertips, repeatedly reassuring her that she wasn’t alone.
Kristin stiffened and a darkness clouded her face. Her nostrils flared, and the corner of her lips tightened with contempt. “Unfortunately, they’re alive and mostly well.”
And just like that, sunshine was eclipsed by hatred.
“You don’t have to talk about them?—”
“They’re in prison.” Kristin didn’t sugarcoat it. Her jaw was clenched, and her fists were balled up so tight I worried she might break her fingers. “Drug trafficking and homicide.” Another tear slid down her cheek, and she began to shake. “I had no idea,” she whispered through gritted teeth. “All my life… I had no fucking clue.”
I turned to lay on my side and cradled her against my chest, stroking the back of her hair—trying my best to ease the pain.
She swallowed and tried to compose herself, but it was no use. The floodgates had opened, and tears flowed freely down her cheeks. “A kid died. He was in Logan’s class at school. Whatever fucking drug they sold to him killed him. They were selling to kids . It could have been Logan or Ky in that casket.” Kristin’s voice broke. She cupped her hands over her mouth as gut-wrenching sobs wracked her body.
“Hey,” I murmured, pulling her into my chest and tucking her under my chin. “I’ve got you, Kris.”
Kristin stammered through a half-coherent apology as she wiped her tear-stained cheeks. “Steve and Chase were part of the arrest. I was away at college, living on campus. I got a call in the middle of the night, and it ended up being the first time I ever talked to Steve. They needed the next of kin to come get the kids, or they would have to place them with social services.”
There was a growing damp spot in the middle of my shirt from her tears, but I didn’t care. I wanted to cradle her. Hold her. Comfort her.
I also wanted to beat the hell out of Kristin’s piece of shit parents. That was a new feeling for me. I was usually as calm as they came—something that bothered Elena. She seemed to think it meant I lacked passion.
“They kept their stash under Zoey’s crib, Will,” Kristin said, shaking her head. She cupped her hands over her mouth and sobbed.
Rage blistered my hands. I kept a tight hold on Kristin. Not because she needed me, but because she kept me grounded. I was two seconds from calling in every favor ever owed to me by some private military contractors I knew. Prison bars wouldn’t protect Bill and Cheryl Boyd. The guys I knew were the types who could make someone disappear, but only after they suffered.
And I wanted those dirtbags to suffer.
“So, Chase thought those were the people that sent me when I asked about you at the bar,” I said .
She sniffed and lifted her hands to wipe away her tears, but I beat her to it. Gently, I swiped my thumb across her cheek before burying my fingers in her hair.
“Probably,” she whispered. “Steve and Chase have always worried that my parents were working for someone bigger. They worry that eventually, the big fish will want money or leverage, and they’ll come after the kids and me. I don’t think so, but they’re protective to a fault.”
We rocked in the hammock for a while, tangled up in each other, not saying much of anything at all. Kristin’s legs were draped over mine, and my arms were wrapped around her.
The curve of her ass hung out of the bottom of her flimsy cotton shorts. I tried to focus on anything except how much I wanted to squeeze it. She had just bared her soul to me and all I could think of was how much I wanted to get her naked and fuck her senseless.
She had her arm wrapped around my stomach, clinging to me like a koala. Kristin’s breathing had evened out. She wasn’t sobbing, but occasionally, a tear would slip out of the corner of her eye. Knowing how bruised and battered her heart was broke me.
“Can I ask you something?” I murmured against her forehead.
Kristin nodded.
“Do you avoid talking about your siblings and what happened because it hurts or because you’re afraid for your safety?”
“Neither…”
My brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
She swallowed. Closing her eyes, she slipped her hand under my shirt and laid her palm flat on my abs, like she needed more physical connection. “I’m the byproduct of something ugly and vile. No one wants to be around secondhand smoke. I reek with the stench of what my parents did. It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t me who committed the crimes. I’m paying the price just like they are.”
“Sweetheart… ”
“After I dropped out and moved back here, things settled down as much as they could, so I decided I’d go out on a date.” Her hand twitched against my stomach. “The guy came to pick me up and saw Zoey. He thought she was my baby and told me right there that he didn’t want someone with so much baggage. Logan and Kylie overheard everything.” Sighing, she said, “It’s just easier to put my head down and focus on them. No one wants secondhand smoke.”
I could feel her pulling away. Not just physically. She was shutting down. Shutting me out.
I tilted her chin up with my finger, forcing her to look at me. “You’re walking around with your heart boarded up like you’re waiting for a storm to roll in.” Our noses bumped and brushed, and her eyelids fluttered shut. “The storm is over, Sunshine,” I said softly. "It’s time to take the boards down.”
She looked up at me with wide eyes. “You’re the first person to look at me with something other than pity in a long, long time. And it feels really good.”
Kristin’s lips met mine, soft and warm. I cupped her cheek and wiped away her tears before deepening the kiss, coaxing more from her. Kristin’s little moans of delight disappeared into the night. I swallowed down her whimpers as I dug my fingers into the soft curve of her hip.
“How are you real?” she whispered against my mouth. Dark brown eyes searched my face. Her thumb grazed my crow’s feet before she wrapped her arms around my neck. “And why aren’t you running for the hills?”
Chuckling, I said, “Real men don’t run, sweetheart.”
I craned my head to the side and kissed down the graceful column of her neck. Kristin’s whimpers were needy. Desperate. I tangled her glossy hair around my fingers and tugged her head backward, exposing her throat.
She let out a heady gasp as my jaw scraped against her skin like sandpaper. She threaded her fingers through my hair, holding my head close. No way was I going anywhere except closer.
“When can I meet them?” I asked as I slid the strap of her tank top down her arm and peppered her shoulder with kisses.
Kristin stiffened, and the hands pulling me closer suddenly pushed me away. “No.” Her voice cracked, but the resolve behind her emotion was resolute.
I was waiting for her to call my bluff, but she didn’t.
“Okay,” I conceded, shifting her body around so that she was cuddled into my chest. “But just know that my answer isn’t me backing down. That’s me saying I respect you, and I’m willing to do this on your terms.”
I shifted onto my side, and she rested her forehead on my chest. “Why are you such a good guy? Why couldn’t you have been a jackass like all the ones before you?”
I didn’t want to say it was because I planned on being the last, but that’s precisely what was on my mind. Was it even possible to fall in love with someone in two weeks?
“I respect the hell out of you, Kris,” I said between kisses. “You work harder than anyone I’ve ever seen, and not many people would have stepped up for your brothers and sisters the way you did.”
She closed her eyes and blew out a breath. “It’s not that I don’t trust you enough for you to meet them. I just… It’s my responsibility, you know? To keep them safe.”
“Do you always plan for the worst-case scenario?”
She shrugged. “Kind of hard not to when life keeps throwing me one curveball after the next. At some point, you just stop swinging and wait for a better pitch.”
“That’s how you strike out.”
Kristin winced. “I’m careful about who I bring around the kids. I don’t want them getting attached to someone, and then they leave.” Her eyes met mine, and I could see deep pools of worry in them. “It’s not just my heart that could get broken.”
“Hey,” I said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. I eased back in the hammock, giving her a little breathing room. Something told me she needed it. “I respect the hell out of you for that. And if my two cents count for anything, you’re doing it right. I haven’t been in your shoes, but I have been on the receiving end of someone’s shitty choices when it comes to men.”
“Thank you,” Kristin said softly. She tucked her head into the crook of my neck, and I felt like I was on top of the world.
Carefully, I swung my legs over and planted my feet on the ground. Kristin was straddling my hips. I grabbed two handfuls of her ass as I stood up and started across the grass.
She wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. I felt the heat between her thighs against my stomach. Was she wet for me?
“Where are we going?” she asked as I took long strides across the yard, then hit the steps of the deck, taking them two at a time. She felt so good in my arms. I liked how she tucked into me.
I liked her tits pressed against my chest even better.
“I never finished giving you the tour.” I smirked.
Kristin giggled. “I can walk.”
As soon as I kicked the door to the deck shut, I slammed her back against it and kissed her until her lips were swollen. Kristin responded by cinching her arms and legs around me like a zip tie.
I didn’t waste any time crossing the main floor to my bedroom. I’d go up to the guest room and grab her overnight bag later. My cock was rock hard, and I desperately needed relief.
Not bothering with the lights, I laid her down on my bed and straddled her waist. I skated my hands up and down her sides as I pushed the thin fabric of her tank top up.
“You are so fucking beautiful,” I growled.
She responded with a desperate whimper and pulled at the hem of my shirt. I sat back on my haunches, grabbed the neck of my shirt, and pulled it off. Her hands were frantic as they roamed my chest. I shut my eyes and groaned.
Kristin planted a kiss in the center of my chest, then looked up at me with big, innocent eyes.
Fuck. Me. That look nearly sent me over the edge right there.
“Will—” She gasped as I ground my erection into the apex of her thighs. We were making out like teenagers, and it was fucking awesome.
I slid my hand underneath her tank top and squeezed her tits. I wanted her naked, and I wanted her naked now .
Kristin threw her head back into the pillow and squirmed under my hips.
I peeled her tank top off and yanked it over her head. A pale pink bra barely restrained her breasts. Even through her bra, Kristin’s nipples pebbled, begging to be played with. I buried my face between them and kissed up her sternum, following the line of her throat to her ear.
Kristin arched her back, her shoulders coming off the mattress as she pressed into me. I flipped her bra cups down and pulled a nipple between my teeth. She keened and squirmed beneath me, gasping at each sensation.
“You are a fucking wet dream,” I growled as I released her nipple and lavished the other with attention. I drove my cock into the apex of her thighs, drilling it against the thin cotton barrier between us.
I hooked my fingers in the waistband of her shorts and tried to push them down, but her hands locked onto mine.
There was panic in her eyes. “We can’t—I can’t—” She looked around frantically, scouting out an escape.
I let go of her shorts and eased off her. Instead of letting Kristin go, I sat against the headboard and pulled her over my lap to straddle my waist .
I settled my hands on her hips and kissed her forehead. “Tell me what’s got you looking like you’re gonna run.”
Her cheeks flushed, and I didn’t know whether it was from arousal or embarrassment.
I cupped my hand around her thigh, stroking her soft skin. Her summer tan was deep and glowing. “Hey, I promise—whatever it is, you can tell me.”
Her eyelids lowered as she averted her gaze. “It’s…” She pressed her fingers into her eyes. “God, this is embarrassing.”
I pulled her hands away and laced our fingers together. “Sweetheart, if you’ve never done this before, I’m not going to pressure you to?—”
Kristin shook her head. “No, it’s not that. Well. I mean, it’s been a long time, and it was never good… I just never got the hype around sex, but that’s not what I was thinking…”
I chuckled at her rambling. “We’ll come back to that in a minute.” I squeezed her hand. “Tell me.”
“I’m not on birth control,” she blurted out.
I shrugged. “I have condoms.”
Kristin shook her head. “And I appreciate that, but as someone born to teenage parents, I’m very aware of what can happen when a condom breaks.” She sighed and ran her hands through her hair in frustration. “I’m sorry. I just… If I had known I was going out with you tonight, I might have been able to get an appointment and get back on it. But after everything that happened, it was just easier to get off it than to deal with prescription refills and doctor appointments?—”
I shut her up with a kiss, and the tension in her body melted in an instant. “Then I will keep my hands mostly to myself.” After pecking her lips again, I added, “And when you’re ready, we can revisit the whole sex never being that great thing.” I smirked. “Old dogs know lots of tricks.”
Her lips formed an ‘O’ .
We ran upstairs to grab her bag, brushed our teeth side-by-side, locked up, and turned out the lights. With all that behind us, we crawled under the covers and wrapped ourselves around one another. Her back pressed against my chest, and my arm laid securely around her waist.
“Kristin,” I spoke softly into her hair.
She tilted her head backward so that my lips were on her forehead. “Hmm?”
“I will respect whatever boundaries you have when it comes to your siblings, but I do want to meet them. They’re important to you, so that makes them important to me. We can take this however slow you need. You can set the pace.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“But there’s one more thing you need to know,” I said.
“What’s that?”
I kissed her forehead. “You’re mine.”