Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
Kyle
I don’t know what time it was when I got to Zara’s place, but it feels like a lifetime ago. She is now sleeping next to me while I’m staring at her ceiling. If anything, I should be the one sleeping since I’ll have a long night working ahead of me.
Turning my head on the pillow, I stare at her angelic face. After everything that’s happened between us in such a short time, I was surprised when she reminded me that our situation was only temporary. Just for fun, she said.
It rubbed me wrong in all the ways. But I didn’t know how to address it either. My solution was to start shaving her pussy. Now that I think about it, that was actually a great idea I had. She went wild on me after I was done, and needless to say, I am out of condoms.
I look away and let out a yawn that threatens to dislocate my jaw. I really am fucking tired. I’d hate to leave her without saying goodbye, though. She’d think I did it on purpose to hurt her, or worse yet, that I don’t even care if I hurt her or not.
What she told me about her father explains a lot about Zara and her attitude on life.
I feel bad now for not taking her seriously when she repeatedly told me that punctuality was very important to her, or when she freaked out about being late for work.
By the look on her coworkers’ faces, that had never happened before.
Deciding that I can’t sleep no matter how hard I try, and since I don’t want to wake Zara up, I slowly get out of bed. First, I use the toilet and wash my hands, then I pull on my boxer briefs and jeans.
I walk out of the bedroom while scratching at my chest, a loud yawn escaping me every so often. Every time that happens, I look back to make sure I didn’t wake her up.
Once I am in the kitchen, I look around for the coffee maker.
The counters are spotless, with not even a toaster in sight.
That means that she must be putting everything out and then away when finished every single day.
That’s a lot of work. I start opening and closing the cabinets in my quest for the coffee maker, and also the coffee.
I’m thinking they would be together. When the doorbell rings, I jump, so startled that I hit my head on the door to the cupboard.
Scratching at my head, I glance toward the bedroom, but still no Zara.
When the doorbell goes off for the second time, I rush to answer the door.
“What. The. Fuck.”
The man outside the door is staring at me like I am an alien. His jaw is slack, and eyes are wide in shock.
“What are you doing in my sister’s house?” He finally gets enough sense to ask. His eyes run up and down my torso. “Naked.”
I look down, thinking that I should’ve probably thrown my T-shirt on after all. But no, here I’m standing in only jeans, no shirt, bare feet, no explanation.
“Hey, man.” I move to the side so he could come in. “Owen, right?”
The dude is massive, tall and wide, and he towers over me, looking like he could crush me like a bug.
“I was, uh, here to, uh…” My eyes go side to side as I try to come up with something good. “I’m here to help your sister with something.”
The look on his face tells me that he’s not buying what I’m telling him.
“Again, naked?” he growls at me.
I point down. “I got pants on!”
Okay, maybe this is not the best time to crack jokes. If I were a smarter person, I’d actually realize that. But trying to salvage this situation is basically impossible.
“Where’s Zara?”
I have a fast answer for this one. “Sleeping.”
Owen is not impressed. “She’s sleeping at six in the afternoon?”
“Well, some people do.” I put my hands on my hips, then change my mind and dig them through my hair. It’s safe to say that I am not making an exactly positive impression on this man.
“Is she still sick?” he asks.
Now it is my turn to frown. “She’s not sick. Just tired.”
“So the flu is gone?”
It’s like he’s talking in riddles. “What flu?”
“She doesn’t have the flu?” There’s a suspicious glint in his eyes now.
I open my arms wide. “Did she ever have the flu?”
He mimics my stance. “Well, she said that’s he did.”
“When did she say that?” I huff.
“When she called in sick at work four days ago,” comes his quick reply.
My eyes bug out of my head. “She called in sick?” And then, I process the rest of what he just said. “ Four days ago ?”
I turn my head to stare down the hallway toward where her bedroom is. Four days ago is when she was at my house, and we had the whole virginity debacle, after which she fled like a thief in the night, or close to it.
“From the look on your face, I’d say you are the flu,” he concludes.
I grin like a lunatic, not sure why. “That’s a terrible nickname, and I hope it doesn’t stick.”
He looks me up and down. “It depends.”
“On what?”
He shrugs. “On whether you will stick.”
What he says is way too close to what Zara said earlier. I don’t like it.
“I’m doing my best to stick,” I now tell her brother. I don’t even know where that’s coming from. It’s not like I am looking for a serious relationship or anything.
I am surprised when he finally gives me the first genuine smile. He stretches his hand for us to shake, and I cautiously follow suit. There’s still a good possibility that he would want to break it.
“It’s damn good to meet you, man,” he says. “I didn’t get to say that the other day. I’m so happy Zara is seeing someone.”
He shakes my hand with a lot of enthusiasm, giving the impression that he never thought his sister was actually capable of dating anyone.
“I don’t know how you did it,” he continues. “But all the guys at the station are scared to death of her.”
That makes me laugh. “Why’s that?”
“She never smiles,” Owen explains. “And she is short with them.”
“Maybe they just don’t know how to talk to her.” I shrug and take my hand back. “She is an amazing girl. And we have a lot of fun together.”
His eyebrows furrow in confusion. “You’re having fun with my sister.”
At this point, I am kinda offended on her behalf. He is acting like Zara is not capable of normal human interaction.
“You have no idea how happy I am to find you here, flu and all,” he says.
“Hey!” I point at his face. “No one has the flu, and no one will be called that either.”
He gives me a casual salute. “Dully noted.”
We remain standing in the doorway, and I am not sure what to do. Since this is not my place, it’s not like I can just invite people in. Maybe I should wake Zara up so she can deal with this. Then again, this is her brother, and I doubt she’ll complain about him being here. They seem pretty tight.
“I was looking for Zara’s coffee maker,” I tell Owen.
The surprise on his face is almost comical. “Zara has a coffee maker?”
“She doesn’t?” There’s disbelief in my tone. I never took that into consideration.
“She’s not a coffee drinker,” Owen informs me. “I thought you’d know that, since you’re having fun and all.”
I roll my eyes at him. “We don’t have fun drinking coffee.”
For a second, I fear that I may have gone too far. But then, Owen busts out laughing and fist bumps me.
The entire situation is so bizarre in my humble opinion. Aren’t older brothers supposed to want to kick the ass of any guy who might be sniffing around their sister? Not this one. He takes it a step further and gives me a congratulatory fist bump, for crying out loud.
“Hey, what’s going?” Zara calls out from the doorway to the bedroom.
Owen turns around, a happy smile on his face. “Hey, sis! I’m just hanging out with your boyfriend over here?”
Her eyes bug out. “ Owen ?”
The door to the bedroom slams shut, which seems to only amuse her brother more.
“She’s embarrassed.” He bends over and slaps a hand against his knee while howling with laughter. “This is great!”
I grab him by the arm and walk him toward the couch that’s in the living room.
“How about you take a seat here?” I say. “I’m gonna go put a shirt on.” I walk backwards. “Zara should be here shortly.”
He continues laughing. “Take your time.”
I turn on my heels and rush to the bedroom. As soon as I open the door, I can feel Zara’s panic.
“I can’t believe he came here without calling first,” she cries out when she sees me. She is standing in the bathroom, brushing her teeth furiously. A light robe covers her body, but not very well.
“Maybe he called and we didn’t hear the phone, babe,” I try to explain. “It’s no big deal,” I assure her. “He likes me.”
I grab my T-shirt off the floor and put it on, then start looking for my socks and shoes. I did wear some on my way here, didn’t I?
“You know why he’s here?” she whisper yells my way right before spitting the toothpaste out of her mouth. “My mother sent him here.”
By now, I have located the socks and shows, so I sit on the bed to put them on.
“I don’t know,” I shrug. “He thought you had the flu.”
She freezes in the doorway of the bathroom. This is probably not the best time for me to tell her that the robe she’s wearing is see-through.
“Oh my god!” She brings both hands to her face. “He went to my work and asked for me.”
I don’t see the problem. “So?”
She stares at me like I am stupid. “So now everyone at work is going to know that I lied when I called in!”
I can’t believe that’s what she’s worried about right now.
“Statistically speaking…” I pause to tie my shoes. “Most people who call in sick are actually not sick. They lie that they are just to have the day off.”
Zara starts pacing, both hands still on each side of her head.
“I will need to get another job,” she mumbles. “I might need to move, too.”
She reaches one side of the room and starts over.
“I have never been late to work in my life. I was never sick. I never called in.” She stops and turns crazed eyes my way. “And now I haven’t been to work in four days!” she emphasizes the number, so I grasp the severity of the situation. “What have you done to me?”
Things are getting out of hand now, and I need to step in before she loses it all the way. I stand up from the bed and walk toward her.
“I helped you with the next logical step in your life, Zara.”
She’s not impressed. “By making me skip work?”
“I had no idea you even skipped work until your brother just told me!” I can hear the frustration in my tone. “You should’ve called me that very first day. I would’ve helped you through it.”
Her eyes fill with tears. “I panicked, Kyle.”
Sighing, I pull her into my arms and just hold her, rocking her side to side, not sure how to tell her that her brother can most likely hear everything that’s happening in here. We are not in a soundproof room.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, babe,” I assure her. “You just need a little break. And that’s normal.”
I surprise myself with all these words of wisdom. I am usually the guy people call to party with. No one has ever asked for my advice on any real life situation. You want to get drunk? I’m your guy. You want to figure out what your purpose in life is, I am most definitely not your guy.
But it’s all different with Zara. I want to help her through this.
She might be an adult, but she’s been stuck in this routine where she never gave herself a chance to step outside the lines.
In fact, I am shocked to the core that she wanted to have sex with me.
I want to ask her what made her want to choose me as her first, but this is probably not a good time for this particular subject.
I run my hands up and down her back, loving the way she molds herself to the front of my body. I wish like hell that her brother didn’t sit out in the living room. But then I have to remind myself that I am out of condoms. I should probably buy a box and stash it at her house.
“How about you put some clothes on,” I suggest. “I’ll go keep your brother company. He was just telling me how you don’t drink coffee.”
Her head pops up. “Oh. Yeah, I don’t.”
“That’s something we’ll have to fix, babe,” I tease her. “I need my coffee, or else.”
She stares at me with innocent eyes. “Or else what?”
Realizing that she’s too tense to understand a joke, I just pull her in for a hard kiss. It should make her forget what she asked.
“Get dressed, okay?” She nods in agreement. “Then come out there and save me from your big badass brother.”
She gives me a nervous smile, but then she pulls her shoulders back and gets a determined look on her face.
“I have nothing to hide, and it is not my problem that Owen came here unannounced.”
I pull her into another hard kiss. “That’s my girl.”
She holds on to me just a tad longer when I want to let go of her. Despite her words, she is still a little nervous about facing her brother.
“I’ll be right there, waiting for you, okay?”
With a tentative smile, she finally lets go.
She moves to the side to get the closet, leaving me with nothing else to do but to go out there and hang out with her brother.
The man seems like a giant goofball. Since that’s my specialty, I shouldn’t have any trouble at all chatting him up.
In fact, I should pick his brain on what it’s like to be a firefighter.
I could develop a game around that. Why does it always have to be a military operation?
Someone needs to also fight fires, right?
I feel good about this. And I feel good about a possible relationship with Zara. I’ll just have to tell her about it.
It should be interesting.