23. Korine
23
KORINE
Ken’s warning stays on my mind for days. It remains an unspoken threat that I keep to myself. One I analyze from every conceivable angle. He could’ve been bluffing, trying his hardest to make me fearful and paranoid. His delusion could’ve had him believing he’s more powerful than he actually is in thinking he could ensure Blake’s imprisonment.
Or… or he could’ve been serious. He could’ve been as confident as he was because he really is capable of wreaking such havoc on our lives.
The many different possibilities wear on me. Try as I might to keep it from bleeding through, others pick up on my different behavior.
“How are you dealing with everything?” Sydney asks one afternoon. It’s only a few days since we bailed Blake out of jail and Ken issued his threat; the first time I’ve been around Sydney since we left the station discussing how we’ll move forward in light of Blake’s new legal troubles. She finds me in the garage of the Chop Shop making some custom modifications on an Electra Glide for Tito.
I look up, wiping my hands on a rag, and give a shrug. “If you mean all these last minute jobs that have come in… I’m managing. Chaz and Moss have been a big help. We haven’t even hit our busy season yet. So, should be interesting.”
“I meant personally,” Sydney says. She wanders over to the Electra Glide and runs a hand along its sparkling midnight blue cowl up front. “You seem like you’ve become more withdrawn.”
“You know this how?”
“We don’t know each other well,” she admits with a side tilt of her head. “But… I don’t know. Call it women’s intuition. I can pick up on things sometimes. Even from other women. It just seems… you’ve got a lot on your mind.”
“If you knew the half of it,” I mutter.
“So tell me. Over drinks?”
It takes me a second to decide, but I wind up taking Sydney up on her offer. In no more than fifteen minutes, we’re perched on stools at the saloon’s bar counter with Mick pouring us drinks called cherry bombs.
“For the beautiful ladies,” Mick says, sliding the two glasses toward us.
I smile and reach for my wallet, but the seasoned bartender waves me off.
“Don’t even dream of it, sweets. On the house. You two are much easier on the eyes than the usual Kings crowding the place up.” He winks at us before he returns to wiping down the rest of the counter.
Sydney turns to me on her stool. “Leave it to Mick to flirt with some of his only female customers.”
We sample our drinks and find them bearable, even tasty after a few sips as a burst of sweet cherry pairs nicely with the spice of the whiskey. I go for an extra sip to prepare myself for divulging what’s been on my mind.
“This’ll stay between us?”
“In the vault,” she says.
I sigh, worn down by the mere thought of Ken’s threat. “I didn’t say anything… but I saw him at the police station.”
“Stricklin?!”
“Shhh,” I hush, glancing around the saloon. “He came into the restroom when I was in there.”
“And you didn’t tell Mace or Cash? Korine?—”
“A fight would’ve broken out,” I interrupt. “Don’t say it wouldn’t have when we both know it would’ve.”
“If he was in there hurting you?—”
“He didn’t lay a finger on me. It was one of our more… civil exchanges. Which says a lot considering Ken was still threatening me. He swears he’ll make the charges against Blake stick if I insist on being with him. He’ll make sure Blake winds up behind bars.”
Sydney’s brows jerk together. “Would he even be able to pull that off?”
“I’ve gone in circles about it. Everything from he’s bluffing to he’s serious and will make it happen. I’ve landed on putting nothing past him. He… he even insinuated my mother would have an accident.”
“You need to tell Cash.”
I swallow more of the cherry bomb as a distraction. “I tell Blake, he’ll refuse to back down from Ken. It’ll lead to more trouble. He has enough problems right now.”
“Korine, he would want to know. Mace would want to know.”
“You promised you wouldn’t say a word.”
“And I won’t,” she says, though her tight expression holds tension. “But I just think Stricklin’s proven to be dangerous. He could try anything.”
A sigh blows out of me. “I’ll think about it. I promise I will.”
“I feel that’s as good as I’m going to get out of you for now.”
“Maybe you do already know me well,” I say, giving off a snarky laugh. “How’s your friend doing? The one that was missing? Have they found her yet?”
Sydney peers into what’s left of her cherry bomb and shakes her head. “Still missing. I just don’t know where Tey could’ve gone. She’s the definition of straight and narrow. College. Church. The diner. Those are what she’s always been focused on. She doesn’t get mixed up with the wrong crowd.”
I end our conversation by thanking Sydney and wishing her friend returns safely.
For the rest of my work day at the Chop Shop, I’m preoccupied with how to move forward.
Mama notices I’m distracted later in the evening when in the kitchen cooking dinner. She pads into the room in her fuzzy slippers and robe, a deep frown dipped onto her mouth.
“I sure wish my baby would tell me when something’s wrong.”
“Mama, we’ve been over this.”
“‘Cuz if there were something wrong, you could.”
“I’d prefer you focus on your health.”
“It’s sure been a while since Blake has come around,” she muses, shuffling over to the table. She takes her seat and peers at me from where I am by the stove. “I may be old and I may be senile, but one thing I’ve never been a day in my life is stupid. What happened the other night when you ran out so late? Is Blake in some sort of trouble?”
I pause from stirring the sauce in the pot. “You know I left?”
Mama lets out a single cackle. “Of course I do. I’m your mother, Korine baby. You think you can sneak out without me knowing? I knew when you were seventeen and I know now.”
“Then why didn’t you ever say anything?”
“’Cuz you were headed over to Blake’s… and I knew that boy would never let anything bad happen to my baby.”
“I always thought I covered my tracks well.”
She scoffs with a wave of her hand. “You’re kidding, right? You expected me to believe that lumpy pillow under the covers was really you? That’s not even touching on how I usually saw your little behind sneaking off the lawn.”
“Mama,” I say, laughing despite how heavy my shoulders feel. Once the sound dies out and silence reminds us of the core issue at hand, I exhale a sigh and come clean. “If you must know. Blake was arrested the other night. Some traffic stop made by Ken. The charges are serious.”
“Let me take a guess,” she says. “That no good abuser is threatening you?”
“How did you?—”
“Baby, I’ve got the years and experience to predict these things. Have you told Blake?”
Why does everyone want me to get him deeper into my shit?!
I shake my head. “I’m not making the situation worse than it already is.”
“Would it be making it worse, or would it be keeping you on the same page?”
Mama’s question sticks with me to the point it’s on my mind the next time I’m showing up to Blake’s trailer. I’ve arrived certain of what I need to do—or so I think ’til Mama words return and plant a seed of doubt.
The second our gazes connect only intensifies that doubt. Golden hair and stubbled jaw framing his face, his boundless blue eyes make me feel like I’m going for a swim in the ocean. It weakens any resolve I had coming over.
Even with the bruises still marring his face, he’s the handsomest man in town. If anything, it gives him an edge, makes him even sexier. Can you blame me if I find him damn near impossible to resist?
Blake curls an arm around me to guide me inside. His scent floats around me, addictive and comforting, making matters worse. How am I supposed to do this when he’s touching me? When the warm, clean scent of him makes me want to be held in his arms all night long? When I can’t even look him in the eye without my heart fluttering?
“Thirsty?” he asks. He heads into the kitchen to grab two glasses regardless of my answer.
I’ve sat down on his sofa, my stomach a rippling mess. “I think we need to talk.”
“You mentioned that.” He returns clutching some iced tea that he sets down on the coffee table, and then joins me on the sofa. “Judging by the tone of your voice, it can’t be anything good.”
“A lot’s happened this week.”
“If this is about the charges, I already told you I was framed. I was never driving under the influence. Kori, I wouldn’t lie about that.”
“I believe you,” I say, and I mean it.
I do believe Blake. He wasn’t driving drunk. I’m not sure I even believe he assaulted Ken and his partner, at least not without extreme provocation and abuse of their authority. Everything about that night feels like it’s some horrible nightmare that neither of us will wake from.
It won’t go away unless…
“We both have a lot on our plates right now.”
“We’ve been making it work.”
My head shakes, my hands nervously gripping my kneecaps. “It’s become too much, Blake. For us to be together like this. I tried to warn you I wasn’t ready for anything.”
He husks out a quick laugh, then raises a brow at me. “You’re serious? It’s another month and a half ’til April Fools.”
“This isn’t a joke. And, yeah, I’m being serious.”
“You can’t be. ’Cuz then you’d realize you make no damn sense.”
“Blake, we’re taking a break,” I say firmly. “I need time to figure out my situation. Time to create a stable life for myself and Mama. Things between us have been moving too fast. Now you have your legal troubles?—”
“Who got to you?” he asks.
“This is my own decision.”
“I wasn’t born yesterday, Kori. You forget I can tell when you’re keeping things from me?”
“You’re not going to change my mind,” I say, standing up. I turn toward the door. “I need a break, Blake… and that’s final.”
“Bullshit.”
I scowl at him from over my shoulder. “It doesn’t matter if you think it is. My mind’s made up.”
“You always do this. You always run when it gets tough. You did it then and you’re doing it now. I hoped you’d grown from that.”
“Excuse me!? You’ve got to be kidding me because that’s NOT what happened, Blake!” I’ve stopped halfway to the door and spun around from sheer outrage. “I left because high school was over! It was over, and I didn’t want to get trapped in Pulsboro for the rest of my life refusing to grow up! I didn’t want to spend every night getting drunk at the ravine and sleeping in ’til noon like you and the others. I wanted to go to college and make something of myself! If I stayed here… I would’ve… I’d have been married and pregnant by the time I was twenty-one!”
“By who? Me?”
Who else?!
“It doesn’t matter,” I snap. “It’s not what I wanted.”
Blake takes a step toward me. “I would’ve taken care of you if that happened.”
“I didn’t say you wouldn’t. But I wanted to go to college.”
“Wheaton U is forty minutes away.”
“What’s your point?” I fold my arms.
His blue eyes thin into slits. “Nobody was stopping you from college! I wanted that for you! But you chose just about the farthest fucking university in the state you could! You were hours away and you dropped me and everybody else like a bad habit! You cut us out of your life and for what, Kori? You wound up married young anyway ! The difference is, you chose a piece of shit who beat your ass!”
“Don’t you dare try to judge my choices!” I yell. The volume of my voice, the raw emotion etched into the loud sound, startles even me. “I didn’t know Ken would be… that he would… I never would’ve?—”
“BUT HE DID!” he barks. “He did do those things! That man almost destroyed you and you wanna do what you did last time? Walk away so he can find a way to force himself into your life again? And don’t tell me he won’t, ’cuz he will! That man ain’t giving up—and the moment you’re alone, he’s gonna force you back with him! Is that what you want? Why haven’t you figured out we’re stronger when we stick together?!”
I’ve fallen silent, my frantic heart beating out of sync.
So has Blake. His ferocity still thickens the air around us. His golden hair long and untamed about his shoulders, his handsome face tightened by tension, he resembles a male lion on the attack.
But it’s his eyes that are most affecting—they bore into mine and make me feel like there’s no more hiding. No more lies, charades, pretending to be done with him. I can’t act as if things are over between us.
This is only the beginning.
We solidify as much in the next second. In a burst of energy, unable to yell and scream any longer, I throw myself at him. He shoots forward and collides with me. His fingers slide into my short crop of hair and he yanks my face toward his.
I kiss him deep and hard, like we’re still fighting. Only with our mouths for this next round.
It sets off a chain of urgent, chaotic, sexually tense events that uproots everything. We attack each other. Blake hoists me off the ground and I search his mouth with my tongue, twining it with his. We crash into the nearest wall and he shoves his hands up my shirt, groping and squeezing. He grinds into me as I lose my breath and pant for air.
I feel Blake’s need. Mine pulses just as heady and strong.
We kiss until Blake’s tearing me away from the wall and walking us toward his bedroom. I’m flung onto the bed with only a millisecond to land before he’s on me.
Shoving my jeans down my hips. Jamming a hand between my thighs. Grunting at the beginnings of arousal he finds there.
His lips on my lips, kissing me to devour me. Make it known I’m not going anywhere.
And he’s right—there’s no running away this time or fighting the feelings we’ve always had for each other. There’s no resisting the pull that’s Blake Cash.