Chapter 16
Brody
It’s Friday and Kate has been living with me for almost a week.
I’ve never spent this much time with a girl, even ones I was dating, and I’ve never once wanted to live with a girl.
I like living alone, having the house to myself.
But I have to say, living with Kate hasn’t been that bad.
In fact, I kind of like having her here, and not just because she cooks and keeps the place clean.
I keep telling her she doesn’t have to do that stuff, but she says if she doesn’t, she’ll get bored.
Kate is one of those people who has a hard time relaxing.
She has to be doing something or she gets restless.
The only time I can get her to slow down is at night when I get home and am watching TV.
I’ll invite her to sit on the couch with me, which turns into her laying on me and eventually falling asleep.
We started this on Monday night and now it’s become a thing, cuddling on the couch and watching TV.
If anyone saw us, they’d think we were dating, but we’re not.
We’re roommates. Nothing more. We haven’t had sex since that night we got drunk.
Okay, that’s a lie. We did it last Tuesday, but we didn’t mean to.
We were watching TV and Kate was lying on my chest and I accidentally kissed her forehead.
She looked up at me and I kissed her again, on the lips.
Next thing I knew, clothes were coming off, Kate was straddling me on the couch, and my cock was inside her.
Like I said, we didn’t plan this. It just happened.
Kate and I may be nothing alike, but when it comes to sex, we’re a perfect match.
The best sex I’ve ever had has been with her, and I’ve had a lot of sex.
Tuesday night was even better than when we did it before.
Having her straddling me, I was able to look at her, grab her ass, and watch her tits bounce around.
She was really getting into it, which I love.
It turns me on. Kate comes off as this uptight good girl, but she’s got a wild side in the bedroom.
Later that night, we were in bed and Kate asked if I thought we should stop having sex.
My immediate thought was no, but that was my cock talking.
The rest of me knew having sex with her wasn’t a good idea.
So I told her that, and she agreed. But she slept in my bed that night, in my arms, and she’s been there every night since.
I don’t know what the hell we’re doing or how I’d define our relationship.
I just know that I like having her around.
I like having her here when I get home from work.
I like having her next to me on the couch when we watch TV.
And I like having her in my bed. What does that mean?
That I was lonely before she showed up and didn’t know it?
Or that I like Kate more than I want to admit?
‘You shoveled it out?’ Kate asks, as I pull my truck over to the side of the highway.
The tow guys are showing up soon to get the car out of the ditch.
Cam hired a tow company from Chicago because the asshole didn’t trust anyone local to tow his precious car.
It’s going to cost a fortune and he’s making Kate pay for it.
The tow company was going to charge extra to shovel the snow off the car so they could get to it.
I told Kate I’d help her do it to save her some money, but instead I got up early this morning and did it myself while Kate was still asleep.
‘It didn’t take long,’ I tell her, but it actually took almost an hour. The thing was buried under two feet of snow.
We get out of the truck and trudge through the snow to the car.
‘Brody, I told you I’d help. I didn’t want you doing all this.’
I shrug. ‘I figured I owed you after all the cooking and cleaning you’ve done all week.’
‘Thank you.’ She hugs me. The girl is a hugger. I’ve had more hugs this week than I’ve had all year.
‘You got the keys?’
‘Right here.’ She takes them from her coat pocket.
She got a coat and some more clothes at one of the stores downtown.
Gina, Sawyer’s girlfriend, took her shopping.
They met at Sawyer’s brewery the other night.
I took Kate there to check the place out.
Gina was there and she and Kate really hit it off.
If Kate lived here, I could see them being friends.
Sawyer was too busy running the bar to give me shit about Kate, but I’m sure he will tonight. I’m meeting my brothers at the brewery in a couple hours and Kate’s coming with. I told my brothers she’s just a friend, but they’ll still give me shit.
‘At least it’s still here,’ Kate says, taking her suitcase from the trunk. It’s really small and bright pink with a heart-shaped luggage tag hanging off it .
‘You were worried someone stole it? Who would steal it in a blizzard?’
‘I don’t know, but it happens.’
‘Maybe in Chicago, but not here.’ I take the suitcase from her. ‘What else do you need?’
‘I think that was it.’
‘Maybe you should do a quick check to make sure you didn’t forget anything. You’re not going to be seeing this car again.’
‘That’s true. Okay, I’ll check.’ She gets in the front seat and searches the center console, then the glove compartment.
Cars are driving by, looking at me standing in the ditch holding Kate’s tiny pink suitcase. I’m sure I look like an idiot. I must really like this girl.
‘You find anything?’ I yell so she can hear me above the road noise.
‘Nothing that’s mine.’
‘Then let’s go. It’s freezing out here.’
Kate gets out of the car. ‘What do you think this is?’ She holds a piece of paper in front of me.
‘Some kind of receipt?’
‘Yeah, for a hotel, the week of the wedding.’
‘Your ex stayed at a hotel?’
‘That’s not what he told me. He said he was staying with Dane, his friend from college.’
‘Maybe he changed his mind. Why didn’t he just stay at his apartment?’
‘Because I was there and he insisted we live apart until the wedding.’
She looks up at the road. ‘They’re here. ’
I turn and see a tow truck pulling up. Behind it is a white SUV.
‘What’s his brother doing here?’ Kate trudges through the snow up the hill as I follow behind with her suitcase.
A guy gets out of the SUV and Kate storms up to him. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I’m making sure the car gets home safely.’ The guy looks her up and down and smirks. ‘God, Kate, you look like shit. What the hell happened?’
I toss her suitcase in my truck and walk up beside her, talking to the guy. ‘You’re not looking so great yourself, asshole. And you speak to her like that again, I’ll—’
‘Brody, don’t.’ Kate steps up to the guy. ‘You really drove all this way to babysit the car?’
‘Cam asked me to. He wants me to get pictures of it and send it to him so he can see what you did to it.’
‘I didn’t do anything to it. The roads were icy and the car slid off the road. Cam should be happy I’m alive, not worried about his stupid car.’
The guy looks at me. ‘Who are you?’
I look at Kate. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
‘I asked you a question, asshole.’
I look back at the guy. ‘And I chose not to answer. It’s none of your fucking business who I am.’
‘He’s a friend,’ Kate says. ‘He drove me here so I could get my stuff from the car.’
‘Is this the guy you’re living with?’ the guy asks, glancing at me.
‘Kate, you don’t have to talk to him,’ I tell her. ‘Let’s get out of here. ’
‘Yeah, go.’ The guy looks down at the ditch. ‘I need to go see how much damage you did to Cam’s car.’ He takes off.
‘Harry, wait!’ Kate says.
He turns back. ‘What?’
‘Where did Cam stay the week before the wedding?’
‘With Dane. Why?’
‘Are you sure he was with Dane? He didn’t change his mind?’
‘He was with Dane. What’s with all the questions?’
‘No reason. I just wondered.’
‘Hey, Cam wanted me to remind you he’s having the locks to the apartment changed on Monday. If your stuff is still there—’
‘It’s already gone,’ Kate says. ‘I had Jill go there today and tell the moving guys what to take.’
‘If anything of Cam’s is missing, he’ll be charging you with theft.’
Kate sighs and walks away. ‘Bye, Harry. Have a nice life.’
As we’re driving away, I say to Kate, ‘You were going to marry into that family?’
‘I know. They’re horrible people. I don’t know what I was thinking.’
‘Is Cam just like his brother?’
‘No. Or he didn’t use to be. Getting into politics really changed him. He started acting differently. Talking differently. The guy I almost married last week is not the same guy I met in college.’
‘Sounds like you dodged a bullet, not just with Cam, but the whole family. ’
‘Yeah. Unfortunately, I’m not done with them. This lawsuit’s going to drag on forever.’
My phone rings. I see Sawyer’s name on the dash and hit the button to answer it. ‘Hey, Sawyer. I’m in the truck. I’ve got Kate with me,’ I tell him so he won’t say something stupid with her listening in.
‘Hey, Kate.’
She smiles. ‘Hi, Sawyer.’
My brothers would be a million times nicer to her than that asshole I just met. I should’ve punched him, but I didn’t want to cause more problems for Kate.
‘You guys still coming tonight?’ Sawyer asks.
‘Yeah. Why?’ I say.
‘I wanted to make sure I get a big enough table reserved. I also wanted to tell you Mom and Dad might be there.’
‘Why?’
‘Mom told Dad she wanted to get out of the house after being snowed in all week.’
‘Why doesn’t he just take her to dinner?’
Sawyer laughs a little. ‘I think Mom has an ulterior motive.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘She wants to show up tonight to meet your new .?.?. roommate.’
I look over at Kate. ‘If she wanted to meet Kate, she could just come over to the house.’
‘That’s too obvious. She’s trying to be sneaky. We’re always telling her to stop butting into our personal lives so this is her way of doing it without you knowing.’
‘But I already know.’