Chapter 11 – Cody
Chapter Eleven
Cody
Shay walks into the kitchen with Caleb and I can tell she’s mad. Her son clings to her chest, sensing his mother’s mood isn’t what one would normally expect. I glance over at my sister Kylie, who says good morning to Shay, who also ignores her. What the hell is going on?
“Shay. This is my sister, Kylie.”
My wife turns around, looking like I just caught her with her pants down.
“Your sister?”
“Yes.”
I walk over to Shay, offering to take Caleb, who reaches for me.
Shay reaches for my sister’s hand and shakes it.
Kylie won’t stop staring. She knows I’ve never had a girlfriend and I just told her a few hours ago that I have a wife.
It’ll take time for my sister to adjust, especially because I can’t exactly tell her why I avoided women my entire life.
“Hello, Shay Hollingsworth. Welcome to the family. I’m Kylie, the fun one. Cody is the one who nobody likes. Tanner is the one with anger issues.”
“You’re the one who never shuts up,” Cody interjects before Kylie can list more of her family members. “Shay, ignore her. I have to look after her because she tried to help Tylee like a dumbass.”
Shay looks dumb-founded. Caleb cries out, “Mama, hungry!”
That settles it.
I make breakfast for Caleb and give Shay a cup of coffee.
She looks a little frazzled, and I wonder if I somehow brought her any pain.
I spent all of last night involved in a fucking mess with the club.
Christian Shaw caught my sister Kylie communicating secretly with Tylee while she’s up in exile.
Now, Kylie has become my problem, which is a huge problem because I planned to spend the next year out of contact with everybody to look after my wife.
Swearing Kylie to secrecy will only work if I can keep her away from anyone else in the club, which makes my life much harder.
She doesn’t want problems with Wyatt Shaw.
That’s pretty much the only thing keeping her obedient.
He is deadly serious about Tylee facing consequences for what she did, not just to Damara, but to her entire family.
Kylie’s intervention won’t be handled lightly.
Caleb’s mood improves as he eats. I like the little man, honestly.
I wonder if Shay and I had a kid, what features he might have.
Hair like Caleb’s? Maybe those hazel eyes?
I’m not a geneticist. I only care if we share a healthy child.
Kylie and Shay pick up their conversation, and it only takes a few minutes before their womanly chatter becomes incomprehensible.
It’s just me and Caleb for the rest of breakfast. Once we’re done eating, Kylie offers to wash the dishes and look after Caleb for a bit so that Shay and I can talk. Wisely, she understands that I will need to give a better explanation for her presence to my wife.
“Care for a walk around the property?”
“How hot is it out there?”
“Coolest day we’ve had in weeks,” I answer, smiling at Shay.
Making love to that woman broke my brain.
I’ve been trying to keep my hands off her, trying to stay away from her, and it’s been nothing but utter pain.
Spending time with Shay gets me totally drunk on her personality.
If I let myself want her, I won’t be able to control myself physically for long.
I can’t hurt Shay again. I can’t stand the thought of forcing her to make love to me outside of the contract – and I don’t believe Shay really wants me outside of that.
It’s the fear of rejection. It doesn’t come out of nowhere.
I know that I have a freak’s body, an appendage that reminds women of brutes and their worst pain.
Not everybody’s story includes true love and a happy ending.
Some stories are tragedies, and if I avoid giving Shay the chance to reject me, I can put off the end of my tragedy just a little longer.
That’s all I hope.
Shay changes into something a little better for the weather. It’s hot out, even if it’s not as hot as it normally is. I put a nice, wide black Stetson on her head and one on my own. That will keep the sun off our faces. I have an ice cold glass jar of sweet tea for her to take on the walk with us.
“I don’t know why you looked so mad this morning. I’m sorry if I hurt you in some way. I’m not too thrilled about my sister either.”
“I saw you coming home last night,” Shay says after taking a slow sip of sweet tea. “I didn’t know what to think.”
“What? That I was sleeping with my sister?”
“I didn’t know that she was your sister.”
“I wasn’t trying to make you jealous.”
“I’m not jealous,” Shay says. But I know jealousy, and I feel there might be just a little lingering beneath Shay’s words.
Does she really think I have my eyes on anybody else?
This woman gave me something that no other woman has.
Even if I can’t take my pleasures from her again, I will always have tender fondness for Shay – and no need to cheat on her or hurt her.
“You know I would never hurt you, right? That there are no other women?” We walk towards my manicured gardens – all plants designed for the arid weather out here.
“I know we signed a contract and that you are beholden to different terms.”
“My terms are the same as yours, Shay. Loyalty.”
“I didn’t know what to think.”
Her arms cross over her body tightly. I hate how she dismisses me. Have I really been that difficult to read? I swear I have gone out of my way to show Shay that even if we are married because of the contract we signed, I want to be a husband to her. I belong to Shay.
“There’s no honor in a man who would cheat on his wife. I am quite serious about my commitment to you.”
Shay keeps arguing with me, “I’m sure there are plenty of women who–”
“Enough, Shay. I won’t be cheating on you. Or leaving you. We’re on this walk to talk about my sister – and that’s it.”
She takes a sip of sweet tea. I don’t know how I let her get under my skin like this. But she does. I don’t mind it, entirely. But Shay is impenetrable. Impossible to read outside of that surge of jealousy.
I might be falling in love with her. It sounds foolish, even as just a thought in my head. But I might be falling hard for the woman who signed a marriage contract to be my wife.