22. Chapter 22
22
Rose
I couldn’t stand to look at Lindsey as she sat several feet away from me. I wanted desperately to defend Kelly as much as I could, but truthfully, I wasn’t so sure I was worth defending. Lindsey had every right to be upset with me, but I didn’t want her taking things out on Kelly. Even more so, I was surprised by Joseph’s actions. Him and I? We had never liked each other all that much, but I couldn’t believe he was willing to put all the blame on Kelly, and leave us here to deal with Lindsey while he escaped as quickly as he could.
I had half the mind to march to him before he left and ask him how he felt about never talking to one of his daughters again. Frankly, if I could, I’d make sure Kelly never had to face him again. It wasn’t my place, though.
I looked over at Kelly and watched as she struggled not to fidget restlessly in her seat. After a moment, she finally got up and darted out of the living room.
My shoulders tensed as I felt the urge to chase after her. I locked eyed with Lindsey, saw that irritated, jealous look on her face. I couldn’t blame her, but it didn’t stop me from getting up and going after Kelly.
Kelly was just heading out of the front door and a part of me was worried she might be trying to book it out of there. I followed after her and closed the door behind me.
“If you really want to leave, I can get us home,” I said. My heart squeezed as I realized how that sounded, but I didn’t follow up with anything.
“I’m not trying to leave,” she insisted with a heavy sigh, “I just—I can’t believe my father is just going to leave. I knew he just wanted me here to deal with Lindsey and take the blame while he goes off to work and pretends like his family doesn’t even exist anymore.”
My brow knit. “It’s certainly not a surprise,” I replied. “It’s not fair to you or Lindsey.”
Kelly folded her arms. “Lindsey doesn’t seem to care whether me or him is here. She just wants you.”
I nodded. “I suppose that’s true, but, Kelly, I don’t want her,” I said.
Kelly blinked. “What?” she asked, her face pink.
“I need you to know that it doesn’t matter if she’s yelling, crying on the floor or pitting Joseph against me, I’m not interested in continuing a marriage born out of fear and bumping our families political status’,” I told her.
Kelly scrubbed a hand over her face. “Are you sure about that?” she asked. “You brought the box to her, you came with me, you could have just given me the box and dropped me off. Instead, you came inside knowing that she’s here.”
I sighed and stepped closer to her. I wanted to reach out and touch her soft brown curls, brush my fingers along her cheek and draw her ever closer, but I resisted. As much as my core was lit on fire when I was near her.
“I came here to serve Lindsey divorce papers,” I admitted.
Kelly blinked, her eyes widening. “What?” she asked.
“I want to end things officially, get it over with. The box included those papers,” I explained.
Kelly’s breath hitched in her throat and she stepped ever so slightly closer to me.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” she asked.
I pursed my lips. “I know that this is all my fault, that I should have told Lindsey as soon as it even became a think in my mind, and we should have told you about the context of our marriage, but, I wanted to keep you out of the drama. I know that Lindsey is not going to take things easy.”
“Because she loves you,” Kelly mumbled.
“Perhaps in some way, but it’s mostly that she doesn’t want to be alone. She doesn’t think she can make it on her own,” I replied. “Your father certainly doesn’t help in that regard.”
Kelly eyed me. “What are you talking about?” she asked. “My father wants whatever will make Lindsey happy.”
I looked to the side a moment as I tried to gather my thoughts. “Your father does seem to care about Lindsey more than you, but he also has convinced Lindsey she needs to be with me. We both know she could more than make it on her own, but your father has just enough doubt in her that he would prefer we stay married, just in case.”
Kelly blinked and looked at the ground. I could see the guilt on her face. I stepped closer, placing my fingers on her chin and tilting her head up until her eye met mine.
“This isn’t your fault,” I assured her. “My feelings, how your father treats either of you, good and bad.”
“What about my feelings for you?” Kelly asked, “If either of them knew…” she trailed off.
“I won’t let them tear you down,” I promised her. “This is a mess that I dragged you into.”
Kelly reached up and brushed her fingers along the back of my hand. “I wish things were different.”
My brow knit and I slid my hand up, brushing my thumb along Kelly’s cheek. I watched Kelly’s eyes begin to glisten with tears.
“Why haven’t you just gotten it over with already?” Kelly asked, tugging away from me.
“What?” I asked her.
“Why won’t you just talk to Lindsey, tell her to sign the divorce papers and get it over with?” she asked, “Waiting for Lindsey to find the papers and maybe sign them could take God knows how long.”
I gulped. “I want to keep your father as out of it as I can,” I explained. “I was hoping to find a moment when he leaves.”
Kelly huffed. I could feel the frustration and tension she was carrying. I blamed myself.
“Who cares about dad?” she asked. “He’ll be pissed off either way. You may as well serve the papers, and get out of here while you can.”
I shook my head. “Hey, no, no,” I said, “I am not leaving you here to handle Lindsey all by yourself. You are dealing with enough.” I removed the distance between us once more and cradled her face in my eyes. Her eyes glittered, and her tears were one of the most beautiful and painful thing I had ever seen.
Kelly’s lips parted, but nothing came out.
From behind me came the sound of the front door opening. I did not move quick enough.
“What exactly is going on here?” Joseph asked.
I pulled away from Kelly and turned to face him.
“Nothing of your concern, Mr. Matthews,” I replied.
His forehead was creased, judgment like fire in his eyes as he stood there with his bag beside him. My eyes flicked up, and I saw Lindsey standing behind him, glancing over his shoulder, a look of anger in her eyes.
“The hell it isn’t,” Lindsey said from behind him.
“No, it really isn’t,” Kelly huffed, her anger bubbling over the surface.
“I would have expected better from you Rosalinda,” Joseph said to me as he stepped closer, out of the doorway, “I almost didn’t believe the story about your feelings for Kelly. Clearly I was wrong.”
My jaw tightened. “I hope you’re not insinuating what I think you are, because Kelly is a wonderful woman.”
Joseph shook his head. “Your failing marriage is going to look bad for both of our families,” he told me.
A low guttural sound came from behind me and I put an arm out as Kelly went barreling towards Joseph.
“All you care about is yourself!” Kelly yelled at him, “Your fucking job as a Senator, trying to be Governor, how things affect you, no one else. You’d rather your own daughter get back into a marriage that isn’t good for her than let her find someone else if it suits your needs.”
“Kelly, watch your mouth,” Joseph raised her voice at her, “I will not have—”
“Joseph,” I raised my voice, “You need to leave,” I told him, “before we have an even bigger problem.” I stepped closer to him.
Joseph all but laughed in my face, despite the fact that I stood almost as tall as him.
The look in my eyes must have turned more fierce than ever, as he suddenly stiffened.
“Fine, I am not going to stick around to get into the middle of your girl's drama,” he replied. “You get this figured out.”
He darted past me and Kelly, only giving a last glance in Lindsey’s direction before heading to the driveway to his car.
I looked back towards Kelly and then Lindsey. Lindsey had a dark look in her eyes.
“I can’t fucking believe you,” she snarled at Kelly before stomping out of the doorway and onto the sidewalk.
I shifted my body, trying to block Kelly more.
“Kelly didn’t do anything,” I insisted.
“The hell she didn’t,” Lindsey huffed. “I knew that you for some god-awful reason had feelings for her, but I didn’t think she’d actually be the whore who fucks her sister's wife.”
My entire body grew hot.
“Are you serious?” Kelly said, “You’re the one who lied to me about your entire marriage, keeps trying to force Rose back into something and now you’re calling me a whore?” Kelly darted past me before I could stop her.
“For your information we haven’t fucked,” Kelly growled at her, “Though I guess it doesn’t matter now.”
“If it wasn’t for you, I might actually be able to convince Rose to stay married,” Lindsey told her. My hands balled into fists, but I tried to keep myself where I was. Let Kelly speak.
“What?” Kelly asked. “Why are you even trying to stay married? We all know that you don’t actually want to be married to Rose, either.”
Lindsey’s face flushed a deep pink. “I don’t have any other option, Kelly!” Lindsey insisted. “You heard our father—”
Kelly cut her off. “Oh, fuck him!” Kelly growled. “Stop trying to do what will make him happy. This isn’t good for anyone!”
“You don’t know what’s good for me,” Lindsey stepped closer to her, my shoulders tensed.
“Yeah, well, I know Rose came here to give you divorce papers,” Kelly told her, and Lindsey froze. “So, it’s over. Linds.”
I watched Kelly’s face contort from angry to her brow, pulling up, a look of sadness and uncertainty on her face. Lindseys, however, roared with darker emotion.
Suddenly Lindsey was lunging towards Kelly. I immediately jumped between them, and suddenly Lindsey was grabbing onto my jacket.
“Get out of the way!” Lindsey growled. “I’m so tired of this!”
“Lindsey, stop it!” I said, grabbing hold of her shoulders and trying to keep her at a distance, but despite being small, she was very upset.
“This is for the best!” I insisted, “We need to stop pandering to our families!”
My eyes squeezed closed, my heart aching in my chest as I listened to Lindsey swear under her breath and suddenly she was swatting at me, trying to get me to let her go and push past me.
A burning pain flew across my face.
“Fuck!” I gasped and let her go, but shoved her forward.
I placed a hand over my face.
“Lindsey, what did you do!?” Kelly asked, and suddenly I felt much softer hands on my shoulder and on the other side of my face.
I could hear Lindsey panting.
I cracked my eye, that wasn’t covered by my hand, open and saw Lindsey standing there, a look of shock and regret on her face.
“I-I’m sorry I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she mumbled, her eyes wet and went running back inside.
“Lindsey scratched you, let me see,” Kelly told me, trying to pull my hand away from my face.
I hissed.
“Oh jeez,” Kelly sighed, “Come on, she got you good.”
I could taste blood dripping onto my top lip as Kelly grabbed my hand and pulled me inside the house.
“I’m okay,” I insisted. I tried to close the door behind me, but Kelly beat me to it.
I was suddenly being dragged through the foyer down the hallway to the guest bedroom that was connected to the downstairs bathroom. The bedroom door closed behind us.
I groaned as I brushed my fingers over my face and collected the droplets of blood from my face. Kelly disappeared into the bathroom. I heard the water running, a cabinet opening, and a moment later she was walking back over to me.
“Here, let me see, don’t touch,” she insisted. Her voice was so protective and soft.
My heart squeezed. As she tilted my head up to have better access to my face, I didn’t object. I closed my eyes as she gently washed away the blood with the lukewarm washcloth and then patted it dry with another.
“It’s not as bad as I thought,” Kelly said, “but you’ll have some scratches on your face for the next few days or so.”
As she brushed a cotton swab with rubbing alcohol on it along my cuts, my face contorted slightly at the burn. I could feel where each scratch was, along my cheek, just under my eye, the side of my nose, over my eyebrow and halfway up my forehead.
“I can’t believe she hurt you,” Kelly mumbled. “She’s never done this before, right?”
I sighed. “No,” I insisted, “She’s just upset. Processing. That’s all.”
“That doesn’t mean she should maul you,” Kelly replied.
I pursed my lips. “She was aiming for you,” I told her. “I’m glad it was me.”
I met Kelly’s eyes, and she frowned but didn’t say anything in response.
“Do you want me to put antibiotic on it?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No, I can do that later.”
Kelly sat beside me on the end of the bed.
“I’m sorry I got you into this,” I told her.
Kelly scooted closer to me, and I could feel the warmth of her body close to mine. My core fluttered in attraction.
“I know I should feel bad, and sometimes I do,” she told me, “but other times, I wonder what it would have been like if we had met first. If I had been successful enough for our parents to push us together.”
My brow knit. “You are successful,” I told her. I reached down to place my hand over hers.
She chuckled.
“I’m serious,” I whispered. “You grew up in this family and came out on the other end alive. You distanced yourself from your father, got a job at the bookstore.”
“I dropped out of college,” Kelly reminded me.
“Your mother died, and your boyfriend abandoned you,” I told her. My stomach tightened as I thought about him. I tried to shake it off.
“Other people might be too foolish to see you, but I see you, Kelly, and I’m proud of you,” I whispered.
Kelly’s wet eyes locked with mine, and her hand slid back up to brush her thumb along my jawline.
I sighed and tilted my face towards her touch. Ignoring the pain.
Kelly was worth it.
Her lips pressed to mine before I even knew what was happening. My eyes closed, and I found myself wrapping an arm around her luscious body and pulling her closer to me. Our lips moved against each other in a warm, sweet, perfect melody. The taste of her mouth overwhelmed me. I nipped at her bottom lip, humming in pleasure.
I was prepared to pull away from her, as we always had. For her face to show regret tangled within that desire — but it didn’t happen.
Kelly’s hands slid to my sides underneath my shirt, and I gasped softly as her fingers curled against my flesh.
The next moment we were finding our way further onto the bed, breath heavy, faces already flushed.
Kelly shoved me gently onto my back and hovered above me, my thighs spreading for her to rest between them. My pulse quick, eyes no doubt giving away my surprise.
“Are you sure?” I asked her.
Kelly leaned down and pressed her lips to my own.