Chapter Nine
Charli
I laugh and elbow Kas in the stomach as he nibbles on my neck, right in my ticklish spot. We are lying on the queen-size futon we got from a thrift store on the other side of town. I’m leaning into his back as I sketch out the view of the boardwalk we can see from the window in our apartment. Our apartment, gah, I swear I’ll never tire of saying that. We have been settling in, and it feels so natural. I can just picture this being our life. The more time I spend with Kas, the more I realize I don”t think I can go back to school, go back home, or go back to my parents.
I would be miserable. There is nothing back there for me that makes me smile. Harper is the only possible hang-up, but even if I were to stay with Kas, there is no doubt in my mind she will visit Grayson, so I”ll still see her. I’ve been washing dishes in the kitchen while Kas works his shifts in the diner. I noticed they did it when they got the chance, and I wanted to help.
Yesterday, Tony gave me a hundred bucks and said if I wanted a job, I had one. I could either work the dishes like I was or be a waitress. I chose to stay in the kitchen, and it”s been amazing. I still get to draw when there are no dishes to wash, and I try to keep them caught up. We finally have the next two days off. I think we might try to spend some time with the group tomorrow, but I”m enjoying my man”s company right now.
“I need to leave for a couple hours today,” Kas says hesitantly, and it has my spine straightening. We were supposed to have the whole day together.
“What, why? Where are you going?” I ask.
“I need to go get the rest of my stuff from my mom”s house, and I want to check on her again. It”s been a few weeks since I”ve been back home, so I need to make sure she”s okay,” he sighs.
“I’ll go with you,” I say, smiling and throwing my sketchbook aside. I straddle his lap and grab his face in my hands.
“I think you should stay here. I won”t be gone long, I promise, baby,” he says, but I want to see where he grew up, and I am worried about him and want to be there for him if he needs me. From the stories he”s told me about where he grew up and his mother, there is no way I want him going in there alone.
“I want to go with you. Good, bad, ugly, I”m in this Kas. Which means I have your back. I’m going with you,” I say in a tone that brooks no argument. He smirks at me, but it doesn”t erase the worry I see in his eyes.
“I don”t want you to see where I grew up, Fairy. I know you”ve heard stories, but seeing it is a whole different thing. I already know I”m not good enough for you. What if you see where I came from and realize it too?” and there it is, what he”s really worried about. I cup his cheek and kiss all along the scar.
“You are one of the strongest people I know, Kas. What you went through and where you came from made you who you are today. I wouldn”t change a thing about you,” I say, bending down and kissing his lips. I quickly lose myself, and we spend a little bit longer in bed than we planned, with me showing him exactly what he means to me.
Later that day, we pull into a trailer park that”s seen better days. The grass isn”t cut in nearly any yard. Half of the houses look abandoned, and the other half are barely holding out. Still, I keep my face impassive, not wanting Kas to see the devastation on my face. It”s not that it changes how I look at him, knowing this was his home. It”s knowing that Kas deserved the world and a mother who adored him.
“This is it,” he mumbles, pulling up to the last house on the left. The dirt and rust caked on the house make it hard to tell what color it used to be, but it”s still standing, and that”s all that matters. I want his mom to be safe for his own peace of mind. He puts his truck in park and turns to me.
“Would you listen if I told you to stay in the car?” he asks.
“Not a chance.”
“Yeah, didn”t think so,” he sighs, taking the keys from the ignition and hopping out. He comes to my side and helps me down as well. Together, we walk hand in hand up the small steps to the barley hanging on porch. Kas knocks twice before opening the door and walking in.
“Mom, you up?” he calls softly. Just as he walks through the door, a bottle comes flying toward his head, hitting the wall beside him. He flinches before pushing me back.
“Why the fuck you coming to my house yelling? I thought you moved the fuck away? Far away from here and finally leaving me the hell alone,” comes the angry screeching of a bitter old woman.
“Mama, please. I brought someone I wanted you to meet.”
“I don”t want to meet no-fucking-body who is fucked in the head enough to hang with a monster like you. Get the hell out and never come back. I don”t know why you keep showing up here…”
“ENOUGH!” I yell, pushing past Kas and into the house.
“Who the fuck are you?” The angry old woman sitting on the couch with a bottle in one hand and a cigarette in the other asks.
“I’m the woman who”s going to make sure you never get another fucking dig at my Kas. So here”s a word of advice before one more nasty comment comes out of your mouth. Think real hard if you want to spend the evening pulling my foot out of your ass,” I seethe, stepping close in the darkness of this sad excuse for a house.
“Back up, little girl. I don”t know who you think you”re talking to…” She raises the bottle over her hand again. I move fast, grabbing her wrist and yanking the bottle out, throwing it at the wall behind her head, making her flinch.
“I”m the woman you will have to go through any time you ever think about speaking to Kas that way again. I am the woman who will kill you and bury you in the woods behind this trailer if you so much as touch him. Do you think anyone”s going to notice you missing?” I smile when she flinches, knowing she has no one. “You have no one to care for you because the one person you might have had you pushed away. I am the woman who will show him every single day that he is the best part of this world.”
With that, I step back and turn my head to Kas.
“Go get your stuff. We”re leaving.” I cross my arms and glare at her while he does what I said.
I don”t know if he’s angry at me for taking over, for speaking to his mother like that, or threatening the woman, but I couldn”t take one more venomous word. Kas isn”t gone long, and before I know it, he has a suitcase in one hand and holds out his other for me to take. I do, and without saying another word, we turn and leave the trailer.
Kas doesn”t say a word as he leads me out and into the truck. He’s quiet the entire ride back to the diner, and I”m nervous as hell that I just screwed this all up. What was I thinking going after his mother? He’s probably about to pack my stuff up and ship me back home. But who does she think she is? Talking to him like that. Telling him he”s worthless. It was complete bullshit. By the time he parks the truck, I’m seething again, and I can”t keep it in this time.
“Look, maybe I shouldn”t have said those things to your mom, and it probably wasn”t the smartest idea threatening to kill her, but I couldn”t take the way she was talking to you and when she almost hit you… it nearly killed me. There was no way in hell I was going to sit there and watch the man I love be torn down and abused. I’m sorry if that makes you angry, but…”
“You love me?” he asks, turning his eyes to mine. Shit, I totally didn”t mean to admit that out loud. I was kind of hoping he would be the one to say it first.
“Well, of course I love you,” I huff, throwing my hands in the air. “There isn”t just anyone I would move in with after only knowing a month. No one else that would make me think about quitting school and moving just to be with him.”
The smile that transforms his face is everything. There”s no holding back. He nearly blinds me with it.
“You mean it? You”re really thinking about staying with me?”
When I nod, he lets out a whoop before jumping out of the truck, racing around to my side, pulling me out, and spinning me around. I laugh loudly, and when he finally sets me down on my feet, I feel like our life is just beginning. His next words are the nail in my coffin.
“I love you more than life itself, my little fairy.”