Chapter Five – Kaia
Your lips are like garlic pods
Your eyes are like your lips because your lips are like your eyes
Your skin as is smooth as a cheesecake after the graham cracker crust is peeled away
Growling in frustration, Kaia tossed his notebook against the wall.
Try as he might, he couldn’t come up with a poem to both impress Rebel and adequately describe her.
As much as he’d believed working in the house would be a turning point in his life, it only left him feeling more inadequate and alone.
This was Rebel’s world, and he’d never live up to it.
Bishop was at the get-together with everyone else, but Diesel told Kaia not to bother coming because he wasn’t welcomed.
It reminded him of the complete isolation he’d experienced after his cousin drowned. Never mind he’d been a child himself.
Kaia swallowed and shoved his fingers through his hair.
He wasn’t going there. Nor was he thinking about how he’d just given up once he was injured.
Coach Yancy and the athletic director rallied around him.
They’d insisted he still had a future in football.
He’d need extensive rehabilitation and a commitment to overcome.
That extensive rehabilitation cost money, and a lot of it.
Even before he talked to Mom and Dad, he’d known they couldn’t afford it.
It was just easier to give up. Now, he wished he had an out, a way to give Rebel what she wanted…
who was he kidding? He’d never compare to Diesel, who Kaia accepted was his competition. Fucked up and gross, but facts.
At the knock on his bedroom door, he groaned. He wasn’t sure how long the get-togethers lasted, since he’d never been to one. Not that it mattered. Diesel would leave everyone for a chance to torment Kaia. “Are you in there, Kaia?” Rebel called, her voice jolting him.
Lifting his head, he jumped to his feet and almost ran to the door. He swung it open and froze at the sight of the most beautiful girl in the world smiling at him.
“Move.”
Mattie’s order brought him back to the present, allowing him to notice her and Kayce next to Rebel.
Shoving him out the way, Mattie stomped past him, carrying a basket of clattering contents.
Giggling, Rebel halted long enough to kiss his cheek and hop on by. Kayce’s amusement broke through Kaia’s shock. He stepped aside, so his brother could enter the bedroom for the first time since Kaia moved in.
Kayce whistled. “Damn, you’ve moved up in the world.”
Concerned that his brother might turn against him and unable to understand the meaning behind the words, Kaia closed the door, faced his guests, and shrugged.
Before Kayce answered, Rebel held a bottle of sparkling wine out to Kaia, taken from the basket Mattie set on his bed. “Can you open this?”
Since her return from LA, they talked about surface level shit, nothing too deep. Nothing about them. It didn’t matter that she’d called him her boyfriend at the club. Kaia felt the gap between them. He’d been wracking his brain for a poem to text to her and open communication again.
He took the bottle and read the label. Piper-Heidsieck. He stuck to beer, but his mom loved bubbly stuff. Her favorite was Korbel.
“Uh—” He squinted at Rebel, pretending her smile didn’t leave him punch drunk. She was just fucking gorgeous. Clear blue eyes, golden hair, dark blonde brows, beautiful skin, and pink lips.
Mattie tried to take the bottle from him, but Kaia tightened his grip.
“How are you, Kaia?” Rebel’s sweet question didn’t hint at any of what she’d been through these past weeks. He loved her strength. “When Mattie told me that Kayce was coming to see you, I thought it would be fun if the four of us hung out. We had a lot of fun at the mall several weeks ago.”
They had. Kayce later told him he’d been worried the girls intended to shop. He wouldn’t have had the money to offer to pay for anything. What he could afford might insult them. Luckily, they’d mostly browsed and when they chose to purchase items, it was normal people stuff.
“Speaking of the mall, I want to show you some clothes, Kayce,” Kaia said, overcome by nerves.
Not only because he had Rebel’s full attention, but his family meant everything to him, especially Kayce.
His little brother was very easy-going, especially if someone shared his love of football.
Kaia’s fortunes had changed dramatically and he feared Kayce would see him differently.
On the other hand, he wanted a chance with Rebel and he needed this come-up in life for a fair shot.
After the near disaster with Fia and everyone shunning him as a result, Kaia had a good talking to himself.
He wouldn’t pressure Rebel, especially while she was so young.
He’d be her friend and, hopefully, one day be enough for her, when he’d rarely been enough for anyone.
Chicks paid his way but also saw him as a joke.
A pick me guy sold to the highest bidder.
Rebel, Mattie, and Kayce laughed, and Kaia wondered if he’d said something out loud and they were teasing him.
“Look, Kaia.” Rebel waved him over and showed him a funny meme on her phone.
Dutifully, Kaia laughed, too nervous to actually get the joke. “Your lips are like cherry pits,” he blurted. “Rigid and delicious.”
“No,” Kayce mouthed.
Rebel pursed her lips. “Cherry pits are bitter.”
“And can be poisonous if consumed in large quantities,” Mattie added with a glare.
“But he’s so creative, Matt.”
Rebel beamed at him and thumped to the loveseat, which still blew Kaia’s mind. He had an actual sofa, table, and chair in there as well as his own bathroom and closet. It wasn’t a studio apartment, either. It was his fucking bedroom.
She rested her crutches against the arm. “You’re so creative, Kaia.” Her tone suggested she felt otherwise.
“Yeah.” Kayce looked at Kaia and quickly changed the subject. “I was hoping you had an outfit for me. Junior Prom and the Spring Formal are coming up. I don’t feel like going to the mall for new outfits, so I was hoping to raid your closet, bro.”
New clothes were a novelty in their household, but Kaia admired Kayce’s smooth cover-up.
Kaia invited his brother to give him some of the clothes Mrs. Caldwell bought him.
He hadn’t expected an audience, especially Rebel.
She’d never understand why he wanted Kayce to share in his good fortune.
He also hadn’t intended to tell his brother that Rebel’s mom purchased an entire wardrobe for him.
He’d wanted Kayce to think he could do something nice for him just because he loved him and was proud of him.
Shoving his hands in his pockets, Kaia averted his gaze, unable to look at anyone, embarrassed to his core.
“I, uh, I-I bought a lot of new stuff. I was wondering if you wanted to pick out a few items. If…if you want to.” Fucking up royally, he searched for an out.
“I…you can pick out your own clothes. I’ll take you shopping. ”
He had a room, food, a salary, access to cars, so he could buy Kayce clothes.
“You really want to give me new clothes?” Kayce dropped his facade and let the cat out of the bag. “I thought you wanted to show me what you bought.”
Rebel lifted a brow. Flushing, Kaia searched for something to say but floundered. Mattie snorted, marched to the loveseat, and dropped next to her cousin.
“Didn’t you just win some big wrestling match, Kayce?” Rebel asked, the question completely unexpected. “Mattie has been gushing about it. She thinks it’s so cool that you wrestle to strengthen your football abilities.”
Scowling, Mattie halted her texting and shoved her shoulder against Rebel’s.
She ignored her cousin and smiled at Kayce. “When Kaia visited me in the hospital, he said he wanted to surprise you. He’s proud of you.”
Rebel looked at Kaia and waited for him to take up the story.
All he focused on was how she covered for him so he’d save face.
He smiled at her and his heart did a little flip when she returned it and winked at him.
“You’re proud of me, Kaia?” Kayce asked, trying to play it off, but Kaia knew his brother and heard his hopeful note.
He nodded, regretting his depression at his lost football goals and his moments of jealousy that Kayce hadn’t deserved.
“You don’t have to buy new clothes for me. I’ll be fine with hand-me-downs. Why do you want to spend your hard-earned money on me, bro?”
“Uh–” Kaia searched for something to say that wouldn’t embarrass Kayce. “Umm–”
“Uh, Kaia wants to buy you a wardrobe to congratulate you,” Rebel soldiered on.
“A w-w-wardrobe?” Kaia said faintly. How much did those cost?
“A wardrobe?” Kayce echoed, his skepticism rising. He glanced at Rebel, then at Kaia, and narrowed his eyes.
Mattie showed Rebel her phone. She nodded and leaned back, while Mattie sniffed and crossed her jean-clad legs.
“Kaia left your gift card on the island in the kitchen,” Rebel started.
“What gift–
“We’ll get it in a little while,” Rebel interrupted Kaia, then wagged her manicured finger at him. “You’re lucky Momma found it. If one of the boys ran across it, then—”
“Not CJ,” Mattie inserted.
“Yeah, except CJ,” Rebel agreed. “Anyway, just be careful with your stuff or else Axel, Ryder, and Ransom will get it. They’ll keep it just to fuck with you.”
“I think it’s so cool that you used all your money for a gift card for your little brother.”
Mattie’s phone chimed and she picked it up, then once again showed it to Rebel and whispered in her ear.
“Well, it seems like they found it anyway.” Rebel shook her head. “Kaia, Momma apologized and asked how you’d like to be reimbursed?”
The girls looked at him expectantly, while Kayce wore the same look of confusion that Kaia felt. There were a lot of reasons why Mrs. Caldwell didn’t have to reimburse him. He’d never bought a fucking gift card for Kayce.
And… “I ruined some of her clothes,” Kaia blurted. “I-I…isn’t she docking my pay?”
“Did Momma say she was?”