Chapter 5 #4
Kylee forced a smile, clutching her coffee cup a little tighter. “He had a surgery he couldn’t cancel,” she said smoothly. “He hates missing the games.”
Cassie said, nudging her with her elbow. “You’re living the dream, girl.”
“Total dream,” Taylor echoed with a little wink.
Kylee nodded again, her throat suddenly dry. They thought she was lucky. They didn’t know anything.
As she looked back down at the field, Jake Jr. made a perfect throw but her mind wasn’t there. Not really. It was drifting again. Back to New Orleans. Back to Rio. Back to the fire she thought she left behind but still felt burning in her veins.
If they think I’m lucky with Jake, she thought bitterly, they’d absolutely lose their shit over Rio Riot.
By halftime, she couldn’t take it anymore. Her thumb hovering over the call button, and finally giving in to the temptation she’d tried so hard to suppress.
Kylee stood behind the bleachers, heart racing as she pressed call. It barely rang twice. “I knew you’d call.” Rio’s voice spilled through the line velvety, sure of itself, just like she remembered. “I’m so damn glad to hear your voice, Idaho.”
Kylee closed her eyes, trying to find her breath. “I shouldn’t be calling.”
“But you did,” he said, softer now. “And that means something.”
She swallowed. “I don’t even know what to say.”
“Then let me,” he offered, his voice coaxing and smooth. “Come to my show in L.A. next weekend. I’ll fly you out, set you up with everything taken care of. Just say yes.”
Kylee’s mouth went dry. The breeze shifted around her, cool against the heat rising in her body. “I don’t know if I can do that.”
“You can,” he said. “You just haven’t let yourself yet. Look, I know it’s not easy. I know you’ve got a whole life you’re trying to protect. But you called me for a reason.”
“I just needed to hear you,” she whispered. “To know this wasn’t all in my head.”
“It wasn’t. Come to L.A., Kylee.” He paused, then added more gently, “Just think about it.”
She nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. “I will.”
“I’ll have my assistant send the details. No pressure but I hope you say yes.”
Before she could change her mind, Kylee whispered, “I have to go,” and hung up.
Her fingers were trembling. Her world spinning. Half-time was over, and Kylee slipped back into the stands, trying to calm the flush in her cheeks and the pounding in her chest. She barely had a chance to catch her breath when Cassie nudged her with a teasing grin.
“Damn girl,” Cassie smirked, “you stray off to have phone sex with that sexy husband of yours or what?”
Taylor laughed beside her, “You were gone long enough.”
Kylee forced a laugh, her stomach twisting. “Something like that,” she muttered, eyes drifting back toward the field, but her mind was still a thousand miles away in L.A., on a stage, wrapped in the sound of Rio’s voice.
Cassie winked. “Whatever you're doing to keep him that hot and loyal, write a book. The rest of us are dying out here.”
Kylee smiled tightly, but inside, the guilt cracked deeper. They didn’t know. Nobody did. She wasn’t even sure if she cared anymore.
Kylee got home just as the sun dipped behind the trees, casting the kitchen in warm amber light.
The house was quiet except for the hum of the dishwasher and the distant sound of the kids playing in their room.
She slipped off her shoes, pulled her hair into a loose bun, and started dinner chopping vegetables more aggressively than necessary, her thoughts still spinning.
By the time the casserole was in the oven, her hands were clean but her conscience wasn’t. She dried them on a towel and grabbed her phone, hesitating a moment before tapping Kelly’s name.
Kelly answered on the first ring, her voice already loud and suspicious. “What’s up, lady?”
Kylee cleared her throat. “I, uh… I talked to Rio.”
Dead silence. Then a gasp.
“Bitch?!?! Are you serious?!”
Kylee laughed nervously, sinking into the kitchen chair. “He asked me to come to his L.A. show. Said he’d take care of everything.”
Kelly let out a shriek on the other end. “You’re telling me we’ve been personally invited to another show… in L.A.… and you didn’t immediately pack a bag?”
Kylee rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know, Kel. It’s a lot. I have the kids, Jake”
“Oh please,” Kelly cut in. “Jake has his nurse-slash-girlfriend. The kids will survive a couple days with their dad. Kylee, this is once in a lifetime again! You’re being handed something that doesn’t happen to moms from Idaho.”
“I know,” Kylee whispered, eyes drifting to the oven, “I just… I’m not sure I trust myself this time.”
Kelly’s voice softened. “Maybe that’s exactly why you need to go.”
Kylee didn’t answer. She didn’t have to. Her silence said everything.
Kylee stood at the counter, phone still to her ear, when she heard the front door open. Jake’s keys jingled on the hook, and his familiar footsteps echoed through the foyer.
“I gotta go,” she said quickly into the phone. “He’s home. But by the way it’s not we it’s only me” she laughed as she hung up the phone.
Kylee ended the call and tucked her phone into her back pocket just as Jake stepped into the kitchen, loosening his tie.
“Who were you talking to?” he asked, leaning in to kiss her cheek.
“Kelly,” Kylee said casually, reaching for a dish towel. “She actually had some exciting news.”
Jake chuckled, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge. “You two still have stuff to talk about after that trip? What now?”
Kylee smiled, trying to sound nonchalant. “She entered a contest for some concert giveaway or something for Bleeding Halos and she won. Two tickets to their L.A. show.”
Jake raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? That’s kinda wild. Are you thinking about going with her?”
Kylee shrugged, letting the idea linger in the air between them. “I mean… she asked me to go. Everything’s covered. But I haven’t decided. I’d have to figure out the kids, make sure everything’s squared away.”
Jake took a long sip of water, nodding. “Well, you just went, do you think you have to go to the same concert again?”
“I guess not,” Kylee said quietly, eyes lingering on the steam rising from the pot on the stove.
But inside, her mind was racing. She wasn’t sure if this was a mistake waiting to happen or the moment her life finally shifted. Either way she decided she was going.
First thing in the morning she stared at Kelly’s name on the screen for a moment, then hit Call.
“HELLO?” Kelly answered breathlessly, like she’d been waiting all night.
Kylee exhaled. “I’m going.”
There was a brief silence just enough time for Kylee to wonder if Kelly had heard her before a high-pitched scream burst through the phone.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Kelly shrieked. “OH MY GOD!”
Kylee laughed, the sound bubbling out of her like relief and adrenaline mixed in one.
“This is happening,” Kelly said, breathless. “You are going to L.A. You are going to fuck Rio. And you, my sweet, hot mama, you are going to live.”
Kylee laughed “Dang Kelly chill!”
For the first time in days, she let herself feel it.
The thrill. The danger. The possibility. She was really going.
After she hung up the phone with Kelly, the silence of the house crept back in like a fog. Kylee sat there for a moment, phone still in hand, staring at nothing.
Her smile faded slowly as guilt began to sneak in just like it always did.
What am I doing?
She stood up and wandered into the kitchen, absentmindedly pouring herself a cup of coffee as her thoughts spun.
Her stomach twisted as she thought about Jake.
Not the Jake who laughed with their kids, but the Jake who had handed her concert tickets like a bribe.
Jake who had cheated on her with Rachel, his whore who had set up that trip to New Orleans in the first place.
The realization hit her like a cruel joke.
Jake’s assistant helped plan that trip… and now Rio’s assistant is planning this one.
What are the odds? Was she about to walk into the same setup, just with a different man?
The irony wasn’t lost on her. She rubbed her temple and leaned against the counter, whispering to herself, “This can’t be real life. ”
She knew she should feel worse about it, what she was doing, what she was about to do but she couldn’t stop replaying the way Rio's voice sounded over the phone. The way her pulse had quickened when he said he’d been thinking about her.
The way her body had come alive just at the mention of seeing him again.
Jake had broken her heart… and in doing so, he had unlocked something in her.
Something reckless.
Something wild.
Something that didn’t want to feel guilty anymore.