Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
S alem
I listen to a thunderstorm coming close but feel safe here in this house. Pulling the covers up to my neck, I close my eyes as it slowly gets closer and closer.
Ever since I was a small child, I watched storms with awe. Then I learned about the science behind them when I was older, and I loved them even more. I’d sit in my room and watch out the window as the lightning flashed across the sky, amazed at how beautiful something so dangerous could be. I’d count the seconds between the lightning and thunder and then divide by five to figure out how far the storm was away from my house, excited to know exactly when it would arrive.
Old habits die hard, and as I lie here in my bedroom in this house, I look toward the window and see a streak of lightning illuminate the night sky. I silently count the seconds until a clap of thunder echoes all around me to find out how far the storm is from here. Ten seconds. That means it’s two miles away.
There’s nothing like a thunderstorm after a hot day. I smile at how much knowing that makes me happy. It’s a small detail, practically meaningless in the big scheme of things, but I like it.
Glancing over at my phone on the nightstand, I lift it up and check the time. Two-thirty-two. I wish I could blame my lack of sleep on the tumultuous weather outside, but my insomnia has more to do with Kellen than anything else.
I don’t know what to think about the possibility of there ever being an us with him. I want it to happen. I know that now. But the man does things that make me so angry!
As I think about him earlier tonight, I hate that he’s so discouraged. Even my good news about that report being relatively positive about him didn’t make him as happy as I thought it would.
Then again, that might be more about my issues than his. This job has been harder than any other because we were together beforehand. I’ve tried to remain professional at all times, but whenever the memory of me standing in the middle of that villa’s living room looking around and wondering where he could be hits, it becomes next to impossible not to lash out. Since we arrived at this house, I’ve succeeded in keeping my feelings to myself, but it became so much harder after Ivan told me all he’d found out about Gina Randolph.
Worst of all, I found myself jealous of her. That’s utterly stupid. I know it. Still, hearing about them together brought out the ugly green monster in me, and I couldn’t stop it from rearing its ugly head.
Another flash of lightning followed by another booming clap of thunder a second later tells me the storm’s finally arrived. I throw off the covers and walk over to the bedroom window to watch it arrive. Wind tears through the trees full of green leaves, bending the branches to their limit and snapping a few. Rain comes down in sheets, pelting against the window as I look out. It’s a violent yet beautiful sight to behold, and I can’t turn away.
A knock on my door surprises me, and I call out to whoever it is to come in because I don’t want to take my eyes off what’s happening outside. I hear the door open but don’t bother to look at who walks into the room.
“Checking out the light show?” Kellen asks as he walks over to join me.
“It’s stunning in its ferocity,” I say as I admire a flash of lightning as it streaks across the jet black sky.
We stare out at the storm in silence for a minute before he says, “I have to go over to Matthias and Ava’s. Eleanor called me. Something’s wrong with Ava.”
I turn away from the show outside my window and see he’s serious. “What do you mean? She’s a pregnant woman. Something wrong can be bad.”
“I know,” he answers, worry etched into his features.
Then something inside me says he’s not telling the truth. “Why would Eleanor call you? Why not the baby’s father? He seems like the obvious choice, not you.”
A bolt of lightning illuminates Kellen’s face, and I see he’s hurt by my questioning. “You think I’m lying to get out of the house in this weather? Really? Are you ever going to believe that I’m a decent human being who isn’t always trying to get one over on people?”
The intensity of his voice makes me shrink back in embarrassment. He’s right. I have no reason to believe he’s lying now.
“Okay. I want to come with you, though.”
Kellen screws his expression into a scowl. “Because you don’t believe me.”
“No. Because a pregnant woman might need my help. I know something of how to take care of a woman if she’s in labor. Ava is due in a couple weeks, isn’t she?”
“Yeah. It’s probably just nothing, but Eleanor seemed spooked. It might be the storm. She’s never been very good with the storms we get out here. Either way, I still want to go over there to see if Ava’s okay.”
As he walks toward the door, I ask, “Where is Matthias? Why isn’t he there for her?”
I can’t imagine him not moving heaven and earth to take care of his pregnant girlfriend. Matthias King simply doesn’t strike me as a man who wouldn’t do all he could for anyone he loves.
“He had to fly to London this morning, Eleanor said. He’s scheduled to be back tomorrow night.”
I hurry over to the dresser and start pulling out clothes for me to wear. “Okay. Give me five minutes.”
“I’ll meet you out at the car. Should I wake up the giant?” Kellen asks.
For a moment, I wonder if it might be helpful to have Nathan with us, but I highly doubt he has any experience with pregnant women or how to help them. “No, let him sleep.”
After rushing to dress, I hurry downstairs as the storm rages on all around the house. Kellen is waiting for me, and I see the clock on the range isn’t on.
“Did we lose power because of the storm?” I ask, pointing toward the kitchen.
“I guess. You don’t get spooked easily, do you?”
Shaking my head, I laugh. “No. I love storms like this.”
“Well, buckle up because we’re going out in it,” he says with a smirk.
The two of us get to the front door and see it downpouring. Kellen turns to look at me and smiles. “Thank God you aren’t one of those women who has an issue with getting her hair wet.”
“How do you know I don’t?” I ask, curious how he’s come to that conclusion, even though it’s correct.
A slow smile lifts the corners of his gorgeous mouth. “We covered a lot of ground in one day, Salem. If you had a problem with getting your hair wet, I would have found out when we had sex in the pool. And in the ocean. And in the shower. In fact, I think I should be wondering if you’re secretly a fish.”
God, he can be funny and charming sometimes.
“Let’s go. Ava needs us,” I say, unlocking the car doors before I set off running toward the car parked in the driveway.
Less than ten seconds later, we’re seated in Micah’s car drenched but at least out of the rain for the moment. Kellen starts to give me directions, but he’s talking too fast and I don’t know my way around the area.
“Maybe you should drive. Let me climb over into that seat and you come over here.”
He looks surprised until he realizes I’m dead serious. “Oh, you really want to do that. Okay.”
I throw my legs over onto the passenger side seat and on top of his before lifting myself up to ease the rest of my body over there. He doesn’t move, though, so soon I’m sitting on his lap with him smiling at me.
“You know, we really have to go. Are you going to climb over there or are we just going to hope the car drives us itself?” I ask, uneasy about how good he feels against me.
“I was just enjoying the moment.”
He finishes moving himself to the driver seat and looks over at me with wickedness in his eyes. “That was fun. I think we should do that again. For now, though, let’s roll!”
We take off down the driveway and turn onto the main road, but it doesn’t take long before we can’t go any farther because everything’s flooded in front of us. Kellen quickly does a U-turn and takes us back the way we came.
“How are we going to get there with the road flooded out?”
Staring straight ahead, he smiles. “Not to worry. We’re on my old stomping grounds. I know every back road in this area. Hold on. I’ll get us there.”
We run into flooded roads at every turn, and I begin to think his boast was just that. Bragging but nothing he can deliver on.
But then he makes a hard right onto a road that surprisingly doesn’t have much water on it at all, and we speed toward our destination. I silently chastise myself for doubting him, even if all seemed to be lost. He hasn’t shown himself to be anything but genuine, so I need to stop assuming the worst of Kellen King.
As we come up over the crest of a hill, I see a road that looks familiar. Excited, I ask him, “Is that the highway close to the house?”
“Very good,” he answers with a laugh. “Most people get turned around in this area. You have a good sense of direction.”
“I just hope she’s okay. Ava has been very nice to me. Much like Matthias. I hate the idea of something bad happening to the two of them and their baby.”
Kellen nods and presses his foot on the gas as the rain begins to let up for the moment. “Ava’s okay. I’ve known her all my life. She and I were in the same year all through school. She was Theo’s best friend and now she’s going to be the mother of my nephew or niece. Maybe even my sister-in-law if she and my brother get their shit together and finally get married.”
“Were you two close?” I ask as he turns onto the road leading to the house.
He winces but nods. “Yeah. Not as close as Theo was with her. In the past year, we drifted apart, though.”
“Why’s that?”
Kellen blows the air out of his lungs and says, “Because I was being my asshole self. Ava’s okay. Always has been. It was me who wasn’t willing to see that once she and Theo broke up. I think I blamed her for his death.”
I want to ask about her and Theo since I’ve only known of her with Matthias, but that can wait. For now, I think Kellen needs to hear something else.
“For what it’s worth, I think you were just missing him. I’m sure everyone understands that.”
“Don’t count on it. I’ve said some pretty rotten stuff to her and Matthias.”
He pulls up to the driveway at Matthias and Ava’s house and sighs, so I say, “Siblings always say terrible things to one another. You should hear what I’ve said to my sister when I was in a bad mood. Family means you just have to apologize and then do better and they forgive you. That’s what’s so great about family.”
As Kellen turns off the car and hands me the keys, he smiles. “I hope you’re right. For now, though, I just hope she’s going to be okay and my future nephew or niece is too. Matthias is probably going out of his mind with worry right about now.”
“Then let’s get in there and figure out how we can help.”
Almost like the heavens hear me, the rain stops and I see a few tiny stars in the sky when I get out of the car. If only that can be a sign that Ava and the baby are going to be okay.