Kale, p.17
Kale, page 17
part #2 of Texas Kings MC Series
“It was good. He went into the evening telling me he wasn’t going to pressure me, and nothing was going to happen anytime soon, but I attacked him in the bathtub and he didn’t have much of a choice.”
“I assume he didn’t put up too much of a fight either.” Jenna pretended to gag. “God, that is too gross to think about.”
“He smelled good when I dated him.” Brenda was putting butter on her waffle and didn’t see my gaze snap in her direction. Jenna didn’t miss it and laughed out loud.
“Down girl. It was a long time ago.” Jenna nudged Brenda’s arm and she looked up at me.
“We were in the ninth grade. It lasted about a month. He never even got to second base.” Brenda chuckled for a second. “You’re going to go on a killing spree when we get you into the clubhouse.”
“Yeah. You’ll have to reign that in or you’ll kill every wench in the place.” Jenna picked up her coffee mug and held it in both hands. “Kale is a loyal guy. He would never cheat on you.”
“Wench? Like a bar wench?” I asked the two women.
“The wenches, or sweetbutts, whatever you want to call them, they hang around the club house. They are exclusively there for patched members.”
“Like a free for all?”
“Well, yeah. They hang around the clubhouse, a few of them even share a room there. They clean around the place, clean the guys rooms, do their laundry. Like housewife stuff, but they’re not there for just one guy.”
“They sleep with all of them?”
I waited while Jenna asked the waitress for a marker. The waitress looked at her oddly but nodded her head before she went in search of one.
“Yeah. Any of them that want to. Whenever they want to.” Jenna shrugged. “Wherever they want to. God knows I have come in at the wrong time and seen way too much of all of them.”
“Let’s change the subject. All three of these boys are asleep at the table. How funny is that?” Brenda chimed in cheerfully.
The waitress came back over to the table and handed Jenna the marker before she warmed all of our coffees with her fresh pot.
Jenna hopped up and stood behind Daughtry’s chair. His head was still leaned back, and she was looking at his upturned face seriously. I looked back to Brenda because I wasn’t done with this conversation.
“Will they sleep with Kale?”
“Kale and his brothers are some of the most loyal men I know. He is not the type to cheat on the woman he loves.” Brenda took another bite of her waffle. “They will try and make sure he knows they’re available and he will have to put them in their place if they do that.”
“Oh, I’ll put them somewhere.” I guess Bird wasn’t asleep because he snorted and then laughed.
“Tell Kale your expectations. Have him tell you his. That’s the only way to make a good relationship last. Give him a chance to get rid of them and if they don’t listen then you can wade in.” Brenda pushed her waffle plate away and pulled her coffee in front of her.
She and I looked up and saw that Jenna was hard at work on Daughtry’s face with the marker. His head was leaned back so far, I couldn’t see the details of what she was doing but I knew it included black ink and her brother’s face.
“They do shit like this to each other all the time. It’s hilarious.” Brenda scooted her chair closer to mine and leaned in with me to watch Jenna’s progress.
“They are going to kill her.” Jenna looked up and raised one side of her mouth as she shook her head. “They are really going to kill you.”
“If they were going to kill me then they would have done it when I colored their hair and beards with Kool Aid after they passed out in the backyard at my parents.” Jenna smiled at the memory as she continued to draw on Daughtry’s face. “That one was epic.”
“It was June. She colored their hair rainbow for Pride month.” Brenda laughed for a second. “It was awesome. I have a picture of all four of them posing with Reagan before he left for the Pride Parade downtown.”
“Who’s Reagan?”
“He’s my assistant. He’s married to Lout’s little brother. Lout is a member of the Kings with the guys.”
“They don’t care that he’s gay?”
“Nope. Mom and Dad taught us to give everyone an equal chance. If someone’s an asshole, then they’re an asshole no matter who they have sex with.” Jenna, apparently satisfied with Daughtry’s face, had move on to Clem. She was drawing something at his hairline since she could only get to half of his face.
“True. Kale didn’t seem to mind that I wasn’t white.”
“Well, of course he didn’t.” Jenna snorted. “You’re a fucking supermodel, Terra.”
“He wouldn’t care even if you weren’t so damn beautiful.” Brenda glared at me, but I could tell it was fake. “I don’t think I like you anymore. You’re too pretty.”
I laughed out loud at Brenda’s comment.
“Whatever, bitch. You’re smoking hot.”
Bird jerked up in his chair and looked around. “Who’s hot?”
“Brenda.” Jenna told him as she hid the Sharpie behind her back.
“Yeah, I guess. She’s Sonny’s though. She doesn’t count.” Bird laid his head back down on his arm. “Jenna if you fucking touch me with that marker I’ll end you.”
The three of us laughed but Jenna continued with her picture on Clem’s face. I felt someone behind me and turned to find Kale there, watching his sister. He smiled brightly and moved his chair closer to my other side. I was now sandwiched between Brenda and Kale as we watched the show.
Kale leaned up on the table and started in on his breakfast. He had a plate of fruit and a plate of bacon to go with a huge stack of pancakes.
“For some reason I thought you were single.” I said to Brenda as I ate another piece of pineapple.
“I am. Sort of.” Brenda shrugged and suddenly looked sad. “I don’t want to be, but he went away and told me not to wait on him.”
“B, he told you that because he didn’t want you to waste your life on him. If he has to serve his whole time he’ll be there a while and he wanted you to keep your eyes open in case something better came along.” Kale was drowning his pancakes in syrup as he spoke.
“I date.” Brenda mumbled.
“You go out with douche bags you can find something horribly wrong with so that nothing happens. Everyone knows it.” Jenna was now between Clem and Bird and was leaned in at an awkward angle coloring hearts and stars on Bird’s fingernails.
“I just have bad luck at dating. You’ve heard some of the stories, I’m sure.” Brenda rolled her eyes. “But yeah, they’re mostly douche bags.”
“And you do it on purpose.” Kale added. Brenda leaned around me to glare at him. Kale widened his eyes and tilted his chin at her. “Well, you do.”
“So, how are we going to get them to their rooms?” I asked Kale as I saw Jenna put the top on her marker. As the waitress walked by Jenna handed it to her with a smile. The waitress looked past Jenna and saw what she had done to the men at the table and her eyes got wide. Jenna just laughed at her shock.
Kale smiled, and it was just a little bit scary. He picked through the fruit on his plate and found some blueberries. He stood up and handed a few to Jenna. He walked over behind Daughtry and Jenna positioned herself between Bird and Clem. At Kale’s whispered count, he and Jenna shoved blueberries up their brothers noses in perfect sync.
Bird stood straight up and spun around to glare at his sister. She ran and hid behind Kale. Not that he could help her out at all, he was laughing so hard tears were streaming down his face. Bird didn’t say anything, he just stomped toward the elevator.
Clem sat up and glared at Brenda and me as he wiggled his nose. He had the oddest look on his face and to add to it, half of his face was zebra striped.
Daughtry was the funniest one of them all. He had slept through the nose thing. Kale reached over and put his hand over Daughtry’s mouth, so he had no choice but to breathe through his nose. He huffed really hard and then sat up and started coughing.
“Motherfucker!” He roared as he stood up from the table. “What’s in my nose?”
Clem took off for the elevator, his nose still twitching. I noticed that now there was dark purple juice dripping out of it, like blood.
I was laughing so hard I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Brenda was leaned over onto my shoulder, her phone in her hand as she recorded the spectacle.
“It’s in my fucking nose, Kale! Way up in there.” My eyes widened when I realized that Jenna had painted eyeliner, lip liner and a bunch of freckles on Daughtry’s face in the black marker. “I’m gonna fucking die now, asshole.”
Daughtry took off, grumbling loudly about his ‘asshole brother.’ The funniest part was that none of the three of them had noticed Jenna’s Sharpie art. I really wanted to be a fly on the wall when that happened.
Most of the patrons in the dining area had watched the show. The ones closer to us had been watching Jenna decorate their faces and they laughed when the brothers got up. I turned to find that three tables of people were clapping and cheering.
Jenna and Kale linked hands and bowed elegantly in all four directions of the room before they sat back down at the table.
“They’re going to make both of you pay for that.” Brenda snorted as she started the video on her phone so that we could watch it again.
“I’ve never laughed this hard in my life.” I groaned as I held my stomach. “Oh, my God that was funny.”
Kale high fived Jenna and then went back to his soggy pancakes.
“They fuck with each other like it’s a well-paying job. Always have.” Brenda was pushing buttons on her phone, probably sending the video out to everyone she knew. “One time, Clem and Daughtry rolled Kale in a blanket and then duck taped him from his shoulders to his ankles. They hoisted him up in the tree in the front yard and every time he screamed one of them sprayed him with the water hose. They left him there. Martha had to go out and cut him down.”
“Your Mom had her hands full. I bet you guys were a riot growing up.” I laughed at Kale as he rolled his eyes.
“That was summer before last.”
His tone of voice had me laughing all over again.
“You guys are going to be so much fun to mess with. I’m already planning.”
15.
O=O=O=O=O=O
“We are going to stay another night here in Salt Lake.” I told Lisa on the phone later that afternoon. “The guys went out last night and now they’re half dead. They aren’t in any shape to be riding for hours.”
“They did that last time but we were already staying that extra day so I could see you.” I could hear Brighten giggling in the background. “So. Talk to me.”
“About?”
“Kale.”
“Well, he’s freaking beautiful. He’s funny. God, he’s so funny. But, he can be serious too. I’ve seen him on his phone from a distance. Whatever he’s talking about makes him look like a whole different person.”
“Zeke said that there’s two Kales. The club Kale and the home Kale. They are polar opposites.”
“Well, all I’ve seen is the home one and I love him.” I put my hand up and covered my mouth. “I mean…. you know what I mean. I love that side of him.”
“Oh, no you don’t, T. I heard what you said.”
“It’s way too soon for that.”
“Says who?”
“Well, anyone, actually.”
“I’ve never met ‘anyone’ but they sound like a moron.” Lisa laughed at her own little joke. “Seriously. Your secret’s safe with me.”
“You knew he would be perfect for me, didn’t you?”
“Yes. The first time I had a conversation with him I knew he was the one for you. Then he gave me a piggyback ride to get away from a shootout and I was absolutely positive.”
“A shootout? Holy shit! What kind of town am I moving to?”
“It was just a little one, I’m sure. I didn’t see it because Kale and Bird were getting me away from there. Kale couldn’t get caught there by the cops.”
“Why not?”
“Um. That’s his story, T.”
“Ooooh. It’s like that?”
“I don’t know details. Honestly. But I wouldn’t tell his secrets if I did. Just like I wouldn’t tell yours.”
“I told him.”
“What?”
“Yeah. Last night in the bathtub. He said he would have done the same thing but made it last longer.”
“Well. That’s good then. I didn’t think he would freak but I also didn’t know you two were close enough for you to spill the beans yet.”
“We were talking about family and it just kind of came out. I told him my family was dead and he did the math or something. He asked me if I killed someone and I was honest.”
“Then what happened?”
“We had an entire night of mind blowing, off the wall, crazy, loud sex. So much that when I woke up this morning I thought my cookie was broken.”
Lisa was laughing so hard I could hear her wheezing through the phone. I gave her a minute.
“He said he needs an Olympic gold medal for giving me so many orgasms.”
“Well does he?”
“Does he what?”
“Deserve a gold medal.”
“Oh, yeah.” I smiled to myself and went off into dreamland for a minute. I could hear Lisa laughing again on the other end of the line.
“Damn girl. Way to knock the dust off.”
“It was better than what you read in romance novels. Way dirtier too. There’s this thing with ice cubes….”
“Lalalala enough. I can figure it out.”
I laughed at Lisa. I knew that she was going to get off the phone and ask Zeke about ice cube fun in the bedroom. Zeke, I’m sure, would be all for trying it out.
“So, what are you going to do for the rest of the day?”
“I need a nap. He said maybe more shopping. I’m not sure.”
“Maybe go for a motorcycle ride?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure the cookie is up for riding right now. Of any kind.”
Lisa chuckled. “Yeah, you’ll have that with an entire night of mind-blowing sex.”
“I guess I’ll see you day after tomorrow at the latest.”
“I’m so excited. Your place is all ready for you.”
“Thank you, Lisa. You’re the best.”
“No, you are. I can’t wait for you to meet Brighten and see our home.”
“I can’t wait either. I guess Kale’s coming back so I’m going to let you go now.”
“Byeeee.”
I looked up to see Kale leaning against the door frame of the bedroom.
“Hi there, beautiful.”
“Hi there, handsome.”
“How was Lisa?”
“Good. Here’s your phone back.”
Kale walked across the room and instead of taking the phone from my hand he pushed me back on the bed to lay on top of me.
“Hi.” He started kissing my neck. “How you feeling?”
I shivered when he hit that certain spot where my neck met my shoulder. “I’m not quite up to par yet but I’m working on it.”
“Mmmmm hmmmm. Does that mean I can’t kiss you?”
“You can always kiss me.”
So, he did. A lot.
When we broke apart he rolled off me and settled up against my side, both of us with our feet on the floor.
“Let’s go running around for a while. Get some lunch somewhere. Is there anywhere you want to go before we leave the state?”
“I’d like to see where my family is buried.” I whispered to him. I felt him tense beside me.
“Then that’s what we’ll do, sweetheart. That’s exactly what we’ll do.” I felt Kale’s hand take mine at our sides and I squeezed it. “Any idea on where they might be?”
“I don’t know for sure. I have a letter in my box I brought with me. It’s from a lawyer’s office. I didn’t open it while I was inside because I didn’t want to see any bad news. I guess it’s still in the car.”
“Let’s go get the keys from the girls and we’ll take the Expedition. Let our cookie recuperate.”
“Our cookie.” I chuckled. “No. I’d like to ride the bike. I’ll be okay to do that, I think. Sex is a no, but a bike ride should be fine.”
“Okay. If it gets uncomfortable we’ll come back and get the cage.”
Kale stood up from the bed and pulled me up to stand in front of him.
“We’ll go grab a bite somewhere and read the letter. Maybe it will give us a place to start looking at least, right?”
“Yeah. Let’s do that.”
Kale kissed me softly and then pulled his head back from mine and crushed me to his chest.
“I’ve got you, baby.”
I had never felt safer or more loved than I did in that moment.
O=O=O
“Okay, let’s take a look at your letter.” Kale reached behind him and pulled the letter from his back pocket where he had folded it before we left the hotel.
He handed it across the table to me and I took one last bite of my carrot cake before I opened the thick packet.
“It’s already almost two o’clock. Tell me the phone number on the letterhead and I’ll go ahead and make a call while you are reading. Won’t hurt to call and see if they know where the cemetery is.” I nodded my head at him as I pulled the papers out of the envelope.
I rattled off the numbers and Kale dialed his phone. I glanced up at him while he ate his key lime pie and held the phone to his ear. I was so lucky to have him beside me through this. I couldn’t imagine doing it all alone.
I unfolded the thick packet of papers and smoothed them down on the table in front of me. The first page was a letter from the lawyer explaining that I was the beneficiary to both my parents and my aunt and uncle since I was the last remaining relative in our family. I took a deep breath and used the napkin to wipe my eyes after reading that paragraph.
I was the last person in my family. I had no parents, aunts, uncles or cousins. I was alone.
Kale reached across the table and took my hand in his. He moved his hand so that our fingers were intertwined. I looked up at him and gave him a weak smile just as the person on the phone answered him.
