Withholding Secrets (23 page)

“You don’t have to, Kane. I appreciate it, but I just...” Sitting up, I looked at where the door was. I could go and sleep downstairs by the kids; share the room with Sky. She wouldn’t mind. I didn’t need to invade his space even more like I already had. But seeing him without his shirt on, those finely chiseled muscles that he kept hidden … I wondered if other women ever appreciated the beauty that he had, the perfectness that embraced him, with the scars he had. “You are just…”

His eyes turned to instant ice as they froze me. My heart skidded across my chest and the muscles ceased. Wow! That was a look that I hadn’t seen in him before. “I’m what, Keri?”

“Beautiful,” my breath absconded as my eyes raked over his slowly. The heat from my body kicked my heart into gear again, wanting him to touch me more now than before.

“I’m not.” His jaw muscles flexed hard as he just glared at me.

With a little moan, I crawled onto my knees, the pressure from the new bandage tugged at the damaged skin, and grabbed hold of the belt loop of his jeans, urging him closer. He resisted at first, but gave in quickly. Brushing my fingertips over the scars, I could feel the depth of some of them and the softness of the once injured skin. “I know that you are rethinking this, but I want you to know that just because my heart is filled with those two downstairs, there is still some room for you.”

“Damn, Keri.” His hand slid behind my thighs, pulling my legs out from under me. I landed on my back, my hair spread over the comforter.

“Who have been the women in your house?” I bit my lip, seeing the expression change in his face as he released the button on his jeans, letting them fall to the floor.

“The only two women that ever meant anything to me.” Crawling over me, his mouth took hold of mine, brutally and hungrily. My lungs were depleted from the oxygen and I couldn’t breathe. I needed him. I needed his to save me. His hands found the bottom of my shirt and instead of pulling it over my head, he ripped the fabric while growling deep in his throat. Getting it freed from my shoulders was like a wild panic that restrained me. I had to get closer to him, I had to feel him against me. I needed him to fill me, to take me, to complete the still voided spot that was inside of me. Maybe Jordan was right. Maybe the kids were only part of my one happiness that I was allowed to have.

Being freed from anything that caused any barriers, Kane pressed himself against me, bringing me on the brink of coming apart. His hand cupped my cheek as he looked at me, his eyes dancing and prancing with victory. I tried to regain his mouth for some air, but he held back.

“Keri, I want you to look at me.”

“Kane, please,” I begged, needing him, craving him to stop the torture that he was bringing onto my body. I wiggled, trying to get him to move, but he didn’t and he wasn’t giving me any room to proceed on my own.

“I want you to look at me because I will be the last man that you ever have.”

My heart flew in my chest as the butterflies played with the molten lava that was filling in my veins. How could something like that bring me to the edge of coming apart?

I finally managed to find his eyes, my body engulfing completely in him as he brought our bodies together. The volcano erupted violently, spewing the molten lava to every inch of my body. My toes tingled, and my hair follicles were feeling the electrifying pulsation. I wanted more. I wanted this again. I wanted the explosion to happen again so I could fully remember this. And this … was not a dream.

My life never consisted of one person invading it steadily. Now, there were three and I was anxious for every one of them to get home. Monday and Wednesday was hockey practice, and the girls were going to start basketball soon. Taking a seat at the computer Thursday morning, I had a pain shooting through my chest. Something wasn’t right.

Something wasn’t good. Maybe this was what Keri had felt when the person was breaking into the house. Still, I hadn’t let any of them know the code to the alarms. Not yet.

I had gone to Keri’s house yesterday after I dropped them off at school and work and checked over things. Someone had been in there again. And that someone wasn’t good. They were waiting around, but for what? What did they want with her? There were still people who got on Keri’s ass for keeping the kids as the rumors flew around, but she just shoved them back. She was doing one hell of a job with those kids, and I was damn proud of her.

Another two girls had gone missing over the weekend that the news was just now releasing, and closer to our city. They were both thirteen and very pretty girls—one dark haired and one blonde. I thumped my fingers on the table as I looked over the pictures again. There was something that was familiar about the girls, but I just couldn’t figure it out.

When Keri got home, I would have to talk to her about it and hire someone to just keep an eye on Sky no matter what Keri thought. Keri was my responsibility, and the kids had fallen in that bubble also.

The first night they were here had set me astray a little. This was my home, the place where no one came except for my family. I told Keri, only two women ever mattered to me crossed through that door. I just hadn’t told her who, but she’s smart. She will figure out I was talking about my mother and her.

Monday, right before practice and when the kids had gotten into my truck, I gave them both cell phones. For one thing, if something ever did happen, they had a phone to call in a heartbeat, and they were my kids, too. If I was with Keri, I was with them also. And I liked them. They were damn good kids for the crap that they had been through. Maybe I was way in over my head, but the hold that Keri had on me, that desperation to have her, to see her, to be close to her … maybe this was the whole reason behind me waiting all my life for something that I really wanted. She was that one thing I really wanted. And if something risked getting those two taken away, I would marry her in a heartbeat if it meant that she kept them. I would do anything for her.

At two, I pushed myself up from the table and grabbed my keys from the counter. It was Thursday so the kids wouldn’t have practice, and Ben had a meeting about the girls’ basketball season starting so I would pick them up and bring them back here, lock them down, and wait for Keri to get home. And with it being Thursday, it was dinner at my mom’s.

That was a call I never thought I would make to her in my life.
“Hey, Mom. I will be there for dinner, but I am bringing my girlfriend and her two kids.”
But, I told her and was surprised that she hadn’t fallen off her chair. She had been silent for the longest time, the longest five minutes that I ever went through, but she sounded more concerned and worried, just like my mom would.

Sitting outside of the school, I rested my head back. Sunday, when Keri said they couldn’t have someone else walk out on them, I had to really stop and think, but she was right. They couldn’t have someone come into their lives just to leave again as if they didn’t matter. Those kids hadn’t mattered since the time they were born until they arrived in Keri’s hands. And It was time for them to start mattering to everyone else.

I know that the marriage still bothered Keri, being so young and with a man who would do something like that, but the more she thought about it, the angrier she had become. And the more I had to make sure the deadbeat didn’t come around. If he had and Keri was the one to go after him, I was sure there would only be one person walking away, and that it would have been Keri. She would do anything for those two. Well. She already had.

The kids began to pour out of the school, some going to play, some hanging around talking, and a few going to the busses or waiting parents. Just as I got out, Jordan came running up to the truck with Andrew behind. I looked at Andrew and nodded a hello, getting the blond boy’s cheeks to turn a soft shade of pink. “You two need a ride?”

“My dad forgot to call with all the stuff going wrong. You wouldn’t mind, would you?” His gray eyes shifted up nervously and shyly, just like the big softy that his dad was.

“Give him a call and tell him that I will bring you two home. Where are the girls?” My chest tightened as I shoved open my door, seeing their looks going back and forth. “What?”

“Alicia said that Mr. Donaldson was making Sky stay late because she couldn’t do her test.” Andrew held up his phone to show me the text message from his sister.

“Wait here. Get in and lock the doors. Just … wait here.” The throbbing in my chest persisted as I noticed that the boys were following. Glancing back at the parking lot, Keri’s car came pulling in and she slammed on her brakes, put the car in park, and the raging bull emerged, looking for the China shop. “Shoot.”

“I called her right when I found out.” Jordan swallowed hard. “I’m sorry. He told me to.”

“Who told you to?” I snapped a look back at the kid wearing a black tee shirt with his jeans today. Plain, he liked his clothing plain. Of course, he was in need of some new clothing with his sudden growth spurt of playing hockey now, and Sunday we would just go shopping for some. Sky could use more clothing, too, and she was growing also.

“Mr. Donaldson. He said that he needed to speak with her about Sky failing.”

Keri, dressed in that skirt that went to her knees and those black boots, the raging woman wasn’t one to get in the way of. She was out for blood, and the tight muscles in her proved that she was taking down anything and everything in her way. No matter how sexy she looked in that tight sweater that formed to her smaller chest and those boots that I wanted her to wear—just those boots … in my bedroom…

She stormed right past us, not even seeing the three of us standing there. I was not even sure she had anything else in her sights except for that teacher. This was not going to be good, and I had to catch her and calm her down before she exploded through those doors.

But that was impossible. She had gotten through the mess of kids and went straight into the building, her guns drawn and her face red with rage. I followed, trying to catch her before she had gone into the classroom. She was right when she said that no one would mess with her kids, and she meant it.

Alicia stood from the bench outside of the classroom with her eyes opened wide. She went to say something, but backed down after seeing how angry Keri was. I waved her over and shoved her toward the two boys. “You keep her in your sights at all times. Do you hear me?”

They both nodded with the horror hitting their faces. Andrew put his arm around his sister, pulling her close to him.

Making my way over to the door that Keri barged through, my heart stopped. Sky had her head buried in her purple sweatshirt sleeves baring the ice rink’s name on the back that she had really wanted. I gave it to her on Monday when she was chilly while sitting in the box, taking my notes. What was twenty-five dollars anyway? And seeing her happy was what made me know I was doing something good in her life.

The teacher waved a ruler toward the crying girl as Keri shoved a desk out of her way. “Don’t you
ever, ever
do that to her again! You have no right scaring her like that!”

Oh, yeah, that wasn’t good. Opening the door, I stepped in and walked up behind Keri. “Just … back off. Take a deep breath.”

“Piss off, Kane!” She turned and shoved me back as hard as she could before turning back to the teacher—the older, balding man whose beady brown eyes were opened wide and the fear was paralyzing him. “How in the hell do you expect someone to learn when you are constantly threatening them?” She shoved another empty desk out of her way.

“Keri, just stop for a second.” Taking the chance, I went to wrap my arm around her waist, but she was too quick. She moved around the desks so fast and ended up next to Sky. Her fingers curled around the ruler and snapped it from the man’s hand. Bringing it up to his face, she stuck it just inches from his mouth. That was all she needed; to get the cops called for assaulting one of the teachers.

“I
ever
hear of you smacking this down on a desk to scare a kid again, I will shove this so far up your ass that you won’t ever be able to sit down again! Do you hear me?” She shoved it toward him, causing him to take a couple of steps back. “I thought you were told not to be harassing her. Maybe that’s what you like. Do you like to harass little girls?” When the man didn’t say a word, she snapped it down as hard as she could on the desk, making Sky jump. “Huh? Does it make you feel like a man? Does it make you feel good when you make them cry?”

I knelt down beside Sky and put my arm around her. She fell to my chest and grabbed my black long sleeved shirt, holding it as tight as she could. The red marks on her knuckles were vibrant and fresh. He had hit her with the damn ruler? If Keri knew this…

Just as I looked up, she had her hand wrapped around the dark green tie, pulling the teacher close to her face and that ruler shoved right under his nose.

Jumping up, I hopped over the desk and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back. She kicked and screamed at me, cursing me as her throat strained. I could barely hold onto her without hurting her, but the longer that I held onto her, the worst she fought me. Dragging her out into the hall, I looked at the two boys, my chest heaving while trying to contain her. Pressing her to the wall, I looked at Andrew and Jordan. “You keep her ass right there. Do what you have to do until I come back out.”

They pinned her to the wall, knowing that she wouldn’t fight them off. She wouldn’t hurt neither one of those kids at all. As for that teacher, he had to be on the phone calling the police on her attack.

Turning back, I went into the classroom, slamming the door behind me. Sky had her hand cradled to her chest as she just cried more. The anger thumped through my veins as I ran a hand over my face. “If you ever, ever touch her again, you will have to deal with me.”

“She’s a lunatic!” He shook his head as he pointed to the girl. “She is in an unsafe environment with that lunatic out there! I am calling the authorities and reporting this!”

“You do and they will see the hand of that little girl and you will lose your job! How dare you even threaten Keri for this?! You have been picking on Sky from day one! Day one! Now you got her so riled up that she can’t even think!” I grabbed the test from under the tear soaked girl as I looked it over. She wasn’t even on the first question, and her name had a jolt through it as if she were even scared to write her own name. “I will have your license for this. Better get your resume started, because this will be the last teaching job that you will ever have.”

“You have no idea what it is like having these kids all day! She’s the worst one! The only reason why I am hard on her is because she gets in here and she is out of control!” He pointed at the girl with her head on the desk now bawling so hard she could barely catch her breath. “She comes in sitting on the boys’ laps, flirting, talking nonstop!”

“Should we ask one of the other students?”

“They will only lie, because it’s all a game to these kids.”

“Pretty sure that this little girl isn’t the one that’s causing the problems.” I inched up to him until I was right in his face, smelling his raunchy coffee breath. “Now, her mother will come in here and sit with her until she finishes the test. Starting tomorrow, she will have someone in here who will sit with her for the remainder of the year. I even hear that you look at her wrong and I will have your ass in a heartbeat. You know that I will, and that I can make that happen in a snap of my fingers. I mean it.” Turning, I went back to Sky and rubbed her back. Carefully, I picked up her hand and ran my fingers over the welts across hers. “It’s okay, Sky.”

“I just want to go home,” she gasped out in a cry.

“It’s okay. I’m here. Keri’s here.” Looking back at the shorter, stockier man, I pointed at the desk in the front of the room. “You better keep your ass there while she does her test and with Keri in here, or I will take you out in a second.”

Standing up, I opened the door, seeing the two boys struggling to keep Keri pinned to the wall. I could barely contain her and those two kids could? She wasn’t as feisty with them. Maybe I should start having Jordan contain her and save my rib cage. They released her, and she came straight to me with tears in her eyes.

“Pull them back now. You can cry later,” I whispered as I watched her struggling to maintain her composure. “You go in there and go straight to Sky. Get her calmed down and have her do her test. You can’t help her with it, but you can sit by her and make sure that she stays calm. I will be here, and if he moves from his desk, I will take him out. Do you understand me?”

She nodded, the shame glassing over her gray eyes again.

Opening the door, I let her go in and watched her go straight to the little girl. She pulled a desk right over and sat rubbing Sky’s back. I motioned to the others to come into the room. Texting Ben, I let him know that I would drop the kids off in a while, and he was fine with that.