Playing it Out, page 16
Wyatt smiled at me and batted his baby blues. "They couldn't hurt though, could they?"
"No, they certainly couldn’t," I agreed with a laugh. Declan sat down on my other side, placing a water bottle by my hand before looping his arm around my shoulders and pulling my chair closer to his. He shot a glare at Wyatt and placed a kiss to my temple.
“Mine,” his dark blue eyes narrowed on his friends face even as Wyatt started to chuckle. I thought it was cute how he always seemed jealous of his friends. As if I could look at anyone else when he existed.
"Ah, babe are you jealous?" I rubbed his arm up and down before placing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "I've only got eyes for you."
"Enough with the PDA,” Kenzie said throwing dinner roll across the table at her brother. I caught her eye to see her smiling over at me.
"You're just jealous,” Declan smirked catching the roll before it could hit him in the face. She stuck her tongue out at him laughing when little Declan copied her and did the same, earning a high five from Simon.
"So what is everyone's plans for the rest of the weekend?" Mrs. Cooper asked as we made our way through the food on the table.
"There's a new club opening downtown I've been hearing about,” Wyatt said over a mouthful of potato chips. He glanced around to see if anyone was interested.
"That could be fun,” Garret looked across the table at Kenzie. "We should check it out instead of seeing that lame movie tonight. We both said we were going to get out and meet new people you know. Try to get some action.”
"I don't know if I want to go to a club tonight,” Kenzie spoke tightly, looking capable of murder as Garret grinned at her. Jace’s head had snapped around when his cousin had teased Kenzie, fury all but vibrating off of him. His fists had clenched on the table, his knuckles whitening before he carefully looked back at his plate and shoved a spoonful of mashed potatoes in his mouth.
Lane had an excited look on her face as she twisted in her seat to grab Jon’s arm. "Your folks will watch the kids!” Jon rubbed a hand over his face with a long suffering sigh. “It'll be so fun!
"Only if you convince Jared to come with. I need someone to hang out with when you ditch me."
"Jared Jamison?" Garret asked drawing everyone's attention to him. His face looked a little pale as he looked across the table at Jon.
I narrowed my eyes at him with a frown. "Yeah. You know each other?"
He grunted with a jerk of his chin before glancing back at Kenzie. "If you really wanted to go see the movie though."
“Bullshit. We’re all going to the club now, right Reece?" Kenzie was clearly challenging Garret, smiling sweetly when he scowled at her.
Shrugging, I gave Declan a half grin. "Looks like we're going to have a night on the town."
Declan
Reece and Lane had kidnapped Kenzie and were taking her back to Reece's house where they were all going to get ready together. I had other plans for Reece and I tonight but getting to dance with my girl and drink with our friends wasn't a horrible alternative.
My mother's text message was burning a hole in my pocket. I wanted nothing more than to delete it, forget I had ever seen it but I couldn't. Despite the fact that I hated her, she was still my mother and I felt an obligation towards her.
Before the girls left, Reece had pulled me aside to tell me she loved me again, which helped settle some of my nerves. In the short time we had known one another she had become my rock. The person I could depend on. When I was with her, I truly felt as though I’d found my other half.
It scared me to death.
After lightly rapping on the door, Lucas poked his head into my bedroom. "You ready? Kenzie said the girls are heading out soon. Jared and Emma may be meeting us there. Hopefully those two are all over each other so Wyatt provides tonight’s entertainment and loses his shit,” Lucas gave a crooked smile as he entered the room.
"I wouldn't mind watching Wyatt get his ass kicked," I laughed. Looking down at my phone I noticed an unread message from Reece. When I opened it I saw the girls smiling at me, their faces all done up and club ready. My blood starting pumping south as I looked at Reece’s smiling face and wished once more we could have spent the evening in. At least I would get to show her off tonight.
"She's really pretty, Declan,” Lucas commented as he gazed over my shoulder. “Seems like a nice person, too.”
I frowned at my friend, sliding my phone into my back pocket. “She is a nice person, Lucas. She’s a great person.”
Lucas scrubbed a hand over his face once before shoving it into his pocket. “I’m just saying it wouldn't kill you to slow things down. It’s only been like two months and I’ve never seen you this serious about a woman before.”
“That’s because I’ve never been this serious about one before.” I was starting to get pissed off but Lucas continued, clearly intent on saying his two cents.
“Just be careful, Declan. I only knew Cadence a few weeks before she was pregnant, my ring was on her finger and she was bleeding my bank account dry.”
“Reece isn't Cadence, Lucas. She’s my best friend and if I didn't think of you as a brother, I’d knock your ass out for comparing her to your bitch of an ex-wife.” I’d always trusted Lucas’ judgment in the past but he was dead wrong here and from the uncomfortable jerk of his chin he knew it.
Shifting his stance Lucas’ gaze wavered for the first time since entering the room. ”Are you going to marry her?"
I didn't hesitate in giving my answer, "If she'll have me."
Lucas nodded his head and made himself smile, his nose crinkling at the center from when Wyatt had broken it during a pickup basketball game when we'd all still been in high school. It was still amusing to me that the twins even had matching broken noses although I didn't feel like smiling at the moment.
“She'll be a great addition to the family, Declan. You have better taste than me,” he frowned giving a small shrug before moving towards the door. "Let's go get this night over with."
When we walked outside Jace, Wyatt, and Garret were already piled in the car waiting for us. I climbed in the back seat, swatting Wyatt on the back of the head when he slapped me on my ass. "Let's get moving," he grumbled, "I need a drink, stat."
"Stat?" Lucas scoffed looking at Wyatt in the rearview mirror. "You've been watching too many medical dramas."
"It's all that time on the tour bus man, besides that those shows are great," Wyatt explained. "I feel like if I wasn't in the band I could have been a surgeon. I would have made the operating room my bitch."
Lucas spun in his seat and laughed at his brother. "You would have been the hospital slut." I saw the worried look on Lucas’ face and nodded letting him know that we were going to be okay even though the words he had said were still crawling under my skin. Lucas needed to get on board with Reece otherwise we were going to have a problem.
The twins continued to banter back and forth wasting away the time we were spending in the car on the way to the club. As I texted Reece back and forth I debated replying to my mom's text message but opted to leave it be for now. I was going to do my best to put all thoughts of my mother aside tonight. I was with my family. I was excited about the future. There was no way I was going to let her or anyone else ruin that for me.
Chapter 17
Reece
I had never been one for the club scene but watching my friends on the dance floor was well worth the drive it took to get here. After the guys had shown up we had managed to secure a private table in back where Declan and I were currently people watching.
"This is fun," I shouted into his ear, sipping from my scotch glass. Declan had been playing with my hair since we got here. The man could never seem to keep his hands off of me which worked out since I constantly had my hands all over him. I loved being able to drag him against me whenever I wanted.
Wyatt and Lucas had disappeared into the crowd as soon as they guys had arrived, with Garret making his way towards Jared and Emma already on the dance floor with Jon and Lane. I was hoping going out tonight would give me the opportunity to pour some liquor down my cousin’s throat so he would open up to me about the new guy he was seeing.
Jared had been a mixture of manically happy and clinically depressed ever since he started seeing his mystery man but he refused to tell me anything about the relationship other than that it was complicated. After how weird Garret had been acting at lunch today I had a whole new set of questions to interrogate my cousin with.
Kenzie ran up to our table looking flushed and excited in a purple sun dress she had hijacked from my closet. Lane had curled her long blonde hair so it fell effortlessly around her shoulders, her grey eyes sparkled mischievously as she grabbed Declan's rum and coke shooting it back in one gulp
"Let's dance," Kenzie yelled in order to be heard over the music. I looked over at Declan who grinned and shrugged at me as if to say I had little choice but to comply. Just as I was exiting the booth, Jace appeared behind Kenzie. He moved to tap her on the shoulder but the girl had a sixth sense where he was concerned and easily side stepped to evade him.
“Are we getting started on the list to get over him?” I spoke close to her ear as she pulled me onto the dance floor. Kenzie began to bump and grind to the music making me giggle at her enthusiastic moves. She laughed with me, pulling my by my arms so that I was mirroring her movements. Lane bounced her way over to us, towing Emma behind her. "Where's Jared?" Emma shrugged, her long red hair sticking to the sides of her face. The black dress she was wearing did a great job of outlining her muscular curves. Her makeup made her eyes look almost dangerous from the flash of the dance lights, her tan skin glowing luminously. I wondered once more what had happened between her and Wyatt, but knew asking while we were all drunk at a club was a bad idea. Especially considering what had happened the last time Emma and I had gotten sloppy together.
The music played on as we danced and sweated the night away. Declan popped in and out for a few songs, retreating to and from the bar bringing me and the girls drinks every so often. "How you feeling, baby?" I asked as my mouth tried to capture the elusive straw that was twirling around my drink. Declan smiled at me indulgently, moving my long hair to the side after pulling it off of my sweaty neck.
"I'm pretty perfect right now," he sighed pulling me into his arms when a slow song started. I wished I didn't have a drink in my hand so I could cup his delicious bottom, instead I settled for lightly looping my arms around his waist, barely resisting the urge to fall asleep on his chest. Between the water gun fight this afternoon and the dance party this evening I was beat.
I attempted to stifle a yawn, but Declan must have felt it because he grabbed my chin in his hand and forced my gaze to meet his. Our bodies were as close as they could get with our clothes still on and when I looked into Declan's eyes I felt as though mine would burn right off. I was glad the girls had all wandered off the dance floor leaving Declan and I alone to sway to the music.
"We should go home," I leaned up to whisper in his ear, elated when he laughed and nodded in agreement.
"What the fuck, Declan!" Kenzie appeared out of nowhere, shouldering me aside so that she could rap her brother on the shoulder. Caught off guard, the jolt caused Declan to take a step back. He looked shocked as he met my eye silently asking if I was okay. I quickly nodded, taking in Kenzie's angry expression. "Why the fuck wouldn't you tell me mom was sick?"
I noticed Declan's phone clutched in her tiny fist. He must have left it on the table when he went to go get us another round of drinks.
"Kenzie," he started moving forward trying to place a calming hand on her shoulder which she swatted off.
"No. You promised me, Declan. You said you'd tell me if she contacted you," I could see her struggling to hold back tears and felt my heart break for her and Declan as we stood in the middle of the crowded dance floor. "Her contacting you for money on her deathbed warrants a notification! I am not a fucking child, stop treating me like one!”
"What's going on?" Jace’s deep voice asked as he approached Kenzie’s side.
Kenzie's glare quickly shifted on him. If possible she looked even more upset than she had seconds before. "What's wrong?!" Kenzie bit out, “ Everything!” After trying to push her hair out of her face with little success, she gave up and pulled it into a ponytail on top of her head as curious heads started to swivel in our direction. "Did you know about this?" Her gray eyes flashed at me in accusation.
Jace took one look at her upset state before pinning me with a look that was menacing enough to make me back up a few paces.
"We only just found out, Little One,” Declan tried to explain but Kenzie wasn't having it.
“Don’t,” Kenzie ordered in a harsh voice, uncaring that a few people had begun to openly watch our little drama. “Are you going to give her money?” She asked in a flat voice.
“She’s dying, Kenzie. I can't just ignore her."
“What if she's lying, Declan?" I had asked myself that same question, but was glad Kenzie had been the one to give voice to it. "She ignored us our whole lives! She left us Declan! The only reason she gave a shit was because you made something of yourself. If it weren't for you, she wouldn't want anything to do with us! Even then it's you she wants, she could give a shit about me. You're her little boy, I'm just her worthless mistake."
"Kenzie," Declan stepped towards her stilling when Kenzie held up a hand.
"It's true," Her gray eyes were dry as she stared at Declan, almost daring him to deny it before taking a calming breath. "I'm drunk. It's late. I'm going to catch a cab."
"Let me drive you home," Jace offered trying to tug Kenzie to his side. She flinched and recoiled from him. I couldn't help feel for the man as a devastated look came over his handsome face.
“No, I want to be alone. I'll talk to you tomorrow, Declan." Placing his phone in his hand Kenzie walked off of the dance floor and straight out of the club.
“Do you want me to go talk to her?” I took a step after Kenzie when Declan laid a hand on my arm shaking his head once.
“It’s okay this is a family matter,” Declan started off the floor following Kenzie’s path without another word.
I felt completely sober as his words sank in. Even though Declan loved me, he didn't think of me as his family. Since he had first heard from his mom Declan had become somewhat guarded, refusing to let me help him where she was concerned. I kept trying to offer him my support and it stung when he turned me away. When I tried to broach the topic with him earlier in the night, he’d completely closed up after telling me he was writing her a check.
Lost in my thoughts, Jace and I remained standing on the dance floor under the shining lights. He also looked rooted to the spot, his eyes clouded over as he stared at the doorway Kenzie exited through. Wanting to distract myself from over analyzing what Declan had meant by his last comment, I turned to address the man standing next to me. ”You okay?" I asked him, shuffling closer to stand by his side. As if my words had broken the spell he was under, Jace shook his head and looked down at me.
"I don't like seeing her so upset," he commented in a rough voice, his hand coming up to scrub the back of his neck. "I've only seen her cry like twice since I've known her."
I had seen her cry that many times in the short time I had known her all because of the man in front of me, but I didn't think it was my business to tell him that. “She’ll be okay, Jace.” He made an effort to smile as I placed a hand on his muscular arm. "She's got her family beside her. Kenzie is a strong woman. She doesn't break.”
Jace nodded in agreement, though his eyes remained troubled. "You better go. Declan is probably out front waiting for you." This time when he smiled at me it seemed sincere. "I've known him a long time, Reece. The guy has gotten around.” My scowl must have tipped him off but before I could open my mouth to swear at him he shook his head with a laugh. "That's not what I meant. Although, it is one hundred percent true.”
“Get to the point, Jace.” My voice lashed out at him now as I grew more aggravated by the second. I could tell he was purposefully trying to get a rise out of me.
His smug expression confirmed it along with his answer. “My point is, you should know that.” I rose to the bait, lifting my leg to stomp down hard on his foot with the heel of my boot. He let out a curse making me smirk as his hazel eyes narrowed on my face. "My point is, welcome to the family Reece."
Declan
After getting Kenzie into a cab I felt completely drained. I could admit I should have told her about the situation with our mom right away, but I hadn't really seen the harm in putting it off. Looking at the rejected look on my little sister's face cleared me of that notion.
Reece had followed me out of the club just as the yellow taxi sped off with a stone faced Kenzie. The girl knew how to put on an act and when she had left the club she was as stoic as I had ever seen her. Even after years apart our mother still had a tight hold on Kenzie's self-esteem and if I was being honest with myself she still had a firm grip on mine too.
Thankfully Reece had driven her own car to the city giving us an easy escape route. While she was inside she had managed to let the others know we were leaving with minimal fuss. I rested my head against the passenger side window as she drove us home, the comforting lull of the tires on the road causing me to doze off. Reece's hand on my shoulder woke me and I noticed that we were already parked in her driveway.
Reece climbed from the car and let Loki outside before I had even unbuckled my seatbelt. After giving the pup a scratch I followed her inside, kicking my shoes off at the front door. "Baby, I'm going to get in the shower," I called heading towards the bedroom. I tugged my clothes off as I walked, leaving them in a pile on the bathroom floor. I turned the shower water on hot before splashing cold water over my face as I stood at the sink.
The steam from the shower fogged up the mirror in record time as I stepped in and leaned my head against the warm tile. Moments later I heard the bathroom door open and close, Reece's warm naked body pressed against mine from behind. Her arms wrapped around my middle and I moved mine to rest over hers. We stood under the warm spray wordlessly, letting the water turn cool in the late night air.
