Page 107 of Fifty First Times (Sharing You 0.40)
“That was the birthday present I didn’t get to give you.”
Present day
“ARE YOU GONNA tell me what you said, or are you going to sit there staring at the table?” Aiden’s voice interrupted my thoughts, and I looked behind me toward the bar.
“I really need a drink.”
“No, you don’t. You need to talk this shit out and get everything straight in your head, and then go back and talk to her.”
With a sad laugh, I flipped the coaster across the table and covered my face with my hands. “I called Kinlee a psychotic bitch and told her to—and I quote—‘sit the fuck down and shut your goddamn mouth for once’ so I could tell her what happened at your place Friday night.”
Looking up, I saw Aiden blinking at me slowly, his eyebrows raised to his hairline.
“I know,” I said to his unspoken response. “No excuse, absolutely none. I’d just kept trying to talk to her, and every time I said anything, she started screaming over me . . . finally I just flipped. Then because I was yelling, she thought I was getting defensive, which—according to her—means that she was right and I’d been lying all along.
“Then it just started getting ridiculous. She started questioning if I even worked for the fire department, what I was doing all those hours I was ‘supposedly working,’ and how I was making my money. Asked if the girls were actually strippers, or some chick I’d been cheating on her with for some time now . . . called me a cheating bastard. Next thing I know, she’s throwing shit at me. The dishwashing soap, fruit out of the fruit bowl, the bread. She. Just. Freaked.”
“What the fuck?” Aiden wasn’t even looking at me anymore. “None of this sounds like Kinlee. At all. She’s the most laid-back girl I’ve ever known, for fuck’s sake, Jace, she points out hot girls when we’re out somewhere.”
“I know!”
“Is she PMS-ing, or something?”
Shaking my head, I shrugged helplessly. “I don’t think so, but even if she were, this would be the first time I’ve ever seen her act this way. I don’t know, I’m completely at a loss right now. It . . .” I trailed off, and folded my arms on the table before dropping my forehead to them.
“What? It what?” Aiden prompted when I didn’t continue.
“Swear to God, it was like she was doing it on purpose, so I would get mad at her and leave.” When I lifted my head, Aiden was blurry, and I couldn’t even find it in me to care that he was seeing me cry. “I’m finally about to marry the only girl I’ve ever loved, and she was setting up a fight so I would be the one to break up with her.”
Six years ago
“YOU HAVE OUR sister home one minute past eleven, and we’ll come looking for your sorry ass.”
I glanced to the empty hallway, then back to Kinlee’s older brothers. Fuck, these dudes were massive. “Your dad said midnight,” I said, somehow managing not to stutter.
“Well, we say—”
“Midnight,” Kinlee’s dad interrupted and shook his head. “And, boys, if my little girl comes home and tells me the two of you ruined her first date, I’m making you work in the orchards for the next two months’ worth of weekends.”
Both brothers gave me one last hard look before turning and walking out the front door. The roar of their old, rebuilt Mustang filled the quiet street before peeling out.
“Jace?”
I turned in time to see Kinlee hug her dad good-bye before stepping up to me. God, she looked perfect.
“You ready?” I asked, and a wide smile crossed my face as I reached for her hand. “You look beautiful.”
“Midnight,” her dad interrupted us, and I looked up at him. “And I want her whole, well, and untouched.”
Kinlee’s face went red. “Daddy!”
With a knowing look, he went and stood by his wife, who had just walked into the room. After saying our good-byes, I walked Kinlee out to my car, and helped her into the passenger seat before jogging around to the driver’s side. Glancing up, I saw Mr. Atkins standing in a large window at the front of the house. With a nod and a smile, he let the drapes fall closed and I breathed out a sigh of relief.
Didn’t matter that he’d known me my whole life. Didn’t matter that I’d been his daughter’s boyfriend for close to six years now. And it didn’t matter that she and I spent a lot of our nights at the other’s house. The minute I’d asked him if I could take Kinlee on a date, that guy looked like he’d wanted to kill me. So I was glad I was on track to getting back on his good side.
Now I just needed to get his daughter home in five hours, whole, well, and mostly untouched.
Kinlee
