“Stop!” I yelled, shoving her back. With surprise on her face, she landed on her ass.
“Hey, what gives?” she bit out, irritated at my rough treatment.
I cringed as the pleasure I’d been feeling shifted into pain at the absence of her attentive mouth. I’d abruptly stopped myself from coming, and now I was paying the price. Wincing, I tucked myself back into my jeans and dashed to the window. Sure enough, my baby was gone. Dread and hollowness filled my soul. My car…my irreplaceable car…was gone. She could be on her way to a chop shop right now, about to be hacked into a million pieces. Jesus. I couldn’t let this happen, but what should I do? Call the cops? National Guard? “Get Jesse”?
“My car is gone. My fucking car is gone!” I knew I was freaking out, but I’d never expected this to happen to me. Or my baby.
When I looked back at my date, she had a look on her face like she was sure I was certifiable. I was certain I was losing my cool rock-star status with her, but I didn’t really care. I wanted my fucking car back. I started pacing the room, wondering what to do.
“Yeah…someone came into the house and got the keys. You didn’t hear that?” The girl had an incredulous expression, like it should have been as plain as day to me.
Gritting my teeth, I said, “I was a little preoccupied. Heard what? What happened?”
She shrugged and jerked her thumb at the door. “Some girl came in the house, rummaged around the next room, called your name, peeked in the door, then ran down the stairs, slammed the front door, and took off in your car.” Proud of herself, she smiled. “I have pretty awesome hearing.” Then she frowned. “I thought you knew she was watching, and that’s why you held me down. I thought maybe you liked having an audience.” She shrugged again. “I thought it was pretty hot.”
I could only stare at her in disbelief as I processed everything she was saying. “She stole my car. She…stole…my car. No way. No fucking way.”
My date only lifted her shoulders in an expression of Oh, well, what can you do? Narrowing my eyes, I zipped up my pants and grabbed my jacket off the floor. “We’re leaving,” I bit out.
She raised her hands in the air. “How? She stole your car.”
Storming out of the room, I ran downstairs. Picking up the phone in the kitchen, I dialed the first person who came to mind. Luckily for me, he answered. “Yeah?”
“Matt. It’s an emergency. I need your help.”
“Kellan? What’s going on?”
“Kiera stole my fucking car, and I need a ride to get it back.”
Matt started laughing. “She…what?” I didn’t share his sense of humor about the matter, and stayed silent. When I didn’t return his laughter or respond in any way, he coughed and said, “Okay, yeah. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
I hung up the phone without saying a word, then yanked open the fridge and grabbed a beer. Popping it open on the counter, I chugged it until it was gone. She stole my fucking car. I couldn’t believe it.
My date came down while I was opening my second beer. “Can I have one?” she asked. Furious, I ignored her. “Okay,” she muttered. “Well, I’m gonna catch a bus back if that’s okay with you.”
I raised my hand in a Whatever motion.
“Awesome. Well, thanks for…that…and I hope you get your car back.” She left the room, then left my house. I felt bad for being so dismissive with her, but then I remembered that Kiera stole my baby, and all I felt was anger. Why the fuck would she do that to me?
When Matt finally showed up, I was sipping on my fourth beer, trying to calm down. It wasn’t working. The minute he stepped into my entryway, I stormed toward him, beer bottle in hand. “She’s at Pete’s. Let’s go.”
Matt grabbed my arm as I stalked past him. “Wait, Kell, maybe you should calm down first. I’m sure she had a good reason?”
Yanking my arm away, I narrowed my eyes. “I’m perfectly fucking calm. Let’s go.”
Matt sighed but followed me out of the house. I downed the rest of my beer in his car. “You gonna be able to drive once we get your car back?” he asked.
“I’ll be fine,” I seethed.
“Right…”
I didn’t wait for Matt to park the car; I shoved open his door while he was still pulling into the stall. “Jesus, Kellan,” he was saying when I shut his door and strode over to the bar. I glanced to my right and saw my Chevelle. Thank God she was all in one piece. If Kiera had dinged her though…
I burst through the front doors of Pete’s and immediately looked for Kiera. She was back in the band’s typical section. Her eyes widened when she saw me, and she glanced around like she was going to run. She could try…but I wasn’t leaving until I got my keys.
Matt caught up to me and put his hand on my shoulder, trying to hold me back again. “Kell, wait…”
I jerked my body away as I spun around to face him. “You said your piece, now back the fuck off.”
Knowing I was at my breaking point, Matt raised his hands in the air and stepped away from me. I turned back to Kiera and focused all of my ire on her. You did this to me. You loved me, used me, hurt me, wanted me, then rejected me. And then, on top of all of that, you stole one of the only things that matters to me.
Kiera looked afraid at first, but then she raised her chin in defiance. God, she was attractive. I wanted to suck those plump lips she was pursing at me. I wanted to grab a fistful of her hair and pull her mouth to mine. I wanted to turn her around, bend her over the table, and take her in front of everyone. I wanted to tell her I loved her.
I couldn’t do any of those things though, so all I ended up doing was anticlimactically holding my hand out. Kiera looked mildly disappointed by my reaction. Did she want me to bend her over the table? Would that be less disappointing?
“What?” she asked, her voice full of that snotty tone that riled me up.
“Keys,” I said through clenched teeth.
“What keys?” she asked, a daring fire in her eyes.
I wanted to pull her into me so badly, my groin ached again. Matt was right, I needed to calm down. “Kiera…my car is right over there.” I pointed to where it was outside. “I heard you take it—”
That got her attention. “If you heard me take it, why didn’t you try to stop me?”
“I was—”
She cut me off with a finger in my chest. “You were on a ‘date’?” She said the last word with air quotes.
I felt like the oxygen had been sucked from the room. In all my anger about her stealing my car…I’d forgotten just what she’d seen. She’d walked in on a girl giving me a blow job. Yes, I’d heard several things between her and Denny that I wished I hadn’t, but I’d never seen anything before. I think I’d go nuts if I did. Is that what happened to her? Well, it shouldn’t matter, even if she had seen something.
My composure returning, I snapped out, “So? That gives you the right to steal my car?”
With her chin even higher, she retorted, “I borrowed. Friends borrow, right?”
Well. That was the root of our problem, wasn’t it? There was always more between us than friendship. Seeing a bulge in her front pocket, I took a chance that she was holding my keys there and dived in. “Hey,” she said, trying to smack me away.
It was too late though, I had them. Clenching the keys tight, I held them up to her. I didn’t want to say what was tumbling through my mind, but in my anger it slipped out. “We’re not friends, Kiera. We never were.”
Turning, I stormed away from her. I knew she wouldn’t understand what I meant by my statement, and I knew she’d probably take it in a negative way, but I was too pissed off and turned on to care. She’d gone too far.
I felt like shit after leaving the bar. But I really hadn’t said anything that wasn’t true. Maybe there had been a split second in our relationship when the term “friend” could have been applied to us, but the minute Denny left town, we had changed. Friendship was impossible to go back to once love entered the picture. And I loved her so much…
When I eventually made it home, I went up to my room, shut the door, and turned on some music. I needed to think. I needed to be alone. With melancholy melodies as my backdrop, I pulled out a journal and began scribbling down lyrics. Most of them were nonsense, but a few might be usable. One in particular seared me: You’ll never know me, ’cause I’ll never let you in.
Wasn’t that the truth? Why was honesty so much easier on paper?
I woke up early the next morning with my notebook still clenched in my hand. A half-finished thought was tumbling down the page in an ominous descent toward nothingness. Staring at the sloppy words in the dim light of the lamp I’d left on, I tried to recall what I’d been thinking when I’d scratched them down. The moment was lost though, the words forever forgotten. Yet another lyrical victim of my subconscious.
Sliding off the bed, I started my morning workout routine. When my abs were burning from repeated crunches, I switched to my arms. After I finished with numerous push-ups, my upper body was trembling. My mind spun. I needed to say something to Kiera. I couldn’t let my harsh words linger between us. There was already too much between us.