Chapter 19
Dante
“She’s doing it again.”
I tossed my towel over my shoulder. “Doing what again? And who?” I asked Kellan.
“Molly. And she is insisting on another girls’ night out at the club that Hadley works at.” Kellan bent over and wiped his face with the bottom hem of his shirt. “I don’t know what the hell that woman is thinking half of the time. She’s shy as hell, and then she’s planning a huge ass girls’ night with strippers and margaritas.”
I chuckled and tossed my dirty clothes into my gym bag. Adding a shower to the bathroom had Powerhouse had been one of the best decisions we had ever made. Now I could just go home and collapse into bed for a few hours before going over to Kennedy’s. “So what are you going to do about it?”
He sighed and bowed off the mat. “I’m supposed to ask you if Kennedy wants to come,” he grunted, defeated. “And tell you that your asses are coming along if your girls come.”
“Last I checked, girls’ nights did not involve guys.”
“She calls it a fucking girls’ night, but it’s more like she just wants us all to go out to the strip club together.”
A chuckle rumbled from my chest, and I hitched my gym bag over my shoulder. “I’ll talk to Kennedy tonight and let you know what she says. You know when this sideshow is going on?”
“I’ll shoot you a text. She keeps changing the date.”
“Well, I know I’m gonna have to meet Kennedy’s mom soon, and then I have the Amex in a couple of weeks, but other than that, I’m free.”
Kellan nodded and fell into the chair behind the front desk. “So, how are things going with you and Kennedy? Molly said she was over there yesterday helping her get ready for your date.”
I leaned against the desk and crossed my arms over my chest. “As good as can be expected. She’s got it in her head that she only needs me to be her decoy and that’s it, although she threw decoy with benefits at me so I’d have to say she’s slowly coming to see things my way.”
“And what way would that be?”
“The way that she ends up in my bed every night for a very long time.”
“Hadley just called. I gotta get going,” Tate complained as he walked out of the bathroom. “I didn’t even get a chance to fucking shower.” He pulled off his sweaty shirt and shoved it into his bag. “She went out driving with Ryker, and now Hadley is refusing to get back in the car with him, so I have to go and pick her up.”
Kellan and I both chuckled because Ryker wasn’t the best driver yet. “Why doesn’t she just drive?” I asked.
“Because Ryker locked the doors, and he’s driving slowly next to her as she walks.” Tate couldn’t help but laugh, and he pulled a clean shirt out of his bag. “Those two get along great all the time except for when she’s teaching him how to drive.”
“Maybe that might be something you’ll have to teach the kid before he drives off and leaves her on the side of the road,” I chuckled.
Tate pulled the shirt over his head and grabbed his duffle bag. “That’s what I’m planning to do right now. Hadley can drive my truck home, and then I’m taking Ryker to a fucking empty parking lot and showing him everything he needs to know.”
“You could always take him out to Bluff Park and show him how I taught you two to drive,” I suggested.
Kellan and Tate both busted out laughing, and Tate shook his head. “I don’t think that’s the kind of driving Hadley wants me to teach Ryker.”
When Tate was fifteen and learning to drive, I had taken him and Kellan out in the jacked-up truck I used to have and tore up the park teaching them how to do donuts on the grass. It was fun, but looking back, not exactly the smartest thing we had ever done. I was twenty-four and pretty immature. I blame it on Kellan and Tate for being younger than I was. “Maybe you can take him to the park after he gets his license. You really don’t want him to whip a shitty during the middle of his test.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Probably one you should have had back then,” Kellan put in.
“I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Tate made his way to the door and said over his shoulder, “Make sure you let me know when that girls’ night shit is, Kellan. I’m sure Hadley is going to make me come with. Although, we did have some fun in that parking lot when we first started dating. Maybe I can sneak off with her and do a little reenacting.” Tate pushed open the door and slipped out with a smirk on his face.
“You gonna make Roman come along too?” I asked Kellan.
He shrugged. “I mentioned it to him. Whether or not he shows up, I have no idea.”
I nodded. “That’s the truth. Well, I’m out of here. See ya tomorrow, man.”
Kellen gave me a parting wave, and I made the short walk to my truck.
I groaned slightly as I slid into the truck and stuck my key in the ignition. Between sparring yesterday and practicing with Kellan and Tate today, I was fucking sore. Throw in getting some extra cardio with Kennedy last night, and I was ready to sleep the rest of the day away.
I quickly connected the call to Kennedy, listened to the phone ring through the speakers of my truck, and headed toward my house. After the seventh ring, I was ready to hang up when I heard her sleepy voice. “Hellor?” she slurred.
“Hellor?” I chuckled.
“Ugh, I just finally fell asleep, Dante.”
“I’m sorry, honey. I was just calling to see what you were up to.”
“Snuggled up in bed trying to recover from last night,” she muttered. “Not everyone goes to work out after staying up late. I need my sleep.”
“No rest for the wicked,” I mumbled.
“Well, you go be wicked, and I’m going to sleep. Unless there was something you needed from me?”
“You got room in that bed for me?” I know I had said I was going to take a nap, so why couldn’t I just take that nap next to Kennedy?
She sighed heavily, and I heard the rustle of the sheets. “You have five minutes, ninja. Anything after that and I’m not answering the door.”
I cranked the wheel of the car, whipping a shitty in the middle of the street, and headed in the direction of her apartment. “I’m about five minutes away, honey. Any way I can get a minute extension on that?” I should have called her before I left the studio. Although, I have to admit that I was damn surprised she was giving me the option to come over.
“Four minutes and thirty-five seconds, Dante.”
The line went dead, and I tossed the phone on the dash. I California rolled through a stop sign, cut through a back alley, and hopped a curb to get to Kennedy’s with ten seconds to spare.
I sprinted up the stairs after she buzzed me and pounded on her door. “Kennedy,” I called.
Her door opened, she grabbed a handful of my shirt, pulled me, and slammed the door shut behind me. “You need a shower?” she asked.
I shook my head and wrapped my arms around her waist. She was wearing tiny cotton shorts, a tight black tank top, and her hair was piled on top of her head. “I grabbed one at the studio.”
“Perfect,” she muttered. She grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hallway to her bedroom. “Sleep. That’s it. At least for the next three hours. Any hankie pankie and I kick your butt out, and you sleep on the couch. Capice?” She fell into bed before I could even answer and pulled the covers up over her head.
I pulled my shirt over my head, tossed it on the floor, and then kicked off my shoes. “I can work with that.” I slid under the covers, gathered her in my arms, and pressed a kiss to her temple.
“Urgh, that’s the only kiss you get, ninja.”
I chuckled low and squeezed her tightly. “Whatever you say, honey.”
She hummed lightly and burrowed into my arms. Her breathing evened out, and she relaxed into me.
Each time Kennedy said yes to me, I was knocking down a few the walls she had built up around her heart.
With her laying in my arms, I was going to do everything I could keep her there and demolish every wall she had up.
I wasn’t going anywhere.
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