Thoughtful (Thoughtless #1.5)(61)
Author: S.C. Stephens

Chapter 20

Double Date from Hell

I woke up feeling better than I had in a while. I wondered if it made me a little sadistic that I was enjoying causing Kiera pain. Although she wasn’t really pained, just jealous. She didn’t want to share me with her sister. If I didn’t find the whole thing so entertaining, I might be offended. Kiera had made her choice, and what I did shouldn’t matter to her. I’d made a promise though, and I was planning on honoring this one.

After doing a handful of push-ups and sit-ups, I dressed and headed downstairs to make coffee. Kiera must have had an ear out for me, because she joined me a few minutes later. I wasn’t too surprised that she was awake. Wondering if Anna was going to sneak into my room at any second had probably kept Kiera up all night. She looked worn, with baggy eyes and crazy hair. Even still, her natural good looks put her sister’s manicured perfection to shame.

I gave her a cheery smile as I poured some water into the coffeepot. “Mornin’. Sleep okay?”

Her expression was blank as she answered me. “I slept fine. You?”

Done with the machine, I turned around and leaned against the counter. Go ahead and lie to me, Kiera, it’s okay. I already know you slept like crap. “Like a baby.” She gave me a forced smile as she sat at the table, and I suppressed a laugh. She was so cute when she was fuming. “Your sister is…interesting,” I said, intentionally leaving my sentence vague and open to interpretation.

She frowned as she debated what I meant by that. When she finally responded, her cheeks were a beautiful shade of embarrassed pink. “Yes…she is.”

I found it amusing that Kiera’s answer was also vague. Guess neither one of us was going to go into specifics. When the coffee was done, I prepared our cups and set hers down in front of her. I leaned back in my chair, perfectly content as I drank mine. Kiera hunched over her cup like she was freezing and it was the only source of warmth in the room. I knew her reaction wasn’t from the cold though, and knowing that made my smile even wider. Jealousy is a bitch, isn’t it, Kiera?

I left Kiera in the kitchen not long after we finished our coffee. I thought it might be best if we didn’t talk too much. Well, I thought I could keep the jealousy going if we didn’t talk too much. I wasn’t sure why I wanted to goad her. Retribution? Proving a theory? This wouldn’t bother her so much if she didn’t have some feelings for me. She said she didn’t, but…she just had to. Please.

I went for a long run to clear my head, but everywhere I turned, something reminded me of Kiera. Making her jealous only eased the pain so much. When I got back home, Anna and Kiera were gone, and Denny was watching TV. He seemed happy as a clam sitting in my favorite chair, watching my TV, and most likely thinking about my ex-lover. For a moment, I hated him for his happiness. But then I remembered what I’d done to him, and all of my hatred faded. Denny wasn’t the bad guy. Quite the opposite. He was a really good guy.

Denny turned his head when he saw me. With a smirk, he jerked his thumb at the TV. “I know you’re not a big fan, but want to watch the game with me?”

I glanced up at what was playing, and a small smile snuck onto my lips. Hockey. Denny loved sports, and he had always been watching some game or another when he’d stayed with me in high school. He’d tried in vain to get me invested in the various games, but after Dad had shut me down when I’d tried to bond with him over some of his favorite sports, I’d developed an almost spiteful feeling toward them, and intentionally never paid attention.

Not feeling very sociable after that memory, I politely shook my head at Denny. “No thanks.” He laughed at my answer, like he wasn’t too surprised that I didn’t want to watch.

After taking a quick shower, I stayed in my room for most of the afternoon, writing lyrics that would never make it into an actual song. The writing process helped me cope though. There was something freeing about releasing all of my problems onto the page. I could write about how lonely I was, how empty I felt, how worthless I saw myself and how much Kiera meant to me, and no one would ever see it. It was a way for me to purge my problems while still hiding them away from the world, and hiding was something I was really good at. Unfortunately.

Anna and Kiera came back in the early evening. Even though I’d been practicing melodies on my guitar, I heard them when they walked through the door. It was like my ears went on instant alert the second Kiera was around me; they strained to hear every word, every laugh, every inhale and exhale of her breath. The constant deluge of her was wearing, but it was better than the alternative. Never hearing those sounds again would kill me, I was sure.

As I paused to listen, the sisters’ footsteps trudged up the stairs. I didn’t need to see them to know whose was whose. Kiera’s steps were heavy, plodding. Anna’s were light and bouncy. Kiera murmured something about getting ready, and Anna giggled as she told her how excited she was. I wasn’t sure if she was excited to go out dancing, or excited to hang out with me all night, since I suppose I was sort of her date for the evening. Kiera grumbled an answer I couldn’t hear, and Anna giggled again.

When I heard Anna leaving Kiera’s room, saying goodbye as she headed downstairs, I cracked open my door and looked out into the hallway. Denny passed by my field of vision. Striding to his room, he opened the door and walked inside. In the brief time that the door was open, I saw Kiera standing in the room, looking lost. Denny closed the door behind him, but didn’t latch it. Opening my own door, I quietly stepped over to theirs. I couldn’t see anything, but I could clearly hear them talking.

“What’s wrong?” Denny asked.

“I have nothing to wear tonight. Absolutely nothing.” She sighed, and I could easily picture the forlorn expression on her face.

“Why don’t you wear that pink dress you have? Or the skirt? Or shorts? It will probably get hot in there.”

Kiera didn’t answer him, and I could almost hear her annoyance in the silence. I pictured her in the skirt she’d worn when we’d caved in to lust inside the espresso stand. I pictured the shorts she sometimes wore to work. I visualized her in the jeans she wore to school. And I imagined her in the baggy lounge pants that she wore to bed. With a sad smile, I ran my fingers down her door. “It doesn’t matter what you wear…you’ll be stunning. As much as you want to, you can’t hide your beauty, Kiera.”

I’d whispered that so quietly that even I barely heard me, but I still startled when a voice to my left exclaimed, “Kellan! There you are.”

I spun around and held my breath. Had Anna heard me? Had she seen me practically caressing the door? Knowing distraction was the best defensive maneuver I had, I gave her a crooked smile while slowly letting my gaze sweep over her from head to toe. “You look…amazing.”

She had on a tight dress that looked like a long tank top. It hugged every curve and barely covered her ass. If Anna was wondering what I was doing spying on Denny and her sister, she didn’t ask. Instead, she gave me a once-over and said, “So do you.” I was wearing all black, same as her. In between my melancholy lyric writing, I’d gotten dressed for tonight. The dark color had seemed fitting at the time, but now that Anna and I looked like twins, I wasn’t so sure. Anna seemed to enjoy that we matched though. With a seductive smile of approval, she sauntered my way. “I need your help.”

Feeling my racing heart return to normal, I asked her, “With what?”

She stepped right in front of me, so close her chest touched mine. “Well, I thought if you did me, I could do you?”

I raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was actually suggesting under the obvious innuendo. Anna laughed at my expression. Grabbing a red lock of hair, she explained. “Hair. If you help me curl mine, I’ll help you do something funky with yours.”

I really didn’t care what my hair looked like, but I saw an opportunity here, so I took it. “Sure. Why not?”

I’d never curled a girl’s hair before, but Anna was a good teacher. We finished pretty quickly, but Kiera still hadn’t emerged from her room. I wanted to tell Kiera not to stress about her looks, but it wasn’t my place to say anything. That was Denny’s job, and I had to let him do it. When Anna was satisfied that her face was flawless, she grabbed a container, then my hand, and pulled me downstairs. “This will be easier if we’re sitting,” she explained, a playful gleam in her eyes.

“Okay,” I said, not really caring.

When we got downstairs, she sat me on the couch, then climbed around behind me. I had to smile at her aggressiveness. If this were any other situation, I would have twisted her around so she was straddling me, ripped off her panties, and screwed her with her dress still on…but things were different now, and the desire for meaningless sex with people I didn’t know just wasn’t in me. The connection wasn’t strong enough that way. It was paltry and pathetic compared to what it was like with Kiera.

Anna started running her fingers through my hair. I had no idea what she was doing to me, but it seemed like she was sticking my hair straight up. Great, I was going to look like a pincushion. Oh well. Didn’t matter.