Replace Me (Kin #2)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Chapter 1

Shayne

Three rings and the voicemail picked up. After exhausting all other options to get in touch with her, this was my last resort. I’d f**ked up and she’d made it clear that we were through, even without hearing my side of the story.

“Lace, It’s me again. I’m goin’ to keep callin’ until you pick up the phone and talk to me. I know I messed up, but you need to know that I was tryin’ to protect my brother. What would you have done if you were me?” I scratched my head and couldn’t believe that I was leaving the same message as I’d left all week long. “Please call me back.”

When I hung up the phone I saw my dad walking in the kitchen. He was going to blow a gasket when he learned what Parker had gotten himself into. Since my cousin Ford knew the truth, it was only a matter of time before his ex Ashley came looking for money and support from us.

I didn’t hate keeping things from my dad, considering he could overreact and make my life miserable. The longer he was kept in the dark, the longer I had a roof over my head.

It would have been better if I hadn’t just moved back home. Having my own place would have allowed me to avoid him for as long as possible.

My dad wasn’t the type of man that you could reason with, and since my brother had a real chance at a professional career in sports, it was going to be even worse. Parker was my father’s favorite. He never said it, but it was blatantly obvious. He’d always wanted me to play sports and stay in school, but my eye was always on the prize. I didn’t like answering to people and doing what he suggested that I do. My hard-headedness had left me exactly where he said I’d end up. I ran the modification part of his company. Most of the time, he’d come in and yell at me for something that I had nothing to do with. I would have liked my job, if he wasn’t my boss. Instead, he repeatedly made me his punching bag and I was a laughing stock. I couldn’t complain when I looked at my cousin Ford, who had given up everything to help run his dad’s shit-hole of a repair shop. That place was better off burning to the ground.

“What’s your problem, Shayne?”

I shrugged and started walking into the other room. “Nothin’. What time is Mom comin’ home?”

“She ain’t makin’ dinner if that’s why you’re askin’. You can fix somethin’ yourself for once.”

I rolled my eyes and headed back to my room without saying anything to him. It sucked that the summer was coming to an end, because I really liked being at the beach, away from him.

A few minutes later I heard him yelling. My sister came bursting into my room and leaned her back up against the door. She rolled her eyes. “What a dick!”

“What’d you do now?” My sister Peyton was a little spit-fire. She was mischievous and definitely a handful. I’d had to take care of her messes several times when she was too drunk and f**ked up to do it herself.

She came and sat down on the bed, leaning her head on my shoulder. “I should have gone with Parker. Dad would have paid for us to have a little apartment. I hate it here. He’s such a jerk. He might as well put a f**kin’ chastity belt on me, the way he thinks he can control me. Does he not get that I’m an adult now?”

I kept playing the video game instead of rolling my eyes and pissing her off.

“You’re his only daughter, Pey. You know he’s just lookin’ out for ya.”

She threw her hands up as she stood and faced me. “Lookin’ out for me is fine. He’s like a f**kin’ warden at a prison. I hate livin’ here.”

I thought about our brother and how the truth of his predicament was going to trump anything she could ever complain about. Peyton didn’t have a clue. Like all women, she expected to be treated like a princess, without having to live by certain morals.

My phone ringing caught me off guard. Peyton reached over and grabbed it off the bedside table before I could get to it. “It’s Lacey.”

I reached for it, but she moved her hand out of the way. “Give me the damn phone!”

“Are you two fightin’?”

I couldn’t tell her or anyone else why we hadn’t been talking. “Just give me the damn phone!”

She tossed it on my bed and started walking out of the room. “You don’t have to be so rude!”

I shook my head and hit accept for the call.

“Hello?”

“Please stop calling me, Shayne.”

“Lace, don’t hang up.”

“What now? Are you going to tell me you’re sorry again? I heard it a zillion times. We’re through, Shayne. You lied straight to my face and almost destroyed my best friend’s life. You deceived your cousin’s trust. Why should I think that you would be loyal to me?”

“Because, it’s completely different!”

“Have you ever cheated on me, Shayne?”

Her question caught me off guard. Since I’d never considered us to have been exclusive, I never thought I had to explain what I was doing every second of the day. I’d gone out a few times with other girls and still talked on the phone occasionally to some of them.

“Shayne? You can’t even answer?”

“I…Lace…It’s not…”

“Save it! I was a fool to think that you’d changed. Lose my f**king number and don’t call me again! I’m not kidding. I’ll change my number if I have to.”

I heard the click of the phone hanging up and tossed my phone on the bed, before covering my face with my hands. She was just a woman in a slew of many that wanted my attention. If she was done, then so was I.

End of story!

Lacey

I held the phone up to my ear and listened to it ringing. “Come on, Sky, pick up the damn phone!”

I waited a couple more rings.

“Lace, this isn’t a good time,” She giggled and I heard Ford in the background saying something to her.

“I need to talk to you. Shayne called me again.”

More giggling. “Ford. Stop!”

I rolled my eyes. They’d been making up for days and I was so utterly sick of hearing about their happiness. “Can you two just take a break for a minute and lend me your ears? Damn!”

“Sorry, Lace. I’m here. What happened?”

I plopped down on my bed and looked at the ceiling. “Same as last time. He called and kept leaving messages. I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I called him back. Then he proceeded to feed me the same bullshit, and get this, I asked him if he’d ever cheated on me and he couldn’t even answer. What the hell?”