Over the Hills and Far Away (NOLA's Own #1) (54 page)

“Phil, I’m heading out to do yoga.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I’m leaving,” I whispered.

He woke up with a loud snuffling sound. “What?”

“I’m heading home to do yoga and have coffee with Alys and Lili. I’ll come back after, okay?”

Pulling me into his arms, he settled back into the pillows, taking me with him.

“Phil!” I shouted since he had me in a vise-like grip. “Let me up!”

“Don’t wanna.”

“Hey, I respected your wishes and woke you up to say good-bye before I left. Now, respect mine and let me go!” I laughed.

“Never lettin’ you go, Baby Girl,” he replied sleepily.

“Whatever. Let me
up
, so I can do what I have to do, yeah?”

With a huge sigh, he dropped a kiss on the top of my head and released me. “I’ll miss you.”

That made me smile. “I’ll miss you, too.”

It was a little past seven in the morning, and that gave me enough time to get in about an hour of sun salutations and poses before my besties woke up and joined me for coffee. However, as I was rolling out Mom’s bamboo mat, I spotted Lili moving around the house. Glancing out the back door, she saw me, too.

“Hey, I got called in early,” she told me quietly. “I’ll catch up with you later?”

“Sure,” I replied.

When Alys came down an hour later, she made two lattes, and I joined her at the table.

“You seem to be in a good mood this morning,” she remarked.

She had a positive glow going on herself.

“Yeah. You seem to have an air of smugness to you, too. What’s that all about?”

Clearing her throat, her eyes sparkled. “X asked for my number last night—and a date. He called me about an hour after you guys left.”

“What did you guys talk about?”

“Nothing too in-depth. He said he thought the sight of me punching Jason in the ’nads was the hottest thing he’d ever seen.”

“It was pretty spectacular,” I confirmed.

“What about you? How did you two get the matter resolved?”

“He held me down and shoved his dick in.”

She blinked. “Come again?”

“He did that, too.” I ended up telling her pretty much everything and how indescribably hot and bizarrely sweet it was.

“God, the pair of you,” she laughed.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s extremely dominant, Kenna. He’s not just physically massive. His personality is enormous, too. The man has the ability to captivate
thousands
of people. His voice, his body, his face—he’s pure alpha. I don’t suspect he gets challenged very often, and then you walk back into his life, and you’re just as much an alpha as he is.”

“You think
I’m
an alpha?” I asked, a bit incredulous.

Alys cracked up. “Uh, yeah. You live by your own rules and answer to no one. You’ve been like that practically your whole life. You’ve worked your ass off to get to where you are, and you have complete control of your own space, your own corner of the universe. I think you force him into a very uncomfortable place. You test his control, and in retaliation, he has to prove to be the more dominant one. And…I think you like it.”

I exhaled slowly. “I think you’re probably right.”

“He’s the only man strong enough to take you on. You won’t be able to walk all over him. Poor Brian never really stood a chance. You had that guy eating out of the palm of your hand.”

“I did not,” I huffed.

“Okay, let me put it this way. Brian would walk to the ends of the earth for you, if you asked him to. Phil would do so simply because you’re
his.
”

I had no clue as to how to respond to that.

“Well, I’m heading out. Will we be having dinner tonight?” she asked, getting to her feet.

“I have no idea. I’ll call you later and let you know what’s up.”

Dropping a kiss on the top of my head, she said, “Sounds good. Love you, Sweet Pea.”

“Love you, too.”

After debating whether or not I should head back to Phil’s to shower, I decided that since all my crap was here, I’d just take the inferior experience and save me the hassle of lugging my stuff over to his place. I should probably buy the things I used and keep a set over there.

It was nice to have the alone time though. I cranked up
Led Zeppelin IV
and sang my heart out with Robert Plant in the shower. I wouldn’t have dared to do such a thing in front of Phil. He’d dump me for butchering Zeppelin, if for nothing else.

I took my time getting dressed, selecting a baggy pair of jeans and a white tank top—my uniform of choice. I had to wear a bra with it, so I dug out a lacy nude-colored one with matching boy-cut underwear. Styling my hair a bit around my face, I piled it all up into a knot on top of my head.

Sheri and Jason should be coming back from the hospital. I was nervous about being over there, knowing I had been the cause of this problem. It didn’t matter that no one else blamed me.
I
did. And the thought of Phil’s guilt when he would see one of his best friends busted up by his own hand was weighing heavily on my mind.

I never should have run last night. I was acting like the coward. Phil didn’t deserve that, especially not when he ran out of the house, chasing after me. I should have stayed and confronted him. I should’ve pulled him aside.

Nothing would feel right with me until I apologized for it. Last night, I’d only explained to him why I felt the need to run away. I never said I was sorry. He deserved an apology and more.

Speak of the devil, my phone beeped with a text message.

Your Phil: I need you, Baby Girl. Please come home.

Please come home.

Phil was just as much my home as I was his. Fresh hell could possibly break loose at any minute over there, and he needed me by his side. Unlike last night, I was
not
going to be a coward. Phil deserved a woman who could face this kind of shit even if she was scared and guilt-ridden.

Me: I’m on my way.

Slipping through the side gate, walking along the brown-multihued tiled pathway that wound its way around, I hoped to calm my nerves a bit. I wished I had taken the time to meditate this morning but whatever.

Phil was waiting for me on the patio, his face unreadable.

“Hey, babe,” I said quietly as I approached.

Without a word, he simply opened up his arms, and I moved into his embrace, hoping to give him the comfort he was seeking.

“Phil?”

“Yeah, Baby Girl,” he murmured.

“I wanted to tell you…I’m sorry about last night. You were right. I was a coward. I never should have run off like that. I should have had the balls to confront you. If I had, maybe none of this would’ve happened. So…I’m very, very sorry. I’ll never make that mistake again.”

His arms tightened around me, and he rocked us from side to side.

“Thank you,” he said softly. “But I probably would’ve knocked his teeth out anyway.”

Sliding open the back door, X poked his head out. “Jace wants to talk to you, man. Heads-up though. Motherfucker is pretty doped up.”

“All right.”

I gave Phil a quick hug, and he kissed my Third Eye, filling me with his pain and trepidation. He was scared he’d done too much damage and not just to Jason’s face. The band could very well be at stake.

Looking over at X, Phil asked him in a vulnerable-sounding voice, “Will you come with me?”

X nodded. “Yeah, man. Of course.”

With my legs shaking slightly, I took a seat as they headed inside.

A few minutes later, Sheri came out and sat next to me. Her eyes were puffy and red-rimmed, a telling sign of heavy weeping throughout a long and sleepless night.

“Kenna? Is it okay if I talk to you?” She sounded as lost and scared and tired as she looked.

“Of course you can,” I replied.

Staring at the ground, she worried her bottom lip with her teeth. I could see she was trying to figure out what she wanted to say—or how to say it.

Taking a deep breath through her nose, she raised her eyes to mine. “I’m so sorry about what happened last night.”

“It’s not your fault, Sheri,” I told her.
Poor woman.

She had been just as humiliated as I had—more so, in my opinion.

“Phil has always felt so wrong about what happened that night. And Jason knew that, too. He knew how upset Phil was after it was done.”

Curiosity won out, and I just had to ask, “Just
how
upset was he?”

“He…” Sheri swallowed thickly and looked down at her wringing hands. “He
cried
over you. He really hated himself. I never understood just what it was you meant to him until recently. But something happened inside him that night, and from what the guys have told me over the years, he’s never been the same.”

Shaking my head, I said, “It’s not like I ever expected him to be faithful to a girl he spent a couple of hours with—”

“At that point, I think they were the happiest hours he had ever known.”

They were mine, too
, I thought with a hint of bitterness. They had made me so happy that I had refused to find that with anyone else.

“Um, I won’t lie…” Her cheeks and neck flushed deeply. “I’ve, um…I’ve given all the guys a lot of blow jobs over the years—Phil included, even after
that night.
But we’ve never had, like, actual sex.”

“I know.”

Her eyes snapped to mine again. “He told you?”

“No, Flipper warned me the night of the concert. He told me so that I could be prepared for any cattiness that might come of it. He also said you were very protective of Phil.”

Sheri glanced down at her hands again, nodding. “I am because of that night. He didn’t know me, but he cried in my arms while he poured his heart out to me.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you do it? Give all of them…”

She blushed harder. “Oh, um…well, we spent a lot of time on the road, and it’s just easier to have one chick on the bus who’ll do the deed. It’s not like it was a job requirement or anything. I was happy to do it. They’re all good-looking guys, and I care about them, so…”

I nodded. “I’m just happy it wasn’t in the job description.”

“Jason wouldn’t let me sleep with anyone else but him, but he…understands that I’m a bit of a freak in the sex department. I like what a lot of other people might consider, um…taboo
.
”

“I’m not judging you, Sheri. My parents were a bit taboo themselves. I was just curious as to why you did what you did.”

“Okay.”

“When was the last time you gave Phil a blow job?”

“Oh, um…his birthday.” She was so flustered that I felt bad for asking. “He was a bit wasted, and he hadn’t done anything with anyone in a while, so I offered, and he, uh…said okay.”

“It’s okay, Sheri. I get it.”

She let out a shaky breath. “Okay. Good.”

“How’s Jason doing?” I asked, hoping the change of subject would make us both feel more at ease.

“He’s in a lot of pain, but they gave him some pain killers. It’s making him feel nauseous—”

“Of course it is. I guess he hasn’t eaten anything since last night?” I asked, snapping into doctor mode.

Shaking her head, she met my gaze once more. “I was told to give him only really soft food. You know…because of his teeth.” Suddenly, she looked terrified. “I have no idea how to cook, Kenna. I was about to head to the store to get some cans of soup and instant mashed potatoes. I hope I don’t fuck that up too badly.”

Grinning at her, I said, “Girl, you’re in luck. Not only am I a doctor, but I’m a nutritionist who
loves
to cook.”

“Seriously? Oh, I couldn’t ask that of you, not after what he did.”

“You didn’t ask. I offered. I have everything we need. Let’s head to my place and pick up my juicer and some ingredients—”

“A juicer?”

“Yep. He needs something to help settle his stomach. He can have something more solid later on today.”

Getting to my feet, I was glad to have something to do, an agenda to follow. This would help me alleviate some of my guilt. It would keep me busy and my mind off Phil and whatever mess he was dealing with.

Heading back to my house through the backyard, she asked, “Where are we going?”

“My house.”