The others and I were all so comfortable now, kissing often, and even touching a little. I had even gotten a little heavy with Cole when he laid with me a few nights before, his hands finding their way into my shirt and eliciting electrifying feelings throughout my body I would never have thought possible. But Kyle, he just fled everytime it looked like we might actually take the leap and kiss. It was driving me crazy because I needed him to kiss me. My body was wound tighter than a coil anytime I was near him, and I needed him more than I needed to breathe in those intense moments.
I sighed deeply as I stared out at the thick covering of snow in the garden. It was a week before Christmas, and winter was well and truly here to stay, with freezing temperatures, and on and off blizzards. It really was beautiful to watch from the comfort of a toasty room though, and I loved it.
“Olivia?” Keira’s voice called down the hallway and I jumped up and peered out of the door, to see her standing in her neatly pressed slacks and blouse, obviously just home from work.
“Hey, you’re early?”
“I know. I have plans for all of us this afternoon, so I skipped out early.” She had a huge smile on her face, clearly excited.
“I’m glad you’re home.” I sighed, and it was true. Sometimes you just needed your Mom, or the closest person you had to one.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” She asked as she hurried to me and held open her arms. I walked into her hug, needing the comfort.
“It’s nothing. I’m totally being a baby.”
“You just tell me which of my boys asses I need to kick, and I’ll do it, no questions.”
“It’s not them. I think it’s me, but thanks for the offer.” I chuckled.
“Come on. The boys are upstairs. Let’s go to the kitchen. I’ll make some tea, and you can talk to me, ok?”
“Yes please.” I sighed as I let her lead me, with an arm around my shoulders, through the house and to a seat at the island in the kitchen.
She busily made cups of green tea with slices of lemon, and plated two huge slices of the iced lemon cake Matt had made the day before. Once she laid it all out before us, she turned to me and smiled softly.
“Right Honey, this is a boy free zone. Lay it on me.” I sighed and poked at the cake as I debated whether I could really ask Keira for advice on how to move things on with her son, but I realised she would likely know better than anyone what Kyle was struggling with, and why he was holding back.
“It’s Kyle.” I confessed. “I think he’s changed his mind or something. He…..he won’t….won’t kiss me.”
“He’s holding back?” She asked knowingly.
“Yeah. The others….we’ve all, you know, taken that step, kissed….. but every time I think me and Kyle will…...he stops, and runs. Am I doing something to scare him away, Keira?” I asked desperately.
“No Honey, of course not. I don’t know exactly why Kyle is holding back, but I can assure you it’s nothing you are doing. Kyle has had a really tough past. I’d never normally tell one of the boys stories, but I’m not sure Kyle will ever be ready to relive his, and I think you should know. You need to know what he’s been through, to be able to understand him sometimes.”
“I know….about his team all dying. Kade told me.” I admitted.
“Well yes, that was terrible, and the worst thing that could have happened to Kyle after what he’s been through in his life, but most of Kyle’s issues stem from the loss of his little sister, Reece. She died when he was only eleven years old, and he has never forgiven himself for not being there.”
“Oh God.” Suddenly the protectiveness, which drove me insane from Kyle, started to make a little sense.
“Kyle came to us when he was twelve. We had just adopted Xander, and had some other foster kids in the house, but Kyle was different. He needed a lot more than the other kids. He’d been bounced between his drug addict Dad and foster homes since he was three years old, and unfortunately some of the foster homes he went to as an older, troubled boy, were not good places.” I heard the undertone in that comment, and it filled me with rage and the need to hunt down these people who had taken in an innocent child and hurt him when he needed them most.
“His father was not a good man; drinking, drugs and women the only things he ever cared about. Kyle was taken from his care a ton of times, but he always somehow fooled the state into returning Kyle, likely for the state benefits having a child got him, more than him actually wanting Kyle home. When Kyle was eight he got home after seven months in a foster home, and was handed a six month old baby by his Dad, and told to take care of her. His Dad had slept with some woman from the local bar, and she had left him with the baby, a little girl, who Kyle even had to name, since his Dad hadn’t bothered. He named her Reece, after a police officer who had helped him from a bad foster situation a year before.” I took a deep breath, hating that I knew how this story was going to end, with that innocent little girl dead, and my amazing guy destroyed.
“Kyle loved Reece more than anything. He raised her, even though he was a kid himself. He made sure she had food and clothes, protected her from their father’s outbursts, and made sure family services stayed away, not wanting her to ever be
