Chapter 12

Summary:

Things seem to be going great, but then Owen's least favorite cousin Kira shows up unannounced at his bungalow. Owen tries to get her to leave, but Alise offers her a place to stay, not knowing about Kira's checkered past even though Owen tries to warn her. Alise will find out the hard way that trouble follows Kira wherever she goes.

*Adult themes in here, be warned

It only took a couple of weeks for things to fall back into place, where they were before, where they should be. Owen and I were talking every day and saw each other 3 to 4 times a week, sometimes more. We'd spend the night at each others places more than we used to, Owen would even stay at my apartment some nights (which he usually didn't like to do, it was something about A.C. and the quiet of the night that he couldn't get used to).

I'm not going to lie, I was still living in fear something might happen again, that he might change his mind and decide to dump me over text again. I tried to push that in the back of my mind as much as I could, but it would probably always bother me a little bit.

Things were going great. Almost too great. It was only a matter of time before something happened that threw us off of cloud nine and I didn't expect that thing to be in the form of a person.

It was mid-day on a Thursday, I was taking a lunch break and Owen slipped away from the enclosure for a little bit so we could meet at his bungalow with the intention of having lunch, but he had other ideas, which became evident when we walked into the living area. He grabbed my waist the second we walked in the door, pulling my back flush against his chest.

I chuckled, "What are you doing?"

Owen moved my hair behind my shoulder as his lips left light kisses along my neck.

"Nothing..." he mumbled against my skin, hooking a finger around the thin straps to my bra and camisole that I wear under my work shirt, which was the first thing to come off when I reached his bungalow because it was so hot out. He yanked the straps over my shoulder, leaving my skin bare so he could kiss, nip and suck on it without any barriers.

I bit my lip, tilting my head so he could have more access. "I thought we were having lunch?" I asked. I was actually pretty hungry. I had a light breakfast this morning, about 5 and a half hours ago, so food sounded amazing right now.

"We are having lunch." he whispered in my ear, letting his lips lightly touch my skin.

His hands gripped my waist and he pulled me flush against his body, my ass against his hardening member. I bit my lip again, shutting my eyes and leaning my head back against his shoulder as he continued to litter my neck and shoulder with kisses. I also pushed my ass back, adding more pressure to him, which caused him to groan.

My stomach growled, rather loudly, bringing me out of the daze he put me in as I remembered that I needed food and that's why I met him here in the first place.

"This isn't having lunch," I said, stepping away and turning to face him.

"I am having lunch." he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against him, looking down at me with a smirk before kissing my lips.

"I'm not lunch." I laughed, pulling back and wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Well, I can eat you, can't I?" he raised his brows, smirking down at me.

I raised a brow and thought, "Fuck it." I shook my head, kissing him passionately. He was quick to grab my ass and pull me up, so I wrapped my legs around his waist as he led the way to the bedroom.

By the time he laid me on the bed, he had already rid me of my shirt and pants and I discarded his shirt somewhere on the other side of the room. He was on top of me, leaving a trail of kisses from my neck to my belly button.

I let out a sigh when I heard someone knock at the door, but Owen didn't pay any mind to it at all, continuing to kiss and nip at my bare skin.

"Are you gonna get that?" I laughed after a few seconds passed.

"No," he mumbled against my skin, his hand moving from my knee and up my thigh, causing a shiver to run down my spine. "I'm not home right now." he said simply.

I smirked and nodded, liking the sound of that. The last thing I was going to do was fight with that, I knew what was coming and I was going to love it. His fingers hooked around the sides of my panties as he started to yank them down, his hot breath sending another shiver down my spine.

"Oh, Owen!" I heard a woman's voice call from the front door. Owen froze in his spot.

"Kira." he said through gritted teeth before groaning and throwing on the closest shirt to him before rushing out of the room, leaving me no time to react.

"Who's Kira?" I mumbled to myself as I sat up on the bed and searched for my clothes.

"Hey, Owen, nice to see ya!" I heard the woman continue when she saw Owen, she sounded so casual and relaxed. I really wanted to know who this chick was. I finally found my clothes and quickly threw them on before walking out of his bedroom to come face-to-face with this mysterious Kira. "Oh, who's your little friend?"

Kira looked like she couldn't be anywhere over the age of 20, she had jet black hair and light blonde eyebrows, meaning she most likely dyed her hair. She had pale skin but it was hard to miss her shining emerald green eyes, which immediately reminded me of Owen's.

"This is Alise," Owen cleared his throat almost nervously. "My, uh, girlfriend."

"Oh, very nice to meet you Alise, I'm Kira. Owen's favorite cousin." Kira smiled brightly and innocently. I immediately relaxed after hearing that she was related to Owen, my mind didn't have to wonder anymore.

"Nice to meet you too." I smiled.

"So, uh, Kira, what are you doing here?" Owen asked, almost sounding annoyed or caught off guard. I gathered she didn't tell him about her coming here, otherwise, we wouldn't have been doing what we were doing and he probably would have given me a heads-up. Plus, he's not the easiest person to find on the island, his bungalow was kind of off the grid, so he was probably a little surprised she found him.

"Well, I was just thinking I haven't seen my favorite cousin in a while, might as well pop on over and see how he's doing." she explained with a smile.

"You came all the way to Central America from Missouri to see me?" He almost sounded suspicious. I thought it was cute that she was coming to surprise him.

"Don't act so surprised. I thought you'd be excited to see me. I haven't seen you since I was like 15."

"Yeah, that's why I am surprised. Is everything okay at home?"

I figured he asked because she could be running away from something like he said, it's a little weird that she came all the way from Missouri randomly to surprise him.

"Oh, everything's completely fine. Nothing out of the ordinary," she seemed distracted as she looked around his bungalow. "Say, you think I can crash here for a few days?"

"I don't really have that much room, so…" I was surprised by how standoffish Owen sounded right now. I mean, this was his cousin. He wasn't being very welcoming.

"Oh, come on. It'll just be a few days, 4 days tops. You won't even know I'm here." she said.

"I don't think that's gonna work." Owen said firmly, he didn't seem like he was going to budge on this one and I felt bad for her, so of course, I had to do something.

"Uhm, I have an extra room in my apartment if you want to stay with me…" I offered.

"Wow, that would be amazing. Are you sure I wouldn't be imposing?" she asked sweetly.

"Yes." Owen said and I shot him a look.

"It's not a problem at all." I smiled at her.

"Perfect, let me just grab my bag from the porch." she said, heading out the door.

"I can't believe you just did that," Owen hissed at me in a whisper.

"What? Why are you like this, she's your cousin…" I whispered back, not understanding why he was acting like this.

I stopped because Kira made a grunting noise as she lugged in a giant suitcase that could easily fit an entire wardrobe and then some. She's probably just an over-packer like I can be sometimes, so it wasn't too alarming to me. It could tell it clearly shocked Owen because he looked back at me with alarmed eyes.

"So, when do I move in?" Kira said, laughing, so I caught on that it was a joke. I just smiled, ignoring the look that I got from Owen.

"We can go now." I smiled. "We'll have lunch tomorrow?" I asked Owen, he just nodded, although he didn't look too happy. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him. "We'll talk about this later." I whispered in his ear so Kira couldn't hear.

"We will." he said when I pulled away.

"Let's go lemon pop!" Kira smiled cheerfully and I laughed, helping her get her bag into the car I use for work, then we headed off for my apartment.

After being with Kira for a day I can say that she's really sweet and friendly. We talked when I got home from work yesterday afternoon and she told me about what she's been doing back home in Missouri and how she's going to the University of Missouri for Psychology, but she took this semester off because she felt like she needed a break from college life. I could totally understand and relate to that. If I were able to take a break in college, I would have for sure.

She told me a few stories about her and Owen growing up. Apparently, when she was 8 and he was 20, she used to dress him up in her mom's clothes and they would have tea parties together, amongst some other things. It's all adorable really and from what Kira told me, they were pretty close when she was younger. It really made me wonder why Owen never told me about her.

I was just getting out of the shower after work the next day and heading to my room when I heard voices coming from the kitchen. I recognized the voices immediately, one was Kira's and the other was Lowery's. I was curious to see what they were talking about. I couldn't hear anything they were saying, but it looked like I was interrupting something because they were awfully close to each other, not to mention Kira's hand was laying on his chest.

"Hey, Lowery…" I greeted him, raising my brows.

"H-hey Alise!" He exclaimed and stuttered, seeming like he was caught off guard.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. He never said he was coming so I was a little surprised he was here. Even though he does pop over here and there since he lives on the other side of the complex.

"Lowery was just telling me-" Kira began, her hand still on his chest.

Lowery took a step back, "Nothing, I wasn't telling her anything…" he defended himself.

I raised my brows, really confused as to why he was on the defensive, I didn't even accuse him of anything.

"Okay…" I said, glancing between Kira smirking and Lowery looking nervous. "So what's up?" I decided to ask, not accusatory at all.

"I, uh, wanted to see if you were hungry… to get something to eat." he explained.

"I'd love to!" Kira smiled, grabbing his shoulder when she spoke. She was a little touchy and she'd do the same thing to me, but I could tell it clearly flustered Lowery.

"But then I forgot I had to run some analysis that I forgot to do before I left work, so I should go do that… this was fun… uh-" he said, taking a few steps back, towards the front door as he glanced from me and then to Kira.

"Kira." She smiled.

"Yeah… okay, bye." He said before quickly leaving.

"Well, he seems nice!" Kira smiled, looking at me.

I stood there in shock, did he really just embarrass me like that?

I shook my head, "Yeah, he's uhm… a little weird," I shivered and glanced down, remembering I was only wearing a towel this entire time. "I'm gonna go get dressed…"

"Take your time love, I'll be here." Kira smiled as I walked away.

I immediately picked up my phone and called Lowery to get to the bottom of his odd behavior.

"Hello?"

"Wanna tell me what just happened?" I asked.

"Yeah. Uh, who the hell was that?"

"Owen's cousin. Why? Did she do something?" I asked, seriously confused at this point.

"No… it was nothing. I just forgot to run the analysis and it's pretty important. Maybe we can get lunch tomorrow?"

"Yeah… sounds good."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye weirdo." I said, hanging up the phone and shaking my head. Lowery had his moments and would get flustered sometimes, especially when he forgot to do something important, so I just figured that's why he was acting like a jackass.

Then I remembered that I had started to text Owen earlier, but got distracted when I was on my way out of work so I never sent it. I figured it was just easier to call him at this point.

"Hey babe." He answered. I smiled, he didn't sound annoyed even though he was at work and that had been a theme the past few days because of his boss, so this was a good sign.

"Hey, I just wanted to let you know that a few of us are going to Three Horns in 30 minutes if you wanted to stop by after you're finished. We'll probably be there for a few hours." I said.

"Is Kira going to be there?"

"Yeah…" I trailed off.

"Then no."

I groaned, "Owen, seriously? Come on, she's your cousin. She can't be that bad. And she told me how close you two were when she was younger, what happened that makes you like this?"

"She did?" now he sounded annoyed, then he groaned. "There's just something things about her that you don't know." He answered ominously.

"Okay, so tell me and that won't be an issue anymore…" I urged, my voice soft. I didn't want him to get more annoyed than he already was.

"Alright, fine. Well-" he stopped talking when I heard Barry's voice in the background. I couldn't make out what he said, but he sounded panicked. "Shit. I gotta go."

"Is everything okay?" I asked, worried.

"I'm about to find out." He hung up the phone. I sighed, throwing the phone on my bed.

"Hey, did you ask Owen if he was going to come?" Kira called from outside my door as if like clockwork.

"Uh… Yeah, he's busy with work. He said next time though!" I called back, scanning my closet for an outfit to wear.

"Oh man, I was really looking forward to spending time with him." She sounded upset. I sighed, I felt really bad. Why was Owen being such a dick about it?

There's just some things about her that you don't know, his words rang in my ears.

What could that mean? I shook it off and got ready so we could go meet Lachlan and Lucy at the bar.

"Hey you two!" I greeted Lucy and Lachlan, getting a kiss on the cheek from Lachlan and a hug from Lucy. "This is Kira." I said, looking at where she stood behind me.

"Hi." Lucy smiled and gave a small wave.

"Well well, how'd a sexy thing like you wind up in this dive bar?" Lachlan asked with a smirk. I rolled my eyes at his usual flirtatious behavior. He's used that pick-up line on me before too.

"I could say the same about you, tiger." Kira smirked, stroking his arm lightly.

"Well, since you're here, what are you drinking? It's on me." he said, putting his arm around her shoulders and leading her towards the bar.

I scoffed, "Looks like he's found his perfect match."

"I guess so." Lucy said, her voice falling.

I widened my eyes and looked at her, realizing how insensitive that was. She still has her crush on him, which she's been trying to get over. I still urge her to tell him, I mean it's been almost 5 months, but she was still nervous.

"That's not what I meant… I mean they're both overly friendly… she's harmless." I explained. Lucy just shrugged and headed for the bar.

I mean, I hope she's harmless.