A/N: I wrote this over a few days while I was working. it was mostly little bursts of ideas that would come to me while I was sitting at my desk and I'd write them out. Enjoy xx Mariah
All Riley has been doing for the last two months is trying to keep her kids lives as normal as possible since Kyle left. How do you keep a family together if one of the major pieces just leaves? Do you just pretend like everything is okay when its not?
Lately, Riley's task with the kids has been keeping them in a routine. She wakes them up everyday at the same time, makes them breakfast and their lunches for school before shuffling them onto the bus at seven thirty every morning. She drives to work then, enjoying the little bit of piece she has for that hour drive before being at work until late that night.
Riley's mom or Lacey trade off meeting the kids off the bus every other day and babysits them until Riley is home right in time for bath time and then bedtime. She's never been more thankful for Lacey and her mother because she doesn't know what she'd do without all their help. It's exhausting playing both parents. She may have complained before about how involved Kyle was with the kids, but now, with no help from him at all she realized just how much he did around the house. To think of how much they'd fight over him not being there enough when he was there as much as he could, definitely hurt her. She wished she could take back all of the stupid fights they'd fought over and make things better, but she didn't know if she'd ever get that chance now that he's left.
Looking back, she wished that Kyle could've told her about his addiction. Instead she had find out from someone she'd thought he was cheating on her with. She'd never been more relieved to hear from her about how much he loved her, even if it broke her heart a little more.
She understood the humiliation he felt. The reason he turned to drug, but what she couldn't wrap her mind around was that he didn't trust her enough to come clean to her about it. She could've helped. She would've been there every step of the way for him, just like she wanted to when she assumed he was going through withdrawls.
She just wanted to help him. Every night when he'd wake up with phantom pain, she was there for him. She loved him. Even now, after everything if he'd walk through that door she wouldn't open her heart right away to him, but she'd be happy just to take him home. But instead, he thought she pitied him.
Did he not know that he was everything to her? It was hard to think of a time when he wasn't there.
They'd met in the spring of her sophomore year, she was sixteen and in Evan's class. Kyle was twenty. He'd just become Evan's guardian after their parents died in a car crash. Evan's grades had slipped and he was on the verge of being kicked off the baseball team, so she'd been assigned to be his tutor in math and history. They got together everyday after school in library, until one day he'd invited her over to his house.
She'd come straight from cheer practice, and knocked on the door, still dressed in her uniform and high pony, but it wasn't Evan who answered the door. It was his brother. His tall and handsome older brother. Or at least she assumed it was him. She'd never met him before.
"You must be here for Evan. He's in the shower," he'd scoffed, turning on his heel and leaving the door open for her to show herself in. "Stupid cheerleaders."
"I am not just a stupid cheerleader," she'd rolled her eyes at him and walked inside the apartment, closing the door behind her. "I'm his tutor."
"You look like a cheerleader to me. Never known one to be nice enough to be a cheerleader," he'd shrugged, his eyes lingered on her legs for a moment too long and she pulled on her skirt. "Prove me wrong and maybe I'll apologize."
"And who do you think you are? Some big hotshot?" She walked to the kitchen table, which was in between the tiny living room and even tinier kitchen. "I happen to be very nice."
"I'm Evan's brother." He tipped back his beer as she turns in the chair, having set out her textbooks and notebooks.
"So you're Kyle Parks?" She laughed, knowing the name that still was whispered about in the school hallways. He was being fast tracked to the NFL right now. She looked over at him, her eyes scanning over every muscle and every square inch of his body. "Hmm… you seemed cooler before I met you. The whispers around school definitely don't live up."
"How would you know? What have you heard?" He smiled at her as he walked past to the fridge, grabbing a soda this time. Her gaze skipped from his grin to the soda and then back to his face. "Do you want one?"
"Sure," slipped from her mouth before she'd even realized. "I've heard a lot."
He brought her a cream soda, sitting across from her. "I have too. So you're the one who's been helping my little bro get his grades up? Riley Campbell, I think he said was your name." He said and stared at her intently, his dark gaze glittering with amusement and a hint of something else. Something decidedly dangerous. "My brother is in love with you."
"I know. You should teach him something about girls because he's not good at showing his feelings. Every time I think he might ask me out I hear he's bringing some girl home." She shrugged. "So I guess he's not interested in me. But it doesn't matter. I'm not looking."
"Well, that's Evan for you." He chuckled, and a blast of heat ran through her body and up to her face when he laughed with her. Her hands went to cover her cheeks, trying to hide her response, but he grinned that same enticing grin he'd gave her earlier and reached out, gently taking hold of her hands. "He's terrible with girls Riley. Always has been."
The heat in her face intensified when he said her name like that and then pressed a kiss to the inside of her hand. Evan cleared his throat and she looked over at him, smiling when he came to sit by her.
"I see you met my brother," he muttered and Kyle moved from the table then, sitting back on the couch.
"Yeah. He's nice," she shrugged.
"He's a sleazeball. Don't let him fool you. He only wants in your pants. That's all he ever wants." he scoffed. "So what are we working on first? Math?"
Evan's comment had pissed her off then and it still pissed her off now that she thought about it again. Kyle had been flirting with her, yes, but she wasn't stupid. Just because he was older didn't mean he was only after her to get in her pants.
And that's what separated the two brothers in her eyes.
Evan was always jealous of his brother, trying to be better than him. He only played football because of Kyle, and he blamed his brother for the years he spent practicing only to not live up to his name.
That whole night had been a battle for dominance between the two. By the time she was ready to leave, Evan had full on spat with him over the grade he'd gotten on the History test.
"I'll walk you out," Kyle said, and Evan went to his room, slamming the door closed. "He can be like that sometimes. Forgive him."
"Yeah, it's something I've learned to live with." She collected her books into her bag and swung it over her back, following him out into the hallway.
He matched her pace and placed his hand at the small of her back as they waited for the elevator. No, that spot wasn't tingling, she'd told herself then, but had imagined fireworks bursting from where his hand touched her.
She knew then that this couldn't be good, falling for Evan's older brother when he was so in love with her, but she didn't care. He'd had his chances and still never took them.
Kyle had made himself very clear that he was interested in her.
Gritting her teeth, the elevator dinged and they entered. She'd tried to removed herself from how she was feeling for him in that moment, but it was hard. It was like a swimming sensation that pooled through her.
"Kyle," she pulled away from him, standing in front of him. His hands met her hips and she moved them to his sides, shaking her head. "We can't do this. Evan's your brother."
The door remained open for a few more moments before they closed and the elevator moved down. They had five floors to go.
"I like hearing you say my name. It's rather nice," his said, his tone low and seductive as his hands met her hips again, pulling her closer to him. "Say it again."
She backed up to avoid him, but he followed her until he back was met with the elevator wall.
"Kyle," she said again, but this time it was part protest and part plea.
"Riley, you can't imagine what you do to me." He nearly groaned as he cupped her face and laid his forehead against hers.
"I'm sixteen, you know." She hummed, licking her lips.
"I don't care," he whispered. "I want you to be mine."
"What about Evan?" She asked, unable to find the right words to say back to him. She wanted him too. He'd sucked her in the moment he smiled at her. Damn him.
"What about Evan?" His tone was different than hers, it wasn't an ultimatum. He didn't care about his brother's feelings. If he wanted her, he was going to have her. "I don't see him making a move on you."
Kyle eliminated uncertainty for her. He pressed himself against her, pushing her harder against the wall. His sandalwood cologne mixed with the soft scent of her own, and it was intoxicating.
He closed the space between them, plating his lips firmly against hers. The kids, tentative at first grew more demanding as the doors opened on the first floor. Neither of them cared, and Riley pulled him closer as he picked her up into his arms for the first time.
Her head swam with the kiss and the feel of his hard, lean body against hers. As he engaged her lips over and over, it occurred to her that maybe this was fate. And once more, she knew that this was absolutely something she shouldn't be doing.
He was older. He was Evan's brother.
But yet, she found herself powerless to resist. She was in love with him then and she didn't even know it yet.
Riley stared at herself in the mirror now, no longer seeing the same version of herself like she used to. Kyle had been the first man to ignite that fire inside her. He was the first person to see past her good looks and see that she needed excitement in her life. He gave that to her. The rush of being with an older, rebel of a man was intoxicating. Even after it wasn't a rebellion to be with him, that rush was still there.
She knew if he walked through that door right now, she'd have to hold everything inside her back not to kiss him. Because he'd broken her. He'd left her, after everything and he didn't deserve to have her anymore.
Maybe this was for the better. Maybe Kyle leaving was fate telling her to move on.
She had a few options. Josh was one. He was nice, with such warm eyes, although dark in exterior his soul shone through. He was nothing short of beautiful.
Could a date with him be good for her?