Keeley's Fight (The Protectors 1)

“Ya, dude, but that’s not what I said when I got there. Coop had her in a headlock, with scratches down his face. Lord knows how that happened.”

“Ok, so what happened? You weren’t gone too long, so I assume the cops were called.” Nate mused.

“The Lyme disease riddled bitch tried to seduce her way out of cuffs. Didn’t work, thank God. But Coop didn’t want to press charges, so I’m not sure what they’re going to be able to do other than a restraining order.”

Laughing softly at Tyler’s description of the woman they’re talking about she asked, “Who is she?”

Looking nervously at her, Nate put her plate with the sandwich on it down in front of her. “She was a woman we were with once, more than a year ago. She didn’t mean anything to us then and she certainly doesn’t now. She’s a cold-hearted bitch,” he said truthfully.

Tilting her head to the side and studying Nathaniel’s face she said, “That seems cold. Like you used her?”

“No, sweetheart, she used us. Yes, we slept with her, but after? She lost all illusion of what we thought we saw in her, and she was nothing but greed. Demanding we give her money and buy her things. That’s not what we want in a woman. Let alone one we want to spend our lives with. And no we did not, at any time, want to spend our life with her,” Tyler reassured her. Shockingly, she believed them.

“She sounds like a real twatwaffle then,” Keeley mumbled before taking a bite of her sandwich. Nathaniel and Tyler just stared at her in complete shock before chuckling. “What?” She asked.

Clearing his throat and taking a drink of his beer, Nathaniel just smiled and went to get his and Tyler’s plates before sitting down on her other side.

“A little surprised to hear you say something like that I guess,” Tyler said before taking a huge bite of his sandwich. “You’re coming out of that shell of yours and you don’t even know it,” he told her and smiled over to Nathaniel.

Thinking about what Tyler said, she decided then and there that she would make a concentrated effort to not only get better mentally; to understand her feelings and work through her problems, but to make Tyler and Nathaniel laugh more often. She could live off that sound alone. It soothed her soul in ways she’d never felt before.

Eating the rest of their lunch in silence, Keeley contemplated what she was going to do. She had to work, but she was very nervous about working so closely with them. They both intimidated and intrigued her, scared her and made her feel things she’d never felt before. The arousal every time one of them looked at her made her knees weak with desire. She wanted to explore these new feelings with them, but she was afraid. Afraid she wouldn’t be good enough. Afraid she would scare them away with her inexperience. Afraid they only wanted her for the interim, rather than permanently, like they have implied. She had to work through these feelings of inadequacy before she could give them all of her, like they wanted.

Shaking off her nervous thoughts, Keeley decided she would have to tell them these things about her. Her fears, her hopes and dreams. She just wasn’t sure how to say these things without them running off or thinking she was, what she really was, white trash. Plain and simple.

“My parents never wanted me,” she blurted out, with no preamble, just ripping the band-aid off before she chickened out. “I was a mistake; that one time in a person’s life that they wished they could take back, only it was too late.” Looking down and picking at the rest of her sandwich she waited for a response. She wasn’t sure what kind, but knew she didn’t want pity. She hated pity with a passion; it was a wasted emotion, a way for people to feel bad for you but not enough to help you. Looking up when neither of them spoke, she first looked at Tyler because he was slightly more laid back, but the rage simmering in his eyes sucked the breath from her body. Keeley instinctively knew it wasn’t at her, but on behalf of her.

Feeling a hand on her knee, she slowly turned to look at Nathaniel and what she saw scared her more than if he was a raging mess. He had no expression on his face. His eyes were dead, his expression gone, and his jaw was pure granite. She wasn’t sure what to make of that. Was he mad at her? That she just blurted it out? Or did he find her lacking? Because even though they say they want her how can they, when her own parents never did?

Deciding to continue, she grabbed onto Nathaniel’s hand that was on her knee and looked in his eyes. She wanted to know what he was thinking as she spoke, and told them the rest. “They reminded me daily how much they hated me. How much they wished Mom would have aborted me as soon as they found out, but they were both either too high or drunk, or both for months. When they finally sobered up and realized how much I would cost, and mess with their drugs and alcohol, it was too late.” Taking a breath, Nathaniel still showed zero emotion so she continued on. “Dad used to beat Mom daily while she was pregnant, hoping that she would miscarry or I’d be a stillbirth. Unfortunately that never happened. When I was born I was supposed to be taken away, but Grammy made sure I wasn’t. She insisted my parents were good people, that they could take care of me, but she never had an idea of how much trouble I was in.”

“How could she not know, Keeley? Christ, how could the hospital not have known? Your mom used drugs and drank! That must have shown up on tests somewhere along the line!” Tyler screamed in outrage.

Not flinching because she expected something like that to happen, she looked at him and told them, “Sometimes, though not often, like so un-often that there’s hardly no documentation on it at all, the fetus isn’t affected. I was doomed from birth, because I was that one in ten million case where the baby is fine. Sure, I was underweight and much tinier than I should have been, but health wise? I was fine.”

“What else happened? Why? Shit, I don’t know if I want to hear anymore ’cause Butterfly, you’re breaking my heart.” Nathaniel whispered that last part in her ear. “How can someone not want you? Ty and I wanted you on sight!” He told her.

T

urning her head, Keeley’s lips connected with his. She didn’t push, just rested her lips against his and savored everything that was Nathaniel. Whispering “thank you” against his lips, she deepened the kiss. Gasping when he nibbled on her lower lip, he swept his tongue inside her mouth, licking at hers while he grabbed her hips and lifted her onto his lap. One hand slid under her shirt and up her back, while the other moved up her inner thigh on her left leg. Mindful of her injured right arm she wrapped them both around his neck and pulled herself closer, so her chest was pressed against his. Her nipples were hard and rubbing against the fabric of her shirt, turning her on more. Moaning into his mouth she started nibbling on his tongue, when suddenly he growled and the hand that was on her thigh moved into her hair. He grabbed a handful and pulled back just the tiniest bit, causing a pinch of pain that shockingly turned her on more. Deepening the kiss, Nathaniel started sucking on her tongue, causing her to whimper and squirm on his lap. She heard a sound in the back of her mind, but it didn’t compute until she saw the flash behind her eyelids, and Tyler’s amused, “Fuck, you two are hot like that!” Keeley could just picture the grin on his face in her mind.

Pulling away from her kiss with Nathaniel she was panting and out of breath. Feeling pretty good that he was too, she smiled and asked, “Is it supposed to keep getting better?” As the blush rose up her neck and moved into her cheeks, she hid her face in Nathaniel’s very large and muscular chest, while they chuckled at her response to having her brains kissed out.

*******

Sitting in bed late the next evening after such a wonderful day spent with Nathaniel and Tyler just hanging out, Keeley had watched her very first soccer game too, and discovered she really enjoyed the sport. Nathaniel even promised to get her a soccer ball the next day so they could play. She just sat there for a while reflecting on her day, when she remembered she had her new clothes to put away. Getting up and going to the walk-in closet, she looked around thinking this was way too big for just her. This had to be one of the guy’s room, Then she remembered them explaining it was for the three of them; that when she was ready they would share it. The closet could easily store three wardrobes. There were shoe racks on one side that could hold probably thirty pairs or more. There was what she assumed was a tie rack or maybe a scarf rack beside it. Shaking her head, she moved on to unpacking and hanging her new clothes, putting the shoes in the racks, and taking her underwear and bras to one of the three dressers in the room. Going back to the closet, she looked at the two bags she brought with her, and knew immediately she just wanted to get her music box and pictures from her Grammy out and toss the rest in the garbage. It wasn’t worth keeping. Everything was old and nothing fit. There were holes and stains in everything, from over-wearing them. Deciding to leave the bags there and just grab her treasures, she made her way back over to the larger than life bed and crawled in, looking at the pictures of her and her Grammy, all of them from before her fifth birthday. Keeley missed the warmth and love she used to feel whenever her Grammy got to come around. It wasn’t often because when she did, it would mean her parents had to clean up the house and themselves and act like they were a happy family. “What a lie,” she whispered to herself. Putting the pictures down, she ran her fingers over the top of the music box. It was pink and purple with fairies painted all over it, in a garden. Inscribed on the front were the words ‘Keeley’s fairy realm for peace’. It was simple and modest, the sparkles had worn off from her constantly running her fingers all over it. But her Grammy had made it for her so she treasured it. She still remembered the day she got it.

Keeley was so excited. Today was her fifth birthday and her parents had just told her that Grammy was coming over for the day. It had been so long since she’d seen her that she thought she was going to pee her pants from excitement! Sitting on the front steps waiting for her, she finally heard the clunk, clunk of her Grammy’s old car. Standing up and brushing the dirt off the butt of her dress, she waited. As soon as her Grammy’s car stopped in front of the house, she ran over and screamed, “Grammy, I can’t believe you’re here!!” Picking her up and wrapping her in a warm hug, Keeley felt safe and loved for the first time in months.

“Of course I came Kee-bug, it’s your fifth birthday! That’s huge!” She whispered in her ear. “I have something for you, sweetheart.” Winking, she put her down and pulled out a wrapped box from her bag.

Squealing, she started jumping up and down when her Grammy gave it to her. Sitting on the grass, she started ripping at the wrapping paper until she unveiled a sparkly box with fairies and flowers all over it. “Wow, Grammy, this is beautiful!” she exclaimed.

“Ma, why can’t you wait to give her shit till you come inside?” Her mom yelled, drunkenly, from the front door. Sighing, Grammy helped her up, and together they walked in the house; Keeley with a feeling of dread, and Grammy with a smile on her face.

Kissing her mother’s cheek, Grammy said hello while still holding onto her, before they made their way into the kitchen. “Mack, be a dear and go get the cake I made for Keeley, from the back seat of my car.” She watched her dad go, not missing the look of anger on his face that he had to do something for her.

Hearing an “Oh, fuck” from the front door a few minutes later, Grammy ran into the living room to see the cake she’d made her smashed on the floor. “Mack Stone, you did that on purpose!” Grammy yelled at her dad. “You two think I don’t notice the way my girl flinches from you both? Or how you ALWAYS reek of alcohol? I see and smell it all,” Grammy yelled while wrinkling her nose in disgust.