Smoke and Fire (Surrender to Them 1)

Fourteen

Chase

“How long have you two been up? Fuck, are you already drinking? It’s not even noon.” I rubbed my eyes as I walked into the living room.

I got a few hours of sleep after our passionate encounter, but I was still groggy when my eyes opened. I woke up to the sound of laughter. I followed that sound into the living room where I found Trent and Kayla curled up on the couch watching some sort of dumb romantic comedy movie. There were two empty beer bottles in front of them already, and they were working their way to the bottom of two more. I distinctly remembered both of them being rather disinterested in drinking that early in the morning when I suggested it. They looked happy, though. Kayla had a smile on her face. Trent was laughing at her or the movie—I wasn’t sure which one. His laughter was what woke me up in the first place.

“Sorry, Chase.” Kayla giggled and looked over the back of the couch. “I guess your bad influence is rubbing off on me.”

“I suppose I should be happy about that.” I narrowed my eyes at them. “Fuck it, I’ll have a beer too.”

“You don’t want some coffee first?” Trent looked back at me as well.

“Why bother? I don’t plan to stay up that long, anyway.” I grabbed a beer out of the fridge and walked into the living room. “What the fuck are we watching?”

“Okay, so the girl.” Kayla giggled. “She’s lost in the mountains and there’s this guy chasing her, but he’s actually in love with her.”

“Right.” I rolled my eyes. “Why is he chasing her then?”

“Well that’s the best part.” Trent sipped his beer and swallowed. “She has no idea he’s after her because he loves her. She thinks he’s going to murder her, but it’s actually her ex-boyfriend that moved to the mountains because he was afraid of commitment.”

“She doesn’t recognize her ex-boyfriend?” I twisted the top off my beer.

“He’s got a beard now.” Kayla nodded quickly. “He doesn’t look anything like the guy she used to date.”

“Good lord. You two would be entertained by a dancing raccoon.” I shook my head and sipped my beer.

“That would be hilarious!” Kayla’s eyes flickered with excitement.

I was surprised to see her happy, even if she was drinking. Things had gotten pretty intense when she told us her story. I watched as much of the dumb movie as I could stand before I finally just tuned it out and started scrolling through my phone aimlessly. I couldn’t help but feel a bit of joy as I watched her laugh along to the movie. I wasn’t sure how things would be after the things she told us. I was worried that it would be difficult for her to process everything. When Trent went to the kitchen to get more beers, I followed, and pulled him far enough away that Kayla couldn’t hear us talk.

“Is she okay? I mean, she obviously seems to be, but is that just her way of dealing with all of this?” I looked at Trent inquisitively.

“We talked for a little bit, and I think she’s fine. Obviously, there are a lot of unresolved issues that we’ll deal with in time, but if she wants to laugh—I’m going to laugh with her.” Trent smiled and lifted his empty beer bottle. “But I’m going to need a lot more of this.”

“Does it get better when you drink?” I lifted my eyebrows and grimaced.

“Not really, but she enjoys it. Come on, let’s just have fun for a little bit.” Trent walked over to the fridge and opened it.

“Where’s my beer? Are you two talking about me in there?” Kayla looked over the back of the couch and glared at us.

“We’re just discussing what kind of dirty things we’re going to do to you once the movie is over.” Trent walked back towards the living room with two beers.

“Drunk sex? Oh, I like drunk sex.” She giggled and winked at me.

“Have you ever even had drunk sex?” I finished the beer I was holding and grabbed another one before returning.

“No, but it sounds like fun.” She reached out for me when I approached and I sat down next to her on the couch.

“Fine, keep drinking then.” I opened my beer and took her hand in mine.

It was nice to sit beside her and listen to her laugh, even if the movie didn’t necessarily interest me. Whatever challenges waited in the future, we could forget them for a while and just enjoy what we had. Kayla was such a beautiful girl with nothing but kindness inside her, even if she did make a few bad choices before she ended up with us. I couldn’t imagine ever hurting her. Any man that could do that truly was a monster. It was hard to think about the fact that he was still out there somewhere. A man like that wouldn’t stop just because his toy ran away. If he didn’t have her to torment, he had likely found someone else. We had to convince Kayla to return to Glendale and confront him. She needed to see that he couldn’t hurt her anymore. She was a lot stronger than she realized.

When I finally get to look that monster in the eyes, I’m going to make damn sure he knows what will happen if he ever lays a hand on a woman again.

Fifteen

Kayla