Zoey And The Nice Guy (Big Girl Panties #1) Read online

  Kellen’s expression changed. His eyes went wide, his mouth hung open, all the color completely drained from his face. And then he closed his mouth and turned a little green. “My God,” he whispered.

  He hadn’t known. He moved past Zoey and scooped Maya into his arms. Maya didn’t object, which was annoying, since she’d argued with Zoey and Addy all morning about not needing any help. “I’m happy to take her to the hospital,” Kellen said. “If you guys can take care of the kids.”

  “She won’t let us take her to the hospital,” Zoey said.

  “She’s going to the hospital. Aren’t you, Sis?”

  Maya just buried her face in his chest and sobbed. Zoey couldn’t believe it. She decided to hate Kellen just a little more, even though it was awfully nice the way he was taking care of Maya.

  “Thank you,” Addy said. “She wouldn’t listen to us. We’ll take the kids over to Zoey’s.”

  He nodded and moved toward the front door, cradling Maya like and infant. Zoey hurried to open it for him.

  “Come on,” Addy said in her husky, ever-calm voice, “let’s get the kids out of here.” She turned to them and stroked the backs of their heads. “Aunt Zoey’s been DVRing cartoons all morning. Let’s go see what there is to watch.” She helped them into their coats and boots while Zoey loaded their bags into her car.

  They convoyed to Zoey’s house with Addy following in the Mercedes that her parents had bought her on her birthday. It always looked so out of place, parked in Zoey’s driveway.

  Zoey’s house wasn’t much, but it was hers. She didn’t resent Addy her rich parents, but she took pride in her own hard work and self-reliance. She’d graduated a year early and had taken as many tests for college credits as she could. In the end, college only took her two years, after which she’d gotten her CPA. Because she’d already established a relationship with an accounting firm doing internships, there was a job waiting for her. She’d graduated debt free thanks to scholarships and two part-time jobs. After two years as a junior accountant at Haverty Morris Accounting Firm, she’d saved up enough for a down payment and applied for a home loan.

  Three bedrooms and two bathrooms with another bathroom in the basement. She’d had the house remodeled and updated, with bamboo floors all the way throughout, a new roof, and new appliances. And the furniture…she’d gone all out for good furniture.

  Each bedroom was fully furnished, though she didn’t have any family to speak of. She had her friends, though, and she always wanted them to have a comfortable place to stay. In her basement was some gym equipment—an elliptical and some free weights. On the other side was a wrap-around couch facing a huge TV with two game consoles.

  The house was located in an older neighborhood with plenty of space between neighbors. In the summer, the trees provided nice privacy barriers. But being December, the landscape stood stark and naked.

  Either way, it was her little slice.

  They pulled into the driveway and Zoey parked in her garage. She had the kids with her in the back seat. She helped them out of the car and into her house. They hovered in the laundry room, which separated the garage from the kitchen and dining area. Sophie hugged her teddy bear to her chest, and Matthew hugged Sophie to his side.

  “Come on in,” Zoey said. “Make yourselves at home.”

  It was a silly thing to say. They were children. And they’d just had their home ripped apart.

  Addy came in the front door. She was only a little better with children than Zoey. “Hey, guys,” she said, “come on in the living room. Aunt Zoey’s got Pop Tarts, and we’ll get you hooked up with some cartoons.”

  “Do you have Frozen?” Sophie asked, as Matthew led her to one of the sofas.

  “Oh, my God, I do have Frozen!” Zoey said, hurrying to her DVD collection. “I love this movie.” She set it up and then went to the kitchen for Pop Tarts. After she’d toasted them so they were warm and gooey in the middle, she poured two glasses of milk and took it all into the living room on a tray. She sat the tray on the coffee table, and the kids knelt before it, never taking their eyes off the TV screen.

  She and Addy grabbed coffee and then slumped at the dining table. “I’m glad Kellen came by,” Addy said. “She really needed to go to the hospital.”

  “I think she would have once we’d gotten her kids settled.”

  “It’s good she trusts him. Maybe he’ll be an asset.”

  “I doubt it. He’s completely dim. Soon as he talks to Damon, he’ll be back to siding with him.”

  Addy huffed and rolled her eyes. “You’ve had it out for him forever. What’s the deal?”

  “He’s a douche. I don’t see why everyone doesn’t hate him.”

  “He is the farthest thing from a douche. He’s the nicest guy in town.”

  Zoey shrugged and sipped her coffee.

  Addy sighed. “Those poor kids.”

  “It’s a rough road, but they’ll be better for it. This was a long time coming, but I’m proud of her for finally taking this step.”

  She watched as the kids, covered in crumbs from their Pop Tarts, huddled together on the couch watching the movie.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “You’ll have to wait outside, Sir.”

  The nurse looked at him like he was the one who’d nearly beaten the life out of Maya. But he was too devastated to be offended. Maya gave him a brave nod. He squeezed her hand and left the exam room. There was a small waiting room just down the hall and around the corner. He sat in an empty chair and pressed his face into his hands.

  The world was a different place to him. In the moment he saw Maya and realized that it was his brother’s hands that had done this to her, everything had changed. He felt like there was no ground under his feet and he was struggling to find a place to stand before he floated away.

  God it was brutal. She’d been brutalized. Kellen couldn’t even imagine being anything but gentle with something as delicate as a woman. How could his brother do this?

  He jumped when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw Damon’s name on the screen. “Shit,” he muttered. He just stared until the ringing stopped. He couldn’t talk to him. Not yet.

  A moment later, he saw a voicemail message pop up. He listened. “Hey, man,” Damon said, sounding hungover, “thought you were just going to pick up my clothes. I gotta get to work. Where you at?”

  And just like that, Kellen found his place to stand.

  He was six and begging his twelve-year-old brother to let him have a turn at bat. “Come on, Damon, you promised!”

  “Shut up, Kellen. Christ.”

  Kellen kicked the dirt back behind home plate, behind the catcher. Damon was at bat. He swung once, twice…out.

  “You’re out, Damon!” one of the kids shouted.

  “You think I don’t know that, dipshit!” Then he rounded on Kellen. “You just won’t shut up, will you!”

  Kellen shrugged. “Not my fault you can’t hit.”

  “You little shithead!” Damon shoved Kellen. Kellen’s back hit the fence behind him, but he rebounded forward and shoved his brother back. Damon smacked him upside the head. Kellen charged him and was immediately thrown to the ground.

  Damon landed punch after punch until his friends pulled him off. Kellen crawled to the fence. He collapsed on his belly, rallied, and reached one hand above his head, latching onto the chain-link.

  “Hey!” Damon shouted.

  Kellen looked back, saw that he was coming toward him with a bat in his hand, but couldn’t figure out how to react.

  “Next time I tell you to shut up, you shut up.” And then Damon brought the bat down on Kellen’s outstretched arm.

  His parents had brought him to this very hospital. The bat had fractured his arm. His parents had grounded Damon for a month and made him do the chores Kellen couldn’t while his arm was in a cast. But in the end, they’d chalked it up to boys-will-be-boys.

  There had been other incidents, though none so severe
. And now, sitting here waiting for Maya to be examined, listening to his brother’s cavalier voicemail, Kellen’s eyes were finally opened.

  He called Damon, who picked up on the first ring. “Where am I at?” Kellen repeated the question. “I’m at the hospital with your wife.”

  There was a moment of silence. And then just as calm as could be, Damon said, “You tell her to keep her fucking mouth shut, you hear?”

  Kellen would have punched him if he’d been standing there. “How do you do this to a woman, let alone a woman you love? How?”

  “You don’t know the shit I put up with. You don’t know what I’m going through, so don’t you fucking judge me.”

  Kellen closed his eyes and wondered how he could have been so blind. “You came to my house last night, crying. You had just beaten your wife in a house where your children were sleeping and you came to me and I let you stay there.”

  “What’s your problem, Kell?”

  “My problem is that I’m beginning to see my role in what’s happened to my sister-in-law. Get out of my house, Damon.”

  “You don’t even wanna hear my side of the story? I’m your brother, for fuck’s sake.”

  “I just can’t be near you right now. I’ll hear you out when I calm down.”

  Damon laughed, and Kellen understood why, even as he hung up. Kellen’s version of losing his temper involved frowning. That was about it. He hardly ever raised his voice, and he’d never, that he could recall, thrown anything or stomped or slammed doors. When it came to emotions, he was very much an internal person. He didn’t like to show when he was hurt or angry or sad or happy…or anything. He just preferred to stay mellow.

  The nurse came out of the exam room. “You can go on in, Mr. Bradley.”

  “Thank you,” he said with a polite smile as he walked past her.

  Maya was still in the hospital gown, lying down on the exam table with a blanket over her legs. He went to her and put his hand over hers resting on her stomach. He thought she might be smiling, but under the swelling and bruising, he couldn’t tell.

  “I’m divorcing him,” she said.

  Kellen nodded.

  “They’re coming back in to take a bunch of pictures to document this, so that I can get protection. If you need to be with your brother—“

  “I need to be with you.”

  She was quiet for a moment. “Thank you. I could be here a while. They’ve got some X-rays to take.”

  “I’m here as long as you need me.”

  He saw two tears ease out of the corners of her eyes. When she spoke, her voice was high-pitched and weak. “I should have left so long ago.”

  “You’re leaving now, and that’s all that matters.” How long had this gone on? How many times had he hurt her?

  “My poor babies—“

  “Will be better off, now. They really will. And, someday, they’ll thank you for getting them to safety and loving them enough to be so brave. You’re doing the right thing, Maya. I can’t tell you how sorry I am that I never saw any of this before.”

  The nurse came in with a camera. Kellen waited in the waiting room again. Sometime around lunch, Addy called for an update. Maya had finished having her X-rays taken by then and was waiting on the results.

  He brought Maya some lunch from the cafeteria, and shortly after that, the doctor came in. She had a broken rib and a lot of bruising. There was nothing to do but give her pain medication.

  Kellen drove her to Zoey’s house and walked her inside. Dread weighed heavily upon him as he entered the lair. Perhaps lair was the wrong word. It looked like a perfectly normal house. But maybe there was a dungeon in the basement. Or a secret gate leading to hell.

  He eased Maya into a recliner and then took a moment to examine his surroundings. He’d never been in here. Never been invited. If that fact hurt his feelings a little bit, he didn’t see the need to acknowledge it. Sure, there’d been a time when he’d hoped to catch Zoey’s eye, but then she’d broken his nose and made his football game the next night pure hell, so he figured she wasn’t interested. Her actions hadn’t lessened his attraction to her, but they had definitely warned him away.

  Zoey and Addy came down the hall and into the living room. They hurried to Maya’s sides and took over where Kellen had left off, making her comfortable, asking her questions, offering her food and drink.

  Kellen could hear his niece and nephew laughing somewhere in the back of the house. Since Zoey’s attentions were on Maya, he snuck down the hall and peered into one of the bedrooms. The kids were jumping up and down on the bed, giggling and squealing.

  The first to see him, Sophie shouted, “Uncle Kellen!” She climbed off the bed and hugged him, as though she hadn’t just seen him that morning. His favorite thing about being an uncle was that no matter how many times he visited, the kids still acted like he was Santa Claus. Matthew was next off the bed, hugging him.

  “Wanna jump with us?” he asked.

  “Does Aunt Zoey mind you jumping on the bed?”

  “She hasn’t come back to stop us, yet.”

  Kellen laughed. “You two go on. I’ll watch and make sure you don’t injure yourselves.”

  He looked around the room and wondered how long the kids would be staying here. It was a nicely furnished room, with matching floral curtains and bedspread. It just didn’t seem very inviting to children. “Hey, Matthew,” he said.

  “Yeah?” Matthew stopped jumping to listen.

  “You help your sister and make a list of things you want from your rooms—just the really important stuff, okay? And I’ll go get it for you.”

  “Mom said to just pack what we needed.”

  “Oh, I know. But now that you all are sa—settled, I can go get some other stuff. Kind of looks like Aunt Zoey doesn’t have any toys for you to play with.” He’d started to say now that they were safe, but stopped himself. He wanted to make this situation feel like a fun adventure rather than a flight from danger.

  Matthew hopped off the bed and led his sister to the dining room. They found a piece of paper and a pen and went to work on a list. Kellen turned back to the living room and came face to face with Zoey, queen of all that was unholy and violent.

  “You can go now,” she said.

  He hadn’t known how to mentally prepare for this moment, so he decided just to talk to her like a sane person. “I know. I’m going to the house to get the kids a few things.” He looked past Zoey to where Maya was sitting in the living room. “Do you need anything, Sis?” he asked.

  “I don’t think so,” she said weakly. Addy was sitting next to her, murmuring something.

  “I mean go and don’t come back,” Zoey said. “I can get the kids anything they need from their house.”

  Kellen shook his head. “I don’t want you going over there. Damon could be there, and I don’t want you getting hurt.”

  She snorted and lifted up her shirt just over her lower abs. There was a pistol tucked in a holster in the waist of her jeans.

  Holy shit, she had a gun. Kellen jumped back. “Jesus, Zoey!”

  “I’ve got my concealed carry license. I’m always packing now. I think I can handle Damon.”

  He bit his tongue and glanced back at Matthew and Sophie. “Where do you store that thing?”

  “In my nightstand.”

  “Locked?”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “How would I get to it if there was an intruder if I had it locked up?”

  “You’ve got kids here, now, Zoey. You can’t just leave it loose, where they can get to it.”

  “I guess Maya and I will work out what to do. I want you to leave my house.”

  He purposely ignored her meaning again. “Yeah, I’ll be back in a little while with their things.”

  “And I told you I’d get them myself!”

  “No, Zoey,” he said calmly.

  “I can handle your worthless brother.”

  “No, Zoey.”

  “And I don’t need you an
ywhere around me, my friend, or her kids.”

  “Enough, Zoey!” he shouted. The house went silent and shocked eyes turned his way. He really hadn’t shouted that loudly, it was just that no one was used to hearing him…put his foot down.

  Hell, he was in shock, himself. Kellen stared at her with his eyes wide. She stared back, her eyes equally wide. There was something strange in her expression, too. Something that definitely wasn’t hate. He cleared his throat. In a cool and collected voice, he said, “I’m going to get the kids’ things. I’ll see you in a little while.”

  This time she didn’t argue with him. She did bite her lip and arch her brow at him as she stepped aside.

  Matthew ran over and handed him the list. Kellen took it and walked past Zoey, glancing back at her. He was slightly afraid of her now that he knew she had a gun, and she was looking at him so strangely. But then, he’d never yelled at her. Maybe this was rage. Maybe she was plotting murder.

  He was relieved when he climbed into his truck and headed to Damon and Maya’s house.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Zoey dabbed a little drool off the corner of her mouth with the sleeve of her sweater. “Wow. Kellen being assertive is hot.” Suddenly he’d seemed bigger. Stronger. More alpha. It was as though she’d seen a blurry version of him all her life and now, suddenly, he was clear. She wondered what would happen if she pushed him even further.

  Addy gaped, half shocked, half disgusted. “What is your problem?”

  Zoey plopped down in one of her recliners. “He yelled at me.”

  “And that does it for you?”

  “Not usually. Just with him, I guess. He’s always so fucking patient.”

  Addy glanced toward the dining room, where the children were drawing pictures.

  “What?” Zoey asked.

  “Language.”

  “Oh, shit, I’m sorry, Maya. I curse like a sailor.”