Kane and Steele

Chapter 3

Aurora

"Who the fuck was that Aurora?" Steele bellows with a roar, grabbing my wrist, jerking all of me abruptly so my body turns to look his way. He's staring at me with an infuriated jealousy smeared across his face, along with it being in his belligerent tone that I don't appreciate.

"I told you. I bumped into his truck. It was completely my fault. I wasn't paying attention and didn't notice the red light. He's just some guy new to town, Kane or something. You need to calm down." I remembered Kane's name exactly, his chiseled features, his protruding biceps. They were etched in my head like a photograph, but I wasn't going to acknowledge any of that to Steele. Steele has always been jealous and overprotective when it pertains to me. He tends to often forget that just because he gets to stick his dick in me it doesn't make me his, but Steele has the power to start a lot of trouble if he wants and a whole town to back him without having to face any serious repercussions. I'm not going to have him harassing Kane just because he's new around town and had the unfortunate encounter of befriending me.

With Steele releasing my wrist from his grip, I take my fingers to his face, softly brushing them down the sides of his cheeks until they rest behind his neck. I bring my lips to his, administering a soft gentle kiss, "You're letting yourself get worked up over nothing. I'll see you later when your shift's over, right?" I avoid challenging him, as much as I really want to. Instead, I try to distract him. It's not worth bringing up the fact that our relationship is purely sexual if it could affect someone else negatively. Besides, it's not like Kane is anybody, he's just some good-looking stranger who'll come and go, they always do.

Steele eases into my kiss, his arms wrapping around my waist, pulling me into him. My distraction has worked.

Once our kiss breaks, he pulls back keeping his arms still curled around me and looks down so he can stare into my eyes, "I'm sorry. I just don't like the looks of that guy and I didn't like the way he was looking at you."

I roll my eyes, nodding my head, " You never like the way any guy looks when they're looking at me. Remember? We have an agreement. I'm not ready for a relationship with you or anyone." I grumble, pushing my hands up against his chest, stepping back, no longer able to keep quiet. I have too much pride. I don't belong to him or any man, it makes my brain swirl in agitation, letting him think that he holds some kind of claim to me.

Steele seems aggravated now. Cringing, so his forehead wrinkles, he balls his fists, gritting his jaw, "So you do like Kane?!"

"For fuck's sake Steele! Do you hear yourself? I don't even know the man. You know what? Forget lunch later. I can't deal with you anymore today." I assert, turning around, stomping off to my car. Today is Tuesday and every Tuesday Steele comes to the restaurant part of the bar after his shift and I take my lunch break with him, but not now, not today. I've had enough of his bullshit this morning. He can be completely infuriating with his possessiveness and jealousy.

"Aurora wait!" He frantically yells out, but I don't concede. I stand my ground, keep my back turned to him and speed off to work.

...........................

I know Steele will be by later regardless of what just happened, but I'll deal with him when the time comes. I'm just glad to be done with his arrogance for the moment and be at work. I don't really need the money I bring in from working at The Ridge, since I received a good sum from Jason's insurance policy. I just wait tables to stay social and get out so I don't fall into a deep depression like I did when Jason first passed. It's a way to kill time and keep my mind preoccupied.

When I enter through the dining room doors, my friend Leah excitedly approaches me, crazily grabbing and tugging at my arms, "Jonah hired some new guy in town to tend bar, and he's fucking hot! I mean tear my dress off, throw me down on the pool table and fuck me right now, kind of hot!" Leah exclaims, jerking around wildly in enthusiasm.

"Tell me what you really think Leah," I tilt my head, pursing my lips in sarcasm and then two seconds later it hits me. "Wait, Jonah actually hired someone from out of town and does his name happen to be Kane?"

Stupefied, Leah lets go of me, taking a step back to give me a baffled gaze, "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"First of all, why would Jonah hire a stranger who wasn't from Clyde Banks?" That was completely out of character for Jonah or anybody around here, for that matter.

"When Kane came in looking for work, the pipes went up again. Kane fixed them for Jonah free of charge, like really fixed them this time. No duct tape, half ass shit like Elliot pulls."

"Good free labor is Jonah's achilles heel." I quickly start to understand, speaking out loud to myself in a daze.

"Bitch!" Leah snaps, clapping her hands once in front of my face to startle me out of my revelation, "Again, how do you know Kane?"

"I accidently rear ended him on the way to work. It was nothing. A fender bender. He was actually really cool, but then Steele showed up and his manly ego took over along with his overwhelming jealousy. You know he's going to show up today like he does every Tuesday. This is only going to cause problems." I exhale a deep breath, sighing. I'm so fucked.

"I'm sorry Aurora, but you have nothing to complain about. Steele is every woman in this town's fantasy and you have him wrapped around your finger. So what if he gets a little jealous? You two are together anyways, right, so it shouldn't really matter?" She's says it so nonchalantly and that's the problem. We're not together, that's just what Steele always inadvertently has people think. It seems like Steele has taken things too far. I need to put distance, I don't want to hurt him anymore than I already do, but I'm going to have to. Things have gotten even more complicated now though. Kane may just be a temporary drifter that will be gone soon, but he's crossed paths in the wrong direction. I can only see Kane's presence complicating matters even worse.