Koda
As I was working on the pizza dough for dinner I kept sneaking looks at her where she sat at the kitchen counter doing her homework. Her long golden hair was up in a messy bun and a few strands of her hair had escaped the bun during the day and were now hanging freely around her face and neck. She was so absorbed in what she was doing she didn't notice me looking at her. Her brows furrowed and her nose scrunched up in the most adorable way as she read something she didn't quite get in her homework.
"Are you getting everything?" I asked her and her big beautiful green eyes looked up at me. I had always found her eyes beautiful. Even when we were children.
"I told you that I do," she said back with a small smile. I put the dough to the side and started chopping the toppings instead. I always felt at peace when cooking.
"I know, but your brother would kill me if he knew I could have helped you and didn't" I said back to her. She was back to looking into her homework.
"Yeah, he would," she said back in a nonchalant manner. "Speaking of my brother, when will he quit work today?"
"At 11," I said back to her and stopped chopping to look at the clock. "So, in like 5 hours."
"Great, I get your food all to myself," she said and I could feel my heart jump a little. Making food for Gracie and Adrian had been my mission since I learned how to cook. Maria, their housemaid back home, didn't mind when I cooked. Hell, she even taught me.
"You're only after my food, aren't you?" I said back with a seductive smile. She still wasn't looking at me but I made it a point to look at her. She would look up soon enough.
"Yeah, well, what else is there?" she asked me as she looked up from her books only to look right into my eyes. I was still smiling at her. For a second she studied me before a flirtatious smile graced her beautiful lips. God, I had been thinking of kissing them for years.
"Ah, you wound me," I said back as I grabbed my chest playfully. Before she could answer me I went back to cooking. I knew she would answer me sooner or later anyway.
"Yeah, well," was all she said before she went back to her homework. We were quiet from there on. I was cooking, humming to myself. A habit I had started with Maria and never been able to let go of. When the pizza was done I put some on a plate and I went around the counter and put it next to Gracie.
"Your food, Milady," I said teasingly with a smile at her and sat down next to her.
"Thanks," she said as she took a bite from the pizza. She closed her eyes and moaned as she ate it. I couldn't help but smile at her. This was my reward for cooking for her. That sound.
"That good, huh?" I asked her. She nodded and I continued. "Can't wait to hear you make that sound because of me and not my food."
She almost choked on the food. I had to muffle a laugh. Even if the words might be true I loved teasing her. The best part was when I got her when her guard was down like right now.
"I would like to see you try," she said as she swallowed. She leaned into me a little and I did the same. Her lips were glistening from the pizza and I wanted to run my fingers over them. No, scratch that, I wanted to run my tongue over them.
"Are you challenging me Atkins?" I asked her with a big smile. I had to stop having these thoughts about her. She didn't feel the same for me. If she did something would have happened by now but I still loved playing with her. So stopping was hard.
"No, would you like me to Samuels?" she said and bit her lip. I wasn't sure she knew she was doing it but it was sending signals to my dick and I needed to get away from her before I kissed her so I leaned away from her. For a second I thought she almost looked disappointed before she went back to her pizza.
That was when her brother and my best friend as long as I could remember walked through the door.
"It smells heavenly in here," he shouted, making himself known like he always did as he entered the house.
"Yeah, well, you don't have to shout," I said back as Adrian walked into the room looking like the rain had gotten the better of him. His brown hair was hanging in his eyes and he reminded me of a wet cat. Gracie stood up and stopped him from coming any further into the room.
"No, you are taking a shower and changing clothes before you eat, I will not have water all over my floor," she said and pushed his chest to go. It was funny to look at. Both Adrian and I towered over Gracie in height but she was as feisty as they came and I had seen her giving both me and Adrian what we deserved more than once as we grew up. Once when we were 19 she had given us a real earful on how to treat women after she had walked in on her brother and some girl the day before only to learn the day she screamed at us that Adrian barely remembered the girls name.
"Sure thing sis," Adrian said and left the room. He was back in five minutes in a new set of clothes and his hair was a bit more dry. He made his way to the food before any of us had time to react and took a bite from it growling in appreciation as he did.
"Koda, man, you need to open your own place," he said and I made a face at him. He knew that was the plan.
"Yeah, when your loan on the studio disappears," I said and Adrian gave me a look before he continued eating.
"Man, you can open up in the back of the studio, give it to my customers," Adrian said as I shook my head and held up my hand for him to stop.
"No thanks," I said shortly.
"Why?" Adrian asked with a hurt look. I knew my best friend well enough to know when he was playing me. This was one of those moments.
"You know why," I said back, giving him a sweet smile that I knew would tick him off a little.
"You should open up your own place tho," Gracie's voice cut in. Her voice echoed in my head and I lost whatever she said next as she started to pack up her stuff and move to the stairs. I came out of my bubble in time to hear the Atkins siblings decided not to go home over the weekend. Thank god. I dreaded going home. If it was up to me we would never go back there but even if Adrian and Gracie's home situation might be bad it wasn't half as bad as mine. I didn't want them to not see their parents because of me. Even if that meant that I had to see my fucked up mother.
As Gracie made her way up the stairs I found myself staring after her. Adrian shoved my shoulder.
"Stop drooling over my sister," he said in a playful manner. Adrian had since long figured out my feelings for his sister and even if he hadn't been okay with them to begin with he had now come to terms with it.
"Never," I said back with a smirk that made Adrian growl in annoyance at me.
***
Adrian walked into my room the next morning looking concerned.
"What?" I asked him and he just nodded for me to follow him and I did. We entered Gracie's room just as she came out of the bathroom. She brought a fresh smell of cherry blossoms and melons with her and her hair was still damp.
"I'm fine," she said, waving her hand at us. I could tell she wasn't. Her eyes were glossed over and she looked pale. I knew Adrian had a meeting at the studio during the morning, he had told me last night, so before he could do something stupid like cancel his meeting to take care of Gracie I opened my mouth and spoke.
"I will drive you."
I wasn't about to leave her alone anyway when she looked like that.
"You have work," she said, her green glossy eyes locked on mine looking at me skeptically.
"I will still drive you, to school and then to and from work," I said back and gave her a stern look. She was right, I did have work but my work at the diner always started later than her school and I did have a break between the diner and the work at the bar so I had no problem driving her.
"You don't have to Koda," she said like she was already giving up on the argument if you could even call it that. Another way we knew she was not feeling well. It made me frustrated that she was so damn stubborn sometimes.
"Damn it Gracie, let me take care of you when you're sick and being stupid," I said, letting my frustration out and with it dragging a hand through my hair. "Both me and Ian are worried about you."
"I'm not stupid, I just don't have time," she said back as she started making her way down the stairs as we followed. Adrian was being unusually quiet in the conversation but I thought that was a good thing to be honest. The stubborn woman I was following grabbed the tea and banana I had laid out for her in the kitchen and then went out the front door. Adrian was already in his jeep when I had locked the door behind us.
"Get in my car, I will not have you driving in that state," I said as I made a gesture to her body. She gave me a look but didn't argue with me as she went to my car. I couldn't tell her that even in her sick state I found her absolutely beautiful. No one ever compared to her or had, at least since she had hit her teens, and I had figured out she was a girl.
"Are you sure you are okay?" I asked her as I started to drive her to school. Just like Adrian I never stopped worrying about her. She was such a big part of my life and except for Adrian and her I didn't have anyone else.
"Koda, I will tell you if I'm not," she said as she ran her fingers through her hair. My eyes followed the movement before I looked back at the road. I could feel her staring at me again like the day before when I had driven her to school but I didn't say anything.
"Are you okay?" she suddenly asked me back. "You look like you haven't slept."
Her statement was true. I was suffering a bit from insomnia and sometimes my nightmares from my childhood took over. Last night was one of those nights but I didn't feel like telling her that when she was sick so instead I gave her a weak smile.
"I'm good," I said as I continued to drive. I parked in front of her school. As she was about to leave I pulled down the window to the car.
"I will be here when you finish school then drive you to work, text me if you feel worse and I will pick you up," I said and then I drove off. I looked at the clock and saw I would just make it to the diner in time for my shift just like the day before.
As I pulled into the parking lot at the diner I let out a sigh. She would call if it got worse. As I entered the diner Mrs. J greeted me.
"Good morning honey," she said with a warm smile. My mother was crap but if I got to pick a mother on my own I would have picked Mrs. J. She was warm and nice and looked like she would bake bread every weekend for breakfast. She had these gray eyes that you could stare into for hours and never find a way out of and I was sure at some point her hair had had a beautiful black color even if most of it had faded now to dark gray.
"Good morning Mrs. J," I said as I gave the women a kiss on the cheek and went to the kitchen. Mr. J was standing there doing the orders for breakfast that had already come in.
"Koda, my boy," he said in his happy cheery voice. The man was huge and was wearing long sleeves no matter how hot the kitchen was. I had seen him once in a t-shirt by mistake. The man had some serious tattoos and even if his dark brown eyes were kind you could tell that once there had been another man hidden there. His hair was all gray now and he was smiling at me. "I have just finished the order for table no. 2, will you take over from here while I prepare lunch?"
I gave the man a nod as I took over the kitchen from him. We did this pretty much everyday, working side by side. I liked the older couple and they made it easy to work here.
The day went by fast and just as I was leaving to pick up Gracie the boy came in. The boy in question was Nathan Rose. I had seen how Gracie looked at him and knew she had a crush on him. Why I didn't know. Something about the boy seemed off to me. I just couldn't put my finger on it. I walked past the boy and he ignored my presence as I did his.
As I drove I stopped at the gas station to buy a bottle of water and a protein bar before I continued to Marshall high. I parked just as I saw Ivy, Gracie's best friend almost carrying her to my car. Shit. She was not doing great.
Gracie sat down in my car leaning her head against the cool window and closing her eyes.
"Take care of her," Ivy said to me and looked me in the eyes like she was searching for something. The statement had no value to me as I was going to take care of Gracie no matter what anyway.
"I always do," I mumbled before I drove off. I didn't want her to go to work but there was no point arguing with the stubborn woman in my car so I did what I had promised. I drove her to work, forcing her to take two aspirin, drink the water and eat the protein bar I had brought for her. I put a hand on her forehead and saw her shiver.
"Take it easy, okay," I said. I let my concern show through. Her green eyes locked with mine.
"If you're that worried, come in and be there all evening and then drive me home," she said in a weak voice giving me an even weaker smile. I really wanted to do nothing more but I had to go to work at the bar. At least I had to go there and tell them I had to take care of her.
"You know I have to work, but I will pick you up when we finish at 01 AM," I said back to her, giving her a small smile and kissing her forehead. It was burning hot against my lips. She went out of the car and into the diner. I didn't have time to spare so I drove off.
I didn't have time to park the car before Mrs. J called me and told me I had to come back and pick Gracie up. I ran into the bar only to find Brad Cooper in the bar. My boss. Perfect.
"Hey Brad, I need the night off," I said as the man's dark blue eyes locked on mine.
"Why?" the man grunted at me. He was nice and all but he had a problem with last minute changes sometimes. I was about to tell him I needed to go and take care of my best friend's sister but I stopped myself. He wouldn't let me do that so instead I found myself saying:
"My sister is sick and I need to pick her up."
Brad gave me a look. I had worked here long enough for him to know Gracie was not my sister by blood but he didn't pressure me on it.
"I expect you to be here tomorrow," he said and waved me away. I bounced out the doors and back into my car. I drove like a mad man back to the diner. Something Adrian and I had in common. We drove like it was a fire no matter what. I found myself running my hand through my hair a lot as I drove. I parked in front of the diner and went in only to see Gracie sitting on a chair, Nathan having his hands on her face. My heart sank a little. Damn it.
I did the only thing I could and took her from the boy and carried her out the door.
"Thanks Mrs. J, bye Mr. J, see you tomorrow," I said as I left, not really caring if they said anything back but I could vaguely hear them say goodbye back.
"Mrs. Jackson called you my brother," Gracie said and smiled deliriously as I carried her to the car. The words put another dent in my heart. For a second I couldn't hide the hurt in my face before I concentrated on the fact that she was sick and I needed to take care of her.
I drove her home in silence as she drifted in and out of sleep. I carried her out of the car when we reached the house and up the stairs and put her to bed in her room. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing steadily. I put my lips against her forehead in a small kiss.
"I'm not your fucking brother," I whispered and then left the room in silence behind me.