One Step Closer by Kahlen Aymes
The Night That Ruined Everything
HE WAS GOING TO kill his best friend. He was literally going to f*cking kill him.
The party was buzzing and so was Caleb’s brain. He didn’t know the time, but it had to be somewhere around 3 AM, and anger was simmering just below the surface.
He was thankful it was winding down and most of the guests had already left because he was agitated and pensive. The few who lingered were all part of his best friend, Dex’s, crowd. He knew Jake and Bret because they were part of the same group he used to hang with when he was younger, but there were several new faces.
Caleb had been hell-bent on making his father’s life a living hell. Dex and his friends were rough, tough, and tattooed. They walked a fine line between right and wrong; more unruly and wild than the preppy crowd that went to the private high school his father demanded he attend. However, that was sort of the point. The three other guys and two women that remained he’d never met prior to this evening when they’d shown up with his old friend.
Hard to believe how much could change in four years. Look at Wren.
His eyes had been unwillingly glued to her all night, stalking her every move.
The beer in his hand was probably the sixth he’d had in less than two hours, but he wasn’t drunk. The time at home had been a combination of heaven and hell. He’d been dying to see Wren and they’d had some great times together in the week he’d been back in Denver, but the familiar aches in his heart and groin hadn’t magically abated during their time apart. He silently chastised himself for being foolish enough to think that it would ease as she grew into a woman. His breath left his chest in a loud sigh.
Sure, the alcohol was giving him a buzz, but it wasn't enough to kill the burn in his gut or the pressure in his chest as he watched Dex put the moves on Wren. Caleb had asked him to watch out for her in his absence; but Dex was supposed to protect her, not want her. No one f*cking wanted her as much as Caleb had wanted her, or for as long. He’d been tortured with wanting her. He’d been tormented for years with it, but everyone thought of them as siblings. The very thought made Caleb’s stomach turn.
Someone was speaking to him, but he barely registered the sound of the female voice. His eyes were trained on Dex’s arms snaking around Wren’s back and waist, under the luxurious curtain of loose blonde curls that rained to just above her hips.
Caleb lifted the beer to his mouth and took a long pull. “Hmm?” he asked of the woman standing close to him as he sat, half-assed, on the back of a sofa. The music was blaring over the state-of-the-art stereo system, and he strained to hear her, but his eyes never left Wren.
“So this is your last year at MIT? Dex said you two were gonna start some sort of motorcycle company together. That’s so cool. My dad is part of an MC.”
Dex’s dad, Darren, had a shop and he had learned a shit load from the two of them; and more importantly, they’d become like family in the years after Caleb lost his mother. Darren was a stand-up guy who’d never abandon his kid, and Caleb envied the close relationship Dex shared with his father. Sure, he was a laborer and Edison Luxon had a successful corporation, but in Caleb’s eyes, Darren was the better man. He had ten times the respect for him.
Caleb met Dex at a high school wrestling meet when Caleb was thirteen and Dex was fifteen, and the two of them had become friends. Caleb spent as much time as possible at Darren’s shop and with Dex’s family. Dex was sort of a wild child, and his parents were less strict than Edison was, but there was a strong sense of mutual respect in their family.
Caleb and Dex hadn’t been angels growing up, but at least, Dex could count on his parents to have his back. It was completely unlike the abandonment that Caleb felt from Edison. Most of the time, Caleb acted out just to get his father’s attention. It hardly ever worked. Edison would deliver a cold lecture, calmly deal with the situation by paying someone off, and then forget about his son until the next time he got into trouble. Caleb had come to the conclusion that the only thing he could do was get the hell away from his father as soon as he was eighteen. Somehow even that got f*cked up.
“Yeah. We’ve talked about it for a long time, that’s why I’m studying mechanical engineering. It’s not that easy; we’re both dead broke, and his Dad’s shop can’t spare him right now. A lot has to happen first,” Caleb answered.
“But…” the young woman began, waving her hand around at the expensive surroundings. “It looks like your family is rich—”
Caleb cut her off. “Don’t get excited, honey. These are my old man’s digs, not mine.” He huffed. The only reason he even came home, ever, was because of Wren. The music changed to a slow, deep rhythm.
“But this place…”
“Yeah. My dad is swimming in it, but hell will freeze over before I’d ask him for a damn thing. He’d just hold it over my head for the rest of my life, or at least, the rest of his.” He could elaborate that his father was a control freak, or explain the reason he hated Edison so much, but he’d most likely never see her again. So, what was the point? Besides, he was preoccupied with what was happening across the room.
Caleb glanced down at the woman for the first time since their conversation began. She had hair so dark it looked black in the dim light. Her makeup was overdone making her skin tone a deep tan, and her clothing was tight and cheap. She was a sharp contrast to Wren’s natural, blonde beauty. Caleb tried to remember the name Dex had mentioned when he’d introduced her earlier.