Page 19 of Reconciling the Consequences

She found that she didn’t mind it so much when he wasn’t being a dick. Right now, she felt raw, though, like her walls had been shattered and everything felttoo much. She might have been able to brush off his brusque attitude on a good day, but today it hurt. Today his attitude had her feeling too much at once. She turned away from him without asking him what she’d hobbled all this way to ask.

She was halfway through the door when he called out, “Your laptop and cell phone are in the dining room.”

She paused mid step. “Thank you,” she called over her shoulder, not bothering to look at him.

She limped up the stairs to the living room. She didn’t know how she managed it. The pain was intense when she finally reached the top. It was definitely way more effort than she should’ve been exerting at that point in her recovery, but she made it.

She limped into the massive great room and looked around. She hadn’t yet peeked into the formal dining room—through an arched doorway to the left of the kitchen. It was as large as the rest of the space and could easily sit twelve.

On the long, dark wooden table, she found her laptop along with her cell phone. Exhausted, she took a seat and reached for her phone. She powered it on and was surprised that it started right up and had a full battery.

While she waited for her phone to load, she cracked open her laptop and fired that up as well. She saw the power cords for both were sitting on the table. Kevin and Derrick had really thought of it all when they had stopped by her place that day.

She quickly lost herself in her work emails. She was so engrossed that when her phone rang, she jumped, startled. She looked at the screen and saw her brother’s name and picture. She steeled herself and slowly answered the call. “Hey, big brother.” She sighed.

There was a pause on the other end. “Jesus FUCK, KARA!” he shouted in her ear.

She pulled the phone away from her ear in surprise. When she pressed it back again, she heard him beginning a tirade in Spanish. “Do you know how fucking worried I’ve been?Manita! I thought you were dead! After they called me I spent three days wondering if you were ever going to wake up! And then you just disappear?!”

“Well you weren’t fucking there when I did wake up, Marcos! Where did you go? Huh, big brother? I wouldn’t have even known you were there if hadn’t been for Momma.”

That shut him up real quick. Silence greeted her.

She rolled her eyes and continued in Spanish. “Don’t fucking call me and lecture me about checking in and what not, Marcos!” she snapped. “You’ve been disappearing on me my whole life. Fucking hypocritical bastard.”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Johnny near the kitchen.

“I’m sorry I worried you, Marquitos. I am safe. I’m staying with my boys. I have to go. I’ll talk to you later.” She hung up the phone before he could say another word.

She sighed and hung her head. Fucking Marcos—everything was such a mess.

“You speak Spanish?” Johnny asked from the kitchen.

She nodded slowly. “I’m half Mexican.”

She watched his eyes widen as he looked over her face. “Wow,” he said. “I never would have thought.”

A wry smile tugged at her lips. “My father’s Scottish roots rang true for me. My brother looks more like our mother.”

“That who you were on the phone with?”

She sighed and looked down at the phone in her hands. “Yeah.”

“Sounded heated.”

She rolled her eyes at his phishing attempts. “Usually is with Marcos.” She ignored Johnny and headed for the stairs.

“I washed some of your laundry last night,” he called after her. “There’s a basket on my side of the bed.”

“Of course there is,” she muttered to herself as she headed upstairs.

The combination of his extra-thoughtful actions and aloof and brusque attitude was obnoxious. She was tired of men thinking they could take care of her while still treating her like shit. Marcos had done it all her life, her father had swooped in when she was in college and done it then, and Johnny was doing it now. Even fucking Kevin and Derrick were doing it, and they weren’t even here to do anything.

Kara easily found the basket on the floor next to the bed and wondered how she had missed it when she had gotten up earlier. She found a pair of clean black yoga pants, a sports bra, and tank top in the pile of clothes. It was still probably hotter than Hades outside, considering it was early July, but she didn’t see any shorts in the pile of clothes—lots of pj’s and workout clothes.

She rolled her eyes, Johnny probably wanted her home and resting.

After getting dressed, she headed into the bathroom. She popped a pain pill from a bottle on the counter before she brushed her teeth, then tried to wrangle her mane of curls back into a braid with one hand.

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