Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

DANI

I get up, dusting my ass off, and hold a hand out to Kyle to help him up. He gives me a one-sided smirk as he takes my hand, but he doesn't let me pull him. Instead, he tugs me back down and I clumsily land on top of him, but he effortlessly breaks my fall, catching me in his arms. He presses a gentle kiss to my lips, cupping my jaw. "Thank you," he breathes against my lips.

"For what? Not being a gold digger? That's a pretty low bar you've got," I tease, though there's a hint of anger woven in the words. Not for Kyle, but for all those girls in his past.

"No, for being you. And for letting me be me."

He kisses me again while I'm thinking that should be the bare minimum with a partner. And if there's one thing Kyle deserves, it's more than the bare fucking minimum. He's a catch, and I know it, and it has absolutely nothing to do with finances.

We climb back on the bike, the rumble of the engine filling the silence, and Kyle takes off.

This is not what I thought he was asking for when he invited me on a ride today. I could tell something was weighing on his mind but never expected a show and tell of his ugly past and a reveal of what I guess is some big secret that his family has money, much less an invitation to meet his family. Especially a family that sounds as awful as he makes them sound.

I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind and tell them exactly what they're missing out on with their amazing son.

Yesterday at Costco comes back to my mind, though. Janey seemed nice. I know she's a sister-in-law, but she could've gone for my jugular and it would've been absolutely warranted. Instead, she smiled and was totally nice to me after I came up on them hotter than hell.

Okay, so Janey's off the chopping block, but the rest of them, especially his dad, I'm gonna tell them exactly what I think about them.

I'm confident in that decision until Kyle turns into a gated opening in a big iron fence and pulls into what amounts to a parking lot in front of a house. It's not actually a house, but I don't know what to call it. What's bigger than a mansion? It's not a castle in style, but it's probably bigger than some.

It's a huge whatever-it-is with a fountain in the middle of the driveway, a front porch I could walk laps on, and a full turf yard. It looks like…

"You live in the White House?" I ask when I pull my helmet off and Kyle hangs it on the handlebars.

Sarcastically, he holds an arm out and says in a stiff as fuck accent, "Welcome to Harrington Estate."

Estate. That's what this kind of home is called. I've been to estate sales, but those were just when someone's grandma or grandpa died and they were cleaning out the house. I don't know that I've ever heard a house described that way, though.

I'm starting to see why Kyle feels like his family's wealth is a big deal. Because we're beyond talking about money. He's talking about money and power and influence in a way most people can't even fathom. Or at least I can't.

I look left and right, knowing my eyes are wide.

Kyle takes my hand. "We can leave if you want. I'll tell 'em to fuck off and deal with Kayla later if you say the word."

Turning my gaze to him, I see the worry in his blue eyes. No, not worry… fear. He deals with me and my drama, cocky smirk. He confronts Kathy, cold as ice. He chats it up with a police officer, all business. But he looks downright terrified of a simple family dinner.

How monstrous are these people?

I squeeze his hand and shake my head. "Hey, it'll be okay. I'm a big girl. I can deal with a few assholes. In case you hadn't noticed, it's kind of my specialty." I'm pulling a page from his playbook, trying to joke a bit in an attempt to settle him down.

"I'm not scared of that. I have no doubt you can take them all on and come out the other side strong as ever. But they're…"

He doesn't have time to tell me what they are because the front door opens and Kayla steps out, smiling.

Kyle gave me the rundown on his siblings, starting with the ones from Costco. Janey, nurse, sunshine and rainbows type, and pregnant with Cole's—and definitely not Kyle's—baby. Cole, private investigator, quiet, intelligent, and obsessively in love with Janey. Good to have on your side, deadly to have against you. Kayla, business brain, but reads people easier than a newspaper, can play whatever part is needed to get her way.

And I can see what Kyle means now. Kayla's face looks friendly and welcoming, but her eyes? They're shrewd and clever as she assesses us. She might be more dangerous than her brothers, though in a totally different manner.

As we walk up to the door, Kayla pins Kyle with a look. "We were afraid you'd gotten lost. Almost had to call in the big guns." Kyle goes stiff at my side, and Kayla's smile turns triumphant. "Good to see you again. Dani, right?" She holds her hand out to me, and I shake hers firmly, meeting her eyes. Still holding my hand, she cuts her eyes back to Kyle. "Does anyone know you're bringing a guest?"

He ticks his head left and right once and Kayla laughs. "Oh, this is gonna be fun. Come on in, you two." She waves us in like it's her house, not Kyle's childhood home where he should be welcome anytime.

Inside, I'm even more awed over the house than I was outside. It's money everywhere I look—expensive marble floors, ornate trim on the walls and ceiling, huge art pieces with special lighting, and the expanse of the space makes me feel like I'm in a church.

It's no big deal , I remind myself.

It's not that I'm attracted to Kyle's family's money. The truth is that I'm intimidated by it. I've never been somewhere like this. Actually, I take that back. I went on a school field trip to a place like this… except it was an art museum, not a home.

My shoes squeak on the marble and I become acutely aware of how underdressed I probably am. I didn't give it a second thought when Kyle talked about a ride, nor when he asked me to come to his family's with him because he's wearing jeans, boots, and a black T-shirt, and I've got on the jeans and shirt I wore to my own parents' for lunch. But Kayla's pants are linen and flowy, her white button-up shirt looks classy, her blonde hair is in perfectly styled waves, and her jewelry is all understated and elegant. I'm definitely out of my league.

"Was that Kyle I heard?" a woman's voice says. A second later, Kyle's mom steps into view. I know instantly that's who she must be because she looks like a very-slightly older version of Kayla. "Honey! You came?" she sounds surprised as she throws her arms open wide and embraces him. "And you brought… a friend?" She turns warm eyes to me, questioning but not judgmental.

"Mom, this is Dani Becerra. Dani, this is my mom, Miranda Harrington." I hold my hand out, but she wraps her arms around me too.

"It's so nice to meet you, Dani," she says happily. I look sideways to Kyle in confusion because this isn't the welcome I was expecting, but he shrugs, unconcerned.

"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Harrington."

"Oh, please call me Miranda," she instructs, pulling me into a formal living room. When I look behind me, I see that Kyle and Kayla are having an entire conversation comprised of various glances and glares. Their mouths are silent, but their eyes are saying a lot.

"Look, Kyle brought a friend," Miranda declares ahead of us as we enter. Nope, can't do it… she's Mrs. Harrington to me.

I see Janey and Cole first, their faces familiar. Janey smiles instantly, and though Cole is sitting right next to her on the couch, he scoots another inch closer like I'm some secret ninja-level threat to his wife or baby's safety. "Dani!" Janey exclaims brightly, struggling to get up for a second before giving up. "Nice to see you again!"

Kyle comes to my side, taking my hand. "Everyone, this is Dani. Dani, this is…" He points to my far left to begin, gesturing around the room as he introduces me to each person. "Cameron, my oldest brother. His daughter, Grace, is around here somewhere."

"Kitchen," Cameron fills in helpfully, his blue eyes on Kyle more than me. Cameron looks like he probably studies the stock market for fun, given his Sunday attire of a full suit with a red power tie, but his gaze has an empty hollowness to it that makes my heart hurt even though I don't know why.

"Carter and his wife, Luna." Carter is another blonde, blue-eyed Adonis looking guy, and Luna is short, curvy, with hair that's piled on her head in some sort of bandana magic, and big, round glasses that are sliding down her nose. To my relief, she's wearing floral denim overalls that appear to be… yep, paint-splattered. Okay, feeling better about my jeans now. Especially when she smiles and waves.

"Chance and his wife, Samantha." Chance is wearing slacks, a dress shirt, and a tie, making me wonder how much he works and what he does. Maybe sales like Xavier? Samantha has on a matching two-piece lounge set, but she's also wearing several necklaces, pretty gold earrings, and coordinating sandals so it's more of a ‘look' than a ‘sit around and watch Netflix' vibe. Her dark eyes are flicking from me to Kyle and back again with interest, and when I arch a brow, daring her to question my place here, her lips lift into a tiny smile of approval that makes me feel like I just passed at least one test.

"And you already met Cole and Janey, and Kayla," Kyle wraps up.

"And got the full rundown on us, I'm sure," Kayla offers, coming around to perch on the arm of the couch near Janey.

This is almost creepy. It's an entire room of Ken dolls come to life. Every man is tall, leanly muscled, blond, and blue-eyed. With Kayla also looking a bit Barbie-esque with her bright blonde hair and blue eyes, I can see why Kyle feels like the odd man out and questions the genetics. He's definitely built differently from his brothers, and his hair and eyes are slightly different, too.

I also note as he introduces everyone that his dad isn't here.

"You've already met?" Miranda asks, looking from me to Kayla.

Kayla nods, her smile easy but her eyes dancing. "Yeah, we ran into each other at Costco yesterday, didn't we?"

There's a vague threat of ‘act right or I'll mention your dramatics', and I don't do well with intimidation so I lay it all out there, unashamed but apologetic. "I'd like to apologize again for causing a scene. I saw Kyle touching your belly," I tell Janey, "and assumed the worst. I'm sorry."

"Can't blame you for assuming the worst where he's concerned," Carter mumbles, giving Kyle a shit-eating grin like it's just some brotherly teasing, but I'm about ready to throw hands on Kyle's behalf.

"You were touching Janey?" Cole questions flatly, his eyes cold as he locks onto Kyle.

The brothers might be joking, but I instinctively move closer to Kyle, not for my own protection, but because I'm willing to protect him if need be. Even against his family. Especially against his family.

Janey swats Cole's thigh, and his eyes fly to her like he thinks something's wrong, like maybe her water broke or she's having a contraction. But she's misread my movement and thinks I'm put off by the brothers. "Hush, you're gonna scare Dani off and I told you, I like her. Kyle was feeling the baby flip-flop around because I asked him if he wanted to."

I hear that she likes me. Kyle focuses on something else she said.

"Yeah, so I reached right up in there and high-fived the lil guy," Kyle jokes, demonstrating by pressing his thumb to his fingers and wiggling them like he's sticking them up a vagina. "I'm totally gonna be his favorite uncle."

Janey laughs. Cole doesn't.

But I see what Kyle's doing when he takes the attention off me and what could be an unflattering introduction by putting it squarely on himself as a bigger, louder, better target. It's the same thing he did with me and the officer and with his guys and Kathy. Kyle takes it all on, protecting everyone he cares about by throwing himself in front of any incoming bullet. It's how he shows he cares.

"Like hell you are," Carter retorts. "I'm always the favorite. Just ask my Gracie girl."

Cameron snorts out a dry laugh. "You haven't been her favorite in months. Not since you refused to take her to the salon."

Carter gawks at him. "She wanted a bright blue streak in her blonde hair! If I'd done that, you would've killed me."

Cameron shrugs. "She's still salty about it. It was a test and you failed."

"I would've taken her," Kyle interjects, nodding like a bobblehead. "That's why me and Gracie, like this." He crosses his fingers tight to show how close they are.

"She's mad at you too. Said you haven't been by in a couple of weeks." Cameron glances at me with the tiniest hint of a smile teasing at his lips. "Though I suppose I understand why now. Grace isn't quite as forgiving, though."

"Well, lemme fix that right now." Kyle releases my hand, walks to the doorway, and calls out, "Gracey Facey!"

"Uncle Kyle! You're here!" a girl's voice shouts loudly. Suddenly, a smaller version of the rest of the Harringtons hits Kyle square in the chest with a hug. He picks her up, her legs dangling loosely, and waves her back and forth, making her legs look like one of the Elvis clocks I've seen at the thrift store.

The warm, honest emotion of the scene makes my ovaries start dancing a super-fast merengue in my belly. Though I love my niece and nephew, I haven't given much thought to kids of my own, but seeing Kyle with his niece definitely makes him more attractive. As if he needed any help in that area.

Grace is at that awkward stage when kids are more arms and legs than body, with blonde curls that reach down her back, and when Kyle sets her down, I can see her blue eyes match her father's.

"Where have you been?" Grace demands as she throws her hands on her hips, her tone holding more sass than she should be capable of at such a young age. She's definitely going to be a handful.

"Here, there, everywhere," Kyle tells her, flashing a teasing grin as he doesn't answer the question. I appreciate that he doesn't put the blame on me for taking up his time because kids can be brutal about that stuff, and if Grace is this important to Kyle, I want her to like me too.

"Hey! You're new," Grace says, finally spying me. She comes right up in front of me to hold her hand out. Surprised, I shake it. "I'm Grace Harrington, nice to meet you." It's a shift in formality, and I suspect Cameron has taught her to introduce herself this way.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Dani Becerra, a friend of Kyle's."

"Like a friend… or a friend ?" she asks, making it clear that she wants to know exactly how close Kyle and I are. I feel like everyone else in the room leans forward a bit too, interested in what I'm going to say.

"Uhm…" I look to Kyle, hoping for some help here.

But he holds up his hands. "Oh, no, I'm not interfering again. I've learned my lesson to let you handle shit on your own. Besides, I kinda want to hear that answer too." He leans my way, ear first with a smirk on his face. He's teasing, with no sign of the serious, raw vulnerability he showed earlier, and I'd bet this is how he always acts with his family.

Light, superficial, teasing, nothing of real depth and substance. I'd wonder if they know what they're missing out on, but I think I already know the answer… they don't have any idea.

"Uhm… friend?" I answer, not sure that clarifies things for anyone.

"We're just glad you came," Mrs. Harrington says, and I throw her a grateful smile.

"Subtle and smooth, as always," Kayla stage-whispers to her mom.

Kyle scoffs. "I help, I get yelled at in two languages and backhanded in my chest." He rubs his pec like he can still feel my love tap. "Mom does it and gets a smile of undying gratitude? Do you know what I went through just to get this woman to speak to me instead of flipping me off?" He's asking the room at large, who of course have no idea, but they're looking at me like they totally understand.

"Well if you hadn't been such a—" I pause, not sure if I should curse in front of Grace, and settle on, " pendejo , I wouldn't have been flipping you off."

Grace sees my glance at her and offers, "You can cuss or say whatever. I'm eleven years old and have heard it all, either from Uncle Kyle or TV."

Kyle turns betrayed eyes to Grace. "Damn, girl. You drove that bus right over me with no hesitation. Well, how about no Frappuccino for you this week."

"Sure, sure, I totally believe that." Grace rolls her eyes. "I don't know that one, though. Pen-day-ho," she sounds out, repeating me.

"Oh!" I exclaim, looking to Cameron. "Sorry. That's probably not a great word for you, Grace. Sorry."

"What's it mean?" she asks, plopping to an ottoman with her legs hanging on either side of the big cube.

I furrow my brow, looking at Cameron to see if I should tell her, but it's Kyle who answers her. "Asshole. Dani thought I was an annoying asshole at first, but she likes me now. We're friends." He gives me a triumphant smirk, amusement dancing in his eyes.

"She's right, you are an annoying… pen-day-ho," Grace tells Kyle, who frowns dramatically, putting his hand on his chest, right over his apparently wounded heart. A blink later, he takes my hand again and smiles.

"So I've been told."

Mrs. Harrington has been watching the exchanges between her children with delight and now gestures to a small loveseat. "Well, I'm glad you started talking to Kyle instead of flipping him off." Her eyes widen like she's surprised she actually repeated that.

Kyle and I sit down, his hip next to mine as he lays an ankle on his knee and throws his arm along the back of the loveseat to surround me. It feels like ‘us against them', which it shouldn't be, but after what Kyle told me earlier, it unfortunately seems accurate.

The questions aren't unsurprising, starting with how we met, so I tell them about my lunch business and yelling at him because of his parking job. Everyone laughs, agreeing that he deserved it. I tell them about blocking him with Nessa's car, which I thought was pretty creative, and Kayla holds her hand up for long-distance high-five across the room. But Kyle interjects that it worked out for him in the long run because that was our first ride.

"You let her ride on Lucille?" Kayla asks in surprise.

"Yeah, I've ridden with him a few times now," I say, worried that's unusual, but Janey is grinning wide like if it is, it's not a bad thing. "For pancakes, to his place for dinner, and here tonight."

"You went to his house?" Luna asks, her hands clasped beneath her chin and hearts nearly popping from her eyes.

"He cooked for you?" Samantha asks at the same time.

I nod slowly, looking at Kyle for some context of why everyone's staring at me like I sprouted a second head, but he's no help, just smiling as he clocks everyone's shock. "Yeah, chicken pasta." I intentionally don't say the name of the recipe because I feel like they might overreact the way Kyle thought I would. "It was good."

"Only the best for my woman. That's why I exist," Kyle jokes, puffing up his chest and lifting his chin proudly.

"Your woman?" I snort, and he points a faux-accusatory finger at me.

"You said you like me."

That shuts me up because I did, in fact, say that and a whole lot more. And I meant every word, too.

Everyone is ping-ponging, watching our exchange like it's a tennis match with varying degrees of smiles on their faces. And for the monsters Kyle warned me about, they're all really… nice. He did caution that they'd be slick about their interrogation, but still, I don't feel attacked in any way. They're curious, which is understandable, but not prying too deep or being unwelcoming.

"I was promised some embarrassing pictures and stories about that guy?" I remind Kayla after a while, pointing at Kyle. She thawed pretty fast after I met her challenge head-on, and I've felt her watching me while everyone's been talking. I think we've silently turned a corner in our brand-new friendship, and I'm glad because I think Kyle needs someone in his corner and the siblings seem to pivot around her.

In fact, I feel like I'm getting a bit of a read on all of them.

Cameron is quiet, watchful over not only his daughter, but everyone. Carter is a bit of an instigator but charms his way out of it after setting a trap. Chance seems formal and if you told me he reads a book a week, I'd believe you because he seems like the book-smart type. Cole is laser-focused on Janey, and I'm not sure if that's only because of the pregnancy or if that's his norm. And Kayla is the second mother, somehow keeping them all in line.

"Oh! I've got that," Carter says, pulling his phone from his pocket. He scrolls around on it for a second before holding it up. "Look at this from Mom's Facebook."

It's a picture of Kyle and Kayla, taken when they're very young. Kayla is a full head taller than Kyle, has her hair pulled up in pigtails, and is grinning a gap-toothed smile with her arm wrapped around Kyle's shoulders. Kyle is wearing khaki shorts, a Polo shirt tucked in behind a braided leather belt, socks that reach up his calves, and pristine white tennis shoes. He looks extra tanned, like he'd been playing outside all summer, and his hair is short and side-parted. He looks preppy, which is a far cry from his current rough style.

"First day of kindergarten, I think?" Carter says, looking at the picture again, and Mrs. Harrington confirms it.

"That's nothing," Kyle argues. "I was a cute kid." His tone is light with the throwaway comment, but I hear a hitch in it that no one else seems to, and I wonder what he remembers from that day or that age.

"Alright, how about the time the cops brought you home because you were drag racing again? You were flying down the highway at one in the morning, doing a buck twenty in Dad's McLaren."

"That's not embarrassing, that's cool," Kyle scoffs, blowing the story off. "Besides, what's the point of having a car with eight hundred horsepower if you don't actually use it from time to time?"

Though his family lets it slide like Kyle's just being Kyle, I hear something different in the drag racing story. I hear about a kid looking for an escape, a way out of a situation that might look picturesque from the outside but was far from picture-perfect for him.

Conversation turns to when all of the siblings were younger, and I'm listening closely, trying to find any tidbit that might prove or disprove Kyle's suspicions about his paternal origins but not finding any. In fact, as they start talking, no one really mentions Kyle anymore. I hear about senior proms, sneaking out and getting back in because someone named Ira would leave a door open, first dates, and going away to college. And though a lot of the stories include multiple siblings—like Cameron and Carter playing basketball against Chance and Cole, which seems patently unfair—no one mentions Kyle as a part of their happy memories. It's like he wasn't there, but he had to have been.

And when Kyle goes quiet, they just… let him. I wonder if this is Kyle's version of a test for them—like how outrageous does he have to be to get their attention? And when he goes invisible, where's that line when someone will actually notice and question it?

I've never been a part of a big family like this, so maybe I'm not the best judge, but what I do know is Kyle, and he's shrinking before my eyes, morphing from the big, gregarious, cocky asshole he usually is into a silent, off-side, uninvolved guy. And nobody says a word about it.

It's then that I see the monsters that Kyle sees. It's a monstrosity of invisibility, a quiet exclusion that they don't even notice.

"You okay?" I mouth his way.

He smiles in answer, but it's faker than the hundred-dollar bill a guy once tried to pay with at the restaurant. I could spot the counterfeit money then, and I can definitely see the lie Kyle's mouth is trying to tell now.