Page 7 of Savage

“Nearly word for word what you said.” She shrugged and turned to leave the room. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?” She didn’t have it in her to lie to the other man.

“I don’t know what I feel for him. Other than I want to break his neck most of the time and others…well, there isn’t much difference in how I feel about him in any way. He’s not nice to me, and yet I find that I want to be around him for the once in a great while nice things that he can say.” Kingston nodded. “What does that mean?”

“It means that he feels something for you, I think that he’s in love with you but terrified that you’ll leave him when he least expects it. Or perhaps he’ll expect it daily. I don’t know if it matters or not but he has never loved anyone but us. And at times, I’m sure that he thinks that he’s incapable of love.” Kaida said that was sad. “It is. And while I’ve never met his parents I’m sure that they were just as incapable of love as well. Did you know that he had a sister?”

“I heard him talking to you guys about her. She must have been a real diva.” Kingston laughed and said that was her in a nutshell from what he’d heard. “They all died from a poison, I heard. I didn’t think that was possible.”

“Only as a human was it. I think that it was someone from the pageantry that she was in. They were forever winning something for her beauty. I never met her either but I’ve heard that she mostly used magic to make herself beautiful. Sad really. Savage is a great man and could be a better mate to you if you were to give him a chance.” She asked him if he was blaming her for him being an asshole. “No. Gosh no. I only meant that you could change his mind on being a good-minded person if you were to…well, bash it into his head what an ass he is. I’m sure you’d have no trouble with that.”

“Are you saying that I’m mean?” When his cheeks pinked up, she laughed. “I was only kidding. But I will admit that he hurts me in ways that I’ve never hurt before. It’s like he’s out to destroy me.”

“Perhaps in his own way, that’s what he’s doing. To destroy any kind of love you might have for him because he’s never felt anyone love him before. And if he keeps you at arm’s length, just to keep himself from feeling anything for you—at least acknowledging it, he’ll not have to hurt again like hedid with his parents.” She didn’t know his parents but could easily hate them for the damage that they did to him. Kaida said as much to Kingston. “No truer words could be spoken. As I said, I’ve never met them but from what I’ve heard, they were never kind to anyone. Not even each other. My parents didn’t like them, nor do they care for—they actually hate Savage. I don’t have any idea why. I don’t know that they’ve ever met him, but they didn’t care for his parents, and I guess they figured that he was just like them when it couldn’t be further from the truth.” Savage joined them in the kitchen and said that he’d lost track of time.

“I was wandering through the house and decided, if that’s all right with you, that there is nothing redeeming about this house. Not only is there no charm, but it would be better off left to rot or to be torn down and rebuilt.” She told him that she agreed with him. “Good. Now, we have three more houses to look at but I’m starved. Let’s go get something to eat and then move on from there. The realtor has given me the codes for the next houses so that we can take our time. Philly isn’t at all like her mother, Sally Glenning, is she?”

“I don’t know her. I’m sure it was before I was born.” They both laughed then Savage asked her how old she was. After telling him that she was twenty-seven, he agreed with her in saying that she hadn’t been born. “Gee, thanks.”

The three of them decided that they’d eat a light lunch and then go from there. She didn’t know what they would think of a heavy lunch for what they ordered but they ate a great deal if you were to ask her. She had a taco salad, and they ate two large subs apiece. Plus fries which was something that she had never cared for. Having her fill, it was Kingston who finished her salad and they were off again. This was trying looking at places, but she was having fun as well.

They didn’t even go into the second house on the list. From where they were sitting in the car, they could tell that it was no better than the first house. Savage hung up the phone and said that he bought the first house in order to tear it down.

“While I don’t know what I’ll do with the property, I know that the land will be worth more without that eyesore sitting on it.” Kingston agreed and told her that land wasn’t plentiful, but houses were. She supposed that made sense. It wasn’t like there would be any more land made around the world.

The final house was the kind of house that she’d dreamed of owning her entire life. It was a little larger than she would have hoped for with having six bedrooms, but the yard was large, and there was even a fenced in back yard for the dogs that she wanted. The wrap-around porch was wide and well-maintained. There were even hooks to hang baskets of flowers if she wanted.

She was nearly giddy with the prospect of touring the house. Even if Savage didn’t purchase the home, she was going to. It even had a place for flowers to plant in the front of the house that she wanted. No fence, but she could easily do that on her own.

There were minor things wrong with the house once she got close enough to look at it. There were places on the porch that needed to be repaired before someone went through the flooring. There were also a couple of windows that were broken out and she could see that someone at some time had boarded them up.

Inside the house was wonderfully exactly what she wanted. A large kitchen with an eat-in area. And herb window over the sink that looked out over the expansive backyard. There was a pool to which she liked, but the hot tub was a nice addition as well.

“You like this one?” She nodded to Savage and told him that if he didn’t buy it, she was going to. “Will you allow me to live here with you? I can easily pay cash for it, but I have a feeling that you’d hit me if I were to suggest such a thing.”

“You’re right. I don’t know that I have enough for a down payment, so if you’d like to live here with me then I’ll have to ask you for help in the mortgage as well. And don’t pay cash for it. That hurts the economy if you were to do that.” He told her that he would do whatever she wanted. It took her several seconds of staring at him before he asked what he’d done now. “You’re being odd again. Have you had a change of heart or something? Or did you grow one?”

“That was just mean.” She told him she was sorry and that she’d been used to him being mean to her. “I guess that’s right. You might well see me be mean again, but I’m working on it. You make me want to be a better person.”

“I don’t know that I’ve done anything of the kind, but I appreciate you being nicer.” They toured the rest of the house, and she loved that it wasn’t perfect. It would be something that they could—or she could work on between her shifts at work. She’d have to keep her job now, as she had a house payment to take into account even if he were going to pay half of it.

As she had no idea how to make an offer, Savage did it for her. When the realtor called them back within minutes, she was worried that they were going to turn them down. Instead, they had a counteroffer of less than they offered just to get it off the books. She’d not realized that it was part of a bank repossession and was thrilled when it came back at about half of what they’d offered.

As the house had been empty for some time, Savage hired a crew to go in and clean the place from top to bottom. There were five bedrooms, including the master and she was thrilled that he wanted to keep things just the way that they were. That way, they could move right in and be enjoying the house sooner. She’d never once in her life lived in a house without wheels, and she was thrilled beyond reason that she was getting her dream house in this one.

“We’ll need to get something to fill it out with.” She asked him if he had anything from the other house that he wanted. “No. Christ no. I hate everything about the place. We can either donate what is there if we can’t sell it of burn it all for all I care. It’s the most hideous house I’ve ever lived in. And I lived in caves that had more charm than that one does.”

She laughed. It wasn’t long before she felt herself relaxing around him, and that made her nervous. As soon as she let her guard down, she knew that he was going to attack her again. Keeping her emotions to herself, she asked him if he had some kind of storage which he kept his old stuff in.

“No. I think that Brenin and Cassian do. Did I tell you that they’re brothers? Hatched on the same day from what they’ve said. I don’t know if that makes them twins or not, but that’s what I’ve heard from them. They also have a sister too, Margo but they have very little to no contact with her.” She asked him about Kingston. “He might have everything he owned in the house that he has now. I don’t know. But he’s looking for something new as well. I think that we all are. Not a new town but new homes.”

The rest of the afternoon into the evening they measured and took notes on the house. Kingston left them so that he could work on looking for houses, too. Savage told her that he thought that they all needed a good change for now. They’d been living in their homes for the past thirty years and had had enough.

He’d been right. They had been around here longer than she’d been living. It saddened her to know that she wasn’t going to have anything to compare her life with his. He’d seen so much that he more than likely could tell her stories of his life that would make the hair on her arms raise up and tingle. Shaking her head, she continued on with the house to make sure that whatever happened in the future, she was about as prepared as she could be about it.

However, she wondered if her heart could be prepared at all for their departure. She was nearly about as in love with the man as she was with anything she’d ever felt before. Kaida wondered if being in love with the big dork was going to be anything that she could recover from once he decided that he’d had enough of her like he did his home. Him moving on scared her to no end.

Chapter 4

Kingston answered his phone without looking at it. It had to be important enough to call him, he thought, but regretted it the moment he heard his mother’s voice.

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