Page 9 of Strike Out

“Whatever you want, sis.” I feel his lips press on top of my head. “I’m yours, Isla. I’ve been yours since we were fourteen years old. I’m patient and will wait however long it takes.”

Kai has always been patient. When I was learning how to drive, he had the patience of a saint in working with me in the empty parking lot on the weekends. Or when we would fight about stupid teenage shit, he would never push me to forgive him or to apologize if I was in the wrong. He would just wait for me to come to him in the middle of the night and cuddle.

Malakai Vaughn is the poster boy for patience.

I don’t doubt that he would wait forever for me to be comfortable. Only now, I don’t want to wait forever. I just need a plan on how to talk to my dad about us.

The doors open, and we walk down the hallway. We stop at the door with an eighteen on it. “Welcome home, Princess.” Kai pushes the door open and I’m immediately hit with the warm, familiar scent of him. Spicy bergamot and pine, and the scent of his skin. When I moved back home after Steve and I broke up, that very first night I slept in Kai’s old room, just so I could smell it.

“I’m not gonna want to leave, Kai.” I give him a small smile. “I’m supposed to move into that apartment close to campus on the first of May.”

Kai drops his keys on the kitchen island, walks around to the fridge and grabs two bottles of water. “Come on, we can talkabout it in bed. I’ve got to be up in a few hours to work out with the trainer.”

“In your bed?” I question following him down the dark hallway.

Kai stops at an open door at the end. “No, Princess. Inourbed.”

5

KAI

My watch vibrates on the charger, my alarm for five a.m. going off. I blink a few times to get the sleep and blurriness to go away. Reaching over, I hit the silence button and take it off the dock, wrapping it around my wrist. Isla’s arm is draped across my stomach, her leg thrown over mine, her ass cheek peeking out from under one of my team shirts. This is how I want to wake up every morning for the rest of forever.

I kiss the top of her head and start untangling myself from her, then get up and head to the closet to get dressed for conditioning. After finishing up in the bathroom, I quietly leave the room, leaving the door open, and head to the kitchen. Grabbing water from the fridge, I set it on the island, then start a pot of coffee.

“Do you really have to leave so early?” Isla yawns, stretching her arms over her head, her shirt riding up, showing me her bare pussy.

I need to get to my workout. I do not need to take my sister back to our bed and fuck her back to sleep.

I do not.

“Unfortunately, I do, Princess. I’ll be back in a few hours, though.” I grab two glasses from the cabinet and the creamer from the fridge. Pouring myself 8 ounces of coffee and pouring the rest in a glass for her, adding in the almond milk creamer to her glass until the color is right. “I know it’s not oat milk. I’ll have some later today when I do my grocery order.” Adding in some ice, I set it in front of her.

“I can buy my own groceries, Kai.”

Brat. Let me take care of you.

“I know you can but you gave me control, remember?” Picking up the glass with my black coffee, I down it.

“That was for last night.” Isla sits down at the island on a stool, pulling the coffee towards her. She takes a sip, her eyes rolling back, moaning.

That moan triggered the memories of the ride home and my dick twitches in my joggers.Down, boy, we’ve got shit to do today.“That was for forever, Princess. I told you, I’m not giving you up now.”

“Kai.”

I don’t have time to argue with her about this. I rinse my glass out and stick it in the dishwasher, round the island, and grab her by the throat, pulling her mouth to mine. “We can fight about this later.” I kiss her lips. “Call our parents and let them know you’re here and safe. If you’re feeling brave, tell them about us. Otherwise, help yourself to whatever you need.”

I grab a second set of keys, the ones that have my motorcycle key on them. Sliding the keys to the SUV toward her. “Take the Ascent. That way, you can bring some stuff over before you officially move in.”

“Can I at least have my panties back? It’s not like I can wear yours.” She purses her lips at me.

“Not a chance, Princess. Those are mine now.” I smirk, grab my helmet from the closet and head towards the door. “Oh, andwhen you go snooping around, the password to my laptop is 03222018. Go crazy, baby.” I blow her a kiss and close the door behind me, locking up.

The weight roomat the stadium is busy with other players getting their training sessions in. Set four of deadlifts after a strenuous lower body day has me hitting fatigue quicker than usual.

“Come on, Vaughn. Push through two more.”Says the guy who isn’t lifting four hundred fucking pounds off the ground.

Gripping the bar, I get in position and lift, blowing out my breath, hold for a second and drop it.

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