Free Kiss This by Hadley Quinn

“Smartass.”
    Turning around, she walked backwards a few
steps and gave him a seductive smile. “That broom just felt me up.
I wouldn’t take you as the type to share.”
    “I definitely don’t share. But I’ll kick its
ass later. Right now it has a job to do.”
    Camryn laughed as she headed for the utility
room.
     

Chapter Eight
     
     
     
    “This is one fucked up family, that’s all I
gotta say,” Jay grumbled, picking up a rock and chucking it at the
shed across the yard. It hit the corner and bounced off, landing in
the grass. He took another drink of whiskey and then rubbed his
hand over his face.
    Teague could hardly disagree. Jay’s dad was
one mean son-of-a-bitch. He kind of hoped Christmas would be
different, but no such luck. They’d barely gotten through an
afternoon dinner before Clint began berating his live-in girlfriend
and her cooking. Shelly just took it, but Jay had never been one to
put up with his dad’s shit.
    “How in the fuck does a girl put up with
that?” Jay continued. “I mean seriously… She got mad at me for
saying something. Mad at me . Fucking hell, I’m such a
monster for caring.”
    Teague stood and checked the time on his
phone. It was barely two. “Let’s get out of here, okay? Just leave
it how it is for now.”
    Jay had that look, like he wanted to go back
inside and beat the shit out of his dad. Teague didn’t like it,
especially since Jay and his dad had both been drinking. Clint was
a mean drunk, and Jay could get into a good rage when he was mad at
his father. It wasn’t a good combination.
    “Get your ass up, Jay. We’re not staying any
longer. We tried, let’s go.”
    Jay stood and followed him to the Jeep.
Clint was watching them from the front window, and as a goodbye,
Jay flipped him off as they drove away.
    By the time they were back on 101, Jay was
asleep. Teague shook his head, regretting the wasted day. Next year
was going to be different. No more family drama. He’d have
Christmas dinner at a restaurant if he had to. Hell, he’d rather
celebrate with a bowl of cereal by himself.
    He hoped Camryn was at least having a good
time with the Millers. He spent most of the drive thinking about
her and their time on the beach. As he turned down 29 th ,
there seemed to be a myriad of vehicles everywhere. It took him a
minute to realize there was some kind of emergency nearby, and it
took him another minute to discover that all the emergency vehicles
were parked all over the Millers’ street. Not only that, when he
got closer to their house, he almost couldn’t believe his eyes.
    “What the hell?” Teague asked himself. He
screeched the Jeep in the nearest spot he could find, which was
halfway on the curb at an angle.
    “What? What the…” Jay looked around,
dazed.
    “Your drunk ass stays put; something
happened at the Millers’ house,” he said as he climbed out of the
car. There were dozens of people on the sidewalks and in the
street, mostly nosy people wanting to see how or why a truck had
crashed into the side of the house.
    Teague continued to rush through the crowd,
almost shoving people aside as he looked for a particular blonde
head of hair. He saw Kyah first, and she was clearly upset.
    “Are you okay?” he asked. She was currently
with her mom and aunt, the three of them crying and huddled
together. A set of police officers were with them, trying their
best to mumble condolences.
    “I’m fine, Teague. Everyone’s okay.”
    “Everyone? Where’s—?”
    “She’s over there at the ambulance,” she
pointed.
    “The what? Is she—?”
    “She’s okay. Just something minor.”
    He rushed off, feeling like a dick for not
saying something comforting, or offering a hug, or whatever the
hell he could’ve done.
    He spotted Camryn sitting at the edge of an
ambulance, a paramedic wrapping her forearm as another guy—a
neighbor, maybe—spoke to her at the same time. Teague couldn’t even
say anything as he approached because he