Kelsey stared down at the dark coffee swirling around the chipped mug that she held in her hands. Sadie sat opposite her on the weathered sofa, her eyes wide and unblinking. Placing the mug down the silence was suddenly broken.

     "Thank you." Kelsey whispered, her voice still hoarse. "And again, I'm sorr-"
     "Don't." Sadie interrupted, reaching out and gently grasping Kelsey's hands in her own. "Like I said, I can get my brothers to go after them. They can make it look like an accident too." 

A weak laugh left Kelsey's lips, Sadie sat there straight faced.
      "As grateful as I am for that very kind offer, I'll have to decline." Kelsey said giving Sadie's hands a tight squeeze before dropping them.

Buzz Buzz

    Kelsey looked down at her phone, it's screen lit up displaying a new message. Sadie strained her neck to look over at the screen. Her brow furrowed.
       "Is that the one we like or do I actually need to make a call?"

     Kelsey stared at the screen before it blinked off revealing her mascara stained reflection.
       "It was Sean. Just checking in." Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand she smiled sweetly at the young woman. "We still like him." She laughed softly picking up her phone holding it tightly. Standing up from the deep indent of the old leather chair she had huddled in, Kelsey's legs felt weightless beneath her.
"Honestly, Sadie, thank you. You are brilliant."

   Sadie's eyes lit up as a smile creeped across her face, her long nails delicately tucking a loose strand of pale blonde hair behind her ear as she rolled her eyes.
       "Nah, not brilliant. Just looking out for women ya know?" She laughed. "You seem like a nice lady, I wanted to make sure you were alright. That's why I extended your stay till the end of the week. Free of charge, my manager won't even notice and we have zero other guests filing in to need the room anyway"

     "Oh Sadie you saint! I can pay for it it's no problem." Kelsey reached down to her bag but Sadie shrugged shaking her head.
     "Don't bother, really. I often just put fake bookings in anyway."
     "I really appreciate it. And thanks to you I am a lot better."  Kelsey held out her hand to assist Sadie up from her position. "You should really look into a career in helping people, you'd smash it."

     "Oh once I've saved up the money from working here I'm starting that fancy course in Brighton in hair and make up." Her face beamed in excitement at the mention of getting out of this place. Kelsey took in the ecstatic presence before her, a stark cry from the bored person that often hid behind the counter. "Got a real talent for all that stuff, did my nails all by myself." She held up her inch long nails in Kelsey's eyesight, each one painted exquisitely and adorned in intricate floral patterns.

     "Amazing." Kelsey said, taking her hand in her own and looking over the fine details. "You say you can do hair as well?"
     "Yep. Always have my GHDs in the boot of my car."
     "Really?"
     "Never go anywhere without them."
     "You free this evening? I have this date-"
     "I clock off at 5." Sadie interrupted, clasping her hands excitedly in front of her. "I'll bring everything to your room."

    Kelsey rolled her eyes and smiled, all sour feelings from the morning slipping away. The young woman beaming ear to ear giving her a new sense of anticipation for what is to come this evening, she no longer felt sick at the idea.
      "Perfect." Kelsey said backing away in the direction of the doorway. "I look forward to it!"

   The door swung shut behind her, Sadie's excited face still visible through the small window pane as she returned back to her workstation.
Unlocking her phone, Kelsey bypassed the messages and clicked on Sean's contact, hitting the dial button. She climbed each step with the dial tone blaring against her ear. The ringing stopped along with Kelsey's ascension, leaning against the worn down wooden bannister she waited to hear his voice.

   "Kels? You ok?" Sean's voice sounded distant but his concern was amplified. "I'm so sorry for everything this morning."
   "Sean, I'm ok"
   "Truly, that must've been the worst possible way for everything to come out."
   "It's alright, Sean. Could've been worse I guess." The sound of a horn honking caught her of guard. "Sorry have i caught you driving? I can call you later if it's easier?"

   "Bluetooth connection in the car, so don't worry about it. I'm glad to hear from you, Kels." Sean let out a sigh that Kelsey could only imagine he'd been holding since she left that morning. "I completely understand if you want to put an end to this date idea thing."

    "I mean, I'm still looking forward to this traditional date that you've been going on about. But if it's going to be a problem between you and Jake then I get it."
    "Fuck Jake." Sean's outburst shocked Kelsey. "That kid needs to grow up. I always knew he was a bit of an idiot but what i saw today made my blood boil."
    "He's your brother Sean-"
   "I know, he's my brother and I love him still. But I'll be dammed if he has any say on us, and I certainly won't let any shit like he pulled this morning slide."

    Kelsey bit her lower lip, her face heating up at his brazen words and her heart fluttering beneath her crossed arm.
     "Us?" Kelsey smiled into the phone.
    "Sorry, was that a bit much?"
     "No, not at all. I like the sound of this 'us'."
     "I was ready for a new tidal wave of teasing from you." Sean laughed, the sound reverberating in kelsey's chest. "I'm relieved to hear that you still want to go out later. Would've been a shame to end it all on a drunken note."

     "Oh I'm sure there'll be more teasing down the line. But I would like to finish what we started." Kelsey took a deep breath before continuing. "I've had the most fun in some time with you. Plus, I think I made some promise to your mum that I'll have some sort of chat with her after our date. So if I could hold your hand throughout that I might be able to make it through."

  "Kels, you can hold my hand and I won't let go until you're ready." her heart skipped a bit, leaning her head against the wall Kelsey couldn't hide the genuine smile spreading across her lips.

     "I can't believe your soppy words are actually making me feel weak." She laughed. Sean chortled in the background, the sound of the indicator blinking filling their comfortable silence.

     "Oh, if just my words are doing that just you wait till we have a moment alone together." Sean's voice was smooth, each syllable dripping in honey making Kelsey's knees buckle. Pulling the phone away from her ear, Kelsey shook her head as she suppressed an excitable squeal. She couldn't believe that he had her feeling this way, no man had. Not in a very long time. She felt like a schoolgirl with her first crush. It was as if the floodgates of her feelings had opened after being bordered shut for years.

      "You are walking a very dangerous line Henderson." She whispered into the phone. "Don't go making promises you can't keep now."
      "Owens. I could make a list of promises and surpass all of your expectations." He purred, the smirk visible through his words.
     "Do I get any hints at what they might be?" Kelsey said, curiosity fuelling the flame of desire that was burning deep.
    "Unless you want me to be a hazard on the road, I suggest that you want me to keep my focus on the road than on the many, many ways I could get you clawing your marks down my back." 
     "Fuck."
    "Exactly, Owens." Sean said, his voice deep in desire. "So what time do you want me to pick you up?"
     "Against a wall? or for this date?"
     "Owens."

    "Shall we say 7?" Kelsey pulled back focus, pushing herself away from the wall and returning to climbing the stairs, one hand on the bannister the other holding the phone against her ear, tapping lightly against the back.
    "See you at 7 then."
    "Get home safe." Kelsey smiled. "Bye, Sean."
  "Bye, Kelsey."

                                                                          ..........................................................................................................................

  The conversation ended with a click as Sean was turning down onto his street. The silence flooding in once more. One hand resting lightly on the steering wheel the other pushed back his loose curls, his fingers gently grabbing at the roots as he fought against the filthy thoughts flooding his mind. A deep laugh rumbled from his chest as he watched suburbia life pass by. Relief filled him from his toes to his head, she wanted to continue on. Till this point he hadn't realised how invested he was in whatever they had going on. And until this point he hadn't realised that Kelsey was just as invested. Both sober and both willing to give this an actual shot.
What had once started as just his wildest dreams had now became his reality.

   Pulling up on the driveway, Sean cut the engine. Breathing in deep he enjoyed the silence whilst he could, knowing what was installed for him as soon as he stepped into that house. Letting go of his breath he stepped out of the car, locking it over his shoulder as he approached the front door.
Reaching for the handle the door opened before him, the cold gaze of his father meeting his own.

     "Dining room table. Now." Little emotion was spared with those words but Sean knew better than to question his father. Nodding slightly, Sean pocketed his keys and entered the hallway, removing his shoes before following his father into the dinning room.
His mother stood in the far corner, a large portrait of Sean and Jake from early childhood looming behind her. Huh, how symbolic. Jake sat slouched in his chair, picking at his fingernails. He glanced up as Sean entered briefly, his jaw muscles tensing before he continued to focus on the invisible dirt beneath his nails.

    "Take a seat." His dad pulled out the chair opposite Jake. Hesitantly Sean took the chair from his father, sitting down tentatively, aware that Jake could lash out at him at any given moment.

    "Right. Me and your mother want you to settle your little disagreement civilly." Jerry directed, huffing his chest out. He looked between his sons, staring them both down. "Like men. Not children."
Martha stepped away to join her husbands side, holding onto his arm.

     "We don't want you two fighting. So use this time to put everything on the table." Her voice wavered and her eyes were still glassy and red from the tears that she had cried. "We'll step out to give you both the space to do this between you. But please." Her eyes darted to Sean. "Please no more violence." Sean broke away from her stare first, taking in the impeccably polished table top.

     "Understood?" Their dad's voice questioned.
     "Understood." Both Sean and Jake echoed. The sound of their parents retreating footsteps caused Sean to look up from the glossy table, his eyes falling on the narrowed ones of his younger brother.

      "What is it you want me to say?" Sean asked "I thought I made things pretty clear earlier."
      "I want an apology."
      "Well I'm sorry for pushing you down-"

      "No." Jake place his arms folded on the table and leant towards Sean. "I want you to apologise for lying to me."
      "What?"
      "You said that nothing has happened between you and Kelsey. Yet she stayed in your room and then you looked dishevelled when you left this morning. It's doesn't take a genius to know what had gone on in there."
       "I promise you nothing happened, Jake."
      "Bullshit."
      "Honestly, Jake nothing hap-"

     "I checked the ring camera footage." Jake spat, sitting back against his chair arms folded tight against his chest. "You and her getting pretty close against the door, her face certainly told the whole story when you had yours buried in her neck."
Sean furrowed his brows in confusion.  
     "You both then disappeared inside and presumably continued whatever it was that you're denying."

      "You've got it all wrong, Jake." Sean explained "We were both drunkenly teasing each other last night, that's all you saw. Nothing actually happened."
Jake scoffed, returning to focus on his fingernails than his brother.

      "Jake." Sean semi-shouted, gaining back his attention. "I need to make this abundantly clear to you. Kelsey and myself have not done anything that you are accusing us of."

  Jake pursed his lips and took a deep breath in.
     "But you want to." Jake's shoulders raised with each intake of breath, his anger simmering under the surface. "Admit that you want to fuck my ex girlfriend."
Sean rolled his eyes, his hands flexing on top of the table.

     "I'll admit that I want to get to know Kelsey better, yes." He responded calmly. "But I don't need to apologise to you for that."
Jake let out an annoyed laugh.

     "How long?" He asked through gritted teeth. "How long have you two been getting to know one another?"
     "She turned up here Tuesday night looking for you. I swear before that the last contact we had was four years ago." Sean answered. "And before you try and say anything. Nothing and I mean it, nothing went on between us back then either."

  Jake grunted in response, his shoulders relaxing slightly.
     "So are we good?" Sean asked, wanting to get this over with. Jake looked up at him, his eyes staring him down, seconds passing like minutes.
     "You still taking her out tonight?"
     "Yeah."
     "You coming back here after?"
     "Yeah. Mum wants to see Kelsey properly and stuff."

   Jake nodded slowly, taking in all the information and digesting it.
      "Jake. Are we good?" Sean asked again, pressuring for a direct answer.
      "I guess." He answered, standing up from his chair. Zero emotion in his tone. "We're good, bro."