Chapter 25
 

Kerrigan was in her bedroom, laying on her bed relaxing and watching TV when there was a knock on her door.  She groaned.  “Justin, I told you I don’t feel like going out with you and Trace tonight.  What part of that don’t you understand?” she shouted at the door.

He had been begging her all afternoon to go out to a new club that had just opened with him and Trace that evening but Kerrigan didn’t feel like going anywhere.  She still had too many things running through her mind and the way she had been playing everything off for the last few days was finally catching up to her.

She was exhausted and didn’t want to be around a bunch of people.  She just wanted to veg out in her room and relax.  She didn’t even want to be around Justin and Trace.  She was sick of their pleading looks.

She knew they were wise to her game and that she wasn’t as happy as she was pretending to be, but she still couldn’t find it in herself to talk to them about it.  If she talked to them about it then it made everything real.  And she didn’t want it to be real.  She wanted to wake up and find that it was all a bad dream.

Kerrigan huffed when another knock came from the door.

“I TOLD YOU NO!” she yelled.

Again there was a knock on the door, only this time it was a little louder.

Kerrigan jumped up off her bed and stormed over to the door, throwing it open.  “What part of NO don’t you…”  she abruptly stopped her rant upon seeing who was standing before her.

It wasn’t Justin.  And it wasn’t Trace.  It was Cody.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, staring at him.

“I wanted to come talk to you.” he shrugged.

“And Justin let you in the house?” Kerrigan questioned.  She found it odd that Justin would let him in.  It was no secret that Justin didn’t like that guy.  And she hadn’t failed to notice that he seemed happy that she and Cody were no longer together.  So she really couldn’t understand why Justin would let him in the house, let alone up to her bedroom.

“Actually, he called me earlier today.  Asked me to come talk to you.”

Now that really shocked her.  Justin had called Cody and asked him to come talk to her?  What the hell was going on?  “He called you?”

“Yeah, he did.  Can I come in?” Cody asked.

Kerrigan pulled the door open wider so that Cody could enter the room.  Once he was in she peeked her head out in the hallway to see if it was some kind of joke and the guys and some kind of camera crew were out there or something.  But there was nobody in the hallway.

Turning back to the room she closed the door and walked over to her bed and sat down.  “Justin, actually called you?”  She was really having trouble with that one.

Cody internally smirked at her astonishment to that fact.  This was going to be easier than he had thought.  “Yeah.  He was worried about you.  He called me this morning and asked me to come over and talk to you.  To see if we could work things out.”

“I’m sorry I just can’t believe that he called you.” Kerrigan stated, looking down at her hands.  She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to be reacting to the news.  Or to Cody standing there in front of her.

“I was pretty shocked myself.  I mean it’s no big secret the guy doesn’t like me much.  He must have been pretty concerned for him to take that step.”  he said as he warily sat down beside her on the bed.

“Yeah.”  Kerrigan said softly, barely above a whisper.

Cody cleared his throat.  It was time for him to put on the performance of his life.  It was time for him to act like he really regretted what had happened.  It was time for him to put his plan into motion.

“Well, like I said I’m here to talk.  I, uh…well…I want to apologize for what happened.  I should never have hit you, Kerrigan.  I was just angry and upset and it got the best of me.  I feel really horrible about it.  I really care about you a lot, and I never meant to hurt you.”

Kerrigan looked up at him.  “I really care about you too.”

Cody smiled.  “I think that given some time and some work we can overcome this obstacle.  I mean I know nothing I can do or say will ever make up for what happened.  And if you don’t trust me I understand, but I really do feel horrible, Kerrigan.  I love you and I never meant to hurt you.”

When she didn’t say anything he rushed to explain further, thinking that his words were falling on deaf ears.  “I mean I was just upset.  I thought that something was going on with you and Justin and I just lost it.  I love you so much and I couldn’t stand the thought of you leaving me for him.  And when I heard him talking about that kiss, I thought it was happening.  I didn’t know what to do.  What to think.  Nothing made any sense and I was just so upset I didn’t act rationally.  But Justin explained everything to me.  He told me that it was just a dare and that you guys had been drinking.  He promised me it wasn’t anything more than a dare.  He told me that you’re just his friend and he loves you as only a friend and that he couldn’t stand seeing his friend upset like you’ve been.  And when he told me that I felt even worse because of what I had done!  I can’t believe I hit you Kerrigan.  You didn’t do anything wrong.  You were being totally honest with me and I accused you of so many horrible things!  You’ll never know how horrible I feel or how sorry I am.  I can’t apologize enough.  I just don’t know what else to say.”

“It’s ok.” she said softly.

Cody wasn’t sure he had heard her correctly.  He was expecting more of a fight out of her about this.  “Kerrigan, it’s not ok.  You have to understand I was upset and I didn’t know what I was doing.”

“It’s ok I understand.”  she said.  And she really did.  Kerrigan knew that when people were hurting they often did and said things they didn’t mean to do.  She’d had moments like that in her past and she didn’t feel it was right to hold it against Cody when she was guilty of the same things herself.  Granted she had never hit someone, but still he had been hurt and he didn’t know what he was doing.  Or at least that was her logic.

“You understand?” he questioned.

“You were hurt and upset.  People do things they don’t mean to do when they’re upset and hurting.  You’re not a bad guy Cody.  I know you wouldn’t do something like that to me for no reason.  You were just upset.”

Cody was leaping for joy inside.  He could not believe his luck.  He thought for sure that he would have to beg and plead his way back into her arms.  She had always been such a tough girl and very stubborn.  He assumed that after he had struck her she would not be as willing to take him back, even if she did love him.  But this was beyond anything he could have hoped for.  She was basically opening her arms to him and welcoming him back without any questioning at all.  He couldn’t believe his luck.

“So you’re not mad?” he asked.

Kerrigan thought about that for a moment.  She still wasn’t sure what she felt about the whole thing.  She was hurt and she was shocked that it had happened in the first place, but she honestly couldn’t say that she was mad. It just wasn’t clear what she felt about it.

Shrugging she looked up at him.  “I don’t know what I feel.  I’m not happy about it.  I’m hurt.  But I also know that you didn’t mean to do it.  And you’ve apologized so there’s no need to dwell on what happened.  I mean if you really want to work this out and are willing to give me another chance, then I’m willing to take it.”

Willing to give her another chance?  Was she for real?  The whole scenario should be flipped.  He should be begging and pleading with her to take him back.  She should be the one saying she’s willing to give HIM another chance.  Cody just could not believe how things were working out.  This really did give him so much more power over her.  And that thought alone caused a feeling of pleasure inside of him that could not be described in words.

Not wanting to use any words that might change her mind or make her see where the true fault lied in the situation, he smiled at her sweetly.  “I’d be more than happy to give you another chance.  I really love you Kerrigan and I know that this can work if we just try.  I mean some things need to change, but we can talk about that later.  Right now I think we should just focus on making up for the last few days we’ve been apart.  I’ve really missed you.”

Kerrigan smiled in return.  Her heart was starting to do somersaults again at his words.  There had always been something about the way that Cody talked to her that made her feel so special.  He always seemed to really care.  And to have his beautiful brown eyes looking at her in the way he was.  Full of desire and need, made her weak.

“I missed you too.”

Cody smiled brighter and leaned in to kiss her.  God, he had missed the feel of her lips.  They were perfect in his opinion.  Everything about her was perfect.  The way she kissed him.  The way she pulled him to her when they were embracing each other.

Running his hand down to her upper thigh he relished the feeling.  He loved her body.  She had an amazing body.  That was yet another perfect thing about her.  The only thing that was not perfect about Kerrigan in his opinion, was her choice of friends.  Namely Justin.

But soon the time would come when he would no longer be a problem.  When he would no longer be a part of their lives and then he would really be able to relish in her perfection.  Because once Justin was out of the picture then she would be all his.  He would no longer have to share her with anyone.  And that was what he truly wanted.

Meanwhile Justin lurked in the hallway a few feet away from Kerrigan’s door, hoping to hear some kind of negative response.  Some form of yelling on Kerrigan’s part to indicate that she didn’t want Cody there and had no intentions of getting back together with him.

But as the time passed and the longer they were in there together and he heard nothing, he knew that what he was hoping to happen, wasn’t going to.  They were back together.  And somehow he was going to have to find a way to deal with it.