Penned State (Young Hearts Duet Book 1) Read online

  Father is right there. “Get out. Do you think you’re a fucking man? Then make something of yourself.”

  “Fine!” I go to head up the stairs to my room, and he cuts me off.

  “You go with what’s on your back. You don’t want to be one of us? Then why should you get to keep what I’ve paid for?”

  “I’m getting my school stuff.”

  He sucks his teeth.

  “Let him, Calvin.” Mother says from her defeated spot on the floor.

  I run upstairs. Packing up my school stuff, including my laptop. Finding my sculpture of Ben Franklin, my covert way of supporting the University of Pennsylvania’s Mascot, the Quaker. See, my sister is an idiot and doesn’t know the difference between UPenn and Pen State. Anyway, Ben was a gift from my Uncle Douglas before he moved to New York. What mother didn’t know was his head comes off, and I’ve been stashing cash in him since I started doing summers at the Cradle Bay yacht club. Father wanted me to learn what it was like to have to earn my money so I would get the idea out of my head that I was built for anything other than family money.

  Boy was he pissed when I liked working. I like people, and people like me, so they tipped. Well. I take the lion and getting everything into my bag breeze by the people who call themselves my family.

  Getting on my bike, I ride, to where I’m not sure yet.

  Chapter 12

  Kaycee

  Grandpa didn’t rat me out. Though he has made me promise that if Cal and I are going to have sex that it not be in his living room or on his furniture. That includes his pillows. I, of course, agree and apologize again, finally going to bed with a smile. It wasn’t a complete disaster.

  It’s about five o’clock when my phone chirps. Some message on Facebook. I try to ignore it, but then my Instagram dings too. Followed by more and more chirps. Tossing off the blanket, I grab the phone. Unlocking it, I see a message from Taylor Holmes. One of the cheerleaders I sorta talk to.

  Taylor: Have you seen this?

  I click the video, and it’s a remix of Cal. He’s screaming at his mother. It pauses and rewinds over and over with industrial pop music playing in the background over him, saying, Fucking Kaycee McLane. In that cut and mix way, that sounds like a stutter over the word fucking.

  Kaycee: WTH?

  I send back.

  Taylor: It’s all over the place. Plus, some really rank shit he said about women. I didn’t know he was such a pig.

  Kaycee: He’s not.

  Taylor: Yeah. You would defend him, now wouldn’t you?

  Kaycee: What’s that supposed to mean?

  No response, she even goes offline. Bitch. I sit up and scroll to find Cal’s messages. I hit the call button. I don’t care if I wake him.

  “Hello?” His voice is gruff.

  “You need to start talking. What happened?”

  “How’d you- know what doesn’t matter. I’m gone.”

  “What are you going on about? Have you seen the videos? You told them we had sex?”

  “I- wait-what video?” I hear movement. “Fucking Caryn.”

  “Your sister?”

  “She was home when I got in; I had a really bad fight with her and mother. It was- let’s just say I’m over at the Mayflower.”

  “The rat motel over on Cherry Street? Ugh, why didn’t you call me?”

  “For what?”

  “Room number.”

  “Twelve.”

  “Get dressed.”

  I pull myself together, and in fifteen, I’m ripping him out of the hooker haven.

  “C’mon.” I demand, shoving him down the walkway.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Right now, to get some breakfast, seeing as I’m up at the ass crack of dawn.”

  ***

  Denny’s. An American late-night tradition. It’s also where mom works, meaning I get free food. We walk in, and I see Michelle one of the servers. “Mom, busy?”

  “I think she’s in the back, go have a seat, I’ll grab her. You want a Chocolate Peanut Butter shake?”

  I nod.

  “Calvin?”

  “Same.” He says, pushing up his glasses.

  We go sit across from each other in a booth and wait. My mom, like me, is middle management. She’s taking online and in-person classes over at Wilmington University. She hopes to get promoted to store or even district manager once she finishes.

  “Why are we here?” Calvin asks as the shakes are delivered.

  “To talk to my mom. Dummy.”

  Out comes my mom, but the smile on her face falls when she sees Cal. Slipping her phone into her pocket, she shakes her head. Damnit, she knows.

  “Honey. Calvin.” She looks uncomfortable.

  “Mom. You got a couple?”

  She looks at him again. He looks like someone kicked his favorite puppy.

  “Yeah.” Grabbing a chair, she sits at the head of our little table. Typically she would slip in next to me. “You want to explain this? Explain why my daughter’s name is falling from your sewer mouth?”

  “It’s all my sister, Tracie. I swear I didn’t mean it the way it’s being said. It’s all out of context. She cut out where mother grabbed me. Threatened me. The horrible things she said about you guys. About Kayce.”

  “Words, Cal. You laid your hands on your momma. Knocked her down.”

  “An Accident. One I‘ve been thrown out of the house for committing.”

  Her head nods slowly as she looks at me. “Hence, your five-thirty appearance. You want us to put him up?”

  “Mom, he was staying in the Mayflower.”

  “We can’t have that, now can we? Though what happened to the young man from earlier this week? I thought you were seeing him? Now you and Calvin are an item?” Mom sounds confused.

  “It’s complicated.” I answer.

  “I bet. I’ll allow it.” She puts up her hand. “But I’m trusting you, both of you. I know you’re old enough to make your own bad decisions. Just please try and make better ones than the adults in your lives.”

  “Thank you, Tracie.” Cal says, and she pats his shoulder.

  “Get some food in you, you may as well hang around for shift change, so you can just bring me home too.”

  “You got it, mom.”

  Chapter 13

  Calvin

  What the hell am I gonna do? I’m sitting in Kayce’s kitchen, looking at her mom Tracie, and her Grandpa Compton. Kayce couldn’t get a replacement on short notice, so she’s gone to work.

  “So they’ve had an eventful eighteen or so hours.” Grandpa Compton says, looking from Tracie to me. “Well, boy, if you’re gonna stay, you gotta earn your keep.”

  “Absolutely, Sir.” I agree. What else am I gonna do?

  “You’ll have chores. Shoveling if there’s snow, cleaning the gutters out after the thaw. Yard work. You’ll be expected to go to school, to keep your grades up. We don’t take to slackers.”

  “Of course. Sir.”

  “Where’s your stuff?”

  “This is it. Just my school stuff, laptop, and what I’m wearing.”

  “Christ. Trace, this kids not even got himself a clean pair of shorts.” He squirms in his chair.

  “I have money, a little over two thousand dollars.”

  “You’re gonna need it. In the meantime, I may have some things that will do. C’mon, Calvin.” Tracie interrupts me.

  I look at her curiously as she leads me into the basement. “Um- if you’re gonna kill me, make it fast.” I mumble on the rickety stairs.

  Tracie laughs. “No, Calvin. But I do have some things that Logan left behind.”

  Logan was Kaycee’s dad. He left when she was two. She pulls out an unmarked tote.

  “I knew there was a reason I held on to this stuff. You never know when you’re gonna need something.” She half-smiles. “You’re a thirty-two twenty-eight?”

  “Twenty-nine, but I can sling low.”

  “The jeans will fit.” She holds
up a pair of dark blue jeans. “Here have it, whatever you want, bring it up. I’ll run it through the wash. When you’re done, we’ll go out to the Mall in Newark, get you some underthings, toiletries, and whatnot.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You can thank me by not making me a grandmother.”

  “I will, er, rather I won’t.”

  She nods and heads back upstairs.

  ***

  “I can’t believe you actually went shopping. With my mom!” Kayce teases as she sits in a towel, drying her voluminous curls. Most of the time, she straightens her hair, but when she’s home, it’s curly. I love her curls, though.

  “Hey, why do you always straighten it? Your hair. I mean.”

  “I dunno, because I look like a fucking poodle otherwise.”

  “You really don’t, though.” I get up, taking the blow dryer away. “Think we could try it out? You know- let them see the you, I get to see?”

  She looks up at me through the mirror, and I see her visibly swallow when I touch her. She lowers the towel exposing her naked little body to me. “Lock the door.” She whispers.

  I go over and lock the door, then come back to her. I’m about to lift her up when she stops me. “Just enjoy the vis.” She smiles as she grabs my waistband and unzips me. A few strokes of her hand, and I’m getting hard. Then she does it, licks me from balls to tip. I shudder as she bathes me in sweet saliva. I reach out, cupping a breast, tweaking her nipple as she starts to suck me off.

  She goes down as far as she can and jerks the rest of me, making sure every inch of my cock is gaining equal attention.

  “That feels…” I lose my train of thought as I watch her head slide back and forth, lubing up my piston. Grabbing my ass, she pulls me closer as I feel her swallow and stick a finger up my ass! “Fuck.”

  “Easy, you’re really gonna like this.” She says, popping off me. Pressing up on that space between my ass and my balls, she makes me see stars. I almost lose my footing and drop back against her vanity as she gobbles down my cock and keeps at me with her fingers. I feel my balls get heavy; I’m gonna come soon.

  “Kayce, I’m gonna- come.”

  She nods and sucks harder, digs in deeper. Kayce keeps going even after I come. Sucking, fingering, it gets me hard again fast.

  I’m still in a haze from coming, when she speaks, popping candy in her mouth. “Fuck me.” Getting off me, then standing, she grabs my hand and pulls me to the bed. By the time I get out of my pants, she’s got the condom ready. “I want you to make me crumble.”

  “How?” I ask. I know I’ve done this, but I’ve never made a girl crumble. Come once or twice, sure. But she’s asking for miracles on limited experience.

  “Get on the bed. Kneel.” I listen. “I’m gonna get on you, hold me up, you can do that?”

  I nod as she strokes me, making sure I stay good and hard. Getting her legs on either side of me, she squats over my cock. I grab her ass, and she guides me inside. She’s tight and warm. Her kiss is sweet and fruity from the candy. Rising up and down on me, I moan into her mouth as we catch a rhythm, and I start to lift her, letting her slide up and down me. Her arms wrap my shoulders, and her eyes lock with mine. I go to kiss her.

  “Keep your eyes open. Stay here, with me.” She pants.

  I avert my eyes. “It’s weird.”

  “You love me? You said it. So connect with me. Not just my hot wet pussy.” She kisses me, and I keep contact. Feeling like a silvery river is washing over me, and she’s my life raft. My thighs are as slick as her back, as I lower her to the blanket, getting a new perspective. I watch as she leans back, seeing myself as I enter her again, and again. It’s fucking hot. Like interactive porn.

  The room is filled with the vapor and smell of our sex, as we finish. I get rid of the condom, and she opens the window to air us out. She scoots under the covers, so I join her back on the bed.

  “You okay?” I ask her as she wipes a tear from her cheek.

  “Yeah.” She looks at me, then kisses me. “I- think- I love you too.” Kayce says her lips millimeters from mine.

  “Well, that makes things more interesting.” I smile as she lays her head on my chest.

  Chapter 14

  Kaycee

  Monday comes, and with it, the dog and pony show. That lying little video? Well, it went fucking viral. Cal’s friend's list has been cut by more than half, and those that have stuck around are divided. To some, asshole boys, he’s a hero. To others, the female populace, he’s the devil’s own. He’s gotten anonymous threats and everything. In less than twenty-four hours, Cal has gone from everybody’s BFF to public enemy numero uno. We get to the school and are given a wide berth as we go inside. Whispers, snickers. I kiss him as we part till lunch and get hissed at.

  “Oh, grow up!” I snap. “If you actually believe that wasn’t edited for cheap thrills!”

  Cal grabs me. “Kayce, just don’t engage.”

  I nod. He kisses me again, and we get hit with a cup of hot coffee!

  “Pig!” Shouts a girl that I’ve never even seen before.

  “Ugh!” I squeal. As I’m pulled back by Cal. He drags me into the bathroom. My face stings. He locks the door. Then strips off my drenched top. Soaking it in the sink with cold water, he pats my face with it.

  “Shit, this is gonna be red for a while.”

  “Yeah, they don’t put a caution on them cups for nothing.” I cry. The tears sting the burns. A knock comes to the door.

  Cal hesitates.

  “It’s Ciera, Cummings. I have some ice and clean t-shirts for you both.”

  Ciera is in our seventh-period Spanish class. She’s tutored Cal for the last year. He may be a core class genius, but he’s got no tongue for language.

  He rushes over and lets her in, locking the door behind her. “Next, it’ll be fire and pitchforks.” He spits. “Tell me you don’t believe that the way it shows.”

  Ciera shrugs. “I mean, I’ve never heard you talk that way, but it was you. You did say those things.”

  “To one person about her and my cunty sister who was, by the way, the uploader of this little fucked movie. She’s a film student at NYU. Who conveniently didn’t record my Harpy mother calling everyone without their kind of money vermin, and flea-ridden. Likened them to playthings that should be eaten fast.”

  “You said some really putrid things.”

  “I was angry.” Cal ices my cheek and his chest. He’s red as a lobster in splotches. I’m afraid to check my face.

  “Delia Hemerling was grabbed by the security guard that saw it happen. She’s been taken to the office, and they are waiting out there for you two.” Ciera explains, plainly.

  “I just want to go home and curl back up in bed with you,” I say as I lean toward him and he holds me against his icy chest.

  “So that was a kiss in the hallway? You two are together?”

  I feel Cal nod.

  “Well, shit. Okay. Explains a few things.”

  I look at her.

  “That Delia chick had a crush on you.” She looks at me.

  “Me?”

  ‘She knew you were Bertie. Got enamored, I guess the video of him saying he was fucking you got her upset.”

  “Ya think?” Cal condescends.

  “Just get clothes on and let ‘em take you to the office. You’re gonna have to decide if you’re pressing charges. This was assault after all.”

  “Yeah. Thanks.” We take the T-shirts from her; they are just plain white T’s.

  “From Mister Mackey, the art and design teacher. They’re doing silk screening this semester.”

  I nod at Ciera, pulling it on. I hop off the sink counter. “Guess we’re facing the firing squad and giving up all our privacy.”

  Chapter 15

  Calvin

  I’m a pariah. The females in this school have spent the day leering at me and my favorite teacher, Miss Warner, during fifth when she did roll call even skipped saying my name. Just nodded and k
ept going. It makes my heart ache to think that these people, people who have known me my entire life believe that I’m really like that. They believe that I’m some sort of sociopathic monster that beats his mother. If they had any idea the torture, I’ve endured at their hands.

  I remember being ten and coming home late from playing with Kayce. I’d hit a curb wrong and flipped my bike. Went head over heels. Busted up my rim and cut up my arms and my knee. I was only late because I had to walk the bike the rest of the way with a limp. Mother? She didn’t care; I was making her late for a dinner party. She beat the hell out of me with her silver-plated hairbrush. You know the ones with the big wide, flat backs? It wasn’t until after when she saw the blood that she even bothered to ask me what happened. Then she just told me not to get blood on the carpet. She left, and it was our housekeeper at the time, Amelia, who patched me up. Fed me and put me to bed.

  It was always like that. Always about them. What I do is a direct reflection on them. Well, they can have credit for this one, it was them coming out of me after all.

  I meet Kayce in the hallway just outside the café, and she looks like she could fall asleep on her feet.

  “Hey? What’s up?” I say, taking her bag as it slips off her shoulder toward the floor.

  “I’m exhausted from turning the other cheek all day.” She whimpers. “You know what happens when you turn the other cheek? They smack that one too, with these burns, it really hurts.”