Hell Of A Marriage {18+}

Chapter twenty five - Bad guy

Twelve years ago...

Keenan stepped into his apartment after returning from basketball practice, looking all sweaty and hungry. His first thought was to shower, then food, but as soon as he stepped into the apartment, the heavenly smell he smelt from the kitchen made him want to change his mind. He would have said there was a girl over, but he knew how good his roommate and best friend, Rory, was at cooking. This was his doing, and Keenan wasn’t sure he would bathe before eating as he had earlier planned.

As he threw his bag onto the sofa and almost sat, he remembered he had a date with Phoebe later in the day, so he had to get ready. He didn’t want to end up going to see her late and knew Phoebe wouldn’t appreciate that either.

Although today made it four months since they started dating, Keenan had never gotten the chance to tell his best friend that he was dating his sister. He always freaked out whenever he tried to tell him the truth.

He never planned to fall in love with Phoebe. They had been friends since their teenage age and he never considered her as anything but his best friend’s baby sister, well, until a year ago. They were on a college trip and camping in the woods and one night he walked into Phoebe's tent and met her crying. When he asked why she was crying she tried to hide it, but when he persisted, she told him that Hunter, her then-boyfriend had broken things off with her. Feeling pissed off, Keenan suggested he could go beat him up if she wanted, and Phoebe just shook her head.

Keenan moved to console her and they stayed in silence for a while. Phoebe had later gotten hold of herself, she asked him why he was still single and he told her he hadn’t found the right girl yet and Phoebe who didn’t believe him, told him there were a lot of girls around and furthered her point by citing how he was good looking, in the right shape and had money and he said that was the problem as girls only saw his looks and money and nothing more.

Phoebe told him she said more and Keenan kissed her lips, and that was how it all started. After that month, Keenan avoided complicated situations surrounding her for the next few months, not even having the guts to own up to what he had done. His feelings grew as the days turned into weeks and weeks into months, and he could no longer hold it in. And four-month ago when they finally got the time to talk, they both admitted feelings for each other.

Keenan and Rory were close, and they knew everything about each other. And one thing he knew was that Rory didn’t welcome the thought of him and his sister for even a second. Keenan knew how protective Rory was of his kid sister with her dating boys and he knew Rory wouldn’t accept him because Keenan had jokingly talked about kissing Phoebe three weeks ago while they talked and Rory showed immediately disapproval, pointing to him that Phoebe was his younger sister and he would not let Keenan even think about her in that manner.

Keenan valued his friendship with Rory as much as he valued his relationship with Phoebe and he only wanted to make her happy and he only wished Rory would see that.

A week ago, Phoebe asked him if he had talked to Rory about them and when he said no, Phoebe, who felt disappointed, asked if she should speak to her brother about them instead, but Keenan insisted Rory had to hear it from him.

He would have to come out with his feeling and intentions towards Phoebe soon so Rory doesn’t have to find out on his own. He loved her and wanted to only make her happy and that wouldn’t happen as long as Rory was in the dark about them.

After taking a bath, and shaving his beard, Keenan proceeded into his room and changes into a black t-shirt and a blue pair of jeans and he stepped out of the room. Finally, Keenan sees Rory setting the table up and he paused in surprise. Although he’d smelt Rory’s cooking, he didn’t think he’d be that quick to finish cooking already.