“No, I swear I wasn’t. I… I left school late, I had to talk to my teacher—“
SLAP
“Don’t lie to me! Why did you need to talk to your teacher? Did you do something wrong?”
“No. He asked to see me about working on the school newspaper. He wanted me to write an article—“
“That’s a lie! All you ever do is lie! You’re just like your mother-a fucking liar who is good for absolutely nothing! You’re going to end up just like she did: alone and miserable. No one will ever love you; no one will ever put up with your lies. You will never amount to anything. I’m done. I knew the moment I was called about you, that you would be nothing but a piece of shit like your mother was. You’ve caused me nothing but problems since you came here. I’m calling tomorrow, I want you out of here!”
“I’m... I’m sorry. Please… I didn’t mean—“
“You didn’t mean what? To ruin my life? Well congratulations, you have! Yet again, I’ve had to clean up your mother’s mess, and I’m fucking tired of it! Get the fuck out of here. I don’t want to fucking see you again!”
“Ow!” I yelp in pain as I wasn’t fast enough to dodge whatever she threw at me that just hit me in the back.
“Get the fuck out of here! Stay in your room the rest of the night. Don’t you dare come out for dinner either. You’re not getting anything tonight!”
She’s throwing things down the hallway as I desperately try to make my way to my small bedroom. It’s nothing more than a closet that they put a small mattress in on the floor; my clothes are hanging on the rod above me. It’s tiny and dark, but I don’t mind—in here I know I’m safe. She never comes in here. I scream as something else hits my back when I stop to open my door but don’t turn around to see what it was. I throw myself into my room and close the door quickly behind me. I turn on the small lamp that sits on the floor next to my mattress. The blood is already seeping through the back of my shirt when I pull it off.
Chapter 28
Nicholas
“I can’t do this anymore, Nicky.” Mommy’s crying again. She’s always crying.
“It’s okay, Mommy. Don’t cry,” I beg her.
“It’s not okay, it’s never okay. Get in the tub, Nicky.”
I don’t want to make her cry again so I get in the bathtub, but the water is too hot. I cry out—she slaps me across the cheek.
“It’s fine.”
“It’s too hot, Mommy.”
“No it’s not, get in the goddamn tub.”
“Mommy,” I sob but do as she says.
I don’t want to make her mad again; last time she was mad, she locked me in my bedroom and I didn’t eat all day. The water turns my skin red and it hurts, but I don’t cry. I can’t make her mad again.
“I’m sorry I’m not the mommy you need, Nicky.”
“You’re my mommy.” I don’t understand what she’s saying.
“But I’m not a good mommy, Nicky.”
“You are—“
“No, I’m not: I yell at you too much, the apartment is always dirty, I never have enough money for food, I… I lost my job again. We’re going to lose this apartment Nicky, we’re going to be homeless.”
“Homeless?” I don’t know what that means.
“Homeless; the man who owns this place says we have to move out of here by tomorrow.”
“Where will we go, Mommy?”
“That’s what being homeless means, baby, we have nowhere to go.”
“But where will I go to sleep? Where is my bed going to be?”
“It doesn’t matter Nicky, after today, nothing is going to matter.”
“Mommy?”
“Why don’t you lean back so I can wash your hair?”
I lay on my back and close my eyes, but when Mommy doesn’t do anything, I look up to find her staring at me. She has a funny look in her eyes, she smiles at me, mumbling something I can’t hear, and puts her hand on my chest and pushes down. My face goes underwater! She knows I don’t like having water in my eyes. Why did she do that? I try and try to push her hand away but she’s too strong.
FUCK!
I wake up sweating with my blankets thrown off the bed; I can’t seem to catch my breath or stop my body from shaking. This nightmare is always the worst; I’ll never forget that day. I’ll never be able to rid myself of that memory. Most days, though, I can keep myself from remembering it, but then this fucking nightmare brings it right back to the surface. The clock next to my bed lets me know it’s barely three in the morning, once again too fucking early to wake up Carter and go for a run. I know there’s no point in trying to go back to sleep tonight—there’s no way I’ll be able to close my eyes and not picture that bathroom. I weigh my options as to what the hell I can do at this hour of the morning. I’m too tired to get any real work done. I can at least recognize that it’s not safe for me to go running in the middle of the night without Carter so that’s also out. I decide to head to the gym downstairs and hit the treadmill to see if that helps. It isn’t ideal, but at least it’s something.
I change into clean workout clothes and head down to the gym; I’m not worried about not telling Carter because after he realizes I’m not in the apartment he will check the security feed and see that I didn’t leave the building. It’s no surprise that the gym is empty at this hour of the morning. I put my earbuds in and start a playlist on my phone before setting the speed on the treadmill. I quickly lose myself in the rhythm of running and my thoughts begin to slowly fade away from that horrible day so many years ago.
After an hour, I finally feel like my head is clear enough to start my day. I slow the treadmill down to a walk and look around me. The gym itself is still empty, but there is one woman swimming in the indoor pool below the gym. It only takes me a brief second to recognize that the beautiful woman swimming is none other than Kenzie.
I’m surprised to see her in the pool at four o’clock in the morning. I know she is off today from the bakery so that isn’t the reason she is awake this early. I immediately worry that the reason she is in the gym so early is because she also had a nightmare. The idea of her having one like the one she did when I was sick, bothers the hell out of me. My gut clenches as I remember her screams and how she kept apologizing, begging her ex to stop hurting her.
Without giving it a second thought, I jump off the treadmill and head out of the gym. Arriving at the elevator, instead of punching in the security code for the penthouse, I enter the access code for the pool. I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding when I see that Kenzie is still swimming laps in the pool and hadn’t left before I could get here. I sit at the edge of the pool with my feet in the water and just watch her swim. I don’t know why I’m here; I don’t know what I’m even going to say. It’s like I’m drawn to her or some shit. It’s the same feeling I had last night after listening to the fucking rules her ex made her follow. I’ve never heard of someone having rules for their fiancée like that. I could see cautioning her about certain topics that could be a hot button for someone at a business dinner, but limiting what she could drink and choosing what she wore?
When she was describing it last night on our way back home, all I wanted to do was destroy the fucker who did that to her. He fucked with her so much so that even more than two years later, she still doesn’t allow herself to have more than one drink when she is out with someone. I doubt that she even realizes she is still following his rule about that. Our car ride back last night also made me realize how little Kenzie thinks of herself. She honestly does not see the wonderful person she is; she wouldn’t even admit that she deserves better than the asshole who used to hit her. How the hell does she not see that? Shit, even I know I’m not good enough for her!
“Nicholas! You scared me!” Kenzie finally comes up from the water and sees me sitting there. I’m kind of embarrassed that I have no idea how long I’ve been watching her swim back and forth.
“I was in the gym and saw you swimming down here. Wha
t are you doing here so early?”
“Couldn’t sleep.” She shrugs, as if not wanting to admit the real reason she is down here at this hour. “What about you? Why were you in gym this early?”
“Couldn’t sleep.” I smirk, repeating her vague answer.
“Touché,” she laughs.
“You like to swim?”
“I was on the swim team in high school for a little while; before I moved… came here, I hadn’t been swimming in years. I forgot how relaxing it is.”
When she gets out of the pool, I nearly groan; she’s wearing the bathing suit I had purchased for her last weekend. She walks past me, over to the lounge chair where she had a towel waiting. I watch, almost fascinated, as she dries the dripping water off her body. I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to lick each drop of water off her.
“Nicholas?” Thankfully, Kenzie pulls me from my naughty thoughts before my dick decides to make them obvious to her.
“Sorry, I have a big meeting this morning I was thinking about,” I lie.
“I asked if you wanted to come back to the apartment for some breakfast? But if you have a meeting…”
“No, breakfast would be nice. Let me run up to my place to change; I’m kind of sweaty from the treadmill.”
“Okay, I’ll see you in a few minutes?”
“Sure. Thank you, Kenzie.”
She gets off the elevator at her floor while I ride the rest of the way alone to my apartment. When the doors open, I’m greeted by silence which is no surprise. Typically, Carter doesn’t come out of his apartment until closer to five and Julie not until six when we are due back from our morning run. I quickly take a shower and change into a pair of jeans and a casual shirt before heading to Kenzie’s apartment. When I approach her door, I’m immediately reminded of standing here last night when things were still a little awkward between us after her confession in the car.
I remember the pain in her eyes when she looked up at me. I didn’t know what to do, but once again I found myself overwhelmed with the sudden need to comfort her. She is the only person I’ve ever felt such a strong protectiveness for, well, outside of my family, of course. I didn’t know how to comfort her last night, so I did the only thing that came natural to me. I kissed her. For the first time since her nightmare, I kissed her on the lips. And it felt… it left me needing a very cold shower when I finally got back to my apartment. All I really wanted to do was take her into her apartment and fuck her senseless until she forgot everything that that bastard did to her. Thankfully, I realized how that would only fuck things up royally and just end up hurting her more, which is why I walked away.
I’m surprised to find myself standing outside her door again, surprised that she invited me to breakfast and more surprised that I said yes. My response came without hesitation or thought, a rarity for me. I could have easily declined her invitation, returned to my apartment, and began preparing for my day ahead. Instead, I’m once again standing outside the door to her apartment. I take a deep breath and knock on the door.
“Come in. Breakfast is just about ready. Would you like a cup of coffee?” Kenzie greets me a few seconds later.
“Yes, thank you.”
I follow her into the kitchen area where she hands me a cup of hot coffee and encourages me to sit at the table in the dining room. I look around the apartment since this is the first time I’ve been here since she moved in. Looking around, I realize the apartment looks exactly the same as it did the last time I was here. The walls are bare except for a few landscape pictures that I had Melody order for the space in an effort to make it feel more comfortable to the employees who stayed here while they looked for a new place to live. The kitchen counters are bare, even the fridge is free of magnets or papers hanging up. It doesn’t seem like Kenzie has done very much with the space since she moved in at all.
“I hope you like blueberry pancakes.” Kenzie puts a plate in front of me.
“I do, thank you.”
She takes a seat across from me with her plate and cup of coffee. We eat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before my curiosity gets the better of me.
“You know you can redecorate or paint in here if you wanted to,” I suggest.
“Nah, it’s fine just the way it is. Actually, I’m starting to look for my own place so—“
“What?” I’m really hoping I didn’t just hear her correctly.
“I… I’ve begun the process of looking for an apartment. I have calls into a few places that I’m hoping to look at in the next couple of weeks—“
“Kenzie, if you don’t like something about this apartment—“
“No! Gosh no, Nicholas, this place is perfect!”
“Then what is it? Why do you want to move out?”
“Nicholas… this is your apartment, not mine. This move was temporary, it was never a permanent arrangement for me. I could never afford to live in a million-dollar condo like this.”
Two million, but I don’t correct her.
“Kenzie, before I moved into The Accord, I looked at a number of different places. This condo has the highest level of security available; every other building you look at will fall short.”
“I don’t doubt that.” She shrugs and then sighs. “The reality is I can’t afford even a studio apartment in this building, and that’s okay. I won’t be going back to where I used to live that’s for sure. I’m hoping to find a place with decent security—“
“You won’t. That’s what I’m trying to tell you; nothing you look at will compare.
“I know, what I find won’t be The Accord, but it will be safer than where I was before here.”
“Why do you want to move? If there is something you don’t like about this apartment we can change it—“
“Nicholas, you don’t get it,” she shakes her head as if I’m missing something obvious. “This is your apartment, not mine.”
“It’s yours for as long as you need it.”
“I needed this place after my last apartment was broken into; I can afford my own place so I no longer need this apartment.”
“Okay, need was the wrong word. This place is yours for as long as you want it, Kenzie. Stay here; the building is secure, you don’t need to worry about someone breaking in or the press bothering you, and you have access to all the amenities that it has to offer.”
“For how long? Any way you look at it, this apartment is temporary.”
“For as long as you want to stay! I don’t need the apartment—“
“And what happens when you do? What happens when you hire someone who needs a place to stay while they relocate?”
“We have other condos that PFS owns, so that’s the least of my concerns. I want to keep you safe, to keep the press away from you, and here I can do that.”
“And what happens when this,” she waves her hands between us, “ends? I’ll have nowhere to go; I will have no place of my own. I’ll have to settle for whatever I can find at that moment, which will probably mean I’ll end up in a hotel for a little while until I find a place. I won’t do that again. If I find my own place now, then when this ends I’ll still have my own place.”
“Is that what you’re worried about? Do you really think I would just kick you out when this arrangement ends?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugs and avoids looking at me, which answers my question more than her words do. I’m completely taken back that she would think I would just kick her out when we’re done.
“Kenzie…” I sigh, trying to figure out how to convince her that would never happen. Hell, I’d fucking give her the apartment, if I thought that was what she wanted, but I learned my lesson the last time I tried to offer her money.
“Look, I get it… you need something of your own; you don’t want to be completely dependent on me.”
“Yeah,” she whispers but still doesn’t look at me.
“I would hope that by now you would know me well enough to know that I wouldn’t put you on
the street just because our arrangement ended; I know part of you knows that.” She attempts to interrupt, but I don’t let her. “But I also know because of your ex, you have doubts. What if we put together a legal contract that gives you the right to stay here if we ended things? You would have a place to stay that is safe while we’re in this arrangement together, but when it ends you would have the time you needed to find a place of your own?”
“You would do that?” She finally makes eye contact with me, immediately I feel relieved.
“Of course, Kenzie. I’ll have my legal team draw up a contract that says if our relationship is ended by either party that you have the right to remain in the condo for up to six months. I want you to be safe, and this place has the best security possible. The press hasn’t bothered you too much yet, but that could change at any time. Will you consider staying?”
“I’ll think about it,” she agrees.
Thank God. I don’t know what I would have done if she had insisted on moving out. Short of buying her a house somewhere outside of the city, no one can offer the security that The Accord Towers has. That was the reason I chose to live here after leaving her. I knew I needed top security to ensure she couldn’t access my apartment ever again. The Accord guaranteed that. Having Kenzie here means I can guarantee the press won’t bother her but also that there is no chance of anyone from her past getting to her.
“I’ve got to get going; I have an early meeting that I need to prepare for.” I realize that my meeting starts in thirty minutes, and I’m not even dressed yet for the office.
“Thank you for having breakfast with me, Nicholas.”
“Please think about what I’ve said. Can I email you the contract my legal department draws up?”
“Yes, that would be fine.”
“I’ll see you later this week?”
“Yes, for dinner.”
I lean down and kiss her softly on the cheek before leaving her apartment and to head back upstairs. When the elevator doors open, Carter immediately walks into the foyer but doesn’t say anything. I have no doubt that he knew where I was since he didn’t call my phone.
The Arrangement Duet Box Set Page 29
