“Get the fuck off me!” he yelled, trying to turn. “Fucking bitch was trying to rob me!”
“Like hell she was,” I replied, spinning him around. Using some of the street tactics that my boxing coach had taught me, I slammed my forearm into his face, shattering his nose and sending him dazed to the floor. “Motherfucker.”
I turned away from Sydney and looked at Alix, who was trying to cover herself. In her fight with Sydney, he’d torn her t-shirt and bra, her right breast exposed to the light. I immediately pulled my shirt over my head and handed it to her and grabbed the money off the table. “That’s not his.”
Alix pulled my shirt over her head and tried to get up, but her legs were unable to support her. Trembling, she collapsed to the ground and I caught her, letting the stacks of cash fall to the floor. Ignoring the money, I picked her up in my arms, holding her tight.
“Shhh Alix, it’s okay. I’m here, I’ll protect you,” I whispered before turning my attention back to the still-dazed Sydney. “When I get out of here I’m calling the cops. I swear, if I ever see you again, I’m not going to let you leave alive.”
“My bag,” Alix whispered. “Please, my bag.”
I snagged the bag with my free hand and carried her out of the apartment and out onto the walkway. Neighbors were already sticking their heads out of their apartments, curious as to what was happening. I tried to enlist their help, but nobody would get involved. I tried again in what Spanish I remembered from my childhood and one class in legal Spanish—I asked them to call the police.
One of the neighbors, a middle-aged woman with two kids sticking their heads around her legs, nodded and slammed her door. I could only hope that she was calling the cops, but I wasn’t going to stick around to make sure. This wasn’t the sort of neighborhood that the police responded to quickly, and I worried it would be more dangerous to stick around than to get the hell out of there.
Alix was able to walk a bit as we went down the stairs, and I helped her into the passenger seat. She had a torn shirt, but didn’t look otherwise harmed. She was definitely a bit rattled though. “My car,” she started to object, and I shook my head.
“I’ll call a tow truck for it or something,” I said, firing up the engine. I pulled away and headed toward the Interstate. “Alix, did he touch you?”
“No, you got there in time,” she said, her voice cracking as she realized how lucky she’d been. “But if you hadn’t . . . ”
She broke down sobbing, and I pulled over, leaving the engine running. Reaching over, I took her hand carefully. “Alix . . . Alix, look at me.”
She looked up at me, her eyes puffy with tears, and I knew something for certain: I’d never leave her. “Kade . . . I’m sorry . . . I screwed up so much . . . ” she got out, before the sobs took over again.
I held her hand, wanting to reach over and hold her closer but knowing that she was going through the aftereffects of domestic violence. If I comforted her the way I wanted, I could actually end up hurting her more, scaring her. Instead, I held her hand carefully, looking at her with concern in my eyes. “Alix, do you want me to take you to a hospital?”
She shook her head. “No . . . I’m not injured, just a torn t-shirt. The hospital can’t do anything. Can you just take me home?”
“Doesn’t he know where that is?” I asked. “Would you be safe there?”
“I’m safe wherever you are,” she said, looking me in the eyes. “Take me with you, please.”
I nodded, understanding the message behind her blue eyes. Driving north on the city streets again, I got back on the Interstate, this time intending to go south toward Laguna Hills. “No,” Alix said as she saw which lane I was getting into. “Not Laguna. Derek and Mom can’t know about this. Please, Kade.”
“Where?” I asked, looking at her. “And why can’t they know?”
“Syd was blackmailing me,” she said, shame creeping on her face. “He and I . . . he has photos of me that would destroy Derek. If those come out, there’s no way he’ll get elected. It’s also why there can’t be any cops. I can’t go to them, not unless we want the photos to come out.”
I nodded and drove on, skipping the off-ramp south. “Okay. Well, you mentioned never being to Portland. What about visiting with me for a few days? Think you can do it?”
Alix nodded, then grinned sheepishly. “I don’t have any clothes though.”
For some strange reason, I found the comment hilarious. Leave it to Alix. We were driving away from a blackmailing asshole of a man, who had evidence (I didn’t know what at the time) that would ruin my father’s political ambitions, and I had no idea if Alix had work lined up or not, or if this situation with Sydney would hurt her career. Still, her first concern was that she didn’t have any clothes to wear. I chuckled and pointed toward her bag. “Tell you what. Pull out your cellphone and find us the closest place to buy some clothes. We’ll get you something to wear that will at least last until we can get to Portland. It may not be the most fashionable thing in the world, but you’ll be comfortable.”
Alix blinked and looked at me. “My bag . . . my phone!”
Chapter 11
Alix
The next morning, Kade and I were cruising on fumes as we pulled into Portland. Other than the promised stop at an all-night shopping center, we’d driven all night, Kade powering through with the help of a few energy drinks, exceptionally loud music, and two ten-minute naps while I did the refueling at truck stops.
For my part, I had trouble falling asleep. Part of it was initial adrenaline as I explained to Kade about my downloaded app on my phone. My earpiece was gone, most likely falling out at Sydney’s, but my phone itself was fine. In fact it was still recording when I took it out of my bag, although it was down to less than half a charge. “Here, plug it into my car,” Kade instructed me, pointing toward the docking port.
“We might be able to use that file. I got some pretty damning commentary from him, as well as assaulting me on audio. We could ruin him more.”
“We’ll see if the file is good when we get to Portland,” Kade replied. “If we can, we’ll see what our options are. By the way, don’t forget to text Layla and Dad that you’re coming with me, I don’t want them concerned.”
We found clothes for me soon after, and by midnight I was starting to crash. The stress-induced adrenalin had worn off long before, leaving just exhaustion. Even with Kade’s music, a lot of which I remembered from his visits before, I was nodding. “Jesus, Kade, don’t you update your music collection?”
“Not often,” he admitted. “Usually I’ve been too busy doing other stuff. Besides, good driving songs only come out once or twice a year. And this is the sort of drive that requires good driving music the whole way.”
I couldn’t disagree with him, but still I was nodding off. Kade noticed and patted my arm, reassuring me. “Alix, take a nap, it’s all right.”
“But you’d be driving by yourself then,” I countered, yawning. “That’s not good for driving safety.”
“True, but I’ve done all-nighters before, so my body is used to them. Besides, I have a six pack of drinks, plenty of sugar and caffeine to get me all the way to Portland,” Kade said. “So go ahead, take a nap. Don’t make me order you around.”
“Yes . . . sir,” I said sleepily, smiling at the comforting weight of that sound in my ears. I did nap some, only to wake up what felt like minutes later, a scream barely cut off behind my lips. Kade, who was draining what turned out to be the third of his drinks, swallowed quickly and put his can in the cup holder.
“You were having a bad dream,” he said quietly. “I didn’t want to wake you up, because your body needed the rest even if it was unpleasant rest. Want to talk about it?”
“No, not really,” I answered. “Kade, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, if you’re intent on staying up,” he said. “By the way, we just passed through Hilt. Welcome to Oregon.”
“What time is it?” I asked, wipin
g at my eyes. “And how’d you get here so fast?”
“It’s four thirty-six, and I told you, at night the CHP is relaxed. I can cruise without anyone giving me grief since we spend so much time in rural areas. Speed limit’s seventy out here.”
There was a moment of silence, and then I finally spoke up. “Are you curious about the stuff Sydney has on me?” I asked. “I mean, I haven’t given you any details.”
Kade shook his head. “Not really. I assume they’re sexual in nature, as that’s just about the only thing that would threaten Dad’s political ambitions with how you were so worried. You’re not into drugs, you’re not into crazy stuff, so it’s most likely not illegal. Not much left, am I right?”
“Yes. Sydney talked me into some things that I’m not proud of.”
Kade surprised me with his next comment. “You should never be ashamed of your body or your sexuality. That he has them, yes. Your choice to let him take them, yes. But never be ashamed of who you are.”
“Even if I did things that I didn’t want to do?” I asked.
Kade thought about it, then shook his head. “Well, despite being a lawyer, I keep thinking in only the good side of things. I don’t force things on people.”
“That’s why I feel safe with you,” I said. “Rita told me a lot.”
Kade glanced over before returning his eyes to the road, not saying a word.
“Kade. I just want to let you know . . . I’m interested.”
“We’re stepsiblings,” Kade said. “If you think the pictures or whatever it is Sydney has on you would hurt Dad’s political ambitions, if it ever came out that we were together, it would totally nuke them.”
“I know, which is why this is hard for me,” I said. “Kade, I’ve thought of you as my dream guy for years now, it just took Rita to point it out to me.”
“You have no idea how indecent I am,” Kade replied with a shiver. “Alix, some of the things I’ve dreamed . . . you’re not able to handle them.”
“Was Rita?” I asked bluntly. “I’m not trying to sound hurt, I’m just curious.”
“Yes and no,” he said. “The physical stuff, yes. But the level of commitment I demand, no. She and I were never more than bedmates. Alix, I want you to think long and hard about this, and don’t give me an answer now. I’m willing to do what it takes, hiding the truth from Dad and Layla, lying to everyone else, all of it publicly needed to make sure my father and your mother are protected. Dad deserves that much, after all the years of busting his ass trying to be a good father after my mother left us. But I won’t do any of it if you’re also not one hundred percent committed as well. If we pursue this and see where it goes, we’ll have to do it privately. If we break it off, I can live with that, but it will never come to light. If it works out, then it’ll still have to be our little secret.”
“Derek I can understand, but why your concern about my mother?”
Kade looked at me and sighed, then looked ahead. “Fuck it, time to break that ground as well. Alix, tell me what you know about your mother and father’s marriage.”
“Mom took me away from Daddy when I was five, and fleeced the hell out of him in the divorce. Lucky she did it in California I guess, with the no-fault clauses and everything. She did everything in her power after that to keep me from seeing him, and when I turned eighteen I learned he was dead, and in fact the rest of his money was sitting in a blind trust for me.”
“Your mother took you away because Paris Nova was a serial abuser,” Kade said softly. “She left when, after breaking her eye socket and her arm for the second time, he said he was going to go after you too. She ran into the night with a broken arm and you in her arms, penniless and hopeless, but she did it to save your life.”
I shook my head, “Kade, that may be what she told you or Derek, but Daddy never laid a hand on me.”
“Of course he didn’t, you were his Princess,” Kade said. “But I saw the photos, Alix. Remember when I told you about the case I argued in law school with a swollen eye? It wasn’t the first case I’d looked into. My first year of law school, just after Layla and Dad got married, I talked with her, asking if I could look into the file. She took me down to the county courthouse herself and signed to let me see the divorce files. I saw the X-rays, the photos the hospital workers took. They wanted Layla to press charges, but she refused, because of you. She didn’t want you being dragged into court and having your image of your father being shattered. She didn’t want the mental trauma on you. Paris was such an uncaring son of a bitch that he agreed to give her full custody if she took a smaller cut of the marriage property and didn’t press charges. She agreed, and since then bore the weight of your anger, because you’ve blamed her the entire time for ruining your relationship with your father.”
“And what about Daddy’s death?” I asked, my voice dry as Kade’s quiet words tore at my heart. There was no deception, no taunting or condemnation. In that quiet, dark hour, as the highway rolled beneath us, a black ribbon lit up by the LEDs of the car’s headlamps, both of us were too tired for anything but the truth. “I couldn’t find anything, and the lawyer that represented the trust wouldn’t tell me anything, not even where he died.”
“Paris Nova died in a prison in Singapore when you were still in elementary school. He turned his fists on a young call girl and crippled her while holding enough coke to get most of the country high as a kite. They didn’t even have time to give him the death penalty. He was shanked in prison two months after his conviction. You were eight when he died.”
I felt the foundation of the world shifting beneath me, like I was in an earthquake. For sixteen years, I’d hated my mother, when in reality I should have been thanking her daily for saving my life. I must have known it inside, thinking back to how I couldn’t refuse Mom when she really needed me or asked something of me. I blinked, tears forming in my eyes, shaking my head. My stomach twisted, and I felt gorge rise in my throat. “Kade, pull over,” I said, holding my arms over my gut.
I staggered out of the car, falling to my knees in the breakdown lane of Interstate 5. All I could do was scream and cry, pounding my fists into the ground.
Kade came around and knelt beside me, letting me vent my feelings. When I was hollowed out, an empty shell, he gently wrapped his arms around me. “Now you see why I couldn’t even let you know how I felt,” he whispered. “Alix, you have to let it go. Your illusions, your anger toward your mother, all of it. Because if you want to go somewhere with me, you’re going to need all your strength for that.”
I sobbed, nodding into his chest as I felt purged. “Help me please, Kade?”
“I can try,” he replied. “No matter what, I’ll try. I love you, Alix.”
I sniffled and looked up at him, barely illuminated in the yellow light that came from the running light on the side of the car. “Love me like family . . . or something else?”
“Until a few days ago, I would never have let myself love you as anything but family, except in my dreams,” he replied. “This is new for me, too.”
We knelt there on the side of the road, and again it was pure nature that took over for us. I saw the love in his eyes that said he’d never do to me what Daddy—no, that man wasn’t my Daddy—what Paris Nova did. I leaned up and kissed him once, and it was just as sweet as when we’d kissed on the pier. It didn’t go further, though, as we were lit up by lights coming up toward us as another driver pulled over. “Hey, you guys okay?”
“Yeah,” I called back, breaking the kiss and getting up. “Everything’s fine. Everything’s fine.”
Chapter 12
Kade
When we got to Portland, I wanted both of us to take our time. Thankfully, my condo has three bedrooms, two of which were unoccupied at the time.
“What’s in here?” Alix asked when I showed her around. It was late afternoon after we arrived, since both of us had been so exhausted after the drive to do much more than go to bed. She reached for the door knob, stopping when I s
poke.
“Don’t go in there,” I commanded, just a bit of sternness in my voice. Alix turned to me, her eyes growing wide as she heard me give her her first order. “Alix, do you trust me?”
“Yes, Kade,” she said. She looked at me with her eyes wide and clear blue, looking at me without any fear at all. “I trust you completely.”
“Then don’t go in there,” I said, “Not yet,” still commanding but not as stern. “Alix, there’s so much I want to show you. But not yet.”
“Why not?” she asked, pouting before stopping. “Sorry, I guess I’m not supposed to ask why, am I?”
“You can ask, but don’t expect an answer quite yet.” I smirked. “But before anything, I need you to do something for me.”
“What?” she asked, leaning into my hand and shivering. “God, that feels good. How is this so good?”
“Because we’re doing it for the right reasons,” I explained. “But what I need you to do is call Layla.”
“And do what?” she asked. “Apologize?”
“Yes,” I said quietly. “You don’t need to tell her what you know. She had her reasons for not telling you, as much as I personally disagree with them. But you do need to apologize to her for the way you’ve behaved for so many years. In the meantime, I’ll have a visitor tonight.”
“Who?”
I nodded, leading her into the living room. “It’s my paralegal investigator, Vince. He’s the guy who tracked down what happened for me, although he doesn’t know the details. He and I are going to discuss our legal weapons available right now, and some that are not exactly legal. Vince has some connections on both sides of the law.”
Alix nodded.
“Before you call though, I have something for you,” I said, knowing Alix was ready.
“What?”
“Tudor Rose,” I said. “Never forget it. Say it, and I stop anything.”
Alix looked at me with surprise and understanding in her eyes. “May I kiss you?”
Dirty Little Secrets: A Stepbrother Romance Page 9
