“No,” I sighed. “I mean what he did when I broke those rules.”
“What did he do?”
“Depends. If I was lucky and it was something small like questioning something he’d said, I’d go a day without food. If he caught me saying something unbiblical, then he might lock me in the cellar over the weekend.”
A steady red grew on Deacon’s tan face. This was supposed to be the small stuff, but maybe it wasn’t. The words wouldn’t stop coming though.
“Once, when I was young my mom tried to slip me some food. I’d been locked in the basement and given nothing to eat cause I was reading some cartoon about evolution. He…he beat her in front of me. He told me it was my fault for driving my mother to weakness.”
Deacon’s chest was heaving now, but I couldn’t stop. I’d buried all this when I left. Even Mira hadn't heard of some of it. Bringing it up was hard, but seeing his rage helped.
“She didn’t help after that. Not even the time I gave a sermon at his church and forgot some of my lines and he whipped me with his belt. Not even when he found me holding hands with a boy there and burned my palm with a lighter.”
There was more, but nothing to top that. I couldn't even call the memory to mind. I’d blanked out from the pain. It was strange, the things we forget and the things we keep.
I lay silent.
“I didn’t notice a thing,” Deacon said softly. “I know your body by heart and I didn’t see the signs.”
“He always knew the right spots to leave no marks. He said they were punishments of the soul, not the body. Mostly, I think he didn’t want his church to see how he kept his perfect evangelical daughter in line. I guess that’s one thing I can be happy for.”
I chuckled, but Deacon just twirled a skewer in his hand with a dark look.
“Tell me he’s in prison,” he said.
“He’s not.”
“Why not?”
“I told you, he got me believing I earned all of it.” A heaviness overtook my breath. “I mean, there was one time I almost ran away. I’d been beaten especially hard for something. I can’t remember what. But I do remember packing up a bunch of clothes and some money.”
“He caught you?”
I sighed, sinking onto my elbows. “No, the house was empty. I could have left. But I got to the front door and his words came rushing back in my ears. If I stepped out, then I was on the path to hell and damnation.”
I peered up at him.
“There were so many chances for me to just leave. But I never could. That was how deep in my head he was. The one moment of clarity I had, and it lasted ten minutes before I ran back and unpacked.”
“He kept you obedient.” Deacon said. “That's almost worse than his physical crimes. So why is he not serving time? You did break free.”
“After I left them in college, I told Mira and she tried to get me to file charges, but by then-” I held up my palm. “There was no proof. I got angrier about it all, but then I just wanted to leave it all behind.”
Deacon’s shoulders shook with rage. He tore out his phone. “I know people in the FBI. They’ll get him for something. He wants religion? I am going to rain hell fire down on him.”
“No!” I grabbed his forearm. He scowled up at me, eyes filled with hurt and hate on my behalf.
I should have been angry that he thought this was his fight, that he didn’t trust my solution. But the way he looked blazing with fury for me…His power felt like my own. It was a current, not a cage.
And it was heating me up in strange ways.
“Save it for me,” I whispered to him. “Forget him. Give me your strength.”
He stared a long while, and his mood settled. The fire still burned in his eyes, though.
We left the plate half-eaten and rushed for a taxi.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Deacon
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Kiara asked.
“No.”
“I can still act surprised when we get there.”
“You trust me, don’t you?”
“This isn’t me not trusting you, Deacon. This is me getting bored of the scenery.”
Me, I kinda liked the what we were rolling past. Outside the oblique Land Rover window, sand skittered along at the side of the road. Only flat plants blossomed here. Texas brushland looked like the rainforest next to this place.
Beyond the plains, tawny dunes burned bright in the sun, their forms slowly etching away under the hot winds.
There was something soothing in watching a land endlessly being swept away and reforming. It reminded you not to hold on to the wrong things, that change was the only guarantee.
“There’s plenty of fine scenery within this car,” I said, holding her tighter in the backseat. The pretty jade sundress she had on couldn’t hide the softness of her skin from me.
“Maybe I’m getting bored of that too.”
She wore a smirk though, a crooked thing that stopped my heart. I hadn’t seen this type of smile till last afternoon. It was just another one of the things she kept close to her, a light that precious few ever saw.
“Is that a fact?” I said.
“Accountants never lie.”
“No need to lie when you can just confuse ‘em with numbers.”
“Right, like you’d ever miss a number with that nerd brain of yours.”
“Strategic mind, you mean.”
“Dirty mind, more like it.”
Her smile broke into a grin. It had been an especially good morning, as we took turns revealing what our mouths could inflict on things other than each other’s lips.
I kissed her back into the seat cushions. Our Yemenese driver shot us another look, but I had paid the guy up full, so screw their modesty. The amount of times he’d been checking us out – he should be paying us.
“Guess you’re not so bored of me after all,” I said.
“No, but I still would like to know where we’re going.”
“Patience. Why are you so eager to fly?”
“I’ve wasted a lot of my life,” she said. “I try to make sure I'm headed to good places only now.”
I couldn’t hold a candle to the horrors of her youth, but her words hit me deep. I’d wasted so much of my life trying to please my family, and it had just barely paid off. This acquisition was my first big chance to strike out and show that I was more than just another Stone, rolling in a groove. I was a force unto myself. Being with Kiara just doubled down my resolve.
The SUV drove up a hill. The sun shimmered in the windshield too bright to look at even through the tint of the glass and my shades combined.
We crested the top. The desert bloomed ahead of me, not directly green, but green in a more important way. In a way that could change my life. In a way that could change the course of this world.
“You see where we’re headed now?” I whispered.
The soft breath from Kiara made me shiver. She understood.
“Is that…Is that yours?”
“I sure as hell hope it will be.”
The car raced down. On our left and our right, massive square solar panels sat angled toward the sun on thick metal columns. Thousands on them, spread out in every direction for a mile ahead, all capturing the sun’s relentless force and putting it to good use.
The panel shadows flickered across us as we dashed past. Kiara peered around her seat, eyes wide and glowing, looking like a kid entering an amusement park.
“There’s so many,” she said.
“Little bit prettier than numbers on a sheet right?”
She shot me a scowl. “Numbers on a sheet are what will let you own this place.”
“I know, darlin’. Just… it’s exciting to see the possibility here don’t you think?”
“That – I can’t disagree with.”
The driver turned us up towards what looked like an overgrown convenience store. There were a few pumps out front, but they provided electric charge not gasolin
e. Pass the glassy store front was a long garage, filled with parts for repair. A little sign up front read Habibi Solar with a sun for the ‘o.’
The car stopped under the shaded awning. A tan, mustached man ran out the store and opened the door for us.
“Mr. Stone!” He clasped my hands in his and shook enormously. “It’s a true pleasure. And you could not have picked a better time of the day.”
“I know, Sayeed. That’s why we’re here now.”
“We?”
He glanced over as Kiara clambered out of the car and patted herself down.
Sayeed was just a senior engineer, but ‘girlfriend’ seemed kinda crass in this culture. Hell, it might not even be true. Hadn’t checked with Kiara on that one, though it was surely the feeling in my heart.
Then again, if I was gonna give her an untrue title… A smile came to my lips.
“Sayeed, this is my fiancé, Kiara Martin.”
If Kiara’s eyes were solar panels, they could have powered the Earth in that moment. Sayeed made no note of her bug-eyed look and shook her hand earnestly. “It’s an honor to meet you, too, Ms. Martin. Mr. Stone is a remarkable man, and I am sure you are just as remarkable.”
“Thanks…”
He clasped my hand again and led me off. “Come, come. I know what you are here to see. I know where it is best to see it.”
Men holding hands was another cultural bit I would never appreciate. His hand was clammy, but I had to admit that his enthusiasm wasn’t far from my own. Kiara was going to love this.
For the moment though, she stuck with shooting daggers with her eyes.
Sayeed hustled me over to a golf car with treads. I helped Kiara in the back, then got in with her.
“What the hell was that about?” she hissed in my ear.
“I didn’t want his guy thinking I was just some horny, dim-witted money man if we started fooling around out here. Fiancé makes it all classy.”
“It’s a little fast, that’s all.” Her face glowed with sudden joy. “But yes. Of course I accept!”
I snapped to her. She batted her long lashes at me and cupped her chin with both hands.
I laughed out hard. She had mentioned improv and now she was showing me another deep side of her. A beautiful accountant who could act? The world was full of possibility.
Sayeed was blathering off specs and megawatts up front, but I just huddled with Kiara and watched my future solar field whisk past. We drove quickly up a small artificial hill the company had built and stopped by an extra-large junction box.
“It’ll be just another few minutes, Mr. and future Mrs. Stone,” Sayeed said, gesturing at a small parasol set out behind the junction box. “Please, enjoy the shade. I have some water here if you would like.”
I got out with Kiara, dashing us through the dizzying heat and into the shade. The entire solar farm spread around me like a Go board. I could have been a mote of dust, but I was at the center, in command.
“Sayeed,” I said. “If there’s something else you need to do, please feel free.”
His excited look dimmed a bit, but he nodded vigorously. “Certainly, Mr. Stone. I will come back and collect you when it’s over.”
“When what’s over?” Kiara asked, as his cart dipped back down the hill.
“The changing of the guard.”
I thought that had given it away. Luckily, she didn’t ask more. She squinted out a moment, then put on her shades from her purse. “Did you see this place before you bought it?”
“Of course. You know how meticulous your betrothed is.”
She smirked. “I know an awful lot about you, my darling Deacon. But sometimes you’re too bold for your own good.”
“Bold and strategic. I don't act unless I mean it.” I took her waist and spun her around. “You see the city from here?”
Kiara shook her head. A few faint lines seemed to stand out in the distance, but they could have been mirages of heat.
“That’s cause it’s not the city. The power from here doesn’t go there. Where it does go is a desalination plant. People in this country get fresh water by burning oil. It’s just lucky that they have a ton of the stuff. Now, at least they can save a little. Imagine this happening a thousand times over from Houston all the way to Los Angeles.”
Her gaze lifted to me.
“You’re really excited about what this place can do,” she said.
“Well, of course, I am.”
“I mean in general. You believe in it. Not just for you. Not even for the company.”
“Is my being more than a corporate bastard such a shock?”
“You’re not greedy,” she said softly. “You're earnest. I thought it was all just an act when I first saw you with your oil guys, but it’s real, isn’t it? You're real.”
Sweat beaded on my brow. The shade could only ward so much of the hot air around. Certainly it’d didn’t block the laser sight Kiara leveled on me now.
“It’s a good thing,” she said quickly.
“Depends on who you ask.” I patted her absently, thinking back to the meeting with my family. “You can guess my mom’s reaction to my notions.”
“She doesn’t want a son who changes the world?”
“My family doesn’t go for change, period. It’s in our name: Stone. Never yielding. But stones just makes me think of something sitting there motionless, letting the elements grind it down to sand.”
“Sand.” Kiara nodded. “Sand can be useful. Aren’t all those panels out there made out of sand?”
“Yes they are. Damn, you really did read up on the tech specs the company gave you.”
“That’s why you pay me.”
I grabbed a supple bit of her rear. “Hell, there are a thousand reasons I should be paying you.”
She laughed and swatted me away. “The whole site can see us here.”
“It’s just my earnest feeling that I should grab a slice of that. Can’t fault me for that, right?”
“Later,” she said, smiling coyly. “There’ll be plenty of time.”
A sudden chill clenched my heart. Plenty of time? No, the weekend was almost over, and I’d only had it by blowing off work. There was no time at all.
Something tripped in the junction box, and an electric buzz sizzled the air. It was starting. This was what I wanted her to see. This company she was helping me build. It was supposed to be the most important part of my future.
But this acquisition was just the beginning. There'd a lot more work, not all of it as noble as what I was trying to do here. It was just the beginning of my transformation.
Now, that all felt paltry compared to the feel of the woman in my arms. She was right yesterday – all I did was work. It might win me this company but what was that worth if it kept me from meaningful things? If it kept me from her?
No matter what happened, I'd have my name and my money. Hell I was even running Stone Holdings. Who cared for how long? No CEO lasted forever. But here I was, always looking for the next game to beat. Always looking to prove myself.
Like Kiara, I had my father to thank for who I’d become.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve tried to strike out on my own,” I said.
“No?” She kept surveying the land.
“My father’s tests got more complicated as Jesse and I got older. He wanted to see how we could wield power. When we were in fifteen or so, he had me and Jesse dropped off in Switzerland with no money and no papers. He asked us to get back home.”
“What?” That got her attention. “You couldn’t just go to the embassy?”
“Explicitly forbidden. We had to come back like Stones, not common refugees. That was the game.”
“That’s nuts.”
“Ah, it all seemed reasonable then. Kids aren't worldly enough to know how messed up their parents are, you know.”
Her glare dimmed. “Yeah.”
“So I did what I thought I was supposed to do. I started a business. Became a delivery boy for a
local restaurant to have food and shelter, then after a couple weeks, I launched my own delivery service. See, in my mind, I was supposed to charter a boat ride back and come home with a suitcase full of cash.”
“When you’re fifteen?”
“Around that. I figured I'd just need fifty k or so to be smuggled back in. It doesn't sound so farfetched when you come from a billion dollar household.”
“You made fifty k?!”
“No, no, just twenty. And it took me two months.”
I chuckled at the memories of pedaling goods along Hohlstrasse in Zurich. I’d had kids and illegals around town working for me, all doing the same. “That’s when my father threw in the towel and came to get me. He had a security guy watching all along, apparently, but I never noticed.”
Kiara looked me with equal parts amazement and disbelief. “Well, now I know why you’re the CEO.”
“Probably that was what convinced him to look past my glaring social defects. He was pissed though.”
“Pissed?”
“Scraping my way up was not part of his grand vision. He was far more proud of what Jesse did.”
“Did he get a flight from some Swiss pimp or something?”
I chuckled. “No, Jesse wasn’t quite there at fifteen. You’re close though. He looked up the names of a couple family friends in the phone books, convinced the first one he met that he was who he said he was, and got them to fly him back. It took him about three days.”
“Jesus,” she said, gazing back out at the solar farm. “Still, I think you might be standing here even if your last name wasn’t Stone.”
“You say that now,” I said. “Back then my father said I had wasted two months.”
“Your dad was stupid.”
“Perhaps, but I see now he was right in his own wrong way. Hard work is good, but only if you have a bigger purpose. It shouldn’t keep us from things that matter more.” I tugged her tight.
She leaned up and pecked my cheek. “It’s ok,” she said. “We can be workaholics together.”
Her warmth bled into me, welcome even against the heat. Right, that's why I liked this girl.
A sharp alarm ripped through the air. Before us, a thousand motors churned to life. All at once, the vast plain of panels lifted and spun, turning their faces toward the new position of the sun. The current cut off, and the panels went back to their quiet toil once again.
Deacon: A BWWM Billionaire Romance Page 12
