Play Hard

by V. K. Sykes

  “More than a decade has gone into this research, Kathryn. My research.” Diana gestured to the other man. “With David’s help, we’ve developed the drug that is clearing the last hurdle for FDA approval. We can’t take risks.”

  “How is Sloane a risk?” Kat stared at her parents, seeming to ignore David. “He’s my plus-one, that’s it.”

  William dropped his hands to the edge of the desk. “Katie, I know Michaels. Know his reputation. So does Lila. She was shocked to see him with you. You’re not his type.”

  Diana tapped a fingernail against her thigh. “He has arrangements with sophisticated, well-connected women. None of them have ridiculous streaks in their hair.”

  “Katie,” the lanky man, David, said. “We think Sloane is using you. Possibly to cause trouble right before the drug’s final approval in revenge for your father trying to block his gyms.”

  Lava-hot anger hit Sloane’s bloodstream. Adrenaline dumped, firing his nerves and muscles. He rolled up on the balls of his feet. But he caught himself when Kat pivoted and faced David.

  “You think I can’t spot a liar, David?”

  “We are not doing this again.” Diana snapped upright. “You will not call David a liar in our home.”

  “Diana.” William put his hand on his wife’s arm. “She can’t help it. Traumatic amnesia has scrambled her memory, causing her to create the fantasy that David’s lying.”

  Sloane saw a second of confusion ripple across Kat’s features. Her eyebrow crinkled, her gaze darted from her parents to David. Then the uncertainty, the moment when she appeared to doubt herself, cleared.

  Kat sucked in a breath, her jaw firming. “I’m standing right here. Don’t talk about me like I’m a lab rat.” Her fingers dug into the chair. “And I do have flashes of memories. Real memories, not fantasies.”

  David hurried forward, taking hold of Kat’s arm. “Oh Katie, this is what I was worried about. You’re having a reaction to the carjacking and getting confused.”

  Kat jerked her arm away. “Don’t touch me.” She spun, storming toward the door.

  “Kathryn,” Diana said in a less strident tone. “David told us about the carjacking. He predicted you’d regress. Have panic attacks and confusing flashbacks. Can’t you see he’s trying to help you? We all are.”

  Sloane had enough of this. He stormed into the library and caught Kat’s elbows. A slight tremble went through her. “You okay?” She’d been fine. Pissed but in control. Until David walked over to her, then her control clearly slipped. As if she had some kind of instinctive reaction to her ex. Then her parents had piled on, treating her like she was a head case. Deciding to give her space to breathe and relax, Sloane released her.

  Kat tilted her face up. “My father believes you have a grudge against him. And that you are using me to get revenge.”

  Fuck giving her space. Sloane’s temper ignited.

  Chapter Ten

  Kat was mad, embarrassed and hurt. When she had quit her job at SiriX, a job she frankly sucked at, it had caused a huge rift. Her parents cut her out of any financial gain.

  SiriX was the nucleus of their family. The center. The heart. The engine that drove them. The company was the legacy of her parents’ brilliance. Their two children were supposed to be a part of that plan.

  Marshall had turned out as intended. Smart like them, loved science, and compliant.

  Kat had tried. God she had tried. But she bore only average intelligence and limited passion for science. Her parents had used her love of baking to motivate her to earn her chemistry degree. She’d gone along, trying to be what they wanted. Trying to just be loved.

  But she simply wasn’t enough for them. Never smart or accomplished enough.

  So why did she think she was good enough for Sloane? He knew her father, had evidently known about SiriX, and never mentioned it.

  She looked up, smacking into ripening anger spreading over Sloane’s features. His massive shoulders rose beneath his jacket, color swept over his cheekbones and his eyes went fierce. He wrapped his hands around her upper arms before she’d even registered him moving.

  “Do you believe I’m using you, Kat?”

  Energy flooded her veins. Whereas her family seemed to suck out the very marrow of her bones, Sloane filled her with a will to fight. As to his question? Maybe she was naïve, but she wanted to believe he was attracted to her. Just her. “No.”

  “What do I want?”

  She knew her parents and David stood behind her. Even heard her father snap out something about Sloane getting his hands off her. But she focused on the man in front of her. His virile energy sang through her blood. Electrified by him, she answered, “Me and my lemon cupcakes.”

  One side of his mouth quirked up. “You do make excellent cupcakes.”

  Her father appeared at her side. “Sloane, do not manhandle my daughter in my house.”

  Concern and frustration brewed in Dad’s gaze. Kat tried to reassure him. “He’s not hurting me.”

  “He grabbed you.”

  Sloane looped his arm around her. “Be very careful what you accuse me of, Dr. Thayne. I have never hurt a woman in my life.”

  Ice dripped from his words. He’d protected her from carjackers, even insisted on walking her to her car from the gym. What had happened in Sloane’s life to embed his protective streak toward women?

  “Katie,” her dad said. “We’re your family. We’re trying to protect and take care of you.”

  Take care of her. She turned to stare at him. This was how it had been since the day of the attack. Or maybe it had always been this way and she had just been too stupid to realize it. “You really believe I’m incapable of taking care of myself, don’t you?” They had pushed her toward David from the beginning, putting her in his research program, wanting her to date and marry him. So he could take care of her. Because she wasn’t going to amount to much on her own.

  His face contorted into pain before it hardened into resolve. “You had a head injury. Memory loss.”

  “I had a concussion. Not a lobotomy.”

  “Katie, think about your decisions. You walked away from a promising career as a chemist to work at a bakery. You bought it, refusing to listen to our advice and blowing through the money your grandmother left you. Do we even need to go into your panic attacks, or that you couldn’t go in public without causing a scene?” He visibly winced at her hair. “You have pink streaks in your hair.” He shook his head. “Don’t you see it, Katie? You’ve changed.”

  It hurt more than she could bear. “I didn’t change, Dad. I just stopped pretending.” She pushed off Sloane’s arm and went straight through the house to the deck.

  Sloane caught up to her. “Do you want to leave?”

  Kat stopped at the bar and faced Sloane. “No. I want a drink.” She wasn’t running, damn it.

  ***

  To her surprise, Kat ended up enjoying the dinner that the waitstaff was now efficiently clearing while more servers passed out champagne. Even the two women on Sloane’s right, who were working to get his attention, weren’t annoying to her. Especially since he had his hand on the back of her chair, toying with her hair and listening as she chatted with people.

  A big part of her happiness was reconnecting with her old friend Amelia Gregory. They’d worked together at SiriX. Kat smiled as Amelia told the story of trying to bake a cake for her then-boyfriend’s birthday.

  “Kat saved me, of course.” Amelia laughed. “She came over and stayed up until two a.m. making the perfect cake. She let me take credit.”

  Amelia’s husband leaned around his wife. “She confessed before I could blow out the candles. Now she buys all our desserts from Sugar Dancer.”

  Going with full disclosure, Kat said, “Amelia covered my butt in the lab more than once. I detested analyzing results and writing those reports. I owed her.” She’d hated the job altogether.

  The orchestra stopped playing, and everyone turned to Marshall rising with his fiancée
. Once they had everyone’s attention, Lila introduced her bridesmaids, followed by the maid of honor.

  Then Marshall introduced those he’d chosen to be his groomsmen followed by his best man, Dr. David Burke.

  A tug on her hair told her that Sloane had tightened his fingers around the strand he’d been playing with. Kat determinedly ignored it. David had more status than she did in her own family. Because he had more to offer SiriX, her parents’ true firstborn, and favored, child.

  Oh they loved Kat. She’d seen their ravaged faces in the hospital. That had been real. But so was their disappointment in her.

  Especially her mom. As a very young child, watching her mom get ready for work, Kat had wanted to be like her. Then came school and reality. Her mom’s growing disappointment as Diana realized her daughter wasn’t brilliant.

  “Kathryn?”

  Amelia’s voice jerked her from her thoughts. “What?”

  Her friend’s hazel eyes sizzled with anger. “Doesn’t it bother you that your brother stays friends with your ex?”

  Yes. She tried to wave it off. “You know Marshall. Avoid all conflict.” He poured all his energy into his love of science. Marshall, though, had choked down every dry and foul-tasting concoction she baked. Praised her improvements. Bought her books on baking, videos. While he had treated her like a kid sister, he’d never treated her as stupid or lacking.

  “Yeah, well.” Amelia sank into her seat and muttered, “He could pick better friends than Dr. Burke.”

  Kat had missed her friend. “Hush. You work for David.”

  She turned to Kat. “I was glad when you dumped him.” Glancing at Sloane, Amelia grinned. “Your taste has improved.”

  Sloane’s hand slid to her nape, big and warm. “Listen to your friend, Kat. I like her.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Don’t feed his ego. His head is big enough.”

  Amelia touched her shoulder. “Kathryn, we should all go out sometime. Double date, if you two don’t mind hanging with an old married couple.”

  Kat froze, unsure what to say. Sloane didn’t date, he’d made that clear. They weren’t going to dinner with another couple. Never mind the fact that Kat had stopped seeing all her old friends when the panic attacks had overwhelmed her life. “Sounds like fun,” she said vaguely, then grabbed her purse off the table and stood. “I’m going to the restroom.”

  Sloane got up. “I’ll come with you.”

  She didn’t want to listen to him reminding her they had an arrangement. She forced a smile. “Don’t be silly. I’m fine.” She hurried away.

  Once in the house, she went upstairs to her old room. The attached bathroom had been retrofitted with bars on the jetted tub for when she’d been recovering.

  Her parents had taken care of her after the attack. Done everything they could for her. Especially her dad. At first he had been consumed with action, consulting doctors, hiring contractors to retrofit her bedroom…but eventually he ran out of things to do. Anger began to set in. He couldn’t fix his daughter, couldn’t control what had happened.

  So he tried to control everything else with her. In her dad’s head, Kat had been pursuing her love of baking when she was hurt. Never mind that David was there—William believed it would have been worse if David hadn’t been there.

  Fears didn’t have to be rational, she knew that. Look at her refusing to wear a skirt. Some would say that was irrational. Didn’t matter, she couldn’t do it.

  Same with her dad. He believed she would be safe if she’d marry David and work at SiriX.

  Instead, she’d broken up with David, left the company and bought a bakery. She just couldn’t be what they wanted. And they couldn’t accept her as she was. The rift kept growing wider.

  She sighed, finished up in the bathroom and walked out.

  Then froze.

  “David, what are you doing in my room?”

  He sat on the edge of her bed, his hands folded over his dark slacks. “I want to help you. Look, Katie, I know we’re over. It’s been more than five years, I get it.” Dropping his gaze, he added, “Maybe that’s for the best.”

  Kat softened, seeing the man she had respected. Nothing in life had been handed to David. His parents ran a small vintage clothing store, barely making ends meet. They were nice, but baffled by their off-the-charts-smart son. David won scholarships, took out loans, and fought his way to a PhD in neuroscience. It had been his fiery passion for his work that she’d loved. She leaned against the doorjamb. “I’m glad you see that.”

  He stood. “Tell me what you remember, and I’ll try to help. Give it context. Maybe then you’ll realize I’m not lying.”

  Doubt closed in on her. They’d been down this road before, so why would today be different? A faint buzzing started, but she breathed slowly to keep control. They’d come this far with him saying he knew they were over, she was willing to try. “Someone knew your name. Called you Dr. Burke.”

  He flinched slightly, jerked a hand up to rub his neck and shook his head. “Oh, Katie, you’re mixing that up. That was the police officers I called, they were addressing me as Dr. Burke.”

  Disappointment warred with her old anger. Nothing had changed, he was giving her the same old answers. “You rub your neck or pull on your ear when you’re stressed or lying.” She’d tried to give him a chance to tell her what really had happened that night, but it was pointless, so she headed for the door.

  He grabbed her arm. “I’m not lying, I’m trying to help you. What else do you remember?” His left eye twitched. “You have to tell me, damn it.”

  He was too close. The heavy smell of his cologne smothered her, while his grip trapped her. The noise in her head amped up, peppered with words:

  Consequences.

  God, stop!

  “Let go of me.” It came out too thin. Kat struggled to break free. Every second built the wave of panic rising in front of her, ready to consume her.

  He tightened his fingers. “You don’t understand what you’re stirring up with your—”

  “Let her go. Now.”

  Sloane came at them, breathing pure menace. His eyes blazed.

  David’s thumb dug into her arm. “This is between Katie and me.”

  Sloane caught hold of the hand gripping her arm and did something she couldn’t see.

  David yelped, let go and stumbled back, clutching his hand.

  Kat stood there immobile, trying to get air into her frozen lungs.

  Sloane cupped her chin, tilting it up. “Look at me. You’re okay. Just breathe. I won’t let him near you.” He rubbed her arm with soft, easy strokes.

  She stared into his face, needing the anchor. His body heat seeped into her chilled skin. The panic faded and her head cleared.

  “What’s going on?” William demanded from the doorway.

  David straightened and shook out his wrist. “He tried to break my hand. Katie and I were talking when he came barreling in, grabbing me.”

  “That’s it. Sloane, you will leave now, or I’ll have security escort you out.” Her dad reached for her. “Kathryn, come with me.”

  Kat stepped back, glaring at her father. “You didn’t even ask me what happened.” He believed David’s version without question.

  “I don’t need to. I saw Michaels grab you in the library.”

  Sloane didn’t seem to react to her father or David. He kept his focus on her. “What do you want, Kat? If you don’t trust me to take you home, then I’ll call Diego or anyone you want to come get you. But I’m waiting until you’re safely in the car with them. I’m not leaving you here with David the dickhead.”

  “Kathryn, you can’t go with him,” her father pushed in. “Sloane didn’t even tell you that he knew me.”

  She just wanted to go home. It had been a mistake to bring Sloane here. He’d drop her off and they’d be done. But she knew he’d get her home safe. She believed that much. “Take me home.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Sloane got Kat in the limo,
told Ethan to take them to her house and engaged the privacy screen. “Drink?”

  “Water.”

  He opened a cold bottle of Pellegrino water, poured some in a glass and handed it to her. Took a deep drink of the remainder and sat back. “David was with you when you were attacked.”

  She shrugged. “That’s what they tell me.”

  Sloane mentally counted to five. She was retreating from him, throwing up that wall again. “Do you remember anything?”

  “Nothing more than flashes and a random word or two. I know I had dragged David to shop for wedding cakes.” She sipped some water. “I remember being excited…then nothing but those flashes until I woke up in the emergency room.”

  He studied her for a second as he thought back over what had been said about the attack. “What do you think happened, Kat?”

  She kept her face averted from him. “David had a sprained wrist. I got worked over with a baseball bat by a couple thugs. What do you think happened, Sloane?”

  A baseball bat? Jesus Christ. His guts twisted. “He ran. Then why the hell is he around your parents, the best man at your brother’s wedding?”

  She looked over at him. “They don’t think he did anything wrong. We were mugged. David claims I refused to give the muggers my engagement ring. They started whaling on me with a bat. David ran to the car to get the cellphone. Locked himself in there to call the cops.”

  “They don’t think leaving you, their daughter for Christ’s sake, was wrong?” The question came out loaded with sarcasm. He didn’t care. No one could believe abandoning Kat had been the right thing to do.

  “No, it was smart. That’s how evolved, educated people react. They solve problems with intellect, not violence. Besides, I was the fool who didn’t want to give up the ring that, oddly enough, I don’t remember caring about all that much.”

  “He lied.” Sloane took a gulp of water to cool his ire. Kat’s flat tone was driving him to violence, but her explanation was giving him some insight into why she was so scared and a fighter at the same time. Kat’s natural instincts were to fight, but she’d been raised to repress that. “You know it was cowardly to leave you, Kat, and hide in a car. And then trying to shift blame to you for resisting. Which I seriously doubt was true.” If anything, she went immobile with panic.