by Linda Verji
By the time they exited the house, she wasn’t talking.
Aware of her mood but misinterpreting it, Kian asked, “You don’t need to be angry about the house. I won’t buy it, if you don’t want me to.”
“I’m not angry about the house.”
He gave her a disbelieving look as he opened the car door for her. A few seconds later he entered the car too but didn’t start it. Instead he turned to her and said, “You know, it’s no fun to have all this money and not be able to spend it on you. I’m just trying to help.”
“I appreciate that,” Tasha said. Now that the tension between them had cooled she was in a position to discuss the issue with him in a more rational way. “But money isn’t the kind of help I need or want. I’m okay with the little I have.”
“Are you sure you’re not holding me back just because you’re afraid that if you take from me I’m gonna expect something back?”
Tasha sat back, a bit startled that he was so perceptive. “Aren’t you?”
“Look, I’m not gonna lie. I do want more from you than what we have right now.” He gestured between them. “But I also know that you’re not ready for a relationship right now and I’m not going to pressure you for one. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to sleep easy when I know the woman I love is homeless.”
“I’m not going to be hom-” She paused as she replayed the whole sentence. She stared at him in shocked silence before repeating his words, “The woman you love?”
He didn’t respond.
This was horrible. “Kian, maybe we should stop seeing each other.”
Instead of protesting like she expected him to or even getting angry. He reached across their seats and ran the back of his hand against her cheek. “Why? Because I love you…or because you love me back?”
“I don’t love you.” She swatted his hand as she rushed to protest – much too quickly. “For crying out loud I don’t even trust you.”
“What does that mean?”
“I mean the phone-calls.” She broached the subject that had been bothering her the whole week. “I know they’re more than just wrong numbers. What is it? Another woman?”
“Jealous?” His lips quirked in a smile. Yes she was but she wasn’t about to tell him that. She only quirked her eyebrows at him. Sobering up, he said, “It’s complicated.”
“Uncomplicate it for me.”
He took a deep breath, looking upwards at the roof of the car as if to fortify himself before he said, “She’s just a problem from my past that I need to solve. I can’t tell you everything right now…”
“Why? Don’t you trust me?” She could see the irony in her words considering that she’d just told him she didn’t trust him, but she just wanted whatever he was hiding out in the open.
“Nothing like that. I trust you,” he declared. “But this is a bit more complicated.”
“So tell me,” Tasha insisted “You’ve been supporting me all this time and I haven’t had a chance to show you how much I appreciate it. Maybe I can help you out?”
“And I want you to.” He reached over, fitting his hand behind her neck before he tagged her closer for a small peck on the lips that raised her pulse rate just a little bit higher. “But I just need a little more time to clear some things up. Then we can talk about it.”
She wanted to ask more questions. To insist that he tell her the whole story now but she could see he was being honest with her and pushing would only get her so far so she surrendered, “When?”
“Tomorrow?”
“And you promise you’ll tell me everything.”
“I promise.”
Tasha nodded. “Okay.”
“It’s a deal.”
It was only once she got back to the Ford mansion that Tasha realized that Kian loved her and had successfully circumvented her attempt to end their ‘relationship’. She could just call him now, she thought as she played with her phone. However something told her that letting Kian go wasn’t going to be that easy.
*
Polo was on the edge. There were too many people buffering Tasha from him. The judge, the Fords, Kian Harper…he needed to get to her.
“Get that fucking restraining order off me,” he insisted as he limped across the length of the den then back again. With it being so sparsely furnished, there was a lot of space for him to move.
Hanna’s eyes flickered briefly towards Becky, who was seated quietly on the couch opposite her with her head lowered, before she said, “It’s not that easy.”
“Then make it easy.” Polo barked. If Hanna couldn’t do it then who the fuck was supposed to do it. She’d organized a last-minute purchase of this bungalow for Polo to help him avoid the media’s hounding, but he needed her to do more. He’d paid good money for her extra service and for her to get him past the barricade that shielded Tasha, the bitch who’d destroyed his life, from his wrath.
Because of Tasha he’d lost football.
He didn’t even care that the media were on his ass about the assault and battery charges she’d leveled at him. He’d always been a black sheep in their books anyway. But Tasha’s actions had sent his career, the only thing that made him a man, straight down the drain. Yesterday his agent had informed him that The Firebacks had withdrawn their offer for a contract. Big Polo had called him later, crowing that he’d always known that Polo was too much of a pussy to make it anyway.
He should’ve killed Tasha when he had the chance.
He tossed the pictures that his private investigator had handed him just a couple of hours ago. “I’m up here hiding out and she’s busy fucking Mr. Salesman of The Year.”
Hanna picked up the photos, glancing at the numerous images of Tasha in the car, dropping off Asia, picking a house. In all of them, Kian occupied a starring role. Hanna rearranged on the table as she said, “These might help with the case.” She turned back to him. “But before then, you’ll have to stay here-”
“I can’t stay here any longer,” Polo interrupted erratically rubbing his bandaged wrist. Obvious tension pulsed from his body and his face was the picture of anger, but it was nothing compared to the anger that was coiled tighter than a spring inside him ready to break free at any moment.
If he could, he would’ve calmed himself down. But he couldn’t – he hadn’t been able to since Tasha had up and left. The control he’d prided himself on was gone and only a slight shred of self-preservation kept him from disobeying the judge and Hanna’s orders to keep away from Tasha - a shred that was slowly fraying with each passing day.
By night his dreams were violent always leaving him right on the edge of getting the revenge he so craved. By day, his fingers itched to hurt something. Becky had been getting the brunt of his unreleased anger. Though she’d combed her blonde hair to cover up the right side of her face, the purple circle around her eye was still visible. Handprints marred the pale skin under her neck and Polo could recall every vivid detail of even more marks that littered her slender body. But unlike Tasha, she was a loyal woman and had stayed by his side.
“Well too bad, because that’s just what you’re going to do,” Hanna responded as she stood up. “I don’t need you to jeopardize our case by doing something stupid. You follow my instructions and I’ll get you next to your children soon.”
It wasn’t the kids he wanted to get next to. The system could take them for all he cared. He wanted Tasha.
CHAPTER 19
The confession that he loved Tasha had surprised Kian just as it had surprised her. He hadn’t known the extent of his feelings for her until he’d revealed them. He didn’t need a soothsayer to tell him that he’d pronounced them too early. For Pete’s sake they hadn’t even slept together. But now that they were out there he couldn’t take them back. Now the ball was in Tasha’s court. Hopefully she would volley it back, not walk off the field with it.
His was to make sure that she didn’t have any extra reasons to boot him. Their conversation today had made him realize that he n
eeded to sort out his affairs with Hanna. As long as her ghost loomed, there was no chance that Tasha was going to trust him enough to let him into her life. As soon as he dropped Tasha off at the Fords, he called her.
She picked up immediately. “Kiefer, hi.”
“We need to talk.”
The restaurant she gave him directions to was one of the more popular ones with New York’s youthful crowd. She was seated on one of the tables at the restaurant’s patio, a coffee mug steaming beside her while she simultaneously typed on her laptop and talked into her earpiece.
Once again Kian was reminded of how much she hadn’t changed. Sure she’d gotten much older but the dainty beauty was still there. Sixteen years ago it would’ve made his heart skip a beat or two with excitement. Now he just wanted to turn and walk away.
“Tell them those depositions better be on my desk by the time I get there or someone better start packing their boxes.” Her voice didn’t even rise as she threatened whoever was on the other end of her phone call. When she saw Kian she said, “Reese, I’m going to call you later.”
“Hanna.” He didn’t bother stretching his hand out in greeting.
“Keifer,” she replied.
“It’s Kian now.” He pulled up a seat and sat down facing her. “What do you want?”
“After sixteen years not even a ‘how have you been?” Her eyes glinted with something in between anger and disappointment. Kian shrugged. He wasn’t here to care about how the last years had treated her. She flipped her laptop shut and sat back on the seat, her eyes measuring her, “I never figured you for a Kian.”
“What do you want Hanna?” he restated.
Her eyes roamed around the busy restaurant prolonging the tension between them before she finally turned back to him. “I just wanted to let you know that I wasn’t going to give you any trouble.”
“You could’ve said that on the phone.”
“You weren’t picking up my -calls.”
Though he wanted to tell her that a message would’ve been just effective, he kept silent.
“You’ve changed Keifer.” There was a brief flash of regret in her eyes then it was gone.
Kian assumed that he must have imagined it because the Hanna he knew would never regretted anything. His words clipped, he said, “You haven’t. Still hanging out with criminals, I see.”
She looked around the tables as if to make sure that no one was listening to their conversation. Leaning forward slightly, she said, “No one around here knows that the King is my father. I’d like to keep it that way. If you don’t tell anyone about me, I won’t tell anyone who you are or tell my father that you’re in New York.”
She really hadn’t changed. She was still number one in her book and self-preservation was the name of the game. However, in this case her sense of self-preservation was a boon for him. Her father learning about him wasn’t Kian’s main worry. Right now he was powerful enough to go head to head with Simms and win. It was the effect of his past on his bottom line that worried him. Some of his clients were conservatives and wouldn’t appreciate an ex-con handling their cash. Kian pushed his chair back and stood. “Deal! Since this is over-”
“Keifer, wait.”
Her slim fingers clasped his wrist across the table. Once, her touch would’ve been enough to send desire pulsing through his body. Now all he wanted to do was remove those dainty fingers one by one until there was none of her to taint him. She said, “I’ve read about you in the magazines, you know. I’ve seen your pictures.”
“Is there a point to this conversation?”
“Keifer, don’t be like that. Don’t you remember how it was between us? The good-” She stopped talking suddenly then pressed on her earpiece. Unbelievable! She was actually taking a phone-call on his time.
Still keeping a firm grip on his wrist, Hanna spoke, “Yes, this is she…what?…when?…tell those little bastards that I’m going to knock the teeth off whoever touched my son…what?…he better not have even one scar on him otherwise I’m suing the school too….I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Ending the call abruptly, she stood up. “I have to go. We’ll talk later.”
Kian’s eyes dropped to her hand still firmly gripping his wrist. He wasn’t the one keeping her here. She quickly dropped it and then stuffed her laptop and papers into her handbag. Her motions were more frantic than Kian had ever seen. So this is what it took to rattle the unflappable Hanna? A son!
“See you in court.” She hiked her bag on her shoulder and hurried down the restaurant steps.
Call it instinct or curiosity but for some reason Kian found himself tracking her progress. When she got into her car and sped off, he mimicked her actions. He kept a few cars between them as he followed her. Fifteen minutes later she parked in front of a high school. Kian stayed in the car, waiting and watching for her.
Minutes later she came out with her arm around the shoulders of a teenage boy. There was nothing odd about the boy. He looked fourteen or fifteen and was darker skinned than Hanna. Though tall, he had yet to grow into his coltish body. He was just like any other boy. Nothing odd at all!
Except that Kian’s radar went up as soon as he saw him. His gut instinct told him there was something about the boy that he was supposed to take note of. His mind whirred. Why did everything about him feel so familiar?
Could he be…
No! It couldn’t be. Kian was overanalyzing. There’s no way.
*
Today there were two of them watching her. Polo and Randall, the private investigator he’d hired sat in a dark sedan a few meters across from Darlene’s. Polo’s binoculars were trained on the shop. So powerful were they that he could see past the glass to one of the displays where Tasha stood chatting with one of the clients. The bitch had gotten a job in the same shop that she’d spent his money in.
“We’ve been here for more than an hour and if we’re here for longer her bodyguard might spot us.” Randall complained. His own binoculars were on the heavyset bald-headed man who stood next to the store’s entrance. He added, “You said you only wanted to see her. Happy now?”
Never. Polo thought but didn’t voice it. He wouldn’t be happy until Tasha’s life was over just like his was.
He tracked her movements as she led the client to another rack. She looked happy; smiling and chatting as if she was some kind of fairy. Polo hadn’t seen her smile as much as she had today and all he wanted to do was to march across the street and slap that stupid grin off her face. However as angry as Polo was, he wasn’t stupid. His one meeting with the owner of Darlene’s had given him the distinct impression that she wouldn’t be afraid to call the cops on him. Word was her husband was actually in law enforcement.
“Wait,” Randall interrupted his private musings. Polo lowered his binoculars to follow the direction Randall was pointing it in. He was pointing to a slender man coming down the street towards Darlene’s. “I know that guy.”
“Good for you.” The man didn’t look interesting to Polo. He was just another guy who didn’t know how to dress his age. What grown man wore a fedora, ripped up tank-top, skinny jeans and unlaced boots. Polo went back to his observation of Tasha.
The slender man entered the store. Nothing surprising there!
Polo’s interest was peaked when Tasha nodded at him. After a few words with the man, she followed him out of sight. If Polo had any doubts that Tasha and the slender man had something going on, then they were put to rest when a few minutes later, they strolled back in sight. With a handshake and a wave, Tasha sent him off.
Interesting!
Polo smiled. Tasha was protected. Kian was protected…but that slender man wasn’t.
“Follow him!”
CHAPTER 20
“You know, you don’t need to drive us home every night,.” Tasha said as Kian drove into their complex two weeks later. “You’ve already got us bodyguards.”
“I like driving you home,” Kian said, his eyes on the side-mirror
as he backed the car up into Tasha’s space. That was only part of the reason. His driving her home served two purposes; to make sure that Tasha didn’t have to take public transportation, and to increase the time he spent with her.
Over the last week she’d started to pull away from him. He was sure his declaration that he loved her, Hanna’s phone-calls and the Polo’s pending hearing were the root cause of her reticence but it’d gotten worse ever since Eli had told her that Asia had been accepted in the ‘Connect-A-Donor’ list.
These days he was lucky if he even got a kiss on the cheek. She hadn’t even asked him about Hanna again –which should have been a relief considering how complicated the issue was – and he didn’t like it. He had every intention of hashing it all out with her today.
Once he’d parked the car, he unbelted and carried Asia while Tasha went ahead to open the door. He nodded to the three bodyguards he’d hired for them who were lounged next to the gate, before following her in. Tasha had insisted on paying them herself but he’d only given her the quote for one of their salaries. He was paying for the other two.
It was a decent sized apartment with three bedrooms. Though there were still boxes tucked at the corner of the living room, Tasha’s friends had come over yesterday and helped to unpack a few of them. Jaslene came down the hallways in shorts and a t-shirt yawning and rubbing her eyes.
“Sorry, we woke you,” Tasha apologized as she locked the door behind Kian.
“I just managed to put Ash to bed,” Jaslene said. “Do you want me to heat you dinner?”
Reaching for Asia, Tasha said, “No, it’s okay! I’ll handle it…” Asia’s whimper cut off her words. Though her eyes were still closed the little girl clung to Kian. It took a bit of convincing to get her to allow her mother to take her but finally she agreed and Tasha carried her off.
By the time Tasha walked into the kitchen, Jaslene had gone back to bed and Kian was just extracting their plates from the microwave. She looked so tired and Kian wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and soothe her exhaustion. Maybe after their talk she’d let him.
