by Tara Rose
“And Dad never asked where you got it from?”
Her mother averted her gaze. “I do the books. He has no head for that. He takes care of the place physically and orders the supplies. I do the rest.”
“Why? Why did you let them use you that way?”
“Use me? No one used me. I took the help because Asa and Tim have more than enough money to spare, and because I didn’t want to drive a wedge between us and them. How many bars are there on this island? We’re not the only game in town. Asa is a very powerful man. Surely you realize that by now. Don’t you think he could wipe us out if he wanted to?”
Giselle normally loved standing next to the surf. It soothed her, and she’d always found it to be a pleasant sound and sight. But right now, the tendrils of waves creeping over the sand reminded her of fingers, moving closer to her with each second, ready to snatch her into the sea and drag her down to the bottom.
She moved away from the tide and sat on a rock, hugging her knees. “You’re their pawn. A plaything. Tim tried to rape you, and instead of exposing the asshole you’ve let Asa buy you off all these years.”
Her mother’s dark eyes flashed, angry and hard. Giselle actually recoiled. She’d never seen her like this. “You’re wrong. You don’t understand. How could you? When your father and I took over this bar from your grandfather, it was falling apart and losing money hand over fist. We spent the first five years of our marriage pouring every last cent into it, but we still weren’t in the black until Neeva was ten years old. You don’t remember those days. You were too young. But your sister does. Ask her.”
Giselle stared to protest but her mother cut her off, still shouting. “Ask her how many nights a week you three ate the leftovers from what I’d cooked all day but no one ordered. Ask her why you learned to sew so well. It’s because we had no choice but to make our own clothes and anything else we needed. And when we did buy something, it was secondhand only.”
“So when did Asa start helping you?”
“Right after it happened, as soon as I went to him and told him what Tim had done. He marched straight into Tim’s office, with me in tow, slammed the door, and confronted Tim.”
“And Tim told the truth?”
“Yes. I made a verbal agreement to keep quiet and Asa agreed to help us. He wanted nothing in writing. But I didn’t start asking for more than a pittance until you were about six years old, and I realized we needed more than him tossing fifty dollars at me every other week.”
“That makes it sound like you’ve been blackmailing them.”
“Giselle, if you must label it, then call it a mutual blackmail. I suppose that’s exactly what it is. But don’t judge me. Not until you have a business to run and daughters to feed.”
“How can you stand there and tell me all this as if it’s not wrong?”
“Wrong? Wrong? Was it right for that pig to try and take advantage of me because I wasn’t born a Durante or a Raleigh? Was it right for him to call me ‘island trash’ and tell me I owed him sex because I was a descendant of the natives here, and we were their servants? You don’t know the first thing about it.”
Giselle fought to keep from throwing up as images danced through her head. “And this is why you didn’t want me seeing Kade and Elliot? Because of Tim? They grew up with me. They spent as much time in our house as their own. You never acted like you hated them. Why didn’t you tell me to keep away from them back then?”
“Because Asa was helping us. But now…you’re not a kid anymore. You’re a grown woman. And you’ve been in both their beds. So don’t lecture me on letting myself get used.”
Giselle stood. “They’re not using me.”
“How do you know that?” Giselle’s thoughts were all jumbled. There was no way she could explain it right now. How they made her feel, or the things they’d shared and said to her. Her mother wouldn’t interpret any of that as love. She’d only see the lust. And they hadn’t actually said the words. Giselle knew that, but then again, neither had she.
But the looks were there. She felt their love for her in their touch, and heard it in their voices. It wasn’t something she needed tangible proof of to know it was real. And what they’d shared with her in bed wasn’t even close to what Tim had done to her mother.
“You’re going to get hurt.”
“No, I’m not.” They’d never see eye to eye on this issue. She knew that now. And Giselle couldn’t take any more revelations this morning. Her head ached and she was sick to her stomach. “I have to go now.”
“Just like that?”
She stared at her mother, and then hugged her again, but there was no warmth in the halfhearted hug she returned. Giselle knew her mother wasn’t upset with her. She was angry at the hand she’d been dealt. But she also knew she needed to be alone with her thoughts right now. She had to try and sort this out.
Giselle walked back to her apartment and sat on the sofa, listening to the sounds of the town waking up outside. It no longer felt like she belonged here, but she wasn’t sure she belonged with Kade and Elliot, either. How could she look them in the eyes again, knowing what she now knew about Tim, Asa, and her mother?
Granted, they couldn’t change the families they’d been born into, but were they all like that on the inside? Would Kade or Elliot do the same thing as Asa had done all these years? He’d done it out of guilt. Giselle understood that. But her mother had let him do it, and she’d keep taking money from him. When Kade and Elliot learned the entire truth of this, what would they think of her mother? What would they think of her?
What was it she’d said Tim had called her? Island trash. Elliot and Kade might very well think the same thing when they learned the truth. Her gaze fell on the most recent rug she’d made. It was the same colors she’d used for the flag she’d stitched, that now hung in the bar.
Giselle groaned as she remembered Elliot and Kade telling her why she’d been offered the job. That had been Asa’s doing. Her job was part of the pay-off he’d been giving her mother for over thirty years now. She didn’t have the job because of her skills. She had it because of what Tim had done.
Her phone rang and she jumped. It was Kade. No doubt they were wondering if she needed a ride back to their houses by now. She couldn’t see them. Not yet. Maybe not ever. Her entire relationship with both men now felt like a sham. It wasn’t even a relationship. Not really. They’d spent a week and a half having sex and going out on a few dates. That was it.
She let the call go to voice mail. The whispered conversation she’d had with Kade last night had been nothing but her imagination. They didn’t love her. They’d never love her. They enjoyed her body and her company, but that would soon be over. As soon as Asa told them the truth about her mother.
Giselle suddenly couldn’t breathe inside the apartment. She needed to be outdoors. She had to get away from this place. There were too many distractions here. She had to be alone and think this through.
* * * *
“She isn’t even answering my text,” said Elliot. “She must still be talking to her mother.”
“Then we’ll tell her later. Let’s go inside and get this over with.” They were parked outside Asa’s house, but hadn’t yet buzzed in to let him know they were there.
“He’s going to freak.”
Kade glared at him. “I don’t care. This is the right thing to do and you know it.”
“I’d rather have Giselle with us.”
“So would I, but it won’t change the outcome. We can tell her when we see her.”
Elliot finally got out of the Jeep and pushed the intercom. Once they were inside, they waited for Asa in one of the many rooms on the main floor, and when he finally came in, there was a nasty gleam in his eye. “Told you I’d get it done.”
“Get what done?”
“Norm is fired. Security is with him right now to clean out his desk. And Staci and Gregory are being escorted to the airport as we speak. If they try to fly here again, they’ll be
refused at the airport. If they get on a ship, they’ll be refused at the docks.”
“Asa, you know this is still part of the US, right? They’ll contact the Louisiana Attorney General’s office. They’ll sue you.”
His grin was feral, and Elliot almost shivered. “No, they won’t.”
“All right. I’ll bite. Why not?”
Asa sat across from them and leaned back in his chair. He looked like a king about to pronounce a death sentence on one of his servants. “Because if they do, I’ll contact the SEC and report them for fraud. That company of theirs is nothing more than a front, and Gregory has been trading stock under a false name.”
“Why don’t you do that, anyway?” asked Kade.
“Because this way gives me leverage for the future. They can spend the rest of their lives wondering if or when I’ll actually do it. They won’t be back. I guarantee it.”
“You’re just going to let them get away with what they’ve done? We’ll lose the contract with What’s Your Pleasure.”
“We never had the possibility of one. It was a sham. Staci wanted to infiltrate the company and thought she could use Norm to do it. Then when he proved useless, she had her husband impersonate a buyer.”
“So why was Norm in Tim’s office?” asked Elliot.
“Last ditch effort to get on Staci’s good side. He’s an idiot, and I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you two all these years. From now on, you’ll have freedom to run your department as you see fit.”
They exchanged a glance. “Um, funny you should say that,” said Elliot. “Because that’s what we came to talk to you about. We quit.”
Chapter Nineteen
Giselle hadn’t been this far back in the caves since she was a kid. She had a flashlight app on her phone and used it now, but still didn’t remember it being quite this dark inside. She also didn’t remember it being this cold. It was odd how things were different once you became an adult. Memories you thought were so crystal clear weren’t that accurate when you revisited the experiences or places associated with them.
“Just like Kade and Elliot,” she whispered. Her memories of spending time with them as a kid were filled with carefree days and fun. But now, she realized those memories would always be tainted with the truth. The knowledge that her parents had a successful business, at least in part, because of Asa’s hush money. And her friendship with Kade and Elliot had been tolerated so Asa would continue to support their business needs.
She finally found the spot they used to call the den. They’d named it that because a thin sliver of light came through from clefts in the rock overhead, and lit the space. When she turned off the flashlight app, it was still much darker than she remembered, but she imagined that had more to do with shifting rock over the years than her faulty memory.
The ground was sand, and she half expected to find gum wrappers or some object left behind, but there was nothing. Even the teens didn’t venture in this far to drink beer or make out. It was quiet in here. Too quiet. She couldn’t even hear the surf. But at least she was finally alone.
Now, she let the images invade her mind. Both the memories from her childhood, and the more erotic and detailed ones from the past week and a half. As the tears fell, she hugged her knees and rocked back and forth, letting grief and confusion wash over her.
What was she going to do? She couldn’t return to her job. She simply couldn’t. To sit there and make floggers, knowing they were right there in the offices but unable to touch them again…hold them, or kiss them…No. There was no way. Even if Asa really did fire Norm, word of this would get around. She’d be the fool who had let herself get used by the bosses.
Just like her mother had done.
Only unlike her mother’s situation, there had been nothing forced on her. She’d walked into this with open arms and open legs. And, also unlike her mother, this time there would be no payoff, and there was no other business to turn to and pour her heart and soul into. There was no good and decent man like her father waiting on the other side of the anger and humiliation to give her a home and a family.
There were only her sisters, who would laugh at her and say “I told you so.” Her mother would shake her head knowingly. And Giselle would return to working in their bar, and watch Kade and Elliot come in with Asa and Tim, pretending nothing had ever happened.
Phoebe’s Playthings would continue to grow, and she would grow old making Hurricanes and breaded Cajun shrimp bites for the people who lived on this island.
She heard voices, but decided it was her imagination. Still, it was time to get out of here. It was damp and cold, and she was beginning to feel claustrophobic. The voices grew louder as she inched her way along the rock, and when she emerged back out onto the beach, she spotted Kade and Elliot, at the other end of the caves. Had they come looking for her? Surely they’d remember these caves.
She called to them and they turned, then ran toward her. Giselle sank to the sand as she realized how relieved they looked. Kade reached her first, and pulled her close, soothing her in the same voice one might use with a child. “It’s all right. You’re okay. Were you in the caves? Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“I’m…I’m sorry…I…” She struggled to get the words out as she tried to breathe between the tears.
Both men were talking at once, and she could barely follow their conversation. Elliot sprinted back to the Jeep, and when he returned he handed her a bottle of water. She drank the entire thing, and Kade simply held her until her breathing returned to normal and the tears finally stopped.
“I have to tell you this.” She summarized what her mother had told her. It was better they hear it from her than from Asa or Tim.
“We know.”
“What?” Had she hallucinated Kade saying that?
“We know. Asa told us. He also told us that Norm is fired, and Staci and Gregory have been escorted off the island. If they return, he’ll alert the SEC of their fraudulent activity.”
They knew? But that didn’t really change anything. “He’s got everyone over a barrel. Including you two. If he wants you to stop seeing me, you’ll have to do it. If he pulls his support from my parents’ bar, they’ll lose it. He could drive all business away from it if he really wanted to. He has us all in his back pocket now. He—”
Her words were cut short by Kade planting a kiss on her mouth that was so unexpected, and so hot, all Giselle could do was relax into his arms. When he finally released it, he looked confused. “You really believe we’d let him do that? After everything we shared?”
“It’s your company, too.”
“Not anymore.” His grin was huge, but she didn’t understand what he meant, so she simply stared at him, then Elliot, and back again.
“We quit.”
“What?”
“We quit,” said Elliot. “We’ve decided to open our own business.”
Either she’d hit her head inside that cave, or she was dreaming this. “What on earth are you talking about?”
Elliot pulled her to her feet and took her hands, twirling her around the sand. “We quit. Asa told us what Tim did to your mother, and what he’s been doing all these years to try and make up for it. Then when he told us what he’d do to Staci and Gregory if they showed up again, we told him our big news. We’re done. We’re going to build a club on all that land we own, and we hope like hell you’ll help us run it.”
“What?”
“It’s perfect,” said Kade. “You know everything about running a business. You’ve been watching your parents do it all your life. And we certainly know a thing or two. And since it was your idea, we’re going to name it after you.”
“Slow down… I’m dizzy…” Not only dizzy, but she began to realize they hadn’t come looking for her to dump her, and she didn’t know what to do. She’d convinced herself so easily that they wouldn’t want her, that guilt washed over her. She’d been dead wrong about them.
They stopped twirling her and plopped down o
n the sand again. “We’re going to call it Gisella. It means ‘pledge’ and that’s what we’re making to you. A pledge.”
“I don’t understand,” she whispered. Hope began to grow, but she was afraid to allow it to take root. It couldn’t be true, yet she realized as she looked into their eyes, that it was. All of it.
Kade cupped her face, and the tender, loving look in his beautiful eyes brought fresh tears to hers. “I meant it last night. Elliot and I both love you, Giselle. We always have. We know that now. Please tell us you feel the same way.”
“Oh my God…of course I do. I love you both so much. I’ve wanted this for so long. But I thought once you learned the truth…”
“Are you kidding me?” Elliot laughed. “No way. Once we learned the truth, we realized that Asa is more of an asshole than we ever cared to admit, and we no longer want to be part of the family business. We’re not going to let him run our lives, and we’re certainly not going to let him tell us we can’t be with you, just so he can continue to assuage his own guilt.”
“What about my parents’ bar? What if he decides to—”
“He won’t,” said Kade. “We have his word on that.”
“And you believe him?”
“Yes. Because if he ever tries to hurt them or their business, we told him we’re taking the scandal public.”
She stared at each of them in turn, trying to process everything they’d just told her. “I can’t believe this. You fought for me and my family. You want me. You chose me.”
“Damn straight.” Elliot pulled her close and stroked her hair. “Now please tell me you’ll be my sub and my lover, and you’ll help me and Kade run the club. I can’t handle the suspense any longer. I love you, Giselle.”
Giselle was crying hard now, but this time they were tears of joy. “I love you, too. And of course I will. I want to be your sub and your lover, and I would be honored to help you run the club.”
Kade embraced her then, and kissed her. “I want the same thing, sweetheart. To be your Dom and your lover. I love you so much.”
