He cleared his throat, “We made a pact as kids. If neither one of us was married by a certain age, we’d marry each other.”
Kirin caught on quick and raised her voice, “She picks now, while I’m laid up in a hospital bed to come after you? What kind of woman is she? Kissing someone else’s fiancé...”
And then it hit her. This woman may not even know he’s engaged, or that Kirin exists. He could be telling her he’s visiting his grandma or something.
As usual, with his ability to pinpoint her thoughts, he answered her unspoken question. “I told her about you...told her we’re engaged. But she’s stubborn and doesn’t like to lose, so she came here today to meet you.”
The woman wanted to size her up. Kirin made a mental note never to wear sweats ever again.
Although she knew more about him than she had, she was still just as angry. The memory of him kissing the dark headed wench replayed like a bad movie over and over in her mind. He still hadn’t explained why he had to kiss her. That just seemed so personal. That kiss was etched into Kirin’s memory so that whenever she closed her eyes, a vision of them entangled in each other’s arms was all she could see. A bitter pinch of betrayal engulfed her. His face and demeanor returned to normal. He was finished talking about it. She knew that look. Conversation closed as if he’d swept the kiss under the rug. It didn’t matter to him, but it mattered to her.
Sam picked up the empty fork on her tray and filled it with mashed potatoes holding them in front of her mouth.
“No, I’m done,” she closed her eyes.
“You have to eat.”
Her eyes flew open, “No, I’m finished with this. I’m tired of crying all the time. I can’t get the picture of you kissing her out of my mind. I’d like for you to leave, please.”
He dropped the fork on the plate, and it clanged to the floor. He bent to pick it up. “This is ridiculous! It was one kiss that meant absolutely nothing. It’s a game with her and if I didn’t play her game, her way, then...”
“Maybe a kiss is nothing to you, but it’s very personal to me.”
“Wait, is this because of what I just told you? What my job was? What I am?”
She watched the flash of hurt in his eyes. She could tell this bothered him more than anything. She couldn’t confirm nor deny until she’d had time to think. Everything in her world seemed so wrong.
“I just need to be alone...to think. And you need to give me the space to think.”
Sam’s face turned bright red and his eyes shone with nothing except anger and sadness. He grabbed his jacket and stomped to the door. He hesitated but didn’t turn around. “Kirin, I love you. Remember that.”
Sam walked out and slammed the door behind him.
Chapter Six
She’d asked the hospital staff to request that the guard leave, and he complied.
According to Rosa, Sam had picked Will up for the last two days and taken him to school without a word. She dreaded telling them that he wouldn’t be around anymore. But this was something she just couldn’t seem to get her brain to let go of. Rosa gave her daily reports on how the boys were handling not having their mom home.
Sunday morning arrived, and she was finally cleared to leave. Her neighbor, Arthur, offered to come over and sit with Will and Little Jack, while Rosa picked her up.
She’d kept her emotions in check for two solid days. Shoved the sadness down by busying her mind. Since she’d experienced a concussion she wasn’t supposed to read, or think, or even watch hours of mindless TV, so she slept. A lot.
And when the nurses weren’t watching, she used paper and pen to rewrite goals for her life. All in the hopes of keeping her mind too busy to realize how bad her heart hurt. She’d have her breakdown at home. She couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea that they were over just yet. But she damn sure had to try.
While her nurse printed off the release papers, she took one last outing and went to Laura’s room. Adam had just left to visit the makeshift cafeteria, which consisted of a few rooms strung together, where they served food while the real cafeteria began the long process of cleaning and rebuilding.
Kirin pulled a chair to Laura’s bedside. She was pale and much thinner than the last time she saw her, only a few days before. The beeping of her monitors was the only noise in the room. She held her friend’s hand and cried. Oh, how she wanted to hear her voice and tell her how much she was missed. She needed to hear that sturdy voice of reason.
“Please wake up—please. Don’t leave me.” Kirin laid her head on Laura’s bed and tried to hold it all in. Laura squeezed Kirin’s hand as she’d done before. When she’d questioned her doc about it she was told it was only a reflex. She wasn’t falling for that. Laura was coming back, she knew it. She had to be okay. Kirin kissed her on the cheek and ambled back to her room.
In the hallway, her phone buzzed with an incoming text from a blocked number that read: “Kirin, it’s Stacy. Can we talk?”
She stopped mid-stride and read it again.
She typed out quick, “About what? How you tried to kill me or how Laura is in a coma?”
The three dots indicating she was typing came up, but her response seemed to take forever. Kirin walked into her room and dropped her cell next to her packed bag on the crumpled sheets.
Her phone buzzed, “You have to believe me, I didn’t know their plan, but when I heard it, I warned you.”
Kirin’s fingers couldn’t type fast enough, “Yet you’re still there with murderers who tried to kill your best friends?”
Her reply pinged back, “It’s complicated.”
“What do you want?”
“Meet me.” She typed.
“I haven’t been released yet from the last time I met you and that didn’t work out so well for me!”
Kirin chucked her phone back onto the bed as the shift nurse waltzed in with a stack of papers to sign. She signed them all, without reading a word, seething from the audacity of Stacy.
The nurse piped up, “You’ve got a ride home, right honey?”
“Yeah, she should be here shortly.”
She—not he. He wouldn’t be coming back. He hadn’t texted in a few days and stopped calling shortly after she’d lashed out and called him a whore. She couldn’t believe she’d said it. It was a selfish thing to do, but at that moment she wanted him to hurt as much as she did. She’d regretted it the instant it came out of her mouth.
The nurse filled in a few blanks and gave her a copy of the papers, then left to get the customary wheelchair.
She’d done this. She’d ended it and had nobody to blame but herself. Squeezing her eyes shut, she willed the tears not to fall. So, he’d kissed another woman. That couldn’t be erased, but Sam had finally let her in and trusted her with his horrible secret he’d been keeping for so long. He’d feared she’d hate him for it and what does she do? Calls him a whore. She didn’t blame him for cutting ties with her, she would’ve done the same thing.
When the wheelchair squeaked into the room, she looked up to see Steve pushing it. Involuntarily, she smiled.
“What in the world are you doing here?”
Steve crossed the room and hugged her as she rose from the bed.
“Why ma’am, I’m your orderly. I’m taking you to your ride downstairs.”
His voice sounded like John Wayne and he struggled to keep a straight face. The nurse behind him shook her head. He’d used his charm and credentials to sneak in and sweet-talked the nurse into letting him take her downstairs.
Kirin smiled and grabbed her phone, bag and purse with her good arm then sat in the wheelchair. Steve crouched in front of her and situated her feet on the pegs like she was paralyzed. He smiled up at her, clearly enjoying this. Kirin shook her head.
“I could switch careers you know if you’re going to keep putting yourself in danger. I might just see you more this way.”
“Very funny.” She felt like it was her first genuine smile in a week.
“K
irin,” Steve began, “You really should eat more, this chair is too light.” Steve pushed her down the hall and onto the elevator with the nurse close behind.
“Maybe you’ve just been working out?”
He leveled a look down at her as she glanced up.
The elevator doors opened on the main floor. Down the long hall and past the front doors, Rosa’s car was parked out front. As Steve pushed the chair toward it, he slowed to a stop.
“Oh, boy.” Steve said.
“What’s wrong?” Kirin followed his gaze toward Rosa’s car. From her seated vantage point, she couldn’t see whatever it was Steve could.
“Well, that’s my cue,” he said and handed the wheelchair to the nurse. He bent down and kissed Kirin on the head.
“Where’re you going?”
Steve smiled a cockeyed grin and replied, “I’m trying not to start a fight. Text ya later.” And with that, he winked and darted down a side hallway.
She sat up as straight as she could and craned her neck.
Sam leaned against Rosa’s car, arms crossed and glaring.
Chapter Seven
The nurse continued to push her without breaking stride. “Nice guy. Is he a relative?” She’d asked about Steve, but stared at Sam. The nurse knew Kirin was engaged. Kirin didn’t respond. She was transfixed on Sam’s angry face. She’d swear steam rose from the top of his head.
He pushed off Rosa’s car and jogged to the sliding doors when they opened. His face had softened but only a little.
“Hey there,” he said through gritted teeth, speaking more to the nurse than his ex-fiancé.
“Is this your ride, Ma’am?” The nurse bent down for her answer.
“I...I believe it is.” She tried for cheerful.
Why was he here? Knowing Rosa, this was her idea to get them speaking again. She’d probably make up some excuse as to why she had to ask Sam to come instead of her.
Sam threw her bag into the back of Rosa’s light grey Camry then helped her into the car. It was all for show. He wanted to look like the concerned ex-boyfriend to the nursing staff. When his door closed, and they were both buckled in, he started the car. The first few minutes of the drive were eerily quiet.
Sam cleared his throat and began, “How’re you feeling?”
“Fine.”
“Why haven’t you returned my calls?”
“I don’t know.” She answered truthfully.
Truth was she missed him...ached for him even. The hole in her heart from not talking to him had reached crater size. She’d cried several times that first day, but only when nobody was around. She felt horrible for what she’d said. But in the end, she knew it was over.
Sam watched her, reached over, and grabbed her hand and brought it to his mouth. His warm breath on her skin sent chills spiraling up her arms.
“Kirin, I’m sorry...for everything. For you being in that cafeteria when it blew up, for lying about the flowers, for Laura and for kissing her. I know it doesn’t make it right, but it was not done out of passion or love, only obligation.”
Slow, Kirin turned toward him, fresh tears pooled inside the corners.
“Obligation? How?”
Sam took a breath but kept a tight grip on her hand.
“I need her as an ally right now. I don’t know which Club operatives I can trust. She gives me information and I lead her on. I know it sounds cruel, but it’s what we’ve always done. Normally, a little harmless flirting to get information out of her is easy, but she knows about you now and she’s testing me to see how far I’ll go to protect you.” Sam grew silent and stared out at the cars in front of him.
She jerked her hand away. She understood perfectly. This woman wanted him for herself and planned to ruin their relationship to steal him. He’d play the wench’s game all in the name of protecting her. She cut to the chase.
“So, you’ll sleep with her to keep me safe—which will end us?”
Sam’s head snapped toward her, then he jerked the wheel sending Rosa’s car careening into the emergency lane. He stomped the brakes so hard her seatbelt bit into her shoulder. He threw the car in park and flung his seatbelt off, turning his body toward hers.
“Listen to me right now. I’m not a puppet and I’m not gonna sit by and let anyone come between us. I made a poor decision—one. It meant nothing to me. I was only trying to keep the information line open for you.
“It was my job. And this was how I operated before you. No feelings, just mostly harmless flirting. I even made friends once with an 85-year-old widow named Elaine. She had property Saul wanted. She knew what kind of character he had and wouldn’t sell to him. We played checkers in her nursing home every few days. She gave me life lessons and I gave her company. No physical relationship there, but she eventually decided to sell to a broker who sold it to him. Everyone won. So, it wasn’t always physical.
“But with Gianna...”
Kirin interrupted, “That’s her name?”
“Yes. In Gianna’s early days, for her, it was always physical. She’d lost her virginity at fourteen, way before I met her, and she’s always used sex to get what she wanted.”
Sam continued, pointing at Kirin. “Before you let your imagination run wild, no... never with her. But she did teach me how to wield people to get what I wanted.”
Sam picked her hand back up, holding it between both of his hands. “I love you, Kirin and nothing that happens will change that fact.”
Sam scooted his body closer and whispered, “Please forgive me—my life doesn’t make sense without you.”
Kirin glanced out the windshield. Trusting people had always been her biggest obstacle. She didn’t know which way to go. On the one hand, his argument made sense, Gianna had inside information and she wanted him for herself, so he had to pretend to be interested...but kissing her? That just seemed so personal.
But, maybe in his world it wasn’t. Maybe the act seemed more like a routine—like brushing his teeth or tying his shoes.
His kisses with her had always been passionate. That first time in the cabin— she shuddered at the memory. Misreading her, he switched on the heat. It wasn’t the crisp October mountain air that caused her goosebumps.
Without warning, he pulled her into his arms, gently trying not to hurt her, but with enough force she couldn’t wriggle free. The betrayal was still there but understanding that his frame of reference was so different from hers, it began to fade. After a moment, she melted into him, his familiar smell and warm arms wrapped around her and her whole body relaxed.
“I love you.” Sam whispered into her hair.
She didn’t return the sentiment...just couldn’t yet. He cleared his throat.
She felt it but couldn’t bring herself to say it. She’d say it later. They separated back into their own seats. Sam’s phone buzzed. He looked at the number as if he didn’t recognize it.
“Hello?” He barked. His face fell flat and ashen, then turned red in an instant. His eyes narrowed as he listened to the male voice she could barely hear. Sam pushed open the driver’s side door to get out.
“You listen to me, you sorry son of a....” His door slammed as he walked around the back of the car. She unhooked her seat belt and lowered her window and inch to eavesdrop.
“You leave us alone and leave her alone—she’s your family for Christ’s sake! You know what she’s been through and she’s finally gotten her life back together. She doesn’t want this. Leave her alone and let her go back where she came from. She isn’t the one you want, we are.” Sam listened.
“...Come after us, you piece of shit, I dare you. I have an arsenal waiting to unleash on you.” Sam paused. “Oh, don’t you worry about me, I’ll be ready.” He pushed the button and stomped back toward the driver’s side window while she pressed the button to roll hers up. Sam jumped back into the car, put it in drive and they sped away in silence.
“Who was that?”
“Nobody important,” the muscles in his jaw tightened.<
br />
She stared out the window. That call was about Gianna, not her. He must be trying desperately to save both her and Gianna. At some point she feared he’d have to choose.
“Kirin, I want you to promise me something.”
“What?”
“Promise me you won’t forget that you and only you are the love of my life. Everything I’ll have to do in the coming weeks is to protect you and the boys. Even if my actions seem wrong to you, they’re done with the best intentions. Promise me you’ll remember, no matter what, okay?”
“I promise,” she answered.
“Now, let’s get you home, I know some small humans who can’t wait to see you.”
Chapter Eight
Rosa stared down at the sleeping girl’s chubby cheeks. Fifteen. She was only a baby. And exactly how old she’d been when she was taken.
She glanced around the room. She couldn’t save them all, but God how she wanted to. Her sister reminded her of this each week. But still she returned. She had to help. Had to try and stop the cycle. She’d been working with two other rebels to intercept the girls, nurse them back to health and reunite them with their families.
These naïve parents, wishing for a better life for their daughters, sold them into sex trafficking and slavery without even knowing it.
She could help with the translation, but also with the scars. The ones on the inside anyway. But now, with their regular nurse unable to help, she’d been working on the scars on the outside too.
With Kirin’s father’s help, she’d pulled herself out of the business at twenty-five. Ten years she’d been forced into slavery with these monsters.
And now, she had a family. His family. His grandchildren were like her own blood. She’d never put them in danger. She’d turned things around and made something of her life, but it seemed like a lifetime ago when he’d found her. He’d turned his own sadness and misfortune around and saved people like her, and like Sam.
Unraveling Page 5
