“I have no defense for that, Kali, because it’s true. I don’t want to lose you, though. You’re so important to the Society, and to me.”
“I only have a couple of friends, so we could be that if you still want to.”
“Always.”
“I’ll be back at UNLV once Kenny releases me. I belong in the lab, or the classroom.”
“No. You belong out in the world, saving people, but I will respect your decision, and not pressure you.”
“Thank you.”
“You always have a place with us, though. I need you to know that.”
“I’ll never say never, but I don’t plan on taking you up on your offer.”
“I know. Your mission payment has been deposited in your account.”
“Payment?”
“You saved the Society, Kali, and you are now a billionaire.”
“No, Reina. I didn’t do it for the money.”
“I know, but it’s yours all the same. As is the promise of our help in anything you need.”
“Right now, I just need to go home to my apartment, and back to work. Oh, and I’d like to finish the fashion show.”
“Of course, and Kenny will be releasing you soon. You make sure to call me so we can have lunch this week, okay?”
“Okay. Thanks again, Rei. For believing in me, and for everything else.”
“You’re welcome.”
We spend a few minutes cooing over her little guy, and I even get to hold him. When my eyes start drooping a little, she kisses me on the forehead, and turns down the light for me. I thank her once again, and fall back into my dreamless sleep. I’ve lost all of the people and things I’d once dreamed of, so now it’s time to just rest.
Theo
Reina walks out of Kali’s room, and hands the baby to Matt, before addressing us all. “She isn’t coming back.”
“You told her she’s passed everything?” Audrey asks.
“Yes.”
“I’ll go in and talk to her,” Jade says, standing up from Nate’s lap.
“No. She doesn’t want to see any of you, and I’m going to respect her wishes and not allow any visits while she’s finishing her recovery.”
“She hates us, doesn’t she? I kind of hate us right now,” Rose says.
“She doesn’t hate you; she’s hurt by the fact you all chose Theo over her, even though I always stress how we need to have each other’s backs. We knew she’d have to turn on Theo to get Sean to believe her, but she—and honestly, I—thought you’d give her some support. She didn’t say it to me, but I know it was an extra hard blow to have no friends while she was being abused, both mentally and physically. She couldn’t talk about it with you, but knowing you were there for her, would’ve helped her immeasurably.”
“I still don’t understand how he was hurting her when she was doing everything he asked,” Nev tells her.
“She wasn’t doing everything he asked, because she refused to sleep with him, and she didn’t even kiss him, unless she absolutely had to. She told him she wanted to take things slow, but it was wearing thin with him, and he said and did things he knew would hurt her.”
“She didn’t sleep with him?” I ask, feeling a little kernel of hope.
“No. She was never interested in Sean. She thought he was nice, until he wasn’t, but she has only loved one man for all of her life, and she still loves you, Theo. There is so much I would tell you if I could, but Kali didn’t give me permission to, and I won’t violate her trust.”
She loves me? The little kernel has turned into a full-blown bloom in my chest. I want to know everything, but I know Reina will never tell me, so I say what I have to. “I understand.”
“We have to get her to come back,” Stella tells Reina.
“She’s still doing the fashion show, so you’ll see her, but yes, she belongs with us. It has to be her choice, though.”
“Is she staying in town? At UNLV?” Matisse asks.
“Yes. She needs friends,” Reina says looking around her. “She has me, Kenny, and Scott, but she thinks we’re all she has in the city. No matter what happened, I believe you all love her, but she doesn’t. Show her, and maybe she’ll change her mind.”
“We can do that,” Rhieve says.
“We can’t overpower her,” Isa adds.
“No, but we’ll come up with a plan, and we’ll make sure she knows she has us, even if we’ve been a bunch of bitches recently,” Jade tells us.
I watch them all go into “Society” mode, and I have no doubt they’ll convince Kali of their love and loyalty to her. I have to come up with my own plan, but luckily, I’ve been working on something since she came back into my life, and it just might be enough to get my foot in the door. I’m not above begging, either, because she’s worth it. She’s worth everything, and I haven’t shown her that—I don’t know that I’ve ever shown her that.
Putting a ring on her finger, while still not setting her first in my life, was the wrong thing to do, but I’m not sorry I did it; now I just need to show her she’s first. Hell, she’s number one to infinity in my life, and then everyone else comes after that. If I can get her to believe me, maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to put that ring back on her finger. And deserve to have it there.
Chapter 17
Kali
There’s no hesitation in my steps as I walk up to the house, because I wish I could’ve been here sooner. Waiting until I got released was torture, because I needed to be here, for the person who was there for me during this whole ordeal. He’s hurting, and I have to help him.
Yasmin smiles as she opens the door. “It’s so good to see you, Kali.”
“How is he?”
“Not great, but he’ll be glad to see you. He’s out back.”
I walk through the house, smiling at their kids as I make my way to him. He’s sitting on their porch swing, rocking back and forth, and looking out into the dark.
“Hi, Scott.”
“Kali!” he exclaims, jumping to his feet, and pulling me into a hug. “Should you be out of bed already?”
“Yes. Kenny worked his magic on me, and I’m almost healed.”
“Are you?” he asks, and I know he means emotionally, and not physically.
“No, but it’s not me I’m worried about right now.”
“Yas called you?”
“She didn’t have to. You were there with me, and if I’m messed up, I know you are, too.”
“I wasn’t always listening.”
“But you listened enough, and at some of the worst times.”
“I wanted to help you, Kali, and I didn’t.”
“You saved me, Scott.”
“At the end, when you were already saving yourself.”
“I wouldn’t have survived what those men were doing to me if you hadn’t come for me, but I’m not just talking about that. I’m talking about the times after Sean hurt me, when you told me I was beautiful, and brilliant, and special. The times you lifted me up after he beat me down.”
“I should’ve been the one to shoot him.”
“No.”
“I couldn’t do it, Kali. I’m so sorry, but I couldn’t do it. Ryan’s always been the strong one of us.”
“You shut your mouth, Scott Griffin, because you are one of the strongest men I have ever met. Am I glad your brother shot those bastards? Yes, I am. It had to be done, but it doesn’t matter who did it.”
“It does.”
“Have you always been this stubborn.”
“My wife would probably say yes.”
“I want you to believe me, Scott, because I meant it when I said you saved me. Please stop beating yourself up, because I needed you more all the times you were there for me, when I had no one else.”
“I understand why you think you can’t go back, but you’re wrong about them not caring.”
“We’ll just have to agree to disagree.”
“Now who’s being stubborn?”
“I learned
from the best.”
That gets a smile from him, and he sighs when he sits back down, patting the spot next to him. I sit, and take his hand in mine.
“Thank you for coming over.”
“Only my broken bones kept me away before now.”
“God, are we joking about it already?”
“Yeah, because I’m all cried out.”
“We’re going to be okay,” he says, hugging me again.
“I know.” I may never be whole again, but I’ll be okay, and that has to be enough for now.
We go inside, and I hang out with him and his family for a couple hours, playing with the kids, and talking books with Yasmin. My life looks so different than I once thought it would be, but I can’t be too sad about it all, because I saved lives—lots of lives—even if I lost the one I wanted in the process.
Theo
“Hi, Theo,” one of the guys from the secretarial pool says, as he joins me on the elevator. I don’t know his name, because there are just too many people to remember them all, but I give him in a chin nod.
“Hello.”
I’m checking my phone when the doors open on his floor, so I’m taken by surprise when he pushes me into the hall. I drop the phone, when a fist slams into my back, and now I know there are two. Two who were planted here. I told Ainsley and the girls not to search them out, because I want a fight. A dirty, bloody fight where not all of us come out intact. This deserted hallway looks to be perfect for it, and I smile as they advance on me again.
Fists fly, hands chop, and feet stomp as we go to the floor, and back up again. I’m in the zone, tasting blood, and feeling nothing but the adrenaline coursing through my veins, when the elevator opens again, and my friends come out swinging. Within seconds, we’re the only ones standing.
“Dammit, I was having fun,” I say, feeling pissed, and hurting, too, as I come down from my adrenaline high.
“We let you play for a little while, but it was time for it to end,” Matt tells me.
“Ass.”
“You’re welcome,” Aiden tells me.
“I’m not thanking you for taking away my fun, and don’t even try to say five to two is a fight, because it’s not, and you know it.”
“You seem a little tense, Theo,” Jake says.
“Fuck you, Mason.”
“My wife’s not into that, so no thanks.”
“Wait, did you seriously ask Double G to bring another guy into the room? Who knew you were such a freak,” Matt says, looking him over.
“I did not ask my wife for that, but we’ve talked about what we do and don’t like to do—and watch.”
“Ahh, the sex talk,” Nate says, nodding.
“Can we please stop talking about sex?”
“Oh, that’s it, huh Theo? You’re not getting any, which is making you cranky,” Aiden tells me.
“I’m done with all of you,” I tell them, getting on the elevator alone, because I know they’ll get the mess on the floor cleaned up.
Instead of going back up, I take the elevator down to the medical ward, and tell Liz I need to see Kenny. When he sees me, he smiles and shakes his head.
“I’m guessing you found the men who were paid to kill you.”
“Yep, but I don’t think they’ll be coming here.”
“Not until the recruits are done practicing on them, no.”
“They’re still working on torture?”
“Yes, because it’s not something you can just learn overnight.”
“True.”
“Liz could’ve patched you up.”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“Doctor-patient privilege is a thing, even here,” he says, knowing I want to talk to him about Kali.
“Reina is playing the maternity leave card, and not telling us anything about how it all went down.”
“Reina just had a baby, and she does need her rest.”
“Whatever you tell me won’t leave this room, Kenny.”
“I took an oath, Theo, and I’m not going to break it just so you can get answers you may not want in the end.”
“It was that bad?”
“Yes, and you’ll get nothing more from me. You’re not as beautiful as Matisse, and believe me, she’s tried and failed as well.”
“I respect your oath, but I’m going to find out everything, one way or another; I have to.”
He doesn’t say anything else about why I’m here as he cleans and bandages my wounds. I’ve always respected, and honored promises and oaths, but right now I wish he could break his. I can’t put my full plan into motion until I know just what I’m up against, but there are others I can talk to, and they’re my next stop.
The Griffin building is co close, I could probably walk, but I drive over instead. I called earlier, so I know the brothers are having their weekly lunch together today, and I find them in the conference room Ryan’s wife, Chloe, directs me to when she sees me.
“Sorry to interrupt the bonding time, gentlemen,” I say as I enter the room.
“Took you long enough,” Owen tells me. “We expected you last week, but we still ordered you something this week, too.”
He motions to the sandwich and drink in front of an empty chair, and I take my seat. “Thanks. For everything.”
“You’re welcome,” Luke tells me.
“I can’t tell you everything,” Scott says, looking down at his plate. “Kali gave me permission to, but some of it…I just can’t.”
“Kali said you could tell me? When?”
“She came to my house as soon as she got released by Kendrick. I told her I knew you were going to come to me eventually, and she said I could tell you whatever I felt comfortable with. She also helped me realize I helped her more than I thought I did.”
Ryan punches him lightly in the shoulder. “I’m so glad she talked some sense into that crazy, brilliant, head of yours, little brother, because I was getting ready to knock you around a little.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
“You saved her,” I remind him.
“But I didn’t shoot anyone for her.”
“I fired a gun a few times, so what? You listened to what was happening to her, and talked her through it all.”
“I wasn’t always listening live.”
“And I had no way of knowing if I’d actually hit someone when I fired since I haven’t been to the range in over a year.”
“I couldn’t have listened to what happened to her, and stayed sane,” Luke says quietly.
“Who says I’m sane? I’m better since she came and told me how talking to her, and being her friend, saved her just as much as Ryan’s gun, but I’m still going to have to see someone to sort out all the shit going through my head.”
“There’s always been crazy shit in your head, but nothing like this. I’m glad you’re getting help,” Owen tells him, and I marvel again at how close these four are.
They would do anything for each other—and have in the past. I didn’t have that with anyone biologically, and the two people I thought of as family sure as hell didn’t have my back. But the men and women in my life now—these four included—would go to the mat for me, and I for them. We’re our own family, minus one right now, and I’m lucky to have ever single one of them.
“Go ahead and ask your questions, Theo. I’ll answer what I’m comfortable with.”
“How?”
“I configured one of the implants to go to me alone, then Kenny put it in her other arm, while doing the ear thing with me. Reina wanted to be linked in, too, but we knew shit might get rough, and as strong as she is, she was still pregnant, so we convinced her to just let me send her updates.”
“Kenny said Kali was healing herself, and not feeling pain.”
“Not a question, but I’ll answer you anyway. Audrey, Kenny, and Caleb have been working on new formulas, because they’re always working on something. As Kali’s a scientist, too, she jumped at the chance to be the first, unofficial, test subjec
t.”
“What if it didn’t work?”
“She’d probably be dead. She could never turn it on fully, because that bastard liked to see what he did to her, but she rarely felt the pain if he kept on after a first hit.”
“How often did that bastard hurt her?”
“Almost every time they were together. Sometimes it was a slap, or grabbing her arms extra hard, but he’d slam her into walls, punch her in the stomach, and…other things.”
“The belt.”
“That was the worst. I mean, the end with the bat and Taser was the ultimate worst, but hearing him insult her as the leather slapped against her skin? I’ll never forget that. I know she didn’t feel it, because she activated her pain meds before he started, but he split her fucking skin by the time he was done.”
“You talked her through it, bro, and that’s a big thing,” Luke tells him.
“She stole some stuff after that?”
“Yeah. She didn’t know if the chemicals in her implant would repair her skin, so she took a vial of another concoction Aud and Caleb are working on—a topical serum that repairs skin.”
“She was taking chances with this experimental stuff,” Owen says, shaking his head.
“Believe me, if you were going through what she was, you’d be trying things, too. I thank God every day they worked, and gave her some comfort.”
“You did that, Scott. You gave her the comfort I couldn’t, and for that I will be forever in your debt. You need anything at all, and if I can help you with it, I will. Anything.”
“Did you listen to any of the recordings?”
“No,” I tell him, shaking my head. “I couldn’t. The women did, and they’re wrecked.”
“I understand, but there’s something you need to know. In the end, when Kali finally fought back, it was for you. Yeah, they said they were going to traffic her, and she was scared, but it was when they said you were going to be killed that she lost it. You want to do something for me? Win her back, Theo. She loves you so much, but she thinks what she had to do is unforgivable. We both know you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t love her, too, so show her you understand, and still want her. That’s what I need you to do.”
Society Girls: Kalila Page 12
