Kase Of Deception

by Riann C. Miller

  My eyes narrow as my anger boils to the surface. “What I do or don’t do is none of your business.”

  He studies me like he’s fighting back a smile. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. When you love someone, you don’t give up on them. You fight until you can’t fight anymore and that, babe, is exactly what I’m doing.”

  When you love someone…

  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for a meeting. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

  With my mouth hanging open, I watch as he walks to his car—one I didn’t notice until now—climbs in and leaves.

  Well…shit.

  Before Regan left town, she spent an afternoon with Brenna. I told her I’d go with her but at the last minute, I backed out. I want to forgive Brenna, and a part of me already has, but at the same time, everything feels too raw.

  Now, I’m wishing with Kase’s latest stunt that I had someone to talk to and the truth be told, I miss talking to Brenna.

  After staring at my phone for over an hour, I finally dial her number. After three rings, the call goes to voicemail, which is probably for the best. I had no idea what I was going to say.

  Hey, it’s me, I’m still mad at you but I need someone to talk to?

  With my phone still in my hand, Brenna’s name lights up on the screen as it vibrates with a call. With flutters dancing in my stomach, I hesitate.

  Answer the call. You called her, remember?

  Bringing the phone to my ear, I say, “Hey.”

  “Hey,” she repeats with a shaken breath. “Sorry, I missed your call. I was just getting out of the shower.”

  “Oh, do you work tonight?”

  “No,” she hesitates before adding, “I was planning on going to Stella later but I’ll always have time for you. What’s going on?”

  Stella. I can’t stop myself from wondering if she’s meeting Roan there or if she’s already moved on to someone new.

  “I…nothing is going on. I just thought…I wanted to see how you were doing.”

  My heart thuds against my chest waiting for her to reply.

  “I’m doing okay,” she says with a sniffle. “I’m glad you called. I wasn’t sure if you would.”

  I pinch the bridge of my nose, squeezing my eyes closed. “I wasn’t sure I would either but I care about you. I should have made more of an effort when you first left Lincoln and I don’t want to do the same now.”

  “I don’t see it that way at all. I hurt you. You deserve to be mad at me.”

  “Okay, I’m mad at you,” I snap. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re my friend, and what he did… It’s not right.”

  “Yeah,” she echoes. “I…called the police and made an official report.”

  “You did?”

  “I should have called years ago but I allowed fear to control me. But I don’t fear Carter anymore. If anything, he should fear me.”

  A smile breaks out across my face. “I’m glad.”

  The tension in our conversation breaks. “What are you doing later? Do you want to meet for a drink?”

  I open and close my mouth several times, unsure of what to say before I find myself agreeing. “Yeah, that sounds nice.”

  “Where do you want to meet?”

  “How about the place down the street from you around seven?”

  She replies with a smile in her tone, “I’ll be there.”

  “See you soon.” I quickly hang up before I have the chance to change my mind. I want to see Brenna but I know if I give it time, I’ll allow fear to control me and if the last few months have taught me anything, then I know it’s time to stand on my own two feet.

  Half an hour into a night that should have been awkward and Brenna has me laughing to the point of tears.

  “This girl walks in wearing a tank top, a pair of spanks, and a pair of Old Navy flip flops and demands the studio give her a last-minute audition. When the receptionist tried to explain that’s not how it works, she started going on about how she knows the owner of the studio and she was going to have the woman fired.”

  Grinning, I pick up my glass. “Maybe we’re related. She sounds like my mom.”

  “Oh, it gets worse. The receptionist asked her to leave and mentioned that if she didn’t, she’d be forced to call the police, so this girl—and I say girl because she doesn’t look a day over eighteen—pulls out her phone and dials 9-1-1 herself.”

  “No, she didn’t.”

  Brenna chuckles. “Oh, yes she did. The cops showed and ended up arresting her. I didn’t get the part, but at least it was an entertaining day.”

  From the moment I sat down, we’ve joked and laughed but we’ve carefully avoided talking about us, or more importantly what happened.

  Tiptoeing toward the reason I called, I ask, “How are things with Roan?”

  The humor dancing in her eyes vanishes at my question. “I don’t know. I think he’s reconciling with his wife. He gave me some lame story about how his father-in-law is sick, but I know it’s more than that.”

  “Maybe he’s telling you the truth. Roan seems like a tough nut to crack.”

  Her nose turns up when she adds, “I saw them together, Roan and his wife. They weren’t making out or anything, but I saw the way he looked at her. Whatever they share, it’s not over, which means whatever I had with him is.”

  “I’m sorry. I thought after he showed up at the hospital, things were going well.”

  “I thought so too until the other day when I showed up at the hospital for a follow-up appointment and saw them together.” She attempts to smile. “Enough about me. How are things between you and Kase?”

  “We’re over.”

  Her head jerks back. “What happened? You two were so happy together.”

  “Let’s see… Where should I start?” I tap my finger on the table. “He knew who I was from the moment I met him because he’s, in fact, Carter’s brother-in-law.”

  Her mouth drops open.

  “Oh, wait, it gets worse. He wants a divorce from Annalise, who he claims is a money grubbing whore, and his way of going about that was by paying a woman to claim to be pregnant with Carter’s baby, hoping that I would do exactly what I did and call off the wedding.”

  Her brows pull together. “How does that help him?”

  “My dad was Carter’s largest investor. Without dad’s money, his company was never going to get off the ground, and he put a stipulation in their contract that if we didn’t get married, there was no deal.”

  “Holy, shit. Yeah, you win the award for the crappiest boyfriend.”

  “Oh, and I’m not even done. Annalise claims his name isn’t Kase Cole, which I tend to believe because when I searched his name, I couldn’t find anything about him. But somehow he’s a Thornton and owns Thornton Financial. Which also explains how he’s such good friends with Roan.”

  She hesitates for a second before asking, “Where are you staying because I thought you were living with him?”

  “I found an apartment, but he’s followed me.”

  She motions to the bartender for another round then asks, “He followed you where?”

  “He’s renting the apartment next to mine.”

  She blinks several times before she burst out laughing. “He’s either the worse stalker in LA or regardless of how you met, he really cares about you.” Her head bobs around. “And I’m thinking it’s the second. I saw the way he looked at you and believe me, I’m around actors all the time. He wasn’t faking that shit.”

  I peer at her skeptically. “He’s married. He ruined my relationship and he’s lied to me since the day I met him. If that is love, then I think I’ll spend the rest of my life single.”

  “You’re not being fair and you know it. First, he didn’t ruin your relationship, Carter did. And second, while I don’t condone lying, I know first-hand that telling the truth isn’t always as easy as it sounds.”

  The bartender walks two more glasses of wine over to our table. Once he’s
out of hearing distance, her eyes water when she adds, “The fear of losing someone you care about, it has you doing things you normally wouldn’t.”

  We’re no longer talking about me and Kase and we both know it. I want to forgive her or at the very least, I want to forget what happened, but I can’t and I shouldn’t. My boyfriend violated another person, and that person happened to be my friend. Holding on to any anger directed toward Brenna is unjust.

  “Do you have a copy of the video he took?”

  She shakes her head. “No, but in case you’re wondering, he showed it to me.”

  “Maybe we can find it and—”

  She cuts me off, “The statute of limitations has passed. He’s not going to get into trouble for what he did to me then, but I’m going to make damn sure he pays for attacking me a couple of weeks ago.”

  My chest tightens with anxiety. Standing up for myself has never been my strong suit but it’s time I started. “I’ll file a report too.”

  Her face warms with a smile, and for the first time in weeks, I can feel hope blossoming inside me.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Delanie

  It takes more effort to hate than it does to forgive. That doesn’t mean everyone is worthy of forgiveness—Carter definitely isn’t worthy of mine—but after I rekindled my relationship with Brenna, it felt like I had a new spin on life.

  I unblocked my mother’s number. I started calling or texting my dad almost every day and I was prepared to have a conversation with Kase, but as it turns out, several days have passed without any sight of him.

  It wasn’t until I stopped wondering where he was or if he was going to knock on my door that he finally appeared. This time I was on my way out the door as he pulls into the parking lot. If I hurry, I’m sure I could race to my car before he’d have the chance to talk to me but I don’t want to. I’m mad at him… There’s no denying that, but I’m also curious as to why he’s renting the apartment next to me. I felt something for Kase, something unique, something I’ve never felt before, and I can’t stop myself from wondering if he felt the same unmistakable rush or if every word from his mouth was truly a lie.

  Differing from his usual attire, he’s donned another suit and tie. His dark hair is a wavy mess and day-old scruff darkens his chin, but he looks unbelievably delicious.

  A couple of steps in my direction, and I know the second his gaze lands on me because his eyes widen before slowly trailing the length of my body.

  “Hey.” The deep gruff of his voice is like music to my ears. It’s not until I get a closer look at his face that I can see the bags under his eyes.

  “I’m a little confused. Are you here to terrorize the tenants or do you live here?”

  “I guess you could say both. However, I’m not looking to terrorize anyone but I do have my sights on someone in particular.”

  My heart leaps. “Well, good luck with that.”

  When I try to step around him he softly grabs my arm. “Do you have plans later? I was hoping for the chance to talk.”

  I’m wearing a tank top and leggings because I was on my way to a yoga class, a class I could easily miss if I wanted to.

  “Um,” I glance at my car then back to him.

  “If you need to get to your class, we can talk when you get back.”

  “Yeah, that would be great, wait…” I shake my head. “How did you know I was leaving for class?”

  He clears his throat before giving me a shy, almost embarrassed smile. “You’re dressed for yoga, so I figured—”

  Anger fuels my next comment as I step around him. “I don’t think we have anything to talk about.”

  “Wait,” he hollers in a panic while grabbing for my arm again.

  “No,” I shout loud enough that anyone in the parking lot could hear me. “Our relationship—if it was even real—ended because you were lying to me. Now you’re standing here weeks later and you’re still lying? You know I have a yoga class because you’re probably paying someone to follow me around.”

  “No, it wasn’t like that.”

  “Yes, it was, and the fact that you can’t see that tells me everything I need to know.”

  Pulling my arm back, I turn and race to my car. When I’m about to climb inside, he shouts across the parking lot, “You are the most real thing I’ve ever had in my life.”

  I pause, soaking up his comment, but I don’t turn back around. Instead, I slide behind the wheel, quickly turning the car on and getting the hell out of there.

  With my mind racing, I don’t drive to my class. Instead, I drive to the beach.

  Kase

  My hate for my dad runs so deep that I never wanted to claim a damn thing that came from him. But as I’m getting older, I’ve discovered some of his traits seem unavoidable.

  My father wanted to control every second of my mother’s life. That’s not what I want to do with Delanie—I only want to protect her—but how I’m going about doing that isn’t far from the tactics my father used.

  Her ex’s life is spinning out of control faster than he can manage. He’s unpredictable at best and has already put his hands on her. When Anna finally agreed to a divorce, I was stuck for days in New York finalizing a settlement. Therefore, I put a man on Delanie. I didn’t look at it like spying but as protection. Regardless, I didn’t stop him when he reported where she was going and who she was with.

  Now that I’m finally ready to close the last open chapter on my past, the woman I want more than my next breath looked at me like she couldn’t stand the sight of me. Giving her the space she needs, I take a shower before dropping on the bed, where sleep consumes me seconds later.

  My eye dart open with the sound of a door shutting. The sun is no longer shining in the window above my bed. I don’t need to look at my watch to know it’s late but I glance anyway, discovering it almost ten o’clock.

  “Fuck,” I hiss, unsure of how I managed to sleep the entire day. After a quick trip to the restroom, I walk out my front door and straight to hers. Light from the TV dances through her front window, but after close to five minutes of knocking on her door, she makes no attempt to answer.

  I’m not my father, I’m not my father, I’m not my father.

  Yet, I find myself once again behaving him like him. Walking back into my apartment, I dig my wallet out of the pants I had on earlier and remove the card the IT kid at Thornton made for me. Holding it in front of the sensor next to the door that connects our apartments, it takes a second, but the door slides open.

  “What in the world,” Delanie sputters, jumping to her feet from the couch. “How did you open that?”

  “We need to talk.”

  “We need to talk?” she repeats in shock. “You’ve crossed a line, this…” She waves her hand toward the open door that now appears like a walkway from my apartment to hers. “I can’t believe you did this. You don’t give a damn about me, do you?”

  “What are you talking about? I’m standing here, desperate to talk to you, because you are my fucking world. Without you, I’m lost.”

  Her mouth opens and closes several times, but instead of replying, she drops down on the couch and covers her face with her hands.

  “I’m a fucking bastard. I know that. I don’t deserve you, I’m aware of this. But…” I take a few steps in her direction, but she still makes no attempt to look at me. “I don’t know how to walk away from you.”

  She slowly lifts her head, and if I live to be a hundred-years-old, I’ll never forget the way her beautiful but broken blue eyes shined with unleashed tears. Tears I caused.

  “My heart tells me one thing, but my mind tells me another. The way you’re acting…” She shakes her head before adding, “It’s crazy and not the good kind.”

  Carefully, I walk to the chair next to her and take a seat. “You’re absolutely right. And I never in a million years thought I would be this man, a person desperate for attention from someone who doesn’t want anything to do with them, yet here I am.�
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  Deep lines pull across her forehead. “Do you want me to feel sorry for you?”

  “No,” I respond, wide-eyed. “But I’m asking for a little wiggle room for errors. I’ve never been in love before.”

  She gasps, placing her hand over her chest acting like the fact that I love her is shocking.

  “I’m not crazy, or I should say, I’m not normally crazy, but what I feel for you, it has me stooping to levels I never thought were possible.”

  She looks down, fiddling with her hands, avoiding my eyes. She’s confused but she cares or she would have called the police, or at the very least the apartment manager, by now. I can handle confused, but I’m not equipped to handle her kicking me out for good. Therefore, my mouth opens, spilling a piece of my life I’ve kept hidden for years.

  “My mom told me she wanted to name me Kase, but my dad refused. He was James Edward Thornton the second, and I would be the third, no questions asked. I think she did it out of spite, but she called me Kase from the time I could remember. It pissed my dad off, but in a way, they both got what they wanted.” My insides crumble a little thinking about my mother. “I might have been an adult when my parents died, but I was forced to grow up overnight. Thornton’s investors could tell I wasn’t ready to be the CEO and most of them were looking at me like I was one bad mood away from pulling a gun on someone myself. I appointed the Vice President as CEO, took a step back, legally changed my name to Kase Cole. Cole was my mother’s maiden name.”

  She chews on her lower lip, her eyes appear hesitant when she asks, “Why are you telling me this now?”

  “Because I wasn’t transparent before but I want to be now. I want you to trust me.”

  “Trust?” she says through a disbelieving laugh. “I want to. Or I think I want to but I’m not sure that’s possible.”

  “I was warned my actions carried consequences. But to be honest, before I met you, I wasn’t sure how clean your hands were, and if they were…” My voice drops, “I convinced myself I was doing you a favor.”