Etched in Stone (Six Degrees Series Book 2)

by Statham, Mayra

  “Linc, he doesn’t know…,” I start to say feeling slightly unnerved. Lincoln/Evan had been someone I’d escorted to a couple of things.

  “He doesn’t know my secret either, babe. It’s okay.” He winks at me and I smile shyly. Evan is gay and still in the closet. The fact that he was gay had been the only reason I had worked with him.

  “Evan!” Parker calls out as he walks towards us smiling.

  “Hey, bro.” Evan hugs Parker. Now standing side by side I can see the uncanny resemblance.

  “You met my girl.” Parker says bringing me up so that my front is on his side.

  “Yeah, she’s beautiful. What are you doing with this guy? He isn’t even good looking.” he jokes and I laugh, trying not show my nervousness. Evan stays and talks to us, nerves eating at me made it hard for me to concentrate on the conversation. I picked up that Lincoln is Evan’s middle name that he uses in business, but after that my mind is in freak-out mode while my heart is practicing competitive drumming.

  “Liz?” Parker says and I look at him.

  “What? Sorry.” I shake my head and try to smile at them. Evan’s eyes are soft in quiet understanding.

  “Dinner is ready. Parker, why don’t you help mom since you’re her favorite, I’ll walk with Liz.” He offers.

  “You okay?” Parker asks completely ignoring his brother and I look at him, trying to fake a smile.

  “Yeah, sorry.” I somehow manage to say. Nerves and anxiety is rolling over me. My past was closer than I’d thought.

  “You don’t mind if I go…?” He starts to ask but I shake my head.

  “No. Not at all, Evan will keep me company. We’ll be right there.” Parker smiles as he leans in to kiss me. It’s soft and tender, and even as nervous as I am, it leaves me breathless. He leans away and I open my eyes to watch him pat Evan’s shoulder as he heads back into the house.

  The moment Parker is out of sight, Evan closes the space between us, linking our arms, walking us slowly towards the house.

  “Don’t worry, babe. I’m not going to say anything.” He reassures me, but a sick sinking feeling sets into the pit of my stomach and quickly seeps all the way through to my bones.

  “I know. I just…”

  “Hate lying?” He asks intuitively as he stops walking and I look at him. He’s a handsome guy no denying that. He’s also charming and successful, but I’d never been attracted to him, which was good since we both liked guys.

  “Yeah, I need to tell him… I just don’t know how…” I start to ramble but his hand squeezes mine. “I mean. I never ….”

  “I get it. Trust me. I understand.” He says, and I squeeze his arm back to show him support.

  “He would understand your situation more than mine.” I tell him and his mouth goes tight, shaking his head, but it’s in his eyes that I see that he knows that I’m speaking the truth.

  Evan is Parker’s brother. Evan would have Parker’s love no matter what. I’m just his girlfriend who’d lied by omission about her past. Shaking the troubling thoughts out of my head, I slowly breathe in.

  “So how’s the bakery business?” He asks, smiling brightly and I smile back at him.

  Evan is giving me an easy out. A way to stop thinking about something that’s weighing heavily on my mind and my heart, and I’m going to take it.

  ***

  Sitting around the huge oversized wooden table outside, everyone stuffed from the amazing dinner that Parker and his mom made. Everyone’s in a great mood, smiling and laughing.

  “Okay, so I have to say this...Liz, thank you for coming to meet us. I know you must think we are all crazy, but we’re happy to meet you and I think it’s safe to say we all like you, a lot.” Greg tells me, smiling and lifting his glass of wine. Parker’s sisters chant their agreement and I nod at him. Parker’s arm immediately goes over my shoulder, pulling me closer to him and kisses the top of my head.

  “Even if it was the Judge who had to tell us about her…,” Jill says, raising an eyebrow the same way that Parker did too, and I’m suddenly confused.

  “I know. At least Duke was good for something this time.” Maggie adds and my heart rate picks up. Judge? Duke?

  I look at Parker confused and another heavy weight settles in the pit of my stomach.

  No.

  There is no way...the world is small but not THAT small. First Jake, then Evan, now this?

  “Your grandfather was just worried.” Gina, Parker’s mom chimes, “I’m sure if he knew who you were honey, he wouldn’t have made such a fuss. You are welcome here anytime.” I smile weakly at her.

  “Of course he wouldn’t have. You are amazing, Liz! Seriously, I can’t wait to be in LA again just to go to your shop. I looked it up online. Your cakes are beautiful!” Callie adds sincerely, a bright smile on her fresh face.

  “You should try her napoleons.” Evan says and I look at him.

  He’d been in my shop. Even though we’re keeping one another’s secret, the fact he’d gone in was well...sweet. Evan or Lincoln, from the moment I’d met him, had always been kind and respectful at the events we’d gone to together.

  “You’ve been there?” Parker asks, before the words slip out of my mouth.

  “About a month ago, I was in LA for an opening. Stopped by a bakery a friend of mine recommended,” he says easily. “I didn’t know you were seeing the owner, or I would have asked for a discount,” he adds and everyone laughs. I look at him and he gives me a small wink.

  It was time to go and Parker and I said our goodbyes to his siblings inside the house, his parents insisting on walking us out. Hugging Greg, he reminds me I’m welcome anytime. As Parker spoke to his dad, I looked at Gina.

  “Thank you so much for inviting me to join you guys. Parker’s told me it isn’t often you get all your kids home, thank you for letting me be a part of it.” I tell her sincerely. It’d been a long time since I had been around a family get together and I’d forgotten how precious it was.

  “Thank you for coming, sweetheart,” Gina said softly. “Thank you for giving my son a reason to smile the way he is.” She added and I looked at her in surprise.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Jill was right in her in what she said earlier, I’ve never seen my son like this. Thank you.”

  “Like what?” I asked my heart beating hard.

  “Settled... calm. Happy, but in a genuine way. You’re good for him. As a mother, you want that for your kids.” She whispered into my ear pulling me into a hug. “Make sure to text us to let us know you arrived back safely?”

  “I will,” her request makes my eyes water. I like his siblings and his parents. His parents reminded me of my own in a way.

  With so much on my mind on the drive back to the hotel, I can’t help asking him what I know is only going to add more to my plate.

  “Park?”

  “Hmm…?”

  “I thought you said your grandfather told your mom about me…, who is Duke or the judge?” Silently praying that there was no way they could be the same person.

  “Judge Duke Keates is my grandfather. My mom’s dad,” he says looking at me and I feel a rush of blood go from my forehead down to my toes.

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  “Why do you know him? He was a Judge until he recently retired.”

  “Oh...wow. You have a judge for a grandpa…. That must be interesting.” I mindlessly ask, ignoring the question as I stare out the window.

  “He’s a dick. I told you how he disowned my mom for choosing my dad?” He asks, and I dread what Parker might say next.

  “Yeah?”

  “Well that’s not even the worst of it. He messes around on my grandma all the time. He goes to some social club that’s more of a modern day brothel. Can you believe that? He messes around with strippers and hookers and my grandma just looks the other way.” He says, obviously disgusted and I look out the window.

  Duke Keates isn't a good man. I know this. I know this in a way that
it makes my stomach turn. He keeps talking but I can’t hear anything other than my heart beating in my ears.

  “What?” I ask turning to look at him, as a chill climbs up my spine and I try to catch up in the conversation.

  “I mean what kind of person does that? You know?”

  “What do you mean?” Slightly confused.

  “This woman, Belle Garibaldi runs this place. You wouldn’t think it was a woman who would do something like that?” Something in his voice makes me feel sick.

  “How do you know she's a bad person?” I can’t help asking.

  “What?” He asks glancing at me, slightly surprised.

  “I just mean, how do you know that she's a bad person?”

  “Angel, she makes money off of girls taking off their clothes for strangers and makes money off them fucking those same guys later.”

  My tongue felt thick. Words and truth stuck in the back of my throat and I am only able to whisper, "No one makes anyone do anything, Parker...." Before changing the subject.

  Chapter Twenty

  For the first time since we had started our breakfast ritual all three were sitting waiting for me. Each of my friends has a different expression on their face. Carrie looks nervous, Lucy looks hopeful and Tess looks tense.

  “Wow! You all woke up early.” I say, slipping into the booth next to Carrie. Lucy and Tess are sitting next to one another.

  “We ordered for you.” Carrie chimes in and I nod.

  “So?” Tess remarks, raising an eyebrow, her hazel green almond shaped eyes a little wide and snarky.

  “So his family is… wonderful. They all like one another. Like genuinely. His mom is funny and sweet…,” I start to tell them.

  “But?” Tess steps in again, her voice filled with attitude as she interrupts me.

  “But I escorted his in-the-closet brother to some business dinners a few years back and his grandfather is Duke Keates.” I say quickly and the booth falls silent.

  “What?” Lucy asks, looking slightly paler than normal, Carrie has a hand to her mouth, her eyebrows cinched together.

  “Fuck,” Tess hisses putting her elbow to the table, running her fingers through her jet black curls.

  We sit in silence.

  Even after the waitress serves our food and refills our drinks, each one of us is silent and deep in our own thoughts.

  Parker wasn’t wrong about his grandfather. Duke Keates is an asshole. So much so he was probably the king of all assholes. I can’t help but think about the first time I met him.

  ***

  The nerves finally were going away, as the music fades away.

  I had done it.

  Walking into the dressing room, I quickly wrap myself up in the black satin robe I had brought with me. Sitting in front of one of the many mirrors, I grab a hairbrush, my hands are trembling. It was done. No one grabbed me. I was fine.

  “Hey,” I turned to the mahogany haired, brown eyed bombshell named Vikki, “You did great.” She smiled.

  “Thanks.” I say keeping my face expressionless, I hardly recognized myself. I was harder, rougher around the edges now. Not the soft sweet girl who had been with Jake, but the girl who had somehow ended up working at Shine.

  Belle, the owner, walks in shooting Vikki a look and Vikki pats my arm as she leaves the dressing room, leaving my boss and me alone.

  “Good job,” she says sitting in the plush chair, crossing her long, lean legs.

  “Thanks,” I say not looking behind me but looking at her reflection since she was sitting behind me.

  “Any chance you would be interested in going the extra mile?” She asked bluntly not one to beat around the bush. I was used to that from Belle, but at the moment it made something in me freeze.

  “What?” A heavy feeling instantly settles in the pit of my stomach.

  “A platinum member requested something special from you, seems you caught his eye.”

  Platinum member meant he was powerful. I knew this. I had bartended and waitressed for six months, before I decided to dance. Platinum usually meant politico or businessman.

  “Belle,” I whisper, a hint of fear in my voice. Fear I know she hears.

  “You don’t have to.” her voice softening in a way I hadn’t expected nor had heard before, “I’m just telling you the offer is there. He’s ...very interested.”

  I turned to face her. Her dirty blonde hair is in a ponytail falling down her back. In a fitted black blazer, a deep red top underneath tucked into her wide legged black trousers. If you were to see her out in public you would think she was an attorney, you would never think she was the owner of Shine, but she is.

  “Does he want a dance or more?” I asked.

  Belle was right and I knew it. She would never make any one do anything they didn’t want to. I had been working for her for over six months.

  When my savings had ran out from not having gone with Jake and not able to find a job, I was desperate. My old boss from the small diner I had worked at called me and asked if I could cover a shift. By chance that night Belle had come into the diner. Don’t get me wrong I had tried everything. I had gone back to all three jobs to see if the possibility of returning was even possible, but the positions had all been filled. The only one I had heard from, was Mrs. Garcia. Desperate and worried about how to make my rent Belle, at that moment, had felt like my hero.

  Other than the skimpy lingerie you had to wear the job wasn’t half bad. I’d even met some ‘friends’, a redhead who wouldn’t take no for an answer and her two minions. I was making okay money, finally able to start to make bigger payments towards my maxed out credit cards when two weeks ago, my car broke down.

  A mechanic that one of the bouncers had recommended said it was the transmission and because of how old the car was who knows what else I’d need to have done to it. I had tried to save enough money to fix it. I hated asking for rides from some of the girls I had met, even though they genuinely didn’t seem to mind.

  Then a week ago, Belle had asked if I wanted to dance. I knew there were different ways that girls went the extra mile at Shine. From lap dances in the private rooms, to escorting some of the men that walked in or “members” like they were called, to all different types of events.

  Then there were some girls who even did overnight dates.

  I wasn’t naive or stupid I knew exactly where I was working and for whom. I’d heard many different rumors about Belle Garibaldi. She was rumored to be the Madame of the west coast. Another rumor was she had inherited the business from an aunt. Another one in particular was that she’d married a very bad man from a powerful but shady family who’d treated her horribly and then one day he’d just disappeared. Poof!

  “Extra, extra. It is an overnight at Chateau Marmont.” She tells me.

  “No.” I answered instantly.

  “Do you want to know how much he offered,” Belle asks me and I shake my head.

  “No.”

  “Why?” She asks, neither of us breaking eye contact.

  “Because that isn’t a line I’m willing to cross,” I tell her and it was true. Not that I was judging those that did, because I wasn’t.

  “What about a private dance?” She asks and I take a deep breath.

  “How much would that be?”

  “Exclusive platinum member, that’s two hundred in your pocket, not including whatever tip he leaves.” Swallowing hard, I nod.

  “That’s fine.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay.”

  The memory of the moments before meeting Judge Keates is ingrained in my memory. Maybe that is because it was a decision that I made and never wavered from. Actually meeting the Judge had only left the clear emotions that I had felt that night. He was charming. He was handsome for his age. But every time I saw him at Shine from that first time, I felt dirty and unbelievably uncomfortable. No one had ever made me feel that way, except for him.

  He was persistent too. He was always offering me serious mon
ey or ridiculous ‘gifts’ in exchange for me going out with him. I never accepted and I had never been tempted. Even when money had been tight and I had a week where I only ate generic cereal & bananas. Even if I had escorted a couple of guys to business events, it had always been as arm candy with men like Evan.

  I never accepted offers of escorting the Judge. I never accepted his requests to take me out for a weekend. Which, he offered me every single time I saw him. He really creeps me out. When he found out that Tess and I were saving to start a bakery, he even offered to pay for everything to start up my little adventure in exchange for one night. I hadn’t thought twice about turning him down.

  Then Belle told me that he had hired one of her girls for the night and had hurt her. Badly! He did some really fucked up stuff. She didn’t tell me the details but she did tell me he was no longer welcome at Shine, and to be careful if he ever came around. I hadn’t seen him in over a year then he started coming by once in a while to the bakery to say hi.

  The last time, only a couple of weeks before Parker and I had started things up, he had stopped by the shop. He was never inappropriate or rude. He had come off as if he were checking in with me. Like, we were old friends. We weren’t, and it always made me uncomfortable. I just had no idea how to get rid of him.

  “I need to end things with Park.” I whisper to them, something in me hurting deeply at the thought. Carrie’s hand is covering mine.

  “What if you just tell him?” Carrie suggests.

  “That his grandfather propositioned me for three years before he did something really shitty that got him kicked out of the strip club/ brothel that I used to work at? That I used to give grandpa Duke, lap dances?” I snap, anxiety rising in my chest, I take my hand away from hers.

  “Honey…,” Lucy starts to say.