“That bad?”
“Yes.”
He offers nothing else, but he doesn’t have to. He’s made up his mind. It’s in his voice, in his entire demeanor. Kace August knows what he wants and he’s going for it. He’s not afraid of change. He’s not afraid of the future. Just like Gio, and in my heart I know that I pushed Gio away by trying to stop him from what he craves. He wants what is left of our family. And the truth is, so do I.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Kace has a driver named Nelson waiting for us outside the airport and it’s not long before I’m watching them load the back with our bags. “Do you have a house here?” I ask.
“Hell no,” he says, stepping back to allow the driver to shut the trunk. “I can’t stand the pompous attitudes on the island. Nix knows it, too, but he was putting off this conversation. I need it done before someone promises something I end up stuck with. What are you hungry for?”
“Anything but fish.”
He laughs. “Right. No fish.”
“How about homestyle cooking? Mac n’ cheese. Potatoes. Chicken fried steak.”
“You had me at the mac n’ cheese.”
“Mac n’ cheese it is then,” he says, eyeing our driver. “To Ruby’s please, Nelson.”
“Ruby’s it is, sir.”
Fifteen minutes later, we’re at a wooden table, eating bread and drinking sweet tea, with our order already placed.
“You don’t live here, but you certainly seem to know how to choose the right spot for good food. The bread is delicious.”
“I’ve spent enough time here to know I don’t want to spend time here unless I’m eating.”
Our food is set in front of us, which for me is a dinner portion of mac n’ cheese, which is gigantic and bubbly with cheese. “It looks delicious.”
“It is,” the waitress assures me.
Kace smiles and he digs into his chicken fried steak while I do the same with my mac. We’re a couple of bites in when he catches my hand and stares down at the sunflower ring. “Girasoli, or sunflowers. The fields are filled with them in Tuscany. You’re Italian, aren’t you?”
“My father was Italian. My mother was American. He gave her the ring. They honeymooned in Tuscany.”
He settles my hand on the table, studying me a moment before he says. “They’re gone.”
“Yes.”
“As are mine,” he says, and rather than push me for answers, he offers his own. “My parents were killed in a plane crash twelve years ago. I was twenty-two. I wasn’t close to them, but there is something—” he hesitates, “safe about knowing your parents are alive.”
I stare down at the ring a moment, memories telling stories in my mind, knots in my belly as I look at him, as I offer my own answers. “There is. You’re right. But I was close to my parents. Very close. My father has been gone since I was eleven,” I say, hoping he won’t push for more and moving on to offer more about my mother for that very reason. And because this is Kace. I want to tell him. “My mother was mugged and killed in the city when I was eighteen. She was a merchandiser for Macy’s. She was only a few blocks from work when it happened.”
“And now it’s just you and Gio, and he’s missing.”
“I don’t know if he’s missing. The asshole just won’t communicate.”
His cellphone rings and he curses. “Sorry, baby.” He grabs it from the table to eye the number. “It’s Nix.” He declines the call and punches in a text message before he sets his cell back down. “I told him I’m here. That will be enough to calm him down.” He glances at my food, of which I haven’t touched much. “Eat. It’s a long flight out of here, though we’ll have snacks on the plane. Have you ever flown private?”
“Only commercial,” I say, picking up my fork. “Prior to my travels with you, I’ve been here and as you already know, to Italy. That’s it. Actually, Vegas, too, once when I was in college. Have I mentioned I fly in planes about as well as in choppers?”
He laughs and for the rest of our meal, I tell him about my freak-out over the air conditioning smoke in the plane on the flight to Vegas. “The flight attendant hated me by the time we landed. And I drank a Bloody Mary on the flight home and fell asleep. I think you might want to get me drunk on the way to Austin.”
“I’m sure I can find a way to keep your mind off the flight,” he says, mischief in his eyes.
“You’re bad.”
“I keep telling you that and here you are. You don’t listen.”
“I hear you. Every word. Every time you say it. In fact, you don’t get to keep saying it anymore. You are bad. You will make me run away. Spoken. Heard. No more warnings.”
He leans forward, close, his hand on my hand, and the room fades, the clink of glasses the sound of voices, gone, leaving only me and him. “Or else what?” he asks.
“Or else I’m going to think you want me to leave.”
“I don’t,” he says. “I don’t want you to leave.”
“And I don’t want to leave. Whatever it is you think—”
“I know. What I know is a problem.”
“Just tell me then. Put it behind us.”
“No,” he says. “No.” The words are steel, the air spiking with his shift of mood.
The waitress sets our check down, breaking the spell between us. I reach for my purse. Kace catches it in his hand. “Don’t even think about it.”
“You have spent so much money on me. Let me buy lunch.”
“No. I invited you. This weekend is on me.”
“Kace—”
“I have more money than I can ever spend. I choose, and want, to spend it on you.”
“Thank you, Kace.”
“I told you. It’s not your thanks I want.” The words are still hard, but he kisses the sunflower on my hand, and I have this sense of me being a sunflower, floating in a perfect blue sea of his making. I will eventually drown, but every moment before will be a perfect drink.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Kace and I bundle up and then exit the restaurant. Nelson meets us at the front of the Escalade and Kace hands him a card. “That’s where we’re going.”
Nelson gives a nod of agreement before Kace and I head toward the rear passenger side door. “Wait,” I say, halting as Kace opens the door for me. “What is the plan for me when you’re with Nix?”
“You’re with me baby. His house is a few miles down the road. We’ll be in and out, in half an hour, if I have my way.”
I blink, not sure why this hasn’t hit me before now. “I’m going with you to Nix’s house?”
“Yeah. That’s the plan. It won’t take long.”
“Kace no. That is going to be weird. I can’t intrude on your agent in his home.”
“Baby, it’s not a big deal.”
“You said yourself that he’s not overly pleasant. I’ll stay here and wait.”
A gust of wind lifts my hair and shoots cold air right down my collar. I shiver and hug myself. “Climb in,” Kace orders quickly. “We’ll talk inside where it’s warm.”
“I’m going back inside. I’m respecting you and your business. It’s not a big deal. Hot coffee and some of that cake I saw them passing around works just fine for me.”
He studies me for several beats and then snakes his phone from his pocket. I grab his hand. “What are you doing?”
“Cake sounds good. I came to the Hamptons. Nix can meet us here.”
“No. God, no. I’ll go to his place. After all you’ve done for me, I do not mean to be difficult. I’ll be fine.”
Kace’s hand slides under my hair to my neck. “Me buying you things is not meant to make you feel required to endure something uncomfortable. That’s not who I am. That’s not who I want us to be.” There is an urgency to him that isn’t just about me and now. I’ve hit a nerve I do not understand, but it’s raw and real. “That was never my intention,” he adds. “My money does not buy your agreement
.”
“You’re right. It doesn’t buy me. Being considerate is just me. And not for one second did I feel that you were using money to control me, Kace. You want me to go, though. I will. Let’s go to him.”
“Yes, I want you to go, but I don’t need you to do this for me to be good with us.”
“Like I do not need you to buy things for me to be good with us. But you wanted to do those things for me. And I want to do this for you.”
He studies me again, eternal seconds passing before his mouth closes down on mine, a rough passion in his kiss that I want to read, but too soon, it’s over. He tears his mouth from mine, and orders softly. “Climb in, baby.”
This time, I don’t hesitate. He wants me with him and I’m going with him.
I settle into the backseat and he follows, shutting us into the warmth of the heater Nelson has left cranking out air. Kace’s hand settles on my leg, possessiveness in his touch. Once again, I think that I really do have this sense I hit a nerve with Kace that I’m not well-versed enough on this complicated man to understand. But I want to understand him. I only know that I must, that it feels necessary. So quickly, too quickly perhaps, Kace is becoming a part of my life. He’s becoming important to me. And I’m not blind to the message he’s sending me by taking me along for this meeting. We’re building a bond. And the more he pulls me into his life, the more I have to come clean about mine.
The idea weighs on me, but not for long. The drive is short, and already it seems, as Nelson slows and turns into a property, we’ve arrived at Nix’s place.
“It’s beautiful,” I say, as I bring a giant mansion on the water aglow in lights, into view.
“As would be expected,” Kace says dryly. “He’s a filthy rich bastard who pimps me out no more.”
“Ouch,” I say. “That sounds like acid in the water.”
He shrugs as the vehicle halts in the driveway. “I actually like the guy. He’s just not listening right now, which is pissing me off.”
He reaches for the door and I catch his arm. “I know we’ve talked about me being here being fine, but it really seems like Nix will think I’m a distraction.”
“There’s nothing to distract from, Aria. I’ve been telling Nix and Bear that I’m done for a year. I gave them both notice. Bear gets it. Apparently Nix just needs me to look him in the eyes and say it.” He opens the door and steps outside, helping me out, only to waste no time once the door is shut. He leans into the Escalade, speaks to Nelson, and then he’s lacing his fingers with mine, pulling me toward the long staircase, which leads to double red doors.
“There are those red doors again,” I say.
“Don’t read into them with him. They came with the house, and the zip code he wants on his resume.”
Another comment that suggests Kace isn’t Nix’s biggest fan. “Will your manager be here? He will be, right?”
“Nix called Bear and told him this was between me and him. I’m not happy about the fact that Bear listened.”
“And I’m here? Kace, if he didn’t want Bear here, he won’t want me here.”
“Nix’s wife Becca will be here. There’s no reason you can’t be here. You’ll like Becca. You can chat with her if he and I need privacy. And have a drink to help you with your nerves before the flight.”
“I’m not sure we want me drinking around your agent,” I say as we halt a the door and he rings the bell.
Kace winks. “I’m pretty sure Nix doesn’t stand a chance with you drunk or sober.”
The door opens and a pretty forty-something blonde in a pink dress with gentle blue eyes greet us. “Welcome, Kace,” she says before her eyes fall on me. “And you must be Aria.”
“Hi,” I say, confused by the familiar greeting.
Kace wraps his arm around me. “Did I mention Bear has a big mouth?”
“He does.” Becca laughs. “And I used to date Bear, so his lips flap more freely with me.”
I blanch and she laughs. “I never get over people’s reaction. Go ahead. Say what you think.”
“No wonder Bear isn’t here.”
She and Kace erupt in laugher and she backs up to allow us to enter, while Kace’s hand on my lower back guides me forward.
“Nix is on patio,” Becca says as we join her in the foyer. “We have the fire going and a bottle of wine open and breathing. I’ll meet you there.”
Kace lifts a hand her direction and reaches for my coat, as she fades down the hallway and disappears.
“She dated Bear?” I ask as he hangs it on a rack and shrugs out of his own.
“She and Bear were broken up when she met Nix, but it’s awkward. Bear still loves her and Bear and Nix are like night and day.”
“And she jokes about it?”
“That’s not my read on her. I think it’s the elephant in the room she tackles before it tackles her.” He catches my hand. “Let’s get this over with, baby.”
I nod as he leads me through a luxurious house, with steepled ceilings, and an open-concept living room of creams and whites that is both beautiful and sterile. We exit to a much more cozy patio with two couches facing each other in front of the fireplace.
Nix and Becca occupy one of those couches, standing as we walk their direction, my attention focused on Nix, the man of the hour we’re here to see. He’s tall, lean, and dressed in expensive slacks and a button-down. His hair is red, and while his features are sharp, what he lacks in good looks, he gains in overt confidence.
Kace and I step into the space across from them—woman to woman and man to man, but none of us sit.
“Nix, this is Aria,” Becca says, motioning between us.
“Hello, Aria,” Nix greets, and his attention doesn’t just land on me, it thuds heavily. “You are,” he adds, “quite beautiful.”
It’s a biting compliment I don’t accept blindly. “I have never been called beautiful with such anger. Well,” I amend, “except maybe by Kace.”
Kace laughs and wraps his arm around me. “Only when I was resisting your charms, baby, and that’s what he’s doing right now.”
Nix scrubs his jaw. “He’s right, Aria. I’m thinking I’m fucked because with you state-side, he’s not leaving.”
“Who says I wouldn’t take her with me?” Kace challenges. My gaze jerks to his and he adds, “If you’d agree. I’d take you in a heartbeat. You already know that.”
Stunned, my heart is racing as Becca says. “Let’s sit and drink wine. We could all use it.” She takes the lead and sits, lifting a bottle of red wine that she begins pouring in four glasses.
Kace tugs me with him onto the couch. Nix grimaces and sits. “I can see now that you’re really done, Kace.”
My defenses bristle. “Not because of me. He was done when he met me.”
Kace kisses my temple. “Relax, baby. He knows.”
Nix surprises me by confirming Kace’s statement. “I know,” he agrees, eyeing Kace. “I’ve know. I just denied that fact, but no more.”
Becca offers me a glass of wine that I eagerly accept. I’m going to need it to get through this meeting and the flight. She makes sure everyone has wine, and once we’ve all sipped at least once, Nix is already changing his tune. “That all said,” he begins. “Pepsi will sponsor a final run if you—”
“No,” Kace says, his tone cool, rather than heated. “And no. You make a fortune off me, Nix. You don’t need the tour money. You’re just being greedy.”
“We make a fortune on the tours. And everyone with an agent needs a greedy agent. If they don’t have a greedy agent, they’re up shit creek with a fucked-up boat. I’ve made you a shit ton of money. You’ve made me a shit ton of money. But I get it. You inherited a fuckload of money from your parents. You’re rolling in cash. You don’t need that schedule. You write hit songs. I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”
Kace inherited a ton of money? I try to remember anything I’ve read about his parents but the answe
r is, not much. It’s like they existed outside his world.
“And on a separate note,” Nix says. “that stock you hooked me up with killed it, and I mean killed it. I made a fortune.”
He and Kace begin talking about that stock and Becca leans my direction to whisper, “Forgive Nix. He’s got a dirty word in his mouth every second of every day.”
“I live in New York. The f-word is just another version of ‘hello’ or ‘good morning.’”
She smiles and for the next forty-five minutes, we all drink wine and fall into a surprisingly easy conversation, everyone telling me funny stories involving Kace’s years on tour. I end up liking Becca quite a lot and as for Nix, him, too. Mostly.
“It’s time for us to head out,” Kace says, sliding his hands over his knees and turning serious. “I’m out, Nix. Don’t commit me to anything tour-related or we will have a problem.”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“You’ve done it before.”
“Not when I know it’s really not what you want. Write me some songs. Let me sell them and make us some more money.”
Kace nods and we all stand up, but he isn’t quite done. “One more thing,” he says. “If you get a lead on anther Stradivarius, I want it.”
My attention perks up at this unexpected turn.
“What happened to the one at auction you were attending?” Becca asks.
“It was a knock-off,” Kace replies, and eyes Nix. “I’m on the hunt.”
“I actually can come through for you.” He pulls a card from his pocket, leans over the table to write something on it, and then hands it to Kace. “Call him. He did a bad trade that burned him. He wants to sell. He needs the cash.”
“Once again you come through, man,” Kace says, shaking his hand.
Becca and I exchange numbers and a few minutes later, Kace and I are bundled up again, back inside the Escalade, with Nelson already driving us toward the airport. Kace hands me the card. “Make your buyer happy.”
I blanch and turn to him. “What?”
“You lost a sale when the violin at Riptide was a fake. A big sale. But you’d better get ten percent of the process which will make you rich. If you don’t get that from your buyer, I’ll buy it and pay you ten percent.”
A Reckless Note Page 17