“Fuck!” I shouted, knocking papers off my desk. I dropped my face into my hands, then shoved my fingers through my hair.
There was no doubt about it now. One way or another, Kelly had to go. The only question now was—how to get rid of her? Money wouldn’t do; they had plenty of that. There were other options—violent options—but I wasn’t bold enough to go back to who I used to be because if I went there, there was a chance I wouldn’t return.
Chapter Fourteen
CANE
My drive home was solemn.
I drove through Charlotte with the Maserati I bought a week ago, the sunroof peeled back and the wind rushing through my hair. It didn’t take long for me to get home.
Pulling up to the house, I spotted Lora’s car parked in front of the garage. When I walked into the house, I could smell something spicy cooking.
Mama was in the kitchen preparing fajitas, and Lora was sitting at the kitchen island with her laptop, scrolling through a clothing store website. Of course.
“How was work?” Mama asked. She’d been unusually chipper lately. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the move and being in a new place, or the fact that we had talked about the bakery she wanted to open so badly. She’d made plans—said she wanted the walls painted teal, and had been describing all the things that would be on the menu. I had to keep her happy somehow, but I had no idea when the bakery would be feasible. She still had to prove to me that she would be okay and that all of this wasn’t one big dose of fluffy bullshit.
“Fine,” I mumbled, opening the fridge and pulling out a Gatorade.
“Whoa! Grouchy much?” Lora was still staring at her laptop screen.
I cracked the drink open, taking a few gulps. “Going upstairs.”
“Oh, hey, listen! Before you go…” Lora slid off the stool, slinking her way over to me. “I might have to fly to Cali soon. I haven’t visited Aaron since he was arrested.”
I cocked a brow and folded my arms then. “I thought you were mad at him?”
“I just need to tell him that I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to be together anymore.”
“Ouch,” I hissed. “While he’s behind bars? That’s really fucked up, Lo.”
“Well, it’s the truth, okay? I’m not going to sit around waiting for him for the next fifteen years! I’m not that kind of woman, and he knows it. I don’t want him being all hopeful about the future. When he’s out, then maybe we can talk again. Besides, do you really think I’m going to go fifteen years without having sex?”
“Okay, first of all, that’s fucking disgusting. I don’t want to hear you talk about sex. And second, what you’re basically implying to me is that you, Lora Cane, are not a ride-or-die chick?”
“Oh, shut up.” She punched my arm but with her being so damn petite, she couldn’t hurt me with her hands if she tried.
The doorbell rang and I looked down the hall at the door. Lora looked too before focusing on me and frowning. “You expecting someone?” I asked.
“No.” She took a step back. I looked back at Mama but she only shrugged with tongs in her hand.
I marched to the door, twisting the knob and pulling it open. It could have been a neighbor or Mrs. Hugo again, for all I knew…but it wasn’t.
Standing on the other side of that door was a person I thought I would never see again—at least not so soon.
Kandy’s maple eyes swung up to mine, wide and glistening. Her face was pale, her hair in a curly, kinky mess, like she hadn’t really bothered brushing or combing it lately. She wore a jean jacket over a halter top shirt and black joggers. She had on the same vans she wore the day I brought her to the hotel, when I visited her in college. The handle of a black suitcase was locked in her hand, and she fidgeted on her feet, like she was unsure what to do next.
“Hi, Cane,” she whispered, doing a small wave with her free hand.
My breaths came out short when she spoke.
I was tempted to blink, but was afraid that if I did, she would vanish, and my actions in that moment couldn’t be controlled. It was like my heart got ahold of every single emotion inside me. It pumped madly, leaving me with no choice but to follow through with what I wanted. I took a step down and practically slammed into her, cupping my hands around her face.
I kissed her.
I kissed her so fucking hard.
I couldn’t believe it. She was here. Fuck…she was here. She chose me.
Dropping my hands, I scooped her up in my arms and she moaned, letting go of the suitcase and causing a loud thud on the ground. She had no problem wrapping her legs around my waist as I cupped her ass in my hands. I held on tight, kissing so deeply I could hardly breathe, but I didn’t give a damn. She could have every breath, every heartbeat. She could have all of me.
“Oh, baby,” I breathed on her mouth, her forehead pressed to mine. “You’re here. You’re here.”
“I am,” she nodded. “I’m here, Cane.”
I kissed her once more and then placed her on her feet, but I didn’t let go of her. Fuck that. I refused to let go again. I tangled my fingers in the hair at the back of her head, bringing her mouth to mine again. She held on tight, curling her fingers in my shirt like she was afraid to let go. God, I missed that. It made me feel like she actually needed me.
“Ahem!” someone said behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder, spotting Lora walking to the door. “How about you two save all that sloppy kissing for the new bedroom, huh?”
Kandy laughed.
“No one told you to watch,” I countered.
“Hey, don’t get smart with me!” She pointed a finger at me. “If it wasn’t for me, she wouldn’t even be here.”
“Lora, all you did was drop the letter off for me. Don’t get cocky.”
“But that’s not all I did for you. See, guys are stupid. You didn’t provide enough for her to go on. Right before I gave the letter to her, I got a new envelope, opened the old one to take your letter out, and then put it in the new envelope with your new address written inside of it. I also wrote her name the sloppiest way that I could, to match your shitty handwriting.” She folded her arms with a smirk. “I knew she wouldn’t come right away. Girl thing,” she shrugged. “And unlike you, I wanted to give her another option, so I gave her money, too.”
I frowned at her. “You better not have read it,” I grumbled, annoyed that I hadn’t thought about Kandy’s financial situation myself.
“Oh, relax. I didn’t want to read your sappy letter, lover boy.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
Kandy tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, putting on a small smile. “Thanks, Lora.”
“Hmm.” Lora smiled at her before giving me a smug grin. “You owe me even more now, bro.” She pranced off, and I looked at Kandy again. She gave me a coy smile.
I still couldn’t believe she was here.
My Kandy.
Chapter Fifteen
KANDY
After what felt like our one-thousandth kiss, Cane helped me walk inside.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come with Lora,” I said as he shut the door behind us. “I didn’t want to leave from home like before.” I dropped my eyes. “Telling my parents this time around was ten times worse, though.”
“Worse how?” Cane asked, voice low.
I looked up, and even though my heart was still beating with joy because of our moment on the porch, my eyes still prickled. I couldn’t even form the words. What Dad said really stuck with me during the entire bus ride and even on the Uber ride to Cane’s house. I kept thinking about how hurt he was—the anguish in his eyes. The rage. How many times was I going to break my father’s heart?
“It just was.” I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “Dad is…well, you know how he is.” I sighed. “I thought about everything that happened, and I know it wasn’t your fault that Kelly attacked me. The only reason I didn’t answer the phone, or text back, or even come to see you was because I was scared. I still am sc
ared—and—”
My statement was cut short.
Cane cupped my face in his hands—the hands I’d missed for weeks. He held me for a long time, staring into my eyes. “You have no reason to be sorry, and every right to be worried. What you went through was my fault, and I take full blame…but you don’t have to be scared anymore, Kandy. You’re here. I’m here. I’ve always been here for you, baby.”
A sob caught in my throat, but to stifle it—as if he saw it coming—he pressed his mouth to mine, with my face still in his hands, and kissed me again. This time it was slow. Careful. I don’t think I’d ever felt him kiss so gently. His mouth was just as I’d remembered, tasting like mints and cigarettes. My fingers scrambled to hold onto him—any part of him. I curled them into the single pocket of his black button-down shirt, and we both groaned.
He parted his lips, and I did the same, letting him taste me. When his tongue swept over mine, it triggered something inside me. The pit of my belly warmed up, blazing like a million watts, and then the feeling built up into a fluttering frenzy.
He groaned, wrapping a hand around the back of my head, slowly breaking the kiss. I opened my eyes to meet the cool, half-gray eyes that were slowly becoming a warm pool of green.
“I missed the hell out of you,” he whispered, pressing his forehead to mine. “I’m glad you came.” I closed my eyes, melting into his grasp. He held me close for several seconds and then planted a kiss on my temple before letting me go. Picking up my suitcase with one hand, he grabbed my hand with the other and started walking down the hallway. “Come on. Let me show you around.”
I walked hand-in-hand with him through the hall. The first thing I noticed was how long the hallway actually was before we met up to an open area. Thick, white pillars were built into the floors, holding up the beams, and the floor was made of ivory marble. The floors in the foyer were all marble too, and unlike the other house in Atlanta, this house had two staircases. One to the right, one to the left.
When I’d pulled up to this house, I noticed it was slightly bigger than the Atlanta home. Although his home in Atlanta had a nice exterior and was a decent size, this one was much more appealing. The bricks outside the home were tan and dark brown, and there were even bigger pillars out on the patio.
The foyer was absolutely breathtaking. Black and white decor accented the walls, some on the tables. There were a few wooden accent pieces as well, to give it a rustic, masculine look.
The ceiling was high and arched, a large chandelier hanging up top, the crystals looking like diamonds as the lights shimmered on them. “Wow, Cane,” I breathed. “This place is beautiful.”
He smiled a little. “It’s fancier than the one in Atlanta was.” He looked around. “I don’t know what possessed me to get a house that has more rooms.”
“Because you’re not alone anymore,” I noted. Our eyes latched again, but I pulled away, looking at the left staircase, the one we were nearest to. “Can I go up?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Go ahead.”
I took the stairs up carefully, noticing my reflection in the marble when I looked down. When I reached the top, I went left. There were three doors this way, each of them black. I went into the nearest one. It was a big room, a large glass desk inside it and a rolling chair behind it. Some boxes were stacked in the corner, the curtains open to reveal the front lawn, which had a fountain in the middle of it.
“My office,” Cane stated.
“Great view.”
I went to the next room. This one only contained a queen-sized bed, a dresser, and a TV. There were suitcases inside it and a neon orange duffel bag. I assumed this room was Lora’s because the duffel bag had sticker of a stick figure holding up its middle finger. The last room on the left was completely empty.
“Gotta figure out what I’ll do with that one,” he chuckled nervously behind me.
“Where is your mom sleeping?”
“Oh, her room is downstairs. Leads right out to the pool. She loves it.” I smiled at him as he looked me over. “Come. Let me show you my room.” He reached for my hand again, and I accepted it, letting him lead the way. We walked past the staircase that was on the right, and on this side of the house, there were two doors. He opened the very first one. It was his room for sure. I remembered the large bed frame and dresser from before, both a dark brown. The biggest difference was the windows—many more than at his house in Atlanta, revealing a line of trees in the distance. The view was amazing. I walked in, running my fingers over the cotton sheets then trotting into the walk-in closet.
“Holy shit! This closet may as well be another room!” I laughed.
“I intended on sharing it with a special someone…”
I pressed my lips together, fighting a smile.
“But if you are only here to visit…” His sentence trailed off.
I walked into the bathroom, postponing that topic for now. This bathroom was much bigger than his last one. It was mostly white marble. Clean. Shiny. Three windows, all tall rectangles. A tub was near the north wall, the shower only a few steps away from it. Two sinks. Two separate mirrors, not a whole one like the last place.
“I don’t know if you remember, but I had mentioned to your mother during the last dinner at their house that I’d opened an office in Charlotte for Tempt,” Cane said. “At that point, I was just going to commute back and forth from the Atlanta building to get here. I had no plans of leaving Atlanta behind, but when you got hurt,” he grumbled, through clenched teeth, “I figured I would get a house here, too. I had Lora find some last-minute options for me. When I was clear to go, I came down here and saw this one. Fell in love with it, honestly.” He looked around, sighing. “But I didn’t buy this house for myself. I got a bigger place because I wanted more people in it…and I wanted you to be one of those people. I want to share all of this with you…” He held his hands out, like he was displaying this room for the very first time. “But if you’re only visiting…”
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I confessed, my tone abrupt.
He took a step toward me. “What made you come here?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Stupidity, maybe? Recklessness?” I huffed a laugh, looking up at him. His eyes burned with sincerity, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
“You can be pretty reckless,” he chuckled. He was in front of me now. “If you weren’t ready, you didn’t have to come, Kandy. You don’t have to be here just to make me happy.”
“Weren’t you the one who told me that love can be selfish sometimes?”
His eyebrows inclined. Confusion.
“I made a stupid, selfish decision by coming here, right back to you,” I said, and he winced a bit, “but…there isn’t a minute that goes by that I’m not thinking about you, Cane. I just hope I don’t regret it later.”
His face softened.
“Some loves are a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” I went on. “I don’t want ours to be something I have to bury.”
“Good.” His smile was so sweet. “Me neither.”
“But if I’m here, Cane, you can’t hold anything back from me anymore. You have to promise me that you’ll be completely open and honest from now on. No more surprises. Next time some shit goes down, I want to be prepared…and I’m sure there will be a next time.” He nodded and was about to bring his hands up to hold my waist, but I held my hand up just as quickly, taking a step away. “Promise me. I want to hear you say it.”
“I promise I will let you know everything, Kandy. No more lies. No more secrets. I am an open book.”
I watched his eyes, the desperation burning deep within them, but there was one question that’d been bothering me since the accident had happened. “Did you know Kelly was coming to your house that day?”
“I had no idea. The last time I’d spoken to her, I told her to stay away from me.”
I swallowed hard. “And…El Jefe?”
He dropped his head. “He hasn’t shown up yet…but
I’m sure he’ll come.”
“When?”
“I don’t know, Kandy.”
I used my palm to rub my forehead. “Do you think I should go back home until he makes an appearance?”
“I hate saying it, but I think that by now, he knows everything about you. I’m sure word about the case has gotten to him. He probably knows every detail. He studies those kinds of things before he strikes, just to be ahead of others.”
“Strikes? What does that even mean? That he’ll attack you?”
His throat bobbed before he answered. “I don’t know what he’ll do, Kandy, but one thing I know for sure is that I’m an asset to him. He needs me too much to do anything stupid or hurt anyone I care about.”
I dropped my line of vision, focusing on the floor instead. “H-have you ever killed anyone?”
“No.” He blinked hard, forehead creasing. “But I have come close to doing it before. Twice.”
“How close?” I looked up.
“So close that Lora had to stop me before I pulled the trigger.”
“Who were you about to kill?”
Cane’s eyes glistened as he studied my face. “One time, it was some idiot who was fucking with Lora. I didn’t use a gun on him, just beat him really bad, to the point he could have died. The other time, it was Buck, and I pulled his own gun on him.”
The tightness in my chest loosened just a bit, but not much. My heart was still pounding. I suppose I should have seen that one coming. He hated his dad.
I turned and slouched down on the bed, running my hands over my face. “This is so crazy,” I muttered into my hands.
“Is it really that crazy to be with me?”
“From all the red flags I’ve seen and what my dad told me, a lot of people would say it is! I’m just trying not to let it overshadow how I feel about you. I want to be with you, Cane, I do—but I don’t want to get hurt again.”
Cane’s eyebrows pulled together. “What did Derek tell you?”
I leaned back on my palms. “How you two really met—the things you did as a teenager. The fight you got into while saving Lora from some guy. How you worked for a man named Horacio and sold drugs for him.”
The Cane Series: A Complete Forbidden Romance Series (4-Book Set) Page 62