“Bye,” I said and she said it back.
When I placed the handset back on the base, I felt alone. Though I’d been close to my sister Violet, she and I were very different people. Lizzy had been a kindred spirit of sorts even though we’d grown up with very different lives.
Then my inconsiderate thoughts drifted back to Kalen, the virile man. He wouldn’t be lonely for long. Women would line up to play bedmate. And I’d freed him, not that he was the kind of man to be tethered to anyone. So why should I think of him?
I was glad there wasn’t access to TVs or social media. Though I’d given him up, it wasn’t like I could handle seeing him with someone else.
Thinking of him only made my nether regions clench in anticipation. Memories of how he buried himself inside me and how he knew exactly how to wield that big cock of his almost made me whimper until I checked myself. No. I was strong. Screw him, as Lizzy would say. Then again, those words were the exact cause of all my troubles.
Those events had led me here and had solidified our non-future. I tucked all thoughts of Kalen away and wouldn’t name what I felt for him. Anger, lov—It didn’t matter. It was one too many emotions wasted on a man who didn’t deserve my time.
Instead, I dug back into the financial status of the community, relentlessly checking every transaction recorded to a source document like bank deposits and invoices as if I were still an auditor for a powerful international accounting firm.
The passage of time was counted by the dimming light trailing through the tiny window above the desk. I’d lit a candle earlier when the light had begun to fade. Now the room cloaked in shadows felt smaller and more cramped in the disappearing light.
A desk, chair, and one of the two telephones in the compound filled the room. The only other piece of furniture was a bookshelf that anchored one end of the room and held the weight of the community’s manual bookkeeping.
It seemed my arrival hadn’t been shared with my school-bound siblings as they hadn’t come to see me. But then again, my arrival was probably not the highlight of their day.
My skin nearly left my body when a voice broke through the silence. “I thought you’d be here.”
There was no need to see Turner standing behind me. His voice would always and forever be familiar to me.
“Hey,” I said before a yawn escaped my lips. The flickering candlelight gave the room an ethereal glow.
One thing hadn’t changed. He didn’t hold fast to anger long if his appearance here was any indication.
“Burning the night away?” he asked. “Or are you just hiding from me or maybe your father?”
It was both. However, I kept that to myself. After he left earlier, I wasn’t sure if he’d want to talk to me. A smile found its way to dance across my lips when I turned to face his grin.
It was true. He’d said his piece and wasn’t holding a grudge. Ignoring part of his question, I said, “I’m hoping maybe Father will be asleep before I make it home.”
He held a hand out to me. “You know your father. If he wants to talk to you tonight, he’ll wait up. You might as well get it over with.”
A groan left me before I took his hand and let him draw me to my feet. “I should go see Violet before it gets too late,” I said, closing the ledgers and putting them back on the shelf.
“You should wait until tomorrow. It’s late and it would be a long walk to her place,” he said.
I faced Turner to see he hadn’t moved. The expression on his face was tight. The tension between us was back, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. There was no denying the attraction I felt to him or the love that swelled in my heart. I’d known him all my life. At one time, I wanted to be his wife. But now… now I wasn’t sure. Everything was mottled because of Kalen. There was something about that man I couldn’t explain.
Warm hands wrapped around my arms, bringing me back. I looked up into those fathomless warm brown eyes almost the color of amber. “Turner.”
He took my calling out his name as an invitation, because his mouth headed toward mine.
Six
Kalen
The arrogance of the accounting clerk who sat before me knew no bounds. You would have thought he was the boss given the smirk on his face.
“Who authorized this wire?” I asked again.
“You,” he said with the utmost confidence. “I forwarded you the emails I received from you telling me to make those transfers.”
I didn’t have to glance at my screen. I’d already seen the evidence, but I’d wanted to size the man up for myself.
“Going forward, no wires or transfers are to be made without verbal authorization from me.”
The smirk disappeared. “What about—”
I waved him off. “If any transfers are made without my verbal authority, the person who did it will be fired.”
The satisfaction I got out of watching the smugness leave his face caused my mouth to curl into a wicked grin.
“Close the door on the way out,” I added.
Once he was gone, I picked up my phone and dialed Griffin.
“Yo,” he said.
“Are you an American now?”
He chuckled. “When in America…”
I ignored him. “I need you to have your people look into my email account. On the surface it appears I sent emails to the accounting department directing them to wire money to offshore accounts. Find out where they originated. Then I want you to do a background check on everyone in the accounting department.”
After leaving the Special Forces, Griffin built a company from the ground up that specialized in physical and cybersecurity.
“You think this is an inside job?” he asked.
“I think there’s someone out to destroy my name.”
“Or just good old-fashioned thievery?” he guessed.
I wasn’t buying it.
“Someone is going through an awful lot of trouble.”
“Do you think it’s—”
“No,” I said immediately without thought.
“Maybe I should look into it?” His brow quirked. “Bailey could be in danger.”
The thought had crossed my mind. Once she’d mentioned a note she thought someone I knew had sent her.
“I dinnae ken,” I said, falling into the familiar cadence of home.
“Do you want me to follow her?”
Where there might have been humor, like when I’d asked him to play driver, he sounded serious.
“If I knew where she was.”
He swore, “Do you want me to find her?”
It had only been a few days and I hadn’t wanted to pull that trigger.
“Dinnae be a bampot,” he cursed.
Hearing his concern, I gave him the only answer I could. “Aye. Find the lass.”
But what to do when she was found?
Seven
Before Turner’s lips touched mine, I stepped back and shook my head.
“We shouldn’t,” I said, unsure, sounding small, but glad it came out firm.
My reasoning was sound. I wouldn’t leapfrog into another man’s arms. Especially when he would make it too darn easy.
His hands dropped from my waist.
“Sorry,” he said, his eyes finding the ground. “I’ll walk you home then,” he suggested.
“Maybe I should stop by Mary’s and see the baby.” Even to my own ears, I could hear the excuse, as he probably could.
I might have stopped that first kiss, but I was drawn to Turner like a moth to a flame. And maybe he was the best man for me. I couldn’t be sure as long as my feelings were still twisted in my heart. I needed time. Time I hadn’t taken to get over Turner and ended up in a disastrous relationship with Scott.
Turner quirked a brow. “Are you afraid of me?”
“I’m not,” I said adamantly with my hands folded over my chest.
I would never be afraid of him, but I did feel way too vulnerable and moved out of the confining room into the larger class
room. My hand lovingly ran across the top of the wooden desk I’d sat at so very long ago.
Stepping out into the night, I found the dark all-encompassing. It was so very different than the city that never slept. Tonight, a blanket of clouds hid the stars and the moon. I stood in place, looked up, and breathed in deeply. The air was so very different here, free of smog and other pollutants.
“You miss it,” Turner said, breaking into my thoughts.
Slowly, I lowered my head to meet his eyes, but not too much considering Turner was far taller than me. “Maybe,” I confessed. “You?”
A tiny smile crept onto his face, reluctant and wary. “I missed you.”
A wave of emotion ran through me, making it hard to ignore the gorgeous guy in front of me. Despite my protest a minute ago, I couldn’t help what happened next. As inadvisable as it was, I reached out a hand to touch his cheek. He leaned into it. In that moment, all the memories we shared flashed across my mind.
Memories had me unconsciously on my toes, leaning up to place a heartfelt kiss on his cheek. It was a bad idea for many reasons, especially when he turned, allowing our lips to brush across one another’s.
Turner felt like home and it would be too easy to lose myself in his touch, his embrace, and his kiss. Thus, I dropped back to my feet and tucked a wayward strand of hair behind my ear, unable to meet his gaze.
When I did, his easy smile was in full bloom. He took my hand in his like a schoolboy with his first crush and gave it a little squeeze.
“Daughter.”
We turned as a unit to face my father. In typical fashion, he wore a hat that crowned his head. His beard, which had been the same burnt orange as my hair, speckled with gray.
“Father,” I said respectfully, bowing my head and quickly letting go of Turner’s hand.
Though I didn’t agree with the archaic views of the community, I had to respect them as long as I was here.
“Mr. Glicks,” Turner said.
“You may go home. I’ll see to my daughter.”
Turner glanced my way and I gave him a tiny nod that I’d be fine. He then nodded to my father and headed out, not in the direction of his family home. I wondered if he was headed to see Margaret, the woman I’d seen him with the last time I’d been home.
“You need to leave that boy alone,” my father directed.
“I’m not—”
He didn’t give me a chance to finish. “He’s a good boy and deserves better.”
As much as I wanted to believe I wasn’t that girl who needed her father’s approval, it stung to hear him say that. I opened my mouth to protest, but he was right. Turner did deserve better and not because I was bad. But because if nothing else, this moment put in complete clarity how much I no longer belonged here.
“Why are you here?” he asked as if I wasn’t welcomed.
His voice held no amusement nor his face a smile, but it wasn’t anger that fueled his words. My father, one of the leaders of our community, was tasked with the wellbeing of our sanctuary. My showing up without warning after I’d fled so long ago could only mean one thing to him. Trouble.
Most children could be honest with their parents. But if I told him everything, I wouldn’t be welcomed. Though I hadn’t completely let myself think about it, the black roses Lizzy said had been sent to me bothered me. Who would have sent such a thing and why?
Then there had been all of those warning messages I’d received. I wanted to believe they had to do with the women in Scott or Kalen’s lives. But what if they had something to do with the fraud I’d uncovered at King Enterprises?
“I’ve asked you a question,” Father repeated.
“I missed home,” which wasn’t a lie.
He held my gaze, gauging my truthfulness.
“Your presence confuses your sisters.” I wasn’t surprised he didn’t mention my brothers. As men in general, they were held to different standards. “You will keep your answers to their questions about the outside world to a minimum. Your sisters are coming of age and you don’t want to affect a potential advantageous pairing for them.”
If my father hadn’t been the man he was, I would want to take my sisters far away. But though Father was firm about a man’s role, he’d never been one to take choices away from his daughters. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been allowed to leave to go to college.
“Yes, Father.”
“I assume your stay will be short. As it’s late, you can make a pallet for yourself in the main room of the house. Tomorrow, however, you will see if Mary or Violet will take you in.”
It hurt to hear that I wasn’t welcomed, despite staying with one of my sisters would likely be more comfortable as they would have more space.
Though my spine was ramrod straight, I still gave him the respectful, “Yes, Father.”
“You will also stay away from Turner. Margaret is so looking forward to a spring wedding, and I don’t want you to be the cause of her disappointment.”
Thankfully, the gasp of shock got stuck in my throat and I managed to dislodge another, “Yes, Father.”
No hugs or questions regarding my wellbeing, he simply nodded and headed toward home. Not that I expected more. He simply wasn’t that type of guy.
The main reason I followed like a dutiful daughter and didn’t go to my car and leave was the chance of seeing my mother and siblings.
If my last few weeks had taught me anything, I’d learned the power of words. When to use them and when to say nothing. Kalen had the art down. Now was the time to hold my tongue. I could always leave. It would take a great deal of strength on my part to stay.
As I followed, I tried to believe my father still loved me, but he hadn’t given me any indication that he did. It was my mother who loved me unconditionally. She’d proven that when she’d used her words to fight for my right to leave. Though honestly, I would have bet my father was somewhat relieved at my decision to go. Yet, I was back without prior approval, which appeared to have my father on edge.
When we reached home, firelight glowed in the windows. I stayed on the porch for a minute after my father walked in before entering my childhood home.
I didn’t have to look far for my mother in our tiny four-room house. She waited for me at the dining room table, which was in what was called our great room. It was the main area that included what could traditionally be called a living room-kitchen combo in the secular world. The other three rooms were my parents’, the boys’, and the girls’ bedrooms.
The only light came from the fire in the hearth and the candles on the table. Even if I hadn’t been there earlier, I wouldn’t have needed the light to remember what this place looked like. Built by my father’s hands and other members of the community, it was still solid and functional as the first day they’d moved in. Everything had its place. As sparse as it was, it was homey and more inviting than Lizzy’s parents’ posh apartment.
The timber used to build this place was kept natural, free of paint inside and out. The floors and ceiling boasted the same. A wood-burning oven was positioned on one side of the house and the hearth on the other. We didn’t have a refrigerator because our house held no electricity. We did have an icebox, which literally meant that a block of ice was used to keep the space cold. A few cupboards and a small worktable made up the rest of the tiny kitchen.
Two long sofas were fashioned from wood with handmade cushions set across from each other. The hearth created division between them. In the middle of the two rooms was the long table worn with loving nicks when as kids we played games and from accidental flicks of forks and knives. There at the end of the long table, perched like a king because he was head of the household, my father now sat.
He steepled his hands, the tips grazing his long fiery beard. Mother sat to his left. Her dark locks muted by time. Even in the candlelight, I could see time had been kind to them.
“Sit, Bailey,” my father commanded. I just complied. His instruction was always to be followed no matter what.
<
br /> I sat across from my mother, meeting her subdued smile.
“Your mother very much wants to know how you’ve been.”
This was the test. He wanted to see how I’d answer these questions that would come up here at home and in the community. I understood my role not to poison anyone, including my mother, about a grand life outside of our town if one could call it that.
Looking into my mother’s earnest face, I knew I couldn’t be completely dishonest.
“Everything’s fine. I’ve been busy with an audit. Things didn’t go as planned and I had an opportunity to take some time for myself,” I said.
Mother reached over and covered my hand with hers. “I’m sorry for that, but I’m glad you’re here. Is your fiancé okay with you being gone?”
Of course, she’d think of that. I glanced away and muttered, “That didn’t work out either.”
“What did you do this time?” Father asked as if exasperated.
“What did I do?” I spat, keeping my voice low as to not disturb my younger siblings who were down for the night. “I said yes to the wrong man who couldn’t keep his hands to himself.”
“Is that a surprise?” he challenged. “Men like Scott Hayes, without faith, whose lives revolve around money, have no honor.”
It wasn’t a surprise to hear him recite my ex’s given name, as I’d written to my mother with the news of our engagement.
I almost laughed at the hypocrisy but managed to keep myself in check.
“I guess I would have been better off here, subservient to some man, spitting out babies as he decided whether or not one wife was enough,” I gritted out, unable to keep my mouth shut.
Everything went silent. Mother looked as though she held her breath, waiting for what my father would do next.
He didn’t even look mad. Calmly, he said, “You were never subservient, Bailey. From the moment you were born, you lived to defy me. As soon as you were able to walk, if I said go left, you would go right. None of your brothers or sisters ever dared to cross me, except you.”
Queen of Men: King Maker series Page 3