She’d taken a ride at others’ expense. But no more.
“I’m in love with him, Lace.”
“What? With Mike Valentine?”
Her sister couldn’t have sounded more shocked. Which she’d expected. She nodded anyway.
“Kace, come on. He’s nothing like the guys you’re attracted to. You go for magazine covers...” She broke off. Then said, “And dark hair.”
“I know.”
“And...and pretty boys. You’ve always had a thing for guys who aren’t as muscular...”
Until she’d seen a man with such gentle strength.
“It’s because of what happened,” Lacey said now. “You’re still dealing with all that and Mike seems safe to you, but you know that most men are. With all the guys you’ve ever dated, you’ve never had one get rough with you...”
She’d let very few men close enough to try. “You can trust me or not, Lace, but I am dead serious and completely certain on this one. I am in love with Mike Valentine.”
“And does he love you?”
“As a friend.” Because he was so much wiser than she was. He knew their limitations. Had known all along.
Lacey studied her for a second. “Wait. You said you’re pressing charges against two guys. There were three. You can’t mean that you aren’t going to identify the third because he’s Mike’s brother.”
“I’m not pressing charges against him. That’s correct.”
“But you recognized him.”
She didn’t say a word. Wasn’t going to risk her sister doing something crazy like calling one of her contacts and giving some kind of official testimony in court.
Lacey jumped up so fast, she bumped against Kacey’s knee hard enough to hurt. “This is crazy!” she said. “Did he put you up to this?” She shook her head. “No, he wouldn’t do that. What are you thinking? Of course you’re going to identify him.”
“I can’t.”
“I’m calling Mom and Dad.” It was the bottom-line threat they’d been using since they were old enough to know it worked. Every single time.
“Go ahead,” Kacey said now, handing her sister her phone.
Staring at the phone, and then at Kacey, Lacey sat again. Took Kacey’s hand. “Kace, listen to me, sweetie.” With her free hand, she brushed the hair back from Kacey’s face. “You aren’t thinking straight. You’re letting this thing you think is love cloud your brain. Trust me on this. You have to press charges.” She recognized Lacey’s tone. It was one she used most often at work.
It used to work on Kacey, too.
But not this time.
“You can’t let a criminal get away just because you love his brother. What if he goes out and hurts some other woman?”
She hadn’t specifically thought about that. She could read some relief on Lacey’s features when her sister saw that the comment gave Kacey pause. And then she shook her head.
“He’s not going to,” she said. And she knew, without a doubt, that she was right. She couldn’t explain it, even to herself, but she knew. Willie had been telling the truth. He’d been as horrified by what had happened as she’d been.
“What did Mike say? I’m assuming he knows you know?”
She nodded. “He told me to get out. He wanted me to press charges.” That was what her sister had really been asking.
“See, it’s what you need to do.”
She shook her head. Told her sister the things Willie had said. And she told Lacey how Michael’s jaw had been destroyed. About the ten years of loving and believing and having faith in his brother when no one else did.
“You know why he could do that?”
She expected Lacey to shake her head. To spew more frustration, to try to gang up on her with kindness or with anger to get her to change her mind. Instead, her sister said, “I do.”
She was staring at Kacey.
“Because you always knew my heart,” Kacey whispered, losing her battle with her tears. “You had faith in me even when I was being a selfish bitch.”
“You were never that, Kace. You were just kind of blind sometimes.”
“Discernment has always been more your strong suit than mine. But don’t you see, Lacey? That’s what makes me so certain about this. Because I can discern. Michael’s love changed Willie. The years of support, yes, but when he moved into Michael’s home, when Michael changed his schedule to drive him where he had to go, or sit home with him, he understood that Michael wasn’t just being a good guy—he was loving him. All that seven-year-old kid ever needed was to be loved.”
And in the end, that kid had rescued her.
“I believe he will make good on this chance,” she said. “But I also think Michael deserves and needs this chance. He has to see that his faith was not misplaced. That his love has the ability to transform.”
Lacey was staring at her, wide-eyed. “You really do love him.” She had tears in her eyes, too.
“Yeah, I do.”
“So what are you going to do about that?”
That was where the bottom fell out of her world. “Nothing,” she said. “I’ve done what I can...setting Willie free.”
“Excuse me?” Lacey pulled back. “Earth to Kacey. The woman who pushed everyone else to take the hard steps?”
She wasn’t afraid of hard steps. Not anymore. She’d take a lifetime of them if it would bring Michael to her.
“I can’t ask him to live my life with me, Lacey.” She told her sister about the awards dinner. About Michael’s sense of humor, his conscience, his strength. And told her how all of that slowly slid away from him while he sat there that night. “And you and I both know, I’d go plumb crazy if I sat here in Santa Raquel all day every day. I have to live at least two people’s lives just to keep up with myself.”
Lacey nodded. Acting had exhausted her. It energized Kacey. Fulfilled her. Kept her sane.
“And now, this thing with his brother... Michael already feels like I’m way too good for him, being semifamous and beautiful and all. There’s no way he’ll ever, ever ask me to face one of my attackers over Thanksgiving dinner. Or ever have to face him again, for that matter.”
She told Lacey how seeing Willie had made her throw up. Her sister gave her a long speculative look. “So you do the asking.”
“What?”
“You said he’d never ask. So you ask.”
Throwing her hands up, Kacey felt like giving Lacey’s shoulders a good shake. “Have you heard a thing I’ve said?”
“Yeah, I think I’ve heard all of it. Maybe even more than you have.”
Was she missing something? Even now? “What?” If she was, it was up to her other half to tell her. It was the way it had always been.
“Michael’s love is transformative, you said so yourself. You and Willie, you’re both living proof, right?”
She nodded.
“But, you see, Kace, that’s not Michael’s love...it’s love itself.”
Of course. It made sense. She nodded again, waiting.
“You just told me how certain you are of how much you love him...”
The light went on.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
WEEKS OF NOTHING, and everything happened in one day. Eventually leaving his youngest brother at the Lemonade Stand, under supervision of Sara Havens and with the understanding that they would be talking more as soon as Mike was off work, he went to the office.
He needed some time away from the kid. Time to look at Willie with different eyes. Time to assimilate all that he’d learned.
Time to come to grips with himself. He wanted to go to Kacey, but to do so would be selfish, and it could continue to confuse her regarding her need and right to press charges against his little brother.
She’d go t
o Lacey. Her sister would help her see what she needed to do. That was another reason he’d left Willie at the Stand. Better the kid be arrested there than at home with their father looking on.
Better that it happen without Mike around, either. The whole thing was killing him. He loved that kid so much. What was more, he believed every word he’d said about that night on the beach. He even understood. The circumstances that all led one to another. And then the panic.
Problem was, he couldn’t forgive. Willie shouldn’t have been anywhere near Kacey on that hellacious night. And he should have come forward sooner to help ease her pain.
But Kacey knew what Willie was to him. He couldn’t go to her. Period.
Work had always been his panacea.
And the first thing that hit him when he booted up his computer was an email granting him access, by an online media source, to call the reporter who’d posted the article about Kacey and Bo. He’d been given a cell number. And he made the call immediately.
And then made several more.
He wanted to call Kacey. To let her know who’d been behind the photos. But he knew the detective she’d spoken to in Beverly Hills was going to do that.
He couldn’t pull her back in his direction no matter what she thought of him or what she did about Willie. He couldn’t ask her to ever risk a repeat of what had happened today. Coming face-to-face with one of her attackers.
What he would do was work.
It was what he’d always done.
The only thing he could do.
* * *
KACEY WAS IN Beverly Hills that same day, late afternoon, when she got the call from a detective there, telling her that Bo Williams had been behind the photos of her that had been appearing on the internet. They’d questioned him and he’d admitted to the postings. He’d taken her email address from her computer one night at her apartment. His sole purpose had been to gain publicity for himself in an attempt to lure a lucrative movie contract.
The idea had been to show what a good guy he was to her, and then to show that, in the end, he had enough sense to walk away.
Unless she’d actually married him. Then he’d have posted photos of her after rehab and been an even greater guy.
The detective asked Kacey if she wanted to press charges against Bo for fraudulent use of her email address.
Hacking without any provable financial gain or loss was still a crime, but not one that any prosecutor was going to take all that seriously. And she didn’t want any more publicity on the Bo front.
In lieu of charges, she asked for a restraining order. Paperwork was already in motion to make that happen.
The whole incident was little more than a blip in her day.
The second call she received from the police was more than a blip. It came from Santa Raquel. Willie Valentine had turned himself in. He’d made a call from the Lemonade Stand, asking to speak to the police. And because the Stand was under such close watch for possible abuser infiltration, his call was immediately responded to by two policemen, in person.
He’d confessed what he’d done and turned both of his friends in. He’d already agreed to testify against them. His older brother, Mike Valentine, had also called with the names of the two seventeen-year-olds in question, and both had already been in custody.
Their question to her was when she could come in to identify them.
She said she’d only do so if they agreed not to press charges against Willie.
It was made clear to her that though she’d been saved from the rape by Willie’s actions, she could still press charges against him. Kacey held her ground. After a couple more phone calls, one to the prosecutor’s office, agreements had been solidified and charges filed against the other two.
And Willie’s brother was going to be called to come pick up his sibling.
She asked to speak with Willie herself, first, and didn’t cringe when she heard his voice. Her memory of that night would never leave her. She knew that for certain. But the parts that she focused on were changing. She remembered how hard she’d fought. How she’d sent one guy howling in the sand. And she was thinking about the boy who’d been so distraught that he’d hurt her in his attempt to keep her legs together against their assault—and then done everything in his power to see that she would be safe.
Love really did have the power to change how you viewed the world. The power to change perception.
She just hoped to God it had the power to get through one man’s very thick skull.
* * *
MIKE WAS NOT happy when he pulled up in front of the police station to pick up his brother. He’d considered telling the detective to call their father to come get Willie. But in the end, his heart had driven him down there.
The kid looked him straight in the eye when he got in the car.
“Kacey is not pressing charges,” Willie said.
Shit. He’d been so certain Lacey would talk some sense into her. Yet, looking at his kid brother...Mike felt a surge of relief. And then shame for feeling it.
“Can I still stay with you?”
For Willie, he supposed, nothing had changed in his immediate future. He still wanted to graduate and get on with his life. So far the boy had made good on every single agreement they’d made in that regard.
Sending him home now... He’d have to tell their folks what had happened. It would have to be done at some point, but Mike wasn’t up for another dramafest.
“Yes,” he said, feeling disloyal to Kacey for housing one of her attackers—and knowing that this was more proof that they didn’t belong together. He was convinced that she’d refused to press charges against Willie because of him. But he loved his kid brother. There was just no denying that one. He loved Willie—still. And the way the kid had called the cops on his own when he’d already been promised a free ride? That was the man he’d expected Willie to become.
“I’m so pissed at you right now, I’m not going to be very good company,” he said.
Willie nodded. “That’s cool.”
He glanced over, thinking that Willie was smiling. But the boy was staring out the front windshield, looking like he wished he’d shot himself instead of Mike.
* * *
MIKE WAS WORKING that evening, having ordered pizza for himself and Willie and taken his own to his home office, when a message started scrolling across his machine.
What the hell?
Thinking he’d been hacked, he went for the plug, immediate shutdown...when Willie spoke up. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Looking toward the doorway, he saw no one, so he glanced back at the screen.
Michael Seth Valentine, do you love me?
He looked around the room. Read the scrolling message as it came across a second time. And then watched as it stopped in the middle of his screen.
Willie was up to something. Playing some kind of geeky prank on him. As if the kid didn’t realize he was already on such thin ice nothing was going to work but time where the two of them were considered.
Two boxes popped up. One marked Yes. One marked No.
Sitting back, he watched the screen, waiting for the prank to unfold. He thought about his brother. Willie had had the courage to turn himself in after he’d been told he never had to tell another soul what he’d done.
He’d been let off the hook. Hadn’t had to be accountable.
And still he’d turned himself in, believing he was going to be put in jail.
A white box came up on the screen with a blinking cursor. It had to be Willie. In the other room. Accessing his computer through the home network. Mike’s work files were all locked, but his basic system was set to share for his own convenience.
Who is this? he typed into the box.
He wasn’t in a good mood. Wasn’t o
pen to any softening. But he couldn’t tell the kid he didn’t love him.
Who do you love?
Because he was pissed, and feeling a need to be perverse, he typed in the names of every single family member. Sending each one separately. He typed in Kacey’s name. The kid knew. There was nothing to hide. To the contrary, to honor Kacey he was going to make certain that Willie remembered her—just as she’d told him he would—every day for the rest of his life.
In the end, he typed Willie’s name and went back to work.
Or tried to.
Another message popped up.
It showed a video screen with an arrow to push.
Sitting back in his chair, he pressed Play.
He was not going to soften. The boy was going to pay for what he’d done. And what he hadn’t done. All those weeks, Kacey had lived in fear of not knowing if her perpetrators were watching her...going to come back...
Some corny music started to play. About wind and wings. Hard to believe Willie even knew the stuff existed.
And then Kacey was there, wearing the dress she’d worn that night at the awards dinner. She was seated, but he couldn’t tell where. The camera was too close.
“Michael, I do not ask this lightly. I know that it might not be fair of me. But you’ve taught me that love transforms people. It’s changed me. Your love for Willie allowed you to see the young man inside who was crying out for a chance, and it allowed you to give him that chance. And, today, to give him another chance...”
She was staring right into the camera. The dress was probably as stunning as he remembered it. All he could see were those big blue eyes.
“Now I’m asking you to let my love for you transform you,” she said. “I know you believe that I only think I love you as more than a friend. I know you think that I’m just feeling this way because of the attack. But, Michael, that’s just not true. The attack was an instrument through which I became more aware of my love for you, in that it showed me different aspects of that love, but I’ve been in love with you for months. I just didn’t recognize it. Or know what to call it.”
She swallowed. So did he. And swallowed again. “You told me that you weren’t going to get involved again until the woman asked you. So...Michael Seth Valentine, will you let me love you?”
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