by Linda Verji
“Kian, just let it go,” Tasha pleaded.
“No, I’m not gon’ sit back and watch him hurt you again.” He’d done enough of that already. Kian was almost as angry with himself as he was with Polo for not noticing the signs earlier.
She didn’t deny the danger. “I can’t leave.”
“Why?”
“Kian, they’re probably close to the hospital and if I don’t get there soon, it’ll only mean more trouble.” She inched closer to him and fitted her arms around his waist. Her eyes were beseeching, “Please!”
Watching her plead brought a bad taste to his mouth, but her safety was his priority right now. “We’re not leaving this elevator ‘til you tell me why I should let you go back to the same house as that bastard.”
“He’s going to be in hospital for a couple of days anyway so he can’t do anything to me. Just let me go,” she persuaded. “I have your number. I’ll call you tomorrow and explain.”
“Tasha.” It didn’t feel right.
“Kian,” she wheedled. As much Kian wanted to drag her out of danger’s path, Tasha was a grown woman. If she said she wasn’t leaving, there was nothing he could do but try to convince her. The few days Polo was going to be in hospital would give Kian time to persuade her to get out. Reluctantly he nodded. Tasha’s face broke into a smile. “Thank you.”
“But if you don’t call me again…” he let the threat hang in the air. Fuck their agreement and the surveillance at the Nelson home. He’d banging down her door with a U-Haul truck.
*
She didn’t want to call him.
Tasha sat in her car stewing over the additional pile of crap she’d gotten herself into. All the lights in the house were off except for those in the master bedroom. After making sure that Jaslene, Asia and Ash were asleep, she’d put on a gown over her negligee and walked to her car. She needed to think and knowing Polo’s cameras were watching her every move made her uneasy.
As if she didn’t have enough problems, she’d now promised to tell Kian why she couldn’t leave Polo. Everything about Kian told her he was the over-protective fix-it type. She didn’t need a fixer. She needed a kidney.
Kian’s interference would probably only lead to Polo’s reluctance – or even refusal - to cooperate. Last night Kian had already taken her a big, big step back. Polo had been too knocked out to throw her more than eye daggers from his hospital-bed but she knew it would take a few more weeks and maybe slaps before he was in any condition to even consider giving Asia his kidney and Dr. Thorpe still wasn’t holding out any hope for a deceased donor.
Tapping on the steering wheel, Tasha tossed around her options in her head. Maybe it was time to defy Polo and ask her friends for help. They all already knew that he was a match to Asia but none of them knew that he was using it as a ransom and he’d promised that if she ever told them, Asia wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting his kidney.
Maybe one of them might be a match.
Maybe none of them is.
It was too risky. So was telling Kian. However, she’d seen the look in his eyes in the elevator and she knew he wasn’t going to let this go. She’d seen the same look in Lucky when Polo had attacked Zain – protectiveness. As much as Kian’s protectiveness was complicating her life, it was also extremely flattering.
So this is what it felt like to have someone who was willing to fight for you? Tasha had never had any man batting for her – the men in her life had always been too busy stamping their authority or being her worst nightmare. She could grow addicted to Kian’s protectiveness. His kisses weren’t too bad either.
She touched her finger to her lips. He’d caught her at a weak moment. Despite the knowledge that Polo was the sick one in their relationship, she always felt crippling humiliation whenever he hit her. She was the weak one, the stupid one for even tying herself to a man like him and deserved everything he dished out. Even after the years of building herself so she could stop making excuses for him, the self-blame was still a part of her.
Kian’s kisses and words had soothed away some of her humiliation. It’d been intoxicating. She’d never been kissed with such gentleness, set so aflame with just a touch of lips. She’d wanted him to go further than a kiss, but Tasha was grateful that he hadn’t. Already their emotions were too entangled. Fanning the flames of desire between them would only make her leaving New York harder. She couldn’t allow that to happen. When the time came to leave there couldn’t be any attachments.
What she needed to do was reassure him that she was okay. That way he wouldn’t interfere with her plans but at the same time extinguish any hopes of a relationship between them. She needed to convince him that the slap by Polo was a one time thing and that they loved each other. It’d worked on her friends. Why wouldn’t it work on Kian too?
She reached for the spare phone she kept taped to the underside of her car seat and dialed his number. He picked up on the third ring.
“Kian Harper.” He sounded tired.
“It’s Tasha.” She apologized, “I’m sorry I woke you up.”
“It’s okay. I’ve been waiting for your call.” There was some shifting movements on his end before he asked, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah!” she responded. Mentally taking a deep breath, she launched into an explanation. “I can’t leave Polo because I love him.”
She was proud of herself – she’d actually lied without stuttering. There was a long pause. Tasha nervously waited for him to say something when he did it was not what she expected. “Bullshit.”
“Kian, I love him,” she tried again.
“You wouldn’t have kissed me like that if you loved him,” he insisted. “And don’t lay the husband excuse on me either. You’re too smart and you love your kids too much to stick with him unless you had a good reason. Has he threatened you?”
Close enough. “No.”
“The kids?”
“N-no.” Even to her she didn’t sound convincing.
“I’m coming over.”
“Kian, no!” She moved quickly to salvage the situation. “You can’t come here. It’s late.”
“Because it’s late or because of the cameras?” How did he even know about those? This conversation was not going as planned. He suggested, “If I can’t come there, then meet me?”
“I can’t.”
“Tomorrow,” he insisted. “We should be having this conversation face to face anyway. I know he’s still in the hospital and I’ll make sure it’s somewhere private.”
“Kian,” she responded helplessly. There was silence on his end as he waited for her agreement. Meeting him was a bad idea. Being around him was a bad idea. “Where?”
He gave her directions to a popular hotel. “It’s mine so they won’t say anything to anyone about you being there.”
After dropping Asia at school the next day, she left her car in the school parking lot then took a cab to the hotel. Ash was with Jaslene.
“Room 361,” she said to the concierge. “I’m supposed to see Kian Harper.”
“He’s expecting you.” The concierge led her to the elevator. “Thirteenth floor.”
It was only when the elevator doors opened up on the thirteenth floor that she realized that she wasn’t in a hotel room. More like in someone’s home. The doors opened up to a large foyer that stretched into another doorway. Kian came out one of the rooms to the left side of the hallway. Dressed as he was in sweatpants, a navy t-shirt and white socks, he looked deliciously casual and so tempting. His smile widened as he walked towards her.
“Hi!” she greeted through parched lips.
As if it was the most natural thing in the world, he covered her mouth with his. This kiss wasn’t as hesitant as yesterday’s. It was confident and fiery. He cupped the back of her head, preventing any escape as he wooed her with lips.
His tongue delved into her mouth inciting fiery sparks that started at her lips and swelled through her entire body. Tasha closed her eyes lettin
g the feelings wash over her and reveling in them. They were all so new to her, she wanted to prolong it. She whimpered when he pulled back. When she opened her eyes she found him watching her with hooded eyes and a crooked smile. “Hi.”
CHAPTER 11
“Kian.” Coming up from that wicked kiss, it was all Tasha could say.
He pushed a strand of her hair away from her cheek as he complimented, “You look beautiful.”
Her eyes lowered in pleased embarrassment. All the words she’d planned to say flew away as they stood in the spacious foyer starting at each other. The speech she’d rehearsed in the car danced on her tongue but went unuttered as he dipped his head for another kiss.
He placed a finger under her chin, tilting her face up to his as he pressed his firm lips against hers. This kiss was deeper; it pulsed with the desire that was slowly weaving its thread of passion around them. Tasha sighed into it, letting her hand rest against his chest as their breath and tongues communed.
Kian’s hand lay against her lower back, nestling her body closer to his as he slowly but surely led her into a maze of sensuality. In that space and time, only his breath, his lips, his body existed as she responded to his kiss.
Only the need to breathe pulled them away from each other.
His smile widened, “Welcome to my home.”
He led her through the house to the living room. It was a short walk but long enough for Tasha to finally recapture her wits and remind herself of the reason why she was there: to dissuade Kian from interfering in her business.
“Can I get you something to drink?” he asked as he watched her take one of the large leather sofas that dominated the room.
Something to drink meant staying longer and judging from the heat in the kiss they’d just shared that was a bad idea. “You don’t have to-”
“Tasha,” he interrupted, “What do you want?”
She paused for a moment before saying, “Whatever you’re having.”
His socked feet barely made any noise on the carpeted floor as he padded out of the room only to come back a few minutes later with a pitcher of ice-tea and two long stemmed crystal glasses. He left again and came back with a plate piled with sandwiches.
“Let me do it,” she said reaching for the pitcher when he started to pour.
“Nah, you’re my guest.” He filled up the two glasses and handed one to her before sitting beside her. Polo wouldn’t have been caught dead doing ‘women’s work’.
“These are really good,” she complimented as she nibbled on a sandwich. “The cook should get a raise.”
“I’ll take any raise you want to give.”
“You cook!” She couldn’t hide the shock from her voice.
“Don’t sound so surprised.” He chuckled. “Don’t I look like I know my way around the kitchen?”
“It’s just that…” she let her words taper off knowing that she would sound stupid if she said ‘men don’t do women’s work’. She’d been taught the lesson at an early age from watching her parents and Polo had done his best to make it stick. What’d started off as an easy conversation drifted off into an uncomfortable silence. Tasha could practically feel the heat in Kian’s gaze as he watched her study the sandwich in her hand.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.
“I’m just wondering…” He shifted closer to her, the side of his body touching hers from shoulder to thigh, and wrapped his hand around her waist. Her bodily immediately awakened at his touch. It was almost as if the skin at her waist was connected to all her nerve endings from all the tingling that was going on in her body. He finished “…how I can get you to stay here permanently.”
He finally touched on the subject she dreaded. She propped the half eaten sandwich on the edge of the plate and shifted away from him. His hand fell away from her waist to the space she’d left. If they were going to have this conversation, she needed to be as far away from his touch as possible. “My daughter needs a kidney.”
Between last night and today Tasha decided that telling Kian the truth – or at least part of it – was her only option. “Polo’s a match and I can’t leave him until after the procedure.”
She’d shocked him with her words. He sat in contemplative silence for a moment. She could practically see the wheels turning in her head as he went into Mr. Fix-it mode exactly as she’d predicted. He sat up straighter on the couch. “We could try the transplant list.”
Tasha laughed sarcastically. “You really think I haven’t tried that?”
“There has to be another solution other than you staying with him.” He went quiet again before kissing his teeth in frustration. “I can find a way to get you out of this.”
“No, you can’t.” Deeply touched by his concern, she moved closer. “I appreciate that you want to help. I really do. And I would take your offer in a heartbeat if I really thought there was anything you could do. But the only one who can help my daughter right now is Polo. The transplant is due in a few weeks and then I can leave him.”
Kian swore as he stood up pacing the length of the living room, “I can’t let you stay with him Tasha.”
“It’s not your decision,” she said, watching as he propped his hands on the mantle with his back to her. “And besides I have lived with him for almost a decade now. A few weeks won’t kill me.”
He turned. The look in his eyes was that of a man deeply disturbed, “What if he does?”
“It’s a price I am willing to pay,” she whispered but it was loud enough for him to hear. “You know you would do it too if it was someone you loved.”
Silence filled the room. It had to be frustrating for a man like him, one so used to making things happen, to come to a dead end. Welcome to my world. He sighed deeply before walking to the couch. He stood her up, taking her place on the couch with her on his lap. Soon, she was in his arms, her cheek resting against his heart and taking the support he offered.
“Tasha, how do you even know that he is going to give Asia the kidney?” His hand gently soothed over her back and arms.
“I don’t but I have no other choices.” Polo was thin hope at best – but that thin hope was better than nothing.
More silence before he asked, “You’ll divorce him afterwards?”
No. Polo would never allow a divorce. He’d kill her first. Running was her only option. That however was not something Kian needed to know because instinctively she knew that he would try to stop her. Unable to lie outright, she simply nodded.
“Good!” There was an air of renewed purpose in the hardening of his eyes as he said, “My lawyers can start on the paperwork and-”
“I’ve already got a lawyer,” Tasha interrupted.
“I just want you away from him and with…” Kian left the sentence hanging as he propped his forehead against hers but she knew how that sentence ended ‘and with me’. She was glad he hadn’t finished it because then she would’ve had to lie again. She couldn’t tell him that she would be long gone before that ever happened.
Sighing deeply, she tucked her head into the crook of his neck.
*
“Jazzy, I’m leaving the country,” Tasha pronounced as they sat in traffic a day later.
There was a flicker of worry in Jaslene’s eyes before she asked, “For the summer vacation?”
“No, I’m leaving Polo.”
“Finally.” Jaslene mouth widened into a grin before her brow furrowed in confusion. “But why do you have to leave the country for that? Can’t you just file for divorce?”
“You don’t know-” Ash’s low cry in the backseat interrupted Tasha’s words. She turned to check on him but he quieted down on his own and went back to sleep. They’d just dropped off Asia at school so he had the backseat all to himself. Tasha continued, “You don’t know Polo. He won’t take it well. If I don’t want him to find us, the kids and I will have to leave.”
“What could he possibly do?” Jaslene scoffed.
“Just trust me.�
� She didn’t want to scare Jaslene with tales of the things Polo was capable of. She paused for a moment before saying, “I’d like you to come with us.”
The decision to tell her sister about her escape plan was a risky but necessary one. For the longest time, she and family were separate entities – they were the people she didn’t talk to but sent money to once in a while. If she left, Polo wouldn’t even have bothered to go looking for her there. But now that Jaslene was here, the situation was more complex.
“He’ll come after you, after we’ve left.”
“Where are we going?” Jaslene asked, panic evident in her voice. “What about school?”
Tasha had expected the questions and come prepared. “We’re going to South Africa. I’ve done some research and there are a few good colleges offering your course. I have some money saved up so I should be able to help you pay for a few semesters. And if you’re willing to work…”
“Of course I’m willing to work,” Jaslene interrupted. “What about Mommy and Daddy?”
“We’ll call them as soon as we get there.” Tasha resisted the impulse to remind her that since she’d run away neither of their parents had picked up her calls. Tasha knew better than anyone how unforgiving her father could be. As far as the Reverend was concerned, Jaslene was just as dead as Tasha. Their mother would follow his cue.
Jaslene sat back in the seat, her eyes taking on a contemplative look behind her glasses. Tasha kept silent as she waited for her sister to process her offer. Finally Jaslene nodded. “Okay.”
After passing by a studio to get a quick headshot of both Jaslene and Ash, Tasha dropped Jaslene at the university then drove to Darlene’s. Rashad was waiting for her in Melanie’s office.
“’Sup Mz Tasha.” He hopped to his feet to greet her. With his short and slim physique and penchant for dressing up like a college kid (today he was wearing a fedora, checkered shirt, board-shorts and sneakers), it was hard to take the over forty year-old Rashad seriously. The first time they’d met Tasha had doubted his abilities, but Melanie had vouched for him so Tasha had taken the chance. He hadn’t disappointed her yet.