I think loaded was an understatement. Growing up, I had always heard about Craig Real Estate, and how the husband and wife had died tragically. After their death, no one really heard what happened to the company, but they knew it was still around.
I found out what happened to it.
“He lived in Underbridge before his parents passed away, Karlton. Loaded is just the beginning.”
“I still don’t see what the problem is.”
“The problem is he lied to me. He never told me who he was.”
“Did he say why he didn’t tell you?”
I slid the pizza into the oven and set the timer. “He said he didn’t tell me because he knew that I wouldn’t want to be with him if I knew he had money.”
Karlton propped his hands on his hips. “From what I see right now, the man was right.”
“But he lied to me. That’s what is pissing me off. I mean, yeah, the fact that he is insanely loaded doesn’t help, but the fact that he had time to tell me and he didn’t isn’t right, Karlton. He was making me fall in love with someone that he isn’t.”
Karlton shook her head. “Oh honey, I don’t know how to get through to you.”
“You don’t need to get through to me. You need to go, I need to eat pizza, and then I’m going to bed.” I had talked about this enough tonight. Between Dante, Vivian, and my father, I was done talking about this. “I can’t do this right now. I had seriously decided right before Dante picked me up that I was going to trust him, do the whole thing, and then this happens. If that isn’t a sign that I need to cut my losses and run, then I don’t know what is.”
Karlton sighed and held up his hands. “Sugar, I’m gonna let you be for right now, but I’ll be back. You’re stuck on what you think you know instead of actually seeing the truth.”
I scoffed and shoved a handful of cheese balls in my face. I saw the truth, and I didn’t fucking like it. “I don’t know when I’ll be around. I got some things to do.” Like getting my locks changed so Karlton couldn’t come and go whenever he pleased.
“Lord have mercy,” he mumbled. “I’m here when you need me, sugar. Maybe I’ll come over in a couple of days, and we can talk.”
Karlton gave me a tight hug and babbled about hearts or something, and I just tuned him out. The only heart that I was concerned about was mine, and at the moment, it was shattered.
Karlton left. I stared at the oven until the pizza was done, trying not to think about Dante. I ate, and then I went to bed.
Alone.
It was amazing how things changed in the blink of an eye. One second, I was blissfully happy, excited to go home and salvage what I could of the night with Dante and ice cream, and in the next second, I found out the man who I could possibly love was the exact thing I never wanted.
I closed my eyes, and a tear streaked down my cheek.
Who was I kidding?
I loved him, and that didn’t matter. He still hurt me.
**********
Chapter 26
Dante
“Open up.”
I drained my glass and set it in the sink. “Go away, Karlton.” I was in the middle of drowning any possible thought I could have with a bottle of Jack Daniels. It tasted like shit, and I wondered how people could drink this crap all of the time, but it was doing its job of making me numb.
“Did you just slur?” he shouted.
“Not really sure.” Yeah, I was slurring.
Get drunk. Check that off the list.
“Silver Fox, open this door. We need to talk about Kennedy.”
Kennedy.
I sighed and hung my head. Man, I had really fucked that shit up. Looking back, I could have done this whole thing with her so differently. I did hide the fact that I had money, but at the time I did it, there wasn’t any other choice.
“Mr. Millionaire, open up this door.”
I glared at the front door. I wasn’t Mr. Millionaire. I didn’t want that fucking title. I had money, but it had nothing to do with who I was.
My feet carried me to the door. I swayed and stumbled a bit, but I made it there. I swung the door open and pointed a finger at Karlton. “Don’t ever fucking call me that again.”
Karlton put a hand on my chest, pushed me back, and stepped around me. “I’ll just stick with Silver Fox. It fits you better.” He leaned in, and I shoved him back. “Eau du whiskey isn’t the best scent on you.” He wrinkled his nose and waved his hand in his face.
“What do you want?”
He walked further into my house and whistled low. “You sure do have a nice place here, Silver Fox. I mean, I don’t know how Kennedy didn’t realize that you have money. That girl should have brought me with her, and I would have told her right away. I mean, it’s not like you live in Underbridge anymore, but Knights Glen sure isn’t a cheap neighborhood.” Karlton walked around, running his hands over my couch and inspecting everything with a close eye. “How big is that TV? I mean holy hell, talk about overcompensating,” he mumbled.
“It’s only sixty-five,” I grumbled. It was a big room, it needed a big TV. I didn’t need to justify anything to Karlton.
He hummed under his breath and turned around to look directly at my crotch. “Interesting. From the way Kennedy talked, you definitely didn’t need to compensate for anything.”
“Did you just come over to talk about my schlong, or was there an actual point in being here?”
Karlton snickered. “Well, I had a point, but I got distracted by your big TV.”
“You’re messing with my buzz right now. Get your point out and get out.” I hitched my thumb over my shoulder to the door and tried not to sway.
Karlton eyed me up and down. “I thought you were different. Kennedy did too.”
“Everything Kennedy thought about me was fucking real. Just because I didn’t show her my bank statements doesn’t mean a damn thing.”
Karlton held up his hands. “I agree, Silver Fox. I’m all aboard the Kennedy and Dante train. Although, I appear to be the only one still on that train.”
“I was driving that damn train until Peter opened his mouth and fucked everything up.”
“So, we’re blaming Peter for this? While I stand by the fact that you shouldn’t have to disclose how much money you have, you also knew that being filthy rich could be a bit of contention between the two of you.”
I hung my head. “Dude, you’re not saying anything I don’t already know.” I had gone over all of this in my head fifty times over the past five days. I should have done it differently, but I couldn’t go back and change it.
“She loved you. She still does. She won’t admit it, but Kennedy Kramer loves deep, Dante. You got in there with her, and I know you’re still in there. She’s hurt that you didn’t tell her. Should it matter that you have money? No. But the fact that you knew that she has problems with her mother wanting her to marry rich and be kept, you should have told her right away. Hell, you could have told her right away and spun the whole decoy thing into you needed to be her decoy because you know how the rich and fabulous roll.”
I had thought of that too. “I know. I fucked up, but Kennedy didn’t give me a chance to explain.”
“So, go explain. Make her listen.”
I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. “I was giving her time.”
“Time? Time for what? She’s already building walls up around her heart, Dante Craig. You wait too long, and she’ll never let you in.”
“I had plans to go see her tomorrow after I got done with training.” I had the Amex in two days, and I wasn’t training as much as I should be. My mind was on Kennedy and nothing else.
Karlton nodded. “That’ll do. Just don’t wait any longer than that,” he advised. “It’s hard to get Kennedy’s love, but it’s even harder to get her to change her mind.”
And that was exactly what I needed to do.
**********
Chapter 27
Kennedy
“
Have a good day!”
I waved to my last students of the day and moved to lock the door.
Thursday classes were over, and I was ready to pass out as soon as I got home. I was seriously considering bringing in another instructor. Students were asking for more lessons, and I was worn out just doing the ones I had now.
Add in crying myself to sleep the past six days, and I was basically a walking zombie. Dante Craig had lied to me and broken my heart, but yet, I still couldn’t get the man off my mind.
I hitched my gym bag over my shoulder and flipped off the computer.
“Kennedy.”
My head popped up, and the man who was the bane of my existence was standing at the door.
Well fuck.
“Open the door. I need to talk to you, and all you need to do it listen. Just give me five minutes,” he hollered through the glass.
I bit my lip and wondered if I could make it out the back door and to my car without him catching up to me.
“Don’t even think about it, Kennedy. Karlton is standing by your car. He’s not going to let you leave.”
Why, that asshole. He was using my own friends against me. “That’s not fair,” I called.
“I’m not interested in fair. All I want is for you to just listen to what I have to say.”
“You had four weeks to talk, and you didn’t.”
He put his hand on the door and ran his fingers through his hair. “You gonna make me say this through the door? Because if that’s what you want, that’s what I’ll do because I’m not leaving without you hearing what I have to say.”
Gah. Damn man. I stalked to the door and twisted open the lock. He shoved open the door before I could change my mind. He put a hand on my stomach and pushed me back.
I jumped away from his touch and put my hand on my stomach. “No touching.” Touching fogged my mind and made me forget everything.
Dante put up his hands. “Sorry, honey.”
I wanted to yell at him for calling me honey, but I couldn’t help but like hearing it. I could handle honey; I couldn’t do touching. “Say whatever you think you have to and go, Dante.”
“I was wrong,” he started.
“Yes,” I agreed.
He smirked and shook his head. Damn the man for being so handsome. My resolve wavered as he shoved his fingers through his hair, and I remembered how soft it was when I used to run my fingers through it while lying in bed together.
“I didn’t lie, though. I never told you I was some schmuck living on the street. You saw that I had money. You knew I drove a nice truck, and my house was in a nice neighborhood.”
“But I thought that was from karate, and well, loans.” Wasn’t that how most Americans lived? Borrowed money and a prayer?
“Does it matter where the money comes from? It’s money either way.” He sighed and shook his head. “My parents were the hardest working people I had ever met in my life. To this day, I strive to be the type of people they were. They worked from sun-up ‘til sundown to achieve the lifestyle they had. For you to act like just because someone has money that makes them a bad person not only offends me, but it hurts the image that my parents had.”
I ducked my head. “I didn’t think about it that way.”
“I know you didn’t, Kennedy. And I’m not upset at you for that. When we were at your parents, I understood why you would lump everyone into the category. We were surrounded by people who were eyeing each other up trying to figure out who had the most money in the room.”
I couldn’t hold back the giggle that climbed up my throat. “And none of them ever knew that it was you.”
“And that is how I want it to be. My money does not define me. It didn’t define my parents, and I damn sure won’t let it turn me into something that I’m not.”
I clasped my hands in front of me and bit my lip. Now I felt like a bitch.
“But that doesn’t change the fact that I should have told you. I don’t go around broadcasting who my parents were, but I should have told the woman who was sharing my bed.”
“Yes, you should have,” I agreed. “I felt like a fool when that Peter guy was talking to you, and he knew something about you that I didn’t.”
“And I’m sorry for that, Kennedy. If I could go back and tell you the instant you opened that door on our first date, I would have. I would have brought bank statements and anything you wanted. But I didn’t, because as soon as I opened that door, I stopped wanting to be your decoy, and I just wanted to be near you.”
My eyes watered and looked anywhere but at Dante. “I don’t know what to say,” I cried.
Dante took a step forward and grabbed my hand.
I gasped at the feel of his skin against mine. “Please don’t,” I pleaded.
“I can’t go that long being with you and not touching you, Kennedy.”
A tear streaked down my cheek, and I dashed it away with my other hand. “I can’t do this.” My heart hurt, and I had no idea what to do. My brain kept screaming liar at me, but my heart didn’t want Dante to ever let me go.
“Just think about what I said. I know I fucked up.”
He had, my brain screamed.
Dante pulled me into his arms and pressed a kiss to my lips. “Just one kiss, honey,” he whispered.
I gave him that because I needed it too.
He pulled out of my arms and slipped out the door. My heart broke as I watched him walk away and disappear around the building to Powerhouse.
“Lord have mercy, I don’t know how you let that man walk out that door. I would have been all over him like white on rice as soon as he said the words ‘I was wrong.’”
Damn Karlton. “I really need to get my keys back from you,” I mumbled.
“Ain’t no reason to go to all of that trouble, sugar. I made copies,” he gloated.
Of course, he did.
“So, you still gonna be a sitting in your apartment convincing yourself that man is no good, or have you finally come to your senses?”
“Did you really hear everything he said?” The man had no sense of privacy.
“I think I might have missed a few seconds since I was standing watch at the back door, but I got the majority of it. He loves you, and he’s going to fight for you.”
I scoffed and turned around. “He walked away, Karlton. I don’t really think that is fighting for me.”
“He may not be here right now, but he’s in your head. Everything he said was the truth. He’s got money, honey, hell, more money than anyone would know what to do with, but he’d give it all up just to have you.”
I closed my eyes. Would he? Would I want him to?
What kind of person would I be asking him to give up what his parents left to him?
My parents had money, but that didn’t make me a bad person.
“I’m such an idiot,” I whined.
Karlton clapped his hands. “Hallelujah, I think she’s got it.” Karlton bustled over to me and put his arm around my shoulders. “Now, let’s wander on over to the Karate Hottie Studio, and tell Silver Fox you love him.” He pushed me toward the door, but my feet didn’t budge.
“No,” I refused.
“What? Child, are you bipolar or something? I could have sworn you just had an epiphany and we were on the way to profess our love.”
I laughed and shook my head. “I did, but I’m not ready to go over there yet.” I needed to sort out one thing before I could go back to Dante.
Unfortunately, Vivian’s was where I needed to go.
Oh joy.
**********
Chapter 28
Dante
“You ready for tomorrow?”
I shrugged and jabbed the punching bag. “As ready as I can be.”
Roman laughed and tossed his bo in the air. “Who would have thought at the age of thirty-nine, you would be returning to the circuit.”
“I was thirty-seven when I quit, dumbass.”
“What time are we leaving?” Ryker asked. He
was lying next to the punching bag I was hitting with his nose buried in his phone.
“Shouldn’t you be practicing?” I asked.
He dropped his phone from his face and smiled. “I practice four hours a day, every day. I’m good.”
Well, I guess the kid had a point. You could never say that he wasn’t dedicated. “Then why don’t you go put our bags in the car instead of messaging your girlfriend,” I suggested.
“So I’m assuming that means we’re leaving soon,” he muttered.
“I just gotta shower, and then we’re out of here.” Roman dropped his bo next to Ryker and waltzed into the bathroom. “Make sure that goes in its case before you put it in the car,” he ordered as he shut the door.
I gave the bag a hard right hook and dropped my hands to my side watching the bag rock back. “You sure you got everything you need, kid?”
Ryker scoffed and jumped up. “I’m hardly a kid anymore, and yeah, I got everything.”
“Well, throw everything in the car, and then we can hit the road. Roman won’t be long.”
Ryker worked on grabbing all of the bags to take them out to the car. I was only competing in sparring, but I still had to pack all of my gear and clothes to wear.
“You think your bag could get any bigger?” Ryker grunted as he hitched it over his shoulder. The bag probably weighed close to half of what Ryker did.
“It’s good for ya,” I laughed as he stumbled toward the door. “Make you use those muscles a little bit more.”
“I swear, there are rocks in here,” he mumbled.
I unstrapped my gloves and tossed them in the bin in the corner. I watched Ryker out the window as he stumbled and struggled to hoist the bag into the back of the truck. Maybe I packed a little bit heavy. Roman had backed out on driving, and now I was driving and paying for the hotel. Bastard.
My breath caught as I watched Kennedy drive into the lot and park in front of Zen. I smashed my face against the window trying to get a glimpse of her.
She was wearing her usual attire of tight black yoga pants, tank top, and sneakers. Her head swiveled toward Powerhouse as she slid out of her car, but the sunglasses over her eyes prevented me from knowing if she could see me or not.
Black Belt in Love (Powerhouse MA Book 3) Page 18