I took a deep breath.
My eyes staying glued to his, they grounded me, kept me in the here and now. If I looked away I was afraid I’d get lost in the memories.
“He’s always standing over me with the knife.” Ty bought his hand to mine and held it.
“I can never move, every time I try and scream nothing comes out. It feels so real,” I shivered “I can hear his voice so clear, even when I’m awake. It’s like he’s standing behind me whispering into my ear.”
“What does he say?” Ty asked in a throaty voice.
“You’ll never escape me baby,” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath “I’ll always be there, watching, waiting.”
The first tear slid down my face, another one following close behind in a silent stream. I felt Ty’s thumb wipe it away.
“I’ll never let him hurt you again Kaylee. I promise.”
“But-” I opened my eyes and took in the fierce look reflected back at me.
“No,” he gritted out “From the moment you walked into my office you were mine.”
“Ty-”
“I don’t mean that in a sinister sort of way, I mean that there was that instant connection. I know you felt it too.”
I couldn’t say anything, it was all so fast. How could I move on with Ty if Max was still in my brain? Haunting me at every opportunity. Making sure that I never forgot what he could do to me.
“He just won’t go away,” I sobbed.
“Come’re” Ty opened his arms, I didn’t hesitate, I burrowed into him and lay my head on his chest.
“It’ll be alright, I’ll make sure it is.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
I woke up in the same position that I went to sleep. My head on Ty’s chest with his arms wrapped around me. I felt safe and wanted. Two feelings that only a couple of months ago, I hadn’t felt before, Max had never held me like this and I found that I liked it, I liked it a lot.
I had this amazing man ready and willing to stand up for me and it felt great, to know that I could tell him things that I’d never told anyone else. I didn’t want this feeling to end and when I moved out of his arms I didn’t expect to miss them so much.
I had butterflies in my stomach knowing that tonight was our ‘date’. Whether it was real or not didn’t seem to matter as much now, I was just happy that we got to spend time together without it involving work or Max.
Okay, so it was kind of related to work, but it wasn’t like we were in the car following someone or sat in the office.
I couldn’t face Ty, knowing what I had told him last night and the way he had held me all night. I wimped out and took Eli to school with Luke and went back to the warehouse, where I stayed in the office all day avoiding him. If he knew what I was doing he didn’t say anything.
By the time Kitty came in the office I was a nervous wreck and I’d almost certainly decided that I wasn’t going out tonight.
“Hey chicka.”
“I can’t do this Kitty,” I whispered.
“Can’t do what?” she sat on the edge of the desk.
“Tonight.” I said through clenched teeth as I watched the door, just in case he came through it.
She huffed and slid off the desk “Come on,” she grabbed my hand and pulled me up.
“What? Where are we going?
She didn’t answer me just dragged me out of the warehouse and towards her house.
The next four hours were full of primping and priming, Kitty did my makeup and curled my hair into soft waves. I just had to sit there while she told me how great this was going to be while my mind wandered in all kinds of directions.
Finally, after literally hours she handed me a nude colored dress, dark purple pumps and told me to get changed. I opened my mouth to tell her that I couldn’t wear something like this but she shook her head and shoved me into the bathroom.
I hardly recognized the person staring back at me in the mirror, she had perfect shiny hair and flawless skin. How Kitty had managed to make me look like this I had no idea.
The dress clung to my waist, a sweetheart neckline covered with lace up to my neck made me feel not so naked. I moved from side to side in the mirror and was about to open the door and tell Kitty that there was no way that I was wearing this dress when the door knocked.
I froze.
“Ty’s here!” Kitty shouted through the bathroom door.
Butterflies swarmed my stomach, my hands started to shake and I was sure that I’d throw up any second now.
I could hear them talking, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. Should I try to listen to what they were saying or just go out there?
I slipped my feet into the pumps and reached out for the door handle, my hand shaking I took a deep breath and pulled the door open.
My breath stilled, Ty was in a pair of slacks and a shirt and tie. He looked so different without his beanie hat, his hair slicked back and his stubble trimmed.
“Hey,” I cleared my throat, frozen to the spot.
“Wow,” he said with wide eyes.
“Err…” I looked to Kitty silently asking her what to do waving me forward I took a wobbly step not used to the height of the shoes.
Ty’s eyes roamed my whole body, I could almost feel his touch. I watched as he blew out an audible breath, his eyes clashing with mine, I knew then without a doubt that I had affected him.
“Boss.” Kitty whispered out the side of her mouth.
“You look…beautiful,” he said, his voice deep.
“Thank you.” Kitty pointed to Ty, I frowned and tried to work out was she was mouthing.
“You ready?” Ty asked.
“Yeah” I took another wobbly step, got my balance and met him at the door.
I hated wearing anything but my chucks or boots, why I had to wear these things I didn’t know.
I followed Ty outside and to the car parked out front, I’d seen this car parked by the warehouse but nobody ever used it.
“Nice car,” I smiled. I hadn’t got a clue what kind of car it was but I knew that it was the sporty kind.
“Thanks, I figured we’d use this one tonight.” He grinned and opened the door. For a second I was confused, he was driving right? Then I realized that he had opened the door for me.
The inside smelt of a mixture of leather and Ty, I couldn’t get enough of that smell. Ty started the car, the gravel kicking up as he spun round and pressed the button to open the gates.
“Was Eli alright?” I asked when we were on the main road.
“Yeah, he’s getting pizza with Luke and Evan.”
“Okay,” when he turned the radio on I relaxed a little.
My eyes kept moving to him of their own accord, the way his shirt was rolled up to his elbows, his tattoos dancing each time he moved his hands on the wheel. I remembered the way they felt on my body when he held me last night. How his thumb stroked my stomach.
Closing my eyes I shivered at the memory.
“You cold?”
“No, I was just…” I croaked.
“Just what?” he lifted his brow, his eyes dipping down to my chest.
They flicked back to my eyes then back to the road.
The air shifted, if we didn’t get out of this car soon I wasn’t sure I would be able to stop my hands from reaching over to touch him.
My stomach rolled when we pulled up at the country club. What if they knew that I didn’t belong here? Could they tell just by looking at you?
I’d never been anywhere like this.
“Kay?” I turned in my seat “Come on sweetheart” he extended his hand to me through the open door.
I lifted my shaky hand and let him pull me out of the car.
“You good?” he asked. I couldn’t formulate an answer so I nodded instead as I tried to function in these stupid pumps.
We climbed up the steps and through large wooden doors. I’d never seen anything like it, marble floors so shiny I could see my reflection in them when I looked down. Open fire places wi
th leather chairs and couches place around them filled the room, along with men in suits and women half their age dressed in gowns.
Ty led us to the shiny white desk off to the right, behind it stood a man dressed in a suit only this one had the country club logo on the front.
“Mr. Mackenzie.” He nodded and tapped away at his keyboard.
“Troy,” he nodded back.
“Table for two?”
“Yeah.”
“You know where it is?” Troy stepped back as if to lead us wherever it was we were going.
“I got it” Ty waved him away and led me to the stairs.
“They know you here?” I whispered.
“Yeah.” Ty whispered back and led me to the stairs.
“But I thought…”
“You thought what?” he turned and grinned.
My breath stuttered, one grin and my head was spinning. How could he affect me so much? I held on tighter to his hand afraid that if I let go I would fall.
The restaurant was just as grand as the rest of the place, chandeliers hung from the ceiling. The light dancing and glinting off each of the crystals. A wall of windows looked out onto the golf course it looked beautiful with lights dotted along the green and the main road.
“Your table is ready Mr. Mackenzie” the man said from behind his podium.
We followed him to a table at the back of the room.
“Do you see that?” I said when we were sat down and leaned closer to Ty.
“What?”
“All those lights?” he turned and looked out of the window.
“Yeah?”
“Those weren’t on the video footage,” I whispered “They were turned off.”
His eyes moved back and forth. From up here you could see nearly the whole course and the main road that led into the country club.
“What can I get you to drink sir?”
“I’ll have a whiskey,” my heart stuttered, the thought of Ty drinking that made me feel sick.
“Madam?”
“Water please,” I croaked.
“Be right with you” he said and walked away.
I looked down, opening and re folding my napkin several times.
“Kay?”
“Hmmm?”
“You good?”
“Yeah,” I shifted my eyes to his “It’s just…whiskey.”
“What about it?” he reached out and took my hand, his thumb doing that stroking thing again.
“That’s what Max always smelt like when…”
“Ah fuck,” he spat. Several people looked our way, brows raised and sneers on their faces. Ty didn’t pay them any attention.
“It doesn’t matter,” I shook my head watching as the waiter brought us our drinks. I didn’t want to stop him drinking.
“I’ll have water instead.” Ty waved his whiskey off and turned back to me.
“But sir I’ll still have to charge-”
“That’s fine.” I took a sip of my water, relieved that my throat wasn’t as dry. I tried to tell him that it was fine but he wasn’t having any of it and waved the waiter away again.
“Is there a menu?” I asked to change the subject.
Ty chuckled, the sound so deep and hearty. “Sweetheart,” he leaned back, “It’s a set menu.”
“Oh.”
Four courses. Lots of food later and I could barely move I was that stuffed.
“I can’t eat anymore” I moaned when they put desserts in front of us.
Ty’s chuckle sent a warmth through me, I smiled wide and rested my chin on my hand.
“I love your laugh.”
“You do?” he leaned forward.
“Yeah”
“I love your smile,” he said in a throaty voice.
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him that I just loved him. Everything about him. Then someone walked into the restaurant, gaining the attention of several people. I’d recognize that face anywhere.
After all I looked at it every day on the board.
“Daley just walked in.” I whispered.
*~*~*
“So what happened?” Evan asked the next day.
After Daley had walked in we had watched him, taken note of who he spoke to, and who he didn’t.
Eventually Ty joined him at the bar and an hour later we were all sitting around a table talking. If I didn’t know what this man was doing I would have probably liked him.
Apart from the obvious fact that he has lots of money and didn’t mind showing it off, he was quite funny.
We’d left without any solid leads but we’d made head way with Daley.
“He’s throwing a charity function next Saturday,” Ty grinned.
“Wait…who is?” Kitty leaned forward.
“Daley” Ty entwined his hands on the table “He walked in and we got to know him a little better” he smiled at me knowingly.
I smiled back, caught up in how much fun we had last night.
“Yeah?” Luke raised his brow.
“What’s the charity?” Evan asked and opened his laptop.
“Fund The Children.” Ty snorted.
Eli looked up at me “Can I have a drink mama?” he’d been playing with his cars quietly since we came in here.
“Sure sweetie,” I pushed back my chair and went into the kitchen.
I couldn’t stop thinking about last night. After we got back to the compound I felt shy and awkward, this was the point where on a normal date we’d go our separate ways. But we were going into the same house instead.
I expected him to leave me at the bedroom, but he didn’t. He lay on top of the bed fully clothed and we talked. We talked for hours, getting to know each other more.
He told me about his family, how they were quite well off which is why they knew who he was in the country club. He spoke about his brothers and how they were all in jobs that helped people, the forces, fire service and police force. The only exception being his youngest brother who was currently at college.
When I went back to the table they were discussing where to go from here.
“I think I can get close to him,” Ty said.
“You’ve got the perfect in,” Evan typed away on his laptop.
“This is what I’m thinking. Kay and I go to the charity function and see if we can find anything else out. If this is his front then we’re guaranteed to run into someone there.”
Eli climbed up onto my lap and laid his head on my shoulder. I didn’t want to ask what they had been doing all night because from the looks of it they had all been up.
“It’s gonna need all of us,” Ty turned to me “Maybe you could ask Miss Maggie to watch Eli?”
“Sure.”
“We’ll pick her up during the day.” I nodded and wrapped my arms tighter around Eli.
“You’re going to need a penguin suit for the function” Kitty giggled.
“Shut it,” Ty pushed back on his chair.
“Where you going?” Eli sprung his head up.
“Going to play ball at my parents,” Ty came round to Eli “You want to come?”
“Can I mama?”
“If Ty says you can,” I raised my brow at Ty.
“You want to come to?” he asked me, my breath stuttered. I wasn’t ready to meet his parents.
“No!” Kitty shouted “She’s got to fill me in.”
Ugh. I didn’t know what was worse, going with Ty or staying with Kitty.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The night before the charity function Ty invited everyone over for a pizza and movie night. We’d spent the whole week preparing for tomorrow night. Ty had gone over what we needed to say several times. I’d been given the task to try and get more information from Daley, while Ty was networking. We’d gone over all of the possible outcomes and came up with a solution for all of them.
Evan had made some special listening devices that could record any information that we gathered and so we could listen to it back afterwards. Mine was embedded into a
necklace while Ty’s was in his bow tie.
Miss Maggie was so pleased to be able to watch Eli, and practically shouted yes at me before I had got the whole question out of my mouth.
Everything was in place and we were determined that nothing could or would go wrong.
“Come and sit down Kay!” Evan shouted through to the kitchen.
“Coming!” I put the left over pizza in the fridge and walked into the living room.
Eli had chosen the movie, so yep, you guessed it. An action movie complete with Super hero and villain combo was the movie of choice. I sat down in between Ty and Luke and tried to get comfy between these two hulks.
My eyes were closing before the starting credits had finished rolling. Movies always did that to me, it was like a light switched as soon as one came on.
I woke up to a dark room, my head on Ty’s chest and my leg thrown over his.
“Eli’s in bed,” he croaked, my head bobbed as he talked.
Lifting my head I looked up at him noticing that he’d been asleep as well.
“Hey”, I whispered, aware of where my leg was.
“Hey,” he smiled.
My breath caught. His eyes moved from my lips back to my eyes. There was a couple of seconds where neither of us moved, then Ty was closing the gap between us. I didn’t hesitate meeting him halfway. A moan escaped as his lips softly caressed mine.
His tongue swiped along my lips, opening up to him a shiver ran all the way to my toes.
I felt his hands grip my leg, pulling me on top of him. I went willingly, feeling his hardness pressed against me, I moved my hips and was answered with a satisfying groan.
Gripping my butt with both hands he pulled me forward and thrust his hips up to mine.
“I want you so bad,” he murmured and peppered kisses down my neck.
I tilted my head to give him better access while grinding my hips against his. I could feel my chest rising and falling rapidly with every breath that I took.
“Sweetheart,” he pulled back “If you don’t stop, I won’t be able to.”
Did I want to stop?
No. No, I didn’t. I was sure of this. Sure of him.
“I don’t want to stop.” I whispered against his lips.
He pulled back, his eyes flitting between mine.
“Kay-”
Fractured Lies: Book 1 MAC Security Series Page 21