by Lissa Kasey
The menu was actually pretty good. I picked out a salad, waiting for everyone to come out of their terrified stupor, only to realize when I looked up that they were all in some sort of dazed otherworld. Kade was probably lost in thought, if Micah was at all like his dad, he probably was too, and Sophia was silently crying.
I jumped out of my seat and swept around the table to pull her into my arms. “Shh, it’s okay.”
“They’ll report back. They’ll take Micah from me.” She gripped my shirt like I was the last thing keeping her from dissolving into a puddle on the floor.
“I’m not going anywhere, Mom,” Micah assured her.
But they’d taken Kade from me. He was Marine trained and full-grown, and they’d taken him like he was no more than a broken doll to be hidden away from the light. Micah would be no trouble for them.
I rubbed Sophia’s back and came up with a plan. It would have been nice to have Kade’s input, but his face was still shut down, lost. There were probably a thousand thoughts racing through his head—his hamsters running at warp speed—and since he was still recovering from the equivalent of being a POW in enemy territory, the idea of coming back here must have terrified him. Yet he’d still come. For me.
I loved him so damn much. Did he get that? Even when I was stupid, he was my everything. And I had a plan forming in my head to save them all.
“How would you guys like to see San Francisco?” I asked Sophia.
“Micah has school, and I have to work. And we have no money for that.”
“And if I ask you to pack up your life here and move to be near Kade and I?”
She blinked at me, eyes wide.
Micah’s frown mirrored one I was used to seeing on Kade’s face. “I already have enough credits to graduate early,” he said after a minute. “But I don’t want to owe you guys anything.”
And wasn’t that just the way of a kid who’d spent his life taking care of his mom when the rest of the world tried to beat him down. It was how Nathan and I had lived after our parents died. I reached for Micah’s hand and squeezed it. “I could use some help at work. Just some clerical stuff.” I smiled at Sophia. “You have a great personality. Want to write letters and call people for me?” It was the growth Kade had talked about at Haven. Shifting to managing the business, instead of actually working it. Tomas could learn the PI part of the business, and Sophia could take over the administration part that kept falling back on me. Maybe if Micah decided he was going to school near us, we could find something for him too.
Kade seemed to finally snap out of whatever shocked stupor the arrival of the cops had jarred him into. “I have a couple of properties up in San Fran that you could live in.” He looked over to Micah. “Depends on your schooling. There are two near State. And I have a couple up in Sacramento if you guys don’t want to be that close to us.” He seemed to be catching onto my train of thought. Get them out of the line of fire.
Sophia seemed to be gaping like a fish, trying to voice thoughts that were obviously churning in her head.
“I had thought about enlisting,” Micah finally said quietly. He glanced up at Kade. “It worked for you.”
Kade’s grip on my hand tightened. “It’s a hard life.” He sighed. “I’d like to say I’m not opposed, but I have to be honest, I want you safe. I saw so much death… pain. I learned a lot, but at a cost I’d rather you not pay.”
I rubbed the back of his hand with my thumb, soothing him.
Sophia was staring at her son. “I didn’t know….”
“Because I didn’t want you to, Momma. My grades are good, but there are thousands of people applying to the same schools and scholarships I am. I don’t want you to be more burdened by trying to help me pay for college.”
“But we have some time, right?” I said, trying to keep the tension from rising into a fight. We had too much conflict hitting us from the outside to break down between us. “We can get you guys moved up to San Fran and look at options.” I glanced between Kade and Micah. Micah wanted to get out. Kade wanted them out of Carlsbad. Sophia was afraid of the change, but I didn’t think she really cared that much about staying either. “Let’s eat first. Mull over all this with our bellies full, then make a plan.”
Kade blinked wide eyes at me. “Now I know the world is ending.”
I flashed him a smile and pointed to a fruit and nut salad that looked delicious in the picture on the menu. “I’m hungry.”
“Again, world ending.”
I retook my seat, then leaned over and kissed him before waving down a waitress. “Food is fuel,” I reminded myself and him. Everyone looked at their menus, while I continued to plan.
Chapter Twenty
THE MEAL was amazing. Kade had gotten a salad very similar to mine, though his had shrimp on it with citrus fruit and a lemon juice glaze. Micah ate a burger, and Sophia got the same salad I did. We talked about unimportant things while we ate. Classes Micah had taken and enjoyed, my modeling career, and Kade’s love for home improvement. Micah seemed very interested in the idea of construction work, and Kade was expertly steering his son toward a couple of trade schools he knew were well respected and reasonably priced up in San Francisco.
By the time we’d gotten everyone back to Sophia’s house, there were a lot of laughs and the tension had vanished. I caught Kade’s frown when he entered the home and saw how dated and in disrepair it was. Not all that unlike my home had been before he moved in, I realized. Only their appliances still seemed to work, even if the water heater popped and moaned, and the window air conditioner sounded like it was wheezing rather than blowing air. And then there was the ancient fridge, which made me jump when it kicked on noisily, though I’d half been expecting it.
It was then that he shifted into high gear on getting them out of Carlsbad. I knew his thoughts without him speaking them; it was how he worked. At one time he’d had a half-dozen houses in Carlsbad that he rented out or bought and flipped. But he’d sold them all years ago to remove that final tie to his hometown and its hate for him. Now he was thinking about how rough Sophia and Micah had it, and if he’d known he’d have given them one of his many properties.
I squeezed his hand in reassurance, then began implementing my plan. Step one, get Sophia and Micah out of town. “How about you guys pack? It’s only a few hours’ drive. You can stay at my house until you and Kade decide on the best property for you.”
It would be an interesting mix to have Kade’s best friend, his son, and my ex-boyfriend in one house. But it would only be temporary. So far Jacob had taken his extracurricular activities to an exclusive club Ty had recommended. I had no idea Ty was into kink, he claimed he wasn’t, just that he represented several of the members should something shady come up.
Jacob not sexing up people in my house was a good thing for everyone. I was pretty sure if I walked in on him with someone, I’d freak, mostly due to the stranger factor, since Jacob didn’t and couldn’t actually love someone that way. It was my issue, but the house was also mine. Once he moved out and got his own place again, he could do whatever he wanted to whomever he wanted over any surface in the house. Just not at my house.
Of course Kade jumped right on the “let’s move Sophia and Micah” bandwagon. “I can have movers here in the morning to pack up your stuff and ship it. Just grab what you need.”
Sophia tried to protest, but Micah disappeared into his tiny bedroom to throw things in a duffel bag. They had so little. No computer, just an old tube television, the furniture was obviously thrift-store rescues since they were patched with duct tape or covered in giant throws to cover up stains.
“Do you own or rent?” Kade asked her.
“Rent. I don’t make enough to qualify for a mortgage.” There was a lot she left unsaid, and I think both Kade and I knew it. Likely the house took up a large part of her income. By the state of the furniture and the two beat-up cars parked on the street outside, it wasn’t hard to tell how much of a struggle it had been for her
.
“Do you have a copy of the lease?” Kade prompted her. “I’ll work a buyout with the owner.”
She still stood frozen in her living room, indecision wrapping her in concrete it seemed.
“Sophie,” Kade said after a minute. She still didn’t move. He hobbled close enough to pull her into his arms. “Sophie.”
“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered. “This feels like a dream….”
I let Kade comfort her and went to find Micah. Sophia had been right: his room was the size of a closet. He had no room for anything other than the small bed, no dresser, or desk, or anything a typical teenager would need. And it appeared what little he owned fit in a single duffel bag.
“This is real?” he asked me as he zipped the bag closed, sounding a lot like Kade had after we’d rescued him. It made my heart hurt.
“Yes,” I said. His space was tiny. “Your life would have been so much different if Kade had known.”
“Maybe. Or maybe not. If he’d stayed, he might not be the man he is now. He may never have enlisted. Might not have you….” He studied me for a minute. “It’s a little weird.”
“Your dad and me?”
“Nah, my mom’s brought me pictures of you guys together when she can find them. No, the weird part is having him here. He was always sort of this storybook character to me. My mom would tell me stories, and I guess I sort of just thought of them as stories about a fictional person.”
I smiled. “Kade is amazing. He’s a good man.”
He nodded with more than a little wariness. It would take time for that trust to build. He was far more grown up than he should have been at seventeen. It was the way of things in small families with heavy burdens.
“I hate this place,” he whispered. “All the eyes watching me and Mom. I just want her to be happy and not work so hard. I thought if I enlisted I could get out of here but send her money so she could too.”
“But now you’re both getting out. Together.”
He looked me over. “You’re so beautiful.”
Awkward. “Thank you,” I said automatically.
“My mom is beautiful.”
“She is,” I agreed.
“But he likes guys.”
“Yes.” At least this train of thought I could follow.
“You’re sort of….”
“Girly looking?” I supplied.
His face heated, cheeks turning pink. “More pretty than handsome.”
“Is that weird to you?”
“Maybe. I’ve heard from so many people my whole life ‘be a man, Micah.’”
I snorted. “You and me both. I’m still a man. Even when I wear dresses and heels. I’m comfortable in my skin most days. People’s opinion be damned. I’m not insulted to be called girly. I am girly sometimes. Nothing wrong with that. Some of the strongest people I know are women.”
He nodded. “I like girls, though.” He cleared his throat. “Like regular girls.” His cheeks went even redder. “You know, boobs and stuff.”
I laughed and returned to the living room. “The world will rejoice, I’m sure. Since your dad’s fine ass belongs to me.”
Kade eyed me when I returned to the living room. Sophia was gone. “She’s packing,” he told me.
“Good. Micah is almost done packing.” Not that there was much to pack. I wasn’t a hoarder by any means. My own home was minimal in decoration and furnishings. If Britney, who was an interior designer, hadn’t decorated for me, my home would still be empty. But Sophia and Micah’s home had a stamp of “too poor to buy anything” on it. That would have to change.
“Both of their cars suck,” Kade said. “Not sure either of them can make the drive all the way back to San Francisco without blowing up. I can fix houses, a flat tire, or even change the oil, but I can’t take apart an engine leaking fluids from four different places.”
I knew his head had to be reeling. He just dealt so much better with change than I did. Logical first, one issue at a time, that’s how Kade dealt with things. Fix the things you can change and move on. I needed to learn to be more that way.
“There was a VW dealer outside of town.” I’d passed it on my way to meet with the ex-cop earlier in the day. “Could have been others, but that was the only one I noticed.”
He stared at me now like he could see inside my head. “You’re coming home with us.”
I couldn’t help my grin at his comment. My plan was working. He would be traveling home with Sophia and Micah. He had to. He’d get them a new car and settled either at my house or one of his many properties. “Of course,” I told him. “In a few days.”
He growled, actually growled at me. “Oliver….”
“I just have to talk to, like, two more people.”
“Why?” he demanded.
I blinked at him, confused as to why he didn’t understand what I was doing. “To clear your name.”
“I don’t care about having my name cleared, Ollie. This place, the people in this town, my birth family, mean nothing to me. Not a goddamned thing. You are everything.” He reached for me and almost knocked himself over by stretching too far. I grabbed him and held on tight so he wouldn’t fall.
“And now there’s Sophia and Micah. Britney is going to love Sophia. But she better not love her more than me.”
Kade sucked in a breath in a half laugh. “Baby….”
“I’m good,” I said.
He growled. “You’re following us to the dealership.”
I’d really wanted to go find the guy who claimed Kade had beaten him up for no reason, corner him, and demand answers.
“What if one of their cars break down on the way?” Kade prompted. “Are you going to leave us stranded on the side of the road?”
“There are two cars,” I pointed out.
“And if they both break down? You’re going to leave a woman, a teenager, and a wounded veteran on the side of the road?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m onto you.”
He grinned. “Don’t know what you mean, baby.”
“As soon as you’re there safely, I’m leaving.” I had people to question. Answers to find.
“Sure,” he agreed vaguely. He leaned forward to kiss me. “I love you.”
“Bastard,” I grumbled. “Pulling out the big guns.”
Kade winked at me. “Nah, we’ll do that later. Then you can be ‘onto me’ all you want.”
I gaped at him as Sophia stepped up and handed Kade the house keys and a copy of her lease.
“Ready?” he asked her.
She glanced back at the house and then to Micah, who looked more than ready to go. It was a door for him to opportunity, freedom, hope. I’d stood before that door a time or two in my life.
“As ready as I’m going to be,” she told Kade. “You sure this is a good idea?” She eyed Micah.
“I’m so ready to get out of here, Mom,” he told her.
“Where we headed?” I asked. “VW?”
Kade held up his phone. “Hyundai dealer right next to VW. They’re open late.”
I sighed. “I don’t know what you have against my Bug.” I patted the roof of my car. It was such nice a metallic blue, moved like a dream, and never gave me trouble. Well, this one wasn’t old enough to give me trouble. I hadn’t bought a convertible this time because Kade had unreasonable fears of car accidents and decapitation. When we’d gone to the dealer in early January, he’d refused to even get in the car if I test-drove a convertible. The hardtop Bug made him only slightly less nervous.
“The tires have special locks on them,” Kade said.
“Makes it harder for someone to steal them.”
“’Cause that’s a rampant problem wherever you park. What it does is make it hard to change a flat.”
I shrugged. “I have Triple A.”
“It’s expensive to fix.”
“It’s new. I haven’t had to fix anything on it.”
“Yet.” Kade waved at Sophia to get in her
car. Apparently he was riding with Micah. Weird, but okay. “They need reliable, not necessarily pretty and flashy.”
I looked at my car. It was more than just pretty and not all that flashy. I had the normal backup camera and Bluetooth options but hadn’t bought all the upgrades. His SUV was much flashier than my Beetle. But Kade was already folding himself into Micah’s battered Toyota as Micah was trying to fit the crutches in the back seat. I would follow them. Of course I’d follow them. What if the police set up a roadblock to take Kade again? I couldn’t let that happen. And I had to get him out of town and back home as soon as possible.
Chapter Twenty-One
I SHOULD have known Kade was up to something when we all pulled into the lot of the dealer and he had Micah pull his car in behind mine, so I was boxed in. I glared at them both but turned off the Bug and got out.
“How does he even fit in that?” Micah asked as he got out of his car. Sophia’s was right next to mine, so technically his car boxed us both in.
“The inside is roomier than you’d think, plus the seats go up and down. I think Ollie’s is all the way down.” Kade took his crutches and hobbled toward the door where a salesman already waited.
“Hey,” I called to Kade.
He glanced my way.
I pointed at the car behind me. “Move that.”
Kade held out his hand, and Micah handed him the keys. “Like glue,” Kade told Micah.
Micah nodded and looked at me.
Kade made his way to the door, with Sophia right behind him. He handed the keys for the Toyota to the salesman, spoke for a minute, and the man crossed the yard to move the car. Micah made no move to follow his mom and well—his dad—into the dealership. Instead he followed close to me, gripping his packed bag and watching me.
“No,” I told him.
“What?” he asked, almost mastering the mock innocence Kade always tried for.
“You go in there with them.” I pointed at the door. “You’ll need a car up in San Francisco.”