by DC Renee
She ran up to him and stopped just inches before him.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Stopping you from making a big mistake.”
“Huh? I don’t understand.”
“Mason, don’t do it. I don’t want you to turn yourself in.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“I know you think you need to do something to prove how sorry you are for taking me but you don’t. I love you, Mase. I want to be with you, and I can’t do that if you are behind bars. But I need to do something first. Please, just don’t turn yourself in. Please, if you care about me, give me a little more time. I’m almost there; I just need a little more time to get it right. Okay? Please promise you won’t turn yourself in.”
Mason had looked at her with a completely puzzled expression and then he asked, “How did you know where I’d be?” Before she could answer, he answered himself, “Benny.” She nodded and he muttered, “Of course, Benny.”
And then he looked into her eyes and asked, “You love me?”
“Yes, yes I do. Now promise.”
“I promise,” he answered without hesitation.
“Good!” She should have turned and walked away. But being this close to him and not being able to touch him was torture. Before she could even process what was happening, she pulled him toward her and kissed him with all the passion she had been holding back for the past month. If he didn’t believe she loved him when she said the words, he had to believe her now. It was hard to break away, but she had work to do. And the faster she could do it, the faster she could be in Mason’s arms for good.
She broke away and before he could pull her back, she turned and walked away.
He called out, “Kat, wait.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Time, please.”
He nodded, and that made it all okay. She walked away knowing she would be walking back soon. She was so close. It was all coming together, finally. Just a little more and she and Mason would be together.
Chapter 39
Kat took the rest of the day to collect herself and her thoughts. She needed to get over the rush of knowing Trent found her sister and hoped that after some talking with her, she’d convince her, and be able to free Mason. She had a good feeling. It would happen. It had to. But she still had butterflies in her stomach, and then her little situation with Mason had shaken her up as well. Knowing that he almost turned himself in made the situation almost dire. She needed to settle things quickly and once and for all. And of course, being near him was doing things to her mind and body that she couldn’t control. Damn, she was lost without him. She had to remind herself that this separation was only temporary and as soon as everything was out in the open, everything would be okay. It had to be.
Trent offered to go with her, but she wanted to do it alone. She made her way to the debilitated apartment building and found her way inside. She knocked softly at first on the door whose number matched that on the paper she held so fiercely. Nothing happened. She found courage somewhere inside herself and pounded on the door. She heard some noises and suddenly the door flew open. She stood facing an African America teenage boy. He looked slightly stunned when he saw her, but then composed himself quickly. His clothes were old and worn, and he looked tired, not in the no-sleep kind of way, but in the way that he was much older than his years. Something in Kat made her want to reach out and touch him, draw him to her, and comfort him, but she didn’t dare.
“Can I help you?” he asked, properly. She studied him a moment before answering. He wasn’t a druggie, at least he didn’t look like one. He didn’t belong here. She could help him. Oh, wait. She couldn’t. Not anymore. She no longer worked for social services.
“Ma’am?” he asked again. And she pulled herself from her thoughts.
“Oh, uh, yes, is there a Kat or Katherine here?”
“Figured you were looking for her, but I had to ask just in case.”
He stepped aside. “First door on the right. Don’t mind the mess. I try to clean up as best as I can, but it’s usually no use.” He was sad when he spoke, and Kat wondered how he had ended up here.
She thanked him and made her way to the first door. She knocked and waited and when the door flew open abruptly, she gasped. Staring at her was a mirror image of herself, but not quite. The woman staring at her was somehow older, tired, and more ragged. She looked lackluster, like her skin and hair and even her dull eyes had lost their shine.
“Well, well, well, I knew I’d see you one day sister dear,” Katherine broke the silence, her voice dripping with disdain.
“What? You know me? You knew about me?” Kat asked, shocked.
“Oh yes, mommy dearest spilled her guts about you when I was still a kid. It was one of her ‘clear’ moments, when she was between drugs or booze.”
“Then, what…how…why didn’t you find me? Why didn’t I know about you? Why didn’t you look for me so I knew I had family?” Kat stood in the doorway of the bedroom trying to find her voice and collect her thoughts. The realization that this was her sister and she knew about her and never cared was too overwhelming.
“Why the hell should I have? You were living your damn charmed life, while I got to slum it with our mother, if you could call it that.”
That got Kat’s attention and she pushed past her sister and stepped into the sparse room. “Charmed life? Charmed life?” she screeched. “I was abandoned as a baby in a fucking gas station bathroom and then bounced from one foster home to another. No one gave a damn about me. At least you had our mom.”
“Yeah, well, I never saw you looking for us.”
“And how the hell was I supposed to do that? I didn’t know the first thing about myself, not to mention the little fact that I already said – I wasn’t wanted!”
“Yeah, well, technically, neither was I,” replied Katherine, and the way she said it, with a hint of sadness, made Kat draw back her claws a bit.
“Mom? We have a mom?” Kat asked, the fact that her sister knew their mom finally sinking in.
“Yeah, maybe…I don’t know. Haven’t seen her in years. Maybe she’s around, maybe she’s dead. Fuck if I know.”
“But…” Kat struggled to find the words. “But she kept you, all those years ago, she kept you with her. That must have meant something.” She had so many questions all of a sudden that she didn’t have before. Sure, yes, she wanted to know about their mom, and even about her sister. Did she have any family? Anywhere, somewhere? Could this woman be a sister to her? Even after all these years? She forgot her purpose for being here. She needed to know about her own past.
Katherine snorted, a short bitter laugh. “Oh yeah, she kept me all right…for her own purposes.”
“I don’t understand,” Kat added softly, taking a seat on the small bed, not caring how dirty it looked. She needed to sit.
“Of course you wouldn’t. Look, our mom was always high on something. Alcohol, drugs, sex, partying, at least as far as I can remember. Somewhere along the lines, she got pregnant with us and thanks to her haze, she didn’t even realize she was pregnant until it was too late. And then out we come, twin girls. She didn’t want us, either of us, and she sure as hell didn’t know what to do with us. And before you ask, no, I don’t know who our father is and I don’t think she did either. In all honesty, it’s a wonder we were born healthy. And yes, I was a normal baby too. So mom kept us for a little bit while trying to figure out what the hell to do with two babies. And then, somehow, she had the crazy idea that having a baby and then a little kid would get sympathy and sympathy meant money and easily conning people. She could use us to get her everything she needed if she could play it right. Frankly, I’m surprised she was sober enough to figure out such an ingenious plan. Apparently she was even smarter than that. She realized that she really only needed one kid to do her dirty work and taking care of two would be too much of a hassle. So, she flipped a coin and I was in and you were out.”
/> Kat’s mouth hung open, taking it all in. So it was true, her mom didn’t want her. Hell, her mom didn’t even want her sister. Suddenly she felt sorry for the woman standing before her. She hadn’t asked to be a part of this life, she was thrown into it.
“Just like that?” Kat asked incredulously.
“Well, it was more like apparently you cried more than I did, so because I happened to be the better kid, I got screwed.”
“Oh God,” Kat cried out. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” And she meant it. She saw Katherine stiffen at her words. Yes, there was some compassion, some hope this woman wasn’t as horrible as she thought.
“But if you saw what was happening to your mom, how could you…you’re an addict.” It wasn’t a question, but more of a statement.
Katherine laughed tightly. “I haven’t done the hard shit in years. I just need a pick-me-up every now and then to function. And you know what they say, if you can admit you’re an addict, you ain’t one. So there. And fuck you and your judgmental high horse. You didn’t live the life I did. You didn’t have to see your mom comatose or fucking someone who she didn’t know right in front of you for some blow. You didn’t have pills shoved down your throat when you didn’t want them. You didn’t turn to them to cope from the crap going on around you. So, if I need a little something now and then, I take it.”
“You’re right. I don’t know. But I can help you now. I can help you get clean.”
“Ha, you think I haven’t tried over the years? I have. It amounts to nothing. Once a user, always a user. Hell, at least I fucking know it. And at least I know this is my life.”
“But, this place, look around you, how can you live like this.”
“This is how I’ve always lived. You think you can just clean up and move past this? You can’t. Once this is a part of you, you don’t get out. You live and breathe and you die this life. But I don’t want your fucking pity and I sure as hell don’t want your help. And I know you didn’t come here for a happily-ever-after, so what the hell do you want from me?”
That snapped Kat back to reality. She would have to figure out a way to help her sister, somehow, but not today.
“I’m here for Mason Tredwell.”
“Who?” Katherine asked.
“You falsely accused him of rape,” Kat stated.
“Who? Oh, wait, was he the hot-shot doctor who thought he was better than me? And what the fuck do you know about falsely accusing and shit?”
“I know he didn’t rape you.”
“Maybe, maybe not. He deserved it though.”
“No one deserves that.”
“He thought he was better than me. He thought I was a no-good piece of shit that he could sneer at and toss out. I needed something back then, something stronger than I do now and he didn’t give a shit. So there, fuck him.”
“So, it was revenge, huh?”
“Yeah, so what of it. He still locked up?” Katherine asked, her hard demeanor was back.
“No, he’s out.”
“And what the fuck do you care about him? And what do you want with me? And how the hell do you even know him?”
“I love him. And he loves me. But he thinks I’m you and that I ruined his life. So we have that hanging over us. Not to mention the fact that you did ruin his life, so I need you to clear his name. We’ll go to the police and clear his name.”
“Fuck no.”
“All right, we can go now…wait, what?”
“I said fuck no,” Katherine repeated.
“But why?”
“First off, I haven’t even thought about that fucker for a long time. He got what was coming to him.”
“How can you say that?” Kat asked, shocked.
“This is my life. I see you looking at me and this place like you can change the world. And yeah, maybe I got a bit of a soft spot for you seeing as how you’re the life I could have lived. But let’s make something clear, I’m not you. I’m not going to be. This is my life, not yours. This is how it works. I don’t get my needs handled, I get revenge.”
“But I love him and he’s a good man. He doesn’t deserve this. Do this for that soft spot you got for me.”
“Look, sister dearest, even if I wanted to help you, and this would be for you and not for him, fuck him, I couldn’t.”
“What? Why?”
“Because that means I lied. Because that means I’d be going to jail. He already served his time, doesn’t do us good if I served too. And in this world, if it’s me or him, it’s gonna be me. So get the fuck out of my place and go back to your picture perfect life. Forget about me and whatever sick shit you have cooking in your head.”
Katherine practically dragged Kat out and she was surprised by the strength of the fragile looking woman. She noticed a woman sitting with the boy she saw before and figured she was his mom, but she only had a moment to pay attention before Katherine threw her out.
“Stay the fuck out of my life and I’ll stay out of yours,” Katherine said.
“This isn’t over,” Kat said keeping the door open with sheer will. “I’m going to bug you every day for the rest of your life until you give in and make things right.”
“Not going to happen.”
“You’ll see,” Kat said when the door finally slammed in her face.
She could have stayed there, pounding on the door, waiting it out until someone opened it, but that wouldn’t do her any good. She was defeated and upset and angry. And she just learned a whole new side of herself and her life that she had yet to process. She needed to go home, talk to Trent, and then curl up and cry while she figured out her next strategy. She had such high hopes and now they were dashed to shit.
Chapter 40
Mason had spent the days after his encounter with Kat wondering what the heck was going on. She cared about him; that was obvious. And she even told him she wanted to be with him, but she needed time. He didn’t know what she needed time for. It almost felt like she was up to something. And he couldn’t figure out what the heck it was.
Everything was starting to get incredibly weird. He had started thinking that maybe he was losing his mind.
He told all this to Benny after he chewed him out for lying to Kat. But all Benny had to say for his actions was, “Hey, you two were acting like stupid little kids. You should be thanking me instead of pissing me off. Maybe next time, I’ll let you stew in your own self-pity for a little while longer just for this.” And he was right, so Mason ended up thanking Benny in the end instead. “That’s more like it,” Benny replied.
When he told him how Kat had reacted, Benny told him he already had a feeling she was up to something. Benny admitted that if he really wanted to, he could figure it out. He could use his resources or follow her and he’d know, but he had come to care for Kat as a friend and didn’t want to violate her trust any more than he already had. He also told Mason that if she really wanted them to know, she would have told them. But if Mason was dying to figure things out, he’d find out for him, because, after all, as much as he cared about Kat, Mason was still his number one guy.
Mason knew Benny was probably right and brushed it off for now. He told Benny he chose to believe it was some amazing surprise for him or them that she was working on and it was just taking longer than they hoped. Yep, that’s what he told himself. But, deep down, in the back of his mind, he knew it was more than that, he just didn’t want to acknowledge it. He got his proof that she still cared and that was all he needed to keep going for a while.
He was lost in his thoughts, thinking about Kat and how long she would stay away, when he heard a knock on his door. He opened it and he thought he was dreaming. There, standing in his doorway, was Kat. But she looked awful. She had aged years. Her hair was stringy and she wasn’t the bright spirit she was just days before. What the hell had happened to her in a few short days?
“Hey, Mason.” She spoke and it was her voice, her sweet lyrical voice, but the way she said his name sounded forced.
He couldn’t help it, he was so damn happy to have her back that he reached out, grabbed her, and pulled her into a tight hug. She hugged him back, but her arms were limp on him and then she patted his back.
“Oh my God, Kat, I’m so happy you’re here. I missed you so much and then the other day, you gave me hope, but I didn’t know how long I’d have to wait for you. But, now, you’re here. Does that mean you are here to stay? Oh God, please say you’re done running from me.” The words came out as if they were one long run-on sentence.
Kat just stood there, blinking at him.
“Kat? Are you okay? You look like you’ve been through the ringer. What happened? What happened to you in the last few days?”
“Oh, yeah, about that,” she answered, “I’ve had some time to think about us and all, but I need more time. And, you see, I need some money to keep me going.”
“But what about the account I set up for you?” Mason asked. Something was off. Kat seemed strange.
A look of surprise flickered across her face before she composed herself. “Oh, that. Well, I needed to use the money for some things, so it’s all gone. Now I need more.”
“What? How could you have used it all up? Is everything okay? Tell me you are all right.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I’ve just been thinking about us and how much I love you and all that. And well, I’ve been trying to get back on my feet before I can really be with you, so I just need more money. That’s all. I know you’re good for it. And besides, you love me, right? You’d do anything for me.”
“Kat, what’s gotten into you?” She was acting funny. Something was off.
“Nothing darling. I thought you’d be happy I was here, telling you just how much I love you. I just need a little more money to settle some things and then we can live happily ever after.”
“What do you need to settle? I’ll help you. Please don’t shut me out, I’ll help you.” He was pleading. Whatever she had gotten into must have been bad for her to come begging for more money. He wanted to be there for her; he needed to be there for her.