I let out a moan when I grabbed my nipples and pinched as he pushed in inch by inch. He was doing it so slowly, but I knew he was doing it to savor every moment.
“Fuck!” he hissed as he finally plunged the rest of the way in, causing me to scream out and grab at his arms. “You feel so damn good. I could stay inside you all day,” he growled.
He lowered his body, bringing his lips to mine. I ran my hands up his back as he started to kiss me softly and slowly thrust back and forth. With one hand in my hair, he brought the other hand up to pinch my nipple. The sharp pain it created sent tingles down to my core. I let out a moan and started to rock against him at every thrust as his kiss got deeper.
As our breathing got faster, he broke from the kiss and rested his face in the crook of my neck. I didn’t think I would get off again, but with every thrust and rock of my hips, I could feel the sensation building again.
“Harder, Kade . . . please,” I begged.
Pushing back up, Kade brought his hands to the side of my head to hold his weight as he started pounding into me. I held my bent legs open for him, giving him all the access he needed to drive it in and drive it deep. We stared at each other, watching each other’s emotions, and after a couple of more thrusts, my mouth hung open as a moan escaped and my climax took over my body. Never taking his eyes off mine, he thrust into me one more time, moaning out his own release. So damn sexy.
I wrapped my legs around him so he wouldn’t retreat too quickly, while running my fingers up and down his back as we slowly came down from the high.
“That was amazing.” He smiled and leaned down to kiss me softly.
Un-wrapping my legs, I let him get up from the bed. I watched his sexy ass walk to the bathroom, where he retrieved a warm wash cloth to clean me up. He softly wiped up and rubbed against my clit, making me clamp my legs around his hand. We both laughed.
“Let me go put this away, and I’ll be right back.” He grinned.
I rolled to my side with a smile. How could I ever give that man up?
Then everything I put off slowly came back to me. I sighed to myself, remembering why I was there. I knew I needed to talk to him, but I really didn’t want to ruin the moment.
My eyes slowly started to drift closed as I felt Kade get into bed and lie beside me, and then he wrapped his arm around my waist. I could feel his breath on my neck as he made circles on my stomach with his thumb. Then, as I succumbed to sleep, I could have sworn I heard him whisper, “I love you,” but sleep took over before my conscious registered it.
~*~
My eyes slowly opened to a dark room. I looked over at the clock on the side table; it read 12:27 a.m. I rolled onto my back and felt the side of the bed for Kade, but it was cold. He must have gotten up a while ago. Wanting to go find him and bring him back to bed, I sat up and flung the cover off that Kade must have draped over me. Then I heard muffled yelling.
Getting out of the bed, I went to Kade’s dresser and pulled out a t-shirt. I didn’t feel comfortable walking around with nothing on. I didn’t know if someone was here or if he was on the phone again.
After putting the t-shirt on, I padded over to the door and pressed my ear against it. I could hear talking now, but I couldn’t tell what was being said because the door was closed. Making my decision to be nosey again, I grabbed the doorknob and slowly turned it all the way and quietly opened the door.
I could hear multiple voices. Thinking that it might be the band, I started to walk out of the room and call for Kade but stopped myself.
“I told you I don’t want to be involved in this.” I heard Kade’s voice, and he didn’t sound happy.
I stopped in the middle of the curved hallway.
“Well, Nick, you really don’t have a choice now do you?” said a husky male voice.
Nick? Did that guy just call Kade, Nick? I walked a little bit further so I could look in the glass of one of the pictures that Kade had hanging in the hallway. With the light shining on it from the living room, I could just make out some of the faces since they were all standing, but not clearly.
“I told you to stop fucking calling me that!” He was probably the one who was pacing back and forth.
“Why, Nick? It is your name after all. You can change your name to anything you want, but you will always be Nick DiCosola to me.”
I couldn’t see the guy’s facial expression through the glass, but I could hear the smirk in his voice. I was totally lost as to what he was talking about though. Is that what Bryce was talking about? That Kade wasn’t who he said he was?
“Look, I have my own life now. I have my career. I can’t just leave all of that behind. I’ve worked too hard to get where I am,” Kade said.
The guy started laughing. “And how do you think you got where you are, Nick? I’m the one who got you that record deal.”
Kade stopped pacing. “What?”
“It was the perfect opportunity for me to get someone in the industry with all those famous connections. There’ll be a profit for me in the end. Don’t look so surprised. Did you think I didn’t know where you were all this time? I’ve been watching you since you were little. Keeping tabs on you. You’re my blood: the only family I have left.”
Family? I thought he said he didn’t have any family?
“I wouldn’t be your only family if you hadn’t killed my mother and father,” Kade growled.
What the fuck? I brought my hand up to my mouth to hold in my gasp. I could feel my heart rate pick up. His mom and dad were murdered? I should really have gone back to the room, but I couldn’t seem to move.
“Ah, there it is—the big elephant in the room. You don’t miss a beat, do you, Nick? Your father betrayed me. He got what he deserved. I don’t give second chances, Nick. He was no longer my brother after what he did. But you, you were there that night. I know you were there, and I know you ran to the police. But the question is why didn’t you tell them what you saw?”
I could hear the curiosity in the guy’s voice, and I wanted to punch him in the face. I shouldn’t have been there. Maybe Bryce was right. This guy was dangerous.
“Don’t you think I knew that if I’d said something to the police that you would have sent someone to kill me? I was young, but I wasn’t stupid,” Kade snarled.
“Ah, so why are you being stupid now? You know I’m not giving you a choice. You’ve been a part of this since you were born, Nick, and there’s only one way out. You will do what you’re told to do, and you’ll do it with no problems, or we’ll find a way for you to cooperate. Paul has his eyes set on the pretty lady you’ve been seeing.”
“You leave her the fuck out of this,” Kade yelled, interrupting the guy.
I’d never heard him this angry, and I couldn’t contain the gasp that escaped my mouth. I could feel my body start to tremble and my eyes start to well up. I was starting to freak out. This couldn’t be happening. I slowly started to inch my way back to the bedroom, cussing myself for getting so close to the living room.
“I think our little vixen is awake, boss,” Paul said.
My eyes widened in shock. They knew I was there.
“Go get her,” was all I heard as I ran for the bedroom door.
I had just gotten into the room when someone pulled my arm and I was yanked back against a hard chest. I was screaming and kicking backward, trying to get whoever had me to let me go to no avail.
“That’s right, baby, I like it when they fight,” Paul snickered. “It’s so good to see you again,” he purred as he pulled my arm behind my back and pushed up on my elbow.
I’d never felt such pain in my life. I was screaming at the top of my lungs. It felt as if he were going to rip my arm off. I could hear more yelling coming from the living room, and it sounded like Kade, but I wasn’t sure. I was more focused on the pain.
“Stop struggling and it won’t hurt so bad,” Paul said as he pushed me to walk out into the living room.
Tears started running down my face when
we entered the living room. There was a man holding a gun, and it was pointed at Kade. The look on Kade’s face was pure devastation as he looked my way. I wanted to run over to him, but Paul had a firm hold on my arm.
Looking around at the other men in the room, I saw someone I didn’t think I’d see again. Bryce was standing off in the far corner, and the look on his face resembled Kade’s. He said he didn’t want to see me get hurt, and there I was doing the exact opposite.
My focus turned to the older man with greying hair, who was about the same height as Kade. He was wearing a suit with no tie, and he was walking over to me.
“Scarlett, it’s so good to finally meet you,” he said, smiling at me.
My legs felt as if they were going to give out, but I managed to stand up straight and keep my tears away for now.
As he came closer to me, my eyes went to Kade. I’d never seen him look this way. He almost looked defeated. There I was, being held by some stalking asshole, and I still had no idea what the hell was going on. I looked back at the guy who had approached me. My arm was in so much pain that I gave the only response I could think to give.
“Fuck you,” I snapped.
Paul lifted my elbow up a little more, causing pain to shoot up my arm again. I closed my eyes tightly and breathed heavily through the pain. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of crying out again, but I couldn’t contain the tears.
“Oh, she’s a feisty one, Nick, just the way Paul likes ’em. Shall we let him take her to the room to play with?”
I felt as if I were hyperventilating as I looked over at Kade. I couldn’t even speak. The tears were pouring down my face. I knew Kade couldn’t come to my rescue or else the guy holding the gun would shoot him. I had no doubt in my mind that that would happen.
“Please, Frank,” Kade pleaded as he started walking over to where we were standing. “Let her go and I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Frank looked over at Kade, “You’ve got twenty-four hours to call me, Nick. If I don’t hear from you, things will get ugly.”
Kade only nodded his head and looked over at me with a frown. The tears were nonstop. I knew he was agreeing to do something, but I had no idea what.
“All right, Paul, let her go,” Frank said as he started to walk away.
Paul leaned his head down to my ear. “That’s too bad, sweetheart. We could have had fun,” he whispered and then licked my ear.
I whimpered and cried out as he finally let me go. I ran into Kade’s arms and buried my face into his chest. More words were exchanged between the men, but I didn’t hear them over my sobbing.
Kade was rubbing his arms up my back, “Shhh, I’m so sorry, beautiful. I’m so sorry.” He kept repeating himself until I finally calmed and pushed myself away from his chest.
Looking around, I noted that everyone was now gone. I pushed fully away from Kade and wiped my eyes and nose with the shirt sleeve. I closed my eyes, taking some deep breaths and then turned to Kade.
“What the hell is going on? And who are those people to you?”
Kade ran his hands through his hair and started to pace around the room. I just stood there and watched him. He finally stopped and put his hands on his hips.
“I can’t tell you,” he said firmly.
I stood there with a dumbfounded look on my face. He couldn’t tell me. That was bullshit. My adrenaline was wearing off, and my body started to tremble. I felt as though I were having a mini seizure.
“You can’t tell me,” I yelled. “You can’t tell me why this guy Paul cornered me in a bar, violated me, threatened me, and showed me a video of us having sex at the lake to use as blackmail to get me to stop seeing you.” I could feel my face turning red. I was irate. “You can’t tell me why some guy was just in here pointing a gun at you or that some guy kept calling you Nick. If you can’t tell me any of that, then what the fuck can you tell me, Kade?”
I watched him as his face contorted into a remorseful expression as if I had just slapped him across the face. I stood there and waited for a reply. Then without saying a word, he broke eye contact and looked down at his feet. My heart broke in that moment. I knew that this, what we had, was over. I felt as if he had just punched me in the gut, and it was hard for me to breathe, but I wouldn’t cry in front of him. I couldn’t. I needed to get out of there.
I walked away, toward the hallway, and entered Kade’s room. I looked up at the bed and stifled a sob. Picking up my clothes, I got dressed, throwing Kade’s t-shirt on the bed.
Taking a deep breath, I walked back out into the living room. Kade was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. I wanted to go over there. I wanted to touch him and kiss him one last time, but I couldn’t.
I grabbed my purse from the floor in the foyer, which was my clue that they knew I was here the whole time, then turned one last time toward Kade. He wouldn’t look up at me, and in a way, I was glad. I didn’t think I’d be able to handle that look on his face.
I opened the door, and as I went away, I left a piece of my heart behind, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get it back.
Chapter 20
I made it all the way to the car before I started crying again. I was so distraught that I drove the wrong way and had to turn around. After ten minutes of sobbing and asking myself how things went from being so wonderful to being so terribly wrong, I wiped my tears away and got ahold of myself. I kept telling myself that if he were willing to give up everything after all that we’d shared then it was his loss. Those words were easier to tell myself than they were to accept.
It was around one thirty in the morning when I finally arrived home. I went straight to my room, stripped off my clothes, put my pajamas on, and crawled into bed. I wanted to knock on Jules’ door, but I didn’t know if she had company or not. Plus, waking her up would only cause me to tell her everything that happened, and I really didn’t want to start crying again. Instead, I replayed the whole night in my head, recalling everything that was said between Kade and the guy Frank.
What in the world was he talking about? And what exactly did he want Kade to be a part of? My mind was in hyper drive, thinking of multiple things they could have been talking about, but none of them made any sense. After lying in bed for around two more hours, I finally fell into a restless sleep.
~*~
I woke up to a light knock at my bedroom door. “Come on in, Jules,” I groaned, wiping my eyes and yawning.
She came in and sat on my bed. I rolled to my side away from her. “Hey, girl, what are you doing home? I thought you’d be with Kade all day.” I could hear the concern in her voice.
I closed my eyes and tried to think of what to say to her. I really didn’t want to talk about it. “We aren’t together anymore,” I whispered, holding back my tears that were trying to surface again.
“WHAT?” she shrieked.
I didn’t want to repeat myself, so I stayed silent. Moving toward the side of the bed, I leaned down toward my purse and pulled out my phone, curious to see if I had any missed calls or texts. There was nothing.
I placed my phone on my side table then lay on my back to look at Jules. She was looking at me with a frown. “Jules, I’ll be fine. I just . . . I just need to be alone for a while. Okay?”
It was the only thing I could think to say so she wouldn’t ask any questions.
“Okay, I’ll be back to check on you in a little bit. Just let me know when you’re ready to talk. You’ll have to get this off your chest, and I’ll be here,” she sympathized and patted my arm.
I rolled back to my side when she got up to leave the room. I fell back to sleep and didn’t wake up until 4:10 that afternoon. My stomach started to rumble from not eating anything since the funeral the day before.
I shook my head, thinking about everything that had happened. They always say things happen in threes. First, my dad died and then Kade’s secret life was unveiled. What else was going to happen?
Deciding it was time to get out of my r
oom, I went to the kitchen for something to eat. Jules was in the living room, talking on the phone, so I microwaved my Lean Pocket and brought it in there. I knew I couldn’t hide from her all day. She’d eventually come in and get me to talk, one way or another.
Hanging up her phone, she turned toward me and waited. I just ignored her and finished my Lean Pocket. I knew it was killing her to just sit there and not say a word, but she waited until I was done.
“Okay, first, I want you to tell me about your dad’s funeral,” she requested.
I told her everything that had happened, from what the letter said to what the funeral was like.
“And you’re okay with everything you just found out?”
I started pulling at the hem of my tank top, “Yeah, I’m fine. There’s still a lot I don’t know, but the important thing is that he loved me.” I looked over at her. “I need to talk to my mother and find out what really happened. She’s been lying to me my whole life.”
Now that I thought about it, I should have stayed an extra day and gone to see her. It probably worked out for the best. I needed some time, or I’d have chewed her out the first chance I got.
“Yeah, that’s messed up. If you need me to be with you when you end up talking to her, just let me know.”
I gave her a smile and nodded. I looked back down at my hands and waited for her to ask about Kade.
“So . . . tell me what happened if you’re able to,” she urged.
I knew I wasn’t going to tell her everything that happened, so I improvised and told her the important points. I told her that I woke up to Kade arguing with some guys—that I found out that he wasn’t exactly who I thought he was—that he had a secret life. He wasn’t willing to share it with me, so I left and he didn’t stop me.
Jules’ forehead furrowed as she tried to take it all in. She was confused, just as I was.
“That’s fucked up, Letti.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m going to have to call Matt. There is no way I’m going to go to the studio for the last three days of filming,” I said, shaking my head.
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