by Kenya Wright
Dawn’s concerned friend.
Caden
ACT TWO
Chapter 16
Dawn
Caden is here.
A blues song flowed in my ears. The male singer belted out sad lines about a broken heart.
I yanked out my earphones and scanned the swimwear store. It was only me. The whole place must’ve emptied out the moment I put my back to the entrance. Now that I turned around, the fact that something was wrong hit me right in my chest.
There’s no one here. Only Caden would clear a packed spot to talk to me.
My insides coiled into anxious, bulky knots that weighed me down with each step through vacant clothing racks. Hangers dangled back and forth as if someone had just been there and rushed away, disturbing everything in his or her trail.
“Hello?” Part of me knew I was wasting my breath.
No one replied.
The place was deserted. The mother and two teenage daughters from earlier no longer battled by the dressing area. They’d been arguing about skimpy tops and if the girls were too young to wear them out in public. I checked to my right. Gone were the perky blondes boasting bra cup sizes that could never be natural. They’d been shrieking with airheaded giggles as they showed off their picks. When I walked in here, I could barely move around the bikini section without getting my feet stepped on.
It was the Thursday right before July Fourth weekend in South Beach. Women had packed the store, searching desperately for the perfect swimwear to show off each day. If my neighbor Sienna was right, we’d be going to a beach party every night. It was why I strolled the store, debating whether I would stick with my conservative one piece choices or go wild and rummage around the two-piece sections.
But then an eerie sensation poured down over me, riling my senses out of my enclosed solo world of music. I’d been deep inside of myself. Plugging in those headphones was like entering a portal to another world.
But a tingling skittered across the back of my neck, a creepy quiver as equal to the feel of a spider crawling inch by inch across my skin. I spun around and the first thing I realized was that the cashiers had gone. I had no idea when. At one moment, this beautiful Cuban clerk drowning in silky brown hair picked up discarded outfits off the floor near me. In the next instant, I was alone.
Even the store music had been turned off. Now my footsteps echoed as I marched to the front.
Maybe it isn’t him. Fuck. I had my headphones in my ears. What if a fire alarm went off? Shit.
My fingers shook. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Just in case, I dug in my pocketbook for my mace and phone. Worst case scenario, I’d spray my way out if I needed to and dial 9-1-1.
I reached the door.
Lots of women stood outside, holding hangered outfits on their arms. A few glanced at their watches and shook their heads. Others wore annoyed expressions. The store clerk leaned on the door with her hand on her hip. Three tall guys in gray suits flanked her sides as if making sure she wouldn’t go back in.
I peered closer at the guys and swallowed.
Yep. Caden is here. That’s his security.
With no surprise, I pushed at the door. It wouldn’t budge. I was locked in which meant that was right where Caden wanted me.
Breathe. Just Breathe.
Movement sounded behind me. If I hadn’t been so scared out of my mind and on edge, I would’ve never heard it.
But I did.
There was no need to turn around. I sighed and closed my eyes. “What do you want, Caden?”
“You already know the answer to that question.” His deep voice sounded behind me.
My body was a contradiction of emotions—my nipples stiffened as my flesh shivered with dread. Fear swirled around lust. Sensual heat surrounded the cold blast of the fucked-up situation that I now had to deal with. This was the nature of Caden and me—turmoil and passion, exquisite pleasure and throat-ripping pain.
I cleared my throat. “Why are you here?”
What game are you playing?
Caden traced my bare arm with his finger which delivered needle shots of warmth to my center. “Your break from me is over.”
“It wasn’t a break. If I remember clearly, I told you to eat shit and die then I kneed you in your crotch.”
“Tomato. Tomahto.”
Pissed off, I twisted around and shouldn’t have.
Why does evil have to look so good?
Caden was beautiful. Paint couldn’t depict art like him. Stories of gorgeous gods would get his physical description wrong. He had light brown skin and glowing hazel eyes. Thick lashes on a handsome, square face. Sinful lips and brown wavy hair with hints of sandy blond. Manicured stubble on his jaw—the kind only a rich man had—the designer messy look.
Thank God, I’m immune to him. . .kind of. I just can’t forget who he really is.
He stood tall and well proportioned. His clothes were tailor-made, clinging to his muscles. He wore everything black like a villain—jeans to button-down shirt, jacket to shoes. Darkness cloaked him. Death and mystery pooled around his feet.
But those damn eyes—so filled with light—they deceived. They had me forgetting that he was dressed as the villain. That he was the one I should run away from.
That gaze said love me, while his soul waited to feed.
Forget that he’s gorgeous.
He looked me up and down. “This is the moment when we finally see each other after a long time and you remember that I always make you wet when I’m in front of you.”
I squeezed my thighs together and pretended in my head that he lied, that I wasn’t so fucking weak.
I’d never met another man with his look. He could pretend to be most races, but I knew his background. Raised in Charleston. His mother was black. His father white. Both had died from drug overdoses. Which was why he had those hard edges around those haunting eyes. He’d raised himself on the streets and then became a billionaire by his late twenties.
That wasn’t ambition. That was the raging force of the world boiling and bursting in one man.
But Caden wasn’t a man. He was a wild animal. A beast. He took. He savaged. He ripped things apart and sniffed for more meat and bones to gnaw on. He was dangerous. Terror radiated from those beautiful eyes as if they caged the devil himself and refused to let the motherfucker go. He was a man of games and twisted mind fucks.
What are you doing now?
I stepped back from him. “What do you want from me?”
“Everything. You’ve always known this.”
“I don’t want you. I don’t love you. In fact, I hate you.”
“Tomato. Tomahto.” He closed the distance between us. That was the other thing about him. His true wickedness was in the way he moved, stalking like a hunter or predator. Each step held purpose and promise. And within those movements, he watched me with an unwavering intensity. “You don’t miss us?”
“No.” I edged away and pressed my back into the glass door behind me. My heart slammed against my chest. “I don’t miss us.”
He smelled so good. The scent made my sex jump. Even after everything he’d done, my body continued to react to the bastard.
I pushed at his chest, but he wouldn’t back away.
“Move and give me some space,” I said.
“I gave you your space—”
“You didn’t. You called me all the time. You stalked me. You had people following and watching over me.”
He shrugged those huge shoulders of his. “Again, I believe we’re saying the same things.”
“You’re insane.”
“Insane? I’m not insane.” He smiled. “Insanity is the state of being seriously mentally ill. I’m in love. Granted, in some ways, love is madness.” He pressed his body against mine and my heart hummed. “Love is the feeling of a deep romantic attachment. Sexual. Intense. Suffocating. So deep. You can’t sleep without them. Your heart is flames. Roaring ones.” He inhaled. “Your nights are dreams
dancing in obsessions.”
“I see you’ve taken up poetry?” I shoved him away and stepped to the side.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him. “If I’m insane, then it’s insanely in love.”
“No.” I shook my head. “You’re just insane.”
“You love me.”
“No.”
“You loved me.”
“No, I loved someone else. And by the time I figured that out, you wouldn’t let me go.”
“Life is fucked up that way, baby.” He tried to touch my face.
I pushed that wicked hand away. “What are you doing here?”
“Spending time with you.”
My heart boomed in my chest. “We had a deal. You’re breaking the deal.”
Ignoring me, he asked, “What were you shopping for today?” He looked down at the hangers I held. “I’m not a fan of those bikinis.”
“I wasn’t buying them for you.”
“What did you think I would do if my men gave me a photograph of you in one of those bikinis?”
“I don’t care.” My last bit of patience disappeared.
“If my surveillance team sent me a picture of you in one of those bikinis, I would’ve flown down here and cleared the beach.” He drank in the smallest one. The top and bottom were black. Visually, the most striking feature was the halter-neck top. Tiny glimmering seashells accentuated the outline.
“I like the green one.” He licked his lips. “But then you could only wear that around me.”
“You don’t dress me anymore.”
“Most women love it when their men dress them.”
“I’m not one of them. Again, why are you here, Caden?”
He took in the view of the store. “Things and things. All people do is spend money. Mindless consumption.”
“What do you want?”
“Money isn’t happiness.”
“Says a rich man.”
“No, Dawn.” The corner of his mouth twitched with amusement. “Says someone who understands what’s truly important.”
“And what’s important to you?” I asked. “Love?”
“No, obsession. Materialism is bullshit. Everyone wants what another has. We spend money to fill the emptiness inside. This stuff around here.” He gestured to some of the clothes. “This is nothing.”
I clapped for him. “And what have you done with your money? It’s easy to be one of the fat guys eating and say that the food is disgusting while others starve.”
“Dawn.” He brushed the edge of his jacket. “There’s nothing fat about me.”
There was no need to agree. The jackass knew it. His entire body was muscle. The suit didn’t show the magic behind the material, but the fabric topped his frame like a delicious dollop of whipped cream on a warm pie.
Then again, Caden was wrong about one thing. He did have something fat. It lay in those pants, barely invisible to most eyes. But there was no need to tell him that either. Caden thought too highly of himself as it was.
He curved those sexy lips into a smile. “What’s on that beautiful mind of yours?”
“You’re rich. If you don’t like the way the world is, then do something about it.”
“The Great Gatsby said it better. The rich are careless people. They smash up things and creatures. And then they return to their money.” He tossed me a sad smile. “And in the end, the rich let the poor clean up their messes.”
Noise sounded. I looked around me. Men had entered the store from the back. There were at least five of them—all big and wearing dark black clothes. Caden’s security. My hands shook.
“Okay.” I backed away from him. “What’s going on?”
He remained where he was. “Our break is over.”
“This isn’t funny. Stop it. We broke up.”
He stepped my way. “How are we going to do this? Are you going to come with me on your own or make a big fuss and have me take out a needle?”
“You’re fucking crazy.” I walked around him.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me to him. “You let those two brothers get close.”
My heart slammed in my chest.
“Let me go.” Beating his arm, I tried to get out of his hold, but he wouldn’t release me. “Let me go, Caden.”
His grip was solid steel. Anger raged in his hazel gaze and reminded me of a volcano exploding. He turned me toward him and leaned my way. A growl dotted his next words. “You fucked one of them.”
I blinked. “You’re not my man.”
Chuckling, he looked around as if someone had told him a joke and he wanted to thank them. And then he brought that angry gaze back to me and trapped all my attention. No words left his mouth. The smile fell away. Hurt replaced it.
Pain pooled in his hazel eyes. “You fucked him.”
It was not fair of him to do this to me. I wasn’t his girlfriend anymore. I no longer could play his sick and twisted games. Long ago, he might’ve been capable of love but no more. Life. The Universe. God or whatever had melted any semblance of humanity away from him. All those things should be guilty for hurting him but not me.
Don’t you dare make me feel guilty. This is not my fault.
“You fucked him,” he whispered. His pain ripped at me and I looked away.
Don’t do it, Dawn. Remember who he is.
He was a real-life vampire. But instead of sucking away a woman’s blood, he devoured her heart. Her inhibitions. Her identity. He gnawed and fed on her very existence until she transformed into nothing. I’d barely escaped him and when I did, I’d raced away hollow and empty on the inside.
He leaned in closer to me. His lips were barely an inch from mine. I didn’t want to kiss him. I didn’t want to feel his tongue slide into my mouth and have him take back control over me. Yet, my mouth burned for his.
Pain filled his whisper. “Dawn.”
I closed my eyes. I couldn’t take his hurt anymore.
It wasn’t fair.
I wasn’t his.
We could never be.
How dare he be brokenhearted over what I did with Freddy?
“Dawn.” His voice slipped over my skin. I felt naked so close to him.
“Leave me alone.”
“Nothing stops true love.” His words held a snarl. “No matter how hard someone fights it, those two lovers always come back to each other.”
I hit his chest.
He just stared.
I slapped his face and kicked him. He just dodged my attacks and frowned. “You’re my obsession.”
“Let go of me.” I glanced over my shoulder.
His men had stepped closer and surrounded us in a circle.
What the hell is going on?
Again, we struggled. Me hitting and him blocking.
“Caden?” I realized his security had now tightened their circle. Even if I escaped Caden’s grip, where would I run? “What the hell are you doing?”
Caden motioned for his men to stay there. “I’m sorry, baby, but I would like you to go on a field trip with me.”
“Where?”
“To talk to Max.”
Shocked, I asked, “Why?”
“Because he has something to tell you. After that, I will go my way and you will go yours.” He gestured toward the guards. “We are going to see him. The only question is, will my men have to carry you to my car or will you go off nicely.”
“You’ll have to carry me because I’m not willingly going anywhere with you.”
He signaled for them to pick me up.
“You’re fucking crazy.” I scratched at his face, but he wouldn’t let me go. One of his guys grabbed my arms.
“Caden!”
Another held my legs together. Still, I wouldn’t stop fighting. There was no fucking way I would go out without a battle.
“You fucking asshole!” I kicked and bit and punched, but no one would let me loose.
“Don’t fight this.” The whole time Caden’s face held a neutral expressio
n. “Eventually, you’ll understand it all.”
“I fucking hate you!” Blind panic surged through me.
“Stop fighting, baby.”
“Don’t do this!” Adrenaline coursed through my veins. “Don’t you dare do this!”
Never had I been so scared in my life. I knew Caden was capable of the most depraved things, but never did I believe he would kidnap me. He’d always gave me some sick sense of freedom.
And now what?
My hands grew tired, but I still struggled out of the guys’ grip. I still battled and warred against them all. But they were stronger. And in the end, they won.
Chapter 17
Caden
We’ll have to hurry. Tick Tock.
My limo moved through the streets with ease.
Miami’s sun battered on the pavement with no relief in sight. People could’ve cooked out here. Just cracked their eggs on the pavement, brought a spatula, and flipped the eggs over in a few seconds. It was so hot, the sun could boil a pot of water on the porch. Surely, someone had tried it this summer—set a large jar of water out on their front porch, dropped a tea bag, squeezed a little lemon, and poured in sugar. In this heat, the tea would be done in a few seconds.
I could see why Dawn had been in a swimwear store. This was beach weather for sure. I wasn’t a fan of the beach or Miami, but recent events had forced me down to this sweltering city.
Dawn was in danger. She had to come with me.
How can I explain it to her?
Angry, Dawn sat on the other side of the limo. Two men flanked her. I’d been well acquainted with her temper. There’d be no way I’d sit in the limo alone with Dawn after pissing her off to this level.
I let out a long breath. “How have you been doing?”
Silent, Dawn stared out the window.
She wore some cheap-ass jeans and a shirt with President Trump grabbing the First Lady’s vagina. While cute, Dawn deserved silk and diamonds. Back in the shop, I’d grabbed a nice sundress off the rack while my men carried her to the limo.
The dress wasn’t red or orange. It was the color of flames. Hot. Italian in design. Slim and forming around her curves with cascading sleeves hanging off her shoulders. Showstopper. Beautifully crafted. She would look fabulous in it.