Careful Matthew. I pulled back slightly and kissed her nose before setting her away from me. “I know you’re not ready for anything heavy right now so I’ll take my time, but know that in the meantime there’s going to be a lot of heavy petting and make out sessions in your future.” I tried to make a joke of it to lighten up the heavy mood that we were in. Again she hid her face in my chest and I kissed her flushed cheek before leading her to the table with her puzzle.
I sat with her for the rest of the afternoon keeping the conversation light so as not to spook her any farther. I drew more information out of her without being too obvious and the more she told me the angrier I became. It wouldn’t do to show her my anger though, she’d been traumatized enough from what I could tell. It was a wonder she wasn’t more fucked up than she was after the shit she’d endured. No wonder she’d reacted the way she had that day on the sidewalk when I walked up on her.
My only purpose now was seeing that she was safe, that meant no more looking over her shoulder, no more hiding out like a criminal. There’s no way I could live with that. Now I see why Josh was as crazy as he was over his wife, why he had that attitude of kill or die where she was concerned. Kadyn wasn’t going to have any less from me, no matter how long it took I was going to make sure she had everything a Steele woman deserved and no asshole pedophile was going to rob her of it.
She seemed to relax more as the day went on and I kept my touches to a minimum to get her comfortable with me being that close. I couldn’t help touching her though. If my hand wasn’t playing in her hair my finger was trailing down her cheek. I stole two or three more light kisses as we sat there, each time holding my breath that I wouldn’t do something that would set her off. I had no idea what I was dealing with here.
“You’ll come to me tomorrow? I’ll give you directions it’s not that far.”
“I might not be able to, dad might need the car.” She looked so young as she looked up at me from her place on the floor: young, innocent, and sweet. My heart constricted in my chest and I had the wayward thought that if that shit happened every time I looked at her it will be a lot of wear and tear on my old ticker.
“Fine I’ll come get you; don’t be a female, be ready when I get here I hate waiting.” I added the last to get a laugh out of her, which it did. I’d wait forever for her if I had to. Fucking sap
It was on the way home that I almost had a panic attack. I just realized I had no idea how to date a woman. I knew the basics, flowers and candy and that type of shit, but I was a boy when I started seriously dating my ex. Were the rules the same? What was I supposed to do for her? If the females in my family were anything to go by women needed a lot of fucking maintenance. Nothing I can’t handle as long as I know what the fuck I was supposed to be maintaining.
I went upstairs and dropped the envelope in a drawer, it didn’t escape my notice that I wasn’t in any hurry to read that shit. There was a whole lot that needed to be done there yes, but I also wanted to focus on her as much as on the situation. I wanted to make up for the lost years, at least that much I knew. Had she ever just gone to the movies with her friends? Or out for ice cream, the usual teenage bullshit that girls did? Somehow I didn’t think so. That would be my first order of business; I’m going to have to recruit my family to help me with this. I’d already decided I was gonna need mom’s help in a big way but it looked like it was going to be a whole family effort.
It was almost dinner time by the time I got back so there was no time to talk to Josh or dad about what I’d learned. Everyone gathered around the table and though I could sense the questions and feel the stares no one asked or said anything. I’m sure by now everyone knew what was going on because as far as I know Josh didn’t keep shit from Carrie and dad and mom shared the same damn brain so…
I watched them covertly to see if I could pick up any tricks on this dating thing, starting with Josh and his wife; felt like a fucking peeping Tom. I nixed that idea in the first three minutes, the guy is a dictator; I never noticed how much of one before. He watched what she ate piling more on her plate when she didn’t take enough to suit him. I also realized that if the girl kept rolling her eyes like that she was gonna need a new pair by the end of the damn year.
“Joshua I have enough how many times must I tell you I can’t eat all of this?”
“You need to build up your strength babe remember what the doctor said?”
“This would build up the strength of ten lumberjacks.” Everyone at the table started laughing at their bickering back and forth.
Next I checked out Nessa and the douche but nixed that too. It didn’t take long to notice that she ruled that play. He catered to her every whim, but on farther inspection she leaned on him a lot. I could maybe use bits and pieces from each of them I guess. Mom and dad were a crazy mix of both. They were still into embarrassingly whispering to each other and sharing secret smiles, holding hands under the table.
“Did you get what you need son?” dad’s voice brought me back to the present; my mind had wandered off trying to process all this new information.
“What do you mean dad?”
“You’ve been studying us like ants under a magnifying glass; trying to get pointers?” He had a stupid smirk on his face as he said it.
“It occurs to me that I might not know the first thing about dating.”
“What do you mean? You had a girlfriend for four years son if anyone knows how to do it you do.”
“Yeah but this feels somehow different, like I have to do things in a whole new way. I have the basics I guess but what is too much and what’s not enough?”
“Dude…”
“Shut up Josh. Mom I’m going to need you.”
“What do you need son?”
“She doesn’t have a mother, I mean she has one but she’s out of reach for now so I need you to be there for her like you are for Carrie and Nessa.” One of the things I’d learned in my little digging expedition is that she couldn’t really contact her mom because they were afraid that this guy had a bead on her and any contact would tip him off to where she was hiding. He didn’t know anything about her dad and that was the only reason he hadn’t found her as yet.
Mom got a sad look on her face “Of course Matthew you know you don’t need to ask.” I nodded my thanks and went back to eating. The conversation went back to normal around me but my mind was full of her.
When dinner was over I excused myself and headed for the privacy of my room to read the report her father had given me. Tommy Bruno was a middle-aged businessman who had fixated on Kadyn when she was a child of fourteen. He’d moved into the neighborhood where she and her mother lived and had struck up a friendship. According to the report everything had seemed on the up and up in the beginning just a friendly guy seeing a single mother on her own and offering his services. He would cut their lawn on the weekends and even pick up their mail when they travelled out of town. Things took a turn when the mother Simone noticed the unusual interest in her underage daughter and what she deemed inappropriate touching. The young introverted girl hadn’t noticed anything different or hadn’t known any better until her mother warned her and forbid her from being alone with the over friendly neighbor who she had seen as just a friendly uncle.
After heeding her mother’s warning the gifts started. Bruno would hide and sneak the young girl gifts of stuffed toys and chocolates, which he cautioned her never to tell her mother about. When it was brought to Simone’s attention that the older man had kept up contact after she’d warned him off she had confronted him to no avail.
Things got worst when the young Kadyn caught Bruno peeping in her bedroom window in the early morning as she got dressed for school. A subsequent trip to the local police station had garnered no help as there was no hard evidence against the perpetrator and when questioned Bruno had stated that he was just passing on the walkway between the houses on the way to his shed.
Then followed four years of what is now known as stalking. H
e followed the young girl everywhere including to and from school, on outings with friends and even the local grocery store. With no help from the law the mother had done everything she could to safeguard her daughter, putting bars on the windows, changing her work hours so that her child was never home alone in the evenings. They became hostages in their own home because of one man’s obsession.
Things came to a head when him or someone sent pictures to Kadyn of her asleep in her bed. From the angle it was evident that the person had been standing over her when the picture was taken. The cops couldn’t prove that it was him because he’d been careful enough to cover his tracks.
Simone finally realizing that she couldn’t protect her daughter had called in the father who had taken his daughter out of the situation. She was basically living like a fugitive while her tormentor was walking freely. The state was now making steps to update their stalking laws but it was too late for Kadyn, her life had already been disrupted.
Josh came into my room just as I was finished reading. “Well?” I didn’t have to ask what he was talking about I just threw the papers at him and waited while he read it.
“I want to hurt him. This shit just got as real as it gets. I want to find him and make him pay for every second of fear.” I pounded my fist against the mattress in frustration.
“We need a plan.”
“I already know what I want to do to him I’m going to need you to show me how to do that computer thing. How to hack into his system.” The little fucker cracked his knuckles and grinned; I never knew until just here lately just how much of a delinquent my brother is. He thrives on shit like this.
“I want to do it myself so just get me in don’t go doing anything, this is my fight remember.”
“Damn that’s no fun, can I at least watch?”
“Sure Joshua.” He did some shit with my computer again mumbling the whole time as I watched trying to figure out what he was doing but I hadn’t a clue. Funny thing is I want to study engineering but when it came to this hacking shit I was at a total lost.
“What the fuck is all that?”
“His bank statements, 401K, trust, the whole works.” The screen was covered with an excel spreadsheet with rows and rows of numbers. Shit was scary how easily he did that. “What about his social security number and pins and stuff like that?”
“That’s next.” He went back to work getting me the information I needed while I paced and thought. This was all about getting her her freedom back somehow, more so than seeking revenge on this asshole, though that would be an added bonus. I’d had a few moments of doubts when I wondered if this guy was mentally ill, it wouldn’t be fair to go after someone who had no control over his actions because of a mental issue, but from what I’ve seen he wasn’t ill, just evil.
I’d seen shit like this on TV before, who hasn’t? and always I wondered where were the fathers and husbands of these women, and why weren’t they fucking this douche’s shit up? Now I find myself in the same position and I know it couldn’t be easy for them to sit back and do nothing, especially with the law telling them their hands were tied. I’d be fucked if mine were.
“Damn this fucker is good, he has his shit safe coded like Fort Knox; this might take me a while.” Not what I wanted to hear but beggars can’t be choosers. In the meantime I switched gears. Obviously it would be more important for her to have this taken care of but then what? How did Matt and Kadyn move on after this? It was the after that I was focused on now because I had no doubt that I would eliminate the threat, there was no other alternative. I refuse to accept that someone else could have that much power over what belongs to me. Fuck that.
By the time Josh signaled that he was in I had come to a decision. As far as dating goes I’ll just go with my gut and my heart, maybe I’ll be a combination of the three men in my family: dad with his old world charm, Andrew with his compassionate and doting ways and Josh with the crazy over protectiveness. They each had their own merits. With that settled in my head I could breathe easier. I wasn’t going to treat her like a victim either; her new life was going to start now, a life without fear and uncertainty. But in order to that I have to take steps to show her that she was safe.
Chapter 14
“Thanks bro I’ll take it from here, I’ll get started in the morning this shit has left a bad taste in my mouth.” It was amazing that less than twenty-four hours after learning about this that I already had a clear-cut plan worked out of what I wanted to do. Seems to me the law could’ve done a hell of a lot more to protect one so young instead of telling her time and again that there was nothing they could do. Since they wouldn’t do their fucking jobs I’ll do it for them.
“So what’s the plan bro, what’s the end result here?”
“Best case scenario, death, barring that I want him to spend some time in a maximum security prison where his housemates know of his love for terrorizing little girls.”
“My man.” He gave me a high five before leaving the room, saying something about being away from his wife for too long already. I finally got it. That unerring devotion, that all consuming emotion that made everything else nonexistent. I was beginning to feel that way for her and I hadn’t even known her as long. We were starting in the dark but hopefully we’d reach the light before too long.
I slept fitfully that night because she wasn’t there; I’m not sure how old man Stan would react to the shit that was going through my head but I had to figure out a way to get her in my home where I could keep an eye on her myself. I was not willing to let even her father have that responsibility but I knew I had to take my time, couldn’t rush things. To everyone else it would appear that we’d just met and it would be too soon to do certain things, in my heart it was never too soon. She was mine, and she needed that security. I was the only one who could give her that.
“Dad?” I woke to find my father sitting next to my bed looking haggard.
“Morning son; your brother showed me the report you got from Stan, all the papers he kept. I have to tell you that as soon as I was finished reading I went to your sister’s room and looked in on her. I tried to imagine someone doing the same to her, my little girl. I remember how she’d drag me off to the doll store in the mall whenever we were there. Or the tea parties she’d make us have with her when she was eight remember?” I nodded my head yes.
“Or those infernal sleepovers she had as a teenager.” He grinned and I smiled fondly at the memory. It was true Nessa had a normal well rounded childhood full of love and light and laughter.
“I don’t think Kadyn had any of that dad; breaks my fucking heart.”
“I know son but we’ll fix it.”
“What do you mean we?” he looked at me without speaking for a while before clearing his throat.
“I wasn’t too involved with Josh and Carrie’s relationship in the beginning, didn’t know all that was going on there. She’s now my daughter and the thought of what had almost befallen her makes me nuts. I’m not going to be asleep at the wheel this time. Your mom and I talked and we decided that we’ll do whatever it takes to help this young girl get on with her life. We would’ve done it for anyone in the same situation but the fact that she’s yours makes it more personal. I know you and your criminal minded brother are up to something, all I’m asking is that you don’t do anything that would entail me looking at you through bars.”
“Not making any promises dad, all I know is that he’s not getting away with it and she’s not spending the rest of her life in fear. Speaking of which I have to get a move on I’m brining her home today. Just for a visit for now, I want her to spend as much time here as possible. Get her used to another way of life. At least here she can move around outside freely instead of being cooped up in her father’s place over the diner.”
“Okay son, go get your girl.”
I called her first to let her know I was on my way after I’d taken care of my morning shower and shave. I said a few words to Stan before going up to get her. Sh
e looked sexy as hell in a little sundress and sandals, her hair falling down her back. She also looked scared which I knew was going to take time. I decided then and there we weren’t going to even touch on the trouble today, today was going to be all about making her happy.
“You ready baby?” she nodded yes and took my outstretched hand. She said a quick goodbye to her dad once we got downstairs and we were off.
“How did you sleep baby? I was going to call you last night before I fell asleep but I got caught up in something, that won’t happen again. From now on my voice will be the last thing you hear at night and the first in the morning. Well unless Stan is an early riser and he beats me to it.”
“I was about to say, he does get up at an unholy hour every morning and the first thing he does is wake me up. I don’t mind though, we have the most amazing talks then.” I wonder if she knew he was probably doing that to reassure himself that his kid had made it through the night safe under his roof? Not now Matt, remember? today is about the good only no dark clouds.
“Did you pack a swimsuit in that suitcase you’re carrying?” she looked down at her bag and I was pleasantly surprised when she swatted my arm for the insult. “It’s not that big come on, besides I can get lots of stuff in here. I didn’t know we were going swimming so I didn’t bring a suit sorry. We can turn back and get one…”
“No it’s fine I’m sure mom or one of the girls have one that you can use, don’t worry it won’t be worn, these women buy multiples of every damn thing. Do you do that too?”
Rebound: Passion Book 2 Page 9