by K. M. Scott
“While you’re gone, Stefan and I can keep the nightclub section open at least,” I suggested.
“I’m game,” Stefan chimed in. “I mean, my section was always the one that brought in the people.”
“Yeah, right,” I joked. “I think we know what section brought in the money, Stef.”
Before he could take my bait, Cash shook his head. “I don’t think so. We’ve had a good run here, but Club X means the upper floors. If we do open up again in the future, it’s got to be with Kane’s section too.”
The three of us sat there silently as the reality of the situation became clear. Club X would be no more, at least for the time being.
“So this is it?” Stefan asked with more than a hint of sadness in his voice.
Cash looked at me and then back at Stefan. “I think so. We’ve made a lot of money here, gentlemen. More than even I ever thought we could. Our father would be proud. It was a good run, but things are changing. I’m getting married. Stefan, you’re leaving. What are your plans, Kane?”
“Just bringing Abbi home. I lived so long alone that having someone in my life is a big change.”
“Olivia says she’s doing fine out there at the house, other than a touch of the flu, right?”
“Yeah. Right after we’re done here, I can finally see her again now that I’m no longer a suspect. I’m going to bring her back to the house and hope I can make up for lost time.”
“So it’s agreed Club X will stay closed?” Cash asked looking at Stefan and then me for our answers.
Quietly, we both answered and agreed. The business we’d built into the multi-million dollar a year hottest nightspot in Tampa would stay closed. The three of us sat silently as the reality of that decision began to settle in.
For six days a week for most of my twenties I’d worked with these two men. It had been awkward in the beginning. I’d never met them before our father died and dictated in his will that if any of us wanted any money from his estate we’d have to work together. At first, it felt like a punishment none of us thought we deserved, but after a while we grew to like each other. Cash, the brother nearly my age I wished I’d known all those years growing up, and Stefan, the younger pain in the ass brother I suddenly couldn’t imagine not having around to joke and bust ass with. I’d always been the outsider, but now as I sat there with them after all they’d done for me in the past two months, I didn’t feel like that outsider anymore.
I just felt like their brother. For someone who’d never really had a family in his life, it was a feeling I’d miss.
A knocking on the office door roused us all from our thoughts, and Olivia walked in with her usual sweet smile. “Am I interrupting? It sounded as quiet as a church in here.”
She walked over to Cash’s side. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he looked up and said, “We’ve decided to keep the club closed for the time being.”
“Oh,” she said with a pout.
“It’s okay, Olivia,” Stefan said. “We’ve all got things going on. You two are getting married. Kane and Abbi have to make up for all this time apart. And Shay and I are going to be moving when she comes back.”
“Moving? To where?” She looked down at Cash and poked his shoulder. “Why didn’t your brother tell me any of this?”
“He didn’t know. I just told them today. Shay got a job in Texas for next semester.”
“Listen to you talking like that,” she teased him. “Please tell her I said congratulations. You’re not planning on moving too, are you Kane?” she asked. “You can’t move now.”
“Abbi and I aren’t going anywhere,” I said with a smile, silently remembering a time when the dream of leaving with the woman I loved was all that I could think of. Now, all I wanted to do was take Abbi back to our little house with the squeaky screen door and little backyard and live there in peace.
“All right, it’s decided. Until further notice, Club X is closed and we’re moving on. I’ll take care of talking to the staff.”
Cash’s announcement brought Olivia’s frown back, but it was for the best. I would have liked to talk to my people, but Cash was better at that anyway. As Stefan and Cash talked about the legalities of our decision, I headed up to my area for one last look around the place I’d spent so many nights.
I climbed the stairs up to the fifth floor and walked around where I stood every night, by habit immediately turning to look at the monitors, but now they all sat there dark in front of me. I walked the halls of each floor, looking in on the rooms I’d watched over for years and feeling a sense of some kind of accomplishment. We hadn’t invented the wheel or saved the world, but our members had found a place to enjoy themselves.
It wasn’t world peace, but it was some kind of happiness.
On the fourth floor, I walked back to my old rooms where I’d lived from the day we opened Club X. Three small rooms never meant to be a home, they’d served as a place for me to hide out from the world and all the pain that came with it. Then one night, Abbi walked into them and I didn’t want to hide anymore.
Gathering up my clothes, I looked down at the blanket on the floor and remembered the night I came back to find her still wearing my shirt and asleep in my bed. So small and innocent, she didn’t know it as she lay there all curled up but even then she’d found a way into my heart.
I cleaned out the last of the food in the refrigerator and threw it in the garbage, the final task to end my life there. I’d returned when Abbi went to Anna Maria Island because I couldn’t live in that house without her, but now if she’d have me, we’d go back to our home and begin a new life.
I wasn’t a fool. I knew no woman should want a man who’d done what I’d done, even if I could claim the best of intentions. Abbi had spent years with violent men. Would she see me as one of them now? If she did, I couldn’t blame her. I just had to show her I wasn’t like them.
Even now, my demons told me I had good reason for killing Mason. They always had good reasons for the bad I did. But now, I needed to work harder than ever to control the demons inside me. They may not ever push me to hurt Abbi, but I couldn’t continue to expect her to want to spend her life with me if I couldn’t control them.
In a choice between them and her, the decision was simple. Whatever I had to do to keep Abbi, that’s what I’d do.
I headed down to my car, ready to see her and show her I could be the man she needed and the man she wanted. Olivia caught me as I walked out the back door and looked like she had a secret she couldn’t wait to share.
“Hey, I wanted to talk to you, but you disappeared.”
“Just a small trip through the past. I’ve spent a lot of time in this club.”
Olivia’s smile grew bigger. “Well, it’s probably best that you won’t be doing this anymore. It’s not really the kind of job you should have now.”
“You’re probably right. After being arrested and the main suspect in a murder all in the past couple months, I probably need a break.”
“That’s not what I meant, actually. Gemma told me what Abbi thought was the flu was actually something else. Sickness women get in the morning.”
I stared down at Olivia, who stood there practically beaming, and tried to figure out her riddle. My thinking about what she’d said took too long for her, and she blurted out, “Morning sickness! Jeez, you men are so slow with this stuff.”
“Morning sickness? You mean—”
Olivia bounced on her toes, finally able to say the words she’d been holding in since she arrived at the club. “Abbi’s pregnant! Gemma says she’s worried you won’t be happy because of everything that’s happened.”
Abbi pregnant? I felt myself fall back against the wall, stunned at what Olivia had just told me. Abbi the mother of my child. Me a father. For a moment, all I could think was at least I had enough money because that’s all we had going for us, but then the truth pushed all the doubts out of my mind. We’d been through a lot together, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t do this
.
We were having a baby.
“Are you okay, Kane? You look like you can barely stand up.”
I nodded, still getting a handle on the fact that I was going to be a father. “Yeah, I’m…I’m fine.”
“I’m so happy for you two. You’re finally able to go to her, so what are you doing wasting your time with me and an armful of food and clothes?”
Olivia’s words confused me, but looking down, I saw what she meant. “I was cleaning out my rooms. I better go. Should I bring her anything?” I asked, suddenly feeling like I didn’t know how to act.
“Get some flowers. Women love flowers. Other than that, all she wants to see is you. Now go!”
I quickly headed out to my car and threw everything in my arms out in the trash dumpster before racing over to the florist near the club for a dozen roses. I had one hour before I had to be ready to be a father, and I knew I better use that drive to figure out how to be the man Abbi needed now.
Alexandria’s house on Anna Maria Island was typical her—opulent in a way that didn’t seem off putting. Far wealthier than either of her sons or me, she wore her money like it belonged on her. Cash took after her in that way, unlike Stefan, who forever seemed to want to look like some frat boy, even after his life change because of Shay.
I walked up the stairs to the front door with my heart in my throat. Six long weeks was enough time for a woman to decide she didn’t want a man in her life who couldn’t control his demons. Six long weeks of not hearing a word from me, except for that one letter Jessup told me I could sneak to her. Six long weeks of every night alone. Six long weeks of worrying about me again.
What woman would want that?
“Hello, Kane.”
Alexandria opened the door for me to come in, speaking to me for one of the few times since we’d met all those years ago. I entered the house, instantly feeling like intruder as I always did when it came to Cash and Stefan’s mother.
“Hi, Alexandria.”
She silently led me down the hall to the foot of the stairs and turned to look at me as I stood there with the bouquet of roses in my hand. “Abbi’s feeling better. I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you after all this time.”
“Thank you for helping me with this. I know we’ve never been close and you likely agreed to let Abbi stay here because Cash asked, but thank you all the same.”
Alexandria looked up at me, staring into my eyes for so long that I wanted to look away, but finally she said, “I noticed when I saw you at Cassian and Olivia’s engagement party how much you look like your father.”
I’d only seen my father a handful of times in my life. How much I looked like him never entered my mind. I only knew I looked like Cash.
“You look more like him now because all that hatred and anger isn’t in your eyes anymore.”
“That’s all Abbi.”
Alexandria smiled. “I had a feeling. She’s a very sweet girl. Your father would like her.”
“I didn’t know him, so I wouldn’t know what he’d like,” I said quietly, trying to hide the resentment I still carried for Cassian March III.
“I know. That was one of the many mistakes he made, Kane, but I think it’s about time I told you. You weren’t one of those mistakes.”
We stood there not saying a thing, me because I didn’t know what to say to the woman I’d believed always hated my very existence, and her because I had a feeling now that she could accept me I was more like a stranger to her than ever before.
Alexandria gave me a smile and walked back toward the kitchen, and for a moment I thought about the father I’d never known and all those years growing up hearing the terrible things my mother had said about Cassian March and his wife. After all this time, I could finally say I knew she’d been wrong.
I made my way up the stairs to Abbi’s room at the far end of the house. My hand clutching the roses’ stems cramped from how tightly I gripped them. Her room was empty, but I saw the kitten sitting on the bed all curled up into a little ball. My eyes scanned the porch for any sign of Abbi, but she wasn’t there either.
Angel’s purring made me look over toward her, and I saw underneath her lay a sheet of paper folded in half. Scooping her up, I dropped the flowers on the bed and held her to my chest, nuzzling her fur.
“What are you and Abbi hiding there?”
As she kneaded my shoulder, I opened up the note and read what Abbi had written.
Dear Kane,
By the time you get this letter, I’ll be gone so I want to make sure this makes sense. It’s been a long wait for us to be together, and in that time I’ve missed you so much. I know you deserved to hear me tell you all of this in person, but it’s better this way.
I’ve brought you nothing but trouble since I came into your life. Gemma told me you’ve never been arrested or even in a fight in all the time she’s known you, but now in the span of just a few months you’ve done all these terrible things and I don’t think it’s your demons.
I think it’s me.
I don’t know what it is about me that brings trouble, but I love you too much to see you suffer anymore because of me. You deserve so much more than what I can give you.
I never meant for any of this to happen to you. All I ever wanted was someone to love who wouldn’t hurt me, and you’ve been that and so much more. But now I’m hurting you, and I can’t do that to you anymore. I love you too much.
Please don’t come after me. It’s best this way. You deserve to have that life you and Holly dreamed of, and you can’t if I’m around. I love you.
Abbi
My hands began to shake as I read Abbi’s letter again, still not believing the words she’d written. No. This couldn’t be goodbye. We’d been through all that shit and misery just to come through it and not be together?
No. I couldn’t let that happen.
I sat down on her bed and tried to figure out what to do. She was gone and I had no idea where she could be. Pregnant, alone…what if she got hurt? What if that asshole ex-boyfriend found her again? Where could she be? I had to find her.
My mind raced. She couldn’t have gotten too far on foot. Was she even on foot? Where was Gemma? Gemma must have taken her somewhere. Fucking Gemma! Did Alexandria know? Was that why she stopped me downstairs?
I hurriedly placed Angel on the bed and ran to the porch to see if Abbi was still close by. Fuck! I looked out and only saw water. My gut felt like someone was ripping me apart. Where was she? I had to find her.
“Abbi!” I yelled so loud my lungs hurt. “Abbi! Where are you?”
I yelled until I couldn’t anymore. I turned back into her room and Alexandria stood in the doorway. I saw it in her eyes. She knew something and wasn’t telling me.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Holding Abbi’s letter up, I shook my head as I felt the anger rise in me. This woman was keeping me from the woman I loved. I didn’t care why. I just knew she was in my way.
“Fine. I don’t have time to fuck around with you. But if I find out you had any part in why she left—if you turned her against me—I’ll find a way to make you pay. I don’t give a damn whose mother you are.”
I stuffed Abbi’s letter into my pocket and went for the door, but Alexandria stopped me and placed her hand on my forearm. “Stop. Let her be for a little while. She’s not in danger.”
“You know where she is? Tell me. Now.”
“She’s just confused, Kane. She thinks she’s the reason you do the things you do.”
This woman stood between me and my happiness, and every second I wasted with her was another second I didn’t get to spend with Abbi. “Alexandria, I’m going to give you about three seconds to tell me where she is.”
“Kane, she’s afraid and doesn’t know what to do. Let her have a little time.”
“She’s had six weeks to realize she doesn’t love me anymore. Time isn’t something that works in my favor.”
&
nbsp; “She thinks she’s ruined your life.”
“Why? Because you sat here for over a month and filled her head with how much she should hate me?”
Alexandria frowned and shook her head. “I meant what I said downstairs. I’m sorry you didn’t get to know your father, Kane. You deserved more than just money from him. If you had known him, maybe you wouldn’t be like you are.”
“This has nothing to do with who my father was,” I said as a lump formed in my throat. I couldn’t handle this on top of losing Abbi. “I can’t spend the rest of my life apologizing for being born and being the child no one wanted. I don’t want my son or daughter to feel that way. I have to find Abbi, and you can either step aside so I can get past you or stand in my way and deal with my demons, which at the moment can think of nothing else but finding the woman I love. Your choice.”
She stared up at me for a long moment with a look in her eyes that told me she was deciding what to do, but then without another word she stepped aside and let me by. I gave her one last chance to tell me where Abbi was. One last chance to be something other than the person who’d always hated me.
Stopping in front of her, I asked, “Will you please tell me where she is, if you know?”
“I can’t. I promised her I wouldn’t.”
“Why? Do you hate me that much that you want to see my one chance for happiness gone?”
“I don’t hate you, Kane. If anything, I’ve grown to think of you as another one of my sons because of the way Cassian and Stefan feel about you. I grew very fond of Abbi since she’s been here, and I know she loves you. Just give her some time.”
“Some time to do what, Alexandria? Realize she can’t live with the man I am and doesn’t want me in my child’s life?”
“Time to find the strength to be the person she needs to be to be with you.”
“What does that mean? I just want my Abbi, the person I fell in love with. Why is that a problem?”
Alexandria said nothing, and I knew I wasn’t going to get anything useful from her. She hated me, no matter what she said, and somehow had poisoned Abbi against me.