Find A Way Or Make One

by Kelley, E. C.

  I stare at Kye’s face, willing her to go on. When she doesn’t, I can’t help but ask, “So did you sleep with all the owners to get that job, or just the male owners?”

  Suddenly I hear a roar from the end of the table, and a strong slap from the back of a hand on my left cheek.

  One by one, the owners and the CEO of American Shipping and the CEO of American Operations, file out of my room. Well, shit. Guess I fucked that up too!

  20

  “The ends ALWAYS justify the means, especially when the ends help me.”

  Sable

  Sable

  Oh God. This is so, so, so fucked up. I have done everything I can to sever any emotional connection that Wyatt has with this girl; I am almost starting to think that he truly loves her. I am going to have to use the ammunition that Zan gave me. I had really hoped I didn’t have to use it, because it makes me look weak as fuck, but “when needs must,” and all that.

  As soon as we got back to the hotel, Wyatt went straight to his room and closed the door. I quickly make my way to my bedroom and open up the envelope that Zan gave me two days ago. I pull the magazine article an out and the version of the truth that Zan supplied me with.

  After a swift rap of my knuckles, and a muffled “what” from Wyatt, I ask him if I can come in for a minute. That there is something I have to show him. Once I go in, I see a newly opened bottle of Johnnie Walker sitting on the table in front of him.

  “Wyatt, I know that you know what happened to me eight years ago. And I wrestled with this a lot since I saw her standing at our door the other day, but I think you need to see this.

  I hand over the gossip magazine. I know what he will find; Pictures of Christien with that woman with the article about how he had cheated on his fiancé with an unidentified woman. After giving him a minute to process what he is reading, but not really fully process the pictures, I start with my pitch.

  “This girl you seem so hooked up on, is nothing more than a gold digging tramp. Eight years ago she tried to get to my fiancé by sleeping with him. Even though he saw through it, she still destroyed our relationship, and I am sure that she has tried the same thing with other rich men since then.”

  I make my way to him to offer him some “support,” but he flinches away. “Thank you Sable for letting me know the truth, but I need to be alone right now.”

  I wait until my face is facing toward the door, away from him before I let my smirk completely cover my face. My job is as good as done.

  21

  “How could one mother fucker be so mother fucking dumb?”

  Cale

  Wyatt

  I have been up all night, trying to make sense of everything, but I just can’t. I would never have believed that Kye, my Darlin’ Princess, would be such a mercenary bitch, but the proof is right here before my eyes. Damn, I feel like such a dumbass, but it all makes perfect sense now. Of course she didn’t have any qualms with leaving me and finding not one but two men to father her children, one of them being a fucking child. I meant nothing more to her than a second place meal ticket. Evidently, I had been easily replaceable and utterly forgettable. Hell, now she is a high level employee of a major shipping company and has the male owners eating out of the palm of her hand. She doesn’t need me.

  The pain I feel at realizing that all I was to the girl that was my world is an easy mark is almost more than I can stand. There is only one emotion that can bank this kind of pain; anger. Anger is so much easier to handle than pain, so I proceed to get gloriously, and blindingly angry. By the time that the rays of the rising sun filter into my room, I have worked up an anger of epic proportions.

  I rush into and then out of the shower, with one purpose on my mind; to confront Kye. I quickly and quietly get dressed; I so do not need to put up with Sable’s bullshit. I quickly leave the suite, and go down to the lobby to call a cab. I give the driver directions to the warehouse. Once we get there, I heavily tip him and promise that I will double that if he is still here when I am ready to leave in twenty minutes, so of course he agrees.

  I walk into the warehouse, and don’t even stop when Chip tries to stop me, but I just throw a punch and continue on walking. I walk in and look around for Kye. After a minute, I see her talking to her boy toy, T, Toby, whatever the hell you want to call him. The kid stands up and once again I am struck by the fact that he is at least four inches taller than me.

  “Well, well, well. If it isn’t Kye and her little piece on the side.” I see the kid instantly take a menacing step towards me. “Oh don’t worry, boy. I am not referring to your size, just your age. I hope you realize that all you will be is her dirty little secret, and quickly forgotten once she lands one of the men she is working and no doubt angling for. But don’t worry; I am sure she will come back to you eventually. After her little game of cat and mouse she came back to me. Just make her work fo…” I am so busy sneering at Kye; I don’t see the fist flying at me. The next thing I see is stars.

  ***

  The next thing I am aware of is the feel of a splash of water hitting my face. I instantly start to protest. When the water stops and I am able to wipe my face, I look up from my position on the floor and see Cale looking down on me. As I sit up and rub my sore jaw, Cale is squatting down so that we are eye to eye. “I told you mother fucker. I told you not to hurt her, but you just couldn’t stop yourself, could you? It’s amazing how fast your ‘I love her and have always loved her’ turned in to ‘she is such a whore.’ Care to tell me what changed your mind?”

  Cale rises to a standing position and steps back, giving me space so that I can do the same. After I reach a standing position, I look at Cale then look off to the side. “Because she has two children by two different daddies, and I was told last night that she is the reason that my marketing assistant’s engagement to some prince ended. She is just a gold digging whore that I was stupid enough to fall in love with.”

  Even as I say this, I know that it was a huge mistake. Cale looks furious at me, and takes a menacing step in my direction, with his fist raised. He takes a deep breath turns his back to me. After a moment, he starts to speak. “Ok, I am guessing that your assistant, Sable had a story to tell you?”

  “Yeah she did. She had pictures and a whole fucking article written up in some sleazy tabloid.”

  “Right, well if you are interested, I think I can shed some light on the subject, and I will. I just need you to do one thing.”

  Realizing that I have nothing to lose, I concede. “Alright, I’ll bite. What do you need me to do?”

  Cale sizes me up. “Meet me here tomorrow night at eight. Oh yeah, bring your tramp, I mean assistant. If I am right, she is going to want to be there, if only to defend herself.”

  “Look man, I know the truth, but what the hell? This ought to be good for shits and giggles at the very least.”

  Cale looks at me with a look I have never seen before, at least directed at me I hadn’t. Pity is written all over his face. After shaking his head, he slowly walks by me.

  “Tomorrow; eight o’clock; you and the president of Sluts R’ Us.” Then he mumbles something that I can’t quite make out.

  “What did you say?”

  He stops and turns to look at me. “I said, ‘Damn. How can one mother fucker be so motherfucking dumb?” Then he just turns around and walks out.

  22

  “I would have loved you anyway.”

  Trisha Yearwood, I would have loved you anyway

  Kye

  I just stood there and watched in amazement as Tiarnan knocked Wyatt out. It wasn’t until Cale, Chip, Crow, and even Sunny started clapping that I snapped out of it. “Shit T, I think I need to get you home before he wakes up. I really don’t want to watch you fight with him or anyone else.”

  Tiarnan let me lead him out of the warehouse, to our car, and then he let me drive us home. During the ride home, Tiarnan is uncharacteristically quiet. When we get to the house, I sta
rted talking to feel the empty space between us. “I am sorry Tiarnan, I should have explained that you were my son to Wyatt the very first time that he made that asinine insinuation, but honestly I was so damn insulted I really just didn’t give a damn what he thought. Now he seems to think you are basically my gigolo. I will meet up with him later tonight and tell him the truth.”

  Tiarnan stares at me without really seeing me for a long moment. Finally, after clearing his throat, he turns his back to me and begins to speak. “No Mamacita, you don’t have to call him. I could care less about what he thinks. But I have finally realized that I have to tell you the truth about me and Cian.”

  He begins pacing up and down the living room, running his hand repeatedly through his hair. Oh shit, my boy is nervous. I don’t want him to be nervous. “Tiarnan, you have to know that there is nothing that you can tell me that will make me love you or Cian any less.”

  Tiarnan stops pacing and lets out a loud snort. “Really? How about the fact that the monster that got you raped is my father? Or that Cian could be his son too? Or he might be mine? How do you feel about us now?”

  Well, here it is. He has finally decided to come clean with me. In a very ironic way, I feel like I should send Wyatt a thank you card for this. “Oh sweetie, I guess I have a few things to tell you as well. Like I have always known who your father was, since the first week you came to live with me, and I talked to the head of my division at the DEA to find out what mission Toby had been on. From there it was pretty easy to deduce who was your biological father. I also know who Cian’s father is too, and it sure as hell isn’t you. You have loved him enough to be his father, though. Hell, since the very beginning you have loved Cian, and then Seamus with such tenacity that it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.”

  By this time Tiarnan is sitting in the loveseat opposite the couch that I am sitting on. His head is down and he keeps repeatedly tapping his fingers together. When he finally looks up at me, I can see tears threatening to fall from his eyes. He starts to speak, but gets choked up and has to look away for a moment. When he finally looks back at me I see past the tears to the emotions warring with each other in his eyes. Hope, fear, hate, and shame; they are all there but the two winners are hope and fear. “How do you know? That Cian is not my son I mean?” His voice became so soft that I could barely make out the last part of the question.

  “Sweetie, I have been around enough soldiers and victims to recognize PTSD when I see it, and you had all the classic symptoms, night terrors especially. When you used to get caught up in the most vicious o+f the night terrors, you used to scream and shout. I couldn’t make out everything you said, but I could make out enough to realize that Cian’s questionable paternity was at the root of most of your pain. I discreetly had a DNA test done on both of you. He is your brother, not you son.”

  Tiarnan bows his head again. When he starts talking again, he refuses to look up at me, and that breaks my heart.

  “Regardless of how cruel and malicious he was, the woman that gave birth to me loved him; even though he never loved her. She eventually turned to Heroin to numb the pain, and would pawn her body in order to forget. She died when I was ten of an overdose, and I was forced to live with him, even though he made no bones about despising me.

  When I was fourteen, I caught the eye of one of his favored whores. He wasn’t paying her enough attention at the time so she decided she would get it from me instead. At first, I thought that I was getting back at him for all the harm that he had done to me and my mother. I thought that the blow to his pride alone was worth being used like I was nothing more than a vibrator with a person attached to it. I soon realized that he knew and just didn’t care. Shortly after that, I realized that she was doing a lot more to me than using my body; she was destroying my very soul. I told her to never touch me again, and she laughed and told me that Zan had given me to her to use as she pleased.

  Not long after that, she went away for about seven months and when she came back she dumped a baby in my lap and told me I could take care of it or throw it in the river, but she sure didn’t want it. About that time, TB tried to bring Zandoville down. The day before he launched his take down, he gave me the letter and told me to get myself and the kid to you; that you would take care of us. I told him that I had been taking care of myself for a long time now and he asked me how that was going so far. I knew then I had to give the baby that could be my brother or my son a better life than what I had had so far. I honestly wasn’t going to stay with you, just drop the kid off and go, but you wouldn’t let me,” he finishes with a lopsided smile.

  I slowly get up and walk over to sit beside my oldest baby. “Why didn’t you tell me? I could have helped you get through this, just like Daddy Samee and my mom did for me.”

  He takes in a sharp breath. “You mean you don’t hate me?”

  I pull him into a hug. “You have been my son since the first day I met you. Nothing ever would or could change that.”

  He pulls back from me with a frown painted over his face. “What if I had been Cian’s dad? Obviously that bothered you enough to do a DNA test.”

  Now I am getting slightly pissed. I grab his face with both hands and pull his head down so that our foreheads are touching and I am looking into his eyes. “Now listen here. I wouldn’t have cared about you being his father or not. I did that test so that when you ever felt ready to tell me about your fears, I could tell you the truth; regardless of what it is. Who your father is or who Cian’s father is doesn’t matter to me. If the test had said you were his father, it wouldn’t have made any difference. I would have loved you anyway.”

  At that last statement, Tiarnan pulls me in for a hug and lays his head on my shoulder and cries.

  23

  “I had the girl, but never really had her heart. You had the girl AND her heart and you threw them both away.”

  Christien

  Wyatt

  As I sit in the commons area of the suite, waiting for Sable to get ready, I think about all the possible outcomes of tonight’s meeting, I realize that there was really no reason for me to go through with this, this...this farce. Being completely gracious, I concede in my mind that Sable may not have been completely truthful when she said that she was engaged to this prince. Knowing what I know of the girl, she was probably sleeping with the guy and Kye stepped in and the prince’s attention was diverted. Cale obviously thought that since no promises had been made that it would prove Kye’s innocence. Kye’s innocence; what complete and utter bullshit! She might not have destroyed a relationship, but she had gone after the guy for mercenary reasons. She had used her body and her skill in bed to enthrall him. I can’t call her a whore, my own pride won’t stand for thinking of a girl I love as a whore, but in my mind she is pretty damn close.

  So I have to ask myself; why am I actually going through with this? It won’t make Kye into the woman I thought she was; nothing can. But it will finally get Sable out of my life. After Cale proves that she wasn’t really engaged to the prince, she will be so embarrassed that she will slink off, never to be seen or heard from again.

  Finally the door to her room opens and she appears; dressed in a tight, short red dress that should be flattering, but only makes her look desperate. When I asked her if she would go out to eat with me tonight, I could see the smirk that she quickly suppressed. She thought she had finally snagged me, and that tonight she could go in for the kill. If nothing else, it would be satisfying to watch her get hers. I know it doesn’t make sense, but even though I know in my head that everything that I have lost is because Kye is not who I thought she was, in my heart I still associate Sable with the pain that I have felt. I can’t wait until she is finally gone and she can’t get her mom to pull anymore strings.

  Standing up, I give her a slow once over; even though the sight of her makes my skin crawl. “Nice. Before we go to dinner, we have to go to a quick meeting. Shouldn’t take more than fifteen, twenty m
inutes tops.”

  Sable doesn’t seem to like this idea. She started trying to prettily pout, but I just grabbed her arm and walked us out the door. I had given the cab driver directions that would take us to the warehouse in such a roundabout way that I knew she would never realize where we were actually going until we got there.

  When we finally did reach the warehouse, the pretty pout was replaced with perhaps the ugliest and most belligerent expression that I had seen her wear. “Why are we here Wyatt baby? I don’t like being anywhere she might show up. You understand that, right?”

  I let out a small, bark of a laugh. “Sable, I can guarantee that she will not be there.” I really could too. Earlier today, Cale had called me to confirm that I would be there, and I had asked if there was any way that he could keep my interaction with Kye to a minimum, he had just laughed.

  “I can assure you, Kye won’t be there tonight. She has already met her quota of bullshit for one lifetime if I have anything to say about it.”

  The fact that Kye would not be there to plead her case was confusing. “How does Kye think she is going to get me to change my mind about her if she is not there?”

  My question was met with a long, drawn out silence. When Cale finally spoke, I could all but taste his hostility. “Fucker, I don’t think you are getting the point of this little meet and greet tonight. The sole purpose of tonight isn’t to get you and Kye to ride off into the sunset, happily ever after. That ship has done sailed, and I don’t think you could ever get it back again. No, the point of tonight is to make sure that you know the truth about what you threw away, so that it haunts you every day of your miserable life.”

  Well hell. That sure as hell put me in my place. Kye sure has a protector in my former Seal team member. I can’t understand how Kye was able to get him to turn on his brother as much as he has, so I ask him. “What the hell has Kye done to make you her number one fan?”