M.O. Kenyan's Blog, page 8

BROKEN HEARTS

“I can’t believe you are doing this.”

A firm hand on his shoulder made Drew turn around. He was still lost in a permutation of emotions, one of the profound ones being pure ecstasy they other utter disbelief. Around him gathered a group of men he had called brothers since college, and closest to him was a man he had known since birth. They practically shared a crib, Drew and Simon. Now he was his best man and there was no other man he would have had next to him when he took vows that would complete him as a man, which would make him responsible for not only his life but the life of his wife and those of the children that would soon follow. In a few moments he would marry the woman that completed his existence, the love he had cultivated and nurtured since he was in preschool.

“Are you even listening to me or are still daydreaming,” Simon said.

Drew turned to his friend with a smile, “Dude I am getting married today and you are going to walk me down that aisle even if you are kicking and screaming.”

“I’m just saying,” Simon shrugged a cheeky smile tucked behind his ears. “We all saw what happened to Leo over here. He got married, had a baby and retired his man card.”

“Ha! Ha!” Leo faked a bellow. “Don’t listen to this idiot.”

Drew looked at his best friend one after the other. Side by side you could see the eternal differences between the two. Leo Ramsey was a homebody, a man who was more of an anchor, Atlas, than he was a person. As for Simon, he chased fun whenever he could find it, or he created it. He was the centre of attention the source of all trouble. Drew knew that there was a rivalry between the tow. Not that they were fighting over him, but they had different ideals of what life was. Leo saw fulfillment and passion whereas Simon only saw passion. They were like the devil and angel on his shoulders. Drew always felt that Simon resented Leo in a way. Leo was a self-made billionaire. At twenty six he was managing multi-million dollar accounts in Chicago while he managed eight companies in eight different states. While Simon had been educated by Drew’s father ever since his mother worked for them, and when his mother died his father took him under his wing. Simon had come up with one business venture after the other none of them succeeding. He just didn’t seem to have the talent that Drew and Leo had.

“Today is a great day, Simon.” And Drew believed that. It had taken him one afternoon with Leo’s new family to know he desired one of his own and he wanted it with Lindsey. “Today I get married, tomorrow I buy a house and the day after that I start my family.”

“Boring!” Simon bellowed. “What you should be thinking is where your bachelor’s pad is going to be, somewhere very far away from your house. The last thing you want is for your wife and your mistress to run into each other at Wal-Mart and exchange pumpkin pie recopies.”

“Drew isn’t a player. He loves Lindsey and he would never betray her. When he puts on that wedding ring today it will be for life,” Leo put in.

“Yawn, let’s not listen to Mr. Mum. All he does is work and go home. Marriage is the place where fun goes to die. After the engagement ring, wedding ring comes the suffering, the crying, the trusting and you know what else, the bore-ring.”

“Well, we can’t all have your exciting life can we, Simon.” A cynical smile and Leo went on, “Directing our attentions where they are not wanted.”

Drew caught the look his two best friends exchanged. On any other day he would try to decipher it and defuse the situation. But today was his wedding day and it was going to be all about him. “Time out girls. I will have peace today.”

The door to one of the chapel’s private rooms opened and in walked Drew ailing but determined father. “Are we ready?”

“We are still trying to change his mind, Christopher,” There was a note of seriousness in Simon’s tone of voice that told Drew that they were past the joking stage. However, he was going to ignore it.

“I’m ready dad.”

“Good thing we didn’t have to twist your arm with this marriage business. You know that as soon as I bite the dust you only had one month to get married,” Christopher said.

“It’s a stupid and unnecessary rule, dad.”

“Your grandfather meant it for me. I was a bit of a wild thing in the past.”

“Don’t remind me,” Drew groaned. He was the evidence of his father’s wild days and those moments were accompanied by pictures and videos. It scarred him for life seeing his father take belly shots from his mother. He shook off the disturbing memory and stepped by his father’s side. “Besides, you know that you are going to outlive us all.”

“I don’t need to. The only thing I want is to see my grandchild before I leave this world.”

“Soon, father.”

“That’s blackmail,” Simon piped in.

“Shut up you idiot,” Leo silenced him.

“Let’s get this show on the road.”

***

Drew made his way up to the honeymoon suite of the Hilton Hotel. Excited couldn’t describe the army of butterflies causing chaos in his belly. He took off his jacket and slung it over his shoulder. With his free hand he pulled the bowtie loose and unbuttoned the two first buttons of his tuxedo shirt. Lindsey had looked beautiful that morning, her blonde hair tied at the back of her head, making her striking face the centre of exhibit. She was stunning; he couldn’t remember what she was wearing because all he saw were her brilliant blue eyes and the gentle smile on her lips. Drew took out the keycard from his pocket and opened the door.

Music that was what he expected to hear. Lindsey in her wedding night lingerie was what he expected to see. But that wasn’t what was before him. He heard the heaving of breaths, the moaning and cursing of passionate lovers, a scream that announced a woman’s climax and a grunt that showed a man’s pride and contentment. He saw the rise and fall of Lindsey’s full round bottom and knees that weren’t his own. But just then, the curtain that Lindsey’s hair had formed hiding the man’s face was pulled back. Drew came face to face with the man that robbed him of his special night. He stared into Simon’s pleased face with looks that mirrored that of a proverbial cat caught with cream, a smug, satisfied, knowing smile playing across his lips.

Drew retreated out of the room silently and took his phone out of his pocket. “Leo, get me an annulment. Now!”

Drew went back in the room and found Lindsey hurriedly gathering her robe and trying to tie it to hide her naked body. It was clear that she had finally sensed his presence. But he wasn’t sure if she had heard what he had said.

“Listen,” she started then faltered. “You guys share everything.”

Drew nodded. He dropped his jacket into a seat next to him. “Simon, I was wondering where you went. Do you want a drink?”

Simon remained silent. Drew went to the bar and poured them each a glass of whiskey on ice. “What about you wife, white wine or would you like something more substantial?”

“I just thought-,” Apparently Lindsey didn’t know what she thought. She remained silent and with a trembling hand accepted the glass of white wine Drew offered. “Pass this on to your lover will you.”

“I don’t want anything.” Now dressed in just his slacks, Simon sat back in an armchair his knee crossed over the other. He had an aura of self-imposed importance.

“What? You can fuck my woman but not drink my whiskey.” Drew sat back in his own chair. “I don’t know what offends me more, that you consummated this marriage for me or that you are insulting my hospitality. You have taken so many liberties already, Simon, what’s one more.”

Drew’s fingers dug into the soft cushion of his armchair. He saw red, the blood boiling on the surface of his skin. He wanted to kill the both of them but he wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of seeing him crumble.

“I think it would be best if Simon left and we talked,” Lindsey said the fear obvious in her eyes.

“We have nothing to talk about, honey.” He forced a sweet tone from his lips. “I think you already know where we go from here. We are just waiting for-,” Just then there was a knock on the door. “-here they are.”

Leo and his father Judge Ramsey walked into the room. They froze at the sight of the room. Lindsey and Simon’s destructive passion left little to the imagination.

“I assume-,” Leo begun.

“Yes-,” Drew said.

“And you want-,”

“Exactly-,”

“Father-,”

“It’s done. I’ll call the clerk back he can give you the honors Drew,” the judge said.

“He doesn’t need to bring back the marriage certificate. He can set it on fire wherever he is.” Drew stood and picked up his jacket.

“You can’t just cancel our marriage.” Lindsey shrieked.

“The certificate wasn’t filed. If he burns it up its like we never signed it, and I’m sure Judge Ramsey and my lawyer Leo will take care of any problems that will arise,” Drew said in the calmest tone he could master.

“You can count on us, Drew. In fact-,” Leo marched to where Simon was and drew back his arm. He punched Simon with such force it sent him and the chair toppling. “Drew might be too good to give you the beating you deserve but as his best friend it was my duty to see that you get what’s owed to you. Oh, and by the way, you are fired.”

“You can’t do that!” Simon jumped to his feet yelling. “I don’t work for you.”

“Well, let’s call it one of my best friend duties. And Lindsey, by the time Drew gets back to the apartment your shit better be out of there.” Leo walked past her to stand by Drew’s side.

Drew looked at his friend and words failed him. What was he supposed to say, I’m grateful you could do what I can’t because I am a spineless idiot. So instead he said, “Where exactly am I going.”

“On your honeymoon, I think it’s only fair that you reconnect with your inner self.” Leo ushered Drew out of the room.

It was when they got to the elevator did Drew discover that Leo had been holding him up the whole time. Leo put him in a corner and Drew crumbled to the ground. Sobs racked his body as tears blinded him. Leo crouched beside him a sympathetic smile on his face.

“What do you need?”

“Your Ferrari. I need a drive.” Drew slowly sobered up.

“If you are going to crush it, make sure you are not inside it.”

Drew felt Leo press him car keys into his palm. “Thanks friend.”

Drew got in his feet when the bell rand and walked into his father’s arms. Christopher’s face was contorted in anger, but there was sadness in his eyes. “Are we going for a drive?”

“Most definitely.”

***

Piper sat on the window seat eating the vanilla flavored ice cream she got from the hospital cafeteria. She stared at the unconscious man on the bed. She watched as his chest rose and fell with every breath he took. She was a night nurse and had started sitting in Mr. Wyatt’s room ever since he had the accident. He had kept on crashing and she wanted to be ready when next his monitor beeped red. At times she would come during the day and sit with his mother Maya as she read to him. Sometimes she would take a turn reading to him. He had been here just two weeks, brought in after his Ferrari wrapped itself around a pole leaving his father dead and him in a coma. Usually Piper distanced herself from patients and their families but it was hard to ignore the pain in Maya’s eyes. She could still remember the woman’s wails when she found out her husband had died. Piper had wrapped her arms around her trembling body trying to pull her out of the trauma room and had ended up comforting the woman the whole night.

Drew that was her son’s name, he had just gotten married. But Piper had not seen his wife until the second day. She had come in with one of Drew’s friends, Simon. But after a fight with Leo, they had been thrown out. Piper had stood at a close distance watching as the drama unraveled before her. She had come to know Leo and his wife Amanda well, and from the pain in Leo’s eyes it was easy to tell that he loved his best friend. Piper never asked for details and they never offered.

Piper got off the window seat to peek her head out of the hospital room. It was silent, almost like a graveyard. This wing of the hospital usually was at this time of night. The coma wing wasn’t her usual duty, she was a trauma nurse. But she had promised Leo and Maya that she would look after Drew. A promise she should not have made in the first place. Piper went back to the bed and looked over Drew. He was so still, except for the rise and fall of his chest he looked dead. His skin was pale a huge contrast to his jet black hair. Every inch of his flesh was solid muscle. His jaw pronounced, the skin at the corner of his lips and eyes crinkled, telling her that he liked to smile and laugh. His lips were full, and even though there was a tube in his mouth it didn’t take away from his facial beauty. Not even the bandages on his chest, his broken arm or leg could mar his physical perfection.

“You are kind of beautiful, who am I kidding. You are the man of my dreams.” Piper stroked back his hair, fighting the sensation that the silky tresses made between her fingers and in her chest. “Piper Summers, only you would fall in love with a man in a coma.” Her finger traced his jaw line and his full lips, “I want to know what makes you smile and laugh so much. You must have so much joy in your life. So silent, alright I’ll go first, I laugh because there is so much pain in this world that I grab the first opportunity to celebrate the joy. I smile because with so much despair, there is still beauty in this world. I smile because, my heart won’t let me rest, and my mind fantasizes about the two of us.” A hot tear rolled down Piper’s cheek, “I can’t explain what you do to me. You make me want to laugh and cry at the same time. I can’t breathe when I’m close to you, and I can’t bare it when I’m away from you. You are driving me crazy and I don’t even know the color of your eyes… or… or how your lips feel against mine.”

Piper caressed his cheek and leaned in. Her eyes closed when their faces came close to touching. And when she kissed him, she felt life breathed into her. How she lived before this moment, she didn’t know.

***

I take you Lindsey Miller to be my wife, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, in richness and in poor till death do us part.

Death, that was what chased after him that night.

“Slow down son,” his father’s voice echoed in his head.

Drew pushed the pedal to the metal and nothing happened. Fear gripped his heart as furiously kicked the brake pedal. “Dad, it’s not working.”

“Son, I love you.”

The sound of metal crumpling, the smell of burning gasoline assaulted his senses. Then, the pain crippled him.

“Shhh! You’re okay. I’m here with you.” The melodic voice consumed him. He felt pressure on his lips then it disappeared. “You’re okay.” The voice said again. Was it an angel? I’m I dead? “Open your eyes. Don’t be afraid. I’m here with you. You’re okay, open your eyes.”

Drew did as he was told. As much as his whole body hurt, he forced himself to obey her command. At first, the bright light burned his eyes and he wanted to close them. But his desire to see his angel was much greater.

“There you go… blue,” she said.

Now he was confused. Drew tried to talk but he couldn’t. His throat was raw and there was something sticking out at the corner of his mouth. He tried to reach for it but his hand wouldn’t move.

“Don’t panic, you’re okay. I’m here with you.”

How could he panic with her sweet calming voice reassuring him? He looked at her and studied the dark planes of her face, honey brown eyes smiling at him. He breathed her in and her flowery scent masked the sterile smell in the air and the memory of burning rubber.  Chocolate, he wanted to say, she reminded him of chocolate in summer.  A strange comparison, but that was what he felt.

“Drew, I’m Piper. I’m your nurse. We can’t take the tube out just yet. I know it’s a bother but bare with it for a little while.” When she moved away from the bed he used his other hand to grab her hand. His fingers tightened around her wrist with a strength he didn’t think he possessed anymore. He was scared and he didn’t want her to leave him. He obviously wouldn’t admit to it, but that was how he felt. And as if she could read his mind, she said, “Don’t be scared. I’m just going to get a doctor.”

Drew felt her delicate fingers try to pry him open, but he wasn’t letting go. She chuckled then conceded defeat.

“Alright then, I’ll just use the bell. I won’t leave you.”

Drew wanted to shout no, he didn’t want anyone else in the room with them. He focused his gaze on her eyes. They held such beauty and comfort, almost healing and all he wanted was to get lost in them. However, he was soon robbed of his moment as a team of doctors and nurses rushed to the room. All ordered to give him the best of care by Leo, or his mother and father. Dad.

He tightened his grip around her wrist bring her attention back to him once more and stopping her from explaining his condition to the doctors. He couldn’t talk but he needed for her to understand him. Piper stroked his cheek and a gentle smile played on her lips. She didn’t understand.

“He’s getting agitated,” Drew heard a man say.

“You don’t have to sedate him, doctor. He doesn’t want to go back to sleep,” Piper championed him.

“That’s not your decision,” the doctor said.

“Shhh! Just rest.”

Drew wasn’t sure if it was Piper stroking his hair that finally lulled him to sleep or if it was the drugs they gave him. But he fell asleep, with the sound of Piper’s voice echoing in his ears.

When Drew woke up it was morning. His surroundings seemed to have changed. He chewed on his mouth and realized the tube was out. He remembered everything that happened that night, the accident and the sound of his angel’s voice, “Piper.”

“Son!”

It wasn’t Piper’s soothing tone that called out to him; he wasn’t staring at the last embers of sunset that were her brown eyes. Instead he was looking into a blue ocean filled with worry, fear and relief, the eyes of his mother. It was the relief that told him what he wanted to know, and the fact that his father wasn’t hovering over him, his forehead full of frown lines as he fretted over his only child and son. The place where his father was supposed to be was empty and it wasn’t because Christopher chose to not be at Drew’s side. It was because he couldn’t. Only death could separate Christopher from his wife and son.

“It’s going to be okay,” Drew winced at how raw his throat felt.  He smacked his lips trying to rid his tongue of the coppery hue of blood that settled there.

Maya laid her head on his bandaged chest and cried. Drew held his own tears at bay as he combed his fingers through her curly tresses.  He didn’t know what to do, so he copied Piper’s words, “It’s okay. I’m here with you.” His right hand was the one in use, so he rubbed his mother’s back, stroked her cheek and patted her arm. It was the only thing he could do. Never in his life had he felt so impotent, so useless, and so guilty. He had stolen his father from his mother, the worst crime any son could commit against his mother. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

The conviction behind her statement startled him. “I was driving, I had been drinking, and I was so distraught. It was my fault mommy,” Drew cried.

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MY PATH

The darkness seemed to take shape inside my head, like black roses blossoming behind my eye lids. Then something strange happened, something absolutely insane. I was standing in the far corner of the room watching as he stomped his foot into something on the ground.

I moved closer. Cautiously I took a few quick steps towards him, and then stopped. I watched in disbelief. I was watching, no witnessing myself being beaten into a pulp, being stepped on like a little bug that didn’t have a single worth in the world. The sound of his grunts and curses echoed deep into the thick air. His voice ringing, burning in my ears. I could taste the blood in my mouth warm and coppery. Then as his foot lifted in the air one more time I cringed away, closing my eyes sure that this would be the final blow…

I’m not quite sure how I got here. In a puddle of my own blood, hurting so much that my body turned numb. I became one of those, you know who I’m talking about… the punching bags. I was once a woman so proud, my head held high. A head full of legal knowledge, by the way. But apparently not much of common sense. I should have followed my heart and kept my head, my fears and worries on mute. So how did I get here, love led me here, that’s how.

Two years earlier….

I walked into my Papa’s house, excited to be home. Breathing in that nostalgic scent of home a sense of belonging hit me. I was home. I was finally home. After years of studying and toiling to be what my Papa expected of me, this is where I wanted to be.

My Papa’s hacienda was in Sultepec, Toluca Mexico. The country side was beautiful and peaceful, a total contrast to the busy cities of Spain. This was the time that I needed to wind down before going to my new job in Mexico City. Papa had managed to get his friend to employ me at his law firm. I would like to think that my exceptional grades got me in, but the truth was, Senor Montero was my god-father and he felt obligated to give me a job. Sure enough with a little twist of the arm from my father, he agreed.

But that didn’t matter, I was home and I was free to enjoy the things that I denied myself for almost fifteen years. My father had sent me away when I was twelve. He either didn’t know what to do with a teenage girl, or he didn’t need a reminder of what he had lost. Staring at me every single day ever since my mother’s death, could have been too much for him.

I stepped out of the house, the bull pen where they trained the horses in front of me. Inside it, a man’s half naked body stared at me, teasing me invitingly. I almost didn’t notice the huge white stallion next to him. With the way his head was bent, the rim of his Stetson hid the better part of his face. But his lips were visible, twisted in a scowl, but that didn’t take away from their beauty. They were thick, full kissable lips. As for the rest of his body everything was bare for my scrutiny. His muscled chest glistened with sweat, and as he pulled the horse’s reigns, the muscles in his hands and chest tightened, the muscles in his jean clad thighs seemed like they were about to tear through the denim for freedom. What I would give to be that man’s main focus for just a second. Or an hour.

But just as my fantasies were running away with me, I had someone call my name, so I went back into the house. I could hear dragged footsteps and light thudding coming up behind me, and I immediately knew who it was. Years had gone by, but the sound of my grandmother’s footsteps had stayed with me.

“Elita,” She called in her husky Mexican accent, “Come here baby, give your grandmother a hug.” She held her wrinkled arms out to me and like a little girl, I rushed into them.

“Abuela how are you?” I gave her a hug and rested my head on her chest. I had dreamt of this for so many nights and finally getting to do it seemed like another dream.

“My baby, mi niña, how have you been?” She held me at arms length, taking in an eye full. I knew what she was going to say so I braced myself, “Why are you so thin?”

“I’m not thin.” I laughed through clouded eyes, my heart souring. “Where is Papa?”

“Where else would he be. He’s outside with the horses. Sometimes I think he prefers their company to mine.” I helped her into a chair, and then knelt at her feet. It felt like Christmas all over again, when I would unwrap gifts at her feet while she combed her bony fingers through my silk y locks.

“Go and see your Papa, I know you want to. I will tell Maria to make your favorite food.”

Maria was the cook and also an elderly woman. It was a wonder that she was still working for my father. “Maria is still here. I’ll go to the kitchen later and see her. Right now I’m going to find Papa. Will you be alright by yourself?”

“Sure I will.”

I ran out the sliding glass doors, the first thing I noticed were that the man with the horse was no longer there. Disappointed, I headed for the stables. Papa loved his horses more than anything else in his world; well not as much as he did me, hopefully.

“Papa!” I called out once I was in range. The stench that came out of the stables was terrible. It seemed to have formed an invisible screen wall that I dared not walk through. I stood a safe distance away, but still made sure that he could hear me. “Papa!” I called out again, a little louder this time.

“Gabriella,” he exclaimed happily as he walked the distance that I wouldn’t, “Mija, how have you been? Did the driver come for you in time?” He hugged me with all the dirt and straws of hay that he had picked up from the stables.

“I would have preferred it if you picked me up, but I see you’re busy with the horses.” I gave him a kiss on his forehead as I always did, but soon regretted it when a salt taste was left on my lips.

“I’m sorry one of the fouls was sick. I hope you understand.” He gave me a look that I couldn’t stay mad at.

“It’s fine Papa.” I gave him a kiss and hugged him as tight as I could, soaking up the love he had for me, and the sweat.

“Senor Lombardo, the foul seems to be fine.” A voice called from the barn. The deep velvety baritone rumble burrowed to my core.

“Tony, just leave it and come out here.” Papa instructed.

A feeling of excitement tickled me, but at the same time I was waiting to be disappointed. Most of the time I had seen men with booming husky tones but their voices never matched their bodies. But I wasn’t disappointed. Tony walked out of the barn and his sweaty body glistened in the sun. He looked like the picture that you only saw on the cover of novels or the leading men in the intoxicating telenovelas. His tanned skin brought out the beautiful almost hazel color of his eyes. His blonde hair was kept short and tidy, as his six pack abs were neatly stacked against each other.

I was hypnotized. Every sense in my body was drawn to him. I didn’t hear what the two men said. And when I saw him stretch his hand out, I took it, and immediately a million volts of energy soared through my body and landed on home plate. I almost purred like a fourteen year old girl faced by her first crush.

“It’s nice to meet you, Senorita Gabriella.”

I hang onto his tongue as he rolled the ‘r’ in my name. His voice went through my ears and fogged my head once more. My eyes were going into shock, roving from his eyes to his weakening smile, to the muscles in his arms then to his abs, knowing not what to look at next. I was in limbo, but a nudge from Papa cleared it all out. I cleared my throat and tried to get a grip on my hysterical hormones.

“You can call me Ela or Elita. My grandmother calls me Elita, Papa just calls me Ela. But you can call me whatever you want, Gabriella is fine too.” I was rumbling and soon I was out of breath. I breathed in through my nose and tried to play it cool, “It is nice to meet you too.” In my mind the direct translation was, come and get me cowboy!

“I think your father would prefer if I called you Senorita Gabriella.” He smiled once more and a slight whimper escaped my throat and a gasp from my lips, my hand flew to my mouth too late to save me from the embarrassment.

Tony’s broad beautiful face went into a smile.

Dear Lord.

His smile was my kryptonite and slowly this stranger was breaking down my walls brick by brick.

“I would,” Papa said.

Of course he would. Ever since I was a child father needed me to make a distinction between the servants and friends. ‘They are our employees not our friends’ he always said. But under no circumstance was I going to let Tony see me as his superior. I intended to be his equal and eventually his friend, and maybe something more, but much later on.

“Maybe you could take me for a ride sometime.” It sounded innocent in my head but the sly smile on Tony’s face told me different. At least, his mind was on the same wave length as mine, “On the horses, I mean. To see the fields, that is if you are not working.”

“Of course Senorita, I’m sure your father would also like to join us.” Tony in turn invited my father, awesome.

“Sure.” Papa smiled at me and I smiled back.

If Tony was one of his son’s friends, wealthy and powerful he would have never thought of inviting himself to my date. Papa and I walked back to the house and every couple of seconds I turned back and stole glances of Tony. He was a hunk of a man and all of me wanted him.

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LOVE & WAR

Guillermo de Castillo watched helplessly as they lowered the coffin of his twin brother into the ground. Surrounded by the rest of the de Castillo head stones he knew that Fabio wouldn’t be lonely. But here in the land of the living he was the only de Castillo left. However that was not entirely true, Maya, Fabio’s little girl was still alive, and somewhere in Miami. He couldn’t believe that Fabio’s girlfriend hadn’t turned up. She hadn’t even bothered bringing Fabio’s daughter to say goodbye to her father. It was the least she could do after she had led Fabio down the path of drugs and alcohol. Fabio had been disowned by their grandfather leaving him with nothing at the time of the old man’s death. Guillermo had offered to take Fabio through rehab, give him a job since he couldn’t do anything about their grandfather’s will. Fabio had seemed willing, and then Guillermo got the call that his brother, his only relative was dead.

Rage burned white hot under his skin and all he could see was red. His brother was dead, found with a needle in his arm. He wished he could have gone to Miami sooner, but business in New York had kept him away. He also wished that Fabio had never met that girl…what was her name again, Ruby, Riley…it was something. Guillermo was determined to find his niece Maya and take her away from the life her mother offered.

Three months later…

“Okay its now time for fun,” Guillermo looked down the long boardroom table at his friend Alvin. The guy was a complex person to understand. He loved having fun and was a ruthless business man in equal measure. Guillermo was always one thing. He had been in the army so being serious was ingrained in his mind. He inherited a construction company so he didn’t have time to be carefree and fun loving like Alvin.

“No. I’m not interested in having any sort of fun,” Guillermo said the corner of his lips tugging into a smile.

“Look, it’s your birthday, Willy, it’s time to have some fun.”

Alvin dogged his heels trying to entice him to go on a night out in Miami. But Willy could think of a bunch of reason not to go, but one stood out. This would be the first birthday he would be celebrating alone. Fabio was gone, he was no longer a twin, and he was just on his own. But maybe that too was a reason to go out, for Fabio.

“Okay, I’ll go. But I am not staying past midnight.”

“What! Are you a teenage girl? Should I ask your daddy for permission to court you then steal your virtue when he isn’t looking?” Alvin teased.

“First of all, why was that the first thing that came to your mind? Secondly don’t be such a teenage boy and third, I have a meeting tomorrow that I need to be fresh for.”

“I thought they taught you how to take power naps in the army?”

“Yes, they also taught us discipline. Midnight, that’s my offer, take it or leave it.”

“All right, but what happens when you meet a nice honey with a great booty,” Alvin smacked his lips.

Willy turned to look at him. At times he didn’t understand why he was friends with the man. They were complete opposites. Except their height and build the two had nothing in common. “I have no problem with getting laid, Alvin. That said, I will not be taking any harpy home with me.”

“Harpy!” Alvin’s hand shot to his chest in mock pain, “You just wounded me bro. They are not harpies. They are misguided girls with daddy issues. And you don’t take them to your place you nitwit, you take them to a hotel. You wine and dine them. They you tattoo your name on that ass and slip out before the sun comes up.”

“No, I’m not going to spend all that money on a woman I don’t intend on seeing again,” Willy walked into his office and dumped his files on his desk.

“Hallo, news flash. You are Guillermo de Castillo the president of a group of construction companies and a billionaire to boot. So what if you spend five thousand to get quality ass. It is your human, God given, legal right to do so.”

“I can’t believe you said that,” Willy laughed. This was the reason Alvin was the only friend he had. He was just the right amount of crazy that Willy needed in his life. Willy had always been so serious, so straight laced. So through Alvin, he lived the wild life. “Let’s go before I change my mind. Midnight and I am not taking any one home.”

Midnight? Is Cinderella about to turn into a pumpkin?

Willy sat ramrod straight in his bed as he watched the bartender from the club try to sneak out. How the hell had they ended up here together. Willy cleared her throat and the girl jumped.

“Jesus Christ, you scared me,” she said as she started picking up the things she had just dropped.

“Were you just going to sneak out? You don’t want any coffee?” Willy couldn’t believe he was the one asking these questions.

“Uhmmm, no,” she said in such a matter of fact tone. “We are both grown ups. Let’s call this what it really is, a one night stand. You brought me to a classy up scale hotel, we had sex, now it’s time for me to leave. Let’s not make this anymore awkward than it is.”

“First of all, this is where I live. Second you are the first girl I brought back here and third who said I won’t want to call you again?”

“First of all, why do you always have to list every point you want to make, second to infinity, I have a life, responsibilities and someone who depends on me not to fuck up again. Once in a life time is enough,” she muttered the last part.

“Are you married?”

“Hell no. Marriage is just a form of modern day slavery.”

“I have no idea how to respond to that,” Willy scrubbed his fingers through his hair in frustration.

“Why because I’m black and you are quasi white?” she smiled then laughed, a sound that warmed him from tip to toe.

“You are very beautiful.”

That seemed to sober her up immediately. She pulled her jacket on and begun to back pedal toward the door, “Listen Billy-,”

“-Willy.”

“-Willy, shit I’m such a screw up. You were great at that,” she pointed the bed. “Really, really great.”

“Thanks.”

“But I don’t do things like this. I was just celebrating something and you reminded me of someone, and then you touched me with those very, very, skillful hands and we ended back here and-,”

“Stop rambling,” Willy got out of bed and watched as her eyes went as wide as saucers. He turned around, hiding his shit eating grin. For some reason he just loved the way she reacted to things, especially his naked body.

“G-great ass by the way. It’s a winner,” she said then covered her face. “Okay, I think I’m just going to go.”

“I’ve got ten minutes,” Actually he didn’t. His meeting was bound to start at any moment. But being the boss he was allowed to walk into a meeting two hours late, right? As Alvin said it was his God given right to be bad a couple of times in his life.

“I really shouldn’t,” she said in a squeaky voice. “What is it, like seven o’clock?” she asked as she took off her jacket and shoes. “Ten minutes, that’s what you said, right?” she shimmied out of her jeans and t-shirt. “You’ll be really fast right? But not too fast I’ll miss my orgasm, right?”

With three large strides, Willy closed the gap between them. She was so small compared to his six foot three height. So tiny, so perfect. She fit him just right. He cupped her jaw in his palm and said, “Shut up.” Willy wrapped his arm around her and lifted her so that they were eye to eye. He kissed her then tossed her on the bed. “Ten minutes.”

“Great,” she panted.

Four years ago…

“Hey!”

Raven quickened her pace trying to get away from the Latino man trailing her with his BMW. She wasn’t comfortable with the way he was looking at her. Her grip tightened around her business books, as she forced herself not to be afraid. It was a fairly public place. If the man tried to abduct her, there would be witnesses and hopefully saviors.

“Hey!”

The man stopped his car, jumped put and ran after her. However, before Raven could break into a run the man grabbed her arm. “Didn’t you hear me calling you?”

“I don’t want any trouble,” she said in the steadiest voice she could master. “If you don’t leave me alone I will have to call the police.”

“Jeez, girl. I just wanted to give you your wallet. You dropped it back there.”

Raven looked down at his out stretched hand and true enough he had her hello kitty wallet. Ashamed, mortified were not enough to describe how she felt. It wasn’t as if she was being racial bias by assuming that all Latinos were thieves, or drug dealers. Raven looked at his car and couldn’t help but frown.

“It’s mine.”

“What?” She looked up at him with a weak smile, one she hoped said that she didn’t understand what he was referring to and not one that showed that she was guilty of thinking he was some gangster.

“The car is mine. I’m Fabio,” his lips curled into a wolfish grin.

“That’s even worse than what I was thinking.”

“What were you thinking?”

“That you were probably some thief or abductor named Chico,” she teased. “It’s worse because you are a self aware handsome man named Fabio.”

“Wow!” his hand went to his chest and he stumbled back. “That’s worse than an actual bullet.”

“And you would know how being shot feel like.” Alarm bells went off in Raven’s head like a factory on fire. But just like the foam on a flame, her good nature came in the way and Fabio got the benefit of the doubt. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

“I was in the army. Afghanistan. So how about a date with a war veteran.”

“Sure.”

***

Present time…the night before…

The first thought that came to Raven’s mind when he saw the large man in an Armani suit walk into the club she worked in, was that Fabio had been reborn as a tax accountant. At first her heart froze in her chest and she crumpled to the ground in a panic attack. Her friend was on hand then, giving Raven a brown paper bag and coaching her breathing.

“It’s not Fabio,” Lisa said. “Fabio is dead, buried and probably toasting with the devil right about now.”

“It’s just-,” Raven stammered.

“I know that today was his birthday. We are celebrating getting rid of him, remember?”

“And that guy?”

“He is not Fabio. His build is bigger, he is dressed in a suit and probably took a shower this morning for Christ’s sake,” Lisa squashed Raven’s face between her palms, “Get up and finally take a stand princess. Fabio is gone, he can’t hurt you or Maya anymore. And you know what, just to rub it in his face you should hook up with that tax accountant.”

Raven started laughing, but laughter quickly turned into tears as sobs wracked her body. “Fabio is gone, Fabio isn’t coming back,” she repeated to herself.

“No he ain’t,” Lisa reaffirmed. “Now get up from there, freshen up a little and go ask that tax accountant for his order.”

“I’m not a waitress.”

“Did I stutter?”

“No ma’am.” Raven got up and wiped the imaginary dust off her jeans. “By the way when you are around Maya, ain’t is isn’t. She has already started sounding like you. I don’t need you to influence her grammar too.”

Raven hopped over the bar and landed right in front of the Fabio look a like tax accountant. Her breath froze in her chest and all of a sudden she wasn’t that brave anymore. She iced over in front of him. But when she looked into his eyes they were warm and rich like honey, not cold and full of malice. His hands were stuck at his sides and not in fists raised and ready to strike her.

“That was a perfect ten,” his friend said.

“What?” Raven asked confused.

“The landing, it was a perfect ten. Maybe you could show me your technique sometime.”

“Yeah sure, I’ll call you around never.”

“I’m Alvin,” he chuckled his hand outstretched.

“I’m bartender, at least that’s what they call me here,” Raven shook his hand and returned her attention to the tax accountant. He hadn’t said a word to her yet. His eyes were on her a grin at the corner of his lips. She stared into his gaze and felt her stomach dance with nerves.

“Don’t mind him, he has to be home by midnight,” Alvin said.

“Midnight? Is Cinderella about to turn into a pumpkin?” Slowly Raven could feel the grip of fear loosen around her heart with each inch she took toward him. This was her conquering her fear, even though the cause of her terror was dead.  She rose to her tip toes and whispered, “Or maybe he’s just like sleeping beauty and all he needs-,” Raven didn’t get to finish her statement. Instantly his lips were on hers and their mouths locked in an erotic sparing dance.

When they pulled away from each other, she didn’t know if it were the lights in the club or the starts dancing in her head. His eyes were like roses, seductive and laced with the forbidden and all she wanted was a taste o him. “Lisa,” she called over her shoulder.

“I got you,” Lisa yelled back.

“And it seems like you’ve got me,” she said to the tax accountant. “Where to?”

He didn’t speak. He just took her hand and led her out of the bar. Raven paused at the door to pick up her things from the bouncer. Then she whispered, “Oh and by the way, if you don’t hear from me, call the police. You’ve got a good look at him for a description?”

The man laughed. He pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to the bouncer. “Just in case,” he said and winked at her.

“You never know, there are a lot of crazy people out there.” She knew. She had been stuck in a four year relationship with one of those crazy people. For a second Raven hesitated, what was she doing. Then she looked at the man’s face and Fabio’s angry expression flashed in her mind. I’m conquering my fear. “Let’s go.”

The next morning…

“Great,” Raven panted as Willy lifted her legs placing them on his shoulders. He eased her panties off, teasing her with kisses.

“What’s your name anyway?”

“Raven Simone.”

“Like the actress?”

“Yes.”

“Well, Raven Simone, I don’t think ten minutes will be enough.”

“Sixty is great too.”

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LOVE LETTERS

“American history!” the squat professor underlined the worlds twice. He pushed his glasses up the bridge his nose. He shook his head and sneezed when he inhaled the chalk dust, his nose taking the color of that of a clown. “Excuse me. Sinuses. So American History, who can tell us one historic thing that still affects our future.” He looked around the silent class.

“Yes, Maxine.” Maxine raised her hand in class and watched as the professor rolled his eyes, and took in a breath. Then he held it as he pulled his lips into a smile.

“Racism, anti-miscegenation laws and discrimination in a whole,” she frowned. “As much as we would like to pretend that everything is hunky dory, we, the black people still get the short end of the stick.”

“What?” Taylor, her classmate, yelled out from the back of the room. Maxine always felt like his voice was constantly at the back of her mind, always disapproving of her ideas or suggestions. There were times she thought Taylor’s voice was part of her subconscious.

“What do you mean by what?” Maxine slightly turned her head towards the back. She took in quick, short breaths as she prepared to defend her suggestion.

“Exactly what are you talking about? There is no black versus white anymore in this country. In fact I think that the Latinos are the new black people of America.” Taylor went on, addressing the professor. “The immigration laws against the Mexicans, the jobs available to them and let’s not forget the segregation especially in Los Angeles. That girl is clearly out of date.”

“That girl has a name,” Maxine said through clenched teeth. She turned her body to face Taylor. Her eyes narrowed as she burned holes in his pale forehead with her acid gaze. ”What are you anyway? You are white, right?”

“So?” Taylor hissed out. Maxine could see the frustration on his face. He had reached boiling point, but she kept on pushing. “Our housekeeper is Mexican?”

Maxine covered her smile with her hand as the rest of the class made taunting noises, you have a nanny, some said. Oh poor rich boy his maid is probably eating caviar for dinner, someone with a thick Spanish accent spat out.

“As an African American–”

Taylor had to cut in. “Oh please,” he scoffed. “No one focuses on that stuff anymore.”

“Apparently your nanny does,” Maxine said smugly. “This is our history class, not our present or future lecture.”

“Exactly! History!” Taylor made his way to the front of the class and stood beside the professor.

Maxine held onto the edge of her desk her nails digging into the wood and called on every single patient cell in her body. She wasn’t going to let Taylor beat her, not a chance. She needed to make an argument and a good one. With a smile on her face, she also made her way to the front of the class. “I don’t understand why you are going against me?”

“Because you are a frigid bitch.” Taylor smirked.

“And you are a nescient jock. Do you need a dictionary quarterback?”

Taylor turned to face Maxine. The anger in his glare displaced the warm humor in his usually kind brown eyes. She could feel his gaze burn into her, but she refused to look away. She wasn’t going to be moved.

“I have made my decision.” The professor stepped in between them blocking any path they would have to each other. “Everyone pair up and find a case study that focuses on racial discrimination and how it has affected our present.”

Maxine stuck her tongue out at a very irritated Taylor.

The professor turned to her and Taylor, a smug smile crossing his lips. “The both of you will partner up.”

“No!” they shouted in unison.

“I can’t stand her,” Taylor bluntly said.

“He’s an idiot,” she spat back.

The professor crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t care. You don’t submit the report, you both fail. And let me warn you, I will be able to tell if it’s individual work.” He turned back to the class. “Everyone is dismissed.”

Taylor and Maxine got caught up in the rush as everyone made their way out of class. The other students shot murderous glares at them and muttered under their breaths.

“If looks could kill,” Taylor laughed.

“You would be dead a hundred times by now.” Maxine gathered her books to her chest. She looked at Taylor, or rather, his shirt. He was a little over 6’3, which made it feel as if he towered over her. She slowly scanned up his red-checked shirt over a white-t shirt until her eyes met his. “My neck is getting tired. What’s the plan?”

“I think it would be better if we both just did our own thing.” He leaned down and whispered in her ear, his warm breath grazing over her neck, “I’m too pretty to go to prison.”

“So what you are saying is that I would live longer if we did this assignment separately.” She nodded, acknowledging that he certainly had the strength to follow through on his threat. She wasn’t completely sure he was kidding.

Taylor gave her a slow nod.

“Fine,” she barked. Maxine let her eyes drop slowly back to the front of his shirt. “I wouldn’t want to work with someone who dresses like a Back Street Boy with Mr. T hair.”

“It’s a Mohawk,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Then I suggest that you go get your money back.” She tugged at the bottom corner of his shirt, pushed back her shoulders and walked away.

“You can’t deny it,” he called after her and she glanced at him. “I look good.”

The smug look on his face told her he actually believed that.

Maxine stomped her feet hard on the marble floor. A temper tantrum her mother used to call it, but to Maxine it was her way of letting out the frustration. “I can’t stand that guy!” she muttered to herself as she headed home.

Maxine always battled with having to go back home. At the beginning of each morning she had the energy to stand in front of the mirror and engineer the best cheerful face she could, but at the end of the day, she struggled with leaving school.

Maxine arrived at the only weed infested garden and overgrown lawn in the whole neighborhood. Their little house didn’t always look that way, but ever since her mother got sick, there was no one to weed the rose garden and no one to nag her father about painting the white picket fence. Things had changed and they were slowly getting worse. She stood before the front door, knowing very well that the white door held a different significance to her than other daughters coming home from school. She looked over at the withered garden and, oddly enough, the flowers seemed to be adopting the same condition as her mother — death.

She wrapped her fingers around the door knob, took a deep breath, and then opened it. Before she stepped in, Maxine whispered a silent prayer for strength to the universe and the big guy above. One step at a time, a smile, a laugh, a prayer, and somehow she would be able to get through this day.

Maxine looked down the long hallway. In reality it was not more than ten meters long, but every time she had to go to the guest room, which had been changed into the hospice, she felt like she was walking the yellow brick road.

Except rather than leading to the Land of Oz, this one led her to the only feeling of love she knew.

Another step, a deep breath, and she opened the bedroom door. Maxine’s nostrils were attacked by the pungent smell of medication. The rhythmic beeping sound of the heart monitor connected to her mother reminded Maxine that she needed to put on a brave face.

“Hey beautiful.” Maxine forced a smile as she noticed the exhausted expression on her mother’s face.

Lynn’s hair was shaggy, her toffee skin pale, and her lips cracked. Maxine noticed the exhausted expression on her mother’s ravaged face. Maxine’s father, Daniel, was cemented in the same spot, seated next to her mother’s death bed. Daniel had the same exhausted expression on his face, but for him the expression was permanently engraved in the creases around his eyes and mouth. Maxine always led with the games before she got down to the real issue. Maxine’s eyes quickly looked around her mother’s body and bed. There seemed to be more tubes and machines than there had been when she left in the morning.

Her father gave Maxine a quick glance and his eyes returned to his wife. Daniel’s voice cracked with age as his eyes seemed to hang out of their sockets. His wrinkled hand held onto his wife’s, securely but gently, as if he was afraid she would leave him and the only way to keep her by his side was holding on to her.

Maxine looked at the simplest form of love they had, and her heart broke. What would her father do when Lynn died? Daniel had tied his life to her mother’s in every single way humanly possible and here was something that he couldn’t protect her from.

Maxine’s mother had been diagnosed with cancer two years ago. They thought that they had beaten it, but it had come back just before Christmas with the vengeance of a rabid demon, and it had its claws in her. No matter what they tried or how hard her father fought for every treatment known to man, it wasn’t letting go. Her mother had been discharged from the hospital two weeks prior to die in her own bed surrounded by her family.

Now Maxine was standing there witnessing the greatest love ever shared, knowing that it would soon come to a heart wrenching end. She had prepared herself, she thought, for her mother’s death. She had also come to terms with the fact that her father would die soon after her mother. There was no way one could live without the other.

Although Maxine was what her father called the greatest love of his life, she knew that her mother was his only reason for living. Once Lynn died, he wouldn’t have any other reason to stick around.

Maxine sat next to her mother almost snuggling into her side. Although all she could smell were the medications, Maxine had the memory of the sweet minty scent from the cleaning liquid her mother always used. That was the scent she wanted to remember, the one she had to remember. “I have never seen anyone as beautiful as you are.”

Lynne cupped Maxine’s cheek with her hand and smiled as much as her strength allowed. “You are the most beautiful girl ever,” she said, her voice strained, the words rattling like a stone in a tin can.

Hearing her mother sound so weak broke Maxine’s heart, but she hid her pain behind her smile. Maxine thought of asking her mother how she was feeling, but it didn’t seem that important. Asking only frustrated Lynne, because she always had to be economical with the truth for the sake of the withering man at her side. Listening to her mother put up a brave front, and her father whimper every time she did, cut through Maxine. Daniel smoothed his fingers over the thin hand stuck with needles; it was a gesture that had become habitual. Maxine didn’t think her mother felt the discomfort of the IVs anymore, but Maxine let her father do it because it was the only way he felt useful.

“I have a boat load of assignments to do; I’ll come and sit with you in a couple of hours.” Maxine walked out of the room and a thought crossed her mind. Would this be the last time?

She made her way to her room and got on the internet. She needed to figure out which book she and Taylor had to write their essays about. The sooner she did, the sooner they could split the responsibility and be done with the assignment, and each other, all together.

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HER LOVE STORY

“I don’t want him.”

Marietta pulled her braids off her neck into a pony tail. The sun was beginning to beat down on them. She wasn’t quite convinced that the big orange ball of fire wasn’t heading straight for them, crushing into Earth and disintegrating everyone. The sun was dropping out of space and landing in down town Los Angeles. Her eyes darted at the little fan trying to do what the air conditioner proved not to be able to. The little engine that could, spinning round and round and all it blew out was a whisper of cool air.

She loved making up stories in her mind and seeing them come to life on screen. Marietta’s life had been a story, a living nightmare that turned out to be a dream. She called it, the coming of age story. The characters were important to her, their struggles and victories and how they all seemed to jell together. A perfect story, in her words, was not carried on one man’s back. She sized the man up, looked at his shoulders and wondered if he was just strong enough.

But it wasn’t just the heat or the fan’s inability to cool down the room that was bothering her. Marietta was staring at a five foot ten well built, gorgeous, dark haired warm brown eyed man. He had everything going for him, his looks and his acting ability. But that still didn’t manage to convince Marietta that he was the right guy for the job.

She leaned into the casting director hoping that the irritation in her voice wasn’t more than a whisper, she said, “I don’t want him.”

“What do you mean you don’t want him?” The bony woman pulled back and stared at Marietta like she had just dropped in from a different planet, “Everyone wants him. Every single woman and man, of a specific taste, wants him. He is the best collaboration that Britain and America have ever made.”

“Suzy, I don’t care. I still don’t want him.” Marietta insisted.

“I have been meaning to ask you something.” Suzy bit down on her lower lips then said, “I understand being young in this business, not wanting to get distracted by relationships and all that. But I have never seen you with a guy before. You can’t be gay because I have never seen you with a chic either. “

“What’s the question?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Suzy’s tone was elevated drawing everyone’s attention including the actor being judged in front of them.

“Nothing.” Marietta hissed, “You can go now.” She waved the actor away then turned to Suzy, “I just don’t trust easily. I don’t have the time to invest in trusting anyone who is going to let me down. I don’t have the patience to get disappointed.”

Disappointment when it came to men was all she knew. Her father wasn’t even in the business but she knew him for his greatest roles, ‘Liar Liar’ and the ‘Invisible Man.’ He was never around. The dead beat took off when she was just a child. Marietta and her brother had to get jobs at the age of nine and ten just to help their mother with the bills. They could barely make ends meet so when her brother got sick, things went from bad to worse.

Marietta could see herself sitting down on the front porch, Chris, her high school boyfriend holding her hand as the neighbors came to pay their respects. It stung her that the old man couldn’t even show up to put his only son in the ground. Her mother held on for a while, but Marietta always felt rushed to grow up. She needed to get to a stable place so that her mother could stop holding onto life as hard as she was. So as soon as Marietta graduated, her mother chocked back a bottle of sleeping pills and bathed in a pool of her own blood mixed with jasmine scented shampoo. The wait was over.

Marietta couldn’t hold it against her, the old girl had held on as long as she could. Life had become tough when her father left, and after her brother died it was unbearable for her mother.  Breathing, living had become more of a burden to her mother than it did a gift. Yet again when Marietta buried her mother there was no sign of her father, but Chris was there, holding her hand as usual.

Chris, she thought, I wonder if I should give him a call.

“But at least you are getting laid, right?”

The sound of Suzy’s empathetic voice pulled her back to her latest problem, “Some.” And by some she meant not since her first time with Chris, the night before she left her small town in Minnesota, four years ago.

Marietta feigned a smile and went back to staring at the picture in front of her. Tobias Harden, he was twenty six and doing some of his best work. He was a Holly wood child, his father a great actor and his mother a British screen writer. Two very talented people had come together and created an almost six foot, about three hundred pounds, gifted actor and talented Lothario. This hadn’t been Marietta first casting encounter with the guy. The first time he refused to take a part in her movie, his exact words were, ‘I don’t do Indies only box office babe.’

Now, ten scripts, eighty percent success record later Marietta had a box office movie that he was dying to have. It was a mix between James Bond and Jason Bourne, big budget with incredible set locations in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Her movie was like a hot cake that half of young Hollywood wanted to sink their teeth into. She had always pictured a six foot three guy with beautiful eyes, a genetic cross between Jesse Williams and Chris Pine to play the lead role of the C.I.A agent gone rogue. But they were taken. All she had left were fifty beautiful guys and Tobias Harden.

She wasn’t going to give it to him; she didn’t want to give it to him. The directors, the studio and producers couldn’t overrule her. This was her vision and only she could pick out the best guy for the job. It was pride that was delaying the already made decision. She wanted him to grovel and apologies for dismissing her and neglecting to see her creative greatness. But Marietta couldn’t outright ask him to do that. Actually she could but her mother had raised her better than that. The rest of the cast had already been signed and put to work on their scripts and training regiment, she had to make a decision. Tobias Harden was the best that they had seen in two solid weeks of auditioning the known and unknown. It pained her but she had to face reality, he was it.

“Fine.” Marietta mumbled under her breath in defeat.

“What did you just say?” Suzy couldn’t help but gloat. She had been telling Marietta to cast Tobias harden ever since the movie idea came up.

“You can call him back in.” Marietta tried to put her vindictive hat aside and wear her creative one. She had to look at Tobias with different eyes. She had to see him as Grayson, rogue CIA agent, fighting to take illegal guns off the market and bring down the big fish. When Tobias Harden walked into the room, she did just that. Slapping on an imaginary suit shades and tussle his slicked black hair a bit, she could see him transform. And that, she promised herself, was how he was going to continue seeing him.

Marietta stood up from her chair, walked around the table and extended a welcome handshake to the man, “Congratulations, welcome to ‘Guns, Blood and Sex’.” She mumbled then walked out.

“You are going to be glad you picked him.” Suzy chanted.

“Picked who?”

Marietta sighed knowing her frustration level was going to increase. Jessie was just another voice in her head telling her to give men a second chance. She couldn’t wait to hear what her assistant would say about her not wanting to give Tobias harden the part. She quickened her pace and tried to runaway from them as fast as she could, without running.

“She picked Tobias beautiful Harden.”

From a distance she could hear the two women squeal. Everyone was getting on SS Tobias Harden dream boat; maybe t was time for her to get on board too. She smiled as she walked outside the studio to her car. The next four months were bound to be interesting for her.

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IN HIS BED; THE NEW YORKER BOOK 6

Rayne stood outside the hotel suite, nerves trembling but her body stiff in fear. Her cousin had asked her for a favor. Lola was the only family Rayne had left. She remembered her brother, vaguely. Rayne had been just a toddler when she’d left home. She couldn’t picture his face clearly. She also didn’t know why she’d left home in the first place. For the longest time, the only person she could call family was Lola. Her own parents were dead and the place she had called home for more than twenty years was an orphanage that had already been torn down.

It was Lola who had found Rayne in the hotel they’d worked at a while back. Ever since, Rayne had followed Lola wherever she went, from the Hawaiian Islands to New York to Los Angeles and now Vegas. They were searching for Rayne’s brother, and Lola was the only one who knew what he looked like.

She dug her nails into her palms as she mastered the courage to knock. It was her conscience that held her back. It wasn’t that she was about to do something illegal. Lola had promised her it wasn’t. It was more of a right-or-wrong issue. Or maybe it was just the fear of not knowing what exactly would happen once she walked into the hotel room. Lola claimed it was an easy job: walk in, have a chat, go to dinner, basically a rent-a-girlfriend kind of job. Yet there was something telling Rayne she shouldn’t dare step foot in.

Rayne didn’t want to disappoint Lola, or cost her a paycheck. Rayne’s waitressing job didn’t pay as much as Lola’s girlfriend gigs. It was Lola who bore the weight of most of the bills, and Rayne felt bad about it. It was guilt that made Rayne raise her fist to the door and knock. Once.

Nothing.

Rayne told herself that she would only knock once more, count to ten, then take off like the devil was on her heels. She would have fulfilled her end of the deal, sort of. So she did: she knocked and counted to fifteen. At sixteen, she shrugged her shoulders and tried to hide her relieved smile from Lola, who wasn’t even there to witness it.

She turned to walk away, satisfied she had done all she could. The man wasn’t there, a situation completely out of her control, and she could do nothing about it. There was a skip in her step as her nerves calmed down and her body thawed out. For a second, that was. A man, seemingly drunk, leaned against the wall. The bow tie that made his black tuxedo complete lay on his collarbone, undone.

Startled, Rayne jumped back, a squeal leaving her lips. He was looking at her, watching her, really. Rayne’s couldn’t call it a grin or a smile, but the ends of his lips curled to the right. With a slitted gaze, he gave her a head-to-toe perusal. He pushed off the wall and stumbled into Rayne. She pushed him and just as he was about to fall, she caught him, barely. He was drunk, properly sloshed. He managed to find his feet beneath him and stood steady. It was then that Rayne appreciated the full length of him. He was like a tower that never seemed to cease. She leaned back just so she could see his face. Ten seconds later, the strained pain in  her neck forced her to take a step away.

Beautiful.

He was, though hazy from the effects of alcohol. His brown eyes, soft and somehow endearing, balanced out the sharp, bold edges of his jaw, nose, and lips. Beautiful, she sighed once more. She had never seen a man like him, or rather, felt one. Her right hand gently lay on the left side of his chest. Rayne took deep breaths as her thunderous heart threatened to beat its way up her throat and out of her mouth. Would he like it if I gave my heart to him, once I spat it out? What the hell? Rayne shook her head, trying her best to clear the fuzz that had already taken over her brain.

I have to leave, Rayne had to remind herself. She needed to get out of there before the owner of the room found her and then she would be compelled to fulfill her promise to Lola. After a few right-step, left-step dances with the stranger, she managed to get around him. What she didn’t expect was for him to walk right up to the door she had been standing in front of, just a few moments before. She froze as she listened to him curse at the key card, the door, and the hotel for his inability to access his room, never once considering that it might be his fault.

How would he? Why would he? He was the drunk one, and yet it was Rayne who was about to do something stupid. She took three steps back and five hurried ones forward. Guilt weighed down on her and she backpedaled and didn’t stop until she was against the hunched-up man, his sailor motor-mouth not slowing down.

“Let me,” she said.

He just stared at her blankly.

Rayne reached for the key card and he held it out of her reach. She reached for it again, but this time his antics got him a good shove. The man fell to the floor, a bewildered look on his face. Rayne reached for the key that had fallen next to her feet. She opened the door then stared at the drunk. She thought about it, about leaving him there. He was clearly in no state to go out. In fact, he looked like he had already been out. It was a waste of time, her coming here. But Rayne took it as crossing off one of the many favors she owed Lola. Actually getting him off the floor and safely into his room counted as five favors.

The man stumbled to his feet as Rayne caught him. She helped him into his room and tossed him on the bed. Rayne turned to leave, when he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to him, making her land on his hard chest.

***

He couldn’t remember her face, not really. His mind might have been forgetful, but Duke’s hands weren’t. Her body seemed vaguely familiar; he could recall her soft moans and even, somehow, the sweet taste of her lips. She had been his escort for the night. Laughable. A billionaire who couldn’t find a date who could match his social standings, and then hired a maid instead. He detested the fact that he was still single, and at his twenty-six years of age, his father would still not permit him to marry. It wasn’t that he had need for a wife and was exhausted by bachelorhood. Well, in a way it was. He needed someone on his arm, someone with more beauty that brains. Someone who would engage the wives at dinner while he strong-armed their husbands in business, someone who would warm his body every night, and be somewhat of a stress reliever. And most importantly, someone who would keep the hyenas away. They did say a man’s best defense was his wife.

A man, that was what he wanted to be. At the moment, his peers in business, ten to twenty years older than he was, did not regard him as a man, due to his bachelor state. His father did not see the importance of having a wife. But he didn’t have to bear the difficulties of fending off mothers who would shove their daughters in his face. Or wives who claimed to have their husband’s ear, and would convince him to take Duke’s deal, but  only if he had one night of passion with them in exchange. Plus, he was a red-blooded man who needed sex just much as any other man in New York. Not having a wife was distracting him from work.

However, Duke never thought that there would be a young woman trembling in his office, crying, and claiming she was pregnant.’

This was it, that moment he’d thought would never come. A once-in-a-lifetime chance to give validation to the phrase “be careful what you wish for.” He had hoped—no, hope was too big of a words: its weight gave this moment more importance than Duke was willing to give it. In an instant, he was going to be everything that he had wanted, everything that his father didn’t want. He was going to be a husband and a father, a mere distraction for someone his age, according to his father.

Duke wasn’t an idiot: he wasn’t going to immediately take her word for it. He didn’t get to be where he was by blindly trusting and being taken in by a pretty face and tears. Duke had a vague memory of that night. He did remember a woman, only because something had happened to him when he spent the night with her. Yes, he’d been drunk and he’d told himself numerous times that the out-of-body experience he’d experienced was the result of one too many Irish whiskeys. But it wasn’t in his nature to have a random night linger in his mind. His ego was reassured when he’d found the note by his bedside table. All it said was “thank you,” so Duke was glad that, even drunk, he’d been able to accomplish—something.

Accomplish.

He’d been an overachiever since birth. It had to do with how hard his father pushed him, and how much people demanded from him. But this was laughable. One night, and a few weeks later, he had a girl he didn’t know personally—but had apparently known biblically—in his office, claiming to be pregnant. Duke only had once choice. Right now he had to take care of the most important thing and the rest would fall into place.

Duke gathered up his coat, his phone, wallet, and car keys. He walked up to the girl, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to her feet. He then led her out the door and straight into the arms of his worst mistake.

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IN HIS BED

Rayne stood outside the hotel suite, nerves trembling but her body stiff in fear. Her cousin had asked her for a favor. Lola was the only family Rayne had left. She remembered her brother, vaguely. Rayne had been just a toddler when she’d left home. She couldn’t picture his face clearly. She also didn’t know why she’d left home in the first place. For the longest time, the only person she could call family was Lola. Her own parents were dead and the place she had called home for more than twenty years was an orphanage that had already been torn down.

It was Lola who had found Rayne in the hotel they’d worked at a while back. Ever since, Rayne had followed Lola wherever she went, from the Hawaiian Islands to New York to Los Angeles and now Vegas. They were searching for Rayne’s brother, and Lola was the only one who knew what he looked like.

She dug her nails into her palms as she mastered the courage to knock. It was her conscience that held her back. It wasn’t that she was about to do something illegal. Lola had promised her it wasn’t. It was more of a right-or-wrong issue. Or maybe it was just the fear of not knowing what exactly would happen once she walked into the hotel room. Lola claimed it was an easy job: walk in, have a chat, go to dinner, basically a rent-a-girlfriend kind of job. Yet there was something telling Rayne she shouldn’t dare step foot in.

Rayne didn’t want to disappoint Lola, or cost her a paycheck. Rayne’s waitressing job didn’t pay as much as Lola’s girlfriend gigs. It was Lola who bore the weight of most of the bills, and Rayne felt bad about it. It was guilt that made Rayne raise her fist to the door and knock. Once.

Nothing.

Rayne told herself that she would only knock once more, count to ten, then take off like the devil was on her heels. She would have fulfilled her end of the deal, sort of. So she did: she knocked and counted to fifteen. At sixteen, she shrugged her shoulders and tried to hide her relieved smile from Lola, who wasn’t even there to witness it.

She turned to walk away, satisfied she had done all she could. The man wasn’t there, a situation completely out of her control, and she could do nothing about it. There was a skip in her step as her nerves calmed down and her body thawed out. For a second, that was. A man, seemingly drunk, leaned against the wall. The bow tie that made his black tuxedo complete lay on his collarbone, undone.

Startled, Rayne jumped back, a squeal leaving her lips. He was looking at her, watching her, really. Rayne’s couldn’t call it a grin or a smile, but the ends of his lips curled to the right. With a slitted gaze, he gave her a head-to-toe perusal. He pushed off the wall and stumbled into Rayne. She pushed him and just as he was about to fall, she caught him, barely. He was drunk, properly sloshed. He managed to find his feet beneath him and stood steady. It was then that Rayne appreciated the full length of him. He was like a tower that never seemed to cease. She leaned back just so she could see his face. Ten seconds later, the strained pain in  her neck forced her to take a step away.

Beautiful.

He was, though hazy from the effects of alcohol. His brown eyes, soft and somehow endearing, balanced out the sharp, bold edges of his jaw, nose, and lips. Beautiful, she sighed once more. She had never seen a man like him, or rather, felt one. Her right hand gently lay on the left side of his chest. Rayne took deep breaths as her thunderous heart threatened to beat its way up her throat and out of her mouth. Would he like it if I gave my heart to him, once I spat it out? What the hell? Rayne shook her head, trying her best to clear the fuzz that had already taken over her brain.

I have to leave, Rayne had to remind herself. She needed to get out of there before the owner of the room found her and then she would be compelled to fulfill her promise to Lola. After a few right-step, left-step dances with the stranger, she managed to get around him. What she didn’t expect was for him to walk right up to the door she had been standing in front of, just a few moments before. She froze as she listened to him curse at the key card, the door, and the hotel for his inability to access his room, never once considering that it might be his fault.

How would he? Why would he? He was the drunk one, and yet it was Rayne who was about to do something stupid. She took three steps back and five hurried ones forward. Guilt weighed down on her and she backpedaled and didn’t stop until she was against the hunched-up man, his sailor motor-mouth not slowing down.

“Let me,” she said.

He just stared at her blankly.

Rayne reached for the key card and he held it out of her reach. She reached for it again, but this time his antics got him a good shove. The man fell to the floor, a bewildered look on his face. Rayne reached for the key that had fallen next to her feet. She opened the door then stared at the drunk. She thought about it, about leaving him there. He was clearly in no state to go out. In fact, he looked like he had already been out. It was a waste of time, her coming here. But Rayne took it as crossing off one of the many favors she owed Lola. Actually getting him off the floor and safely into his room counted as five favors.

The man stumbled to his feet as Rayne caught him. She helped him into his room and tossed him on the bed. Rayne turned to leave, when he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to him, making her land on his hard chest.

***

He couldn’t remember her face, not really. His mind might have been forgetful, but Duke’s hands weren’t. Her body seemed vaguely familiar; he could recall her soft moans and even, somehow, the sweet taste of her lips. She had been his escort for the night. Laughable. A billionaire who couldn’t find a date who could match his social standings, and then hired a maid instead. He detested the fact that he was still single, and at his twenty-six years of age, his father would still not permit him to marry. It wasn’t that he had need for a wife and was exhausted by bachelorhood. Well, in a way it was. He needed someone on his arm, someone with more beauty that brains. Someone who would engage the wives at dinner while he strong-armed their husbands in business, someone who would warm his body every night, and be somewhat of a stress reliever. And most importantly, someone who would keep the hyenas away. They did say a man’s best defense was his wife.

A man, that was what he wanted to be. At the moment, his peers in business, ten to twenty years older than he was, did not regard him as a man, due to his bachelor state. His father did not see the importance of having a wife. But he didn’t have to bear the difficulties of fending off mothers who would shove their daughters in his face. Or wives who claimed to have their husband’s ear, and would convince him to take Duke’s deal, but  only if he had one night of passion with them in exchange. Plus, he was a red-blooded man who needed sex just much as any other man in New York. Not having a wife was distracting him from work.

However, Duke never thought that there would be a young woman trembling in his office, crying, and claiming she was pregnant.’

This was it, that moment he’d thought would never come. A once-in-a-lifetime chance to give validation to the phrase “be careful what you wish for.” He had hoped—no, hope was too big of a words: its weight gave this moment more importance than Duke was willing to give it. In an instant, he was going to be everything that he had wanted, everything that his father didn’t want. He was going to be a husband and a father, a mere distraction for someone his age, according to his father.

Duke wasn’t an idiot: he wasn’t going to immediately take her word for it. He didn’t get to be where he was by blindly trusting and being taken in by a pretty face and tears. Duke had a vague memory of that night. He did remember a woman, only because something had happened to him when he spent the night with her. Yes, he’d been drunk and he’d told himself numerous times that the out-of-body experience he’d experienced was the result of one too many Irish whiskeys. But it wasn’t in his nature to have a random night linger in his mind. His ego was reassured when he’d found the note by his bedside table. All it said was “thank you,” so Duke was glad that, even drunk, he’d been able to accomplish—something.

Accomplish.

He’d been an overachiever since birth. It had to do with how hard his father pushed him, and how much people demanded from him. But this was laughable. One night, and a few weeks later, he had a girl he didn’t know personally—but had apparently known biblically—in his office, claiming to be pregnant. Duke only had once choice. Right now he had to take care of the most important thing and the rest would fall into place.

Duke gathered up his coat, his phone, wallet, and car keys. He walked up to the girl, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to her feet. He then led her out the door and straight into the arms of his worst mistake.

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HER PRINCE

RED TEARS BLUE BLOOD

Christoffer skimmed his hands over the medal embellishments above the left breast pockets on his formal military uniform laid out on his bed. He didn’t know what they were for, or how he had earned them. His older brother Lu had the same medals on his uniform. Lu earned them. Lu had actually served in the military as the first born and heir to the throne of Denmark. Christoffer, as the third child, knew his role as the spare to the heir wouldn’t come to pass. Soon Lu would get married to the dragon he called a fiancée. Christoffer had no doubt a little bundle of joy would soon follow. He hoped. Christoffer needed to keep up with his carefree lifestyle.

Christoffer stared at the uniform once more. He only felt like an imposter when he wore it and paraded in it as the second son of King Lauritz. His father must have seen what kind of a screw up he would be. Father had spent his time tutoring Lu on the right and wrongs of a great ruler. Father had even amended the law to allow a female child to inherit the crown. So the throne had an heir, a spare and a screw up.

Christoffer grabbed his leather jacket from the closet. At the noise coming from the ballroom, he was sure at least fifty guests had arrived. His mother’s balls were the perfect place for people to further their social standing with society. People who usually wouldn’t interact, who would gossip about each other, feigned a friendship for the night. Mothers paraded their daughters for him and Lu. That’s how Lu had met Britta, the venomous snake. She pretended to be all sweet when they first met, but once Lu had put the ring on her finger, announced their marriage and started planning the wedding, she had shown her true colors. Nothing dazzled about her anymore, but sadly Lu couldn’t see it. Christoffer definitely wasn’t going to attend. With Lu now off the market, duty bound him to dance with the eligible girls who attended the ball. He needed to get out of there. Christoffer climbed out his window and used the vine that twined around the whole palace to climb down. Christoffer went for his sports car parked outside the palace gates for an easy getaway.

He brought his Aston Martin to a screeching halt outside one of his favorite clubs. Christoffer saw the bouncers whispering into their radios. No doubt the owner had been informed of his arrival and everyone in the VIP area was being shuffled out. A crowd gathered around his car. He cursed silently. Keeping the public at a distance was one thing his bodyguards were good for. Since he ditched them back at the palace, he would have to settle for the club bouncer. Christoffer put on his best playboy smile and waved at his adoring public. When he got to the VIP area it had been stocked the way he liked it, with women and booze. Christoffer didn’t mind these kinds of women hanging around him. They knew he wasn’t going to offer them anything more than a one night stand, a night of fun and pleasure. He sat on the plush leather chair and let the women cater to his every need.

Later, though Christoffer didn’t know how long, his alcohol hazed gaze could watch the crowd part like the red sea. “Oh shit,” Christoffer said.

Christoffer tried to get up, but one of his lady friends decided to make herself comfortable on his lap. The royal bodyguards emerged from the crowd in a diamond formation. Christoffer would bet his right arm that they were protecting Lu. His brother stepped forward, a disappointed scowl marring his baby-like face.

“You couldn’t attend mother’s ball? Really Fer?” Lu crossed his arms over his chest, reminding Christoffer of their father.

Christoffer put the girl off him. He walked to his brother’s side. His plan was to appear compliant then when they were outside he would jump in his car and get away. “How did you find me?”

“Father and I expected you to pull a stunt like this.” The amused look on Lu’s face confused him. “The window? Wow Rapunzel, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Haha! Very funny. I don’t appreciate being followed around like a child.”

“If the shoe fits. Listen little brother, I understand why you would rather be here with all these attractive women instead of the debutants, but you broke mama’s heart.” Lu put his arm around Christoffer’s shoulders. “She’s looking forward to showing off her proud bull to all the young fillies.”

“No way. They might look nice, pretty and sweet. But once you propose, they turn into Britta. I’m not getting myself into the same mousetrap you did.” He shivered at the thought. He couldn’t imagine being confined in the vows of matrimony with any woman, let alone a woman like Britta. “I’d rather climb the Eiffel Tower and jump.”

“Tell me about it.”

Christoffer stopped and curiously studied his brother. He couldn’t believe what he heard. Unlike him, everything Lu said or did had meaning. So the comment definitely meant something. “So did you discover that Cinderella is actually worse than Methuselah?”

“I broke the engagement. I saw her interact with the servants and it left a lot to be desired. It was a mistake from the beginning.”

They stopped next to Christoffer’s car. Christoffer leaned on it and let out a bark of laughter. “I thought you said she just needed a little getting used to.”

“I’m not about to condemn myself to a life of misery to please father. This ball is my chance at picking a replacement.”

Christoffer jumped into the driver’s seat. “We must make haste dear brother. Your future bride awaits you, and with the crop mother invited, I bet one is ripe for the picking.”

“Sir!” one of the bodyguards stepped forward.

Christoffer could tell they were studying him. He half expected them to give him a sobriety test.

“Don’t worry,” Lu reassured him. “I’ll make sure my little brother drives under the limit.”

Once Lu got into the car, Christoffer sped off. He wanted to give their security a chase they would never forget. They barely made it to the main road when loud honking filled the night air, followed by the sound of metal folding and the odor of burnt rubber. Then darkness.

* * * *

Christoffer woke in the darkest hour of the night stuck in a dream as he tossed half sick between grotesque reality and the savage frightening dreams. But they weren’t dreams.

He was running away from his demons. As much as he tried to open his eyes he couldn’t escape the darkness. The soreness was real but he couldn’t move his body. Christoffer tried to call out but could only manage was a faint gasp of pain. A triangular formed light pierced through the darkness.

“Help,” Christoffer whispered as he tried to make out what was coming toward him.

“Fer,” Alisa whispered, “Fer, are you awake?”

“Alisa,” Christoffer called out, “Alisa, is that you?”

The light went on and he squinted. Though desperate to get out of the darkness, he couldn’t stand the brightness.

“Turn it off!”

Alisa turned the light off and settled with a small reading light. Moving to the side of the bed and sitting down, Alisa held his hand as she wept. “Fer, what happened?”

The last thing he remembered was being in the car with his brother, then darkness. Christoffer closed his eyes to push the memory further but he only saw darkness.

“Where is Lu?” The pain intensified the tighter Alisa held onto his hand, but he didn’t say anything. Christoffer needed some human contact and apparently, and so did she. “Where is Lu?”

But she didn’t answer. Alisa cried out his name.

“Alisa, sweetheart.” Terms of endearment always worked with his sister. Christoffer treated her as if she was younger than he. Since Alisa’s the only girl, he and Lauritz had shielded her. “Look at me, tell me where Lu is.”

“There was an accident.” Alisa cried.

Christoffer thought as much. He couldn’t move much and that part still bothered him. Christoffer could tell he was back at home so it must not be too bad. He chuckled. “Oh no, this is the third car this month. Let me guess, father and mother are giving him a piece of their minds.”

Whenever his brother could, he assumed all blame and responsibility. It had kept Christoffer out of trouble so far.

“Oh Fer!” Alisa whined before breaking down once more.

Something was wrong. Alisa wasn’t laughing or mimicking their parents. She was crying and this wasn’t like the times she faked tears to get her way. Christoffer tried to sit up unsuccessfully.

“Why can’t I move?” Christoffer moaned as the sharp agony held him in place.

Alisa got up and turned on the light, standing aside as he took in the gravity of the situation. His leg was strung up on his bed frame, while his arm lay by his side, immobile. Christoffer raised his other arm and pulled off the linens trying to find the source of the stabbing pain. A white bandage wrapped his chest. He widened his eyes in disbelief as he dropped his head back on the pillow.

“There is no way Lauritz is going to let Lu off the hook for this one,” Christoffer mumbled as he stared up at the light. “Alisa, get Lu for me.”

Alisa didn’t move.

“Alisa did you hear me?”

Alisa sank to the ground and burst out crying. The urge to stand up and go to his sister overwhelmed him, but he couldn’t move.

“Alisa, come here and tell me why you are crying.”

“I’m going to get Papa.” Alisa ran out of his room. She screamed for their father.

Christoffer lay back, searching for the words to get him and his brother out of trouble. The broken arm and leg would only get him so far. He wondered what kind of injuries Lu had and how he would get him out of the trouble he was in. When his father walked in, the wheels reeling in his mind stopped. Christoffer stared at the disheveled man, so unlike his perfect debonair father. His eyes were swollen and red, and his whole body shook.

“Papa, I’m sorry.”

His father enveloped him in his arms. Papa’s whole body shuddered and he sobbed. Christoffer stared at his sister who hung back crying.

“Papa, what’s going on? Where is Lu?”

The king pulled away and looked into his eyes and said, “You are the Crown Prince now.”

“What? Father what happened tonight is my fault.” Christoffer couldn’t believe his father had passed Lu for the throne just because of this accident.

“Lu is dead.” Papa took a step back and moved toward the door.

Christoffer stared at him in disbelief until he disappeared. His breath caught in his chest as his father’s voice echoed in his ears. He shook his head as tears rolled down his temples. His nightmares were memories.

“I want to see Lu.” Christoffer tried to get off the bed but he couldn’t. Too many things held him down. “Alisa, help me.”

After a couple of sedatives from his doctor, Christoffer calmed down and fell asleep. The next morning he watched from his bedroom window as the funeral procession began.

Lu’s body was covered in the Denmark flag and slowly loaded onto a horse drawn carriage. Alisa and Papa held onto Mama as they followed the carriage behind. His mother hadn’t been in to see him and he couldn’t blame her. Christoffer had caused her the greatest pain ever and because of that he couldn’t bring himself to look into Lu’s coffin and say goodbye.

“How did it happen?” His father kept asking.

* * * *

Alma blinked, trying to clear the cloud of tears from her eyes. It had been one week since Kevin’s death and they were still asking her the same question. “How did it happen?” Alma stood in the middle of the living room staring up at portrait hanging on the wall. This was the hundredth person who had come up to her with that same question. She stared on as tears bubbled out of her eyes thinking about the night her life had taken a drastic twist.

Alma and Kevin walked toward the movie theatre in downtown Nairobi. A week ago, almost eleven o’clock at night and Alma had snuck out for the sole purpose of enjoying this evening with her boyfriend. They had agreed that tonight was the time their five-year relationship to finally welcome the physical part of being together. They had discussed going straight to the main event, but they wanted this night to be perfect and dinner and a movie, the start of a perfect night.

Alma rubbed her sweaty palms over her jeans. The movie credits rolled up and her heart thumped in rhythm with the soundtrack. Soon her virginity would end as well. Though she was seventeen, she had known him for half her life and dated him for five years.

Kevin leaned in. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” Alma tried to pull her sweaty hand away but he held tight. Kevin gave her hand a couple of squeezes that made splotchy noises because of the sweat, but he never let go.

“I love you and sweaty hands will never make me not want to hold you.” Kevin kissed her exposed shoulder.

Alma swam in his brown eyes and dove into his sweet words, forgetting where they were. She hung onto his hand as they walked through the alley. Dark shadows took shape, rippling away from the light and taking the form of a man.

“Babe, I don’t think we should have used the shortcut.” The edgy nervousness in her voice was hard to hide.

Kevin held her closer and said in a hushed tone, “Just try not paying them any attention. If you don’t give them a reason to, they won’t attack you.”

Alma tried his strategy but when the stampede of feet rushed up to them, she knew nothing would prevent what was about to happen. Kevin stopped and pinned her between his body and the wall, knocking the wind out of her. She grabbed the back of his jacket and buried her face in it. His body so close she felt the rapid thuds of his heart. Alma didn’t look up but just listened and waited.

The four men closed in on them. A few feet away from them they each pulled out their weapon of choice. The silver of the machete gleamed in the moonlight and caught Alma’s eye.

“Don’t look.” Kevin ordered Alma but it was too late.

“Why are you keeping her away from us?” One voice in the midst of three other grumbling ones, asked.

“We don’t want any trouble. Just tell me what you want.” Kevin shifted his weight from one foot to the other, as if he was getting ready to attack. His body moved from side to side, obviously trying to get a visual of where the threats were.

“We want her.” The stranger’s words slurred as he emphasized ‘her.’

The guy with the machete took a step closer. Kevin moved to advance to him but Alma held desperately to his jacket.

“Let go.” Kevin’s voice had a tone she had never heard before. “I want you to run.”

“No!” Alma refused to leave him here. Staying with him seemed safer. “I want to stay here with you.”

Kevin pulled his shoulder away so hard that her nail broke. Alma yelped and lost her grip on his jacket and one step at a time he created a gap between him and her. She pressed her body back to the wall, secretly hoping it would open up and swallow her whole. His fingers balled into a fist at his sides as he moved around and she followed. Soon all four guys stared straight at them. She had to escape. But she couldn’t leave him. Alma refused to.

“Come with me.” Alma held onto his hand but he only pulled it away.

Without breaking his concentrated stare at the four men, he shoved her back then roared, “Go!” Kevin glanced back at her for a second then in a sweet tone he said, “I love you. Please go.”

The gentle look in his eyes was enough to convince her. Alma turned and ran as fast as she could. But then she remembered she never said that she loved him. When she glanced back she saw the silver machete raised in the air and brought down with great force. When it came back up, no silver glinted, just blood. She waited for a couple of minutes but she didn’t see Kevin get up.

Slowly she backed away before she turned and ran. The sight of the blood seemed to have given her a boost. There must be a police station in the area. Alma didn’t stop running. She bumped into people, fell but got back up. The tears clouded her vision, but she never stopped until she saw the blue cabin with red and yellow stripes. The police post.

Alma stood in the middle of police officers and civilians then shrieked, “Help me!”

* * * *

“How did it happen?”

When the question came once more, she only existed in her own little world. Alma answered, “Just look forward. If you don’t give them a reason to, they won’t attack you.”

Someone held her by the shoulder and turned her toward the exit. “Let’s go home,” her mother said.

Alma didn’t resist. She let herself be led out of the house but she came across another picture on the closed coffin. Kevin smiled at her and she couldn’t help but smile back. Shaking her mother’s arms off, she took a step toward the picture, until it was inches away from her face. Alma lifted trembling fingers to his face, and traced his eyes, nose and lips. Closing her eyes, she memorized them. Since the night of the murder she had seen him as blood on a machete and now she saw his face.

“He’s so beautiful,” Alma whispered.

She stole a quick glance as her mother whisked her away.

On the day of Kevin’s funeral, her mother told her, “You will stay home. It will be too painful for you to go to the funeral.”

When her mother left the room, she climbed out of the window and walked to the cemetery. By the time she covered the ten kilometers, the burial ended. Alma roamed around the freshly dug graves and found Kevin’s. Lying next to the grave she draped her arm over the flowers and soil.

As the night of the attack played in her mind, Alma tossed in her sleep. Alma woke up in terror covered in sweat, and she realized she was back home. The grief hit her once more, part of her hoping that the dark would swallow her whole. If she was being punished for being the one who survived she would not live. She marched into the kitchen. Alma, pulled open the top draw and . She picked up a knife. The gleam it had in the moonlight reminded her of the one used to kill Kevin. Alma put her hand on the chopping board and drew the knife through her wrist, first one and then the other.

Finally she felt like she was being set free. Alma went outside dripping a trail of blood. Leaning against the wall, she breathed in the night air as the cold breeze gently blew past her, carrying her with it.

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ADDICTED TO HIM; THE NEW YORKER BOOK 5

Danny felt the wetness of her tongue as it smoothed over her lips, her fingers biting into the plush couch as she watched her brother DJ swirl the golden liquid in his whiskey glass. She swallowed a yelp when he threw his head back and tossed the contents into his mouth. Her gaze still fixed on him, she watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.

Oh God! She was slowly losing the leash she had placed on her need for booze. Danny had made a promise to her parents, one she’d kept breaking over and over again for the past couple of months. She’d sworn her parents to secrecy, because she had no intention of telling her brothers her secret. DJ would only blame himself, and she didn’t want to disappoint her new, big brother Reno.

Danny had recently come out of a posh rehab clinic. Rehab, a place she never thought she would see the inside of. However, once you let your boyfriend introduce you to cocaine, after which he dies in bed, at your side and you don’t notice until two days later…rehab was apparently the place to go. Reno had been livid. DJ just kept looking at her with disappointment, shaking his head every few seconds. Her mother had cried and her father had been rendered speechless. Her boyfriend, the football star who’d everyone thought was a saint, was just a nightmare with a dreamy smile.

DJ got up and Danny’s gaze tailed him. The clink of ice hitting the bottom of the glass was followed by the familiar sound of liquid pouring. Danny chewed on her bottom lip and swallowed hard. Once she’d left rehab, she’d had to replace one addiction with another. At least she wasn’t taking drugs anymore.

“Don’t you think that’s enough?” her father bellowed.

DJ glared at their father, probably wanting to say something terrible but holding himself back. Their father had been DJ’s hero growing up. DJ modeled himself after the man he had been named after. DJ hissed after gulping his drink. Danny scratched her neck. She could almost feel the sensation, the hot burn of the honey liquid as it ran down his throat, heating up his insides with a glorious fire she wished she could embrace.

“DJ, I said that’s enough?” their father asked once more.

“I don’t think you are in a position to tell me what enough is.” DJ threw back another shot and filled his glass once more. “Reno is twenty-eight years old. You have lied to my mother…or did you know?”

Danny was barely hanging on to the conversation. DJ’s glass had caused her to go into a trance.

“Of course not!” their mother exclaimed. “Do you think I would let my children’s siblings live on the other side of the country without looking into their welfare? Do you think I would have left your sister to whatever fate she is in now?”

“I’m here—no, wait—you must be talking about the other sister. The one father abandoned and has now disappeared. Her name is Rayne, right?” Danny slurred her words. This part of the conversation had caught her attention. It was hard for her, now that she wasn’t the only little girl in the family.

“I think you should be telling Daniela what enough is,” DJ said as he sat back down. Danny glared at him, envious and mad at the same time. She looked around the room and immediately, she knew they could tell she was far from sober.

“DJ, that’s enough,” Reno said, his tone cool but daring disobedience. DJ’s hand froze with the glass on his lips, and Danny whimpered.

“We need clear heads if we are going to discuss this. Daniela, I think you should go to your room,” Reno said.

“You won’t tell me what to do,” Danny said.

“Go!” Reno’s firm bass didn’t get any further arguments from her. “We’ll talk about what it is you are taking, and figure out a way to deal with it together, as a family.”

“I could have used your help for the past seventeen years. Oh! How could I forget? I couldn’t, because our father had abandoned you.” Danny heard DJ say as she left the room.

“DJ, it wasn’t that simple.” This time it was their father speaking.

“It wasn’t? Because to me, it does sound simple. Take care of your children. You abandoned them, and now my sister is gone.” DJ again.

“Don’t you think I know that? No one in this room is tortured about Rayne’s disappearance as much as I am,” their father shouted.

“I think Reno is. He was six years old when his sister was stolen from her bed and sold by her junkie mother. The one person who should have been there for him wasn’t.” DJ now. Danny wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or the volley of words that had her head spinning.

“I know the consequences my actions brought. I went to Hawaii for some time off, a boys’ trip. Do you think I expected to meet the only woman I would love?” The statement shocked Danny enough to slap her out of her stupor. She didn’t know how her mother managed to stay in the room. Hearing the man you loved proclaim he was only in love with one woman—another woman—must have hurt.

The room went silent and Danny thought the revelation must have made them all spontaneously combust. But then her father spoke up again. “I don’t expect you to understand DJ, leaping from one bed to another like you do. I was in love with a beautiful, island girl. She was everything I ever wanted in a woman: strong, gentle, and supportive and determined to face every day with a smile. And when Reno was born, I never thought I could be happier. This was the family I always wanted as my family.” The earnestness in her father’s voice pierced through her heart. She wished one day, she could fall in love. She wanted to be dedicated to someone who could make her need for him greater than her desire for drugs and alcohol.

“But I guess money was more important than family.” The steel in Reno’s tone slashed through the room, and Danny rethought her last thought. Maybe vices were the only thing a human being could hang on to. For her father it was money and as for her…

“I was going to give it all up. I did for a few months. But my father froze my accounts and the money I earned as a bartender couldn’t support us. Do you know how demeaning it is for a man not to be able to provide for his family? So I came back to New York. I didn’t tell my father about my son. I told him Kono and I were done. I worked at the firm and every chance I got, I would fly out to Hawaii to see my family.”

Danny leaned in as her father’s broken voice bounced off the walls of the house. Sacrifice. Maybe there was hope for love, after all.

“Is that where you went? You told me you were going for business trips,” Issadora said.

“How did my mother fit in all this?” DJ asked.

“My father wanted an alliance with her family. We dated, then got married, then had you and your sister.” Their mother’s nod affirmed her doubts.

“So if you were here with mother and with Kono and Reno, when did you decide the double life was too much for you?”

“Before you were born. Father had threatened to disown me. And I knew I couldn’t be able to provide for Reno and Kono if I didn’t stay in his…good graces. This is what happened.”

Danny almost toppled over, her curiosity superseding her drunken legs’ ability to hold her body up.

“What do you mean? DJ asked.

“I went back to Hawaii and Kono told me she was pregnant. Then your mother called to tell me she was expecting you…”

Danny thought she would nod off at that moment.

“So it was my fault!” DJ shouted, making Danny jump back and bump into the wall unit behind her.

“It’s not,” Reno and their father said in unison. The boom in their voices drowned out the sound of the disturbed furniture. “What he means to say is marrying into your mother’s family money was more important than his poor family on the island.”

“It was my fault,” their mother spoke up. “I knew that your father wouldn’t commit without a push. So I got pregnant intentionally.”

“So he was sleeping with both of you at the same time?” DJ asked.

“You’re one to judge,” his father snapped back.

“The difference between you and me is that I wear a condom each time. Or wasn’t it invented when you were making your rounds?”

“Don’t you think I know I broke my family? I destroyed Kono and turned her into… If I had been brave, my son wouldn’t have grown up in the environment he did. My daughter would be here about to celebrate her twenty-second birthday with you. She was two weeks older than you. I only spent two weeks with my daughter. Kono didn’t want anything to do with me, once I told her you were on the way and that I had married your mother. I broke her heart, and my own.”

“Oh, poor you. We should all feel sorry for you, right? Your heart got broken. Well, Kono’s broken heart led to her death and to my sister being sold off. So forgive me if I don’t feel sorry for you,” DJ said, his voice thick with sarcasm.

“DJ—”

“What I don’t understand is this: grandfather has been dead for ten years. What stopped you for looking for your children?”

“Shame, and the fact that I am a coward.”

“Well, at least we agree on one thing. You were my hero. My entire life, all I ever wanted was to be like you. But now that I know you, I’m ashamed to be your son.”

“That’s fine, you can be ashamed. The important thing right now is to find my daughter.”

“Why?” Reno asked. “So you can take care of her? Daniela, the one living in your house, is as high as a kite right now. Neither one of you noticed. You can’t take care of anyone but yourself, Dennis Kent. I’ll find my sister on my own.”

“Our sister. Of course with Daddy’s money,” DJ said.

“One thing you can depend on is unlike my father, I will support you in everything you want. So now, what do we do about our sisters?”

It was like a tribal meeting, one Danny wasn’t invited to. They would sit there discussing and deciding her life. It was ridiculous. Danny walked into the room, clapping slowly. They all turned to face her. “This is better than a telenovela.” She laughed. “This family is so screwed up. And you wonder why I’m an alcoholic.”

“I thought it was cocaine,” DJ cut in.

“Fuck you!” Danny turned to her parents, feeling betrayed for the second time that night. “Not only can’t you keep track of your children, Daddy, or realize your husband has never loved you, Mommy, you also can’t keep your mouths shut.”

“They are your brothers. They deserved to know what was going on with you,” her father said.

“The big one over there has been hula-hooping for the past seventeen years and the other one had his face buried so deep into cleavage, they didn’t care what I was doing.” Her mother grabbed her hand and Danny pulled out of her grasp, stumbling once she was free. “And then you two: Daddy has been mourning Kono while Mommy has been chasing Daddy. Everyone was too busy to notice me. Now you want to hold hands and kumbaya. Things aren’t that simple.”

“We are trying to move forward,” her mother said.

“How?” Danny looked around the room and wondered if the rest of them were as drunk as she was. “DJ just realized the almighty Daddy is human. You, Mommy, I don’t know if you noticed, but your marriage is a farce, and Reno, he lost his sister. And I’m this… There is no ‘forward’, Mommy. The sooner you get your head out of your ass and into some fresh air, you will realize that.”

“Stop it!” Reno yelled as he grabbed her arm.

This time, Danny wasn’t able to get free at all. “Let go of me!”

“I haven’t been here the past few years, but I sure as hell don’t intend to leave you. You are like this because you wanted to be. No one forced you to become a junkie, but I am going to force you to sober up.”

“There is nothing you can do,” Danny squealed as she punched his arm. It didn’t matter, though. The harder she punched, the more tired she got, while Reno didn’t flinch at all.

“We already took her to rehab, Reno,” her father said.

“I intend on taking her to a different kind of rehabilitation center. This time she won’t have any money or phone access, so no calling Mommy and Daddy to get you out.”

Fear clenched her heart. He actually meant it; she could see it in his eyes. Danny looked around, and the family that had given in to her every whim her entire life had backed down with tails between their legs. Reno was the Alpha now and no one was challenging him. DJ walked up to her, gave her a kiss on the head, and left the room. That was it. Her ally was gone. The only person who could talk Reno out of his decision had left.

“Daddy?”

“I think he is right, sweetie.”

Danny had been abandoned into the arms of a madman.

***

“Don’t leave me here! Don’t leave me here! Don’t you love me?” Reno teased. “Now you don’t want to leave.”

Danny punched him in the gut and Reno moaned, pretending the hit had actually hurt him. She hopped onto her big brother’s back and hugged him as tight as he could. “If it wasn’t for I’d probably be dead by now.”

“That is something I would never let happen, monkey. Now get off. My flight is about to take off and you have a job to get back to.”

Danny hopped off and moved to stand in front of Reno. She hated this part. For the past six years, it had been the same thing. He would come visit and they would look for leads on Rhyne together, then it would be time for him to go back to Lisette and the kids. Danny always found herself standing beside the taxi, crying her eyes out. She never wanted him to leave, but as if on cue, DJ would call her, listening to her cry her way home. Then she would fall asleep and begin her new day. Danny always thought that to survive one addiction, she would have to latch on to another. This time, she’d grabbed hold of her brother’s love and never let go. Later, once she was ready, she let her parents back into her life. This was her new addiction, the love for her family.

“Grow your hair back!”

“No!”

Reno backpedaled until he reached the security gate. Danny fisted her dress, as if holding herself in that spot. This was the part that had more than thrice made Reno delay his trip. You are a big girl now. Hold yourself together. Danny cursed her phone for not ringing. Where was DJ when she needed him? Her eyes clouded and Danny could feel herself losing the battle. She had to wait long enough for Reno to get through security, the point of no return. Reno smiled at her, waited a beat, then nodded. Danny nodded. Tears flowed freely and Danny took a step back. It was better than running into Reno’s comforting arms. She nodded once more, this time steeling her features. At least one of them had to be convinced she could do it.

Reno blew her a kiss and that was when she rethought her decision of not going to New York. DJ was in France, but Reno, Lisette, her new niece and nephew, and parents would be there. But then she would remember how far she had gotten and assure herself she could do it.

Danny’s phone vibrated and she answered before it rang. “Has he taken off yet?”

“No, he is going to the check-in counter right now.” Reno turned around and waved goodbye.

“Has he said bye yet?”

“Yes,” she cried.

“You are a big girl, monkey. Come on, get into the cab and go home.”

“Okay.”

“Honey, are you still standing there, crying?”

“No.” Danny turned toward the cab and noticed the man staring at her. Normally, she would take time to do more than notice, but this time, she was too sad to.

“Come on, get in the cab.”

Danny did as she was told. She listened to the sound of DJ’s comforting voice until she got home.

***

Christian had stood there watching the girl as she grabbed on to her sundress as if trying to anchor herself down, then as she put on a brave face as her male companion left. She had been crying into the phone for a while before getting into the taxi that was obviously waiting for her. Kit had to overcome the overwhelming urge to take the girl in his arms and console her. His other option had been to force the man to stay. The dude was huge but Kit trusted his military training to give him the ability to bend a man’s will.

When she got into the cab, he wanted to follow her, hold her, and…he didn’t know what else. But he couldn’t. He was waiting to pick up his twin brother, who had flown in so they could spend their twenty-fifth birthday together. Apparently, turning a quarter of a century warranted a big blow out. Christopher had invited his friends from New York and rented a posh club for the night. Everyone else was getting in the next night. Kit wanted to spend the day with his twin and show him the sights. His and Christopher’s relationship had become difficult when Kit had decided to become an individual and join the military. The corporate world wasn’t for him. In the military, the rules were simpler, and honor was something a soldier had to wear as a proud badge on hischest. It was different for the money-driven people. He had sort of followed in their sister Katherine’s footsteps; he and Kat had always been closer. Christopher and their older brother Duke had gone into the family business, and he and Katherine had gone into the business of saving lives. Katherine was a doctor and he’d become a Navy SEAL, career paths that their parents and Christopher didn’t understand. And as for Duke, he didn’t say much of anything. He was too busy being the emperor of the Henry Empire.

Stand at attention, Marine!”

Kit didn’t bother correcting Christopher. As far as his brother was concerned, he was a G.I. Joe. He returned Christopher’s embrace and helped him with his bags. “How was your flight?”

“Damn long,” he groaned. “I still don’t understand why you couldn’t fly down to New York. You could have even borrowed an F-22.”

“I only got the weekend off. I report back on Monday. I already told you that.” Kit put Christopher’s bags in the trunk and exhaled the exhaust that had already begun to overwhelm him.

“I probably wasn’t listening. Did you get time to check the club out?”

“No, I just got off base, checked into the hotel, changed, and came to pick you up. There wasn’t any time to check out the venue.” Kit got into the car and called on his military training of patience to guide him through the weekend. Two days, and his brother would be back in New York.

“So, how are mom and dad?”

“Quit the army and you can find out for yourself.”

“I’m in the Navy, Christopher,” Kit said.

“I don’t care where you are, it’s where you are going that concerns me. One day, people getting which branch of the military you are in won’t bother you. Because at that time, you will be in a casket.”

Kit’s relationship with his parents had reduced to nothing ever since he’d announced, at the dinner table, his decision to join the military. Katherine and Duke were the only ones at his side. Katherine, because she would support him if he ever thought of joining the circus and Duke, well his life had already been taken over by family duty. He probably wanted to see his siblings do their own thing. The conversation—actually, it had been more of an argument—still echoed in his head. The tension at the dinner table mirrored the tension in the Jeep between Kit and his brother. It was thick and toxic, just as he remembered.

A meeting had been called to order, but in the Henry family, it was better known as dinner. Kit sat next to Katherine as he always did. They exchanged a sympathetic look. The rebels of the family had to stick together. The dinner had gone on for ten minutes in silence, meaning everyone else shut up as their father and Duke spoke business. It was then that their mother had made the announcement, angst not missing from her tone.

“Your brother wants to ship himself over to a godforsaken country. Say something.”

“Look at it this way, Kit: they too, think we are a godforsaken country,” Katherine said, and was rewarded by a few strangled chuckles from Christopher.

Their father grunted and Duke made one of his many silent gestures, shaking his head and staring at his phone. His whole life was there.

Their father, sitting at the head of the table, cleared his throat, silencing even the church mouse. “Of course you would find this funny, Katherine. Everything is a joke to you. You, too, turned your back on your family business.”

“I’m a doctor, Father, a profession that is more important than taking over the world. Look at it this way, if people like me, people who think medicine is important, didn’t exist, your acquisitions-and-mergers executive would be six feet under, focused only on rotting away.”

“Katherine!” Their mother glared.

“I believe Kit has thought about it. He’s old enough to make his own choices. We should trust him.” Katherine looked at Duke for some needed support. After a few seconds tapping away, the man seemed to sense the stares aimed in his direction.

“I think Christopher and I can handle the family business. Let Christian do what he wants, Father.” Duke’s deep baritone had become so unfamiliar to Kit that he sat back, marveling at its timbre.

“Yes, Father, let him do what he wants. Soon enough he will realize he can’t live without me and come back.” Christopher’s ego spoke up.

“Hardly.” Kit scoffed. “Father, I don’t really need your permission. I am an adult. This is what I want to do. I want to serve my country.”

And that was what he had done for almost six years of his life. He felt valued at his job, and his brothers-in-arms were now his new family. All he needed was Katherine, and he was complete. He was sad she couldn’t make it to the celebration, but the demands of her profession kept her away. He understood—how could he not? His career kept him away from his family; however, most of the time it was by choice. But five years was too long. He needed to see his parents and his big brother soon.

“When we get to the hotel, we need to meet with the hostess. I need to make sure the party planning is going great,” Christopher said.

“I still don’t understand why you had to rent out a whole club. It’s going to be the five of us.”

“The five of us and twenty models!” Christopher made a whooping sound as he banged on the dash board of the Jeep. “Plus, the guys are inviting other guys. And you have friends in Hawaii too, right?”

“A few who are on leave.”

“I meant normal people. Guys who are going to want to let loose. One stick in the mud is enough,” Christopher muttered under his breath.

The few times Kit and Christopher had interacted, Kit hadn’t been interested in the debauchery Christopher had planned. Now he was known as the stick in the mud. He couldn’t blame it on the military training. Growing up, Kit always felt like he had to bear the responsibility for the both of them. His twin was much too interested in fun to think of the consequences and repercussions of his actions. So while Christopher got shit-faced, Kit made sure the bill was paid and his brother got tucked into bed, alone and safe. Of course there was no gratitude for being his brother’s keeper.

Christopher never could remember how he got from point A to point B.

“My normal and your normal are very different. It’s going to be fun, don’t worry about it.”

***

“Don’t worry about it, it’s going to be great,” Danny reassured the hotel manager and her boss for the umpteenth time. The only thing the man knew how to do was worry, and the one thing Danny was good at was throwing a party. She was the hostess, party planner, and entertainment manager, whatever the hotel needed her to be. She handled all the private functions the hotel’s club had. Today, she was meeting with the birthday boys to discuss their party for the next night.

Once Danny was left alone, she stood in the middle of the empty club and looked around. It felt familiar, nostalgic. It wasn’t home to her, not anymore, that was. However, Danny could still remember the nights she’d spent in one club after the other, the faceless people around her becoming her instant family. They were either attracted to her fun-loving nature or her father’s black card. It felt good to stand in the room and not be shackled to its vices anymore. Her brothers thought she was crazy for willingly putting herself in risky situations. As far as her parents knew, all she did was use the hotel’s spa services. They thought she lived in the hotel, and not in a tiny cottage next to the beach.

Danny closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was enjoying the fresh air of freedom that surrounded her. At that moment, empty and quiet, the place could be called peaceful. However, in two hours it would be filled with rowdy kids who’d sneaked out through their bedroom windows, strangers who would turn into lovers by the end of the night, and middle-aged men and women who only came out because they were terrified life was passing them by. For everyone else, it was a source of fulfilment. It was to Danny, too, but in a different way. This club was her trophy, proof she had conquered her demons.

“Excuse me!”

Danny yelped and spun around. Instantly, she knew that face. Who could ever forget the blond hair that brought out those blue-gray eyes. It was the guy from the airport. This was fate. There was something a little different about him. The sympathy his face held as he watched her cry wasn’t there. In fact, the lines on his face didn’t look like they knew what an expression of sympathy felt like. He had a wolfish grin and he advanced toward her as if he were hunting her. He was about to hit on her, and Danny couldn’t help but be disappointed. She had expected more from that face.

“Hi, again.”

“Again?”

“The airport…” He had forgotten her.

“Yes, the airport. I could never forget such a lovely face.” He was lying and it was painfully obvious to Danny.

The guy stood next to her, perusing her, slowly undressing her. “If your hair was longer, you would look totally sexy.”

“Great.” Danny moved away. “Who are you?”

“Christopher Henry, birthday boy.”

He pulled his best smile, Danny assumed. It was the lady-slayer, the one that probably got him all the girls.

Danny had once been one of those girls who would swoon and celebrate the little attention that smile gave her. But having DJ as an active big brother and Reno her superman in her life, such things didn’t flatter her anymore. DJ was slowly getting there, but Reno was the perfect example of a man. This man in front of her was greatly lacking, and a huge disappointment.

“I’m Daniela Kent. I will be your hostess tomorrow night. Do you have any concerns or last-minute requests?” It was better to get down to business with these types.

“Nothing, but if you promise to take personal care of me, I promise to make it worth your while.”

There was that infuriating wolf grin again. Never had Daniela felt the need to bring up her pedigree, to declare that her father could probably buy the air the sorry jerk was breathing at this moment, but the guy was driving her to her

limit.

“Christopher, don’t be rude!” The deep baritone loaded with authority echoed off the walls. Danny walked around Christopher and found herself staring into the exact replica of the man.

“You? I mean, how are you?” he asked.

Confused, Danny didn’t utter a word or a sound. So is this the one from the airport?

“I only asked because you seemed upset before.” The harshness in his tone had disappeared, now he sounded like a smooth ballad, full of comfort and concern.

He was more handsome than his brother, not because of looks: they were identical in that regard. But there was something inside of him that floated to the surface and made him…immaculate. She didn’t know any other way to describe him. Danny’s hand flew to her chest, as her heart pounded against its cage.

“I’m better now, thanks,” she said. She could barely hear her voice over the rushing sound in her ears.

“Are you all right?” His forehead creased in a frown, his gaze glued to where her hand lay.

“I’m fine, my heart is just…” Danny blushed and looked away. “Schoolgirl moment…so is there anything I can do for you…the both of you, I mean.”

“I’m okay with everything. Christopher?”

Danny turned to his brother. The hopes he’d had fizzled into thin air. Chris was still there. His grin, too.

“Kit, could you give Daniela and I a moment?” Christopher asked, and Danny couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“Daniela, that’s your name?”

Danny turned to Kit, the smile playing on her lips disobeying her order of keeping her face serious. “Yes, Daniela Kent.”

“I’m Christian Henry. My friends call me Kit.”

He stretched out his hand to her and she took it instantly. However, she dropped it immediately. The shock that coursed through her after the contact stunned her. One look at Kit and it was obvious that the surprise and sensation was a mutual experience. “Kit, my friends call me Danny.”

“I like your hair, Danny.”

Danny thought she would melt in that moment, or cry. She had never met a man who made her feel so special, desired and worth the world, with just one look. Danny wanted to stand there for eternity, basking in the emotions his eyes, smile, and gentle touch made her feel. Heat rose in her cheeks and Danny was sure she must look a bright as a beet root, and the goofy smile her lips had stretched into didn’t help matters. She covered her face with her palms and walked away as far and as fast as she could.

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Get a Copy ADDICTED TO HIM

ADDICTED TO HIM

Danny felt the wetness of her tongue as it smoothed over her lips, her fingers biting into the plush couch as she watched her brother DJ swirl the golden liquid in his whiskey glass. She swallowed a yelp when he threw his head back and tossed the contents into his mouth. Her gaze still fixed on him, she watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.

Oh God! She was slowly losing the leash she had placed on her need for booze. Danny had made a promise to her parents, one she’d kept breaking over and over again for the past couple of months. She’d sworn her parents to secrecy, because she had no intention of telling her brothers her secret. DJ would only blame himself, and she didn’t want to disappoint her new, big brother Reno.

Danny had recently come out of a posh rehab clinic. Rehab, a place she never thought she would see the inside of. However, once you let your boyfriend introduce you to cocaine, after which he dies in bed, at your side and you don’t notice until two days later…rehab was apparently the place to go. Reno had been livid. DJ just kept looking at her with disappointment, shaking his head every few seconds. Her mother had cried and her father had been rendered speechless. Her boyfriend, the football star who’d everyone thought was a saint, was just a nightmare with a dreamy smile.

DJ got up and Danny’s gaze tailed him. The clink of ice hitting the bottom of the glass was followed by the familiar sound of liquid pouring. Danny chewed on her bottom lip and swallowed hard. Once she’d left rehab, she’d had to replace one addiction with another. At least she wasn’t taking drugs anymore.

“Don’t you think that’s enough?” her father bellowed.

DJ glared at their father, probably wanting to say something terrible but holding himself back. Their father had been DJ’s hero growing up. DJ modeled himself after the man he had been named after. DJ hissed after gulping his drink. Danny scratched her neck. She could almost feel the sensation, the hot burn of the honey liquid as it ran down his throat, heating up his insides with a glorious fire she wished she could embrace.

“DJ, I said that’s enough?” their father asked once more.

“I don’t think you are in a position to tell me what enough is.” DJ threw back another shot and filled his glass once more. “Reno is twenty-eight years old. You have lied to my mother…or did you know?”

Danny was barely hanging on to the conversation. DJ’s glass had caused her to go into a trance.

“Of course not!” their mother exclaimed. “Do you think I would let my children’s siblings live on the other side of the country without looking into their welfare? Do you think I would have left your sister to whatever fate she is in now?”

“I’m here—no, wait—you must be talking about the other sister. The one father abandoned and has now disappeared. Her name is Rayne, right?” Danny slurred her words. This part of the conversation had caught her attention. It was hard for her, now that she wasn’t the only little girl in the family.

“I think you should be telling Daniela what enough is,” DJ said as he sat back down. Danny glared at him, envious and mad at the same time. She looked around the room and immediately, she knew they could tell she was far from sober.

“DJ, that’s enough,” Reno said, his tone cool but daring disobedience. DJ’s hand froze with the glass on his lips, and Danny whimpered.

“We need clear heads if we are going to discuss this. Daniela, I think you should go to your room,” Reno said.

“You won’t tell me what to do,” Danny said.

“Go!” Reno’s firm bass didn’t get any further arguments from her. “We’ll talk about what it is you are taking, and figure out a way to deal with it together, as a family.”

“I could have used your help for the past seventeen years. Oh! How could I forget? I couldn’t, because our father had abandoned you.” Danny heard DJ say as she left the room.

“DJ, it wasn’t that simple.” This time it was their father speaking.

“It wasn’t? Because to me, it does sound simple. Take care of your children. You abandoned them, and now my sister is gone.” DJ again.

“Don’t you think I know that? No one in this room is tortured about Rayne’s disappearance as much as I am,” their father shouted.

“I think Reno is. He was six years old when his sister was stolen from her bed and sold by her junkie mother. The one person who should have been there for him wasn’t.” DJ now. Danny wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or the volley of words that had her head spinning.

“I know the consequences my actions brought. I went to Hawaii for some time off, a boys’ trip. Do you think I expected to meet the only woman I would love?” The statement shocked Danny enough to slap her out of her stupor. She didn’t know how her mother managed to stay in the room. Hearing the man you loved proclaim he was only in love with one woman—another woman—must have hurt.

The room went silent and Danny thought the revelation must have made them all spontaneously combust. But then her father spoke up again. “I don’t expect you to understand DJ, leaping from one bed to another like you do. I was in love with a beautiful, island girl. She was everything I ever wanted in a woman: strong, gentle, and supportive and determined to face every day with a smile. And when Reno was born, I never thought I could be happier. This was the family I always wanted as my family.” The earnestness in her father’s voice pierced through her heart. She wished one day, she could fall in love. She wanted to be dedicated to someone who could make her need for him greater than her desire for drugs and alcohol.

“But I guess money was more important than family.” The steel in Reno’s tone slashed through the room, and Danny rethought her last thought. Maybe vices were the only thing a human being could hang on to. For her father it was money and as for her…

“I was going to give it all up. I did for a few months. But my father froze my accounts and the money I earned as a bartender couldn’t support us. Do you know how demeaning it is for a man not to be able to provide for his family? So I came back to New York. I didn’t tell my father about my son. I told him Kono and I were done. I worked at the firm and every chance I got, I would fly out to Hawaii to see my family.”

Danny leaned in as her father’s broken voice bounced off the walls of the house. Sacrifice. Maybe there was hope for love, after all.

“Is that where you went? You told me you were going for business trips,” Issadora said.

“How did my mother fit in all this?” DJ asked.

“My father wanted an alliance with her family. We dated, then got married, then had you and your sister.” Their mother’s nod affirmed her doubts.

“So if you were here with mother and with Kono and Reno, when did you decide the double life was too much for you?”

“Before you were born. Father had threatened to disown me. And I knew I couldn’t be able to provide for Reno and Kono if I didn’t stay in his…good graces. This is what happened.”

Danny almost toppled over, her curiosity superseding her drunken legs’ ability to hold her body up.

“What do you mean? DJ asked.

“I went back to Hawaii and Kono told me she was pregnant. Then your mother called to tell me she was expecting you…”

Danny thought she would nod off at that moment.

“So it was my fault!” DJ shouted, making Danny jump back and bump into the wall unit behind her.

“It’s not,” Reno and their father said in unison. The boom in their voices drowned out the sound of the disturbed furniture. “What he means to say is marrying into your mother’s family money was more important than his poor family on the island.”

“It was my fault,” their mother spoke up. “I knew that your father wouldn’t commit without a push. So I got pregnant intentionally.”

“So he was sleeping with both of you at the same time?” DJ asked.

“You’re one to judge,” his father snapped back.

“The difference between you and me is that I wear a condom each time. Or wasn’t it invented when you were making your rounds?”

“Don’t you think I know I broke my family? I destroyed Kono and turned her into… If I had been brave, my son wouldn’t have grown up in the environment he did. My daughter would be here about to celebrate her twenty-second birthday with you. She was two weeks older than you. I only spent two weeks with my daughter. Kono didn’t want anything to do with me, once I told her you were on the way and that I had married your mother. I broke her heart, and my own.”

“Oh, poor you. We should all feel sorry for you, right? Your heart got broken. Well, Kono’s broken heart led to her death and to my sister being sold off. So forgive me if I don’t feel sorry for you,” DJ said, his voice thick with sarcasm.

“DJ—”

“What I don’t understand is this: grandfather has been dead for ten years. What stopped you for looking for your children?”

“Shame, and the fact that I am a coward.”

“Well, at least we agree on one thing. You were my hero. My entire life, all I ever wanted was to be like you. But now that I know you, I’m ashamed to be your son.”

“That’s fine, you can be ashamed. The important thing right now is to find my daughter.”

“Why?” Reno asked. “So you can take care of her? Daniela, the one living in your house, is as high as a kite right now. Neither one of you noticed. You can’t take care of anyone but yourself, Dennis Kent. I’ll find my sister on my own.”

“Our sister. Of course with Daddy’s money,” DJ said.

“One thing you can depend on is unlike my father, I will support you in everything you want. So now, what do we do about our sisters?”

It was like a tribal meeting, one Danny wasn’t invited to. They would sit there discussing and deciding her life. It was ridiculous. Danny walked into the room, clapping slowly. They all turned to face her. “This is better than a telenovela.” She laughed. “This family is so screwed up. And you wonder why I’m an alcoholic.”

“I thought it was cocaine,” DJ cut in.

“Fuck you!” Danny turned to her parents, feeling betrayed for the second time that night. “Not only can’t you keep track of your children, Daddy, or realize your husband has never loved you, Mommy, you also can’t keep your mouths shut.”

“They are your brothers. They deserved to know what was going on with you,” her father said.

“The big one over there has been hula-hooping for the past seventeen years and the other one had his face buried so deep into cleavage, they didn’t care what I was doing.” Her mother grabbed her hand and Danny pulled out of her grasp, stumbling once she was free. “And then you two: Daddy has been mourning Kono while Mommy has been chasing Daddy. Everyone was too busy to notice me. Now you want to hold hands and kumbaya. Things aren’t that simple.”

“We are trying to move forward,” her mother said.

“How?” Danny looked around the room and wondered if the rest of them were as drunk as she was. “DJ just realized the almighty Daddy is human. You, Mommy, I don’t know if you noticed, but your marriage is a farce, and Reno, he lost his sister. And I’m this… There is no ‘forward’, Mommy. The sooner you get your head out of your ass and into some fresh air, you will realize that.”

“Stop it!” Reno yelled as he grabbed her arm.

This time, Danny wasn’t able to get free at all. “Let go of me!”

“I haven’t been here the past few years, but I sure as hell don’t intend to leave you. You are like this because you wanted to be. No one forced you to become a junkie, but I am going to force you to sober up.”

“There is nothing you can do,” Danny squealed as she punched his arm. It didn’t matter, though. The harder she punched, the more tired she got, while Reno didn’t flinch at all.

“We already took her to rehab, Reno,” her father said.

“I intend on taking her to a different kind of rehabilitation center. This time she won’t have any money or phone access, so no calling Mommy and Daddy to get you out.”

Fear clenched her heart. He actually meant it; she could see it in his eyes. Danny looked around, and the family that had given in to her every whim her entire life had backed down with tails between their legs. Reno was the Alpha now and no one was challenging him. DJ walked up to her, gave her a kiss on the head, and left the room. That was it. Her ally was gone. The only person who could talk Reno out of his decision had left.

“Daddy?”

“I think he is right, sweetie.”

Danny had been abandoned into the arms of a madman.

***

“Don’t leave me here! Don’t leave me here! Don’t you love me?” Reno teased. “Now you don’t want to leave.”

Danny punched him in the gut and Reno moaned, pretending the hit had actually hurt him. She hopped onto her big brother’s back and hugged him as tight as he could. “If it wasn’t for I’d probably be dead by now.”

“That is something I would never let happen, monkey. Now get off. My flight is about to take off and you have a job to get back to.”

Danny hopped off and moved to stand in front of Reno. She hated this part. For the past six years, it had been the same thing. He would come visit and they would look for leads on Rhyne together, then it would be time for him to go back to Lisette and the kids. Danny always found herself standing beside the taxi, crying her eyes out. She never wanted him to leave, but as if on cue, DJ would call her, listening to her cry her way home. Then she would fall asleep and begin her new day. Danny always thought that to survive one addiction, she would have to latch on to another. This time, she’d grabbed hold of her brother’s love and never let go. Later, once she was ready, she let her parents back into her life. This was her new addiction, the love for her family.

“Grow your hair back!”

“No!”

Reno backpedaled until he reached the security gate. Danny fisted her dress, as if holding herself in that spot. This was the part that had more than thrice made Reno delay his trip. You are a big girl now. Hold yourself together. Danny cursed her phone for not ringing. Where was DJ when she needed him? Her eyes clouded and Danny could feel herself losing the battle. She had to wait long enough for Reno to get through security, the point of no return. Reno smiled at her, waited a beat, then nodded. Danny nodded. Tears flowed freely and Danny took a step back. It was better than running into Reno’s comforting arms. She nodded once more, this time steeling her features. At least one of them had to be convinced she could do it.

Reno blew her a kiss and that was when she rethought her decision of not going to New York. DJ was in France, but Reno, Lisette, her new niece and nephew, and parents would be there. But then she would remember how far she had gotten and assure herself she could do it.

Danny’s phone vibrated and she answered before it rang. “Has he taken off yet?”

“No, he is going to the check-in counter right now.” Reno turned around and waved goodbye.

“Has he said bye yet?”

“Yes,” she cried.

“You are a big girl, monkey. Come on, get into the cab and go home.”

“Okay.”

“Honey, are you still standing there, crying?”

“No.” Danny turned toward the cab and noticed the man staring at her. Normally, she would take time to do more than notice, but this time, she was too sad to.

“Come on, get in the cab.”

Danny did as she was told. She listened to the sound of DJ’s comforting voice until she got home.

***

Christian had stood there watching the girl as she grabbed on to her sundress as if trying to anchor herself down, then as she put on a brave face as her male companion left. She had been crying into the phone for a while before getting into the taxi that was obviously waiting for her. Kit had to overcome the overwhelming urge to take the girl in his arms and console her. His other option had been to force the man to stay. The dude was huge but Kit trusted his military training to give him the ability to bend a man’s will.

When she got into the cab, he wanted to follow her, hold her, and…he didn’t know what else. But he couldn’t. He was waiting to pick up his twin brother, who had flown in so they could spend their twenty-fifth birthday together. Apparently, turning a quarter of a century warranted a big blow out. Christopher had invited his friends from New York and rented a posh club for the night. Everyone else was getting in the next night. Kit wanted to spend the day with his twin and show him the sights. His and Christopher’s relationship had become difficult when Kit had decided to become an individual and join the military. The corporate world wasn’t for him. In the military, the rules were simpler, and honor was something a soldier had to wear as a proud badge on hischest. It was different for the money-driven people. He had sort of followed in their sister Katherine’s footsteps; he and Kat had always been closer. Christopher and their older brother Duke had gone into the family business, and he and Katherine had gone into the business of saving lives. Katherine was a doctor and he’d become a Navy SEAL, career paths that their parents and Christopher didn’t understand. And as for Duke, he didn’t say much of anything. He was too busy being the emperor of the Henry Empire.

Stand at attention, Marine!”

Kit didn’t bother correcting Christopher. As far as his brother was concerned, he was a G.I. Joe. He returned Christopher’s embrace and helped him with his bags. “How was your flight?”

“Damn long,” he groaned. “I still don’t understand why you couldn’t fly down to New York. You could have even borrowed an F-22.”

“I only got the weekend off. I report back on Monday. I already told you that.” Kit put Christopher’s bags in the trunk and exhaled the exhaust that had already begun to overwhelm him.

“I probably wasn’t listening. Did you get time to check the club out?”

“No, I just got off base, checked into the hotel, changed, and came to pick you up. There wasn’t any time to check out the venue.” Kit got into the car and called on his military training of patience to guide him through the weekend. Two days, and his brother would be back in New York.

“So, how are mom and dad?”

“Quit the army and you can find out for yourself.”

“I’m in the Navy, Christopher,” Kit said.

“I don’t care where you are, it’s where you are going that concerns me. One day, people getting which branch of the military you are in won’t bother you. Because at that time, you will be in a casket.”

Kit’s relationship with his parents had reduced to nothing ever since he’d announced, at the dinner table, his decision to join the military. Katherine and Duke were the only ones at his side. Katherine, because she would support him if he ever thought of joining the circus and Duke, well his life had already been taken over by family duty. He probably wanted to see his siblings do their own thing. The conversation—actually, it had been more of an argument—still echoed in his head. The tension at the dinner table mirrored the tension in the Jeep between Kit and his brother. It was thick and toxic, just as he remembered.

A meeting had been called to order, but in the Henry family, it was better known as dinner. Kit sat next to Katherine as he always did. They exchanged a sympathetic look. The rebels of the family had to stick together. The dinner had gone on for ten minutes in silence, meaning everyone else shut up as their father and Duke spoke business. It was then that their mother had made the announcement, angst not missing from her tone.

“Your brother wants to ship himself over to a godforsaken country. Say something.”

“Look at it this way, Kit: they too, think we are a godforsaken country,” Katherine said, and was rewarded by a few strangled chuckles from Christopher.

Their father grunted and Duke made one of his many silent gestures, shaking his head and staring at his phone. His whole life was there.

Their father, sitting at the head of the table, cleared his throat, silencing even the church mouse. “Of course you would find this funny, Katherine. Everything is a joke to you. You, too, turned your back on your family business.”

“I’m a doctor, Father, a profession that is more important than taking over the world. Look at it this way, if people like me, people who think medicine is important, didn’t exist, your acquisitions-and-mergers executive would be six feet under, focused only on rotting away.”

“Katherine!” Their mother glared.

“I believe Kit has thought about it. He’s old enough to make his own choices. We should trust him.” Katherine looked at Duke for some needed support. After a few seconds tapping away, the man seemed to sense the stares aimed in his direction.

“I think Christopher and I can handle the family business. Let Christian do what he wants, Father.” Duke’s deep baritone had become so unfamiliar to Kit that he sat back, marveling at its timbre.

“Yes, Father, let him do what he wants. Soon enough he will realize he can’t live without me and come back.” Christopher’s ego spoke up.

“Hardly.” Kit scoffed. “Father, I don’t really need your permission. I am an adult. This is what I want to do. I want to serve my country.”

And that was what he had done for almost six years of his life. He felt valued at his job, and his brothers-in-arms were now his new family. All he needed was Katherine, and he was complete. He was sad she couldn’t make it to the celebration, but the demands of her profession kept her away. He understood—how could he not? His career kept him away from his family; however, most of the time it was by choice. But five years was too long. He needed to see his parents and his big brother soon.

“When we get to the hotel, we need to meet with the hostess. I need to make sure the party planning is going great,” Christopher said.

“I still don’t understand why you had to rent out a whole club. It’s going to be the five of us.”

“The five of us and twenty models!” Christopher made a whooping sound as he banged on the dash board of the Jeep. “Plus, the guys are inviting other guys. And you have friends in Hawaii too, right?”

“A few who are on leave.”

“I meant normal people. Guys who are going to want to let loose. One stick in the mud is enough,” Christopher muttered under his breath.

The few times Kit and Christopher had interacted, Kit hadn’t been interested in the debauchery Christopher had planned. Now he was known as the stick in the mud. He couldn’t blame it on the military training. Growing up, Kit always felt like he had to bear the responsibility for the both of them. His twin was much too interested in fun to think of the consequences and repercussions of his actions. So while Christopher got shit-faced, Kit made sure the bill was paid and his brother got tucked into bed, alone and safe. Of course there was no gratitude for being his brother’s keeper.

Christopher never could remember how he got from point A to point B.

“My normal and your normal are very different. It’s going to be fun, don’t worry about it.”

***

“Don’t worry about it, it’s going to be great,” Danny reassured the hotel manager and her boss for the umpteenth time. The only thing the man knew how to do was worry, and the one thing Danny was good at was throwing a party. She was the hostess, party planner, and entertainment manager, whatever the hotel needed her to be. She handled all the private functions the hotel’s club had. Today, she was meeting with the birthday boys to discuss their party for the next night.

Once Danny was left alone, she stood in the middle of the empty club and looked around. It felt familiar, nostalgic. It wasn’t home to her, not anymore, that was. However, Danny could still remember the nights she’d spent in one club after the other, the faceless people around her becoming her instant family. They were either attracted to her fun-loving nature or her father’s black card. It felt good to stand in the room and not be shackled to its vices anymore. Her brothers thought she was crazy for willingly putting herself in risky situations. As far as her parents knew, all she did was use the hotel’s spa services. They thought she lived in the hotel, and not in a tiny cottage next to the beach.

Danny closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was enjoying the fresh air of freedom that surrounded her. At that moment, empty and quiet, the place could be called peaceful. However, in two hours it would be filled with rowdy kids who’d sneaked out through their bedroom windows, strangers who would turn into lovers by the end of the night, and middle-aged men and women who only came out because they were terrified life was passing them by. For everyone else, it was a source of fulfilment. It was to Danny, too, but in a different way. This club was her trophy, proof she had conquered her demons.

“Excuse me!”

Danny yelped and spun around. Instantly, she knew that face. Who could ever forget the blond hair that brought out those blue-gray eyes. It was the guy from the airport. This was fate. There was something a little different about him. The sympathy his face held as he watched her cry wasn’t there. In fact, the lines on his face didn’t look like they knew what an expression of sympathy felt like. He had a wolfish grin and he advanced toward her as if he were hunting her. He was about to hit on her, and Danny couldn’t help but be disappointed. She had expected more from that face.

“Hi, again.”

“Again?”

“The airport…” He had forgotten her.

“Yes, the airport. I could never forget such a lovely face.” He was lying and it was painfully obvious to Danny.

The guy stood next to her, perusing her, slowly undressing her. “If your hair was longer, you would look totally sexy.”

“Great.” Danny moved away. “Who are you?”

“Christopher Henry, birthday boy.”

He pulled his best smile, Danny assumed. It was the lady-slayer, the one that probably got him all the girls.

Danny had once been one of those girls who would swoon and celebrate the little attention that smile gave her. But having DJ as an active big brother and Reno her superman in her life, such things didn’t flatter her anymore. DJ was slowly getting there, but Reno was the perfect example of a man. This man in front of her was greatly lacking, and a huge disappointment.

“I’m Daniela Kent. I will be your hostess tomorrow night. Do you have any concerns or last-minute requests?” It was better to get down to business with these types.

“Nothing, but if you promise to take personal care of me, I promise to make it worth your while.”

There was that infuriating wolf grin again. Never had Daniela felt the need to bring up her pedigree, to declare that her father could probably buy the air the sorry jerk was breathing at this moment, but the guy was driving her to her

limit.

“Christopher, don’t be rude!” The deep baritone loaded with authority echoed off the walls. Danny walked around Christopher and found herself staring into the exact replica of the man.

“You? I mean, how are you?” he asked.

Confused, Danny didn’t utter a word or a sound. So is this the one from the airport?

“I only asked because you seemed upset before.” The harshness in his tone had disappeared, now he sounded like a smooth ballad, full of comfort and concern.

He was more handsome than his brother, not because of looks: they were identical in that regard. But there was something inside of him that floated to the surface and made him…immaculate. She didn’t know any other way to describe him. Danny’s hand flew to her chest, as her heart pounded against its cage.

“I’m better now, thanks,” she said. She could barely hear her voice over the rushing sound in her ears.

“Are you all right?” His forehead creased in a frown, his gaze glued to where her hand lay.

“I’m fine, my heart is just…” Danny blushed and looked away. “Schoolgirl moment…so is there anything I can do for you…the both of you, I mean.”

“I’m okay with everything. Christopher?”

Danny turned to his brother. The hopes he’d had fizzled into thin air. Chris was still there. His grin, too.

“Kit, could you give Daniela and I a moment?” Christopher asked, and Danny couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“Daniela, that’s your name?”

Danny turned to Kit, the smile playing on her lips disobeying her order of keeping her face serious. “Yes, Daniela Kent.”

“I’m Christian Henry. My friends call me Kit.”

He stretched out his hand to her and she took it instantly. However, she dropped it immediately. The shock that coursed through her after the contact stunned her. One look at Kit and it was obvious that the surprise and sensation was a mutual experience. “Kit, my friends call me Danny.”

“I like your hair, Danny.”

Danny thought she would melt in that moment, or cry. She had never met a man who made her feel so special, desired and worth the world, with just one look. Danny wanted to stand there for eternity, basking in the emotions his eyes, smile, and gentle touch made her feel. Heat rose in her cheeks and Danny was sure she must look a bright as a beet root, and the goofy smile her lips had stretched into didn’t help matters. She covered her face with her palms and walked away as far and as fast as she could.

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