Chapter 11
Kazi
The last Kazi heard from Yara was when he sent her the text, letting her know Izzy was safe.
She had sent the letter K back. That was it.
Yara was clearly and obviously livid, how would she feel when he told her the rest of it?
Izzy just married my boss…partially against her will, and I couldn’t stop it.
Mateo is going to be pissed too.
And what am I even supposed to tell Yara? How will she ever trust me again? She’s going to hate me.
He was inside Mateo’s “house” in Florida, except it was essentially a fortified bunker.
Kazi sat on the leather couch, the only piece of furniture in the stark living room.
His head was in his hands with his eyes screwed shut.
He was exhausted, it was the early morning, but he hadn’t slept since Yara left his side.
His abdomen throbbed from an injury he had obtained just a few hours ago, but he was doing his best to ignore it. Focusing on what was to come instead.
How could I do this to her? I should have told her the truth sooner. And now she’s pregnant.
An unknown emotion rushed through Kazi. He had a family once—a loving and protective older brother—but he never expected to again. Not after they were gunned down. But now Yara was here, and she was growing his child. She was the family he dreamed about.
As long as his lies didn’t cause her to run from him.
At least Izzy is safe, at least Emilio retrieved her from that evil man on the roof.
Down the hall, the front door slammed open, but Kazi didn’t react. Mateo had warned him they would be here soon, that he would be on the receiving end of Yara’s wrath. And he would accept it; he missed her. His heart ached.
“Where the fuck are you?!” The shout echoed around the space.
“In here,” he called back, getting to his feet, wobbling a bit unsteadily.
“Kazi! How could you!? Izzy is my best—” Yara paused as she turned the corner and took him in. “Kazi?” Her voice twisted from anger to concern, her icy eyes narrowing on the large bandage on his abdomen.
Kazi reached behind him, grabbing his jacket, draping it over his naked torso before zeroing in on Yara.
It had been less than two days, but that was more time than they had spent apart since they first met.
“Do you remember the comedy club?” Kazi diverted as he marched forward, eating up the space between Yara and him.
She sputtered, completely caught off guard. “I—I—the comedy club?”
“Where we met.” Kazi raised his hand, his fingers tracing the outline of her jaw, to the dimple that formed on just her left side, to her pursed lips.
“Kazi,” she warned, her hot breath fanning his hand.
He focused anywhere except her eyes as he did his best to find the right words. “Here, in Florida. This is where I moved from.”
Yara stiffened. “You followed me to California? We didn’t know each other. Are you a stalker?” Her voice turned hysterical as she ripped from his touch, backing away from him.
“No,” Kazi sighed. “You were a job, Yara.”
“A job?” The typical sarcastic and feisty Yara was replaced with a shadow.
“But you have to believe me, Yara. It turned into more than that. I was sent to watch over you, to keep you safe…from a distance. But then I saw you, then I met you, then I spoke to you, then I watched you perform those god awful jokes and I just knew. I needed you to be a part of my life.”
Kazi carefully, so as not to startle her, reached for her again, giving her plenty of time to reject him. When she didn’t push him away, he wrapped his arms around her, tugging her to his chest.
She hung limply but didn’t fight him.
“Why?” she asked lamely.
Kazi breathed her in, her scent inundated the air and it took everything for him not to fall apart. But she deserved an explanation. He squeezed her tighter, but then winced as it pulled at his wound.
“Kazi, you’re injured—start there. What happened?”
“The priest at a wedding stabbed me while he was trying to escape,” Kazi said honestly.
“Okay and now the truth.” Yara shifted, escaping his hold, but then she was leading them towards the couch, sitting down and tugging Kazi to do the same.
Instead, he fell to his knees at her feet, looking up at her through his eyelashes. “Yara,” he suppressed a groan of pain as he pulled at his stitches.
“Kazi, I’m supposed to be angry with you, you can’t try to seduce me.”
Kazi cocked his head. “Seduce you?” His hands moved on their own, to the hem of her pants, finding her ankles, stroking the bare skin there.
“You don’t know what you’re doing?” Yara huffed. “Fine. Now explain yourself before I lose my patience and decide to run back to California. You said Izzy is safe?”
Kazi mulled the words over. “She is safe.”
“Okay, start from the beginning. The comedy club, why were you there?”
“My boss.”
“Your boss. You mean Emil? Or does he go by Johnson Hall?”
Kazi cringed.
Distracting them both, his fingers brushed up and down her skin soothingly. It was a comfort for him, and he could feel as Yara pressed further into his touch if only subconsciously.
“Emilio Castillo.” Kazi tugged her ankles apart, settling between her thighs on his knees. He watched as her eyes narrowed and her lips flattened. He wasn’t opposed to begging for her forgiveness.
“I know that name.”
“You do,” Kazi confirmed, resting his head on her thigh. “He went to school with you and Izzy. He and Izzy have history.”
“History?” She shut her eyes, furrowing her eyebrows.
“Yes, they became close after graduation.”
“After graduation…” Yara breathed out, her eyes snapped open.
“Izzy did go MIA the summer of graduation and then she just decided to up and move to New York in the middle of that. But I was too busy with my own shit to question it.” She looked down at Kazi offering a cantankerous glare that Kazi had seen before but never been on the receiving end of.
He didn’t expect to enjoy it. “All of that is nice, but what does that have to do with you?”
“I work for Emilio, and he wanted to make sure Izzy’s best friend was protected too.
He sent me to watch over you. I was supposed to return home, but then I convinced him to let me stay and that is how we ended up together for the last ten years.
Our meeting may not have been by chance, but apart from that, everything between us is real.
My love is real. My devotion to you is real. ”
“Emilio is your boss, your big bad boss that is up to nefarious activities, and he is with MY IZZY?” Yara snarled. “Does she know? Is she aware of his background?”
Kazi nodded. “She knows, I promise.”
“Why am I not angry with you? Why do I feel gratitude? You found me at my very lowest, Kazi. When I was about to give up on Darkest Desires, when I was attempting to drink myself into oblivion every night. Izzy was my only tether, but she was hundreds of miles away dealing with her own life and her own business. How could I tell her I was going to quit when she was doing so well for herself? And then there you were. At the end of my set, laughing your ass off at all my dark jokes nobody else found funny. There you were, not pressuring me to fuck you or making innuendos. You just genuinely seemed to care.” Yara bent over, grabbing hold of Kazi’s chin, forcing him to look directly into her eyes.
“Was that real, Kazi? Is that who you truly are? You told me that night you were an orphan with no path and no ambition. That your brother, Min-ho, sacrificed himself to offer you a chance. You told me that I was the first spark of light in your life. Was that true or was that you trying to burrow your way into my life?”
“Min-ho is—was—my brother. He went away on my behalf, he took the fall and then he was killed in prison.” Kazi screwed his eyes shut, breathing out shakily.
His brother was an old wound that he had allowed to fester for too long.
Min-ho was the reason he had ended up with Emilio.
“Can’t it be both, Miss Yara? I had watched you for months before I gained the confidence to approach you.
I didn’t have to, but I chose to. I meant everything I said.
I knew you were struggling. You needed help, and even if it wasn’t what Emilio directed of me, I decided I would come to your aid.
I would be whatever you needed me to be, if only to earn a place by your side. ”
Yara cocked her head. “And did you earn it, Kazi? Do you think you deserve to be here?”
Kazi’s eyes watered at the thought of his failures. At the stalker who had nearly done irreparable damage. At the man still out there, who had his eyes on Yara. “No.”
Yara released his chin. Bringing a foot up, she pressed the bottom of her shoe to Kazi’s chest, careful to avoid his wound. She forced him away from the couch and onto his back, until he was lying flat.
He didn’t fight her, accepting whatever punishment she deemed fit.
“Take out your cock. Or are you too injured?”
Kazi tried to lift up, to look at Yara, but her foot held him in place.
“You want to apologize to me? You want to prove that this is real?” She moved her foot, getting up off the couch.
This time, Kazi did as instructed. It wasn’t fully hard yet, but it was more than half-way there, and the longer he watched Yara, the closer he was.
She shifted until she stood over him, watching him expectantly. “Kazi.”
“Miss Yara.” Even though she was younger, it was hard for him to drop Miss. It was his sign of respect to her, but her lips flattened at the word, and he knew instantly his mistake.
“Take your pants off,” she bit out.
This time he didn’t hesitate, kicking off his pants and even doing away with his shirt for good measure, before lying back down on the scratchy rug beneath him.
“Good. Now Kazi, I’m going to use you for my own pleasure. Do I have your consent?”
His cock twitched, and she raised an eyebrow in amusement.
“Always,” he murmured.