Chapter 10
Beyond frustrated from Gage’s week of sexual games, I gave caution the finger and took a logic-defying risk on Friday morning.
I went in for my shift at the hospital.
If Gage found out, it would ruin our first anniversary. But I was going stir crazy in that house, cooped up like Rapunzel. Only I wasn’t a girl held captive by an evil sorceress that thirsted for power. I was a sex slave held prisoner by my husband’s deviant desires.
He’d given me explicit instructions with no room for bending the rules, yet here I was, not only at the hospital to see Emma, but I was sticking around afterward to have lunch with Simone.
I entered the cafeteria, attention on my cell as I read the text Simone had sent, telling me she’d snagged us a table.
Two steps into the busy hub of the hospital at lunchtime, and I collided with a warm body.
I lifted my head and took in Ian’s masculine jawline, shadowed with stubble. Forgoing his normal white doctor’s coat, today he wore teal scrubs.
“Excuse me,” I muttered, veering to the right and attempting to go around him.
He followed my movement. “Do you have a minute?”
I’d managed to avoid him for weeks, but now everywhere I turned, he was in my way. Literally. “There’s nothing left to say.”
“I know where I stand, Kayla. Is it too much to ask that you have lunch with me?” His mouth quirked in an endearing way. A sexy way.
I couldn’t do this. He was trying so hard to squirm back into my life, but he was wasting his time. Folding my arms, I focused on his chest. “We can’t be friends.”
“Because of Gage?”
“Yes, because of Gage. He’s not okay with this.”
“I don’t give a fuck what he’s okay with.” He tilted my chin. “You shouldn’t care either. Are you not your own person anymore?”
I frowned, once again thrown off by his odd mood swings. “I’m not doing this with you.”
“Doing what? Getting a harsh dose of truth? Or sharing a meal?”
“Take your pick. Besides, I’m meeting someone, so if you’ll excuse me…?” I stared him down.
“Your wish is my command.” His barbed tone pricked at my roller-coaster emotions. God, the way he spoke to me hurt. He stepped to the side and swung an arm out in a display of grand gesture, his body language screaming at me.
Go on, he silently taunted. Pretend I don’t exist.
His presence shook me up, made me want to bolt, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing his words chewed my heart up and spit it out.
I went through the lunch line in a blur, my spine tingling with the notion that he was watching me.
I turned around and scanned the raucous room, but he’d disappeared.
Instead, I spotted Simone, who raised a questioning brow.
Carrying my food, I squeezed between tables, went around a small group of nurses chatting, and settled into the seat across from her.
“How do you know Dr. Kaplan?” she asked as she dipped a chicken strip into a ranch cup. She could put the king of junk food junkies to shame, yet she never gained a pound.
“I met him in college.” Stirring my soup with a spoon, I wished like hell she wouldn’t press for more info.
She narrowed her brown eyes. “Now that I think of it, I do recall him hanging around Eve’s room. He sat with her a lot while you were gone.”
That reminder only made me feel like shit. Ian was kind and caring and fucking sane. Gage was the opposite of all those things.
“So what’s the story there?” she asked.
“There’s not much to tell.”
“Uh-uh. You’re not playing the vague card on this one.”
Spooning up a bite of chicken noodle soup, I blew on it. “He’s Gage’s brother.”
“Get the hell out. No way.”
“Yes way.” I sipped on my hot soup for a couple of minutes, Simone giving me the stare-down the whole time.
“C’mon, gimme the 4-11. Did you and Dr. Kaplan have a thing?”
“Why would you think that?”
She raised a brow. “You wear everything on your face, Kayla.”
Funny. Gage told me the same thing once.
“I guess you could call it a thing.” I nibbled my lip, debating on how much to tell her. “I was in love with him.”
“This is getting juicier by the second. Dr. Kaplan is a sweetheart. So what happened?”
“My ex-husband happened.”
Simone was aware of my history with Eve’s biological father…Eve’s sperm donor. DNA didn’t make a father. Being there did. Loving and caring and giving time to a child made a father.
Gage was that to Eve.
“When did you meet Brother Number Two?”
“A few years ago. He hired me on as his personal assistant.” I pushed a bite of salad into my mouth and chewed.
Simone didn’t know about the blackmail or the kidnapping, and she didn’t know that Gage had paid for Eve’s care.
Very few people did, as he’d gone to great lengths to remain an anonymous benefactor.
“So you ended up falling for both of them.” She mulled over that piece of information for a bit.
“Looks like Dr. Kaplan still has a thing for you.” She pointed to my left hand.
“Regardless of that shackle on your finger. That’s why you’re hiding your shifts here from Gage, isn’t it?
There’s still something between you and that fine specimen of a doctor. ”
“Not on my end,” I said, my cheeks flushing, contradicting the denial. “Things are complicated.” What a clichéd cop-out.
Simone shook her head. “Your life is like a soap opera, only more entertaining.” She glanced toward the entrance of the cafeteria, where I’d run into Ian. “Do you ever wonder if you made a mistake?” She shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe you’re with the wrong brother.”
“Jesus, Simone. Gage is my husband. Not some guy I’ve been dating for a few weeks.”
“He’s cold and distant. Does his heart even beat?”
Letting out a frustrated breath, I swept my bangs to the side. “You met him once. I don’t think you can judge the character of someone during a single dinner.”
“It’s called intuition. I don’t know what happened to yours, but when it comes to him, you can’t see shit.”
I wouldn’t bother telling her that Gage didn’t care for her either. She was too crass for his taste, too immodest. Mostly, she was too independent—a trait Gage did not find attractive in a woman.
He wouldn’t like the rebellious streak of independence sparking to life inside of me either.
These last few weeks reminded me of how amazing it felt to go places, talk to people, order my own food, and wear whatever the hell I wanted before I’d said “I do” and gave those things to my husband.
I just didn’t know how to voice what was in my heart because anytime I came close, he turned me to mush with the way he adored me, lusted after me, and made me feel like I was the only woman in his world.
Except I wasn’t the only woman in his world. Katherine was the mother of his child. What little soup and salad I’d eaten threatened to come back up.
Simone frowned as if she saw the turmoil darkening my face. I didn’t like the pity straining her features.
“You’ve got serious baggage, girl.” She picked up a French fry and chewed, her forehead creased in contemplation.
“If you want your marriage to work, you need to tell him. Sneaking around like this isn’t good for the soul.
” Simone had stood by her opinion since the day I’d decided to volunteer at the hospital.
Since the day I confided the nature of my relationship with Gage, because I’d needed to use her as a cover. She genuinely cared about people, which made her a damn good nurse. She’d cared enough about me to lie on my behalf, to play the part of yoga companion.
“I know I need to tell him.”
“So bite the bullet and tell him, and don’t back down.”
“He won’t give permission for this. Not as long as Ian works here.”
“Uh-uh.” A low growl escaped her mouth. “I’m not talking about getting his fucking permission. Don’t let him railroad you. If he really loves you, as you say he does, then he’ll want to see you happy.”
The subject of Gage never failed to rile her up. She was headstrong, self-sufficient, and no man would ever make her kneel at his feet.
Of this, I was sure.
I picked at my salad, and for a few minutes, the din of the cafeteria lulled me into a state of calm. I loved being in the thick of people. Loved the dichotomy of voices that filled the space, making my chaotic thought processes fall silent.
“What if he can’t accept it?”
“Then you and Eve are always welcome at my house.”
A tumultuous story tainted her past. I was sure of it.
A story that had left her battered. But she didn’t talk about her life much, or the scars I sensed she carried around with her.
Maybe I recognized myself in her, except she was strong where I was weak.
She stood on her own two feet while I dropped to my knees on a daily basis.
I envied her, yet I wouldn’t change who Gage was for anything. I wanted him to give me some slack—not become someone else. Embracing my submissive nature was liberating.
I just needed…more.
I needed to tell him everything, then maybe I could breathe again. The idea of this hanging over my head the whole weekend while we celebrated our first anniversary suffocated me.
“You’re right. Lying to him is eating me alive.
” I took a long swig of my water to quench my suddenly parched throat.
“I think I’ll drop by his office. It’s going to be hard as hell, but getting this off my chest before we go away for the weekend is the right thing to do. ” I scooted back and rose to my feet.
Maybe he wouldn’t come undone with his employees on the other side of the door. Right. And maybe I’d hallucinated him bending me over his desk and forcing his thumb up my ass. It wouldn’t matter where we were when I spilled my guts.
“Don’t back down. Make him respect you.” She pounded a fist against her palm. “If you need me to beat him up, I’m more than willing.”
The idea of a woman beating Gage was laughable. “Thanks for the pep talk.”
“Anytime. Let me know how it goes.”
I emptied my trash and placed my dishes in the respective bins before leaving the way I’d come. As I made my way through the hospital toward the main entrance, I expected to find Ian waiting around every corner.
As if he were stalking me and waiting to pounce.
I was losing my damn mind. When I’d first started at the hospital, I’d known running into him was a possibility. So why had I done it? Gage would want an answer to that same question, but I didn’t have one.