14. Kash
Chapter Fourteen
KASH
I straightened from my lax position against the entry table and moved towards the group that had just exited the elevator. Ignoring the others, I reached for Naina, taking her hand in mine and drawing her attention to me.
A current shot through my arm as soon as I touched her.
When her eyes met mine, it was a gut punch. Christ, she had the most expressive eyes, so beautiful and deep you felt like you could happily drown in them.
Naina’s eyes widened, her glossy pink lips parting slightly. She didn’t look angry anymore, more surprised than anything. I couldn’t even thoroughly enjoy the fact that she was wearing my jacket again because my assistant had done something to anger her, and for that he would have to answer to me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I…” She trailed off, her lashes fluttering. Then her eyes shifted over my shoulder and that look of deadly anger was back on her face.
“Sami, come here, please,” Naina said through gritted teeth.
Obediently, Samira stepped up next to Naina, her face red. Embarrassed? I quickly looked her over. Her hand was fisted into the skirt of her dress, the other hand wrapped around Naina’s arm. Not embarrassed, nervous. Maybe even scared.
“Mr. Sutherland, let me explain,” Drew piped up behind me.
Naina went rigid, her hand tightening around mine. I glanced at Grayson. The amusement was gone and his stoic expression was back. I didn’t miss the way he was standing between Samira and Drew.
I hired Grayson five years ago when my previous head of security retired. In all that time, his expression had never changed. He was the best at his job and the fact that he was protecting Samira from Drew meant something was dreadfully wrong.
What had my assistant done? I didn’t like being the only one not in the know.
Keeping hold of Naina’s hand, I directed her towards my office, Samira following behind us. Anger rolled off of Naina in thick, silent waves.
“Mr. Sutherland…” Drew began behind me. It was followed by a muffled noise. I assumed Grayson had shut him up.
In my office, I was about to close the door when Jo and Lucy snuck in, the gossip mongers. The door closed, I turned to face the Hollister sisters.
“Someone needs to tell me what’s wrong, right now,” I demanded.
Silence, and then, “I’m going to kill him!”
Naina’s eyes flashed to mine. “I’m going to kill him and drop his body into the ocean. Grayson will help.”
I was right. Grayson was protecting Samira.
Fuck, I would help her kill Drew and drop his body into the ocean if she just told me what was wrong. Samira sighed and walked further into my office, sitting down on the black leather sofa. Jo saw an available lap and jumped on the sofa then into Sami’s lap.
“Sami, tell me what’s going on, please,” I said.
Samira looked at me, then her sister, and sighed again.
“It’s not a big deal,” she said.
Naina scoffed, and I rubbed my thumb in circles along the back of her hand. Her hand, which I was still holding. Was I the hand-holding type? It felt nice.
I risked a peek at her. Her hair was pulled into a twist, small curls escaping here and there, big earrings, and a fire in her eyes that threatened to burn down this apartment. She was ferociously and undeniably beautiful.
Samira swallowed nervously, looking down at Jo and running a hand along her back.
“A few months ago, I was working behind the bar at the restaurant,” she began. “I wasn’t supposed to be there, but Luke was working as well and the other bartender had called in sick. We were busy, so Naina said it was okay because she was sick.”
Samira peeked up at Naina, who remained silent beside me. I had a very bad feeling, but I tried to remain calm because if I was angry as well, Samira would stop talking. The way Samira looked at me, I got the sense she was relying on me to be reasonable.
I doubted reason existed in this situation if Naina was this upset. She didn’t strike me as someone who lost her cool.
“Anyway, one night, he came in,” Samira said, waving towards my office door. I took it to mean she was talking about Drew. “ Nothing happened. We talked, he asked for my number and I gave it to him.”
“A man in his twenties asked you for your number,” I said slowly, “and you gave it to him.”
“We’ve already gone over that.” Naina squeezed my hand, I didn’t know whether in disagreement or support.
I was watching Samira, though. The eighteen year old girl who flushed and looked embarrassed. And I was thinking of all the ways I was going to torture Andrew Waites for whatever he had done to this innocent girl.
“I’m not an idiot or a little girl,” Samira exclaimed. “I’m eighteen, I know it was wrong, but didn’t either of you ever do anything foolish because you met a cute person?”
Samira looked between Naina and me, and Naina made a noise of protest. Something foolish like… asking them to marry you even though you knew better?
“Continue your story,” I said.
Samira groaned, clutching Jo close.
“There’s nothing to tell,” she insisted. “We started texting a lot. At first he was fine, it was friendly, and then it became flirty, but I never reciprocated. And the more I ‘denied’ him, the angrier he got, as if he was entitled to me or something. I just needed a friend, someone who didn’t feel sorry for me or awkward because they didn’t know what to say. Drew said a lot of mean things.”
“Mean things?” Naina scoffed. “Mean is calling someone ugly or commenting on their body. What he did was vile and cruel and…”
I squeezed her hand, drawing her attention to me. I knew she was upset, beyond upset, and so was I. I didn’t need to know whatever Drew said, I could tell from Naina’s reaction it wasn’t good.
I was also starting to understand Naina a little. She was responsible for Sami’s well-being and she took that responsibility seriously. Even if their parents hadn’t died, Naina would be this upset if someone had harmed her little sister. Including if that someone was her.
Silently, I urged her to allow me to talk to Samira. I knew I had no right to do such a thing. Naina inhaled and closed her eyes, turning back to her sister. It was so small and felt so huge; she was trusting me.
There would be time to worry about that later.
“What did he say?” I asked, turning back to Samira. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
Jo protested and hissed as Samira squeezed her tighter. Hurriedly, Samira released the cat and Jo bounced off the couch and went to join Lucy by the window.
“He would ask me to come to San Fran a lot,” Samira said. “He told me all about this fancy job he had and all the people he mingled with. But not excitedly, you know? It was said in a way to make me feel small. As if I couldn’t possibly understand what it was like being around the rich and famous. He would call me immature and tell me I had a lot of growing up to do but that he could help me. The messages kept getting worse.”
She stopped talking, looking down at her tangled fingers resting on her lap. Dropping my hand, Naina went to her sister and sat down on the couch, wrapping an arm around her.
“I showed them to Naina and blocked his number.”
“We could kill him, chop up his body and feed him to pigeons,” Naina said.
Sami laughed, leaning into her big sister.
“Pigeons don’t deserve that kind of hate.”
“Geese, then.”
I felt the kind of visceral, blood boiling anger I only felt around my father. This man worked for me, I gave him the job he boasted about, the career and people he used to make this innocent girl feel small and unworthy.
“Stay here,” I said.
I turned and left my office, stalking down the hall and into the living room. Drew was still here because Grayson was barring his exit from the apartment. They both looked up at the same time and their reactions were vastly different.
Grayson turned away, as if to give himself plausible deniability. And Drew took a step back as I charged up to him, my hand fisted, arm already lifting.
Drew’s eyes widened in horror as he moved away.
“Mr. Sutherland, I don’t know what she’s told you?—”
My fist connected to his nose with a sickening crunch. Drew reeled back, almost falling to the floor and I grabbed him by the collar to keep him standing.
I wasn’t done with him. Blood dripped from his nose and I watched it with some satisfaction. I wasn’t a fighter; the one thing I had learned from my upbringing was that violence was never the answer. Hitting him made my stomach churn with disgust at him and myself.
I just couldn’t get Samira’s embarrassed face out of my mind, or Naina’s anguished one because she had let that happen to her sister.
“She’s eighteen years old, an innocent girl,” I said through clenched teeth. “You sick fucking bastard. I made you, I gave you everything you told her made you special. And I’m going to take it all away. You’re never going to find another job. You’re going to be working as a line cook in some third-rate diner in a third rate town until the day you die. And I’m going to make sure of that.”
The horror of his bleak future dawned on Drew as I dropped his collar and shoved him away. People like him never realized the error of their ways until it caught up to them. For the rest of his life, Andrew Waites was going to regret destroying the best thing that ever happened to him. And Samira was going to grow up to be more successful than he could ever be, I would make sure of that as well.
“Grayson,” I said, on my way back to my office. “If you wouldn’t mind taking the trash out.”