CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE #3
‘What was the start?’
‘I can’t pinpoint it. I was just there and it felt like I always had been.’
‘Try for me?’
Kade closes his eyes, sinks back into darkness, quiet nights and short hours and hiding from anyone who wasn’t friendly.
‘It was dark, quiet and lonely, just us at first,’ he tells the former bodyguard.
‘I remember when he’d go out to get food, it felt like I couldn’t breathe.
He was all I knew. The walls of that place were the only home I had.
’ Kade opens his eyes, stares down at the wet smears of spilled drink, music pounding in his ears. ‘Then people came.’
‘Who?’
‘I suppose he was recruiting. I don’t know.
The place was a wreck. Whole areas you couldn’t go in.
I just remember sitting with him in my room on the windowsill, and it felt better when he was there.
’ Kade downs another shot, barely feels it that time.
‘After the first year, when I’d recovered a little more, we started to rebuild Iron Star together. Make it different.’
‘Different how?’
‘Riley had a vision and so did I. He told me about what it used to be and what it could be. I knew his dad, Troy Harker, ran it before him.’
‘Were any of his old crew left? Did you ever talk to them?’
‘No. Everyone in Iron Star is younger than Riley.’
‘So what was his vision, then?’
‘Balance and direction.’
Lachlan snorts. ‘That’s a far cry from the Iron Star I knew of.’
Kade rolls his eyes. ‘We still make money, still do deals. We muscle and move whatever we can, but it’s more than that now. The balance he wanted was to protect the city from the other syndicates who were vying for power.’
‘They attacked Iron Star?’
‘Not at first, but once they knew we were rebuilding, the attacks started coming. I came up with defensive plans, schematics, ideas. That’s when Riley introduced me to Lee.’
‘How long since you’ve been his bodyguard?’
‘Six years, give or take.’
‘Did he ask you to do that?’
‘I can’t really remember. There wasn’t a conversation about it. I just knew he needed protecting and he’s… Riley doesn’t fight. He’s powerful in his own way. You’ve seen the respect he commands, but I knew he needed me.’ Kade sighs, looks sideways at Lachlan. ‘You seem doubtful.’
‘I always heard he was a violent kid, hence why Troy locked him up.’
‘Riley’s not like that.’
‘Did he ever tell you why he was locked up?’
‘No, but.’ Kade’s nerves pull taut. ‘When I asked what the bars were for, the ones at the bottom of his staircase, he just said me.’
‘Can I ask you something?’
‘You’re going to anyway.’
‘Did you really never question any of it? Ask him where you came from? Who your parents were?’
Kade glares, helplessly defensive. ‘So it’s my fault, yeah?’
‘Not at all. I’m just genuinely curious.’
‘The first year, I was still struggling after the injury.’ Kade reaches up to touch the small metal plate hidden in his dark auburn hair. ‘Riley was so good to me. He took care of me. Helped me speak again.’
‘Did Riley fix you up?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘The metal plate. You must have needed surgery.’
‘I don’t remember the specifics, and he was recovering too so it wasn’t easy.’
‘Recovering from what?’
The shots are slowly hitting him. ‘Maybe that’s why he needed me. It weakened him or something.’
Lachlan asks, ‘He was shot?’
‘In the heart.’ Kade badly needs to change the subject.
Thinking about Riley is giving him a stomach ache.
‘Anyway. It’s in the past. He might be a motherfucker for not telling me the truth, but he’s always kept me safe.
’ Kade closes his eyes, just needs a moment before he’s steady.
‘I trust him.’ He swivels to look at Lachlan full on. ‘Did we ever fuck? You and me?’
‘I’m not talking about this with you.’
‘Why not?’
‘You don’t remember. It’s weird.’
‘Why is it only weird when it’s about sex? Murder, violence, betrayal, that’s all fine, but when it comes to sex—’
‘None of that’s fine, but I know why you’re asking.’
‘Astonish me.’
‘You just want to unnerve me.’
Kade tongues his incisor. ‘I do, yeah.’
‘You were always good at it. So was your father.’
‘What was he like, then?’
Lachlan exhales, brows raised. ‘Alistair? He was… monstrously arrogant and cruel. He didn’t love either of you, but he said he wanted the best for you and, in his own grotesque way, I think he meant it.
I regret not killing him every day, not getting you out sooner, both of you.
I should have shot him on day one.’ Lachlan turns, expression turned neutral, desperately seeking a reset.
He gestures to the dancefloor. ‘C’mon, dance with me? ’
‘Why?’
‘You used to love it.’
‘I don’t dance.’
‘Yeah, you do. I’ll show you.’
‘You can’t show me.’
‘Sounds like a bet.’
‘No one’s even dancing.’
‘Good thing life is short, then. Come on. Last chance or I’m going to go dance on my own and I actually can’t dance, so that’s really gonna be a scene.’
Kade rolls his eyes. ‘I despise you.’
Lachlan offers his hand, small smile in place. ‘I’m used to it.’