13. CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 13
KASON
I’m sitting at my kitchen counter eating when the ringing of my cell has me reaching into my pocket to retrieve it. It’s a FaceTime call from Leo.
“Yo,” I answer.
“What are your plans for tonight?”
“I’m meeting Sierra at a club. Her friend is in town, and we’re going to hang out. You should come with. If her friend is anywhere as hot as she is, you might be thanking me later.” Taking another bite of my food, I realize Leo hasn’t responded.
“What?” I ask into his silence.
“You’ve been spending a lot of time with this girl, and I’m curious about her. Serious dating wasn’t your thing but now you’re changing your MO?” I understand why he would question this. He knows my past with Meegan and knows my lifestyle since I dumped her.
How do I explain this to a guy who no longer believes in serious relationships?
“She’s different.”
“Different how? ”
“She’s special. When I’m with her there’s no place else I’d rather be. When I’m not, I miss her. So, yeah, she’s my girl.” There I said it out loud, and it felt…good.
His cynical blue eyes stare into me. “You sure you want to go down this path after what the she-witch pulled on you?”
Although he’s referring to Meegan, that’s not the situation he’s really talking about. He’s thinking about the girl he loved, who betrayed him. He needs to understand that not all women are the same, but I don’t think he will. Even after all these years, he’s still damaged, but I also know that it’s his concern for me that makes him question my relationship.
I wipe my mouth with my napkin, no longer interested in the food. “Sierra’s not Meegan and shouldn’t have to pay for her crimes. I know what I feel for her, and I’m not going to have what Meegan did ruin what I have with Sierra. It’s not fair to her, and I won’t let my baggage disrupt my future with a woman I care about, and you shouldn’t allow your baggage to continue to rule you.”
His eyes widen. He can try and hide it, but that relationship still haunts him to this very day. I expect him to deny it, instead he acts as if I never said a word about it. “Which club are we going to tonight?”
I could push him on this, but I won’t. I can’t make him move forward, only he can do that when or if he’s ever ready. I know I would have the same concerns he has if he ever got into a relationship because I never want to see him like that again.
“Blue Ice. I’ll come by your place with my driver at nine.”
He nods but says nothing more about it and I know it’s because his thoughts are now lost in another place and time. I can’t help but feel bad for him because with all this time that has passed, I don’t know if he’ll ever be open to trying again with anyone.
The music is loud and thumping hard when we enter the club later that night. The floors vibrate beneath our feet and blue lights flash around the area to the beat. Leo tugs on my elbow, and I turn to him. “I’m going to head over to the bar and grab a drink. I’ll come find you later.”
I nod to signify I heard him and turn to start my search for Sierra. I haven’t seen her since yesterday morning when I left her apartment. She’s fast become an addiction, and like an addict dying for his next hit, I scan the club looking for her. I texted her earlier to be sure she was good with me bringing my cousin. She cracked a joke that if he thinks he’ll be hooking up with a hot blonde, Ky won’t be it. Her protectiveness toward her friend is fierce.
I find her moments later sitting at a table with a woman I assume is Ky. Sierra’s hair is down in curls, and she’s wearing a tight red dress that ends at mid-thigh. As my gaze travels her body, my heart starts to thud in my chest. She’s wearing her fuck me heels, and I mentally make a note that I will fuck her again one day with the heels biting me in my ass. One of the best sexual experiences of my life. The first being last week when we were slow and tender after she finally gave more information about herself and told me about her childhood and her fears. I was thankful she trusted me enough to be as open as she was with me. That sexual experience was on a whole other level, connecting deeper than we ever had before.
Not wanting to be away from her for one moment longer, I stride up to their table and wrap my arm around her waist. She startles slightly, but I lean down and whisper into her ear, “Your heels have me so hard. I may need to take you into a bathroom and fuck you tonight.” As expected, she smiles. She loves when I talk dirty about what I want to do to her. She turns her face to the side and our eyes lock, and I can’t wait a minute longer. I connect my mouth to hers not caring who is watching. Sierra has different ideas after a bit and pulls away. I reluctantly allow her to do so.
She introduces me to her friend. “Kason, this is my best friend, Ky. Ky, this is Kason.”
Ky holds out her hand. “Hello, Kason.”
I take it in mine. “Hello, Ky. How are you?”
“Good. And you?”
“I’m great. How can I not be with this stunning woman by my side?” Sierra mouths the word ‘smooth’ to me, and I smile. I put my arm around her and pull her into my side.
I take a closer look at Ky. I can admit she’s a beautiful woman, but she pales in comparison to Sierra. But who knows, she may be Leo’s type.
It’s then that I realize Leo hasn’t joined us yet. I swivel my head to look for him. I spot him walking toward us with a drink in his hand. I raise my arm and wave him over before he abruptly stops in his tracks, seeming bewildered. He squints at our table, shakes his head, then his face turns angry. Angrier than I’ve ever seen him. I follow his glare and realize it’s zeroing in on Ky. A sense of unease fills me.
“Do you two know each other?” I ask Ky.
“Oh shit,” Sierra gasps. My attention turns to her horrified expression.
What the fuck is going on here? I’m about to ask them when I notice Leo take a seat next to Ky and after taking a large gulp, he slams it on the table.
“Hello, Kylie.” His tone is full of hostility, then it sinks in on who this is. I’ve not heard him utter that name since she first broke him and now it’s all falling together. This is the woman who crushed him by screwing his best friend. My attention turns to Sierra who is watching the scene unfold in front of her with a concerned expression.
“Ky is Kylie, as in Leo’s ex?” My question has Sierra turning her head in my direction .
“Leo is your cousin?” Her voice is dismayed at this unexpected turn of events. I nod, and she shakes her head.
Ky, or rather Kylie’s, voice has my focus on them once more. “Hello, Leo. I’d like to say it’s good to see you again, but it really isn’t.” Her tone is cold, and I wonder how she has the audacity to be that way with him. It offends me on Leo’s behalf. She wasn’t there to witness his downfall after she shattered him. She went on with life while Leo crumbled.
“How can she be so cruel?”
My question takes Sierra’s focus off of them. “What? What do you mean by that? Ky doesn’t have a cruel bone in her body. He’s the asshole for leaving her the way he did.”
She’s got to be kidding. She would have been around when Kylie had sex with Leo’s best friend. If that doesn’t make her a cruel woman, I don’t know what does.
“She’s the very definition. She fucked his best friend in his own home. How can you think that’s okay?”
Sierra’s face turns furious. “She did not have sex with his best friend!”
I might not have been there, but I know Leo caught them in bed together. How can she defend Kylie’s cheating? “I don’t know what lies she told you back then, but that man came home broken from her betrayal after catching them in bed together. Your friend was naked under a sheet. There’s no way he would lie about something like that.”
“He misunderstood then left her to pick up the pieces on her own.”
“How in the hell do you misunderstand something like that? He had every right to leave.” I throw my arms in the air completely blindsided that she could think cheating in any context is a misunderstanding. I’m getting angrier by the minute.
“How can you stand here and defend that asshole? He crushed her and never let her explain what happened. ”
This whole cheating argument might be triggering me, but I can’t for the life of me understand how she thinks a simple explanation for that kind of betrayal would be enough. “So when you fuck my friend, I should let you explain and that would fix it?”
No sooner do those words leave my mouth than I want to yank them back in. I went too far, and it’s verified by the look of hurt that flashes through her eyes.
I just screwed up.
“Sierra, I didn’t—” I’m cut off when liquid flies through the air. I look over and see Kylie’s now empty glass, and Leo with his mouth gaping open. The contents that were in her drink are now running down Leo’s stunned face while an angry-looking Kylie stares daggers at him.
Movement to my right causes me to look in that direction. Sierra is out of her seat and rounding the table toward Kylie. When she gets to Kylie, she pulls on her arm trying to drag her away but Kylie’s having none of it.
She gives Leo one last parting shot. “Fuck you, Leo. And just in case you’re curious, Riley is amazing and the most important person in my world. Your loss, you asshole.”
Sierra gives her arm a yank and forces Kylie away from Leo before leading her toward the exit of the club. Sierra throws me a death glare over her shoulder, and I watch as my girl who looks madder than I’ve ever seen her leaves me standing here wondering how I’ll ever dig myself out of the hole I’ve dug.
I notice the attention our scene brought on and know I need to get us out of here. We’re both targets at this point, and the tabloids would love to get their hands on this story. I take out my phone and text my driver to bring the car out front.
Walking over to Leo, he’s as still as a statue. I grab a napkin from the table and wave it in front of his face. It catches his attention and he looks over at me with eyes wide. He has to be in shock, but there’s no time to think or talk about what happened now.
“Wipe your face.” When he takes the napkin, I take the opportunity to grab his arm and drag him out of the club. Within a minute of being out in the fresh air, my driver pulls up, and I waste no time shoving Leo into the car.
He’s quiet on the drive back, and I’m thankful for the silence because I’ve got Sierra on my mind and how the hell I’m going to fix this. When we pull up to his building, he gets out without uttering goodbye, but I promptly follow him out.
Leo stops on the sidewalk when he hears me call his name. The expression on his face is devastation. “Are you going to be okay?”
His hands fly up to his hair, and he starts to rub his fingers through it. “Hell, man. I don’t know. I had no idea Sierra was the girl you were seeing. If I’d known, there’s no way I would have shown up.” I nod, not knowing what else to say. I want to offer to stay here with him, but I need to fix things with Sierra.
“Look, I need to be alone right now, but I’m sorry if I messed up your night with Sierra.” With that, he shifts on his feet and enters his building.
I feel guilty just letting him go, but Sierra is my priority right now. Jumping back into my waiting car, the driver pulls away as I continue to think about Sierra. I’ve never seen her like that, but it’s not the anger that was in her eyes that is weighing down on me, but rather the hurt from my last words. I didn’t mean it the way that it came out, I was just trying to make a point, but the damage was done regardless.
“Fuck!” I scream out and punch the seat in front of me. Luckily, it’s the one behind the passenger. The driver glances at me through the rearview mirror before turning his attention back to the road.
Once we’re back at my house, I storm inside, mentally kicking my own ass for my stupidity. I stomp up the stairs and throw myself on the bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking over everything .
I replay the evening in my head. Everything escalated so quickly with us all throwing out harsh words. It’s then that I remember Kylie’s parting shot about Riley and wonder what she meant. Then it hits me.
Is Leo Riley’s father?
No, that can’t be right. I try to remember everything Sierra has said about Riley and her father. The incident in the bar comes to mind when she said she smacked Riley’s father who she also said lived in the city. Could that man have been Leo? No, Leo would never turn his back on his own child. He’s not perfect, but he would never do that. Something isn’t adding up.
I try calling Sierra, but she doesn’t answer. I’ll give her some time tonight, but come tomorrow, we’ll talk and figure out what is going on.
First, I’ll have to figure out a way for her to forgive me.
I send her a simple text.
Me:
I’m sorry.
As expected, she doesn’t respond. And like before, I know I’ll need to chase her down.