Framed (9 page)

“Yeah, tomorrow,” Kade answered, but he didn’t look me in the eyes.

“Is something wrong?” I asked, unable to stop myself. “You seem upset.”

Kade turned back to me and studied my face, but he seemed miles away. I waited for his response through the painful silence.

“Why are you trying to help me?” he finally asked.

“Why am I helping you? You mean other than the fact that I think you’re innocent?”

“Yeah,” he bit out sarcastically, catching me off guard. “I think I’ve made it pretty clear I’ve wanted you since the first day we met. What I don’t know is if you’re helping me because you feel it, too, or if I’m just some charity case.”

Oh, my God.

Images of our naked bodies tangled on a bed flew into my brain. The thought of seeing Kade in all his naked glory caused my brain to disconnect. I flushed instantly as desire hit me and looked away to hide my face.

“Well?” he growled, taking a step towards me. “I’ve seen the way you look at me, Harley. Am I a charity case that turns you on or something else?”

I hesitated, looking around the yard. I was supposed to be a professional. I was supposed to keep my distance or they’d pull me from the program and then I’d never see him again.

“Answer me,” he hissed.

“. . . You know the answer,” I mumbled, still trying to hold back.

A ghost of a smile crossed his lips and he took another step closer. “Then say it,” he ordered, “say you want me as much as I want you. Say you lie in bed at night thinking about my arms wrapped around your body, my mouth tasting every inch of you until you’re writhing in pleasure. Fuckin’ say it now, Harley, or walk away and leave me be.”

Heat rose, settling between my legs. Then my nipples hardened at the picture he described. I knew then I couldn’t resist this man a moment longer. I wanted him with a hunger I’d never known, a possessiveness I’d never felt, and I knew I would do whatever it took to be with him. Right then I made my decision; and damn the consequences. I didn’t care if I lost my job with IDTP or about my father’s opinion that I should keep my distance. I couldn’t deny my feelings any longer to this man. Hell, he’d already seen them and I’d been trying hard to keep them below the surface. Now that I knew he felt the same, it would be impossible to stay away. So I threw caution to the wind, and everything I worked hard to achieve these past few years, and answered him.

“Yes, of course, how could I not want you?” I answered quietly. “You’ve been in my thoughts since high school. When I’m near you, I feel alive. More so than I’ve felt in my life. You’re a good man, one who put his life on the line for our country. And you gave all that up just to take care of your dying grandfather. I’ve never met a man like you. Never felt the things I feel when I’m around you. I can’t sleep without seeing you in my dreams, and I want to rip the bars off this place to set you free. So, yes, Kade, I want to lie naked in a bed with you while you touch me.”

Kade drew in a sharp breath and took a step closer to the fence. I watched as his face melted from hard lines to soft edges and his eyes warmed.

“Can you wait?”

“Wait?” I replied, caught in the pull of his coffee-colored eyes.

Kade started to raise his hand towards the fence, but a guard broke through the sunlight into shadow and I looked up and over his shoulder.

“Visiting hours are from eight to five,” Officer Daily broke in before Kade could answer. “If you need to speak with a prisoner, you need to go through the appropriate channels. I know you have clearance, Ms. Dash, so I overlooked it before, but in the future, if you need to discuss dog training with Mr. Kingston, do it during training hours.”

“Of course, I’m sorry. I saw him here and thought I’d ask how Buck was coming along.”

“Now you know," Officer Daily replied, crossing his arms, not about to move from his spot until I’d retreated.

“I’ll see you in class tomorrow, Mr. Kingston,” I said to Kade as I backed up, keeping my emotions hidden from them both.

“Stay safe, Ms. Dash,” Kade answered, no doubt reminding me to stay out of the Brute Squad’s way.

Kade wanted me to stop looking, but declaring his feelings just gave me the boost I needed to do whatever it took to get him out.

I raised my hand and waved, then turned and headed for my Jeep.

“If I can help, I will. You’re not the only one who can put his life on the line for what he believes in.”

***

Later that day, while Kade was lost in thoughts of Harley, he realized Cooter may be old but he wasn’t senile. He was right when he said whoever was gunning for him would wait until Buck was under lock and key. They didn’t wait until he was in the yard working out or at a meal; they waited until he was in the shower. Naked and unarmed with soap in his eyes.

He felt them before he heard them and only had a split second to react. The shower emptied quickly of other inmates just as a shiv caught him in the shoulder instead of the back as it was intended. He turned in time to avoid a life-ending injury, then kicked out in a defensive move, landing his foot on the chest of a white male he knew as one of Fat Bastard’s crew. The man grunted out a curse as air was punched from his lungs, sending him down on one knee. Before Kade could restrain him, however, an enormous black male, also part of Fat bastard’s posse, emerged in front of him.

“Jesus, you’re big,” Kade said as a distraction, hoping whichever guard was on shower duty would hear the commotion and come running. “You mind telling me what the hell is going on? I’ve had no beef with Fat Bastard.”

“I don’t ask questions, I just follow orders,” the man, who had to weigh more than four hundred pounds, replied.

“No honor among thieves, I guess?”

The man seemed confused by his statement. “I’m in for manslaughter. I’m
no
thief,” he bit out as if a thief was a dishonorable occupation, yet murderer was to be revered.

“My apologies; I mistook you for someone else,” Kade replied sarcastically while wondering where the hell the guards were.

The white male Kade had taken out finally rose to his feet. However, he was still trying to catch his breath. “Are you gonna waste this guy or discuss the meaning of life?” he wheezed out, his rage at having been neutralized so easily etched across his face.

The big black inmate turned angry eyes on the smaller white man and growled, “You talk to me like that again and I’ll introduce
you
to the meaning of life.”

While the two were distracted, Kade reached behind him and grabbed his towel, twisting it tightly as a defensive weapon. The white male turned at his movements and panicked, swiping out with the shiv, giving Kade the opening he was looking for. Twelve years in the Navy, eight of those as a SEAL, had Kade reacting with precision. He snared the man’s wrist with the towel, then spun, taking his arm with him until he heard it snap. Then his knee came up and he broke the man’s nose. The man howled in pain, dropping the shiv. Kade bent quickly, retrieving the weapon, but before he could turn and make a stand, the other inmate barreled into both men, sending all three of them into the concrete shower wall.

With no way to brace his fall, Kade’s head collided soundly with the concrete. A sharp pain burned into his gut as he saw stars. The shiv had lanced his side and blood began to mix with the shower water as he finally heard shouting from guards. Both of the men Fat Bastard had sent to dispose of him were pulled off just as darkness began to creep in. Before he succumbed to his concussion, Kade heard the white inmate squealing about his arm being broken. Closing his eyes with a smile, Kade finally let the darkness take him to a world with no bars, good food, and legs tanned by the sun.

“You wanna tell me why you’re pacing?”

Turning towards my father’s voice, I stopped in my tracks. We were in his backyard grilling hamburgers after a long day at work. I was distracted, unable to relax and enjoy the evening because Prez and Mickey received a phone call earlier and rushed off without a word except that they hadn’t found anything yet that would set Kade free. The setting sun should have been calming as the day turned into night. Instead, it was like a metaphor for Kade’s situation. Now the sun felt like it was setting on his chances to be free.

“I just wish they would check in is all. The way they rushed off has me worried.”

My dad turned his back as I spoke, which was a habit of his if he didn’t want me to read his expression.

“Dad, have you heard from them?” When he didn’t respond, I knew something was up. “Dad! Answer me. Is something wrong?”

He paused flipping the burgers, hanging his head. The sound of the water lapping at the shore faded away as I waited for him to respond. The loaded silence sent my heart racing. I envisioned a million and one scenarios for his failure to communicate. All of them bad. He finally turned around and faced me, his face revealing all I needed to know and I braced.

“Prez called me while you were in the kitchen. Kade was attacked in the showers but—“

“What! Oh, my God, is he—”

“He’s fine. He needed stitches in his arm and side, but nothing serious.”

“Nothing serious?” I shouted. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was gonna tell you before you left for the prison in the morning. I knew you’d be upset if he didn’t show for class, but I didn’t want you worrying until I knew more. Now you know. He’s gonna be fine in a—“

“He’s not fine,” I interrupted, throwing my hands in the air. “That’s twice in one week. What if he doesn’t survive the next attack?”

“Prez told me his brother got the call and he asked to have Kade moved to a new cellblock.”

“They’ll just find someone in the new cellblock to go after him. Prez told me that himself this morning.”

“Harley, it’s the best they can do under the circumstances. Until the boys can find what they need to release him, he doesn’t have much choice.”

A vision of Kade lying in a bed, battered and bruised, rushed to the forefront of my mind. My tangled emotions started to rise to the surface, emotions I’d held in check since this morning when Kade declared his feelings, and I had to take a deep breath to keep my bottom lip from trembling.

“Prez wanted to know if you could use your connections with the prison to get into the infirmary to see Kade.”

“I don’t know; I can try. I can ask Hinkle before class tomorrow. Is there some sort of message they want me to give him?”

“Yep. Tell Kade that the wife didn’t know anything, but she did say Sutton had been acting jumpy a few days before he died. She asked him what was wrong, but he shut her down.”

“Anything else?”

“Yeah,” Dad replied grinning, “he said to tell him, “you’re only mostly dead, so suck it up and watch your back.’”

Hearing that I threw my head back and laughed. These boys weren’t kidding around when they said they liked The Princess Bride.

“Does that means something to you?”

“Yeah, Dad. It means they’re confident they’ll get him out. I’ll see if I can get in to see him tomorrow, but I won’t hold my breath. . . Maybe if I tell Hinkle that I need to ask him about Buck, he’ll be able to get me in.”

Dad grinned, picked up the discarded spatula, and began flipping the burgers. “Baby girl, you’re just like your mother. If anyone can convince Hinkle to get you in to see Kade, it’s you.”

“Whatever, you’re biased, so your opinion doesn’t count,” I chuckled as I sat down at the patio table.

“You think a man like Kade would still be interested in you all these years if you weren’t something special?”

“What? How did you know that?” I asked, shocked. I hadn’t said a word to him about what Kade said that morning.

“Harley,” my dad replied with a sigh, “the man joined IDTP just to keep you safe. He came looking for you when he was in town, and today he crushed Mickey’s balls when he found out he kissed you. It doesn’t take a mind reader to figure out he’s interested.”

“He did what?” I gasped, then I remembered Mickey had walked bowlegged this morning.

“Yeah, it’s the damnedest thing. Prez told me when Kade found out D kissed you he put a vice grip on his gonads,” Dad chuckled. “So believe me when I say the man is interested in you, darlin’. He has been from what Prez told me since he saw you walk onto the football field.”

“I can’t believe he crushed Mickey’s balls over me?” I whispered. I thought back over our conversation that morning and remembered what I’d said about the boys.
Oh, Lord, no wonder he shut down. I told him I thought D was hot.

“Jesus, Harley, don’t act so surprised that a man would find you unforgettable. You insult your mother. Trust me; you’d be a welcome sight for any man drowning in shit. That being said, remember what I told you the other night; tread lightly with him until we know more. I don’t want to see either of you get hurt.” I nodded in reply, lost in thought. I still couldn’t believe Kade felt so strongly about me that he’d hurt Mickey over a kiss that meant nothing.

Reaching for my beer, I missed the bottle and tipped it over, spilling the entire beer across my lap.

“Dang it,” I mumbled. “I need to change,” I told my dad as I got up and headed towards my old bedroom with Buttercup following at my feet. She jumped on my old bed as I headed for my closet. I kept clothes at my dad’s house in case I spent the night. Opening the closet door, I found an old T-shirt and a pair of jeans. As I was closing the door, my eyes caught sight of my old yearbooks from high school and I paused. I scanned the annuals until I found my junior year and pulled it down.

There was a picture from the football game when I first saw Kade in the annual. I’d looked at it a dozen times, trying to find Kade in the picture. He was on the field in a mass of bodies after a tackle so I knew he was there. Flipping through the book after all these years brought back memories of my youth. I thought I knew everything back then. What I wouldn’t give to go back to that carefree existence before my mother became ill.

I found the picture of that football game and scanned it again. Still no Kade. Then I flipped to more pictures of other sporting events. I found one of a basketball game and realized that it was the semi-final game. We’d played Kade’s high school that game and won in a dramatic last second shot to beat the buzzer. The picture had captured that amazing shot. I scanned the faces in the crowd, looking for Kade. Everyone in the frame was watching the shot as it was being taken. Even I was watching it from the sidelines with the rest of the cheer squad. I kept searching, looking for the boy who was taller and bigger than most his age. I knew he was there because I’d seen him in the crowd. I couldn’t find his face in the bleachers so I scanned up to the nosebleed section and my breath caught. Kade was there all alone at the top. His big shoulders were resting against the wall, his arms crossed at the chest, but he wasn’t watching the shot. Everyone in the stadium had their eyes glued to the final shot, their mouths open, frozen in surprise, but his head was turned and his eyes were focused on the floor below where I stood.