More Than You Know (21 page)

She lifted her head to look at him. Her makeup ran down her blotchy face, her eyes were puffy from crying, and she looked both wounded and drained. And so fragile it made his heart hurt.

“I'm sorry,” she whispered, trying to calm herself.

“For what?” he demanded. “You didn't do anything wrong! That guy had you trapped against the wall, for fuck's sake. He's lucky there were witnesses, or I wouldn't have just let Tonio beat him to a pulp, I would've done it myself.”

She drew a shaky breath and her sobs ebbed. “Yeah, right.”

“What, you don't think I could?” Dane challenged, trying to make her grin.

After another deep breath, she asked, “Have you ever even
been
in a fight, rich boy?” With a hint of a grin.

Atta girl. Show me your spunk
. He grinned back. “Believe it or not, Red, I have. Guys didn't always take it well when I stole their women. Had a few fights in my twenties.”

She hiccupped out a watery laugh. “Why doesn't that surprise me?”

Dane gave her a smile.

Kelvin grabbed a few tissues and handed them to her. “Mop your face, girl. You're a hot mess.”

“Ugh, I bet I am.” She took the tissues and wiped her eyes and cheeks.

As she sniffled and wiped, Dane made another phone call. “Tonio. Talk to me.”

“Security escorted him out, no problems,” Tonio said. “I may or may not have punched him once or twice before he left, though. Hard to say.”

Dane chuckled under his breath. “You did good, Tonio. Real good. Thank you.”

“Cops were outside and took his info. He wasn't arrested, but we can file a restraining order if Julia agrees to it.” Tonio paused. “He said he was her ex-boyfriend.”

Dane sighed. “How did I know you were going to say that? Okay. Thanks, man. I'll come find you in a bit.” He ended the call and shoved the phone back into his inside jacket pocket. As he did so, Julia rose from the sofa, passed him, and walked to the vanity mirror.

“Ohh my God,” she groaned as she caught her reflection. “Shit.”

“Go clean up,” Kelvin instructed. “We'll be right here. Go.”

“Yes, Mom,” Julia joked, but looked at Dane. “Um. You staying?”

He looked at her, unsure. “Do you want me to?”

Almost sheepishly, she nodded.

His heart lifted. “Then I'll be here,” he said, a wave of something warm suffusing him. She
did
want him there. Suddenly, he felt a little less useless.

She went into the small bathroom and quietly closed the door behind her.

Dane turned to stare hard at Kelvin. Kelvin stared back at him, looking tired and pained.

“Tell me everything,” Dane said in a low, tight voice. He speared the other man with his gaze. “Tell me what the fuck just happened in here.
Now.
”

Chapter Thirteen

“You should be asking her,” Kelvin said. “Not me. I mean . . . it's
her
business.”

“You're right,” Dane agreed, “and believe me, I plan to.”

Kelvin looked to the bathroom door, then back to him, and sighed. “She said she would tell you anyway, after all this, so . . . I'll tell you.” Kelvin's dark eyes leveled on his boss. “But nothing I don't think she wouldn't say herself. It just spares her from having to tell it, and relive it.”

“I admire your loyalty to her,” Dane said.

Kelvin nodded, then reached to loosen his tie as he started to talk. “That piece of garbage was Liam McAllister. Her ex-boyfriend. Fucking scumbag.”

Dane saw the ire in Kelvin's eyes and sat back to listen.

“I don't know what she's told you about her marriage to Mad Max,” Kelvin said, “but as bad as the marriage was, the divorce was even worse. When she finally realized what an asshole he was and got up the nerve to ask for a divorce, he and his rich family wiped the floor with her.” Kelvin pulled his tie out of his shirt collar and tossed it onto the table. “They didn't want some middle-class sexy bombshell singer raising their precious heir to the family throne.”

Dane winced. Shit like that, he was all too familiar with. “How'd they do that?”

“We think his family knew the judge, or bribed him. Max didn't have to pay alimony, only child support, and that was minimal. She'd been a student at a music college when they met, for God's sake. Other than sing, even though she's smart as hell, what was she really qualified to do? She'd been at home with the baby. There was no reason for her not to get alimony. And, of course, she'd signed a prenup. She got almost nothing. She was broke.” Kelvin made a disgusted face as he recalled it.

“What about the kid?” Dane asked.

“Max's number one weapon. He wanted ownership of that boy.” Kelvin unbuttoned the top two buttons of his crisp white shirt. “He looked down on Jules, said she was ‘nothing but a lowly lounge singer, shaking her ass for money.' So okay, it was great when he was getting laid, parading her around town like a trophy. But suddenly he was ashamed of her when she was the mother of his child, and she stopped being his doormat. Bastard.”

Dane saw the animosity in Kelvin's eyes and hated to contemplate how bad things had been for Julia. With each new sentence, his stomach jolted and twisted.

Kelvin ran a hand over his dreads as he continued, “At first, they had joint custody, and she worked
two
office jobs. I wanted to move in with her to help with the rent and bills, but Max threatened her that if I did, he'd go back to court and say my living there was a bad influence on her son and get full custody. You know . . . a gay black man? Living with his son? Oh hell no.”

Dane scowled and let out a breath. “Sounds like a real prince.”

“It gets worse.” Kelvin's eyes flickered to the bathroom door again, then back to Dane. “After two years of that, she met someone. Seemed like a great guy. Liam. He promised her the sun, moon, and stars. She was so vulnerable, so desperate for love, and so damn tired, she fell for him, and all his promises. What he
didn't
tell her was that he was a recovering drug addict. Heroin. She had no idea. It all came out later.”

Dane shifted in his seat. “Okay. So?”

“So after they'd been dating for about four months, and Julia thought things were peachy, suddenly Liam went back to using. Showed up at her apartment one day, high as a kite. And it was a Friday, so Max was there, to pick up Colin.”

“Colin, huh,” Dane repeated in a murmur. It was the first time he'd heard her son's name.

“Yup. And little Colin got to watch this heroin addict boyfriend of Mommy's throw up all over the floor, then pass out in his own vomit.” Kelvin's face darkened. “Max lit into Jules, took the kid out . . . and never brought him back.”

“What?” Dane felt sick. “He couldn't do that, not if they had joint custody.”

“Not after that horror scene with Liam. You forget, Max came from money. Julia had no money, and no one in her corner but me and Randi. Her own mother and sisters bought that shit Max was selling, and Max used it against her in court. Said she was an unfit mother, her judgment was obviously for shit if she was dating a drug addict, much less letting him be around their son.” Kelvin shook his head, his mouth twisting as he remembered. “The judge gave Mad Max full custody. Julia's rights got zapped down to supervised visitation, and no more child support, obviously. So, Max got what he wanted. A son to carry on the family name, and his ‘lowlife slut ex-wife' out of the picture.”

Dane's stomach churned violently and he scrubbed his hands over his face. He didn't know what to say. What was there to say? God. The injustice . . . that poor kid . . . Dane ached for the boy, and for Julia. He wanted to go get her, pull her into his arms, and hold her for a week.

Kelvin shrugged off his jacket, his usually jovial expression glowering now. “Max kept Julia away from Colin, and filled the kid's head with lies. The whole family did. They convinced him his mom didn't want him, that she only cared about her singing career. She wasn't even singing then! She hadn't in years! After a year, Max moved him back to Seattle, where his family lived, and kept Julia out of their son's life completely. The kid hasn't talked to her in a long time.” Kelvin sighed, then leaned in and added in a whisper, “It almost destroyed her. That's her
baby.
Her only child. She loves him more than anything. But Max, and his lies, and his connections, shut her out of her son's life. She feels that guilt and that pain every damn day. Then her own family turned on her. She went through total hell. Can you blame her for that bitchy front she puts on?”

Dane closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. His head reeled from the story.

“And Liam? Max used Liam to nail the coffin shut,” Kelvin said. “And that dumbass junkie disappeared after the custody trial, left her high and dry. She thought he loved her, and she loved him. But almost from that first night, he just fucking vanished. Basically helped her lose her kid, and he never spoke to her again—until tonight.”

“Jesus,” Dane breathed. He ran his hands through his hair and flopped back against the sofa cushions, his mind whirring. “She must have flipped when he showed up.” He slanted Kelvin a look. “What happened, how'd that go down? When Liam came back here tonight?”

“Someone knocked on the door, and she answered it. There he was. She was stunned speechless—which, I can tell you, rarely happens to Jules.” Kelvin couldn't resist the flash of a smirk. “Liam barreled in, saying he needed to talk to her, to explain what happened. Right away I told her I'd go get security, and ran out to do that. That's when I bumped into you and Tonio.”

“Good on ya.” Dane rubbed his stubble-covered jaw and sighed. “I hate to tell you this . . . Liam's been here for weeks.”

“What?” Kelvin's eyes bulged.

“Tonio noticed him a few weeks ago. He's been lurking. At every show. Stood in the back and watched.” Dane shook his head in disgust. “Tonio had a bad vibe about him right away, so he's been keeping an eye on him. But the guy didn't do anything, so there was no reason he couldn't be here.” He scowled and huffed out a breath in frustration. “Sonofabitch. I had no idea, obviously, or I never would've let the guy even set foot in my hotel.”

“Of course,” Kelvin said. “How could you know? Don't beat yourself up.”

Dane swore under his breath and sat back again. He glanced at the still-closed bathroom door. “At least he didn't hurt her. I don't know what I would've done if . . .” His voice trailed off and he shook his head. Kelvin was staring at him. He shrugged. “Look, thanks for filling me in. I'm sure she'll hate my knowing any of it. I'll make sure she knows I all but forced it out of you so she won't be mad.”

“No, you didn't force anything,” Kelvin said dismissively. “Nobody forces me to do a damn thing.” He half-grinned, but his eyes relayed a lethal promise that what he said was true. “Like I said before, I'm only telling you this because I know she will later. After this debacle tonight, she'll feel she owes you an explanation. I know how she thinks.”

Dane shook his head and said quietly, “She owes me no such thing. I just . . . wow. Damn. I don't . . . I don't know what to say to her.” He looked down at his hands. “God, it's all horrific.”

Kelvin studied him for a minute. “You care about her.”

Dane's eyes snapped up to meet his. “What?”

“Yup.” Kelvin nodded. “You do. Okay. Good. You should.”

“You know about us.” Dane didn't ask it. He was merely seeking confirmation.

“Well
duh.
” Kelvin rolled his eyes. “Look, you seem to be treating her right, so power to both of you. You're having fun? Cool. But you're lucky, you know. Don't you forget that. Because she's not only the sexiest thing walking, she's the most amazing woman in the world.”

Dane grinned softly. “Yeah, she's all right. You are too.”

Kelvin snorted. “Hey, Miss Thang,” he called out toward the bathroom door, “you need me to call the cavalry, or are you all right in there? Did you fall in?”

“I'll be out in a minute, you bitch,” Julia called back, sounding more like herself.

Dane chuckled, but said soberly to Kelvin, “Thank you. For telling me, and for before, and . . . just thanks.”

“Thank
you,”
Kelvin said. “That was a decent White-Knight-To-The-Rescue act y'all had going on.”

Dane laughed. “Nah. Tonio was the muscle. I didn't do much. Between that, and now . . .” He looked down at his hands as he admitted ruefully, “I haven't felt so useless in a long time.”

“What?” Kelvin slanted him a sideways look. “Dane, you did good tonight. You weren't useless. Trust me. She wanted you to stay, right?”

The bathroom door opened and both men turned to look. Julia's hair was brushed back and secured in a ponytail, her face scrubbed free of makeup and still a little blotchy from her crying jag. She'd wrapped herself in the luxuriously soft white robe Dane had bought for her to keep there. Beneath her drawn brows, her eyes were swollen, and filled with sadness.

And to him, she was heartbreakingly pretty. No, more than that. She was a breathtaking flame-haired warrior, as far as he was concerned. All she needed was a crossbow or a sword. His heart turned over at the sight of her.

Barefoot and quiet, she crossed the room and sat on the couch opposite them.

“You okay?” Dane asked, studying her face.

“Yeah.” She tucked her feet beneath her. “I must look like a real glamour queen right now, huh?”

“Actually, you look beautiful,” Dane said softly.

She blushed and her eyes slid down to examine her manicure. “Dane . . . I'm very sorry about what happened here tonight. Obviously, I'm mortified. And worse, I don't want any negative incidents harming the reputation of the hotel, or your name—”

“Stop right there.” He held up a hand to silence her. “That didn't happen. We got him out of here quietly, no one noticed anything. There's no gossip, and even if there was? So what. You have nothing to apologize for, or to be embarrassed about. Nothing. You hearing me?”

She nodded and pressed her lips together, but her eyes stayed downcast.

He slid forward a drop on the sofa and commanded gently, “Look at me, Julia.”

Slowly, her eyes flickered up to his face.

“You're amazing, you know that?” he said. “Most women, they have some nutjob pinning them up against a wall, they freeze from fear, start to panic, cry, yell for help. Which, of course, is understandable. Not you, though.” Admiration made him grin. “You were shouting in his face to back off. Standing up to him. Fighting him. You're a fucking fighter. I have the utmost respect for that. For you.” He hoped the sincerity in his voice was getting through to her. She looked so drained. “
He
attacked
you,
Julia. You have
nothing
to be embarrassed about. I'm just grateful we were all here to help you. It's over. He's gone. Okay?”

Her eyes bore into his. He held her gaze, willing her to relax, to breathe easier. To feel his sincerity, to know he cared, to recognize . . .

Kelvin grunted at her. “Snap out of it, Jules. Speak up. This is where you say, ‘Yes, Boss, thanks for being so understanding and for even giving a shit at all.' I
know
that's what you were about to say.”

She shot him a withering look. He merely arched a brow in challenge.

“I was getting there. I'm scattered right now.” She sighed and couldn't help but laugh begrudgingly as she looked back at Dane. “Thank you, Dane. For being so understanding . . . for being here at all. You and Tonio were a sight for sore eyes, I'll tell you.”

“You don't have to thank me. But you're welcome.” Dane chuckled and shook his head as he shot a look at Kelvin. “You're bad.”

“Very bad,” Kelvin said, grinning proudly. “Very, very bad. Which is good, 'cause she needs me to kick her ass.”

With a laugh and a nod, she acknowledged, “That's true. And I'm very glad you've been doing it for twenty years.”

“You better now, Princess?” Kelvin's voice softened.

“Much,” she said. Her eyes darted from one man to the other, and she cleared her throat. “So. When I was in the bathroom. You were talking about me, I gather?”