Out of Turn (23 page)

He glanced at me, then looked over his shoulder. “It’s not bad. Could’ve been worse. Glad I had the jeans on. I know my ass is hot, but I don’t need it to be literal.” He
waggled his eyebrows at me, but I didn’t think it was funny. I was angry, and scared, and I took it out on Kade.

“Why did you do that? You could’ve been killed!”

“Better me than you, princess.”

“Stop saying that!” I cried, getting in his face. “It’s not true! I hate it when you do that!” I was crying and yelling and I didn’t care what kind of scene I was making. I fisted his shirt in my hands, trying to make him listen to me.

The mischief faded from Kade’s face, a look of concern replacing it as his brows drew together and his lips twisted in a frown. “Calm down. It’s okay. Everything’s okay,” he said. He tried to wrap his arms around me, but I jerked away.

“Everything is
not
okay! Everything I own is up there burning. I was nearly killed.
You
were nearly killed. And I’m sick of it!”

I ran to where I’d dropped my purse and dug my keys out. This had to stop. I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Kathleen, wait—!”

I heard Kade calling after me, but I ignored him, running to my car and getting in. I slammed my hand down on the door lock just as Kade got there.

“Kathleen, where are you going?” he asked, trying fruitlessly to open the door.

“I’m going to make him stop,” I said, jamming my key in the ignition.

It only took a second for Kade to catch on.

“No,” he said, his face hard. “You are not going over there, Kathleen. Don’t be stupid.”

I really didn’t like being called stupid. I glared at him through the window. “Watch me,” I said, and tore out of the lot.

I drove fast—traffic rules optional. My whole body still shook, though whether it was from shock or fear or fury, I didn’t know. But I was mad. Maybe madder than I’d ever been in my life. And I knew just the person who I wanted to see.

William Gage lived in a two-story brick mansion just north of downtown, off Meridian. I wouldn’t even know where he lived if I hadn’t had to go by his house occasionally to pick up a few things when I’d first started at the firm. My memory supplied the address and soon I was squealing to a stop in the big semicircle driveway.

I jumped out of the car, not even bothering to close my door, just as Kade’s Mercedes skidded up next to me. He vaulted out, but I was already heading to the front door. He caught me around the waist at the foot of the stairs.

“Let me go!” I pulled at his arm, but it was like an iron band around my middle.

“You’re not doing this,” he said, his voice implacable.

“You can’t stop me,” I fumed, twisting in his arms as I tried to break free.

Kade lifted me off my feet. “Actually, I can,” he said.

That just sent me to a whole new level of pissed off. I kicked and fought him with everything I had, which only resulted in his other arm crossing over my chest to hold my arms down.

“Let me go! I swear to God, Kade!” I knew I was making contact with some of my hits because he grunted a couple of times, but still he wouldn’t let go. I channeled my anger and twisted around, getting my arms in between us so I could push against him. “I said,
let me go
.”

“Stop it, Kathleen,” he barked, pressing me tightly against him so my arms were immobilized. “I said stop!”

His words finally penetrated my haze of rage and I went limp, sagging against him. I couldn’t hold back the sobs that now engulfed me. I hid my face against Kade’s chest, my shoulders shaking.

“Shhh, you’re okay, I’m okay,” he said softly, cradling me. His lips brushed the top of my head. “Everything’s going to be okay. I promise.”

His hand slipped under my hair to the back of my neck when I pulled back slightly. “But it’s not okay, Kade,” I choked out. “Look at your back. What if—”

“No,” he interrupted. “No what-ifs. I’ll take care of it. Right now.” He stepped away, but took my hand and started for the stairs.

I followed him. When we reached the door, he turned to me. “Let
me
do the talking,” he said. Reluctantly, I nodded.

Kade rang the doorbell. I nervously shifted my weight from foot to foot as we waited.

“Stop fidgeting,” Kade murmured. I stilled.

The door opened and an old man, clad in a butler’s uniform, stood there.

“May I help you?” he asked.

“I’m looking for William Gage,” Kade said.

The man glanced from Kade to me and back, then said, “I’m sorry, but he’s not accepting visitors right now—”

“That’s all right,” Kade said, moving past the old butler. “This won’t take long. Where is he?”

Kade’s voice was like steel and I knew the coldness in his eyes well. The butler took a good look and didn’t question him, but just pointed to a doorway down the hall.

Our footsteps echoed on the hardwood floor as we walked down the hallway. I couldn’t take my eyes off Kade’s back, belatedly realizing my abrupt departure had caused him to forgo getting medical attention for his burns.

Nice one, Kathleen.

Kade pushed open the door at the end of the corridor and stepped into the den. It would have been a bright, cheery room if heavy drapes hadn’t been drawn over the windows. The air was stuffy and too warm. But I noticed and then forgot all that in a flash, my attention drawn to the man sitting in a wheelchair behind a behemoth of a desk.

Gage had changed since I’d last seen him, his body withered and bent. The disease was obviously taking its toll. I wished I could feel sympathy. Instead, I found myself only sorry it was taking so long to claim his life.

He looked up when the door opened, surprise evident on his face before he could conceal it. “Dennon,” he said carefully, “to what do I owe the pleasure?” Gage glanced at me and it took him a moment to recognize me, his eyes narrowing before realization struck. Then his thin lips pressed together and his face grew mottled with anger. “What is
she
doing here?” he hissed.

I gritted my teeth and moved forward, but Kade stopped me in my tracks, his hold unbreakable.

“She’s with me,” he said, walking right over to Gage. “I hear Blane Kirk stopped by to give you a warning about this obsession you have.” He let go of my hand to press his palms flat on the desk and lean closer to Gage. “And today you went too far.”

Gage’s smile was cold. “Oh, I wasn’t trying to kill her.” He leaned forward. “I just want to hurt her, terrify her, and make her regret the day she was born.”

I shivered, a chill spreading across my skin at his words.

“That’s nice,” Kade said, nonchalant. “It’s good to have goals. But here’s the problem. Today you hurt
me
.” Menace dripped from his voice and Gage blanched. “The girl is under my protection now, and I would take it
personally
if something were to happen to her.”

Gage recovered, his gaze hardening. “This is none of your business, Dennon,” he said.

“I’m making it my business,” Kade bit out.

“Then I suggest you watch your back,” Gage said.

Kade straightened and once again took my hand. “Your choices are your own, Gage,” he said. “But hear this—if anything else happens that so much as harms a hair on her head, my face will be the last one you see.” He tugged on my hand, pushing me in front of him as we left the room.

“You don’t scare me, Dennon!” Gage called after us. “I’m already at death’s door.”

Kade paused. “Just say the word, old man, and I’ll shove your ass right on through.”

Gage spluttered in rage, grabbing a paperweight from his desk and throwing it at us. It bounced harmlessly off the wall as Kade hustled me down the hall and out the front door.

I got back in my car, sliding behind the wheel and taking a deep breath.

Kade leaned into the open door. “Go straight to Blane’s,” he ordered. “Nowhere else.”

I frowned at him. “But you need to go to the hospital. I can come with—”

Kade was already shaking his head. “I’ve got to give a statement to the cops. We kind of ran out on them, you know.”

“Then will you go to the hospital?”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. If you’ll do what I say.”

I nodded. “To Blane’s. Nowhere else. Got it.”

Kade stepped away, but something occurred to me and I called out to him. “Kade, wait!” He turned. “How did you know?” I asked. “You tried to warn me. How did you know?”

“It’s a trick I’ve seen before,” Kade said. “Rigging the door. They were just a little messy or I wouldn’t have seen it.”

“Where have you seen it?” I asked. I hadn’t seen a thing and even now as I searched my memory, I came up blank.

Kade seemed to hesitate before finally saying, “I guess it’s not so much that I’ve
seen
it before as that I’ve
done
it before.”

I stared at him, unable to conceal my dismay. “You’ve… blown somebody up?” I asked. I wasn’t stupid, I knew what Kade did for a living, it just rarely smacked me in the face like this had.

Kade just looked at me, resignation in his eyes, until I glanced away, unable to hold his gaze. Guilt ate at me for what I’d said. It wasn’t my place to judge him; he couldn’t change his past.

“I’ll see you at Blane’s later,” he said before closing my door. I watched him as he walked to his Mercedes, his shirt in tatters across his back, the burned skin showing through. Then suddenly I was up and running after him. I was breathless when I reached his car and knocked on his window. He
rolled it down. He’d already donned his sunglasses and I couldn’t see his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he said with a frown. “You okay?”

I nodded. “Yes, I just forgot something.”

“What?”

I leaned inside, kissing him hard on the mouth for a long moment. When I pulled back, I said, “Thank you.”

I was gone, heading back to my car, before he could reply.

I called Alisha while I drove to Blane’s.

“What the hell happened?” were the first words out of her mouth.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I kind of… lost it for few minutes.”

“Can’t say I blame you,” she replied. “I’d lose it, too, if someone blew up my apartment.”

I winced at the reminder. “So what did the firemen say?”

“It was localized in your apartment,” she said, “and they managed to put it out before it spread back into your bedroom, so it’s not as bad as it looked.”

Well, that was good news. All my family photo albums were in the bedroom closet. I felt a little better. I hadn’t had a lot of personal things in my living room and kitchen, just furniture and appliances. My memories were all in the bedroom.

“Thanks for your help,” I said.

“No problem. You need someplace to stay until they repair the damage?”

I hesitated. Staying with Alisha was tempting, but I didn’t want to bring more trouble or danger into her life. “Um, that’s okay. I have a place to stay.”

“Where?”

“Um, yeah. I’m, uh, staying with Blane for now.”

Silence, then, “Are you out of your mind?” she screeched. I winced, pulling the phone slightly away from my ear. “Don’t you remember what he did? The things that piece of shit said to you—”

Alisha had been with me, had comforted me, when Blane had broken our engagement. She’d seen my heartbreak and her animosity toward Blane had reached a new high.

“It’s not what you think,” I broke in to her tirade. “We’re not getting back together. Kandi Miller—remember her?—she was murdered.”

“Oh.” Alisha’s voice betrayed surprise now. “I saw that on the news. That was her? His ex?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow. Geez. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” which was an absurd thing to say—it wasn’t okay, but what do you say? “So, anyway, Kade and I are staying with Blane for a little while, until after the funeral and stuff.”

“Kade
and
you?” she asked, disbelief edging her voice.

“Yeah.”

“Wow.”

“What?”

“Isn’t that going to be a little… awkward?”

She didn’t know the half of it. The desire to tell my friend what had happened between Kade and me was
strong, but I held my tongue. “Yeah, it’s been a little… tense.” Understatement of the century.

“Do you need anything?”

I smiled to myself. Alisha was a good friend, OCD and all. “No, I’m okay. Thanks for asking, though.”

“Well, just let me know,” she said.

“Thanks, I will. Tell Lewis I said hello.”

We disconnected and a few minutes later, I pulled up to Blane’s house. It was late afternoon and I thought Blane would probably be back home. Glancing down I saw that my once-white skirt was now smeared with dirt, the delicate blouse I had on was torn, and my knees were streaked with dried blood.

Lovely.

I headed inside, hoping not to encounter anyone on the way to my bedroom. A shower and change of clothes sounded good. I felt grungy and my hair smelled like smoke, which made it darn inconvenient to run into Blane in the hallway upstairs.

“Hey,” I said, trying to ignore how I looked. “How are you doing?”

Blane didn’t answer, his astonished gaze sweeping me from head to foot. “What the hell happened? I thought you were just going to class?”