Out of Turn (41 page)

Shit.

“So does everyone know?” God, that would be awful. No, James hadn’t raped me, but the realization that everyone I worked with might know I’d been cornered like that—attacked like that—made me want to crawl into a cave and not come out.

“I have no idea,” he said. “She didn’t say.”

I eyed Kade. “So what’s the matter?” I asked. “You already knew what happened between James and me.”

Kade stood, coming so close to me that I had to tip my head back to look him in the eye. “Arriving after the fact,” he said stiffly, “or hearing about it from someone else, isn’t the same as watching every moment on a fucking video.” The anguish was stark in his eyes. “Blane should have killed him.”

“No, he shouldn’t have,” I said. “Or else that would be on the video, too, and then where would we be?”

Kade turned away and I caught sight of the television. William Gage’s photo had flashed on the screen and I frowned, reaching for the remote control and unmuting the TV with a sinking feeling.

“… found deceased in his home this morning,” the voice-over was saying, “from an accidental fall down the stairs while in his wheelchair. He’d been ill with terminal pancreatic cancer…”

I muted the television again, not wanting to hear any more. Kade had completely ignored the story, pouring himself another cup of coffee from the carafe on the sideboard.

I thought I knew what had happened and who had done it, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel remorse, only relief.

“Did you do that?” I asked. “Did you kill him?”

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to,” Kade said.

I swallowed hard. While I didn’t regret William Gage’s death, I did regret that Kade had killed him because of me, but I knew that was the last thing Kade would want to hear.

“If James gets arrested for what he did to me,” I said, changing the subject, “won’t that provide a pattern of behavior that will help us prove what he did to Kandi?”

“Yes, but you’d need to file a complaint.”

“I can do that.”

Kade turned around, fixing me with a piercing stare. “You’re going to file an assault charge… against the district attorney? Don’t you realize what they’ll do to you? The press will rip you apart. They love James, and now his poor daddy just bit the dust. As Blane’s fiancée, they’re going to paint you as the conniving slut, no matter what that video shows.”

I raised my chin and squared my shoulders. “If it’ll help Blane, then it’s worth it.”

Kade shook his head. “Your loyalty is admirable… and stupid.”

“I don’t ditch my friends just because it’s convenient,” I said, stung.

“Is that what you and Blane are? Friends?” He walked over and grasped my left hand, holding it up so I could see the diamond sparkling on my finger. “Is this just for show, or is that just what you keep telling yourself?”

“Are you two ready to go?”

I turned to see Mona peeking in the doorway. “Gerard and I are heading out now.”

I pulled my hand from Kade’s. “We were just leaving,” I said, picking up my purse and tucking my phone inside.

“We’ll see you there.”

I turned to Kade. “Are you driving me or what?”

He was and we pulled up to the courthouse thirty tense minutes later.

My stomach was doing flip-flops while we waited inside the courtroom. Reporters had snapped photos of me and shouted questions outside, but Kade had hustled me past them, dark sunglasses hiding his eyes.

Charlotte had stopped briefly on her way to the front of the courtroom to tell us not to worry, that she was sure the arraignment would go fine and the judge would set bail.

There were several other cases ahead of Blane’s and I grew more anxious as we waited, chewing a nail and shifting in my seat. Kade took my hand, lowering it to my lap and holding it there. He was a solid presence at my side and I gripped his hand tight with both of mine.

When Blane at last stepped into the courtroom, my breath left my lungs in a choked gasp. His hands were cuffed in front of him, which seemed incongruous with the suit he wore, but the bruises and cuts on his face were what caught my attention.

“It’s okay,” Kade whispered to me. “He’s all right.”

“But… he’s not,” I whispered back. “Look at him.”

“A few bruises, that’s all,” Kade said. “He’s alive and nothing’s broken. He’s fine. Trust me.”

As though he felt my gaze on him, Blane glanced up and our eyes met. Something close to shame crossed his face before his expression smoothed and he turned to face the judge.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him as the hearing commenced. Charlotte entered a plea of not guilty and the
judge initially declined to set bail. Charlotte argued the point, citing circumstantial evidence and Blane’s place in the community, and the judge relented, setting bail at five million dollars.

Blane didn’t look back as they led him away, and I realized I was squeezing Kade’s hand hard enough to leave fingernail marks, though he hadn’t said a word.

“Now what?” I asked Kade.

He was already on his cell phone. “Now we post bond and get him the hell out of there,” he said. “I’ll be just a second.”

Kade left the courtroom so he could hear on his cell while I paused to hug Mona, who looked as relieved as I felt, though I was working hard to hold it together. I assured her we’d bring Blane home. Gerard put his arm around her shoulders and led her out the doors.

I picked up my purse and turned to go as well, only to find James standing much too close.

He grabbed my arm and jerked me toward him. “That getup isn’t fooling anyone,” he hissed in my ear.

A few people stood talking nearby, but I didn’t want to make a scene. I could imagine how my attacking the DA prosecuting Blane’s case would play in the news, and it wouldn’t be good or helpful to Blane at all.

“Let go of me,” I gritted out.

“You were supposed to suck my dick, bitch,” he hissed. “Now I’m going to put Kirk away for life. You can count on it.” His grip on my arm was painfully tight.

“Is that what you said to her? Because I was real curious.”

James turned to see Kade behind him. Though Kade’s lips were twisted into the semblance of a smile, the look
in his eyes was deadly. His gaze fell on James’s hand on my arm.

“Let her go, dickhead.”

“Dennon,” James sneered, “on bodyguard duty?” He let go of me and got in Kade’s face. “You know, she’s a real spitfire, but her tits are fantastic.”

I was absolutely sure that if we hadn’t been in a public place, Kade would have killed James right then and there. As it was, I could already see James’s death sentence in Kade’s eyes. He was just biding his time.

“It’s a real shame about your dad,” Kade said with mock sympathy. “Fell down the stairs, didn’t he? Such a tragic… accident.”

The subtext of Kade’s comment seemed to slam into James and his face turned red with rage. “You motherfucker,” he spat. “You killed him.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kade said with a shrug. “Accidents happen.” His voice matched the ice in his eyes when he said, “You should be real careful one doesn’t happen to you.”

It was unmistakably a threat. James seemed to know it, too, because he shut his mouth, the red in his face fading.

Kade placed his hand on the small of my back and guided me out of the courthouse and to his car.

“Thanks for your help,” I said, still shaken from the unexpected confrontation.

“James is like a rabid dog,” Kade said. “He needs to be put down.”

“Not by you,” I said quickly. I couldn’t shake the feeling that with each person Kade killed, a little of his soul was
eaten away by darkness. I was afraid that eventually the darkness would consume him.

“If not me, then who?”

Kade’s eyes met mine, but I didn’t have an answer.

The police station was only a couple of miles away and we drove there quickly. “How are you going to pay them five million dollars?” I asked as we walked inside.

Kade snorted. “It’s not five million. It’s ten percent of five million.”

Oh. In defense of my ignorance, I’d never had to bail someone out of jail.

We’d arrived before Blane had even been brought back and Kade went to pay the bail while I waited in the lobby. The blue plastic chairs were no more comfortable than the other times I’d sat in them. The minutes seemed to crawl by as I watched the clock.

“I see Kade’s taking care of the bond,” Charlotte said, sitting down next to me.

“Yes. Hopefully, it won’t take too much longer.” I put aside my antipathy for her only because she was Blane’s lawyer and was trying to help him. Regardless of how much she disliked me and how heartily that animosity was returned, it didn’t matter because both of us were after the same goal—to prove Blane’s innocence.

Just then, Blane walked around the corner, Kade at his side. I jumped to my feet, but he was already headed my way, his long strides eating up the space between us. In the span of a breath, he had me in his arms.

He’d been gone for only two days, but it had felt five times that. I clung tightly to his neck and swallowed down
the lump in my throat. The warm, familiar feel of him was so dear to me.

“Save the reunion for later,” Kade said. “Police stations make me nervous.”

I pulled back from Blane, but he didn’t let me get far; his arm stayed locked around my waist, anchoring me to his side.

Kade handed Blane a pair of sunglasses. “Ready?”

Blane gave a curt nod. “You take that side,” he said, sliding the glasses on.

Kade moved to my other side so that they flanked me. Charlotte led the way as we went out the doors.

The bevy of reporters made me falter in surprise, even more of them than had been on the courthouse steps this morning.

“Keep moving,” Blane said. “Don’t stop.”

Charlotte was speaking to the crowd, which drew some but not all of the attention away from us. Flashes went off continuously, blinding me with their light as questions were fired at us from every direction.

“Mr. Kirk, how do you see the future of your campaign now that you’ve been charged with murder?”

“Was Kandi Miller aware that you’d reconciled with your fiancée?”

“You say you’re innocent despite the evidence. Who do you think could have done this to her?”

“Miss Turner, how does it feel to be engaged to a man accused of murder?”

There was a car waiting at the bottom of the steps and Blane opened the door for me. I climbed in as quickly as I could and saw him say something to Kade before getting in
as well. Kade closed the door behind Blane and me, cutting off the shouting reporters. The driver stepped on the gas and we shot down the street.

The tinted windows gave us privacy and I released a pent-up breath. Then my breath was gone altogether as Blane dragged me onto his lap, tossed his sunglasses aside, and kissed me.

It wasn’t a gentle, tender kiss, but one filled with the ache of being parted as his tongue slid hotly against mine. Blane crushed me to him, his hands touching me everywhere he could reach—as though to reassure himself that I was really there.

I tore my mouth from his. “Blane,” I gasped.

Both of us were breathing hard. His hand cupped the back of my neck as his forehead pressed against mine.

“I’m sorry you were there, that you had to see me… like that,” he said.

“What do you mean? Like what?”

“Handcuffed. In court.”

The shame I’d seen on his face earlier made sense now.

I leaned back, but he wouldn’t look me in the eye. I laid my hand along his smooth cheek. “Look at me,” I said softly.

His gaze reluctantly lifted to mine, and I could read the anguish in their depths. If there were two things Blane prided himself on, they were his honor and his reputation—and both were being called into question with this case.

“I know you,” I said, “and I know you didn’t do this. Nothing is going to change that, and nothing is going to change the fact that you’re a man of courage and integrity.”

I surveyed the bruises on his face, lightly brushing a finger over the cut on his lip. “What happened in there?” I
asked. “Kade said he was going to help. We didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“It was what I expected,” Blane said evasively. “Kade’s help was very… timely.”

And I knew he wasn’t going to say anything more about it.

I thought I should probably get off his lap, but I couldn’t make myself let go of him and his hold on me didn’t let up.

“Were you all right while I was gone?” he asked. “Did you stay at my house?”

I ignored the first question and evaded the second. “I promised you I would.”

Blane’s fingers toyed with the scarf at my neck and I stiffened, hoping he wouldn’t try to take it off. No way did I want to tell him what happened. He had enough going on and it didn’t matter anyway.

Kade was waiting at the house when we arrived. Mona greeted us at the door. She didn’t say a word, just hugged Blane. His face softened as he hugged her back, brushing a kiss to her forehead. She let him go and gave my hand a squeeze as we walked by, a look of shared understanding passing between us: Blane belonged here, not in a jail.

Blane led me to the den, where he tossed his jacket on a chair as he walked behind his desk.

“Where are we?” he asked, loosening and then removing his tie.

Kade sat in one of the leather wingback chairs facing Blane, who remained standing. “Jared said he has news. He’s going to be by any minute.”

Blane nodded. “What happened while I was gone? What’s Kathleen hiding from me?”

“What—nothing!” I spluttered. I should have known that Blane, an expert at reading people, would have seen through my vague answers.

“Gage tried again,” Kade said, ignoring me. “We’re lucky she’s alive.”

The
we
seemed deliberate and the two of them locked eyes for a moment, something passing between them that I didn’t understand.

The doorbell rang and a few moments later, Mona showed Jared into the room.

“We’ve examined the phone records for both James and Kandi,” he said as he took a seat. “The number of calls between them should be enough to prove they had a relationship.”