Slave To Love (51 page)

“This could have been an awesome show and a great experience for me.” Taren took in a deep breath like she tried to hold back tears. “Thanks for making this the worst experience of my life.” She went up to Jace and poked him in his chest with her finger. “I hate you.”

Jace dropped the mask, pulled her in close, and kissed her. For a split second, he felt her body go limp. Then she stiffened up and pushed him away.

“No! No more.” She covered her mouth.

“I love you.” Jace dropped all of his defenses.

“That’s a shame. You know you shouldn’t expect to fall in love in these types of relationships.” She turned and walked out the door.

Not content with letting it end like that, Jace chased after her only to get stopped at the doorway by Eagan.

“Cool your jets. Let’s talk.” Eagan held Jace’s shoulders and pushed him back into the house.

Master Rock removed his mask, showing Jace what he already knew. Rocco Silva had been in the lifestyle for a long time.

“How the hell did I not know you were Eagan’s brother?” Rock glared at Jace as Eagan pulled him away.

Jace didn’t answer. He knew he would have a lot more to answer to with Ananda and Eagan. Eagan pushed Jace up the stairs to the master bedroom. He slammed the door behind him and Ananda.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Eagan looked down at Jace like he scolded a teenager.

“I admit I made some mistakes.” Jace removed his jacket. When it fell on the bed, Taren’s scent wafted in the air. He already missed her.

“Made some mistakes? You ruined me.” Ananda paced. “I asked you for two things: access to your home and for you not to fuck the talent. You made good on one promise.”

“It’s not what you think. I was supposed to be gone for over a month. I thought I had secured a good business deal early so I came home. I was going to stay in the guesthouse. I swear. I didn’t think anyone was here and I saw Taren in the kitchen. She’s amazing. I swore I would stay away from her, but she has this personality. You’re just drawn to her.” Jace ruined that relationship.

“So much so that you had to sleep with her.” Ananda crossed her arms over her chest.

“That was a mistake. I took her to Club 4400 and she liked what she saw. When I brought her back here, things got out of hand. I never meant to meet her or for things to go that far. When one of the Doms backed out, Vern asked me to join the show as an extra body. I didn’t think she would pick me.” Jace had to at least get his family on his side.

“You could have said no.” Ananda stomped her foot.

“And you could have filmed this at your house.”

“Don’t talk to my wife like that.” Eagan stood in between Jace and Ananda.

“And don’t get all preachy to me.” Jace stood. “All you had to do was answer your fucking phone once in a while. Every time I call you, you never answer. Ever. I invite you to an awards ceremony and you bail on me. So, yeah, I got pissed and I did what I could to fuck up the show, that included getting the roughest Dominants. I didn’t see the show working.” He looked at Ananda. “It did. I fucked it up. I’m admitting it. But understand the reason. I was mad because I felt you all pushing me out of your lives.”

Eagan went up to Jace and shoved him with both hands. “Asshole. This show was important to Ananda. It was her baby.” He stopped and looked at his wife. “Shit.” He shook his head and took her hand. “Let’s go. We’re done here.”

“Of course. Walk away like you always do.” Jace swiped his hand down his face. He thought losing Taren hurt his heart. Hearing Eagan be disappointed with him again crushed him.

“No, Eagan. Wait.” Ananda pulled on Eagan’s arm. “We should all talk about this. You’re brothers. You should be there for one another.”

“I understand why this is important to you.” Eagan kissed Ananda. “You keep giving him chances, and he keeps messing up.” Eagan pulled her close to him and wrapped his arm around her waist. “I don’t want to see you hurt or disappointed again. We can talk about this in the morning.” He glanced out the door. “I can help save this show. It’s not a total loss.”

Jace heard Ananda sniffle before she buried her face in her husband’s chest.

Eagan glared at Jace. Jace hadn’t seen that look in years, not since he had issues with substance abuse. The same bone-chilling feeling fell over him as he watched his family walk away.

He didn’t need them. If they wanted to leave him, he would be fine with that. He had been for most of his adult life. He would learn to cope again.

Out of habit, Jace put his hand to his pants pocket looking for an old friend. Shit, he needed a cigarette. He needed something. He needed Taren.

He slumped down on the bed. He would have to learn to push Taren out of his thoughts and get his concentration back on work. Easier said than done.

****

Lies. Lies. Everything Jace had told Taren had been nothing but fiction. She couldn’t believe when Ananda had shown up in her room to talk to her. What Ananda had shared had her shaking. She still couldn’t discern which item bothered her the most: the fact that he’d kept secret about being Eagan’s brother or how he’d tried to sabotage the show.

Ananda had offered to Taren to skip the final show and go to the hotel. As far as she knew, Jace had no idea where she lived. She wanted to go home and stew for a bit before resuming normal life. Before she did that, she needed to tell Jace off and let him know how much he’d hurt her. She’d done well with her argument until he kissed her.

Damn that man. She knew he felt her melting in his arms. Then she remembered the stories. She recalled the lies. This man didn’t respect her. She pushed him away and hoped to get him out of her life forever. No way could a man really love her and do that to her.

Taren arrived at her apartment by car service. The driver helped her with her bags before leaving her. In the quiet of her home, she attempted to resume her normal life. She flipped through her mail, checked on her plants that her mother had promised to water while she filmed the show, and finally checked her emails. Being away from all types of media, including her phone, felt like she had been propelled back to the Stone Age. When her phone rang, Taren almost didn’t answer it. Considering she hadn’t been near a phone in weeks, she decided she could insert her life back to the mainstream again with this one call. Plus she looked at the phone screen and saw who called her.

“Hey, Mom.” Taren held the phone against her ear with her shoulder to remove her shoes. It would be good to walk around her home barefooted again. She tossed her heels in her closet.

“Taren, You sound good. How are you doing?” Connie’s words came out long and languid, nothing like the high-spirited Connie she knew.

“Could be better but doing okay.” Taren got to her bedroom and froze. “How did you know to call me now? You know the show confiscated my phone until the finale.”

Connie didn’t answer.

“He’s there, isn’t he?” Taren planted her free hand on her hip.

Connie cleared her throat. “Are you okay?”

Taren shook her head. After everything Jace had put her through he had the nerve to involve her parents. “Tell him—” She stopped. “Put the phone on speaker.” She waited until she heard some rustling on the other line and a click. “Can you
all
hear me?”

“You’re on speaker, dear,” Connie said.

“Good. I’m fine. I’ll be fine. I discovered a lot about myself in these last few weeks. I did this show to prove I can be physically strong. I never thought it would also toughen me up emotionally.” She marched in her bedroom as she spoke, gaining steam with each step.

“Taren.”

Jace’s voice managed to make Taren do a stutter step. “No one will make me question myself. No one will get to me again. Those who withhold the truth from me will get cut off completely. I don’t need anyone delaying my progress. That includes you, Christian Jace Morton. Good-bye.” She disconnected the call.

Although with every word she’d felt invincible, she’d collapsed on her bed. The tears she never wanted to shed for herself and this situation poured from her eyes. She would have loved to be held by her mother right now. She needed to take care of herself. No one had her best interest at heart. She’d learned that the hard way.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Jace didn’t want to think about the harsh words Taren spouted when he’d attempted to get to her through her parents. He’d taken a chance and driven to their house to see if she had retreated there to heal. He hadn’t counted on her completely shutting down. She reminded him of himself. Fuck, had he done that to her?

Once the crews packed up their equipment, they’d left his home empty. Through Kitty, Ananda relayed a message that his belongings would be returned in the next couple of days. Until then, Jace would have to stay in the guesthouse. He couldn’t. Memories of what he’d done to Taren, with her, came flooding back to him no matter where he looked.

Work had been the only place that made sense to him. He arrived before the sun could break the morning sky, before any employees could show up and ask him about his whereabouts these past few weeks.

He did check his messages. Getting back to normal life no longer had any interest to him as soon as Taren Kerrigan walked out on him. No, she didn’t walk away from him. He’d pushed her. He’d done that a lot to everyone around him.

The first message on his phone came from Rich LaMarca himself, not his assistant. “The first rule of business, son, is to not make demands on the person whose help you need. Good luck in your endeavors.”

Jace threw his phone on the desk. He looked over at the drawer where he knew Aaron kept his cigarettes. This time he didn’t even open the drawer. He dragged his thumb over the underside of his sobriety ring. Something in his life had to make sense. Not indulging would have to be one thing.

The trailer door burst open and Aaron ran inside with a two-by-four in his hand. Jace didn’t flinch. If Aaron cracked him over the head with the board, Jace would have welcomed it and hoped the hit would take away the memories of the past few days.

“Man, I almost swung at you with this.” Aaron set the piece of wood down by the door. “I thought some punk kids broke into here. What are you doing here so early? I thought you were still taking some time for yourself.”

Jace sat back in the chair. “I’ve done enough of that.” He gazed down. “Being selfish.”

“What?”

Jace shook his head. “Is it too late to join you and Cherryce for dinner tonight?”

Aaron feigned mock surprise. His eyes widened. His mouth dropped open. He even stumbled back for effect. “Are you serious? You’re not going to back out at the last minute, are you?”

Jace shook his head. “I need to be around people who still like me.” He stood and strolled over to Aaron. “Thanks for never giving up on me, man.” He shook Aaron’s hand.

Aaron pulled him in for a hug. “Dude, what the hell did you go through? Did you do some Native American spirit quest or something?”

Jace shook his head. “No. Just got a good look at myself. I need to do better.” He started to head out the door.

“Hey, um, never mind.”

Jace stopped and turned to his friend. “What?”

“It’s nothing. You seem a little down. We can talk about it later.” Aaron waved him away.

“I’m still the owner. I still care. And what you tell me matters. What is it?” He wanted Aaron to understand that whatever he told him he took to heart.

“Still got a lot of talk about that property.”

Jace took a deep breath.

Aaron must have thought it meant Jace prepared to argued with him. He put his hands up. “Don’t worry about it, man. Anyone else asks me about it, I’ll tell them to shove it.”

“Give me the information.” He nodded. “I’ll look over it. Might be worthwhile to let some things go.”

“Oh, okay. Cool. I’ll shoot it to you by email.”

Jace nodded and left the trailer. He didn’t even look at the job site. He trusted Aaron. Plus his heart wouldn’t allow him to be critical of anyone or anything.

The anger he had for Eagan now felt futile and juvenile. Ananda had tried telling him. He couldn’t blame his Dom side for wanting to be rooted in his resentment. Eventually Jace knew he would have to talk to Eagan and Ananda. He owed them an apology and more.

Later that night, Jace arrived at Aaron’s house. As he walked up to the front door, he heard Aaron’s boys running around in the house, laughing and playing. The laughter almost cracked a smile on his face. Almost.

Jace pushed in the doorbell. He heard the chime even from out on the porch. Aaron answered the door with one child wrapped around his leg and another over his shoulder.

“Come on in. Just trying to get these maniacs to settle down before dinner.” He opened the door for Jace.

“It’s cool.” Jace scanned Aaron’s home.

It hit him that he hadn’t seen the inside of Aaron’s home since he moved here over five years ago, before Cherryce had the boys. Jace had picked him up from his house a number of times. He would always sit in his truck and honk the horn to get his attention.

He scanned the house. Jace knew the layout of the homes in that area. He’d done plenty of remodeling jobs there before the construction business took off. The homes had that dated structure of segmented rooms, leaving them feeling closed off. In Aaron’s home, the walls had been removed, giving it an open appeal. Jace looked forward and could see the backyard. A lake backed up to the house. As the sun set, it gave off a romantic glow across the water.

The bright house had lights on everywhere and white walls to support the cheery atmosphere. The place almost reminded him of Taren.

To push her out of his mind, Jace leaned down and picked up Aaron’s youngest. “Isaiah, right?”

The young boy with the biggest brown eyes Jace had ever seen gave him a solid head nod.

“You probably don’t remember me. I took your dad to the hospital when your mom was having you.” Jace rubbed his finger over the child’s button nose.