Chapter 57: Chapter 57

CASSANDRA BATES

SEX WAS EARTH-SHATTERING. BUT SEX with Kade was out of this world.

I didn’t know why I had delayed the inevitable with him. Because the feel of him in me, slamming into me had turned me into a needy bitch and Kade enjoyed the fuck out of teasing me and tormenting me.

I had never begged for dick like I did ice-cream. Decades later, I would bark like a dog just to have Kade slamming me into the bed over and over again till orgasm after orgasm hit me like a freight train.

Three weeks ago, we’d had sex in his office. Me filthily bent over his desk, him taking me from behind without a damn care that he had a meeting due in five minutes.

I had felt guilty lying to my friends slash coworkers so I told them the truth. That me and Kade were a thing. Adam looked SO disappointed it almost ate me up for not telling him sooner.

Kade proposed a week later with the biggest diamond ring a girl like me only saw in dreams after he had rented a seafood restaurant all to ourselves. I said yes and the rest of our night ended with him between my legs and us rolling in our bedroom sheets like a couple of Neanderthals.

Fast forward to the present, my heart palpitated and a thin sweat broke down my back as the man I loved caressed my thigh lovingly.

“Did you stalk them to know what you’ll be dealing with?”

I asked Kade.

A small smile tugged at his lips as he drove the jeep down the familiar road, I had memorized for twenty something years of my life.

The road that led to my father’s ranch.

The road that led home.

And this time I was visiting my parents with my fiancé, how crazy was that!

“Did you want me to look into your parents’ profiles?”

Maybe.

At least then he’d prepared on what to say to an angry Jason Bates and Misha Bates.

“Kade?” I prodded; his fingers dug into my thigh possessively making hot trickles bombard my skin.

“I wanted to. All this is new to me, Red. I’m not gonna lie the thought of meeting your parents makes me nervous as hell but this matters to you, so in a way it matters to me. A normal fiancé doesn’t stalk his in-laws so to your question, I have no fucking clue what your parents look like or what they prefer in a man engaged to you”

I giggled.

Kade? Nervous?

“They’ll love you”, I commented, “they’ll love you because I love you”

“I hope so. Should I mention what I do for a living?”

We’d joked about it every time but right now, it didn’t feel as funny as it did back in Kade’s private jet as he ate me out.

“My father was in the military like I said and military men want their daughters to marry lawyers or clerks or one of those men from Ivy League schools and a gelled hairdo…”

“I went to an Ivy, red. I’m not a lawyer or a fucking clerk but I’ll be anything you want if that makes me right in your eyes”

God when he spoke like this, my heart raced, that neediness in my pussy throbbed and roared fiercely I thought I’d fall off a cliff with want.

“You are already right in my eyes. My father could castrate you but at the end of the day I would still choose you. Always you”

“I love you Cassandra”

His voice dropped a decibel, the night adopted a different nuance as his hand crept up my thigh, every brush of his fingers catapulting me over the edge into pure bliss.

“Kade”

I said in a whisper not knowing whether it was a plead for him to continue or a futile attempt of telling him that we were so close to my home I could almost see my horse Lulu and see the flannel shirts my dad wore that made him look like a lumberjack.

“One taste, Red. Just one”, THE TIMBER IN HIS VOICE SOUNDED like he couldn’t drive another mile without getting the feel of me on his fingers and I let him.

I let him because I couldn’t stop the aching between my legs that craved all of him.

He brushed upwards past my inner thighs and I squirmed.

When his knuckles brushed past my panties, my fisted hands dug into the leather material of the seat I was in.

I moved forward wanting my heat to be cooled by his huge hand.

Kade chuckled.

I huffed.

“So, fucking greedy for my hands, aren’t you? So wet for me. I should pull this car around, jump into the nearest motel and fuck you senseless, Red”

“No”, I exhaled like a fish being denied water.

My eyes were still closed trying to fight the turmoil and headiness of wanting sex but I could see Kade watching me with a scowl when he didn’t like stuff not going his way.

“No what, Red?”

“W—we are not postponing this again…my parents …they’re expecting us”, I drawled.

The asshole caught hold of my panties pulling them to the side until the cold breeze hit me bare knocking me senseless.

“We better hurry then”, he taunted.

I was about to say something tongue lashing, when one of his thick fingers played around my slick core.

My insides burnt with anguishing desire and when his thick finger went inside of me it took a minute to adjust before he moved. Every thrust pumped the desire I had for this man, every in and out upped the intensity of adoration and love I felt for Kade, when he added another finger, I flittered away like a free bird learning how to fly for the first time.

He drove without a care in the world and I shamelessly rode his fingers, the lapping sounds of my pussy loving him being the only rhythmic sound that flogged between us.

I came so hard, I thought I’d squirt all over his fancy leather seats.

It had happened before and that was the most embarrassed I had been had it not been for Kade gazing at me with a proud look.

He withdrew his fingers from me licking my juices off of him and I watched heaving from my high.

“Your taste is addictive, you know that? You are addictive”

Not as much as you, I wanted to say but if I did, we’d end up fucking in his car by the side of the road.

“God, I look like a mess”, I straightened my dress taking a small mirror from my purse.

“You look beautiful”

I rolled my eyes, dabbing a little bit powder to hide the beads of sweat resting on my forehead.

“You’d lie to me in a heartbeat just to make me feel better, Kade”

“I’d lie about so many things to make you feel better but trust me when I say, you are the most beautiful thing that has happened to me in a while”

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The goofy smile that had plastered my face disappeared the minute Kade’s car came to a steady halt in front of our house.

I would have felt ecstatic just by looking at the stables that were surprisingly in one piece, the ATV my dad kept for all those years, the smell of fresh grass and earth and maple and mint.

The sounds of leaves swaying with the night breeze, slapping one another against the trees that held them, the chirping of insects that hid in the ground and that full moon that adorned the skies making this place home.

Except I wasn’t ecstatic.

My smile faded.

I looked to my side and I saw Jason Bates.

An angry Jason Bates holding a damn rifle.

“Shit”, I cussed out loud.

Kade jumped out of the car faster than I could tell him to retreat. He walked calmly around the car coming to the passenger’s seat and opening the door for me.

My legs wobbled as they dug into the soils of my parents’ front yard.

“Oh God, he’s going to overreact. I should have…we could turn back and—”

“Hey, everything’s gonna be alright. He would have shot me the minute I stepped out of the car but he didn’t. it’s going to take a lot more than a rifle to scare me away”

That was not making me feel better in any way.

Behind us, Jason Bates stood like a sentinel about to kill Kade and I felt like I could kill my father instead for trying to intimidate my fiancé with a gun.

Was mom even aware of this? Why wasn’t she here trying to stop him?

“If he shoots you, I’m shooting him too”, I joked. He laughed before he turned around.

My father was ten steps away.

Bushy beard, stormy green eyes, a flannel shirt and old jeans and of course the weapon in his hands that shone far brighter than the tension.

Five steps in and something flickered in my father’s eyes as he stared at Kade.

I swallowed a huge lump holding Kade’s hand like he could slip away if I didn’t hold onto him.

Kade stopped.

I stopped.

My blood thrummed in my ears I felt drowsy.

My eyes slowly leapt from Kade to my father.

My father…he…his eyes, they…were those? God, was he about to cry? The rifle in his hands shook as he lowered it.

I thought I would be scared of the rifle being pointed at us but no, the silence was what killed me, the silence between both men, the anguish on their faces, the sense of familiarity between them that threatened to smash my reality.

Did they know each other from somewhere-

Before I could say anything…our front door opened and chaos erupted.

People spilled from the door one after another, I barely had enough time to register what was going on.

“Put the gun down for God’s sake, Jason Bates!” my mom barked taking the gun that had been limp from my father’s arms.

Jace came speedily charging towards us and in a split second, his hands grabbed Kade’s collar pulling him away from me.

“Jace, stop!”

Someone beckoned from behind us and my eyes flickered to the bearer of that voice.

I had heard that voice once. Back when I was working in Amato industries.

Standing beside a stupefied Simon Asher Russo, was a woman. Dark haired, lithe, tall and proud holding a decorum of ‘being born with a silver spoon in her mouth’, she called after Jace.

She looked at him the way I looked at Kade. She called after him like he was the love of her life.

No. It couldn’t be…Lucia Amato? Kade’s ex fiancé? In love with my brother?

“Of all the fucking assholes, Cassie. You chose this one? Are you fucking with us right now?”

Jace heaved, Kade didn’t fight.

Why wasn’t he fighting? Why wasn’t he saying anything and most especially why did he have that look on his face? Like he had literally been shot and left to die?

“Let him go! Let him go right now, Jace!”

Eyes blazing, fists around Kade’s collar, Jace looked at me fiercely and barked,

“No. And here’s what’s going to happen, your engagement is off and this bastard is going straight back from where he crawled from”

Anger mixed with confusion mixed with Kade’s reaction of doing nothing made my blood simmer hot, I saw red. And when I saw red the burn behind my eyes wasn’t going away as I took a step towards my asshole of a brother.

“You are not in charge of my life. You do not get to say who’ll marry and who I will not. why can’t you let me be happy? Why should you be the only one who gets to be happy and not me? I love him whether you all like it or not, I love Kade Hawkins with all my heart”

Whatever I said fueled Jace’s anger by a mile, this time he held his fist up ready to pummel Kade with everything he had.

Froth practically coming out of his mouth, the veins on his neck about to pop, my brother looked me in the eyes and spat the most ludicrous things I’d ever heard in my life.

“He doesn’t love you! Can’t you see that? He used you to find Lucia. This fucking scoundrel is here for Lucia not you”

“No”, I raised my voice, “Just because you like fucking Lucia Amato doesn’t mean every man wants too”

My words charged like daggers.

Did I regret implying Lucia Amato was a whore? Maybe.

But the pig-headed asshole I had for a brother was not going to ruin my love life for me. Never again.

“Let him go!”

“Make me”, Jace berated.

I hated what I was about to do but I had no choice. Hot tears plaguing my cheek, guilt and anger swirling like a terrifying carousel in an amusement park inside my body, I sought the man I loved because only he could stop all this.

“Kade?”

His brown eyes the ones that were still glued at my father and at my brother with dread, fell on me and the minute he saw my tears the Kade I knew was back and I knew for an instant he’d draw blood if I told him to.

“Defend yourself. Hit him, I don’t care just defend yourself and we can get out of here. Please just…”

Jace punched Kade first.

Kade stumbled backwards but when he rose my heart broke into pieces.

Blood sputtered out of his mouth but he stood in all six feet two of him as Jace threw another punch for his jaw.

No. No.

“Stop him”, I cried.

“Please stop them”, I sobbed, my wails getting lost in the sounds of Jace’s knuckles connecting with Kade’s jaw.

“Connor”

Someone called behind me. her voice cracking.

Of course, Simon had visited with his parents, they always did from time to time but there was no changing that this visit was going to be disastrous.

Especially and most especially when the forty something year old woman I knew as my aunt Nance walked past by me, tears springing down her eyes and her right-hand hovering over her mouth to prevent a sob.

“Connor?”

She called again.

I stilled.

No, Connor was Jr’s brother, the one we never talked about, the one that died, the boy that was a sensitive topic to talk about at home.

Jr’s parents were a forbidden topic at home. I never saw their pictures, hell all I knew was they were Callan and Nicole. The couple that died tragically in a fire with their son.

That was it.

Why…why was Nancy Asher saying the name Connor with a face that looked like she’d seen a ghost?

“Aunt Nance”, Jace gritted.

He’d already let go of Kade.

Kade stood there with a bruised jaw and an eye that threatened to turn purple and that’s the thing, he was staring at everyone like paradoxes.

And for the first time, I saw through a human Kade.

The Kade I knew didn’t bear the weight of a ton of sledgehammers on his back yet right now, he—he looked like he did. Like he was carrying pain. So much pain.

The Kade I knew didn’t let his defenses crumble yet right now, I could see all his walls falling piece by piece and I was scared of what that meant.

“C—CONNOR is that you?”

Nancy Asher didn’t back down. She walked forward, forward past Jace’s shocked face to Kade.

Her trembling hand touched Kade’s cheek and his eyes…the eyes never lied Chico. He looked like he knew what she was talking about.

God, what was happening?

“Aunt Nance, Connor’s dead! ” Jace exclaimed reaching for Nancy’s shoulders, trying to pull her away from Kade but the woman refused to budge.

“Aunt Nance, Connor’s dead”

Jace repeated. I felt sick to my stomach.

“Connor’s fucking dead”

Jace’s voice wobbled.

“Jason? Tell her. My brother’s dead. He killed our parents and the bloody fool died with them”

I couldn’t will myself to look at my father because somehow, I knew what he would say.

“H—he…decades later and he still looks like Nicole”, Nancy added.

The truth hung low as Kade’s eyes closed and he breathed with a sharp inhale.

What was going on? No, he couldn’t…was he…did he know?

“Jr”, Kade’s voice called out like he couldn’t believe he himself was saying the words.

Jace turned around.

Both brothers searched each other’s eyes. For any hint of recognition, for any hint of familiarity, I could only hold my tears back as I watched Nancy cling to Kade and Jace angrily look at Kade like he wanted to rip him to shreds.

“Jr’s gone. Connor’s gone. Callan and Nicole are gone and it’s just me, Jace Asher. I don’t have a brother because my own twin stabbed me in the back. I don’t know who you are but one more step and I’ll blow your brains out myself”

“You look just like her”, Nancy Asher continued ignoring all the shit that threatened to pop and turn things ugly.

“Kick him the fuck out”

Jace said to no one. Though we all knew he was talking to my father.

“I can’t do that kid”, My father spoke from behind me, “I can’t do that because I promised Callan Asher, I’d take care of his kids”

“It’s not him. He died…fuck fuck, he died with them. You were there, you saw the goddamn report”

“I lived with both of you for a few days to tell you apart. It’s him, kid. It’s Connor Asher”

Kade didn’t look at me. not once. Not even when he looked like he wanted to die on the spot and he needed someone to tether him to the physical world.

I saw the rise and fall of his chest as his real name flogged the air like a bad flu. I saw the pain behind those eyes of his as Nance touched his cheek tenderly.

I saw a great man trying his best not to lose his shit and failing at it.

“I carried him when Callan brought both of you to B&A. I DON’T KNOW HOW but it’s Connor”, Simon’s dad and my dad’s best friend aka Falcon ‘Gunner’ Russo said.

“He killed them. We loved him and he…he picked a side. He chose his father instead of his family and what? You fucking expect me to hug him and forget all the nightmares I had because of him?

To forget how it felt like to have my mother tell me to run because she knew it was over for her? To forget that I had only a month to know my real father?”

“Jace if you could just-“my words got cut off by his death glare.

“Could just what Cassandra? Give your boyfriend a chance? I asked you if everything was okay, I fucking asked and you lied to my face like a naïve spoilt brat. You brought him here”

“I didn’t know—”

“Didn’t know? Didn’t know that he was a psychopath? Didn’t know he was my long-lost brother “he cackled, pain seared its way into my heart churning me to a black crisp, “I told you about him so many times. I told you how I hated him, told you about his father, told you about…I told you everything Cassie”

He didn’t. He only said he had a brother. That was it. He said Connor’s father was a bad man, that was it.

He was looking for someone to blame and somehow, I felt like I was to blame.

“It’s not her fault. Blame me. I killed them, direct your anger at me”, Kade said.

I cried.

Something clicked in Jace’s head like a kill switch. Like he wanted to do more than just ‘direct anger’. He wanted to kill.

LUCIA AMATO

EVERYTHING TURNED ugly. My heart broke for Jace as the truth I had never seen coming reared its head. Jace wanted to rip Kade but Nancy Asher stood in his way.

I wanted to say something but the distant breying of Lulu from the stalls stole my attention. Everyone was too focused on the commotion about Kade and JACE TO FEEL THE atmosphere that had turned sour.

The hairs at the back of my neck stood as I descended down the small stairs on the porch, my eyes in the direction of the stalls.

Lulu didn’t brey unnecessarily and it was too late for the horses to still be up.

My eyes zeroed in on the darkness that hogged the stables and from there, I saw it.

Something glinted in the dark.

It was only after a direct red line landed on Jace’s body did I realize what was happening.

I didn’t think.

I reacted.

I saw the bullseye targeted at Jace and fear drove me to stop the inevitable.

Two minutes, my body barricaded Jace’s body.

The sound of a bullet hitting a body resonated in the air and my body bounced back.

Someone screamed. Jace’s hands held me as I fell to the ground.

A few more shots echoed but my eyes zeroed in on the man hovering in front of me.

The man who looked like he was in pain holding me when in reality…I was the one on the floor. I was the one feeling my dress clutch my skin like I had gotten drenched in heavy rain.

I was the one BLEEDING.