Beyond Complicated (31 page)

"Does everyone cal him Kely?"

"Except you and the 'rents." Kel seemed teary over my dad's greeting. Maybe losing them as parental figures wasn't something he needed right now. Despite everything, they were stil as much a part of him as the other grandparents were.

"What the hel-heck do they cal you?" So I wouldn't make that same choice.

"Kelton Lee. You and Mo-Mo cal me Kel, my friends at school shortened my name to Kely. And you never noticed. Some dad you turned out…" he went very pale.

"It's okay, Kely, we al have to get used to it, and you've had longer than us," Mama said, taking his hand in hers. "You're stil our first grandbaby, no matter blood, or your current relationship with Liam. You're stil our boy and you always wil be."

"And I'm your boy too, right?" Declan wriggled out of my arms, I'd forgotten he was there and went to jump on Kel's back. "Me and Kel are your best boys, right? And we get pumpkin pie early."

Not to be left behind Grace slithered out of my arms and ran to latch on to Kel and the whole lot of them lumbered out to the kitchen leaving Seth and me alone in the living room. "Wel, that went better than I expected."

"Told you. Liam, you're not the only one hurting here. It's going to take time. They love you and they'l stand by you, baby, but you've got to make a stand.

And while we're on the subject, I need to talk to you about something equaly unpleasant. I was waiting for a chance before you went into the hospital. I ah, I heard back from my coleague in San Francisco."

"Shit, Seth, can't this wait? I'm not ready to think about that with al this too."

"It's waited three weeks already, but no, I want to get this out of the way now. I need to cal her and let her know what you want to do by tomorrow, there isn't much time left."

"Okay, so, what are we talking about? I have to fly out and press charges or something?"

"If that's what you want. It's an option. She wants you to. And you should. He needs to be locked up before he does it again."

"Shit." I had to sit down before my knees gave out. They were shaking so badly as it was. "I don't think I can. I don't think I can look into his eyes and accuse him of… Seth. I can't do it."

Seth sighed and dragged his briefcase from the smal pile on the floor. "I thought you might say that."

"Do you travel with that thing? Tel me you didn't haul it al the way to New York and back. Realy, Seth? Realy?" I tried to make his briefcase a joke. I wanted to lift the tension between us. I wanted to pretend this wasn't even a subject.

"Just shut up." He put an envelope in my hand, it was addressed to him and open. My fingers shook when I opened it. "Option number one is go to California and press formal charges. She has enough evidence to back up your charges without a rape kit.

She served a warrant based on the disk alone. She found a contract you'd signed for that day. Dated prior to that day. Which contradicted what he himself said on the disk. She subpoenaed other contracts signed by you and a handwriting analyst declared the last contract to be a forgery. She is waiting for you to decide what you want to do. Open the letter."

I did, it was a check. "I don't want the money, Seth. I told you I don't…" then I saw the extra digit.

"My god, is that—"

"Yes, it is. His deal. He made milions on that video alone. But because you had no contract before it was released, the deal is for ten percent of the profit.

The video has been removed and can't ever be shown again. The ADA can and wil file charges for the forged contract without you. And that is where it stands. You can take the money, but if you do, you can never file additional charges. Or you can file charges and walk away with nothing. The money is yours for pain and suffering. She went for his jugular. Forced him to deal, or his whole network would come under investigation.

Take the money, Liam. Take it and let's move on with our lives. He stole four years from you, so if you won't confront him, then take the damned money."

"Take the money." I looked up to find my dad standing in the doorway. A beer in one hand, a slice of pie in the other. "Your medical expenses cleaned you out. I hated watching that money go to the hospital.

Your insurance wouldn't cover the breakdown. Six weeks, son, it ate a hole in your savings. Take the money. It's just compensation."

"It's a milion dolars, Da, a milion. I had what

—about seventy thousand in the bank? It's hardly just compensation."

"It was just a little under a hundred thousand.

You earned that money, you were saving it. He took that from you as surely as he nearly took your life.

Okay, fine, then go to California, spend the rest of your savings trying to prosecute the asshole and watch as what little privacy you have left gets puled apart by the press out there. I know you, son, you're a sensitive soul. You can take a hit, and you can give one, but not this underhanded shit. You deserve your life back. Take the damned money. Go buy yourself a nice house. And get on with your life."

Kel came to stand beside him, a slice of pie in both hands. The shit always did love pumpkin pie. "I stil get the pool boy." He smiled that lopsided smile of his that sent my pulse racing. "Take the money, Liam. I don't want to see you hurting anymore. Sign the waiver and let's go house hunting."

I looked at them al. My heart felt like it had that Saturday. Too fast, too something. Dread. I don't know. Da was right. He was always right. The third option of ignoring it and hoping it would go away wasn't on the table anymore. "So I sign this waiver and he gets away with what he did?"

"You can prosecute. Al of his heinous acts wil be exposed. The porn. Probably underage violations. If he forged a contract with you then you can bet he's done it before and since. Pressing charges is the smart route. The deal he scored pays you off, and you can't change your mind. This isn't my deal, this is the ADA's deal. Deakman is wiling to take the contract violation charge. It wil keep him above the radar for some time.

He won't get jail time. And you get fair compensation.

He knows she has the disk. He's wiling to deal to save his ass. It hasn't seen the light of day yet, Liam. We went in with the contract violation complaint. Baby, what do you want to do? I'm not forcing you to take the money. But it's one or the other. It's not going away now."

"If I press charges what wil happen to you?" I could hear the kids getting close and my sister's voice not far behind. Kel did as wel and went to waylay them, at least I hoped he went to waylay them.

"I could be charged as an accessory or something similar. I'l have to prove I had no knowledge of what was going on. But since we lived together and I could tel something was wrong and I didn't stop it…"

Seth shrugged as if we were deciding which movie to go see. "I could go to jail. I could be disbarred. That's why I can't tel you what to do. I was as much at—"

I took the pen from his hand and signed the enclosed waiver. I didn't want him or the other models going to jail because they had the unfortunate sense to hook up with an underhanded porn peddler. "Wel, I guess, that's that. Four years and it's al over with a flick of the pen."

But that would never be that. We al knew it. I stil had nightmares sometimes. And a check wouldn't stop those. Seth's arms around me did. I folded the check up and tucked it into my walet. Tomorrow I would take it to my bank. "What if this thing bounces?"

"Then Alison hauls his ass to jail for check fraud on top of everything else. Stop worrying and get me a slice of that pie."

"Demanding boyfriend can get his own damned pie," I said, leaning against him to nuzzle his ear. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my dad go beet red and turn back toward the kitchen where he quickly disappeared. Seth chuckled and let me lean against him for a moment. Just to let it al sink in. And then we went in to see about pie and maybe find a beer or two.

After the holiday weekend, I deposited the check and waited for it to bounce. It didn't. I had one milion fucking dolars just sitting in my account and I didn't know what to do with any of it. Buy a house.

Sure. Okay. Maybe. Where?

I saw people I'd known al my life turn away from me and pretend I wasn't there. In the mal. At the grocery store. It was the most humiliating thing I've ever experienced. The rape included. My tenth grade history teacher made me walk off without my mail and sit in my car and fucking cry.

I was a great big girl. I needed the shit kicked out of me.

Kel closed his facebook page. Hate and bile spewed at him from kids he thought were his friends.

Because his mother set her friends' kids on a seek and destroy mission. His colege friends defended him to the best of their abilities but it was no match for the hate the local kids were spewing.

I watched him withdraw into his head. He'd taken his finals early, partly because of me but mostly to escape the on-campus harassment. He wouldn't walk for his diploma. And he wouldn't return to school here.

He was looking at medical schools. Getting ready to take the MCAT even without the extra biology classes.

But nothing would happen before fal. We had time to decide what to do.

I spoke with Abigail or rather, Seth forced a meeting between us. He threatened a lawsuit and she gave me my job back. Publicaly. As in, in front of the office staff.
It was a mistake, nothing Mr McGuire
had done.
It was sickening how she lied to cover her actions. When she was finished, I told her to kiss my ass and I walked out with Seth's arm around me. It felt very liberating. I guess.

One milion dolars wouldn't last me long, just a few years if I didn't go nuts. Of course, the check from New York arrived not long after and I had to get Seth to tel me if I was seeing what I thought I was seeing.

Caden had added an extra zero as wel. Oh it wasn't six zeros this time but the nearly two hundred grand for just a bunch of pictures was stunning. The letter explained where he'd sold the unexpected final session and they were offering more. So much more. And we aren't talking about the threesome there at the end, but the clothes and—oh my god, it was Hugo. Hugo wanted me for the folowing fal campaign. And Seth. Lauren wanted Kel. His young surfer boy looks was more in line with where they were going this year. Oh, shit.

They knew about my past. Caden had outlined everything. No secrets. They wanted me anyway. "The job is pretty much al over Europe. I need a passport.

I've never been out of the country," I told Seth, holding the letter out.

"You're going to take the job? Just like that.

Without even discussing it with us?" His eyes grew cloudy, his jaw stiff.

"I didn't say I was. I said I needed a passport.

Do you want to take the job? It's for both of us."

"They'l take you without me. And Kely can go work for… I'm losing both of you, aren't I?"

"No, Seth. No, baby. I won't take the job. I promised it's what we both want or nothing. I'm staying with you. If Kel wants to take it, we'l go with him, take a vacation, just hang out and watch him become a star."

"Okay. That sounds good. I'l need a passport too. So wil Kely."

"Kely's been to Mexico, he has one. On a surfing trip his first year in school. He's good."

Kel wasn't in the apartment when we got home that afternoon. He didn't answer is cel phone. Lately he didn't leave the house unless he was with one of us. I'd left him sleeping when I went to the bank and post office. I was starting to worry that maybe he was a little more like me than he should be. Kel didn't brood.

Never.

Seth went back to his office after lunch, and I caled around looking for Kel. The couple of friends I knew he stil talked to hadn't seen him in a few days. He wasn't at my parents' house or with Moira. He wouldn't have gone on campus or to his parents'.

His motorcycle was gone. I checked the lot and the nearby parking garage. I was getting seriously scared when Seth drove up beside me. I got in. "Go to my apartment. After that, I don't know. It's nearly five.

He's not answering. Maybe he went to the movies or something but that would have been over hours ago.

His friends haven't seen him."

My heart plummeted to my stomach when we found his motorcycle sitting in my abandoned parking space. We ran up the stairs, the door was unlocked, which was a good thing because I'd forgotten my keys.

We found him sitting on the twin size bed in the smal bedroom, his back against the wal, his arms wrapped around his knees. He didn't move when we came in.

"Kel, baby?" I stopped talking when he sucked in a harsh breath. He was crying. Kel never cried. He leaned back against the wal, his blue eyes fixed on me.

Anguish and despair poured out of them, slamming into me, nearly crippling me. "What's wrong?" Someone had died. That was the only explanation.

"He's not my father," Kel said after a long silence. "The tests came back today, Liam. Ken isn't my father, he doesn't share one, I can't remember the damned word but he isn't even close to being my father."

I leaned against the wal. Hard. Slammed into it would be a better word. My world spun. Threatened to go dark. Not possible. Kenny Jones was the… Kel wasn't mine. Couldn't be mine. He was too fair, too smal, he—

"You aren't either. She lied. She has no idea who my damned father is. Did she sleep around that much? What if he's someone I know, what if…"