Defiance (New Adult Romance) (Isaac & Maya) (31 page)

“Something like that,” he breathes.

Our eyes stay together as our smiles grow more mischievous. One kiss fades into the next until there aren’t any pauses between them and a lot of tongue. Before I know it, I’m straddling him and we are behaving quite inappropriately on this park bench at midnight.

“We should get out of here before we get in trouble,” I murmur, forcing my hands to stay on top of his clothes.

“Yeah. I need to fuck the girl next door again,” he snarls grinding into me. “Don’t worry, there will be lots of cuddling afterward.”

“That was part of the fantasy too, wasn’t it?”

“My favorite part, actually,” he confesses as he picks me up.

“I can walk to the car, you know.”

“But that’s not how my fantasy goes,” Isaac laughs.

40

Isaac

I lift my face at the sound of the door chime and glance at the man in a well-tailored suit walking into our office. Their office, really, I don’t do much here except show up to sign checks because I refuse to take on any projects that steal my time from Maya. We’re moving soon anyway, I’m just waiting it out. The receptionist greets him and he asks for me, which is more than a little odd and inspires me to look twice. Holy shit, that’s Nigel.

My heart beats faster with each step he takes toward my desk. What the fuck is he doing here and why does he look so somber? This can’t be good.

“Hello, Isaac,” he says quietly. “Is there somewhere we can speak in private?”

“I’ve taken all of your calls, Nigel. If you wanted to speak in private, you should’ve asked me to come down to your office.”

“This couldn’t wait.”

Goddammit. “We can talk in the conference room, I guess.” I lead him back to the only area with any sense of privacy and shut the door.

“Isaac, I need you to stay calm.”

“Just tell me what happened,” I breathe.

“Your… Gloria had a stroke during a meeting yesterday.”

I couldn’t have heard that right. “She what?”

“She suffered a stroke around 3 pm and was rushed to the hospital by coworkers.”

“Glory doesn’t have coworkers, she has underlings,” I blurt out.

“Isaac, maybe you should sit down.”

“I’m fine.” Too fine. I should be reacting to this new
s somehow, right? “Is she dead?”

“No. She’s in stable condition.”

“She’s only 46. Did she overdose or something?”

“Technically no, but drug use was probably a contributing factor,” he explains.

“Do they know which one?”

“She tested positive for a variety of narcotics and amphetamines. Take your pick.”

Drinking like a sailor and chain smoking probably didn’t help either. “Is she at Massachusetts General?”

“Yes.”

That’s when it hits me. I can see Glory, lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to beeping monitors while nurses and doctors buzz around her. But there’s no one with her. She barely left my side for three days when I was in the hospital. “I have to get over there,” I whisper.

“Isaac, that’s not why I came here. We need to talk about how this could affect the investigation. They probably won’t—”

“I don’t give a fuck about the investigation, Nigel! My m— Glory just had a fucking stroke. Can she talk?” I ask as I pull out my phone.

“That
’s the problem, Isaac. The stroke may have affected her decision making and impulse control. If she says anything to your father…”

“She won’t!” Holy shit, I am beyond fucked if she does though and there definitely isn’t a plan for this. “Can she physically form words, Nigel?”

“They’re not sure yet,” he replies. “She’s not very cooperative.”

“That’s probably a good sign.” I can only imagine what a pain in the ass she’s being as a patient. The poor nurses. “I’ll let you know if I think we have a problem,” I call out as I leave him in the conference room and rush to my desk.

“She probably won’t see you, Isaac. She’s refusing all visitors.”

“Oh, she’ll fucking see me,” I assure him.

Unfortunately, I was wrong about that. She won’t see me. And since I’m not officially related to her, they won’t give me any information. Staying calm, I step outside to get some air and to write a note. I push the limits of my cardinal rule to not flirt my way into getting what I want anymore and convince a nurse to give it to her. By the time I leave, I know everything there is to know about her condition and Glory wrote me a note back, saying I can come visit tomorrow if I smuggle her in some lipstick and a decent face cream. At least I think that’s what it says. Her handwriting isn’t exactly clear, but she can still grasp a pen and that’s a very strategic and personality accurate request, so maybe she really is doing well.

Maya texts me that she’s staying late to tutor as I’m exiting the building. I don’t want to tell her what happened and derail her desperate students, but I do need to text back a quick ‘I love you’ because someone who obviously works for my father or the feds is following me to my car. Fuck. I should have seen this one coming.

I spin around and face him before he gets to close, making sure to stay at least a few feet from any vehicles so they can’t pull me inside.

“What the fuck do you want?” I snarl.

“Mr. Kavanagh would like to speak to you.”

“Then tell my dad to fucking call me.”

“He’d prefer to see you in person.”

“Well I’d prefer to get a workout in first and blow off some steam. Is he at home?”

“He is. We’ll take you.”

“I don’t think so,” I snap, pulling out my phone and dialing the hospital’s main number. “Yes, I’d like to report some suspicious activity in your parking lot. I’m being followed to my vehicle and could use some assistance.
Fruit Street garage, top level.” I hang up and glare at the asshole and wave to a camera. “Didn’t expect that one, did you?” I laugh. “Tell my father I’ll be there in two hours,” I call after him as he backs away, motioning for the two goons standing between me and my car to back off.

I get the hell out of there as fast as I can and go directly to my second favorite gym. I can’t use Jace’s place as a cover, I’m too worried about putting him on anyone’s radar even though I’m relatively sure I’m not being followed on a regular basis. Still, almost every day it’s the same. I go from the office to this gym, work out, then get a ride to the hotel I’m supposedly living at, where I sneak to Maya’s apartment, which involves at least one vehicle change. The whole process was a lot easier in the winter when everyone was bundled up. It’s ironic, because the feds are probably too scared to follow me in case my father is, who clearly isn’t because then his guys wouldn’t have been waiting for me at the hospital, so I’ve been going through this elaborate charade for no one but myself. Maybe Roger is right and I do have a problem with paranoia.

Now’s definitely not the time to resist the compulsion to be extra careful. After lifting weights, I use a burner to text Nigel while I’m in the shower because I’m under orders to notify him if I’m contacted by my father. I specifically chose this gym because of its excellent reception in the locker room. He calls back and tells me that Dan wants me to come in for a wire. Fuck that. I don’t have time and I wouldn’t do it even if I could.

I haven’t been to my childhood home in years, I can’t even remember the last time I was here. Turns out there’s one house that makes me even more anxious than Glory’s and I pop some Valium at the gate. As I’m driving up to my father’s castle, I realize the numbness I’ve been clinging to all day is slipping away. I can’t believe he fucking did this. I’ve got one mother left and he almost killed her, too. It doesn’t matter if things are good between them right now, he’s the only reason she’s in this situation to begin with. I’ve been blaming myself, but it’s all on him. It has to be so fucking hard for her to finally get him back and have no choice but to betray him. If he wasn’t such a raping, murdering scumbag, none of this would have happened.

By the time I realize that I’m far too angry to see him, it’s too late. I’m here and I can’t back out now. What the fuck was I thinking? He summons me and I just show up? At his house? I should have met him in public. Dad’s probably blaming me just as much as I’m blaming him, he fucking hates our drug binges, which was one the most satisfying things about them when I was a kid. Glory told him that she visits me at the hotel, God knows what he imagines that’s like.

I’m a little lightheaded as I get out of the car, locking it like that will make a difference. The urge to flee is overwhelming, but if I don’t see him now he’ll start looking for me. Maybe following me all the time. I could lead him right to Maya and he certainly won’t take that realization very well. Holy fucking shit. What am I doing here?

The fury fades into the background to make room for the fear as I’m greeted at the door by the same asshole that tried to corner me in the parking lot and drag me here. He flashes me a menacing smirk that lets me know I’m in his territory now.

I glance around the main room, at first to see how outnumbered I am, but then to make sure I’m in the same house. This place is unrecognizable, even the staircase has been moved. My father must have hired Satan’s own personal interior designer to oversee the remodeling. It’s so sterile and cold, ultra-modern in that industrial, exposed steel joists style that I despise. There aren’t any windows to open, he had the entire back wall converted to a giant sheet of glass. It’s the complete opposite of the warm, inviting home his wife made for him and his children. He erased every trace that she was ever here. How the fuck could he do that to my brothers? No wonder they never want to visit. I don’t see a single thing that remotely reminds me of the way it used to be, the backdrop of our memories has been totally obliterated.

I shrug the brute off when he grabs my arm to lead me up the staircase, growling that I know where my father’s fucking office is even though it turns out I don’t. The prick must be under direct orders not to hit me because he clenches his fist and you can tell he’d love nothing more than to bury it in my face. The floating metal stairs have no bannister and we’re both probably imagining how fantastic it would feel to push the other off and hear the sickening thud of flesh against concrete. We get to the top and instead of a hallway, there’s a creepy bridge that hovers over a living room that’s obviously never used. The floor is made of perforated steel so you can see through the bottom and each step vibrates through cables suspending it, sending a metallic springy echo through this building that no one would call a home.

“Leave us,” my father calls out before we’re even at his door.

His minion sneers at me and turns around. Is this the part where they pull up that bridge so I can’t escape? It wouldn’t surprise me that much at this point. My heart is beating so fast it could easily explode as I step into the doorway. He’s at his desk, an ugly, expensive desk made of steel and glass to match his horrible house. Dad doesn’t look at me as I tentatively cross the threshold into his office, his eyes fixed on a stack of paperwork that probably means a lot more to him than I do.

I stand there motionless as he flips through page after page. Experience has taught me to wait silently until I’m spoken to. It feeds his ego. That used to piss me off so much, making my own ego flare and dream of an alternate reality where he cowered before me. I’m not sure that part of me exists anymore, I gave it up happily for Maya. The only thing I can think about is how much I want to see her tonight and how fucking stupid it was to come here. I could give a shit that he’s getting off on this.

“Did you give her something?” he asks.

“What?”

His hand shakes a little as he signs some document. “Whatever could have done this. Did she get it from you?”

“Do you honestly think I’m the one that gets Glory high? Because it’s the other way around, it has been for about seven years.”

“You’re blaming her for your weakness now?”

“I don’t know what she’s been telling you, but I don’t have time for benders anymore. I’m clean. Clean for me, anyway. I’m the one that’s always getting on her case for going overboard,” I explain.

“She was with you the night before last.”

Fuck. “No, she wasn’t.”

“She said that she was going to see you!” he roars, slamming his fists down on the desk. I barely recognize him when he finally lifts his face. His eyes are bloodshot and puffy, surrounded by broken capillaries and there are so many more lines that I remember, like he’s aged ten years since the last time I saw him.

“Well she didn’t,” I reply softly. “I don’t know where she was, but it wasn’t with me.”

My father stares me down for a few moments, waiting for me to crack and confess, but I’m telling the truth and he must be able to tell. “What did this? Which fucking poison that you two love so much did this?”

“It wasn’t an overdose, it’s a potential side effect for most of them. It can happen from withdrawal too, if you come off too fast, like that seizure I had a couple years ago. Hell, there’s a stroke warning on every third pack of cigarettes, Dad.”

His jaw clenches in rage, but his eyes start to water. “Birdie wouldn’t see you either?” he asks.

“She asked me to come back tomorrow.”

“How? They said she can’t talk.”

“They’re not sure about that,” I murmur, starting to tear up myself at the idea of Glory unable to scream at her nurses. “I slipped her a note. She wrote me back.” I pull the crumpled piece of paper from my pocket and sit it on top of his paperwork, my palms sweating like they always do when I have to be so close to him.

“Lipstick,” he breathes, chuckling. “This is barely legible. Gloria has such beautiful handwriting, it’s like calligraphy.”

She really does. She helped me craft my signature when I was in high school so that it would be distinguished, but without too much flair. I choke, biting my knuckle as I step backwards, unwilling to turn my back on him. “It’s only been 24 hours,” I say shakily. “I think the fact that she can write at all is impressive.”