Ice Cold (An MMA Stepbrother Romance) (31 page)

Two days later we flew back to New York to be at Times Square for New Year’s Eve. I apologized to Kiegan, after all thanks to me our romantic holiday had been pretty much ruined, but he refused to accept my apology, saying there was nothing for me to apologize for.

It felt like we were closer now, after I’d told him why I left. I knew he was thinking about what to do. I would catch him deep in thought quite often. We had decided not to comment on the rumours of our relationship at all, that I would continue simply working as his PA and let everything die down on its own.

That said, when the ball dropped and Auld Lang Syne began to play Kiegan squeezed my hand in the crowd as fireworks erupted. I didn’t know what the year to come would hold, but I had a sneaking suspicion it would be one of the more eventful years of my life, for better or for worse.

* * *

When we flew out to Dallas the next day to do another shoot for Kiegan’s show, Leanne and I finally got to talk for the first time since Christmas.

“So are you guys officially together?” she asked me as Kiegan, Josh and another producer who was with us moved to the back of the plane where there was a big table they could work at to organize the stunt.

I leaned back in my leather seat and sipped the latte I’d been brought by the flight attendant.

“It’s complicated. We are, but we’re not going public with it yet.”

“Yeah, I don’t blame you. With all the flack you got over it after those pictures came out…” he voice trailed off, the rest of the words left unsaid.

“Exactly. Plus, it’s become a bit more complicated than that.”

“Oh yeah?”

I decided to take Leanne into my confidence. It was funny, telling Kiegan, and having him actually believe me, felt so liberating. I felt like for the first time people might actually understand what happened to me, and that I wasn’t making things up.

“One of Kiegan’s uncles… he… touched me, when I was seventeen.” Leanne looked horrified.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. Anyway, no one in the family believed me, and that was why I left them. But so when our parents found out about us, they flew over to Hawaii to confront us, since you know, it’s bad for the family name and all.” Leanne rolled her eyes, and I continued. “And it turns out my mom’s pregnant. With a daughter.”

Leanne’s mouth dropped open.

“Oh, shit.”

“Yeah. Exactly. So now Kiegan and I are just not going to comment on our relationship at all while we try and figure out what to do.”

“Of course. Oh my God, that poor girl.”

“Yup.”

“Hey, the Uncle that touched you… he’s not… the one running for President?” Leanne asked curiously.

“Yeah.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

We just looked at each other for a minute as the full gravity of what I’d just told her sunk in.

“So do you know what you’re going to do yet?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“No. We have no idea. I know Kiegan is as upset about it as I am. I mean, it’s going to be his sister too, you know.”

“Of course, yeah.” Leanne put a hand on my knee. “Thanks for telling me, you know. About the abuse. It can’t have been easy.”

I smiled at her. “Thanks. It’s not. It’s a lot of memories that I’d repressed flooding back, but after I told Kiegan and he actually believed me, it’s become a lot easier to accept. I don’t feel like I have to pretend it never happened anymore.”

“I’m so happy for you. It’s funny, you guys are somehow really well suited for one another. You’re the calm, collected brains to his impulsiveness.”

“Thanks, Leanne. You’re awesome,” I told her, reaching across the aisle and giving her a big hug. As long as my best friend didn’t care about the fact that I was dating my brother, well that was enough, wasn’t it?

It was in Dallas that Kiegan finally came up with a plan. He told me about it over dinner, at a great little barbeque joint. It was somewhat busy and out of the way, and we asked for a table at the back so that we wouldn’t be bothered so much. The hostess flashed us a smile, nodded, and led us past a bunch of old booths and tables, complete with plastic red-and-white checked tablecloths.

“Gross, incest in the house,” yelled out some obviously drunk college bros sitting at a table as we walked in. I tried not to let it bother me, and Kiegan just flashed them a smile and waved. Still, I could feel my face go red and avoided their gaze. A woman came up and politely asked Kiegan for his autograph as we were led to our table and he obliged and took a selfie with her.

“Don’t listen to those guys, I think you guys are adorable,” she added with a wink, and that was enough for the blush in my face to go three shades deeper. We thanked her, without being committal about our relationship, then followed the waitress to our table. Once we were seated no one bothered us, and once we’d placed our orders, Kiegan told me about what he’d thought.

“I want to know what you think. To me, the most important thing is making sure we have proof. We can kill Ed’s career, but that’s not going to stop him from being a pervert with our sister.”

“Agreed. Stopping him from being President has to just be the icing on the cake.”

“Then the question becomes, how vengeful do you want to be? Do you want to be the one to take him down, or do you not care as long as it happens?”

“I don’t care at all. Whatever is easiest and has the greatest chance of success.”

“Ok, good. I think it’s good to have an option that doesn’t involve you seeing him again, since I don’t want to have to put you through that unless we have to.” I nodded and Kiegan continued. “So all that said, here’s what I had in mind.”

He outlined his plan, and the more he explained, the more I knew it was perfect.

We spoke quietly, and the hustle and bustle of the busy BBQ joint around us created the perfect cover for our private conversation. Two hours later, everything was hashed out, and we left the joint both full, and motivated.

It was really interesting, knowing that right there in a small restaurant in Dallas, over ribs and macaroni and cheese, we had planned the absolute downfall of one of the most powerful men in the country.

I tried not to get too far ahead of myself. After all, there was no guarantee this was going to work. And while a part of me really was going to enjoy watching the man’s life be destroyed, I couldn’t help but still think about my unborn sister, who was really the person I was doing this for.

Still, as we fell asleep that night and I listened to Kiegan’s light breathing next to me while I stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep due to nerves, I knew that this was the best chance we had at doing something about a person who absolutely should never be near children again.

* * *

For my part, I was pretty glad that I had agreed to let Kiegan take the main role in our plan.

Every time I thought about Edward Hunt, I wanted to throw up. I had pushed the memory of what he had done to me so far back in my mind that it almost felt like it was happening again whenever I thought about it.

My nightmares started again, coming more frequently than before. They had never really gone away, but while before Christmas I might have had them about once a month, now they were almost nightly.

I know Kiegan knew, but he was too nice to say anything about it. He would wrap his arms around me and coo me back to sleep whenever I woke him up, and I noticed after a particularly bad night he’d always make sure that he just happened to order an extra coffee for me, or would tell me that I could have the afternoon off for a nap.

In fact, the closer we got to actually going through with our plan, the more time I spent with Kiegan, the more I realized that he was actually a caring, thoughtful man.

Of course, now that Kiegan was a bona fide celebrity in his own right, and one who might have scandal surrounding him, it became harder and harder to avoid the fact that we were a couple.

Whenever we were together – even at work functions – the Paparazzi hounded us. Pictures of us working together showed up all over the internet, all with terrible headlines that showed us as disgusting perverts.

Kiegan told me it would happen. He assured me that the longer this went on, the more likely it was that he was going to get a phone call from his uncle, and we could put the plan into motion.

I knew he was right, but it still didn’t help quell my nerves. Every time Kiegan’s phone rang I looked at it expectantly, hoping against all hope that this was the time, that this was the opportunity to take everything to the next level, to see if we could pull it off.

In the meantime, however, I realized just how terrible I was at handling fame. I had never gone looking for it, but I had inadvertedly landed in the spotlight by being with Kiegan.

Once I went into a cupcake shop to get some treats, and another lady in the shop asked me if they were for Kiegan and I. I told her they were, and she called me a disgusting whore and a sinner. Shocked, I almost found myself crying, just because of this random person’s opinion about me. The lady behind the counter looked at me sympathetically, and I grabbed my cupcakes and left, trying not to let the world’s opinion of me make or break my self esteem.

It was really, really hard though. Sometimes I wondered if it was worth it. After all, could Kiegan really have changed that much? Was he really completely different to the guy that only a few years earlier told me to pretend a shot put was a vegetable? What if things didn’t work out between us? What if in the future we broke up, and all this public humiliation was for nothing?

I went back to the hotel we were staying at with the cupcakes and texted Leanne.

Can you come to our room? Need to talk.

Two minutes later there was a knock on the door.

“Hey, Tina, what’s up?” Leanne asked, her black curls bobbing up and down as she moved over to me and gave me a hug. Did I really look that depressed that I obviously needed one that badly? I supposed I must have.

“I don’t know what to do Tina,” I told her, sighing and handing her a cupcake, red velvet, while I took a carrot one for myself.

“Well what’s the problem?”

“A lady in the cupcake shop called me a sinner and a whore for being with my brother. And it’s not the first time I’ve heard that. But it’s so weird being like recognized in the street and being judged for something like that. And I don’t know if it’s worth it. Like, what if Kiegan and I don’t work out? What if we break up? I’ll have gone through all of this for nothing.”

“Well, are you thinking of breaking up with him?” Leanne licked a glob of icing off the top of her cupcake.

“No. But it’s a normal thing to think about. Like, it could happen.”

“Yeah, it could. And you know what else could happen? Tomorrow the car we’re in could crash and we’d all die. Why are you working yourself up about the future so much, when you have no idea what it’s going to bring?”

“I guess I just don’t want to put in all this effort to not care about the fact that half the country thinks I’m an incestuous whore only to have the relationship fail anyway.”

“Fine. Well, you have two options. You can break up with him because
maybe
sometime in the future your relationship might not work out. You won’t have to face the scorn of random strangers you’re never going to meet, but you also might miss out on the best thing that’s ever happened to you. Or you could suck it up, deal with it, and see what happens. You like Kiegan, don’t you?”

“Yeah. I do.”

“Then stay with him. Seriously, your own family hates you for being with him,
that’s
an actual reason to break up. Mrs Redneck from Backwater, Florida, thinking your relationship is weird is the dumbest reason ever to give up on something that could be awesome.”

I smiled at my friend from across the couch. Leanne always knew exactly what to say.

“Thanks. You’re awesome, Leanne.”

“I am. Thanks for appreciating. Can I have another cupcake?”

I laughed and handed her the box. “Fine, but I have to go back out and get some more for Kiegan, who insisted that it was part of my job duties. I wonder if I’ll get called a slut this time.”

“Hopefully not. How can anyone who’s about to buy cupcakes be so mean?” Leanne asked, carefully picking the caramel pecan brownie cupcake from the box and handing it back to me.

“I don’t know. I agree, I always thought cupcakes should put you in a good mood.”

We continued chatting for a while, then Leanne had to go get some stuff done for Kiegan’s company, and I had to head out and replace the cupcakes we’d already eaten.

I walked down the street, wrapping my jacket close around me. We were in Vail, in Colorado. Kiegan was doing some sort of skiing related stunt with one of the athletes from the national team. I knew Kiegan could ski, but I hadn’t realized he was good enough to actually make an episode of his adrenaline-fueled TV show out of it.

As I walked through the village it began to snow, big thick flakes falling onto the already white-lined streets as the free shuttle buses moved past and people dressed in their ski gear flocked around.

“Back again?” the lady asked cheerily as I walked in, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“I am, a friend came by and ate all my cupcakes. So now I need some more. They’re delicious, by the way,” I told her, and her smile grew.

“Thanks so much! What flavours can I get you this time?”

I left a couple minutes later with a new box of tiramisu, carrot cake and salted caramel cupcakes, knowing Kiegan would be happy with those.

And sure enough, when he came through the door two hours later with a new scrape on his face (“It was nothing, I just faceplanted once.”) he dove at the box and instantly took out one of the salted caramel cupcakes with a smile on his face.

“Oh man, these are awesome,” he told me as he undressed between bites, leaving his snow-covered clothes on the floor and wrapping himself in a bathrobe. I was glad I hadn’t gone out, Kiegan looked like he was freezing cold. I decided I would go to the bathroom and draw a bath for him, the luxury Jacuzzi tub being the perfect touch to warm him up, when suddenly I heard his ringtone. Kiegan dug through the pockets of his jacket, found his phone, and his eyes widened as he looked at the screen.

“It’s him. I’m putting him on speaker phone, but no matter what, you can’t say anything.”

I nodded. I understood just how important this conversation was going to be.

“Hello?” Kiegan answered. I saw him pull out a recorder and place it on the table next to the phone.

“Kiegan, hi, it’s your uncle Ed here.” I knew the voice was coming from the phone, I knew Edward was thousands of miles away, probably in DC, and yet even hearing the static-riddled voice over the phone, my blood ran cold. I could feel my body stiffen as I heard his voice for the first time in almost three years.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to yell, I wanted to hit him, I wanted to kill him for what he did to me, for what he made sure I lost. But I couldn’t. I knew I couldn’t, for the sake of our unborn sister. Instead I forced my thoughts away from the memory of what Edward Hunt had done to me, and listened as Kiegan began to chat with him.

“Listen, Kiegan. I’m wondering if you can do me a favour.”

“Sure, Uncle Ed. What can I do ya for?” Kiegan replied.

“As you know, I’m running for President.”

“Yes, of course I know!”

“But one problem I keep running into is people are asking me about my nephew’s relationship with his neice.”