Rebound: Passion Book 2 (13 page)

All
in all everyone was having a good time except Josh and dad who complained every
hour on the hour. I trailed along behind the women taking in everything for
future reference. I kept my eyes on Kadyn to make sure she wasn’t becoming
overwhelmed in anyway and called a break around lunchtime. We headed to a
restaurant in the mall with their haul and already she was relaxed enough to
talk with the others in the same light manner they were.

I
noticed that when she felt a little stressed she’d find me and draw closer
which was fine by me, though every once in a while she’d question my sanity. Two
minutes in Josh’s company should soon disannul her of any doubts as to the way
of the Steele men. I was hoping that this little outing would also open her
eyes to the way things would be between us. There wasn’t going to be any slow
build up, no hands off this is too new.

Because
of her past there would be concessions made yes, but that was only gonna go so
far. I had no intentions on putting us on hold or moving at a snail’s pace.
Like I’d told her the night before I was willing to give her time to get used
to having a man in her life but there was no way I was going to be able to keep
my hands off of her for long.

The
day would’ve been perfect except for after lunch as we were leaving some dude
called out her name. She flinched at the sound and we turned to see the douche
from the diner heading towards us. “Oh hi Dan.” She introduced us as the others
had walked on to look into a store window. He acted like I was an insignificant
species as he focused all his smarmy attention on her. Lucky for him she was
practically under my arm, his days had already been numbered but his actions
now sealed his fate; the fucker was obliterated. No I have no problems with
being possessive, it doesn’t bother me at all no matter what society says.

They
exchanged bullshit small talk while he kept giving me looks but I noticed that
she seemed oblivious to his obvious interest. Maybe that’s something I’ll have
to teach her about as well. I wasn’t sure just how much the asshole in the
Midwest had stolen from her but I didn’t want her walking blind. When it looked
like he planned to monopolize more time than I was willing to give him I
hurried him along. “Sorry, Dan is it?
but
we have to
go.” I didn’t even wait for him to say anything else just took her away. Fuck
him, childhood friend or not he didn’t get any props.

We
walked into the store that the others had gone into and mom called us over all
excited. “Mom what the hell is that?”

“It’s the quintessential little
black dress, every young lady should have one.”

“Yeah but
isn’t it a bit too short, and where’s the back?” the women started groaning but
I paid them no mind as I walked deeper into the store pulling Kadyn behind me.
I searched the racks until I found something more agreeable, it had a solid
under dress and was topped with lace; at least it had sleeves and a back.

Next
was the shoe store where she stared at these shoes with red bottoms that Carrie
and Nessa were trying to push on her. I could see her practically salivating
over the gravity defying contraptions but she refused to even try them on. The
third time she did this I pulled her aside. “What gives baby? You’re looking at
those shoes like they’re the holy grain so why don’t you want them is it the
price?” she looked up at me and I swear I heard my heart crash and tumble at
her feet with the next words that came out of her mouth.

“I can’t
run in those Matthew.”

“Baby…” I pulled her into my
chest and held her tight. I know I must’ve been squeezing her too hard but she
didn’t complain. I held her until the pain in my chest eased before holding her
away from me.

“I’m standing between you and
danger remember? You don’t have to run anymore not from anything or anyone I
promise.” I bought her every color they had to the delight of the women in my
family and when she complained that she’d only ever worn her mother’s heels in
the house to practice she had more than enough volunteers to offer to teach her
how it’s done.

By
the time we returned home I felt like I’d made a little baby step towards progress,
one down a million more to go. Since today had been such a hit I planned on
forcing as much new things on her as possible. I’ll have to work around her
schedule though unless there was something I could do about that. I couldn’t
imagine that if given the chance she wouldn’t prefer spending her days doing
kid shit as opposed to being stuck in a diner working.

I
really was becoming my brother because it never entered my mind to ask her one
way or the other. I was in Matt Steele knows best mode; it felt kinda good too.
I never had this much interest before so this was all new for me as well, and
it was an eye opener. When your true emotions were involved this dating game
was a whole new playing field. My mind was consumed with ways of making her happy,
of seeing that winsome smile that she’d shown throughout the day. I wanted to
hear her laugh at Josh’s stupid antics or the douche’s calamities as they tried
to entertain her.

“You
guys go on we’ll be right in.” I let the others go into the house leaving us in
the garage. Each of them was laden down with bags and though the others had
done a bit of shopping most of it was hers and that too felt good. It felt
amazing that I could do that for her and more. I walked her over to the bay
where my cars were kept. The garage was sectioned off because all the men were
car aficionados and the women weren’t too far behind. Though I think they just
liked pretty little roadsters with speed.

“Choose
one.”

“What? Matthew no, now this is
too much, you can’t just lend me a car what’s wrong with you?”

“You’re
right I’m not lending it to you I’m giving it to you. I would buy you one but
there’s nothing on the market that can beat my collection so choose something.
You said the only transport you have is your father’s truck right?
this
way if you need to come to me you can anytime.” Her
eyes ran over my babies but she made no move to choose one so I made the choice
for her. “This one, it’s the Mercedes G550 built for speed and safety,
perfect.” Not to mention this baby was outfitted with every feature known to
man.

“Carrie
has the same one, you can choose a car later, for now this should do just
fine.” I think I’d finally overwhelmed her because she just stood there staring
like she didn’t know what to do with herself.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Truth?
Because I read what that fucker did to you, to your life, and I aim to erase
every bad moment. I would’ve treated you like this anyway as my girl but I’ve
accelerated shit because you need it baby, trust me, I know what I’m doing.” I
hope like fuck I did. I know going shopping and giving her a car wasn’t going
to erase four years of terror but it was a start, besides it was about showing
her that her life could be so much more than it had been.

We
hung out in my room the rest of the day, I didn’t jump her as soon as the door
was closed but it was close. I needed to get her used to my touch so we sat
with her on my lap. I had a moment of ‘what the fuck should I do now?’ if I
made the wrong move it might spook her, I had no idea what to do with this girl
as she sat like a stiff board on my lap.

“Relax
baby I’m not going to do anything you don’t want me to, we’re just going to
relax and talk okay?” she nodded her head but seemed nervous still. There was
so much fear in her, fear of even this, a simple thing that most girls her age
took for granted. “Baby can you tell me what you’re afraid of? I understand
what you’ve been through but I need you to explain to me what the fear is,
that’s the only thing I can’t feel for you.” She took a deep breath and pulled
at the bottom of her dress. She didn’t want to talk about it anymore than I did
but it was the elephant in the room.

“He’s
been there ever since I was fourteen, I don’t remember when he wasn’t there so
now it’s hard to accept that he’s finally gone. Everyday when I awake I wonder
if this is the day that he’ll find me. It doesn’t matter how nice the day is or
what fun thing I’m doing, at some point I always stop and wonder if he’s near
because I know he’ll never stop until he finds me. So you see, you maybe
shouldn’t be spending all this time on me. You should find a nice girl who
doesn’t have all this ugliness in her life someone…”

“Shut
up Kadyn don’t be stupid, look I get it, he terrorized you for years but baby
you’ve got to take the power back. Don’t you think you deserve to have a life
free of all this fear? Don’t you want to have more days like today or go out
with the girls and just have fun, do the things you’ve always wanted to do?
What were your dreams before this all started, do you even remember?”

“Not
really, because I had to learn that they would never come true, that I would
never have a normal life. He’s always going to be there don’t you understand?”
she was about to freak out again but this time I wanted to get to the end of
this. I needed to at least plant the seed that there was so much she could do
now. “But he hasn’t found you here has he?”

“Yes
but how long is that going to last? Every time we thought we’d found a way
around him in the past he’d outsmart us. I know it’s just a matter of time
before he shows up here too he always does. Sometimes in the diner I expect to
walk up to a table and come face to face with him.” I finally saw some anger in
her then which if you ask me was the right fucking emotion.

“Babe
here’s the thing, it’s always been just you and your mom right, well now you
have four men five if you count the douche who will stand between you and this
monster. We won’t let anything happen to you, this is your chance to take your
life back but you have to want that. You have to believe that you deserve
better I can’t make you fell that.” It seemed I’d have to repeat certain things
over and over until she learned to accept them as truth. I hope I could keep my
word, that no matter what I could keep her safe.

“Why do
you even care Matthew, wouldn’t it be better if you found someone else?”

“No and
don’t say that shit again. Do you think I’m that fickle that I can switch my
feelings on and off at will? You think I wanted to fall in love with anyone now
after the shit I just went through? No, I was fine with the way things were I
too had made up my mind about my future but it wasn’t meant to be. You’re here
now and for whatever reason my heart wants you and that’s that. But I won’t
live my life in fear of this asshole and neither are you. When’s the last time
you spoke to your mom?”

“We
can’t risk it, I think he’s very good with computers because he always knew
things and once we even thought he had our house bugged because he’d always
know what we talked about. Mom couldn’t afford to hire anyone to sweep the
house and the police either didn’t have the resources or they didn’t think it
was important enough but we never knew for sure. So we learned to be careful
even behind closed doors.”

“Well
he’s no match for Josh Steele when it comes to that shit I can assure you, by
the time we’re finished with him he’s gonna regret ever hearing your fucking
name.”

“What do
you mean, don’t do anything Matthew you’ll get into trouble and I don’t want
that. Your parents were very nice to me today but they won’t be so nice if I
get their sons mixed up in this. I’ve learned that lesson too. No one wanted
their kids around me when word got out about what was going on. I lost almost
all my friends…”

“Don’t
worry about stuff like that we know what we’re doing and besides my parents
won’t hate you because of something that wasn’t your fault. So tell me have you
really never had a normal day in the past four years? Didn’t you have a
boyfriend, go out on dates?”

“No,
I could never involve someone in my life. Before it all started I had friends
there were boys I liked when I was twelve and thirteen but nothing serious
obviously because I was too young and I wasn’t allowed to date then anyway.
Then by the time I could date he was there and there was just no way.”

“So
you’re a virgin.” The blush that touched her cheeks answered the question even
before she nodded her head shyly against my chest. Why that should make me want
to shout for joy was beyond me but somehow it meant a hell of lot that she was
mine and only mine. It was just one more thing that made me that much more
determined to keep her and to make sure that she remained a part of my life for
always.

“How did
you escape?”

“It was
the prom, a few weeks before I received a threatening letter that said if I
went with anyone that person would come to grievous harm. By then we knew that
he was listening to everything we said. We were sure that he couldn’t see what
we were doing because sometimes he’d text me or send emails asking what I was
doing and where I was, stuff like that. Mom and I started writing notes to each
other back and forth while we were home in the evenings. That would drive him
crazy, he’d call nonstop then and make all kinds of threats.

One
evening when I came home mom gave me a note; it said that this policewoman that
she’d befriended was going to help us. Although there wasn’t much the police
could do because there wasn’t enough evidence against him she wanted to help.
They came up with this scheme. Mom got in touch with dad while she was at work
and the three of them worked it out before they let me in on it.

The
day of the prom while we were sure that he was watching the house we had a limo
come to pick me up and everything. Mom had built a security fence around our
yard years earlier to help keep him out and give me some freedom though I still
never went out there alone. Anyway the officer dressed like me in a prom dress,
did her hair like mine and kept her face hidden enough as she went out to the
car. While she was doing that mom and I were sneaking out the back to this
little road that ran behind our property where the cop had left her car hidden.

Mom
drove me to the bus station and I took a bus out of town, I was never so afraid
in my life. I couldn’t fly because they would need ID and he could always trace
that but the bus wasn’t so strict and I was able to get a ticket. It would’ve
been better if I could’ve driven myself but I was too afraid, what if he caught
up with me on the road alone? The bare thought made me sick for days. In the
end it was decided that I would take two buses in zigzagging directions using
two different names and then dad met me. I was never so happy to see anyone as
I was when I saw dad that third day.” Her body trembled when she was through
with her tale of horror and I wanted to hurt the son of a bitch in the worst
way.