Rebound: Passion Book 2 (14 page)

I
ran my hand gently over her hair and hugged her closer as I tried to think of
ways to make her less fearful. I refuse to give him anymore of her. After today
I wanted him to just be a bad memory but the only way I could do that was by
eliminating the threat once and for all. Now that I had started my campaign to
draw her out of her shell it was time to move on him. I knew now that we
wouldn’t be able to move forward otherwise. My idea to focus on her now and
deal with him after wasn’t going to work. I’ll have to do the two
simultaneously.

“So you
go to doc for your anxiety?”

“Yes, he
says I’m getting better but I don’t see it. When I’m there with him doing the
exercises he’s been teaching me I feel powerful and great but it doesn’t last,
nothing ever does because I know better than anyone that he’s very persistent,
that he’ll find a way, he always does.”

“Can
you do me a favor Kadyn, can you at least try from now on to not think like
that? Just take it one moment at a time, but can you try to remember the day we
had today? There was no danger, nothing bad happened. Can you focus on that and
maybe try to have more days like it?
did
you think
about him at all today?”

She
seemed to be giving it some thought before her face broke out in a smile and
she turned wondering eyes to me. “No I didn’t. I was so caught up in what your
mom or one of your sisters were saying there was no time to think about
anything else. I can’t believe anyone actually spends that kind of money in one
day on some clothes and your mom kept saying I needed to get this and that as
if what I got wasn’t more than enough. You sure this is okay Matthew? I don’t
want you to think you have to buy me things.” Half an hour alone with Carrie
ought to cure her of that, that’s one female who knows her worth; she takes
Josh’s gifts as her due, as she should and that boy sure knows how to spoil his
wife, it’s almost embarrassing. I chose to ignore her question and focus on the
other.

“You
see, that’s a start we’ll have lots more days like this and soon you won’t
think of him at all.” that was my hope at least. “Speaking of which, your job
at the diner is that because you need money or is it just something to do?”

“Well
it’s nice to have my own money but dad said he’d give me an allowance if I
didn’t want to work. I guess it’s just something to pass the time since I’ve
decided to take some time off before looking for a college, and since I’m not
comfortable going elsewhere for a job the diner is it.” that settles that then.

I
mulled over everything she told me piecing things together in my head, gauging
where she was really at. She’d had it rough no doubt about that and my only
concern now was how to
proceed
with us without causing
her more harm. There’s no guidebook that I know of that tells you how to deal
with your woman’s past stalking, at least I didn’t find one and I looked. It
seems to me everything dealt with the stalking itself and how to not be a
victim but that sounded too much like living the rest of her life with a
constant reminder. I wanted to move her away from that I don’t want him having
that much power in our lives.

I
realized that I was on my own with this one. As the man in her life it was
going to be up to me. I felt very strongly that I could do this, that I could
replace the ugliness with beauty. I also knew in that moment that this was not
something to be taken lightly, we had reached the point where I had to be very
sure that this was a forever kind of love, that I would be the one by her side
from here on out.

I
know what I felt since the first time I saw her but was that enough? Could I
trust that this was real and not just a rebound? Everything inside me said that
it wasn’t, that this was the real deal and the fact that the thought of not
having her made me physically sick to my stomach was farther proof of the
strength of my feelings for her.
A calmness
overcame
me then and I knew I had my answer, for whatever reason fate had brought her to
me. Now she was mine to cherish and to treasure for as long as we lived. There
were no doubts in my mind, no fear other than how to make her happy for the
rest of her life. It was a tall order but I knew in m heart that if anyone
could love Kadyn Daniels and protect her from her past it would be me, only me.

“I’m
going to kiss you now Kitten.” I turned her face up to mine and searched her
eyes for any sign of unease. There was nothing but the natural shyness of one
so unaccustomed to being touched by a man. Her lips were soft and pliant under
mine and I called on all my control not to go deeper. The bed was right there
just a few short steps away, I could so easily lay her there and cover her but
I won’t, no matter how much my dick protested. All the bullshit aside she was
an exceptionally beautiful girl with all that wild black hair and those grey
eyes that shone with an inner light that called to me. It would be so easy to
get lost in her but always at the back of my mind was her care; what was best
for her? There’ll be time for the other soon I had no doubt, I will make it so,
but for now this was enough.

As
with the first time she kissed like a dream after she got the hang of it. I
sucked on her tongue until my body reacted strongly and I had to pull back but
to my satisfaction she followed my mouth with hers taking my tongue into her
mouth and doing what I’d done to hers. It was innocent and sweet and made me
feel ten feet tall. How had I been so lucky to find her?
she
was my saving grace sent here just for me I’d never believe any different. My
life had been going downhill, there was no silver lining that I could see and
then there she was. Fate wasn’t something I gave too much thought to in the
past but I would be hard pressed to call this anything else. She needed to be
saved and I had the need to save, to make reparation for my blunder.

After
dinner with my family where she grew even more relaxed as the evening went on
it was time to take her home. “Josh I need you to follow me to the diner.” He
didn’t ask any questions just caught the keys to the truck on the way out, his
wife in tow. I let her drive her new jeep to get the hang of it while Josh and
Carrie followed behind us. Her million and one bags were in the back and it
took us three trips to take her haul in.

Stan
watched us going back and forth with a stupefied look on his face. “What’s all
this?” Kadyn had just gone up the stairs with the last of her bags and Josh and
Carrie had found a table, I guess we were having dessert. That was fine by
me,
it would give me more time with my girl. “I took Kadyn
shopping.” I waited for him to say something negative, it wouldn’t matter to me
one way or the other no one was going to stop me from taking care of her, but
he smiled and clapped me on the shoulder.

“You
Steeles
are an odd bunch aren’t you?”

“How so?”

“Your father came to see me
earlier.”

“He did? This was news to me, he
hadn’t said anything to me, he probably came when I was upstairs in my room but
what was he doing here?

“Yeah he
came by to reassure me that he knew the situation and that since he was pretty
sure that my kid would be spending a lot of time at his place he wanted me to
know she was in good hands and that no harm would come to her. Stand up guy
your old man.”

“About
that, her job here, can you find someone to take her place? It’s just that I
think she needs to get out more, I want her to spend the summer doing shit she
never got a chance to do before and she can’t do that if she’s stuck here all
day.” He could do with that what he will, but he didn’t seem to take offense.

“Actually
there’s a young mother who’s been asking for work, she could really use the
money but I couldn’t ask Kadyn to give up her job you know.” Better and better,
it’s like everything was just lined up in our favor.

“How soon can she start?”

“I’ll
call her up right now and tell her she’s got the job but are you sure about
this? You’re not gonna grow tired of my kid in a few weeks after turning her life
upside down are you?”

“I could
see why you’d have to ask that but have no fear, when I say I’m going to do
something it’s as good as done. I told you she’s mine, I take care of my own.”

“I
believe you son, I don’t get this intensity in one so young but I believe you.”
He shook his head as he walked off to head for his office and I joined Josh and
Carrie at our favorite booth. Kadyn came down a few minutes later and joined
us. We decided on pie a la mode which she started to go get herself until I
stopped her. “No you’re not working you sit with us.”

Over
dessert I told her about my talk with her father about her job. “Don’t you
think you should’ve talked to me about that first?” She gave me attitude which
I thought was good for her, so I just listened as she ran down all the reasons
why I should’ve asked her before approaching her father behind her back. When
she was through and her little face wasn’t so tight anymore I let her in on
some truths or at lease gave her a glimpse of what her life with me was going
to be like. I hope like fuck it doesn’t scare her but I only knew of one way to
be with Kadyn. There was no give in me when it came to her and it wasn’t just
because of what she’d been through. There was something in me that I’d never
felt before, a need to completely possess and own her in every way. Not that I
didn’t think she could think for herself or that she wasn’t capable of making
decisions, but I needed to be in control. The beast was finally totally free it
seemed.

“I hear
everything you’re saying but let me ask you this. Had I asked you about it what
would your answer have been?”

“I don’t know, and we’ll never
know now because you didn’t give me the chance.”

“Okay fair enough but here’s the
thing, this is what I want what I think is best for you. It wouldn’t have
mattered if you agreed or not the end result would’ve been the same. So this
way I just cut out the middleman.”

“Are you
insane, you can’t just make those kinds of decisions who does that?” she looked
at Josh and Carrie who were pretending to mind their own business but if she
was seeking help from that quarter she was out of luck, Carrie had her own shit
to deal with when it came to a Steele man so she could be of no help.

“Okay
let’s look at this another way. Would you rather spend the rest of your summer
working here or doing shit that you really want to do?”

“That’s not the point…’

“It’s
exactly the point. See you want to argue because of the way I did things, when
the end result is to your benefit, now does that make sense to you?” she huffed
and glared at me because she knew what I was saying was true. I’d learned that
shit from watching my parents, mom would argue dad to death just for the sake
of arguing even though she knew he was right, Carrie the same thing. I wasn’t
about to knock my head against the damn wall I had better things to do with my
time. The way I see it the sooner she learns the way things are gonna be the
better. It would eliminate a lot of unnecessary drama if you ask me.

It
was hard as fuck to leave her and go home at the end of the night but I still
had some shit to take care of and besides I planned on seeing her in the
morning. I walked her up to her door and kissed her goodnight waiting to make
sure she locked up before I left because her dad was still downstairs.

As
soon as we got to the house I said my goodnights to the family and locked
myself in my room. I knew Josh wanted to know what I was doing, he wanted to
help but this was something I had to take care of myself. I called up James,
one of the guys my family had on retainer. He’s a bodyguard slash jack of all
trades and more importantly he doesn’t ask questions. He gets paid well enough
that he doesn’t give a shit. Short of committing murder I’m not sure there
isn’t much he won’t do.

“James,
no this is Matt, yeah I have a situation, it might entail some travelling, you
have anything on your plate right now? I don’t really want to talk over the
phone so can we meet?”

“When do you need me?”

 
“As soon as possible.”

“Tonight, it’s a little late but
I can swing by there in a half an hour.”

“That
would be perfect I’ll meet you down by the gate I don’t want anyone knowing
about this not yet anyway.” I gave him some time to get here while I formatted
my plans in my head. What I was about to do would cross many lines but I didn’t
really give a fuck. Criminals have no rights in my world and especially not
assholes who terrorized women and children. Fuck him and fuck anyone who
thought he deserved better than what I was about to do to his ass.

I
got all the information off the computer that we’d collected so far. Thanks to
Google I knew exactly where that fucker lived even knew the dollar value of his
house. Through the shit Josh had done I knew where he worked, his hours, what
model car he drove everything, and by the time I was through I would know a
hell of a lot more.

James
was already there waiting when I jogged down the driveway and opened the gate.
I climbed in the passenger seat and passed him the envelope. “That’s Tommy
Bruno he’s a pedophile stalker living in Sheldon Nebraska. You don’t need to
know any more than that for now. This is what I want you to do: I want you to
get into his house you’ll figure out the ins and outs of that I’m sure. I want
eyes and ears inside his house. But here’s the tricky part, I want you to go
back while he’s there and take a picture of him asleep in his bed. Do you think
you can do that?”

“Piece a
cake. Tell me do you and your brother ever do normal teenage shit?
not
even your old man ever had this kinda shit on his plate
and I’ve been working for your family for years.”

“Times changed, what
can
I tell you.”

“Damn, anything else you want me
to do while I’m in bum fuck USA?”

“No that’s it for now there
might be more later I’ll let you know. Prepare to be on call for the next
little while though just in case.”

“No
problem I wasn’t doing anything of import now anyway, I guess you want this
taken care of ASAP.”

“If you
don’t mind.”

“Fine I’ll get there tomorrow
and call you sometime later and let you know how things went.”

“All the info is in there, his
work hours his daily movements shit like that. If you run into any trouble just
lay low for a while but don’t come back until it’s done.”

“The fuck
this
guy do
to you anyway?”

“He fucked with what’s mine.” I
figured I could give him that much without giving anything away.

“I think I might give you a
discount on this one I hate fucking pedophiles, you sure you don’t want me to
break his legs or some shit? I can throw that in for free.”

“No that’s my job.” I hopped out
the car and jogged back down the drive.