Chapter 15
Kathryn
My mind was a muddled mess, and my body shook. I’d come here, looking for answers, and now all I had was a long list of more questions.
And the memory of what had to be the best sex of my life.
Just thinking about it sent a shiver of delight up my spine, and muscles low in my body clenched all over again. Zane was nothing if not a god when it came to pleasing a woman, and he always had a surprising and exciting way to up the ante. I never imagined I’d have sex in a closet, or in a club. Or any public place, really. The danger of getting caught – and especially of getting caught by a couple of large, trained bouncer types – only heightened the passion and desperation.
Under these circumstances, no woman should complain about a ‘quickie.’ It was just as satisfying, or maybe more so, than a long night of sensual pleasure. But no matter how much I wanted to bask in the afterglow, Zane had told me to wait five minutes and leave. I couldn’t stay here indefinitely, and I had to try to sneak out without being seen.
Suddenly, my perspective changed. Of course, I was still glowing, but now, I was wrapping my head around just how serious the situation was. I had started putting things together as Zane told me what was going on, or at least, that the men with him were looking for me. Or rather, looking for Crystal, who they thought was me.
I assumed that meant they thought Crystal was the woman Zane was seeing. There was no other way to interpret the confusing message. And then, he’d stated that someone wanted to keep us apart. I’d instantly added the last piece of that puzzle and seen a clear picture.
The blond woman.
She’d been looking for whoever Zane was seeing or sleeping with, and somehow or other, she had traced him back to my apartment. But the blond obviously hadn’t seen me and didn’t know I had a roommate. But what did that mean? Did she want to hurt me? Why else would she have two men follow Zane around and wait for me to show up?
If she did mean to hurt me – or worse – then Crystal was in trouble, and I suddenly wished I’d told her about the Lincoln outside, the blond woman in the photos, and all of my concerns. This was certainly escalating, and Zane once again wasn’t being very forthcoming with an explanation. He promised he would explain it all, once he had it under control, but I didn’t know exactly what ‘it’ was, and I had no clue what he was doing to get it under control.
I was angry, and I was confused. I still felt thrilled from our coupling, but it was tainted now with the taste of fear and helplessness. I assumed Zane had led the goons away so I could make my escape from the closet, and I was pretty sure it had been about five minutes.
I screwed up my nerve and cracked the door to look out. Two women were going into the ladies’ room, and I waited until the door closed behind them. There was no one else around, and I quickly stepped out, closing the door instantly and heading to the ladies’ room myself. I needed to make sure my clothes were straight and that I didn’t look like I’d just had a quickie in a closet.
Assured that I looked normal, save for a little swelling in my lips, I held my head high as I returned to the main part of the club. I couldn’t help myself; I looked around for Zane, but I didn’t see him. I grew a bit frantic, worried that the guards had taken him somewhere to question him about his long absence. Maybe they’d known who I was all along and seen us go into the closet.
I didn’t see any sign of Zane or the two goons, and that made me incredibly nervous. I couldn’t just walk out without at least trying to find him. I wanted to know he was safe. But after a search of the entire club, upstairs and down, inside and out, I still couldn’t find him. Or his entourage. I realized that, if he saw me still here, he’d probably get mad, and that would alert those men to the fact that something wasn’t right. I didn’t want to cause any additional problems, for me or Zane, or for Crystal, now that I knew her place in this.
Resigned to the fact that I wasn’t going to get the answers I wanted, and I wouldn’t know until Zane could contact me whether or not he was okay, I left. I stood out front for a few minutes, phone in hand, thinking about sending a quick text. But even if Zane had his phone on him, I doubted he would risk checking it with those guys hanging over his shoulders.
Completely frustrated, I hailed a cab and climbed in. I gave the driver my address and grew quiet as I watched the downtown lights creep by. The traffic was bad, Houston being the type of city where Friday night meant going out and staying out. Things got started late on the weekends, which meant that it didn’t matter if it was midnight. The traffic was going to be heavy for another hour. It would take a dip then, and it would back up again around three, when everyone headed home.
I rested my chin in my hand, trying to work this out in my head. Zane said someone wanted to keep us apart and was making things complicated. I wondered how much power the blond woman had. Could she threaten the success of his club? Would she do something like set him up for criminal charges? She didn’t seem to be above breaking the law, from what I’d heard during the conversation with the man in the Lincoln.
Or would she really hurt me – or Crystal – if Zane didn’t cooperate with her wishes? I wished he would just come clean with me. It was possible the woman wasn’t even the one doing all this, and she was just a decoy, or someone another person had hired to get the goods on Zane. The more I thought about it, the deeper the conspiracy could go.
My only certainty was that Zane was nervous about whatever was going on. He couldn’t be seen with me, couldn’t even speak with me in a public setting. I had to assume this was part of the reason I hadn’t heard from him since Wednesday. He obviously wasn’t blowing me off, considering how desperate he’d seemed just to touch me and kiss me.
So, it all added up to Zane wanting to be with me. I didn’t doubt that. And though I still had questions, I didn’t think his motives were anything but pure. I didn’t have anything to offer him, aside from attention and fun. We had great conversation, and even better sex. But if he just wanted the latter, he could get that from a number of women. I had never deluded myself into thinking I was better in bed than any other woman. So, I believed there was more to his desire to be with me than physical pleasure.
But I couldn’t keep making excuses for his hesitance to tell me the truth about things. The pattern was growing, and this time, there was obviously some danger involved in the secrecy. I deserved to know what I was up against.
My hands were tied, and I’d never been in such a helpless spot before.
The taxi driver pulled up next to my apartment, and as I paid him, I cautiously looked around, my senses on high alert. I was looking for a sign of someone watching me. I didn’t relax just because the Lincoln wasn’t there. I checked all the cars to make sure they were empty, as far as I could see in the dark from the back of the cab. My street wasn’t bright, but it was fairly well lit, and I couldn’t make out any shadows moving around or seated in a car.
Finally, I thanked the driver and climbed out, my door key already in my hand. I all but ran to the door, unlocked it, and stepped inside swiftly, closing it being me rather than letting it fall shut. I locked it from the inside and stood there, my heart racing. This was the consequence of being frightened and not knowing exactly what I should be frightened about.
I took some deep breaths, my eyes closed, as I forced my pulse to slow and calm. When I felt a little more in control, I took the stairs slowly, reminding myself to be rational with each individual step. By the time I stood in front of the door to my apartment, I was angry and tired and confused. But my fear had come down a few notches, even if it didn’t disappear entirely.
The lights were on in the apartment, so I knew Crystal was still up. I opened the door, expecting her to be in the living room, but it was empty, and so was the kitchen. I frowned, wondering where she was, but I heard a door open down the hall, followed by laughter and a deep voice.
Crystal appeared first, her face flushed and her smile broad. Behind her followed a good looking guy with a boyish face, including deep dimples in his cheeks and another in his chin that reminded me of a young John Travolta. He was really tall, and he made Crystal look like a child standing next to him. He towered at least a foot and a half over her.
But he gazed at her with adoring eyes, and she winked at me subtly. “Hey, Kathryn, this is Marshall. Marshall, this is my roommate, Kathryn. I told you about her.”
He came over and shook my hand with a very large but gentle one of his own, and I gave him a sincere smile. My predicament didn’t matter at the moment. It was clear this guy made Crystal very happy, and I liked him instantly.
“It’s nice to meet you, Kathryn,” he said. “I was just on my way out, but we’ll all have to get together for lunch sometime.”
I nodded. “I’d like that.”
I stepped into the kitchen, relieved to find enough coffee left in the pot to fill a cup, and I toiled around, putting it in the microwave and scrounging around in the fridge for a snack so I could give them privacy as they said goodnight.
Crystal – in her robe, which meant she’d likely had a very good visit and was not clothed beneath it – came over to me, giddy as she reached for the coffee pot. I stopped her hand. “You always do it. You always do everything. Let me take care of it for once.”
She shrugged and sat down at the table. “What do you think?”
“Well, I don’t have a lot to judge from, but I like his energy. And I like that he makes you happy. So, he seems like a good guy to me.”
“He is. He’s a gentleman, and he actually likes to do more than have sex. I think this one might last more than a couple of weeks for sure.” She sighed, looking dreamy, and then she collected herself enough to realize she hadn’t grilled me yet. “Oh! So, you’ve been gone for a while. How did things go?”
Part of me didn’t want to talk about it. I was scared and embarrassed and tired of the whole fiasco. But I had to let her know that she might be in danger. It wasn’t fair to keep that from her, and I already felt guilty for not saying something about my suspicions sooner. I took a deep breath and told her, “I’m not sure where to start. There’s a lot to say, and most of it isn’t good.”
“Are you kidding?” She looked devastated for me. I couldn’t imagine what her reaction would be as I started to tell the whole story. “So, what, did you guys call it quits or something?”
“No, definitely not that.” Unless that was some sort of goodbye sex, we hadn’t. I didn’t think Zane would end things so abruptly.
I started slowly, knowing that giving a couple of details would help me find the starting point. And once I found that, everything would spill out easily, Crystal helping to probe for details I might forget and leave out.
“He wasn’t at the Purple Dragon, and I had to go to the Machine to find him.”
“Really? Did he tell you why?”
He hadn’t, I realized. “No, but to be fair, we didn’t actually get to do a lot of talking.” I saw her eyes go from intrigue to confusion, and I opened my mouth to start to explain, but I was cut off by a knock at the door.
I stared at it blankly. It was after midnight. I could only think of two people who might be at the door, aside from some very polite serial killer. Either Marshall had forgotten something and come back for it, or Zane had come to apologize and explain things. Dare I hope it was Zane?
I would have answered it, but Crystal was already on her way over to the door. Thankfully, she didn’t just sling it open.
“Who is it?” I asked as she reached for the lock.
She shrugged. “It’s some blond woman. She kind of looks like a bad version of Malibu Barbie.”
My eyes went wide, and I started, “Crystal, don’t…”
But it was too late. She’d already opened the door, and there stood the blond woman. The woman in the pictures with Zane. The woman in the Lincoln. The woman who was behind whatever conspiracy there was to keep Zane and me apart.
She was tall, and with the sunglasses off, I could see her disconcerting pale blue eyes even from my distance. She wore an obviously expensive dress that looked deceptively loose but hugged every curve. She’d had the light pink outfit custom tailored, I was certain, and the gold strappy heeled sandals were name brand, probably Prada.
Crystal had said she looked like a bad Malibu Barbie, but as I stared at her, I saw the model quality. She had a stunning figure, even more than the photos had shown. I knew for sure now that she’d been sculpted, and she’d likely had a little work on her face. Her hair was bleached, a slight dark line at her roots, but it was soft and full as it fell in cascading waves over her shoulders and almost down to her waist.
She was absolutely stunning.
Crystal gave her a small, polite smile. “Can I help you?”
She gave Crystal an assessing look from head to toe and back, her smirk speaking volumes about how little she thought of Crystal. To be fair, Crystal was pretty, but with her hair mussed and the robe swallowing her whole while she gazed up almost a foot to meet the woman’s eyes, she did look a little comical at the moment. But she didn’t seem intimidated. I, however, might have shrunk away from that intense stare.
As the blond woman finally lifted her gaze back to Crystal’s face, she uncrossed her arms, and then she crossed them again. Her energy was very confrontational, and I hoped she didn’t intend to start a fight.
Her expression screwed up into a sneer of derision, and when she spoke, I barely recognized her voice from this afternoon. It was so filled with venom and spite she sounded like the Wicked Witch of the West. “You must be Zane’s girlfriend.”