IT’S NEVER BEEN THIS QUIET IN the car when it’s just Marlon and me. We find something to talk about all the time, even if it’s just Madden high scores or our music. He knows how I feel about Kai and how much I hate Drex. So a sex tape featuring the girl I love and the man I despise . . . yeah, I’d be at a loss for words, too.
“So did you watch it?” He finally drops the question into this vat of boiling silence. “The tape, I mean.”
I’d rather have the quiet than this conversation.
“Uh, a little bit.” My grip tightens on the steering wheel. I almost smile when I think about the first time Kai sat where Marlon sits now and told me her name was like my Porsche.
Kai Anne. Like your car. Cayenne.
From the beginning, she always made me laugh. If I’m a safe, she cracked me day one, and we were friends before we were anything else. We were friends when I wasn’t sure that was all I could settle for. And we trusted each other with secrets we’d never shared with anyone else. How did that happen so quickly? So deeply? I want that back more than anything. She figured it out for me, and as much as the lies hurt, I’ll figure it out for her . . . eventually. But first I have to eliminate these threats.
“Have you thought about what you’ll do if it comes out?” Marlon asks.
“It won’t come out. That’s why we’re doing this now, so it doesn’t come out.”
“It’s possible, Rhys, that it will.” Marlon pauses before going on. “I’m just asking if you’ve thought about how you’ll feel if everyone sees Drex fucking your girl.”
I shoot him a dark look and take a deep breath, glad the curving road gives me something to focus on besides my fury. The thought of anyone seeing Kai like that takes a chainsaw to the lining of my stomach. I must be bleeding inside. There’s no way I can have pain like this without blood.
“If it was the girl I love,” he continues. “I would tell the whole world to go fuck themselves. Who cares what they think?”
“Yeah?” I divide a glance between him and the road. “Easy to say when it’s not you on the tape. I don’t care if people talk about me, but people talking about Kai? Seeing her like that? That I can’t take.”
I shake my head, my heart straining with every beat at the thought of her humiliated that way.
“I’ll do anything to keep that from happening.”
“So this isn’t to save your face? It’s for her?”
“It’s all for her.” I frown at the road ahead. “I don’t give two shits about anything else.”
I think that night I found out she’d been with Drex, I thought it might change things. Honestly, with all the acrimony between Drex and me, the thought of him, filthy, dirty him, having her was like a needle threading through my brain, but I underestimated myself. I underestimated my love for her. Even I didn’t know how deep it went. Though I’m disgusted by the video, nothing’s changed in my heart. Not for her. Did I plant the seeds of her insecurity? Or water the ones her Dad planted when he walked away? Maybe I left her thinking I couldn’t handle the truth because on some level, I wasn’t sure I could. But this love, even after my lies and hers, is immutable. Unmoving. Lodged in my heart. Stuck in my soul.
“Damn, this girl’s got you whupped.” Marlon laughs, banging the dashboard with his fist.
“Like you’re just now realizing that.” I pull myself out of my head, out of my thoughts, to respond to him. “I could wring her neck right now for keeping all of this from me, but we’ll work it out. She’s the one, so we have to.”
“How do you know?” His voice is softer somehow, and there’s more than idle curiosity in his eyes when I take a second to search them.
“Remember your Uncle Jamal, and how he always used to tell us about girls?”
“The OG!” Admiration tinges Marlon’s grin. “The man knows his pussy.”
“That he does.” I nod, sketching a quick grin of my own. Only Marlon would have me grinning when I’m on my way to pound Drex’s punk ass into next week, and could barely breathe past my anger twenty minutes ago. “Remember he told us there was—”
“Basic and magic.”
“Exactly. He said most girls think they’re magic, but they’re all basic until you meet that one.” I shake my head, recalling the day I met Kai in Grady’s studio. “I knew Kai was different the first time I saw her. I didn’t have to sleep with her, had never even kissed her, and I knew she was magic.”
I recognize how very whipped I sound, but there’s nothing I can do about it.
“It’s hard to explain,” I add.
“I think I get it.” Marlon shrugs, brushing a rough hand over the dreadlocks hanging past his shoulders. “I mean, that’s how I kinda felt the first time I met your sister.”
I nearly run off the road.
“Are you shitting me?” I swivel a glance his way. “Bristol? My sister Bristol?”
A heavy frown settles over his dark eyes.
“What? You think your sister’s basic?”
“I don’t exactly give it much thought with her being, you know, my sister.” I hesitate because Marlon isn’t serious about much other than his music. And I guess Bristol. “Are you for real? That’s how you felt the first time you saw Bris?”
“Your sister’s gorgeous.”
“Of course she is.” I shrug. “We’re twins.”
“And you’re both really modest, too,” Marlon deadpans. “She came to visit you and Grady on Spring Break her sophomore year from Columbia.”
I remember that rare trip. She had to ask Marlon’s name about five times.
“Man, she barely acknowledged your existence.”
“She’s playing hard to get.”
“For a decade?” I do a brow lift. “More like never gonna get it.”
“That joke will never get old, will it?”
“Sure, it will, if she ever goes out with you. So . . . probably not.”
“She’s driving me crazy.” He holds his head like he would squeeze her out if he could. “She brought this Qwest thing to me. She wants to manage me so bad.”
“Let her. You know she’ll do a great job.”
“Yeah, a job. I don’t want to be her job.”
“What do you want to be?” For once, I’m not going to tease him about my sister because I can tell he’s serious.
“I want her to be my girl.” He frowns at me. “You know that.”
“I mean, you still fuck everything that moves, so I didn’t think it was like that.”
“I’m not a monk.” He gives me a knowing look. “You telling me all those months Kai had you in the friend zone you didn’t get it somewhere else?”
I shake my head. His grin drops.
“Not even a little bit o’ pussy?”
“Not even a little bit.” I shrug. “She was it for me. I didn’t want anybody else. Haven’t since the day we met. It wasn’t like love at first sight or anything. I grew in love with her, but all the other girls just kind of disappeared.”
“And when Kai told you no and friend zoned you so hard, did you give up?” Marlon demands.
“Nope. Failure wasn’t an option.”
“Well, then you understand why I haven’t given up on Bristol yet.”
“Frankly, I don’t want you to get hurt.” I sigh. “And as much as I love my sister, she could roll over you like a speed bump and never even feel you under her tires.”
“I’ll take my chances. I think she’d be worth it.” His grin makes a brief appearance before fading. “Your girl’s worth it, right?”
“There’s not a chance I wouldn’t take for her.”
I slow down a few blocks from the address Bristol gave me when I see Gep’s truck pulled off to the side. Once we’re out of my truck and standing in front of him, I see the sober look on his face.
“What we got?” I demand. “He’s in the house?”
“Yeah, he’s there.” Gep puts a firm hand on my shoulder. “I don’t know exactly what we’re walking into here, Rhys. It could be volatile. It’s not too late to contact the cops.”
“No cops.” I slam my frown into place. “The circle of people who know about this is already larger than it should be. I can’t risk exposing Kai like that. Some cop or clerk looking to make something on the side gets wind of this and sells to the highest bidder. No fucking way, Gep. We get to the bottom of this quickly and quietly.”
He looks like he’ll make another argument, and I’m braced to stand my ground.
“Gep, let’s try it his way.” Marlon leans against my truck, arms folded across his chest. “I’ve kept him from killing this guy since high school. I think I can do it one more time.”
Gep’s got about five seconds to concede before I go in there on my own. My fingers itch to wrap around that fucker’s neck. I know Gep’s job is to keep me safe, but my safety is the last thing I care about right now.
“Okay, let’s do it.” Gep taps on the tinted back right passenger window, and a guy I’ve never seen before dressed in UPS browns steps out. Gep gestures to him. “Our element of surprise.”
We make our way silently up the steep driveway of the small house nestled into the side of the mountain. Gep and I step to one side of the door. Marlon steps to the other, and our fake UPS guy rings the bell. The door is barely cracked open, and as soon as I see Drex’s face, I shove UPS out of the way and lunge for that asshole, pushing him back into the house. He slithers out of my grip and zips toward an open door leading to the patio. I’m on his heels and tackle him to the flagstones, sitting on his chest to keep him pinned. The fool has the nerve to laugh up into my face.
“If you’re here for tips on how to fuck your girl right, I’m not telling you shit. Figure it out for yourself.”
My body processes what he said before my mind does, immediately punching him in the face. His eyes glaze a little, but the smile pops right back like a demented clown.
“She was so tight and wet that night,” he rasps. “Next time I’ll let her suck my dick.”
There is no stopping it. The momentum of my rage drags me into his face again and again and again. The sound of his flesh flattening under my fury brings me an unreasonable pleasure that drowns out the pain of my knuckles splitting, the flesh peeling back from my bones. That metronome that always marks my anger explodes, the tick tocking detritus littering my brain. I don’t even notice when he manages to roll to the side, and my fist pounds full force into the flagstones beneath us. I barely feel the impact, adrenaline surging. I snatch him back, latching onto his throat. Bloodlust swells in my veins, hauling every savage instinct to the surface. I tremble with the desire to choke off his air supply for good.
“Rhys, man.” Marlon pulls at me, and out of pure reflex I draw back to punch him, too, but catch myself. His eyes travel from my bunched fist to my face. “You gonna hit me now? Just be prepared for me to knock the living shit outtta you.”
Hot, heavy breath forces past my lips. When I try to flex the fingers of my right hand, I can’t. Since before I can even remember, protecting my fingers, my hands has been paramount. Our lives, my livelihood, everything always centered in my hands. And now it’s a limp mass of bloodied flesh. Needles of pain stab my fingers. Panic feels like it may catapult my heart from my chest.
“Rhys, your hand.” Marlon’s worried eyes settle on my hand. “We need to get you to a doctor, like now.”
I peer through the patio door into the living room where Gep has dragged Drex’s sorry ass. Gep towers over him, and the look he gives him is deadly enough to pin him to the couch. I draw a calming breath and approach them.
“Later,” I say to Marlon over my shoulder.
“Not later.” Marlon grabs my arm. “Now. This is your hand, Rhys.”
“I know.” I pull away. “See if you can find some Aleve or something until we’re done with this.”
“Aleve?” Marlon whooshes a frustrated breath. “At least let me call Bristol so she can have a specialist standing by.”
“Yeah, good idea. Dr. Mason’s the one who examines my hands for the insurance policy. She should probably notify him.” I turn to look at him. “Make sure she doesn’t mention it to Kai.”
Marlon holds my eyes for a moment before denting one side of his cheek with a smile.
“Always Kai.”
Always Kai.
“Just find that Aleve for me.”
I hold my injured hand, wincing as I join Gep and Drex in the living room. Drex offers me a bloody smirk, his face already swelling. He gestures to my hand.
“Looks like that hurts.”
“So does your face. Shut the hell up.”
Even bloodied and already swelling, his face manages to look smug. I have to look away because the urge to slam my probably-broken fist right through that expression is so strong, and I know we need the information Gep is trying to extract.
“Look, you’ve broken laws here.” Gep rests meaty fists on his hips. “You recorded Kai, and God knows who else, without her knowledge and blackmailed her.”
“That wasn’t me.” Drex’s eyes take a leisurely path between me and Gep. “I mean, yeah I recorded her when we fucked.”
He pauses to grin at me.
“But I’m not the one blackmailing her, and I’m not going down for it.”
“Then who?” I frown, unable to let Gep take the lead for very long. “Tell us everything, you piece of shit.”
“Ah ah ah,” Drex tsks and shakes his head, eyes alight with hatred and satisfaction. “I’m the one with all the information. You better be nice to me.”
“Nice to you?” Incredulity rolls a hollow laugh up my throat. “I’m going to destroy you either way. Your cooperation determines if I’ll leave you any scraps of your pathetic career so you can at least book weddings and bar mitzvahs.”
I lean close, almost close enough to sniff the barely-veiled panic that lurks just beneath his self-satisfied façade.
“Because make no mistake about it.” I look straight into his eyes so he sees that I have every intention of backing up this threat. “You’re through in this town. Done. I’ll block every deal. I started the black-balling as soon as I saw that tape just a few hours ago. You’re poison already and just don’t know it yet.”
“You can’t do that.” He says it, but I can tell he knows I can.
“Let’s not play the game where you pretend to have any power in this situation, when we both know I’ll come out on top.”
“You always do, don’t you?” Bitterness corrodes his words. “You always have.”
“Is that what this is about? Your ridiculous jealousy since high school?”
“Everything came so easy to you, Gray.” He shakes his head, hatred alive in his narrowed eyes. “I was the one person who didn’t scrape and bow at your feet just because you were some piano savant in another life.”
“You have no idea what my life was like. It certainly wasn’t easy.”
“Whatever.” He shrugs, deliberately casual. Falsely calm. “At least I fuck your women first. If that’s my only concession, I’ll take it.”
Gep grabs my arms, but I shake him off, staring back at Drex without making a further move toward him. This idiot thinks he knows my buttons? He has no idea.
“Here’s the deal.” I step directly into Drex’s line of vision. “Like Gep said, you recorded Kai without her consent. It’s illegal.”
“And I wonder what the cops would find on your laptop?” Gep keeps his face straight, playing along since he knows I have no intention of bringing the police into this. “If we got a warrant to seize your cloud, would there be other women there recorded without their consent? We could build quite a case, and you could do some real time.”
Drex’s jaw clenches, and fear thins his lips.
“What do you want?” he asks after a few moments to contemplate that possibility.
“First, I want any and every copy of that tape so I can destroy it,” I say immediately.
“I don’t have it anymore.” Drex leans back into the cushions. “I don’t have any copy. I told you I’m not the one who’s been threatening her.”
“Who?” I try to keep my voice free of panic. Whoever has the tape could do anything with it. They just threatened Kai days ago. They could release it at any time. They could release it while I sit here with this idiot. “Who has it?”
Drex sits back and remains silent, looking around the cabin like it might offer some escape, but it doesn’t. There is none.
“And we know this place is owned by John Malcolm,” Gep continues. “How’s he involved? Tell us everything or we get the cops in on this, and it gets messy.”
Drex’s eyes drift from me to Gep to Marlon and then back to settle on me. He heaves a sigh.
“Fuck it. I gotta save myself here.” He shrugs. “When things blew up between you and your girlfriend, and she signed with Malcolm, I saw . . . let’s call it an opportunity.”
“Go on.” Gep folds his massive arms across his chest.
“I called Malcolm and said I had something on his bright new star artist that I’d release unless he signed me, too. Got me some gigs. Gave me a shot.”
I already see where this is going, and the thought of Kai being caught in their disgusting cross hairs makes me sick. Makes me furious.
“To my surprise, he wanted the tape for his own game.” Drex laughs. “What’d I care? He told me to lay low for a few months because they’d be looking for me when he started threatening her.”
“Why’d he threaten her with it? Why keep them apart?” Marlon demands, confusion on his face. “I don’t get it.”
“He didn’t want Kai with me,” I say softly. “He knew I wouldn’t let him control her. He knew I’d get her away from him.”
“He figured when she didn’t take you back, things would die down. You’d give up and move on, and he’d have Kai for the next two years at least. Just another break up.”
“But it wasn’t just another break up.” I shake my head. “Not to me and Kai. He underestimated us, I guess.”
“Well, I don’t even have the video anymore,” Drex says. “He made a hard copy and deleted it from my cloud. I couldn’t release that video now if I wanted to.”
“And in exchange?” I demand.
“In exchange, I have a new record deal.” Drex smiles, a grimy spread of his lips. “And even shows in Vegas this summer.”
I don’t have the heart to tell him that will never happen. Or maybe I’m just saving that for dessert.
“Call him.” My words land in the room with atomic force.
“What?” Drex frowns. “He’s never been up here. He’ll suspect something’s wrong. What will I tell him?”
“I don’t care if you tell him he needs to come because the Easter Bunny has his eggs. You get that piece of shit here as soon as possible.” I flick a glance to my security guard. “Or Gep here will call some of his friends. Did I mention he’s ex-CIA?”
Our eyes lock, and he can hardly disguise his malevolence toward me. That’s fine because I can barely check mine for him, so we’re even.
Reluctantly, he grabs his phone and makes the call.