I CAN’T BELIEVE I’VE BEEN IN the studio all day. I squeeze the bridge of my nose and roll my shoulders. Marlon’s project is almost done. Just these last few songs. The engineers are waiting to master the files, but I can’t stop tinkering with the mix on this Otis Redding sample. Well, that’s the one I’ve been working on the last hour or so. Before that it was track number four. Before that it was track number eight. I can’t remember which track was before that, but I know my obsessive perfectionism has confined me to this one room for hours.
“Still at it?” Amber, the closest thing to a receptionist Wood has, sets my favorite energy drink down beside me. “You know what time it is?”
I pop open the can, guzzle a few swallows, and grab my phone to check the time.
Eight o’clock. Gep was supposed to drop Kai off thirty minutes ago after some photo shoot Bristol set up. Sometimes my reception back here sucks, and my phone doesn’t even ring.
“Did Gep call up front?” I scroll through my missed calls and check my text messages. Nothing.
“No.” Amber offers me a slip of paper. “This guy did call while you were in here. He claimed to be Kai’s father.”
My eyes move from the phone to Amber’s face.
“James Pearson?” I ask.
She glances at the paper before offering it to me again.
“Yep.” Her next words trip over each other in her haste. “You said to only bother you if it was Kai or an emergency, and I wasn’t even sure the guy was legit. Should I have?”
“Nah, you’re good.” What the hell does he want?
“Cool.” She gathers her tawny colored dreadlocks off her neck and into a ponytail. “Well, he left his number and asked you to call him.”
“Okay.” I rub the paper between my fingers for a second and look back up at her. “But nothing from Gep or Kai?”
“Nope. Sorry.” She shifts her backpack with one arm. “You need anything before I head out?”
I shake my head absently while I dial the number on the paper she gave me.
“Nah. G’night.” I flick my chin up at her while the phone rings on the other line.
“Hello,” a deep voice answers with just a hint of a Southern accent.
“Uh, Mr. Pearson?”
“Yes.” He seems to hesitate. “Is this Rhyson?”
“Yeah.” I lean back and prop my feet on the studio console. The guys would kill me, but just this once. “I got a message you called me here at the studio earlier.”
“Yes. I didn’t have your personal number obviously, but heard you owned this studio.” He releases a heavy breath over the line. “I wasn’t sure how to handle things, so I just thought I’d try by starting with you.”
“Handle what things?”
I keep my voice neutral even though I don’t like this man. He hurt Kai more than anyone has, except maybe me. I imagine my Kai sitting on a broken step as a little girl, wearing her tutu and ballet slippers, waiting for a father who never came home.
No, I don’t like this man at all.
“Cassie, that’s my daughter . . . my other daughter’s name,” he says. “She saw on one of those entertainment shows that you and Kai Anne got engaged.”
I don’t respond, but wait for him to reach his point.
“Well, I, uh . . .” Discomfort weights his words. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” Still waiting for the point of this call.
“I’d like to be . . . well, involved somehow seeing as how I’m Kai’s father.”
Oh, now he remembers that he’s her father.
“You’ll need to talk to Kai about that,” I answer stiffly.
“Well, she’s not much for talking to me these days.” He offers a rough, rueful chuckle. “I thought maybe you could . . .”
His words fade into a pained silence that I don’t try to make any easier for him.
“I used to wonder how I’d feel on her wedding day, ya know?” he continues, regret smudging his words. “When she was a little girl, I couldn’t imagine giving her away to someone else.”
“No one gives Kai to me. She’s already mine.”
It just comes out because . . . well, because it’s true. I probably could have handled that better, said it more tactfully, but the thought of this man, absent for so long from Kai’s life, presuming to have any rights on what will be our day, agitates me. Tension clogs the silence between our two lines for a moment before he responds.
“A little possessive there, aren’t ya?” he half-laughs.
I’m too tired for this, and don’t bother holding back a long exhale of breath.
“Mr. Pearson, what do you want from me?”
“I know it’s Kai’s decision if I’m invited—”
“Yeah, it is,” I agree. “I wouldn’t blame her if she doesn’t involve you. I’m not sure she should.”
“You are marrying my daughter, you know,” he says softly, but not soft enough to disguise that he’s offended.
“Mr. Pearson, if Kai’s mother were alive, I would have asked for her blessing.” My voice trades weariness for irritation. “But she isn’t, so I flew to Glory Falls to ask Aunt Ruthie for her blessing. Then I flew her to LA so she could witness me propose to the girl she’s practically raised since you deserted Kai and her mother. You have no rights in this situation, and I’d appreciate it if you’d stop acting like you’ve been around for the last fifteen years. It’s making me sick and it’s making me angry.”
A startled silence follows my words. I draw a deep breath, suppressing the ire that rises the longer I talk to him.
“Rhyson, I can tell you love my daughter very much.”
He pauses as if waiting for me to affirm. I don’t, but just wait for him to finish.
“I had some hard choices to make back then, and I didn’t always make the right ones, but I’m living with the consequences. I’m trying to make things right.”
“The day I marry Kai will be the happiest of my life,” I say quietly. “I don’t want awkwardness. I don’t want old hurts making things less than perfect. To be frank, I’m not even sure I’ll invite my own mother. If Kai decides she’s ready for you to be involved in her life that way, I’ll support her. If she decides she’s not, I’ll support her. I just want her happy.”
“That’s what I want, too.” His sigh from the other end is resigned. “Cassie says she and Kai are meeting when you come to Vegas next week.”
“Yeah. I think my sister has tickets to the showcase for her. For you both actually.” I glance at my watch, remembering that Kai and Gep are late. “Look, I need to go. Like I said, you’ll need to talk to Kai about all this.”
“I understand.” The sadness in his voice tweaks my sympathy. “Well, maybe I’ll see you next week in Vegas.”
“Maybe,” I reply noncommittally.
“Thank you for taking care of her,” he says before ending the call.
I hold the phone for a few seconds. I don’t want to feel sorry for the guy at all, but I do. Kai refused to see me for three months, and it was the most miserable three months of my life. Not the same, but I do empathize.
“Hey, handsome.”
I look up to find Kai standing at the door, a grin on her face.
I motion her in, grabbing her around the waist when she’s close enough and sitting her on my lap.
“You’re late.” I bury my face in the curve of her neck and shoulder, silky tendrils of hair tickling my nose. She looks casual from the neck down in her jeans and tank top. Her hair is pulled up into a messy bun of some sort, with little wisps escaping and making her adorable. Her face, though, is still fully made up from the photo shoot.
“I’m sorry.” She trails kisses over my chin and down my neck. “The shoot went over.”
“What’s it for again?”
“People Magazine’s breakout stars, or something like that. I’ll have to ask Bristol to be sure.”
“I was just about to call Gep.” I pull her a little closer and inhale the scent of pears and cinnamon lingering on her skin.
“I could drive myself to these things, you know.”
“Sure, but you need security with you anyway, so he may as well, right?”
Her mouth cements into an obstinate line. We’ve had this argument more than once. I push. She pulls. She doesn’t think she needs security. I insist. Her lips part, and I already see the protest on her face before it has a chance to leave her mouth.
“I just got off the phone with your dad.” I figure this will distract her from an argument for now.
“My dad?” Surprise colors her expression. “He called you?”
“Yeah. Well, he called the studio and left his number so I could call him.”
“What did he want?”
“I think to be invited to our wedding.” I rub the little soft wisps of hair between my fingers and watch her expression.
“He doesn’t think he’s gonna give me away, does he?” She draws back a little, irritation on her face.
“I told him no one gives to me what’s already mine.”
She giggles and palms one side of my face.
“You said that to my father?”
My hand cups her breast through the tank top and I rub my thumb roughly over the nipple until it beads. I nip at the silky, scented skin of her neck with my teeth.
“Is it not true?” I whisper, loving the constellation of goose bumps sprouting on her arms.
She nods and tips her head back, shifting on my lap.
“Wait till I get you home,” I say against the fragile line of her collarbone. “I’ll remind you how true it is.”
“Why wait?” Her eyes toy with me. “I seem to remember putting a piano to good use here once before.”
A husky chuckle crosses my lips.
“Too many people here tonight. We’d get caught.”
“The risk kinda makes it more exciting though,” she says, voice husky and eyes simmering. “Don’t you think?”
“I’m not risking anyone seeing more of you than they should.” I stand up, taking her with me and setting her on her feet. “So let’s go home so I can make love to you.”
“Will you take a bath with me?” She slips her hands under my t-shirt, her palms gliding over my back, provoking a shudder through me.
“Yes.” I bend to kiss her hair. “You want me to fuck you in the tub again?”
“Yeah, if you’re taking requests.” She yawns and her lashes droop over drowsy eyes.
“Come on. Let’s get you home. It’s been a long day.”
We’re making our way across the dimly lit parking lot before it occurs to me she could be tired because of the baby.
“Did you pick up the prenatal vitamins Dr. Allister prescribed?”
“Man, I forgot.” She looks up at me, her eyes sparking just a little. “I guess I’m this tired because of the baby. Kinda cool, huh?”
“Not cool.” I bring her knuckles up to my lips. “We’ll get them tomorrow.”
When we reach my truck, she slumps against the passenger side door. My hands find her waist and settle low on the curve of her hips as I bend to steal one more kiss before we get on the road.
“Did it rain?” She glances over her shoulder.
“Not for a long time. That’s why our grass looks the way it does, babe.”
“No, something’s wet.” She arches away from the side of the car, reaching back to touch her shirt. She rubs her fingers together. “Ew! It’s sticky.”
I touch the side of the car to investigate the wetness and notice something hanging over the side. I grab the lump of soaked cotton.
“Fuck!” Even in the barely lit parking lot I can see that the t-shirt is soaked in something red that I suspect is blood. The passenger side door is covered with it.
“What is that?” Kai asks nervously, peering down at the t-shirt I haven’t dropped yet.
An icy hand punches right through my chest.
It’s one of those “Mrs. Rhyson Gray” t-shirts fans are always wearing, but it’s drenched in blood and has slashes through it, as if from a knife. I toss it back onto the car, hoping I haven’t disrupted any forensic evidence by touching it. I wipe my hands across my jeans and dig my phone out of my pocket. I pull Kai away from the car and practically drag her back towards the studio. My glance bounces all around the parking lot for any sign of danger or anyone ready to hurt her. The person who did this could still be close. Could be here right now. Could be watching us.
“Rhyson,” Gep responds on the first ring. “Sorry about getting Kai there late. I should have texted.”
“Forget that.” Voice terse, I gently urge Kai into the safety of the studio. “We have bigger problems. I need you at Wood as soon as possible.”
“Maybe it was just a sick joke.” Kai looks at our stained hands. Now that we’re in the bright lights of Wood’s reception area, we can clearly see that it’s blood.
“Well, I’m not laughing.” My face is so grim it aches. “And when I find out who did this, they won’t be either.”