Chapter Nine
“Chad, we need to talk,” she whispered.
For a moment, he wondered if he’d imagined her words.
“What’s on your mind, Kitten?” He rolled over, placing a hand beside her head and giving her his full attention. Not that it would take much. All she had to do was walk into the room, and he couldn’t concentrate on anything else.
Katie turned her attention to him, and he melted into her green eyes. She grazed her bottom lip with her teeth, and her brows furrowed together. Uncertainty stood between them and for the life of him, he wasn’t sure why. Things had gone well this morning, no, even better––they had been great. She’d submitted well with minimal hesitation and had agreed to wear his necklace.
“What’s making you hold back on me? I don’t know. Maybe it’s nothing, but it feels like something is keeping you back. That you’re not giving yourself fully to me, like you want me to do for you.”
The words spilling from her lips froze him. He swore he’d hidden any emotions that had nothing to do with her. The last thing he wanted to do was to lay his past on the table. It had been too hard to go through once. Something in his gut told him that if he didn’t open up a little, he could lose her. That scared him more than not saying anything at all. No matter what, she couldn’t know about his connection to her ex-boyfriend.
“It has nothing to do with you, so don’t think that.”
Katie looked at him. “I wasn’t.”
He raised a brow. “Really?”
“Okay, well, maybe I was.” She smiled softly and lowered her focus. He cupped her chin and drew her gaze back to his.
“No, this has to do with an old girlfriend—an ex-fiancée. Nothing really to talk about. Things are over with her and have been for years. That’s where it needs to stay.” Good grief, he was a man, and here he lay with the woman he loved, scared to talk about something personal with her. Suck it up, pussy.
“What happened?”
Just his luck, she wouldn’t leave it alone. He sat and was ready to get off the bed when her tiny hands touched his shoulder, electrifying him. No, what he needed was Katie under him, screaming, clawing out her release, so he could get some relief from his own demons and not have to experience anything except Katie for awhile. To know his heart wasn’t as cold as some people had thought. “Nothing. Drop it.”
“No, Chad, it’s something. You’re holding back on me. I can feel it.”
“She was killed four years ago. There are details I won’t go into. It’s all her brother’s fault. The asshole cared nothing about anyone except himself.”
“What happened?”
“She died, and he walked away without being charged. That’s the end of it.” Chad pulled away from her touch and stood. He had to get away. This wasn’t something he’d been able to talk about in the past. Chad sure as hell didn’t want to relive it, not now. No one needed to know his demons, the reason he couldn’t sleep some nights due to the nightmares that clawed at him. He hated that he couldn’t open up with Katie after he’d asked her to open herself fully to him.
“Damn it, Chad, talk to me.” Katie stood, and her soft footsteps sounded against the wood floors as she moved closer to him. He felt her presence before he even looked at her. A hand resting on her hips and a glare like a dagger in her gaze, there was only one way to describe the look on her face—pissed off.
“I told you everything you need to know. Now drop it.” He brushed past her and went into the bathroom, closing the door. In more ways than one, shutting a door between them. If he could change things and be able to share, he would, but that wasn’t possible. Turning on the shower, he waited for the water to warm before stepping underneath the spray.
Images from that night flooded his mind. April had called things off and had taken off, to go help her brother once again, saying that it wasn’t a good time for them to get married. It had never mattered what Kaden had done, in her eyes he could do no wrong. Chad had warned her about her brother and his ways, but she had refused to listen, brushing off anything he said.
The police had an abandoned warehouse surrounded, and she and Kaden were inside. Chad had tried to get the police to let him in there to talk them both out, but they wouldn’t listen to him and had pushed him behind the police cars and barricades. For three hours he had listened to her beg and plead for Kaden to turn himself in to the police. The police had negotiated via phone, but only with April, as Kaden wouldn’t talk. She had told him they would get through this if he’d just listen. At one point it had seemed he would, and they had walked out together, but at the last moment he turned, grabbed his sister and pointed a gun at the officers.
The SWAT team had raised their guns, and Chad watched his fiancée get thrown in front as they fired. Kaden had thrown his own fucking sister into the crossfire and had taken off. He’d never given her a second thought. Chad remembered rushing to her side, pulling her into his arms. He’d told her to hang on, help was on the way, but it had been too late. A bullet had gone straight into her heart. She had died less than five minutes later, in his arms.
Chad turned the water off. He stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around him. Whatever it took, he would take down Kaden, and then he’d tell Katie everything, but not before. The whole story might slip out if any more had been said and his cover would be blown. He couldn’t allow that to happen. He stepped into the bedroom to find her gone, her clothes no longer on the floor. A quick walk through his place turned up nothing. Katie’s purse and keys were gone. Shit. Maybe he had finally pushed her too far away.
****
Katie pulled into a parking spot at the mall, exited her car, and made her way inside to where she and Erin had agreed to meet. It had taken her longer than normal to get there. Her car had started having trouble along the way. The check engine light had come on, and she had no clue what it meant. Great. The events from this morning replayed in her mind. Things had been going well last night. She’d given more of herself than she’d ever thought possible, but he’d shut down on her while talking about his ex. She understood it had to be painful to talk about, and in bed with him, painful to realize he’d been thinking about an ex-girlfriend. Chad pushed her totally away and left. The fact that he pushed her until raw emotion came out that he wouldn’t share with her? God, that hurt like a knife in her chest.
Katie couldn’t imagine loving someone and losing them in that way. It confirmed her fears. She’d fallen for Chad, but he didn’t feel the same. She was a fling and he didn’t want it to go further. She had to get out before he broke her heart completely. Katie made a mental note to call one of her brothers once she and Erin were done shopping. Time had come for her to move on and away from this place, to make sure she was safe once again.
If only he’d shared with her. She knew what it was like to lose a loved one. She’d never loved her father, as he’d beaten the hell out of her mom every chance he got. But she had loved her mom. To stand by and see her mother get beaten night after night had torn at her. At the tender age of ten it had gotten worse, and her dad had killed her mom. Her brothers had protected her the best they could from all the violence, yet she hated still relying on them for help. She had no choice in the matter.
Katie shook the memories from her mind. Now wasn’t the time to think of the past.
“How are you?” Erin pulled her into a hug.
“I’m doing okay right now. Last night someone broke into my house.” She could always talk to Erin about anything. She knew no matter what, she could share openly with her, and Erin would listen. They started toward their favorite stores.
“Oh my god! Are you okay, and why the hell didn’t you call me?”
“I’m fine this morning. I was really shaken up last night. Chad heard me scream and came to my rescue. He pulled the man off of me and held him at gunpoint until the police got there.”
“See, having him around is a good thing.” Erin picked up a shirt and held it against her body.
“Yes, last night it was. He let me stay at his place.” Not only had Chad let her stay there, he’d taken care of her. It had touched her so deeply that she hadn’t been scared anymore. Chad replaced her fear and had made her feel wanted again. In the short span of three days, he’d dug so deep into her heart, she was afraid she’d never get over him. If this morning proved anything to her, he would always want more from her than he was willing to give. There was also the matter of his sexual tendencies. He wanted a woman to be a sub, and with her past, she wasn’t sure she could be what he wanted all the time. Last night and this morning had ripped her raw, and she couldn’t trust her feelings. Never before had a man affected her so deeply, so fast, and she knew she’d never be the same.
“Oh, so that’s why you look happy and have some color to your cheeks. I couldn’t put my finger on it until you mentioned those things. You two had sex, didn’t you?”
“I’m going to take that as a yes that you two had sex. That’s great. You haven’t been able to in what, two years?”
Katie pushed some more clothes around the rack and tried not to let on to what had happened, or that it had been that long. Her phone rang. She placed the skirt back on the rack and grabbed her phone. She glanced at the screen. For a moment she thought about answering his call, but dropped her phone back into her purse and continued shopping.
“Okay, we had sex.”
“Really? Let me guess, that was him calling. And where did you get this necklace from?” Erin reached over and touched her necklace, inspecting it.
“Yes, it was him. I got it—fine, he gave it to me last night. And well, I’m confused. It’s more complicated than you’ll ever know.” Oh yeah, this was going to be fun explaining to Erin that he was into bondage, and that she’d fallen deep in love with him. Yep, she’d officially lost her ever-living mind.
“What do you mean, ‘complicated’ ?”
“I knew that about him. Kyle has talked about it some. What did he say before he gave it to you? By the way, buy that red micro. Chad will love that on you.”
Erin handed Katie the shortest skirt she’d ever seen. Knowing her luck, he would like something like that, but she’d never worn something that short before. She shook her head. This wasn’t like her. But she placed it into the ‘buy’ pile. Katie went to the register before she chickened out. Erin followed her and paid for her things before they headed to another store.
“He said that if I wore it that I’d trust him to know my every want, desire, and need and that it meant I trusted him from now on. This is just him scratching an itch. It means nothing to him and I’m afraid my heart is already gone. It’s not like me to not think and jump in head first. When have we ever seen him be with a woman for more than six months? Never.”
“Katie, if he gave you a necklace and by the words he said, he’s collared you. Don’t give me that look like I’ve lost my mind. I’ve read about dominance and submission. When a man does that, it means a lot. Sometimes it means even more than giving a woman an engagement ring. This might not be one-sided. You need to talk to him.”
Katie’s mouth hung open, and she stopped dead in her tracks. Her phone rang again, and she noticed it was Chad. They had to talk once she got back to his place. She needed an hour, tops, and then she’d head back. She ignored the call and went into another store.
“Maybe. I don’t know. I’ll talk to him when I get back and see.”
****
He opened the door and a manila envelope that had been stuck in the doorframe fell onto his feet. Picking up the newspaper and the package, he headed to the kitchen table. With coffee in hand, he took a sip and looked at the envelope. No name or writing on the front. Judging by the weight and size, the envelope didn’t have much in it. Maybe some papers.
As soon as he opened the envelope, pictures spilled onto the table. Chad’s stomach fell. He didn’t need to read the note to know who had sent these. Stills of him and Katie being intimate made up most of the images. There were some from their first time and others from last night. Judging by the pictures, Kaden had used a camera that was able to shoot from a long range. The only window he could have used was the floor-to–ceiling window in Chad’s bedroom. The other windows were higher up. When Chad got his hands on Kaden, he was going to rip the motherfucker apart. This was a game to that prick, and Chad would be the one to put an end to it. Chad picked up the piece of paper among the photos.
No man will ever touch you again. Chad dropped the note back on the table. His fist clenched. Kaden had messed with the wrong man. No one threatened his Katie and got away with it. Standing up, Chad grabbed the pictures and shoved them back into the envelope, grabbed his keys and cell, then headed out to find her.
He had to find her before Kaden did. Katie should know that it wasn’t safe for her to go out without protection. He knew her brothers had drilled that into her, and yet she’d taken off without a word about where she’d gone, or why.
Chad’s cell rang as he got into his truck. He glanced at the display. It was her brother Kevin, and right at this moment Chad didn’t want to explain that he wasn’t sure where Katie was. He tossed his phone into the seat, and then backed out of the parking spot. He hoped she hadn’t gone shopping with Erin, as it was too open and exposed at the mall. He decided to head to Kyle and Erin’s place.
More than likely, Chad knew, she’d go there to talk with her friend, and he prayed he was right. At least then he’d know there was another guy around that could protect her if need be. He trusted Kyle to keep her safe. Sure, her brothers were capable of taking care of her, but he wanted to be the man she came to when she needed anything. He couldn’t save April, but he’d be damned if he’d fail Katie.