Chapter 3
2369 Words
Caris walked silently up her driveway aware her parents, sitting in the limousine at the bottom of her driveway were watching her and Killian intently.
“Can I ask you something? Two questions actually,” she blurted out as they were halfway up the drive and away from her parents.
“Sure.”
“Are you gay?”
He gave a quizzical glance in her direction, “no, what would make you ask? I know you’ve seen me with women.”
“Yes, I’ve seen you with multiple women, never the same one twice. I wondered maybe if you hired escorts as beards.”
He chuckled, “your imagination is something else. No, I’ve dated the same woman more than once multiple times Caris. I’m not gay.”
“Too bad,” she muttered as they reached the bottom of her front stairs. “At least then I’d have some sympathy for your situation.”
“Caris, I meant what I said earlier. I’m grateful to you for this. Walker-Young is my father’s legacy to me. I don’t take your sacrifice lightly.”
“Sure.” She made a face, “Is it really this bad? Is Walker-Young really in danger?”
“Some people would do anything to destroy our company.”
“Like whom?” she pressed him.
“What do you know of Malachi Blackwood?”
“Spawn of Satan?” She asked, “loads. What do you need to know? I saw how you and Garth reacted to him being in the restaurant tonight. You both looked positively murderous. Which is actually question number two. Why do you two hate him so much?”
“How do you know him?” Killian asked seriously.
“I consider him somewhere between friend and acquaintance. He’s been trying to sleep with me since my eighteenth birthday. He has called me every week for the last nine years except for exactly three times.” She noted his normally blank expression was now a jaw-dropped, wide-eyed stunned reaction while she continued speaking, “He missed five years ago when his father died. He missed three years ago when he got arrested in the UK for hitting a politician and then last year his appendix ruptured. Our circles have connected more than once, and I’ve known him as long as I’ve known you.”
“Have you slept with him?” Killian’s eyes were piercing as he stared at her.
“No. God no. There’s a reason we call him the Spawn of Satan. He’s scary as hell. He’s the kind of guy who would make a s*x tape, release it to the world and somehow sue you for the content. Our first year of law school, one of our classmates, a brilliant woman, made the mistake of spending an entire weekend with him. She came home, packed up her dorm room, and drove her car back to Kansas and none of us ever heard from her again. I asked him about it once and he said she didn’t like his kinks. I didn’t need to know any more. He is the opposite of what a normal rational person would do.”
“He’s dangerous Caris. He’s the one behind the takeover attempts. There was a time his father worked with our fathers. He had an affair with a secretary, and it ended so badly the woman killed herself. It was a fiasco, and he was fired. Blackwood started an immediate campaign to ruin us, and his son has taken over where his father has left on. Malachi Blackwood is smart but vindictive and he believes he has nothing to lose. Be careful around him Caris.”
“I’ve been dealing with him since I was ten and he was sixteen and he told me his father was going to destroy mine.”
He looked back down the driveway in the direction of the car aware he was keeping the occupants waiting, “this by far is the weirdest first date I’ve ever been on with a woman.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Goodnight, Caris.”
“Goodnight, Killian,” she stepped into her house and closed the door behind her. She moved to the kitchen and went looking for her antacids not bothering to turn the lights on. She looked at her purse as her phone started ringing.
She pulled the device out and grimaced before answering, “were your ears burning Malachi?”
“Were you talking about me? What were you doing acting so flirty with that fool, Killian Young?”
“Having dinner,” she grabbed her bottle of liquid antacid and made her way up the stairs to her bedroom. “What do you want?”
“You, your banging body naked and writhing under me and your hair wound up in tightly in my fists while you scream my name,” he chuckled hotly at her silence, “shall I come pick you up?”
“No, I’m going to bed alone with my bottle of antacids.”
“Dinner with the group you were with could cause an ulcer. You may need the entire bottle.”
“Pretty sure it was the salad I had and not my family.”
“Young isn’t your family and quite sure your curves need to be feed meat and potatoes not green leafy things,” his voice was like liquid velvet in her ear, “I’ll keep you well fed on meat, Caris.”
“You’re awful,” she grumbled as she flung herself onto her bed. “Why do you call me?”
“Because I like you. You’re the only person I know who doesn’t simper and pander to me and I want you for your mind and your delectable body. What were you doing with Killian Young?” He repeated his question. “Please tell me you’re not dating him. Are you doing a favor for daddy? He can’t find a girl who will stay with him, so Garth had to hook him up. He can’t handle a girl like you Caris. You’re fire. He’s water.”
“It was a family thing Malachi.”
“You know I want you right?”
“Yes, so you said.”
“I always get what I want.”
“Want to know something Malachi? I also get what I want, and you are not on my list of things I want. You’re so far out of my league. You eat little girls like me for breakfast and then go through her friends for lunch.”
“You want me to eat you – “
“Malachi Blackwood, stop right there,” she cut him off trying not to smile as she grabbed her remote. “Do not finish your statement.” His wicked laugh made her toes curl and she forcibly flexed them straight. “You’re the devil.”
“Spawn of Satan according to your friends and don’t you forget it.” He was still chuckling, “goodnight beautiful.”
“Goodnight, Malachi.” She hung up the phone and turned her television on. She searched for a made-for-television romance movie and then smiled contentedly when she found one. Romance stories were her guilty pleasure. She had romance novels all over her house, in her car, in her desk at work and she lived for the movies. She knew it was silly but there was something about the stories which made her feel happy inside.
She settled against her pillows and was sniffling at a cheesy scene when her phone rang, and she grimaced. It was unlike Malachi to call twice, and she realized she didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”
“Caris, its Killian. Are you okay?” he sounded formal and uptight.
She sat up and sighed, “why wouldn’t I be?”
“I just left your parents house and was driving past yours. I noted your lights are all off, but the television is on. I,” he took a breath, “this is just all weird and I know you’re upset and I’m just wanting to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine Killian.”
“Your mom was really hard on you tonight,” he commented. “I never noticed before how much she gets at you.”
“I’m used to it. She’s never going to change. Her whole life is about perfection, being seen and being arm candy. If they did a real housewives of San Jose, she’d audition.”
“Garth would veto it so fast,” he chuckled at her suggestion.
“I know. She craves the limelight, and he shuns it.”
“What are you watching?”
She debated lying and then considered if they were going to be married, he’s going to find out anyway. “A movie called The Wanting Heart about an author from New York who visits her aunt in a small town and meets a widower who is the local fire chief and they’re falling in love.”
He snickered, “are you watching made-for-television romance movies?”
“Yes. What’s wrong with it?”
“Not a thing, I simply assumed you would watch something a bit more feminist.”
“Is that so?”
“Or maybe documentaries on serial killers,” he continued.
“Not funny,” she grumbled. “I know it’s unlikely to ever happen to me, but I love the notion of true love.”
“Why not you?”
“How much do you know of my parent’s relationship?” she asked candidly.
He was quiet as he obviously debated how much he wanted to share. “My mother once told me to do the math on Maris’ age and their wedding and I added it up.”
“My mom worked two jobs and met Garth at one of them. He took her home. She somehow forgot her birth control and voila Maris was on the way. Garth being the saint he is, insisted they get married.”
“Your tone is suggesting you believe your mother plotted the trap.”
“She did!”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because she did it once before, why not try for the second one.”
“Wait what?” Killian’s voice sounded surprised. “What are you saying?”
“My mom isn’t the sharpest crayon in the box. We all know it but she’s beautiful. My grandmother was a single mom and couldn’t give her all the things she wanted, and she resented it. She said she would do whatever it took to find someone who would give her all the things she ever desired. She became a secretary and on her first job, had an affair with her boss and then he ended it. She hid her pregnancy because she was worried, he’d insist on an abortion and then showed up with me on her hip. His family was pissed and offered her money to go. She took it, dumped me with my grandmother before the check ink was dry. She lived well and paid Nan to take care of me. I saw her routinely but mostly it was me and Nan. Then her money ran out and she moved back with Nan and me. She and Nan fought all the time. She started working two jobs just to get away from Nan. Garth was simply a bigger fish than the first guy and she played her cards better second time around.”
“Your mom mentioned to me before, your biological dad, he died?”
“He did. He died before my first birthday apparently. Mom said he was a jerk and frankly, anyone who signs their rights away to their child sounds kind of a d**k if I’m honest.”
“Caris, are you already in pyjamas?” Killian asked suddenly
She looked down at her dress. “No, I’ve taken off my shoes and still in my dress.”
“I know it’s nearly midnight but I’m not ready for sleep and I’m enjoying talking to you. Would you like to come for a drive?”
“Are you still outside my house?” she asked curiously. She had assumed he must have been talking and driving.
“Yes, still here,” the smile in his voice was evident. “I know a diner about an hour away I often go to when I can’t sleep. They make the best chamomile tea and coconut cream pie. We didn’t get dessert. You interested?”
“Sure, I just want to get out of this dress.”
“Yes of course. Wear something comfy.”
She ended the call and moved to her walk-in closet and quickly shrugged out of the dress and hung it up before sliding into a pair of yoga pants and a long sweater and a pair of runners. She moved to the bathroom and quickly removed her make-up and then pulled her hair into a ponytail. She looked in the mirror and pulled a face before heading downstairs and out the door.
She locked up and made a beeline for the car waiting at the end of her driveway. The interior light was on, and he was looking at his phone. When he noted her coming down, he quickly hopped out of his car to open her door.
“You’re quick.”
She noted he’d tossed his jacket and his tie, and his shirt was open at the neck. “I knew you were sitting here waiting.”
He closed the door behind her and then rounded to the driver’s seat. “All set?”
“Sure, do you usually go for long drives in the middle of the night?”
“I have a hard time sleeping sometimes and driving helps clear the mind. Also, this diner makes a mile high coconut cream pie. It’s immense and I promise you, it’s worth the drive.”
“Then why are we still parked?” she teased and then sat back in the seat wondering what the hell she had just agreed to.
- Writer
