Exposed: Book 2 MAC Security Series (2 page)

I wiped furiously at my face, not caring that I had probably smudged the makeup that Kitty had spent so long putting on me.

I’d been through worse. Physically.

But my heart was breaking. Breaking so much more than I ever thought possible.

“Kay?” I jumped at Luke’s voice, spinning around while scowling at him.

“Jeez, Luke, you scared me!” Huffing, I turned back around and studied the lights straight ahead of me.

I didn’t want to talk to him, I didn’t want to talk to any of them. I watched out the corner of my eye as he sat down and rested his arms on his knees.

“You shouldn’t be out here alone,” he murmured.

I blew out a breath, not wanting to answer him.

He knew, they all knew and none of them had thought to tell me. I felt betrayed. Kitty had the opportunity to tell me several times, and now that I thought back to our conversations, I was sure that there was at least one time that she was going to.

“Kay?” I shook my head and pushed up off the grass, about to walk away. Seeing him lift up at the same time. “Come on-”

“No!” I stepped back, crossing my arms over my chest. “You knew-”

“Darlin’.” He reached out to me, stepping back another step, I refused to let him touch me. “Wasn’t my place, Kay.”

I looked away, watching the lights as they sparkled off the water, mesmerized by the way they twinkled and getting lost in my thoughts.

I’d never felt like this about anybody. Ty made things better, easier. He made me whole, but now I was broken in two. I desperately wanted to talk to him, but I couldn’t get the image of his face out of my head.

The way he looked at her like all of his dreams had just come true.

He never looked at me like that.

“Come on,” Luke said as he placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. “Let’s get you home.”

“I don’t have a home,” I whispered.

Turning to face him, I looked up into his ice blue eyes. So much softer now than they had been the first time I’d met him. His blond hair was a mess of waves from him running his hands through it and his face was full of concern.

“Luke?”

“Yeah?” He frowned.

“What’s wrong with me?”

“Darlin’…” He lifted his hands to my face, his fingers curling into my hair. “Nothing is wrong with you.”

“Then why?” I hiccuped a sob. “Why is this happening?”

He shook his head, shuffled closer and whispered. “If I had someone like you, I’d never let them go.” His thumb swiped away a tear that trickled down my cheek, “Don’t cry darlin’.”

“I…I…just…”

“I know,” he said, pulling me into his chest. I burrowed closer as he wrapped his arms around me, letting the tears soak into his t-shirt.

It wasn’t the same as when Ty held me, but it still made me feel safe. Ty made the butterflies take flight and he had this one place, just in the crook of his chest, that seemed to fit my face perfectly, kind of like a jigsaw being put together.

Luke’s one hand rubbed up and down my back while his other hand gripped the back of my head. After several minutes, I finally got my sobs under control.

Pulling away, he placed a kiss on the top of my head and smiled down at me. “Let’s get you home and to bed, yeah?”

“Yeah,” I whispered, and smiled up at him.

“You better take your Motherfuckin’ hands off her!”

We both spun around, surprised.

“Boss-” Luke didn’t move an inch, still keeping me safely tucked under his arm.

“Get. Your. Hands. Off. Her.” Ty thundered, clenching his fists at his sides.

I noticed his unruly hair and his shirt that was no longer tucked into his dress pants. Those few feet that stood between us felt like miles, it was almost like I didn’t even know him.

“Kay?” Luke looked down and me with a raised brow, silently asking me what I wanted to do.

Shaking my head, I turned into Luke “I want to go back.”

Luke nodded, his arm slung over my shoulder, steering me away from Ty.

“Sweetheart?” Ty whispered as we walked past, holding his hand out in the air.

I stopped; looked at his hand and followed the path up his arm, the collar of his shirt and up to his eyes. They begged me to stay. I rubbed my chest, not wanting to feel what I was feeling right now; they sang their way straight into my heart in a way that I never thought was possible. I was about to move toward him when the light caught his shirt and sat there, on the collar, was lipstick.

The exact shade that she was wearing.

Flicking my eyes back to Ty, I let him see the hurt that he had caused.

This was so much worse than what Max had caused.

I could heal from the wounds that he gave me, but this? This was something I wasn’t sure I could heal from.

For the first time, I had given my heart over, completely and freely, and he’d taken that and shattered it.

Four years.

That’s how long it had been since I had seen her face.

I can remember the day like it was yesterday. How she walked in with her arms full of shopping bags; spending my money again as if nothing had happened.

As if it was the same as every other day.

But it wasn’t, and she saw that as soon as she walked in the door and saw my face.

I knew where she had been and what she had done but I was too late to stop her.

Little did she know, that I had connections everywhere. It wasn’t like I had her watched, because believe me, she was only ever in two places. Spending my money in a bar or spending it on the strip of shops in town.

And now she was here. Standing in front of me, as if none of that had happened. Pretending that she hadn’t ripped my chest open, hurting my heart so much that it would never beat the same.

Frozen to the spot, I couldn’t move, she was meant to be the other side of the country. Definitely not standing three feet away from me.

“Did you miss me, baby?” she cooed, leaning closer to me.

“What the hell are you doing?” I growled.

“I think you have missed me.” My stomach turned as I watched her lips pout. To think I used to love those lips, love the way she pouted them but now they made me feel physically sick.

Pulling away from her, I raked my eyes up and down her body. She hadn’t changed one bit, still dressed in designer clothes with her hair and makeup done to perfection. There had been a time when I would have wanted to rip that dress off her, now I couldn’t even stand the site of her.

Her red painted fingernail ran along my neck as she moved closer and before I could pull away, she was targeting my lips.

“What the-” Pulling away just in time, she only managed to connect with my shirt.

“Aww, come on baby. For old times’ sake?”

“Not fuckin’ likely.” Spinning around, I went to grab Kay’s hand but all that was left was an empty space and Daley watching the interaction with narrowed eyes.

“Don’t go!” she said in a whining voice, causing everyone around us to look our way.

“Dude, I didn’t know she was your wife.” Daley held his hands up in the air, his face as white as a sheet.

“She ain’t my wife,” I growled at him.

“That isn’t what the law says, baby.” Shaking my head, I searched the room, not being able to spot Kay anywhere.

Dammit! I shouldn’t have taken my eyes off her.

“She left,” Daley murmured.

“Fuck!” Running my hands through my hair, I tried to listen on the ear piece, but with the thumping of my heart, I couldn’t hear a damn thing.

“You don’t want to go home with that mousey girl,” Serena sneered, coming up behind me.

My nostrils flared as I turned back to face her. Taking two big steps I got as close as I could without physically touching her. “You listen, and you listen fuckin’ good,” clenching my fists, I backed away a step. “You stay the fuck away from her, and me.”

She opened her mouth to reply but I didn’t bother waiting around for anything else that she had to say. Instead, I pushed through the growing crowd and headed straight out the door. Taking the stairs two at a time, I scanned the area for Kay, it’s not like I could miss her in that dress.

That beautiful dress that showed all of her curves and soft skin.

“She went that way,” one of the valet guys said pointing to the green. Nodding my head in thanks, I jogged in the direction that he pointed.

She shouldn’t be out here alone, not when we still haven’t found that dickweed. Ripping the ear piece out, I shoved it in the pocket of my pants and pulled my shirt out as I went.

My breaths came faster the longer I looked for her, I had to find her. My head swiveled all around, searching for her. I squinted at something in the distance, spotting two shadows, I moved towards them.

Two bodies came into view; I knew it was her straight away from the way my heart started to pound in my chest. I walked faster, not being able to see who she was stood with.

“Let’s get you home and to bed, yeah?” I heard Luke say to her. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that it was only him. Then it registered what he had said.

“Yeah,” her soft voice answered him.

Coming to a stop, I tried to hold my temper in. He held her in his arms, the same way that I held her. His hand woven through her soft hair. Then she smiled at him, one of those soft smiles that she does so often. I could never get enough of that smile. But I hated seeing it aimed at him and not me.

“You better take your Motherfuckin’ hands of her!” My hands were clenched at my sides, partly to stop myself from hurting him, but also to stop me from grabbing her away from him.

I was constantly thinking about the way that I touched her, there were times when all I wanted to do was throw her over my shoulder and lock us in my room. But I had to keep reminding myself that she was fragile, that I had to take my time, be patient.

I watched as she turned into Luke, her soft voice telling him that she wanted to go. That killed me even more, I should have been the one that she turned to like that. Not him.

I held my hand out as she walked past, letting my walls slide down so she could see the truth. I only ever did that with her, no one else got to see me unguarded.

But for her, I would do anything. From the moment she stepped foot into my office, I knew that she was mine and that my life would never be the same again.

For a second, when she stopped, I thought she’d come over to me. But her eyes moved down to my neck, I saw the hurt in her eyes for a moment, then she put those shields back up and walked off, leaving Luke behind.

“Give her some time,” he murmured.

“Fuck.” I scrubbed my hands down my face, not wanting to let her walk away but knowing that I needed to. For now.

“You watch over her, Luke,” I scowled at him.

“I will, boss.”

Tilting my head to her, he took that as his queue to leave.

She may have thought this was the end but it was only just the beginning.