Gone Too Far (11 page)

“We are going to do everything we can to—”

“That's not enough!” Michael grabbed his father by the lapels of his expensive suit with urgent fists and came to within inches from him. “You've wanted to play God all these years! Now I'm calling your bluff. You have to fix this! Fix it now!”

Steven wrapped his arms around his son and held him tight. Michael struggled against him only a bit. When he stopped, he laid his head on Steven's chest and cried. He cried as he cursed his father and God out loud. Steven didn't say anything. He held his son with the rain falling down on them, and he let him cry, trying hard to keep hold of his own emotions. There had never been a moment in his entire life when he wanted more to be able to say that everything would be fine, that he could take care of it, but he couldn't. There was nothing he could do to guarantee his grandson would get better.

Feeling powerless when your loved ones needed you was worse than death.

 

“What do you want?” Carter asked Avery as soon as he opened the front door of his home.

“Can I come in?” she asked.

“Where is Connor?” He stayed in the doorway despite her attempt to enter.

“Are you gonna make me stand out here?”

“Are you going to tell me why you're here?”

“You know why I'm here.” Avery pushed Carter aside and walked inside.

Carter closed the door. “Avery, I'm in the middle of a lot right now.”

“I know.” She turned to face him. “But you aren't going to just sleep with me and then ignore me.”

“That's very stalkerish of you,” he said. It had been harder than he would ever admit to stay away from her, but Carter had no choice.

Despite leaving her without saying a word after they had sex at Chase Mansion, Carter hadn't stopped thinking of her. It had been a while since they'd been together, and every time was seared into his mind. He wanted her so much, and he hated that he only seemed to want her even more now. He was determined to stay away from her. He knew he shouldn't have done it, but he also knew that having sex with her was what was getting him through this thing with Evan.

“Now I'm a stalker?” Avery laughed, but she didn't think it was funny at all.

Her body was still lit up from their encounter, and she had spent every moment since wanting more. She ignored the rejection she'd felt after they'd made love, because she didn't have the energy to deal with it and didn't want it to interfere with the joy of his touching her, being inside of her. Every moment since, she had tried to tell herself how much of a mistake it had been. She was still married, and Carter hated her, but none of that worked. Her body was speaking louder than reason or right. It ached for that man's mastery over it, and Avery had thought of nothing else.

“I'm not trying to be a problem for you,” Avery said.

“You've been nothing but,” he responded.

She ignored him. “I know you're going through a lot with your family, which is why I didn't call you out for walking away from me after making love to me.”

“Making love?” He smiled. “That's not what that was. It was an emotional release. In fact, I'd say you took advantage of me.”

Avery gasped before laughing. “Only you would think that. Your selective memory is impressive.”

“Sorry, I can't think to say anything is particularly impressive about you, but I don't think you came here for compliments.” He watched her turn, and his eyes went right to her butt—round, firm, and beautiful.

“Like I'd get them from you anyway.” Avery made her way to the living room, knowing he was behind her, watching her. She knew what she had come for, and she wasn't leaving without it.

“I share this home with Julia now,” Carter said. “You can't just walk around here like it's yours.”

“Julia is off with wedding-planning duties, am I right?” She tossed her purse on the cinnabar-finished maple coffee table and sat on the sofa. “She saw fit to blab it to the gossip blogs so someone could show up and take a picture of her picking out silverware.”

He looked down at her. “What are you up to?”

He wouldn't let her take control of him, and he had to get back the mind-set he'd lost by making love to her. “What happened the other day was a mistake, and it's not going to happen again.”

“It was certainly a mistake.” Avery stood up and walked over to him. She stood within inches of him and could feel the kinetic energy from his body make the hairs on her arm stand up straight. “But it will happen again and again. You know that.”

Carter could feel his breath pick up. This was unexpected, and he already felt himself slipping. Damn this woman. “Leave, Avery. I'm busy and I don't have time for you.”

He stepped aside, but she blocked him, looking into his eyes. Thoughts of getting her hands on him had consumed her to the point of insanity. “I know you hate me, but I know you want me. You can deny it all you want.”

“You flatter yourself.” Carter spoke quickly so she wouldn't detect in his voice the weakness he was feeling. “I get everything I want from Julia.”

“Please,” Avery said. “You and I both know what we did, what we've done. Nothing she has given you can compare to that.”

She placed her hand on his chest and slowly let it travel up his shoulders. Just as it came to his neck, he grabbed it and pushed it away.

“Do you think you can seduce me?” Carter asked, angry that she knew she could do this to him. She was right. Nothing any woman could do made him feel the way Avery did. That was only one of the damn problems.

“Yes, I do,” she answered. “If you need to insult me to make yourself feel better or feel more in control, go ahead. All I know is that I have needs, and I've tried to ignore them. I've tried to place them at the bottom of a list of priorities. But now that we've made love again, I can't. I want you, Carter.”

She reached up again, placing both of her hands around his neck. She touched the nape with her fingers, softly, rubbing it gently. When his eyes closed, she felt his body relax and a ripple of heat rush through her.

“What kind of fool do you think I am?” Carter asked with what little shred of dignity he had left. He could feel his groin radiating, throbbing, as he hardened in response to her pressing her soft, curvy body against his.

“The kind,” she answered in a seductive whisper as her body tingled all over, “that wants to feel good in a way only I can make happen.”

Carter could no longer control himself. He grabbed her around the waist. “I may be a fool, but I won't be your fool ever again.”

“Whatever you say,” she whispered as she ripped his shirt open.

 

Sitting at a granite picnic table bench, Kimberly tried to empty her mind as she watched Daniel, only inches away, observe a collection of butterfly paintings. She had spent the whole morning with Evan, reading his comic books to him, because the doctor told her it was possible he could hear her.

Michael had showed up with Daniel in tow, and she took Daniel to the gardens while Michael spent time with Evan. Kimberly wasn't sure what had happened, but Michael was acting different. He had been completely exasperated in the beginning and so angry that she didn't have any use for him and didn't want him around either of the boys in his state. But for some reason, in the past day, he had been calmer and more positive, hopeful. It made a world of difference to Kimberly, who needed every bit of strength he had to help her through this. Their relationship was still something she struggled to understand and define, but right now she didn't care. She just needed him to help her deal with this, and now that he had calmed down a bit, she felt as if he could.

She didn't look down at the ID on her vibrating cell phone, but as soon as she answered it, she wished that she had.

“Keenan, I can't talk to you right—”

“I heard about Evan.”

“Then you know I don't have time to talk to you about anything.” Kimberly looked around to make sure no one was close. There was a couple with their ill son sitting in the grass, out of earshot, and no one else was around.

“I'm sorry for your son's condition,” he said, “but we have an agreement.”

“Are you sorry?” she asked. “Sometimes I think nothing would make you happier than causing Steven pain. You must be happy to some degree.”

“I'm sure Steven is fond of his grandson, but you and I both know that nothing matters more to him than Chase Beauty, and I am counting on you.”

“Just stop calling me,” she said. “I'm focused on my son and getting him well. I don't care about Steven, Janet, or you.”

“Have you forgotten the threat they still pose to you?”

“I don't care about that! My son is in a fucking coma, Keenan.”

“Then it's a good thing I can keep us focused. Now, I've heard that there were some discrepancies with some distribution centers and a factory in Mexico. I need you to find out more about—”

“Stop it,” she ordered. “You want to destroy Steven, do it yourself.”

There was a short silence before he responded. “You don't really have the option of backing out of this, Kimberly. I can expose you to them. Once they find out that you conspired with me, what do you think they'll do?”

“You're not listening to me,” she said. “I don't care. Besides, you would have to expose yourself to expose me, and you would never give Steven the upper hand.”

“Kimberly.”

Kimberly almost jumped out of her seat as she heard her name called. She knew who it sounded like, but she was hoping that she was terribly wrong.

She wasn't. As Janet stood only a few feet from her, Kimberly searched her face for an expression to indicate what she'd heard. Had the person she hated most in the whole world just heard her discussing a plot for her destruction? Where had this sneaky bitch come from?

“Hey, Nana!” Daniel jumped and ran over to his grandmother, who knelt down and picked him up.

Janet kissed him on the cheek twice. She could never get enough of any of her grandchildren, but Evan's condition only brought home to her how precious they really were. They were the family's legacy, and they were her babies' babies.

“Janet?” Kimberly slowly stood up, turning the phone off and stuffing it in the back pocket of her jeans. “How long have you been standing here?”

“You should go to the hotel and rest,” Janet said in the familiar cool tone she reserved for Kimberly.

Kimberly barely knew how to talk to this woman in any way other than screams and insults, but right now she was so happy that it seemed Janet hadn't heard her that she was temporarily speechless.

“Are you listening to me?” Janet asked.

Kimberly looked like Janet felt—exhausted and spent—and despite Janet's intense animosity toward this woman, she had compassion for her. There was something about being a mother that made one ache for any mother who suffered through the illness of her child.

Besides, Kimberly was mostly out of their lives now that Michael had divorced her, so Janet had gotten much of what she wanted. She would never forgive her for the pain she had caused the family, but Kimberly's days as a threat to the Chase family and its legacy were over, placing Janet at ease with the very few times she had to deal with her.

“I'm sorry,” Kimberly said. “What?”

“Go to the hotel and rest for a while.” Janet placed Daniel on top of the bench next to her but still leaned him into her. “I'll stay with Daniel, and when Michael comes down, he'll take Daniel and I'll stay with Evan for a few hours. Then you can come back having rested.”

“That sounds…fine.” Kimberly's relief that Janet hadn't heard her made her agreeable to anything. Besides, she needed to close her eyes, even if only for a few hours. And she would be sure to check that ID before answering her phone from now on.

 

When Avery returned home, she wanted nothing but to kiss her baby and head to bed, but Anthony was sitting in the hallway, making certain that this wasn't going to happen. Guilt assailed her the second she saw the angry and suspicious look on his face. She knew what she was doing was wrong, but as she saw her life laid out before her, Avery convinced herself to ignore it. She was paying the price for her mistakes with Anthony, and she saw no escape from them. Carter was her only chance at a few moments of happiness, and she was going to get them.

“Let me stop you.” She held up her hand just as he opened his mouth. “I know I'm late, but I had errands to run, and I'm not going to explain myself to you.”

“Bullshit,” was all he offered back. “Do you think I'm just going to take your lies?”

“What do you mean?”

“How long have you been fucking Carter again?” he asked with a condescending tone. “Or have you never stopped fucking him?”

“That's enough.” Avery walked by him, but he grabbed her wrist with a grip so tight it made her scream. He pulled her back so hard that she fell to the floor in front of him.

“What is the matter with you?” she yelled. “Are you crazy?”

“You were at his place,” he accused. “I know you were, so don't try to deny it.”

Avery looked down at her throbbing wrist, then back to Anthony. As she slowly stood up, she met his eyes with hers. She could tell from his expression that he wasn't being paranoid. He was serious. He knew.

“Are you having me followed?” she asked.

“Should I be grateful that at least you didn't deny it?” Anthony peered into her eyes with contempt. “I'm trying to figure out who you're making more a fool of—me or yourself.”

“You don't know what happened,” she said, uncertain of where she was going with this. “And I don't appreciate you following me.”

“You don't appreciate it?” He laughed. “You cruel-hearted slut!”