Kane
I stared at Kendall, feeling incredibly confused. She wore way more makeup than last night and was dressed up, but I'd recognize those grey eyes and beautiful face anywhere. “Kendall?” I mumbled, bewildered as to why she was here and confused as to why James called her Raina.
“Do you know each other?” James asked, looking back and forth at us.
“We met last night at a bar and umm …” I cleared paused clearing my throat which it had suddenly gotten very dry. “It doesn't matter…” I offered, hastily shaking my head before turning my attention back to Kendall, “What are you doing here?”
“I'm working,” she whispered, looking incredibly pale, almost faint.
“What do you mean you're working?” I asked, still not quite knowing what she was talking about. From what James told me this party was for politicians, lawyers, legal lobbyists, “You said you were in sales? Kendall, what's going on?”
She glanced around at us, clearly uncomfortable, “For the sake of this evening, please call her Raina,” James requested, also looking around to ensure no one was listening.
“What do you mean, 'call her Raina'? What the hell is this? What's going on? How do you two know each other?” I demanded, feeling a spike in my temper. I was no longer stunned but angry, and I didn't like feeling like I was missing something.
“First off please lower your voice. Secondly,
Raina
…” he offered emphasizing the name, “Is my friend and companion for this evening. In order to protect her identity and safety we do not use her real name, okay?”
Okay? Was he kidding, no this was not okay! I have no idea what was going on here! “If she's your date why would she say she's working?”
“Because she
is
working,” he replied awkwardly, offering her a small, encouraging smile, “She works as a companion for evenings such as this.”
She works as a companion? He could dress it up all he wanted but that sounded an awful lot like a hooker to me. I was stunned into silence at the realization. Well holy shit, she's a prostitute. “Are you telling me Kendall or fucking Raina – whatever the hell her name is – works as a prostitute and you've paid to screw her?” I asked, feeling both stunned and betrayed as I turned my focus back on to her, “How could you not tell me you're a whore?” I hissed at her angrily, watching her expression go from upset to insulted in two seconds flat.
I didn't care that I'd insulted her; this whole scene was too much! I'd felt like a jerk all day worrying that I may have hurt her or that I let the girl of my dreams slip away only to find out that she's a hooker and she's getting paid to sleep my brother. What the hell?
Kendall
I stared at him in disbelief as his insult felt like he'd just slapped me across the face. How dare he act so high and mighty? He didn't know me and he had no right to pass judgment on me. “First off, you can wipe that look of indignation off your fucking face. I don't make it a habit of telling every guy I meet about my business.”
I took a deep breath, trying unsuccessfully to calm myself before beginning again, “James and I go way back and he clearly stated he paid for my company. There was no mention of sex, you asshole. Not that it's your business, but I come to these parties and converse with people and help James. I never lied to you, I said I was starting a new profession and I meant it.”
“What do you want a fucking prize or something?” he asked, flabbergasted, “You lied to me. Had I known what and who you are I would have never associated with you. And please spare me the bullshit about not sleeping with clients. I'm not an idiot, I know what an escort is and what they do,
Raina
.”
“Listen, I'm sorry if you're upset but, I didn't lie. We never even got around to last names last night! I didn't know you were James' brother!” I offered, a little ashamed that I'd spent the night sleeping beside this man and I didn't even know his last name. “The fact is that I never lied to you. I told you as much as you needed to know, and besides, it's not like you've been so forthcoming with your life story, so save the dramatic outrage. And not that I owe you an explanation, or that it's any of your business, but I don't make a habit of screwing all my clients, or random guys I meet in a bar for that matter. Now I'm sorry if you're angry or disgusted or whatever, but this is not the time or place to have this discussion.”
I could see James looking at us both finally piecing together how we knew each other. “Well hell, my bad, the next time I meet a woman in a bar I will have us exchange our life stories to make sure I'm not about to screw a prostitute. Then again, you did go home with me last night, so I should have known better.”
“Oh really? That's how you're going to play it? I'm the slut for going home with you? You came home with me, remember? So save it, Kane! You're no better than me. And FYI, we never had sex so you can go fuck yourself.”
“Well that's the best thing I've heard so far. You know what, I shouldn't be surprised you know my brother so well, considering you're both whores,” Kane spat as his nostrils flared with anger. I couldn't help noticing the hint of sadness in his eyes though.
“That's enough, Kane. Do
not
call her that. You have no right to pass judgment on others without knowing their stories or their struggles,” James said, placing his scotch glass down on the railing before taking a protective step closer to me.
Kane's face quickly shifted to full on rage. He looked as though he was ready to murder James, and I had a bad feeling about what was about to happen. “You're going to defend her and talk to me about not passing judgment on others and their struggles. You don't even know me and my struggles and I'm your brother!”
“I know that, Kane and I'm truly sorry. There are things that I'm not –”
“For years I dreamt up different scenarios about what you'd become and why you left me. I convinced myself that you were Superman. In my mind it was the only explanation that made sense for why my only family would leave me. You can imagine my great disappointment when I finally found out at eighteen that you'd abandoned me to become a prostitute,” Kane stated, cutting James off.
“That's not fair, Kane, I tried to take care of you after our parents left us, but I was young and barely out of high school with no job experience and no money. For a year I worked two minimum wage jobs. I was never home and I could barely make enough money to pay the bills and put food on the table. Then one night, I delivered pizza to a woman and she changed everything for me. She gave me a job. Granted it wasn't a life I was necessarily proud of, but I was finally able support us and I was even able to enroll in college. But between school and working my days and nights were so hectic and I was never home to take care of you. You deserved better than that, you deserved people who were there for you. You deserved a proper home. Having to give you to strangers to take care of you was the hardest thing I have ever done, but I promised myself I would work for a few years, finish school and come back for you. I did that, I went back for you, but by then it was too late. You had a life beyond me, a good life, and I couldn't take that from you.”
“Leaving me with strangers does not mean you gave me a home! You had no right to make that decision for me! You were the only family I had and you left me. Do you have any idea how hard that is for a kid?”
“Kane,” James whispered, taking slow, shallow breaths, “I'm so sorry. Maybe it was the wrong decision, but back then I thought I was giving you the chance to grow up in a better place. I wanted to make something of myself, something you would be proud of. I contacted your foster home once a month to check on things and gave your foster parents money to help take care of you, but they weren't sure you could handle me being around too much. That day when you found me asked me who Tyler was, I knew I failed you and I was ashamed of myself. I'm sorry Kane but I can't go back. We can only move forward,” James said, squeezing Kane's shoulder, trying to offer some kind of comfort to him. Kane stood motionless for a moment before angrily walking away, disappearing from the balcony inside the hall.
I'd never seen James look so depleted. “Are you all right?” I asked, putting my wine glass down on the terrace railing and approaching him. I placed his hands in mine, searching his brown eyes for a sign that he was okay.
“Yes, I'm all right. I wish things were different. I wish I had done things differently, but damn it I can't change that now,” he offered, roughly removing his hands from mine and rubbing his face in frustration.
“James, you did what you had to do. Right or wrong, you made the best decision at the time based on the information you had. Kane is a smart man, and although he might be an asshole, he will come around eventually. Right now his emotions are dictating his actions, which I image is challenging and somewhat foreign to him given his line of work.”
“His line of work?” James asked curiously. “What do you know about his line of work?”
“Not much, just that he's in the military. If I had to guess, though, I'd say SEALs, Special Ops,” I offered confidently; I'd deduced his profession from the way he carried himself and the way he was so evasive about his work. Aside from that, his eyes seemed almost haunted — like when someone has seen things that are life changing in the worst kind of way.
“I know he doesn't talk about his work and from the little I know about him I'm guessing he isn't a 'pillow-talk' kind of guy, so why would you guess that?” he inquired curiously, which told me I had obviously guessed right.
“Oh, James, I'm hurt,” I teased faking outrage to lighten the mood, and was relieved to see a smile tug at his lips, “For over seven years it's been my job to read people and uncover things about them that they might not want me to know. As you know, it's the best way to stay one step ahead them which better ensures you're giving them exactly what they really want and need. It's just good business sense for repeat customers. You're not the only one who's good at their job. Besides, I did learn from the best,” I smirked, gently bumping my shoulder into his.
“You most certainly did,” he chuckled. “I always knew there was something special about you,” he frowned, “I'm really going to miss you.”
“I'll be around from time to time; I just won't be getting paid, that's all,” I laughed, picking up my wine glass and taking a big sip.
James and I glanced inside the ballroom at Kane, who was tensely standing at the bar sipping his beer. “James, how did Kane find out about Tyler? You told me you covered your tracks after you left this profession.”
“I did cover my tracks,” he said with an audible sigh. “At least I thought I did. I knew I wanted to be a politician before I quit being my escort alter-ego Tyler, so I did things to protect my identity. I had some minor cosmetic surgery done to alter some of my features in hopes of minimizing people recognizing me. I graduated top of my class from law school, I made the right friends and I thought I was safe. Kane tracked me down when he was eighteen. At the time I was working for Senator Johnson. The senator happened to be very close friends with one of my former female clients who'd put in a good word for me. My former client came by to meet with the senator about some charity event she was organizing at the same time as Kane came by. I innocently introduced them and that's when it all fell apart. She made the mistake of saying something along the lines of 'I could have sworn he was Tyler, I mean you'. It was a stupid mistake, but it was damaging.”
James picked up his glass of scotch and took a long sip before he continued, “It was true too, at first glance, that Kane looked so much like my former self it had even taken me some time to get used to. No one but Kane and I heard her say it, I prayed he would just let it go as some innocent comment, but he kept asking about it throughout our lunch. When I tried to shrug it off, he knew I was lying and kept telling me that my face gave me away. After I returned to work he waited for my ex-client and asked her questions about Tyler. For whatever reason she assumed he knew about my past profession. Kane confronted me that night. I can still remember the look on his face and the disgust in his voice before he left. He joined the Navy a week later and for years we had no contact. I started reaching out to him just after meeting you, hoping we could try to mend our relationship. We exchanged the odd correspondence, but if tonight provides any indication, it's not looking promising that we can have an actual relationship.”
“Well this certainly turned out to be a much more awkward evening than we're used to,” I joked before picking up my own wine glass and draining it.
“You're telling me!” He snorted. “Bad enough to have a brother who hates me, but a brother who hates me and who knows your date
personally
is a new one, I must say.”
“We didn't sleep together. Well we did technically sleep beside each other but we didn't
do
anything,” I rambled, feeling all kinds of confused. I'd been so angry with Kane this morning, but right now this morning was the least of our worries. To make matters worse, I clearly hadn't imagined the connection Kane and I had. He'd call me his dream girl. Kane had me totally enchanted last night, and yet here we were a day later, both livid and disgusted with each other. “I need another drink,” I announced after a few moments of silence. James nodded and we quietly walked back into the ballroom.
“I should go talk to him,” James stated hesitantly as he watched his brother drinking at the bar. I couldn't decide if he was making a statement or asking a question.
“James!” A deep voice called from a few feet away. The voice belonged to Dylan Richton, chair and host of this fundraising event who also happened to be a drug lobbyist. Sneaky how these event work out; you can look like a saint while furthering your other interests. Dylan approached and it looked as though he was in the mood to talk some business. That meant James would be trapped for a while.
“Dammit!” James groaned looking incredibly torn. He was here to work and as much as I knew he wanted to run to Kane in hopes of fixing things, this really wasn't the time or place for them to try and mend their now incredibly strained relationship.
“Listen, you go deal with Richton. I'll check on Kane and once you're done we can leave. You and Kane should talk, and sooner rather than later is probably for the best,” I insisted, hating that I'd just offered myself up to go and talk to Kane, who was currently the last person on earth that I wanted to converse with. Truthfully, the feeling was probably mutual.
James hesitated, looking over at Kane again. “Okay, fine. Thank you. I'll send my staff home and I'll be done here in twenty minutes tops. Just please just keep him here.”
I sighed audibly as James walked away and I wished so badly that I could go with him. A wave of anger and anxiety flowed through me as I approached Kane.