Turn On A Dime - Kade's Turn (9 page)

“Of course I eat!” she quickly replied. “I just haven’t been to the store lately, that’s all.”

Right. And the three hundred dollars in the bank account had to last until her next paycheck, which wasn’t for two weeks. Why exactly hadn’t Blane given her a raise or something? She obviously wouldn’t take money from him, but Blane could’ve put through a jump in her salary. It’s the least she deserved for putting up with all this shit.

Of course, Blane had never had to worry about money, had never lived paycheck-to-paycheck where you had to decide whether you wanted to eat or put gas in your car. It was fortunate for him, but meant money wasn’t something he really thought about, which was
un
fortunate for Kathleen.

“Come on,” he said, grabbing his jacket. “I know a great breakfast place.”

Kathleen seemed good with that, getting her coat from the closet and was shrugging it on when the phone rang. She picked it up.

“Hello?”

Whoever it was must’ve been someone she knew because rather than saying she was on her way out, she sat down on the couch.

“It’s good to hear from you! How are you doing?”

Shit. Looked like breakfast would be delayed. Kathleen glanced his way and he rolled his eyes to let her know what he thought of having to wait for her to chat on the phone. She looked away as she listened so Kade sauntered over to the Christmas tree. Damn, she had a shit ton of those ornaments.

One caught his eye while he listened with half an ear to the conversation. A gold locket. Taking it off the branch, Kade popped it open to reveal a picture of a man and woman standing in front of a fireplace. The woman looked too much like Kathleen to be anyone other than her mother, and Kade remembered his file on her. Both parents deceased.

“Five thousand dollars! For what?”

That caught his attention and Kade listened more closely.

“Why so much? Why now? It’s been weeks.” She was quiet again, then let loose a high-pitched “What?” that made Kade wince.

“That’s a ‘good offer’?” she asked.

Kade abandoned any pretense that he wasn’t listening, now watching Kathleen closely as she talked.

“Um, okay…Yeah, sure…Thanks for letting me know, Gracie. I’ll talk to you later.”

Gracie. The prostitute Kathleen had shacked up with that night she’d run away from Blane’s. What the hell did she want?

“Who was that?” he asked once she’d hung up.

“Gracie. She said that I…owe…Simone five thousand dollars and if I don’t pay, she’ll send someone to collect it. Simone said I could work it off by meeting some guy at the Crowne Plaza Saturday night.”

How cute. She was too embarrassed to even meet his eye when she said
work it off
.

Simone was a practical businesswoman, so the phone call and attempt to collect wasn’t that far out of the realm of possibility.

“I fail to see the problem,” Kade said, which was obviously the wrong thing to say because Kathleen got pissed pretty damn fast.

“Of course you wouldn’t. Just another day in the life, right? You think I sleep around already, so why not get paid for it?”

If only she
was
the kind that slept around and not one of those women who thought sex should mean something. But the fact that she was certain Kade thought she was a slut made him feel like a shit, so he lashed out.

“I meant that I’m sure Blane will pay whatever the cost to make sure you don’t have to fuck somebody on Simone’s orders.”

She winced and Kade wanted to kick himself. Blane was right. Was it impossible for him to go for a week without being a total dick to her? She didn’t deserve it. It wasn’t
her
fault Kade couldn’t get her out of his head.

“I’m not asking Blane for that kind of money,” she said with a firm shake of her head.

Kade snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not like he doesn’t have it.” But she only shook her head again. Her pride, Kade was sure, was getting the best of her common sense at the moment. He could relate to that. But come Saturday and the threat of becoming a prostitute in actuality, she’d see sense.

“I thought you were hungry,” she said, getting to her feet and obviously changing the subject. “Let’s go.”

But Kade still held the ornament.

“Your parents?” he asked.

“Yes.” She took it from him and carefully replaced it on the tree.

Kade knew more about Kathleen than she realized or would no doubt want him know. Thinking he might let something slip if he didn’t have her tell him herself something about her history, Kade asked, “Where are they? Where are you from, anyway?”

“I’m from Rushville, Indiana,” she said. “And they’re no longer with me.”

The note of sadness in her voice and longing in her eyes as she looked at the picture struck Kade. Why would she let herself show such vulnerability? Didn’t she know that if you showed a weakness, it could hurt you? Caring was like painting a target on your back.

She gave him a tight smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Ready?”

Ready for an entire day in her presence? Only if
ready
meant equal parts anticipation and dread—anticipation because being with Kathleen for such a long period of time made him feel like it was Christmas morning; dread because despite his best intentions, Kade knew he’d fuck it up somehow.

CHAPTER FOUR

It was cold outside but clear, the sun promising to be blinding later as it reflected off the snow. Kade took Kathleen to his favorite breakfast joint off Meridian. Ushering her inside, they sat at the counter and a waitress handed them menus.

One of everything sounded good, but Kade settled on the house omelet. Peering at Kathleen as the waitress waited for her order, he saw her face crease in a frown.

“Um, I’ll have coffee and a plain bagel, toasted.”

Bullshit. Kade grabbed the menu from her. “You can’t live on that,” he said. He couldn’t remember seeing her eat last night. Had she eaten while he’d been gone? “She’ll have…” something sweet and full of carbs… “the croissant French toast. That looks good.” He handed the menu over. “And you know what? Skip the coffee for both of us. We’ll have two Bloody Mary’s instead.”

The waitress left and Kathleen turned to him.

“Why did you do that?” she asked, sounding exasperated.

“Relax. You don’t come to a place like this and just order a bagel. And I think if we’re going to be spending the day together, some booze would help.” Lots of booze would help more, but he was driving, so…

The waitress brought their drinks and Kade discarded the straw before taking a long swallow. He eyed Kathleen primly taking a sip beside him. He wanted to talk to her, ask her more about her past, why she’d come to Indianapolis, what she wanted today, tomorrow, ten years from now—but he made himself look away from her and stay quiet.

Her presence at his side felt comfortable. It felt…right. Kade had been alone for so long through the day-to-day acts of living and working and being—it was almost a comfort to be with someone. He wondered if he was just tired of being alone…or if it was because it was her. She seemed to sense his mood, not trying to fill the silence with idle chatter that would drive him nuts. Seemingly content, she sipped at her drink and people-watched.

The food arrived quickly and Kade dug in. He watched Kathleen surreptitiously as she poured way too much syrup on the French toast and took a bite. Her eyes slid shut.

“Good choice?” he asked, absurdly glad he’d changed her order from a bagel.

She nodded as she chewed, a small smile curving her lips.

Ridiculous, how pleased her happiness made him. God, he must be going soft.

“Want to try?” she asked, piercing another bite with her fork and holding it out to him.

Obediently, Kade leaned forward and ate it, then grimaced. Yeah, he’d been right. “Too much syrup,” he said.

Kathleen laughed, a sound Kade instinctively knew he’d never tire of hearing. “There’s no such thing,” she said, her blue eyes twinkling.

She ate the whole thing, though Kade finished before her. Returning to sip at what remained of the Bloody Mary, she surprised him.

“Why didn’t you come home for Thanksgiving?” she asked.

She wasn’t looking at him, not even when Kade glanced her way, and he wondered at the question. What did she care why he’d stayed away? And how was he supposed to answer that?

I’ve been obsessed with you for months and sitting across a table eating turkey and watching you and Blane be all lovey-dovey and shit was not my idea of a holiday.

“I was working,” he answered. Vague usually did the trick, at least it did with Mona and Blane. The minute he mentioned work, they stopped asking questions.

“Well, you’re going to stick around for Christmas, aren’t you?”

Fuck. He shrugged, but who the hell was he kidding? If Kathleen wanted him there for Christmas, there was no way he was going to disappoint her. Especially when she turned to him, those blue eyes wide and pleading.

“You have to. I know Mona and Gerard want you there and I’m sure Blane does, too.”

Not if he’d known why I bailed on Thanksgiving
, Kade thought. He gave a short huff of laughter, then met her gaze. “And what about you?” he asked, despite the fact that he shouldn’t want to know.

She was so close…Kade’s eyes dropped to her mouth. Shit. She had a tiny drop of syrup on her upper lip, right at the corner. He was struck with an insane impulse to lean forward and lick it from her skin. He doubted she’d appreciate that.

“You have some syrup…” he murmured, reaching out and gently swiping the drop away. Her skin was so soft, he couldn’t help touching her lips. Were they as smooth and silky as they looked?

The satin texture of her skin sent Kade’s pulse into overdrive. Her lips parted slightly and he could just see the pearl of her teeth and feel the heat of her breath.

Dropping his hand, Kade’s gaze met hers. Her eyes were wide and surprised as they stared into his, then she seemed to recollect herself, turning away and taking a deep swallow of her drink.

Kade hid a grin. So she wasn’t unaffected by him. Why that gave him such satisfaction, he didn’t want to dwell on.

“It doesn’t matter what I want,” she said, and it took him a second to remember what question she was answering. “I’m not family. You are.”

Kade went still, utterly taken aback at her matter-of-fact statement. He frowned. He’d told her about his past, sort of, that Blane was his half-brother and Kade the bastard he’d taken in when their father had died. He was blood, true, but…family…that had a whole different connotation. And she’d said it automatically, like it just…was. He and Blane were family.

This was still turning over inside his head when the waitress came with the bill. Kade saw Kathleen reach for her purse, but he preempted her, tossing down some cash to cover it. Not only could she not afford it, if he paid, then technically it was a date.

“Thanks for breakfast,” she said, buttoning her coat as they walked outside.

“Thank Blane. I’m sending him the bill.” Not. He’d taken Kathleen on a date. It was like his own personal secret, a guilty pleasure.

Kade turned toward where he’d parked the car, but Kathleen stopped, her eyes on a store across the street.

“Can you give me a minute?” she asked.

“What for?”

“I just need to go in there”—she pointed to the store—”do some Christmas shopping. Please?”

Ugh. Shopping. Like being tortured, only you paid to do it. But her eyes pleaded with him so, that was pretty much that.

“All right, but ten minutes, tops.”

Kade had no idea what she could possibly be shopping for in an art studio, but she disappeared into the recesses of the store in search of someone who actually worked there. The front of the store was deserted so he killed time by looking around.

Paintings and prints of famous paintings hung on the walls and he browsed. One caught his eye and he stopped.

Picasso. He hated Picasso. But he’d never seen this one before. Entitled
Maternity
, it depicted a woman breast-feeding a baby. She had long, dark hair and her shoulders were wrapped in fabric and she gazed down at her child while he fed. You’d expect her to be smiling, but she wasn’t, not really. Instead, her face was solemn with only a small tilt to her lip, as though she was sad but couldn’t help the bit of happiness inside that being so close with her child brought.

Her expression was so similar to his memory of his mother’s, it rendered Kade immobile.

She’d always seemed just a bit sad, always worrying, but trying not to show it. He remembered dinners of canned soup that they’d split, or baked potatoes. He’d been five when she’d had to leave him alone at night to go to work. She’d put him to bed, kiss his cheek, and tell him she’d be home by the time he woke up.

And she had been.

Exhausted but always wearing a smile, she’d get him ready for school and put him on the bus. Her day job was from nine to three and Kade had no idea now when she’d slept or how she’d kept going. But she’d been determined to keep them off welfare, and she had.

Then she’d gotten sick.

In retrospect, she’d gone awfully fast and Kade wondered if they’d have been able to do anything for her even if she had gone to the doctor. But they couldn’t afford doctor bills or the tests they’d do, and a month after she’d gotten sick, she’d been too ill to go in for her night job and called in. That night, she’d died.

Had it been worth it? Kade often wondered if his mother had thought having him had been worth the price she’d paid. She’d sacrificed her youth—her life—for him. Had she regretted it? Would she regret it if she knew what he had become?

“It’s lovely, isn’t it?”

Kathleen’s words broke through Kade’s thoughts and he turned to see her standing next to him.

No,
lovely
wouldn’t be the word he’d choose. His mother’s sacrifice for him had been stupid. He wasn’t worth it. If not for him, she’d still be alive today.