“He’ll be fine, but maybe he won’t be so quick to smack women around anymore. I bet he got nasty with some girl and her brother and his friends found Aaron and let him know that’s not the way to treat her.”
Gemma and I moved on from Aaron and continued to talk about the wonderful house and how life had finally given us all the blessings we’d always dreamed of having, but I couldn’t get the thought of someone attacking him out of my mind. I ran through every moment since Kane and I began spending time together and couldn’t figure out when he would have found the time to do it, but I couldn’t shake the idea that he had.
Angel and I fell asleep on the couch, but at just after one a.m., I felt a hand shaking my shoulder and opened my eyes to see Kane kneeling down next to me. “How are my two girls doing tonight?”
The kitten jumped down onto the floor and scurried away as I wiped the sleep from my eyes. “I wanted to stay up to see you.”
“I left Samson in charge so I could come home early. It’s only one.”
Sitting up, I worked to focus my eyes. I needed to speak to Kane about my suspicions with Aaron’s beating. “Gemma told me something today. I want to ask you a question.”
He sat back on his haunches and slowly slid his hands up my thighs, smiling that sexy grin that never failed to make me want him. “Shoot.”
His touch made my brain go foggy, and I couldn’t concentrate. “I’m serious. I need to ask you about something.”
Kane stopped his hands’ movement. “Okay. Ask.”
“Do you know anything about my ex-boyfriend getting beaten to a pulp?”
I watched his expression for any sign of his guilt, but his face remained the same as it had just moments earlier. Placid, almost stony. His eyes, soft and gentle as they usually were when we were alone, stared up at me and he said, “I don’t know who your ex is, angel.”
“Gemma told me someone beat the hell out of Aaron and he was injured bad enough he had to be hospitalized.”
“Why would I know about that?” he asked with just a hint of sharpness in his tone.
Placing my hands on top of his on my thighs, I stared down at their size. The hands that cradled my face when we made love and caressed my body to heights of ecstasy were powerful and nearly twice as big as mine. I ran my fingertips over their thick knuckles and imagined the pain they’d inflict when they hit another’s cheek.
“I don’t know.”
“This man beat you, angel. Why would you care if someone did the same to him?”
I lifted his hands from my legs and brought them to my lips. Kissing one hand and then the other, I lay my cheek against his open palm. “I don’t care about him. I care about someone getting in trouble for what they did. Gemma thinks it’s probably his new girlfriend’s brother who did it to let him know the girl had people watching out for her.”
Kane kissed me on the forehead and smiled. “I’m sure she’s right. I wouldn’t worry about someone getting in trouble. Maybe it’s just karma coming back to haunt him.”
I wanted to think that. The thought of Kane harming someone seemed so foreign, even though he’d told me what he did to that man who’d raped the girl he loved. Part of me worried the anger that could make him beat someone so badly would someday be turned on me, but I couldn’t believe that. Whatever he might be to other people, to me he was always kind and protective.
No one would ever be able to convince me he was like the others. Kane wasn’t a bad man, no matter what he did to people who hurt those he cared about.
CASH SAT in his office waiting as Stefan and I arrived and took our seats. The frown etched into Cash’s face told me everything I needed to know about this meeting. Unless he’d somehow fucked everything up with Olivia, he was about to tell us something bad that would affect all of us.
“Jesus, Cash. You look like some disgruntled old bastard. What’s with the face?” Stefan asked as he settled into his chair in front of Cash’s desk.
“I’m not in the mood for your ass busting today, Stefan, so if we can just pretend this is a place of business for a few minutes, I need to discuss something serious with both of you.”
Stefan looked at me for some clue what was bothering our brother, but I had nothing. He hadn’t said anything to me. “Okay. Sorry, Cash. What’s up?”
“Mason. He wants to come by to see what his help is getting him. As if the money we pay means nothing.”
“This guy is a pain in the ass. I’m beginning to think he’s worse than Shank,” I said, understanding Cash’s frustration. We paid him each month. Now he wanted to check out what he was getting for his money? Fucking politician!
“I’m thinking it’s no big deal, guys,” Stefan said in a chipper voice. “We run a great place, so what’s he going to find? I’ll make sure my bartenders serve him the good stuff, and when he goes upstairs, Kane can make sure he gets the show of his life. He’s already a member, so it isn’t like he hasn’t seen what we do. Nothing to worry about, I say.”
Cash’s frown stayed firmly in place. “It’s the fact that now he wants to see about his investment, as he calls it. I just have a bad feeling about him. He mentioned he’s bringing his brother with him, some guy who runs a bar in Bradenton.”
“Manatee County’s finest watering hole?” Stefan said sarcastically. “Maybe I’ll tell the bartenders to forget the top shelf stuff. He probably wouldn’t know the difference.”
“I wish you’d take this seriously, Stefan. I’m worried.”
I knew Cash wasn’t exaggerating. I hadn’t seen him this stressed out since the whole problem with Shank. “Don’t worry. Stefan will do what he always does and Mason and his brother will love the club. Then they’ll come upstairs and my people will make sure this backwater bar owner is blown away by their talents. We’ll take care of it, Cash. You just do your thing and we’ll make Mason happy he’s working with us.”
Nodding, he sighed deeply. “Okay. I just have a bad feeling about this guy. Every week it’s something else with him. Maybe it’s what Olivia said. Maybe I did get too used to dealing with Shank. I hope so.”
“Not to worry, big brother,” Stefan said with a smile. “The March brothers own the best club around.” Realizing what he’d said, he turned toward me and chucked me on the shoulder. “You’re like a March, so it works. We all come from the same sperm, so that makes us brothers, no matter what your last name is.”