Deceitfully Yours (20 page)

Jude

The biggest mistake of my life was holding on to hope when it came to Mason. I
hoped he would change, show some sign of being the brother I always wished he’d be. I guess I was the foolish one for hoping for something I never saw a sign of my entire life. Mason must have hated me from the moment I was born. I don’t remember a time when he didn’t resent or despise me. I’ve spent way too many years trying to save a relationship that was never there.

So as Mason is brought into the police station in handcuffs
, I make sure he sees me. I want him to know I’m through with him, and this time our nonexistent bond as brothers won’t save him. For a man with a brilliant criminal mind, he had to figure I would have more than one copy of the kind of evidence in that file. He must have been so desperate to not have me holding anything against him that he wasn’t thinking clearly.

Mason
gawks at me as he’s dragged past. ”I can’t believe you pulled one over on me, little brother. You’re going to regret this. How are you going to tell Mom and Dad you sent your brother to jail?”

“I don’t care, Mason. Mom and Dad will understand when they find out everything you’ve been up to all these years.”
Gone is the little boy who’d do anything to make his brother love him. No rehabilitation program can wipe away the things Mason has gotten away with. I’ve known for years he was into some serious criminal activity when he tried to use my hotel to cover his money laundering, but murder…I never pegged Mason as a cold-blooded murderer.

“You always thought you were better than me.”

The officer pulls on Mason’s arm to force him to continue walking. Mason glares at me as though he wants to pounce, but relents and walks away.

Knowing what I know now, I wish I had turned him
in a long time ago. As I leave the dark dreariness of the police station and step out into the bright daylight, I feel like a burden has been lifted off my shoulders. The weight of keeping copies of that evidence locked away in a safe deposit box was hefty. The police now have a road map of Mason’s activities and connections, and I no longer have to contemplate what to do with those files. Mason’s out of my life, and Kylie…

Kylie was never who I assumed she was.
She was a liar. Everything about us made sense. She was the one I’d waited so many years for, but her lies were so beautiful. They were built to make me happy, to calm my suspicions until I accepted their beauty as the truth. Because once the truth came out, the ugliness of it all shattered me. I fell in love with a lie and still can’t begin to accept the ugly truth.

********

Footsteps crunch on the gravel next to my house as I sit on the deck looking out onto the lake. I wish whoever is here would just leave me alone.

My dad comes up the stairs
, and I refuse to look at him as he pulls a chair up next to mine. He quietly sits looking out at the lake. “We’ve been worried about you.”

“I’m fine”
It’s been a week since I turned Mason in and I’ve basically stayed secluded in my home. I’ve canceled meetings and handle all urgent work from my home office. I thought I’d feel better after I stop protecting Mason, but I don’t. I’ve avoided everyone from my family because I don’t want to explain how I could do something like this to my brother.

“I don’t think you are. You look horrible, you haven’t been to work, and you’re ignoring everyone who loves you. How much longer are you going to seclude yourself out here?”

I shrug my shoulders.

He sighs then falls silent for quite awhile. When he finally speaks up he asks, “Why’d you keep quiet about Mason so long?”

And there it is. The reason I’ve kept my distance from my family. I don’t want to rehash everything Mason did; I want to forget.

“This is my entire fault,” he says when I don’t reply.

“What? Dad, you know Mason’s always been in a different realm then the rest of us. He could never see how wrong the things he did were, and he’s always hated me.”

“I know
, and I should’ve stepped in and done more, but I thought it was simple sibling rivalry.”

“You couldn’t have done anything to change Mason. I see that now. I tried to fix our relationship years ago
, and Mason put my business in jeopardy.”

“I know
, but if I-”

“He killed a man, Dad!” I don’t need my father blaming himself for a man that was incapable of changing. I’ve accepted who and what Mason is
, and it’s time the rest of the family did as well.

He stares at me speechless.

“Now you know. Mason was not savable, and I let him carry on about his business because he was my brother. He killed a man and made Kylie watch. He’s had a hold over her for years, and maybe it’s my fault. I was the one who could’ve put him away, but I let him continue to terrorize people.”

He rests his elbows on his knees and covers his face with his hand. He takes a deep breath
, then looks at me. “I don’t know what to say. That’s…”

“It’s fucked up, Dad
. That’s what it is. I fucked up, and people paid with their lives. Then I fall in love with the girl Mason sends to con me.”

“She was probably terrified of Mason. It sounds like she didn’t have much of a choice.”

“She had a choice. If she would’ve come to me, I could’ve turned Mason in.”

“And you don’t think she might not have wanted to be the reason you turned your brother in
? You had the evidence for years, and you didn’t do it all that time. It’s obvious to everyone, including Kylie, that you didn’t want to be the one to turn your brother in.”

He’s right. The last thing I wanted was to Have Mason’s shit on my shoulder
s, but now it’s there.

“Maybe it would be good if you talked to her.”

“No. We already tried that. It won’t work.” I don’t need my dad pushing me in a direction that I’m tempted to follow every single day. I get up and walk toward the sliding doors.

“None of us are blameless, Jude. We all looked the other way when it came to Mason. You can’t put all
the fault on yourself.”

I nod my head, but don’t look back as I enter the house and shut the door behind me. At some point I’ll have to talk with everyone in my family, but I’m not ready.

Kylie

Five week
s, three days, and seven hours. That’s how long it’s been since I’ve laid eyes on Jude. I convinced myself I’ve moved on, that my life is great now, but I realize I’ve been lying to myself in order to survive. Jude is sitting less than five feet away from me, and my heart is thudding so hard, I’m sure he can hear its rhythm.

Last month when Mason
was arrested it was a huge shock to Stacia and me. Stacia was the one who rushed home to tell me. Apparently she’d been leaving Mason’s office when the cops arrived. She watched from her car as the cops hauled him off, but we had no idea what was going on. Later that night the news report revealed the police had Mason for money laundering and drug charges after they received evidence from an undisclosed source.

Mason’s plan backfired. If he never sent me in after Jude,
Jude would have never handed in that evidence. I know Jude was holding on to the hope that Mason would change, but it was never going to happen. Mason has no moral compass. He will never redeem himself, because he has no compassion. I wish I could’ve been as brave as Jude was. After Shane died I contemplated going to the police for weeks, but I was too terrified. The moment they brought Mason in for questioning, he would know I turned him in. And if they couldn’t find the body or enough evidence to link Mason to the murder of some unknown man no one was looking for, then Mason would be free to come after me. I was a coward then, and I was a coward now for not telling Jude the truth once I started having real feelings for him.

Stacia and I have been questioned several times about Mason’s dealings. The detectives have offered us immunity to testify against Mason. Shane’s case is now being investigated, but I don’t hold much hope they’ll find any evidence. I hope anything I have to say will put Mason away for a long time because I’m through letting him run my life.

My hand trembles as I pick up my martini. Stacia narrows her eyes and grabs the glass from me before I spill the drink all over my dress.

“Why are your hands trembling?” S
he turns her head to see what’s caught my attention. She gasps then looks back at me with wide eyes. “Let’s get out of here.”

She begins to slide off the bar stool
, but I grab her wrist, shaking my head at her attempt to get me out of the bar. “No, I’ll be fine. Just sit down and we’ll pretend he isn’t here.”

She sits back on her stool with a dry laugh. She knows as well as I do that there’s no way I could ignore Jude’s presence in a room. He commands my attention without even looking my way, but he knows I’m here. I can tell by how stiffly he’s sitting, and the way he’s tapping his fingers on the bar top. He wants to come over and touch me as much as I want to walk past and brush up against him.

His back is to us, but Jax is making no attempt to pretend he doesn’t notice us. He nods at me then smiles when Stacia turns toward him. Jay is sitting to Jax’s left. He leans over and says something in his ear before he gets up and comes our way. I cross my fingers and hope he passes us, but that’s wishful thinking.

“Kylie
, how are you?” he asks, standing with his arms crossed. We both look up at him, but he only has his eyes on Stacia.

“I’m fine. Uh…this is my roommate
, Stacia.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” he says
, taking the free seat on the other side of Stacia. He leans closer to her and begins a conversation I can’t hear over the music.

My attention returns to Jude
, but I didn’t realize he’d spun around and is now staring directly my way. My arm hits my glass as I try to avert my eyes, spilling watermelon-flavored vodka all over the bar. Stacia gives me a look that clearly says,
I told you we should leave.

The bartender appears and quickly cleans up my mess. Jay disappears
, and Stacia eyes me like I’m about to have a meltdown. I know I shouldn’t look his way, but I glance up anyway.

Jude
smiles the moment our eyes meet. God, I missed that smile. The bartender puts a new drink in front of me and points to Jude. My heart fills with excitement but quickly deflates when he gets up, downs his shot, then walks out of the bar.

I’ll never get over Jude Baxter
, and I accept he’ll always hold a piece of my heart. There are some things you give to someone that you can take back when he walks away. Jude just walked out the door with a huge piece of my heart, and he has no idea.

Kylie

“So school
will be opening soon. What are you going to do with your last two weeks of summer?” I ask.

Tyler sits a step below me outside the door to my place. It’s become routine for Tyler to spend most of his Saturdays at my house. He’s become such a permanent fixture
in my life that I can’t remember what it’s like not to see his smiling face every week. If I have to work when he’s around, he usually comes along and assists. Patricia has made sure we bond, and I love her for letting me be such a huge part of Tyler’s life.

“Well
, Mom and I always go away the last week of summer. You know, it’s like my last chance to unwind.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun. I’ll miss you though.” I lean back and rest my elbows behind me.

He looks up at me. “Why don’t you come with us?”

“No
, it’s a family vacation.”

“And you’re family.”

“I know, but I really want you to go and have this time with your mom.” He looks up at me like he’s going to continue trying to convince me, but a shadow falls over us and we both look up.

“Kylie
.” Bradley Baxter’s accent is as perfect as I remember it to be. He just took the calmest day I’ve had since I saw Jude at the bar and flipped it upside down. I can’t handle a conversation with him. My brain is telling me to get up and run inside where I’ll be safe, but I can’t relay the message to the rest of my body.

“Do you have a minute?” he
asks.

“I’ll go watch some TV,” Tyler says, running inside and leaving me to stand alone against another Baxter man.
In his thin navy blue sweater and jeans, he looks too young to be Jude’s father. He climbs the stairs and sits next to me. His arm brushes against mine as he leans back. The silence makes me anxious.

Just say it. Say what you came to say
, then let me move on.

“I just came from having lunch with Jude,” he
finally says. “It’s the second time he’s spoken to me since everything happened with Mason.”

He’s only spoken to his dad twice in almost two months?
I didn’t realize he was avoiding his family also.

“He blames himself. He feels responsible for how Mason turned out and what he’s done to the family and…what he’s done to you. If anything
, I’m more to blame. He’s my son, and I should’ve stepped in a long time ago.”

“No,” I say
, looking him in the eye. “You and Jude are not responsible for Mason. I’ve known him for years, and the things he does are his choice. The things I did were my choice.”

“But I understand why you did them. You’ve seen the ugliest side of Mason
, and you acted in fear. I can understand that, and one day so will Jude.”

“I don’t think that will happen.
He has a right to hate me. I just hope he knows I really did love him.”

“He knows. He’s just stubborn. I tried to talk him into coming to see you
, but he isn’t ready. I hope I knocked enough sense into him to stop wasting time.”

I’m extremely relieved
Bradley can forgive me, but I’m not holding my breath Jude will do the same.

He gets up and walks down the stairs, his hands in his pockets
, then looks back up at me. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry my son terrorized you.”

I nod at him even though I hope he’ll see he’s not to blame for his son’s actions. He smiles sadly
before he turns and walks down the street.

The rest of my day is ruined. I can’t stop thinking about Jude and Bradley and how much Mason has fucked us all. By the time Patricia comes by to get Tyler, I’m sinking back into depression.

*******

One week later Patricia calls to tell me she isn’t dropping Tyler off as planned. “I have a photo shoot for you,” she says.

Something’s off in her tone, and she’s never had a problem with Tyler tagging along with me on my other photo shoots. “When?” I ask.

“
It’s today at the Baxter Hotel.”

“What? No, I’m sorry
, but I can’t do this one. Call someone else.”

“It has to be you,” she says.

“Why? Why does it have to be me?” I’m totally losing it and acting like a raving maniac. I tug at my hair with my free hand, and I pace around my living room.

“Look
, Kylie, I know you’ve had a rough time dealing with your breakup, so I won’t force you to take this job. But we’ve been interested in featuring the hotel for a while now. When you broke up with Jude, I knew this spread would be out of the question for you, but this morning I get a call from Jude. He says he wants you or we call off the entire thing.”

“Why would he want me?”
I whisper, baffled by his request.

“I don’t know
, but if you can’t handle it, then I’ll let him know we’re no longer interested.”

“No…I’ll do it. It’s great exposure for the hotel and a good opportunity for the magazine
also.”

“Are you sure? Because I won’t allow him to play games with you.” She sounds like a mom protecting her child, but I don’t need protection from Jude. If he wants to see me
, then I’ll always be available. I just didn’t want to show up at his hotel after he told me to stay away.

“Whatever Jude wants from me, I’m sure it’s not a game.”

I hang up with Patricia and spend the next couple of hours anxiously pacing my apartment like a mad woman. By the time I get to the hotel, my nerves are frayed.