Kade (NSC Industries) (16 page)

“No. Listen to me, please...”

What the hell? Or rather who the hell?

“Please, just please.” She ran her hand through her hair
in distress and rolled her head round her neck. Her anguish was screaming
loudly from her and whoever was on the other end of the phone was not conforming
to her instructions, “Fine, fine, five thousand.”

She rubbed at her forehead and sighed heavily as she
ended the call, dropped the phone on the floor and smashed it under her foot
before picking up the pieces and dropping them into the nearby bin. She turned
and paled when she saw me watching her but then straightened her back and went
to walk past me.

“Whoa, hang on.” I snatched hold of her arm and pulled
her back harshly but she yanked her arm back and glared at me.

“Did your mother never tell you it’s rude to listen in on
other people’s conversations?” She spat angrily as her chest heaved with her
fury, however I didn’t relent as I stepped into her and backed her up against
the wall.

“Didn’t yours tell you it’s rude to not include people in
whatever the fuck is going on?”

I was furious with her. What the hell was she up to? And
behind my back come to that. It was obviously something bad if she had to use a
burner and bury it after.

“What the hell was that all about, Beaumont?”

“That” she hissed through her teeth as her eyes fired
heatedly, “was nothing to do with you.”

I snorted and pushed her further into the wall. “Don’t
fuck with me Grace; I’m not a good person to be fucked with.”

She laughed sardonically, her sarcasm flowing out in
waves of antagonism as she smirked at me. “Oh and how you have proved that time
and time again.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

We were drawing a crowd as our voices rose and our
argument filtered across to the ears of the bored travellers waiting for their
coffee to be served.

“Oh come on Kade, you couldn’t even defend yourself
against a sixty year old woman. You have been saved from death how many times?
And always by someone else.” Her eyes dropped to the scar running my neck and
she scoffed loudly, “but you step up to the mark for Mrs Fox don’t you. Have to
show
her
how much of a fucking hero you are!”

“Nice, Beaumont. But until you know the story, keep your
vicious judgments to yourself. No wonder your fiancé fucked your best friend,
the relief to screw someone warm and affectionate was too great a temptation
after you.”

I wish she had laid me out or at the very least shot me
through the head because it wouldn’t have hurt as much as the expression on her
face did. My heart dropped through my stomach and I swear it leaked out of my
arse and fucked off because if it had stayed the ache and pain on her face
would have torn it apart viciously.

“Grace… I…”

She shook her head marginally and took a deep stunted breath
before turning her back on me, “We have to go.”

She spoke so quietly, I almost didn’t catch it but I
sliced my teeth through my bottom lip as her shoulders slumped and she dragged
herself across to the car. Various heads turned to watch her but she didn’t
seem aware as the trail of sadness that followed her pushed her forwards until
she just about fell into the car.

I finally moved when I heard her fire the ignition but I
made sure I picked her fallen pride up off the ground before I climbed back in
with her.

***

The journey back to London was fun. She didn’t speak,
even when I tried to apologise. She just leaned forward and turned the stereo
up louder. I couldn’t feel more of a bigger dick if I’d murdered some child’s
bloody puppy.

I frowned as we turned onto my street and when she pulled
up outside my apartment I finally turned to look at her with wide eyes. “What…
what are we doing here?”

“You live here.” It was said bluntly without any emotion
but she still didn’t look at me as she killed the engine and waited for… me to
get out I presumed.

“Beaumont, I can’t… They’ll kill me.”

“I’ll sort everything out.”

“What the hell? How can you sort it out?” I pressed. I
wasn’t sure if I wanted to shake some sort of reaction from her or take her and
hold her close to try and alleviate some of the hurt I’d delivered.

“How did you know about Brady?”

I closed my eyes and willed us not to get into an
argument as I wasn’t sure which way it would go when I decided to be honest. “Mason
told me.”

I watched the jerk in her throat as her distress took
even more of her damaged pride but she just nodded. I turned slightly in the
chair so I was facing her but she tilted her head towards the window and
focused her attention on something in the park opposite.

“Ava was just worried about you Grace, and Mason was
being his usual charming self and giving me a warning, that’s all. He didn’t
tell me to hurt you; he was just worried I would…” I exhaled heavily, her detachment
was frustrating and I had to fist my hands to stop myself from grabbing her.

“You would what?” she urged absentmindedly as she shifted
in her seat and straightened her back but continued to gaze out of the window.

“Well, he was worried I would add to your upset by being
an arse, which of course wouldn’t even be possible for me.” It was meant as an
attempt to lighten the mood with a joke but she didn’t laugh as she slid her
hand down her leg.

What the hell was she doing?  I watched in silence as she
slipped a knife from her boot and flicked it so it was hidden under the sleeve
of her top and then secured her other hand over the gun she had tucked in the
back of her jeans.

“Listen to me, Kade. I told you I was going to sort out
this mess and I am but you need to adhere to what I’m going to tell you
exactly
.”

“Oh fuck, not again. I told you we shouldn’t have…”

“Shut – the – fuck – up!” she demanded as she lifted a
hand to the window and a man who seemed a little familiar stopped in his tracks
and stared at Grace through the window of the car from across the street. He
seemed to frown in confusion at first then his eyes widened and he appeared to
groan in either acceptance or relief, I couldn’t tell which.

“You need to go inside and let me deal with this.”

“What? No fucking way!” I scoffed as I reached over and
grabbed her arm. She turned so sharply I didn’t have chance to react before she
had the back of my head slammed against the car window and a hand around my
throat holding me down.

Fuck, she was strong.

“I asked you to respect what I told you to do. For once
in your damn life, if you want to live, you’ll do as you are asked!” She wasn’t
showing anger, but her beauty was flawed by what appeared to be worry, “I will
deal with this. You do not fuck with this man, Kade. Do you understand?”

“I won’t let you do this Grace, not for me.”

She bit into her lip in frustration and squeezed her eyes
shut in annoyance as the driver’s door opened and the man leant in. “Come on
Kid, I haven’t got all day.”

Holy Shit! It was the guy from the nightclub. The same
fucking guy who was currently trying to kill me.

“Just give me five, Grant.” Grace requested with her jaw
clenched but he laughed loudly and mockingly.

“I presume you are exchanging?”

“Yes” she replied frankly and I stared at her.

“Exchanging what?”

Nothing was making sense and I glanced from Grace to
Grant as though the reason for all this bullshit would be written across their
foreheads. He smirked at me, his jaw moving rhythmically as he chewed his gum
cockily, “Awww, do you not understand the rules of the game, Mr Hamilton?”

Grace eyed me and I read the warning she gave me within
them but I wasn’t taking this crap, I wouldn’t let her exchange her money for
my life.

“You don’t need to take Grace’s money. I have some, you
can have that.”

His eyes widened sharply as Grace’s closed in distress before
he laughed so loudly and heartily that I jerked back further into the door in
alarm. “My God, Kid, where the hell did you find this one?” He barked to Grace
before his eyes moved back to me and he beamed at me with glaringly over-white
teeth, “You think she’s exchanging money for your life?”

I shrugged at him. The twat was a complete moron but I
didn’t voice that opinion. I sagged as Grace sighed and let me out of her hold,
yet her gaze held me for a moment too long and the sadness that they conveyed ripped
hard inside me. Something was seriously wrong but I couldn’t ascertain what it
was as I took hold of her hand, “Grace?”

She smiled softly before she leaned in and pressed her
lips to mine. The passion and sorrow in her kiss stole something away from me
as she communicated everything in one short but deep moment. She pulled away,
secured my gaze for a second then turned to Grant, “Okay.”

“Grace!” I shouted as she climbed from the car. I was
fighting with the seatbelt in my desperation to get out but Grant leaned in as
Grace walked away.

“Don’t mess with me again. People in my circle don’t give
a gnat’s gonad about money. We don’t trade in pounds. We don’t exchange cash
for a life.”

I frowned at him and shrugged as the illegible twat
smirked again. “We trade in lives, Mr Hamilton. The divine Miss Beaumont has
just exchanged her life for yours. Now that’s what I call love.”

My lungs shut down, my whole body turned to ice and my
heart juddered to a stop as my brain established what he had just said. I
stared frozen and motionless with an open mouth at him as he winked and shut
the door behind him. My eyes watched whilst my body remained static and inert
as he trotted up to the side of Grace and took her arm in his grip. She scowled
and shook him off, causing his head to fling back in a deep laugh before he
grabbed the back of her neck in a cruel hold.

I suddenly snapped into action and managed to release the
lock of my seatbelt before I scrambled from the car, my palms hitting the
pavement in my frantic attempt to catch them.

“GRACE!”

She turned, her face showing her displeasure but I
carried on running towards them. She shook her head rapidly and mouthed ‘No’
but I kept on going, my legs shaking and trembling as I tried to reach her.

“NO!” she shouted and I looked up from where I had fallen
to the ground in my frenzied effort to stop her. My breath caught when I
watched her draw her gun alongside Grant and point it at me. “I told you no,
Kade. Why the fuck don’t you ever listen to me?”

I stilled as both guns trained on me. Grace’s small
pistol aimed lower than Grant’s slightly larger firearm which was targeting my
forehead. I looked at her, my eyes narrow and stern as I shook my head, “I
won’t let you do this, Beaumont. I’ve already proved that you won’t shoot me.
No way are you giving him your life in exchange for my bullshit attempt at
existence.”

Grant looked at her and shook his head in exasperation,
“You either do it or I will. Please let me Grace, I really have an aversion to
this annoying arsehole and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to let
you play out your life like you were meant to.”

She shook her head at him, aimed and locked my gaze. The
remorse and grief held in her eyes brutalised my soul and broke my heart as my
lungs grasped at whatever oxygen they could get a hold of in my disbelief and hopelessness.

Her lips moved and I dropped my eyes to read the words
that left her mouth.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered as she pulled the trigger.

“Do you have to be so bloody unpleasant?” I groaned in
pain as I took the Codeine from Grant and shoved it to the back of my throat.

“Oh come on Kid, business is business.”

“Christ Grant, you’re my father’s best friend.”

“Yeah and we had a deal,” he grumbled as he sat on the
bench beside me. “You should know by now, word is word, Grace. And you’re lucky
I let you trade your life for a bout with Gina.”

“Like you would ever end me,” I winked cheekily but then
hissed loudly at the pain in my right eye. “She gonna be okay?” I asked as I
watched the two guys working on the tall blond that had, give her her dues, put
up a good fight.

He shrugged blithely and took a cup of coffee from the
plump redhead who held a tray of both painkillers and drinks, then handed it to
me. “You put up a good fight, Kid. Quite entertaining. She’s past her time; I
need a new number one anyway, you up for it?”

I smiled at the medic as he tended to the cuts on my
face. “A couple need stitches, love. You okay for me to do that?”

“Yeah, be my guest.”

He nodded, giving me a cute smile and I whistled as he
injected my poor face with anaesthetic then proceeded to stitch and knot. “We
need to talk.” I said as I shifted my eyes to Grant.

He sighed and nodded. “To be honest, I expected it sooner
than now. We’ll take it in my office but I need to know, do you still have it?”

I nodded then grimaced in apology to the guy trying to
fix my broken face, “Sorry.”

“No worries love, I’m done. You’re good to go but please
sanitize your hands and you need to apply this cream to the bite on your neck.
I’ve given you a tetanus shot, the rabid bitch needs her teeth extracting.” He
glared at Gina as he handed me a tube of ointment then winked and went to help
the other two still tending to Gina.

“Come on” Grant offered me his hand then slid his arm
around my waist to help me to his office when I struggled to walk with the
pain. “You sure you don’t want any more medical aid?”

“No, I’ll be fine.”

He nodded as he settled me into a seat across from his
behind his desk. “Why did you do this Grace?”

“Do what?” I asked in puzzlement as I took a sip of my
coffee and frowned at him over the rim. “Come to you?”