Withholding Secrets (12 page)

“Where can she practice?” A thick lump started to fill in my throat. With the cases of the two girls going missing, it was harder and harder leaving Sky alone. Having both kids in activities and separated from each other was going to be hard, but I could do it. Kane was pretty good at keeping a watch on Jordan, and I could talk to him about Sky playing basketball to get a glimpse of how Ben actually was as a person and if I could trust him.

“She can stay after school with Alicia, and I will be there getting things ready. We usually practice from four to five. Then, I can drop her off at the rink when I pick up Andrew.”

I looked at the big smile on Sky’s face and her eyes lighting up. Being friends with Alicia seemed to bring her out of the shell a little more and I couldn’t break her heart and tell her no, she couldn’t have any friends outside of school. But being a parent meant I would have to take some chances once in a while. “You’ll call if you have to leave early so I can—”

“I will, and you don’t have to worry. I will keep an eye on her, and if I have something that I
have
to do, I will bring them both over to the rink where Jordan and Andrew will be.” His eyes were solid with truth, more than I ever remember seeing in Joe’s eyes at all. One of the things, looking back at my marriage now, I should have noticed right away. But being young and falling into a cheap trap, I had to learn my lesson.

“Sounds good.” I had to trust someone, right? And Ben was a single parent with a young daughter, too. Besides, if he was someone who would harm the girls, he wouldn’t be allowed to coach the team.

The door opened, bringing one loud hoot from all the boys at the center table. Kane strolled in, and his eyes shot to me with the anger filling them deep. Since then, while the boys and he worked on the tables filled with pizzas, he hadn’t looked my way since. Then again, he wanted me to give the two kids up and that was not happening. Once I spoke to the bank and demanded they return my money, the three of us would be just fine. And everyone could see what a damn good team we made.

Monday. I just had to wait until Monday and this worry would all be over with.

That damn woman was really getting to me and ruining my life. I checked the bank to make sure the money for the check was available and just as I figured, it wasn’t. I should have talked to her about it, but as I heard a few concerns from the other parents, the kids were bringing her down. I had her signature on the check so I forged her name on the sponsorship paperwork and stuck the money she spent on Jordan’s equipment back into her account. It was the only way I could keep Jordan on the team; not only because we needed him, but he needed this, too.

And then, at the pizza place after the game, she was sitting at the table with Ben Bradford, the farmer who had more money than anyone knew about. Everyone knew he had a pocket full of bills, but no one really knew about the western wealth of oil money that was rolling in behind the scenes.

Maybe that was what she was looking for. A man with money who could bring her out of the penniless pit those two kids were distilling on her. The looks Ben was giving her screamed he was in love with her already, but, then again, Keri was hot as hell and since the day she stormed into my world, throwing her box of colors at me, I hadn’t been able to get her off my mind.

But what guy didn’t look at her while undressing her with their eyes? Some of the players were even talking about how hot she was, and it already caused a big fight in the locker room. Andrew jumped into the middle of it. Andrew; the one kid who barely said three words and he was on Jordan’s side, standing up and protecting Keri’s name.

As my mom told me Thursday night at dinner, I needed to mind my own business and just keep an eye on the kids. And without a damn dime to her name, Keri was way in over her head. If anyone found out, she would have those two taken away in a heartbeat.

I just needed to let off some steam and get that damn woman out of my head. Dressed in my black long sleeved shirt and my pair of dark jeans, I walked into my club, and panties were already hitting the floor. I had been off my game for too long, since the day Keri barged into my office, and I needed to get back on playing the room. There was no way she was going to ruin my life because she wanted to ruin her own with those two kids.

Today, we lost the game, but it was a good loss. Jordan was a little nervous at the beginning when I put him in the net, but after he got a little more comfortable, the kid was on fire. Goalie was a perfect place for him due to the unbelievably quick glove the kid had. Not to count, it kept him out of fights, and with the temper he had, I needed to keep him from the provoking players. I wanted to put him as Andrew’s left wing with the two becoming friends, but I wasn’t sure that I wanted him out of the net with the way he played. We had to do something or we would be out of the playoffs, ending the season early. Only two teams were dropped, and we were in the second to the last place. If we lost the next game, that would put us at the bottom and we wouldn’t have a chance to come back up.

Scanning the Saturday night crowd, I set my eyes on one woman wearing a short skirt and a real low cut top. I winked when her eyes sprung my way, bringing the fire into her core.  That would be the one I released my frustrations on.

All through the night, I kept my eye on her and flirted here and there to keep her interested. Finally, we hit the dance floor and I could tell that she was ready to just leave. After a few more drinks, I allowed her to stick her tongue down my throat as I had her backside pressed against me. Screw Keri and those damn jeans of hers … and those damn colors of emotions she threw at me.

Keri and those damn jeans.
She wore them to the game, and I almost tripped when she bent over to tie her shoelace while waiting for Jordan to get out of the showers. Of course, she didn’t squat like a woman would have, but she lifted her foot to the bench, bending over, molding that denim to that nice round ass of hers … that looked a little smaller than the first night I saw her in those pants. Even her cheeks were a little different, almost as if she lost a little weight.

Pulling back, the tingles ran down my spine and the awaking arousal in my jeans sent an electrifying pulse through me. I hadn’t been aroused all night with the chick rubbing up on me, but thinking of Keri had my motors running and in gear, ready to go for a wild ride.

Keri, the woman who had taken on two teenagers that would end up digging her into a bigger hole. She needed to just give the kids up and get on with her life. She was too young to ruin her life like that.

Looking over to my left, I had a vision of those jeans pushing through the crowd. No. It couldn’t be her. I just needed to get her off my mind. This was getting to be a little too much. I’d never had a woman on my mind like this before … especially one with two kids she shouldn’t have.

“Get the hell off me!” a woman growled sharply over the music. A growl that was all too familiar, and one that haunted my dreams.

It
was
her. Another damn weekend that my aching body wouldn’t get any release. Pulling away from my willing and definite score, I shoved my way through the crowd, following her to the exit. I caught her just as she got to the door wearing that same short, tighter sweatshirt that rode higher on her waist, baring the weight loss with the gap of the jeans and the smooth skin that hid underneath of the denim fabric. Her silvery-gray eyes were shaded, showing off the exhaustion and the rage that was deep inside of her.

“What are you doing here?” I snorted out the words, not meaning to, but if she wanted to have kids, some things would have to be given up, such as partying on Saturday nights. And what was she even doing there when she only had a dime to her name? The sight was clear that all she wanted was to land someone with money. And this afternoon, seeing her with Ben proved it.

His eyes were glued on her, too, when she tied her shoelace. His eyes were focused right there, right on that tight ass of hers. And it surprised me. Ben was just as shy as his son was, and still, he was looking at her. The guy was forty-five and went through a nasty divorce just last year. There should be no way that he should even be looking at a twenty-one-year-old.

“You are the biggest bastard I have ever met!” Snapping her arm away from me, she turned and shoved the heavy door open and stormed out, leaving a whirlwind behind her in her path. Even the stocky, weightlifting bouncer I hired jumped clear of her path.

Biting on the interest that trailed her everywhere, I followed, catching her arm this time and stopping her in the parking lot. Just as she reached for the car door, I pressed my hand to it and held it shut before she could get it and drive off. “You are the one who is ruining those kids’ chance at a good life. If you think that you can land a man with money to support you—”

Her hand came back and cracked me across the cheek, hard enough to sting the flesh. Shaking her hand and rubbing the biting after affect, her eyes were opened wide, not believing what she just did. Trying to pull back her composure and straightening her shoulders, her eyes swelled with tears, glistening under the soft glow of the parking lot lamp. “Stay out of our lives, Kane.”

“Speaking of the kids,
where are they
? Did you leave them home so that you could sleaze your way into having some guy buying you drinks?” My chest tightened as the rage deepened in her. Her fists were balled, whitening her knuckles, and the tears were running down her face with the disgust stealing even more color from her.

“You leave my kids out of it. You leave my kids the hell alone. If you get them taken away from me, I swear, I will bring you down and you will wish to God you never met me.” She drew out her finger and shoved it into my chest. “You don’t know what is going on, so stay the hell out of it and stay the hell out of my account. You had no right to do that!”

“Your damn check was no good, Keri,” I hissed trying to keep my voice low. Removing my hand from the door, I took a step back, glancing over the full parking lot and making sure there wasn’t anyone watching or listening. The last thing I wanted was to have those kids taken away unannounced. “He would have been pulled from the roster. I
had
to do what I did so he could play. But you need to get your shit straight, Keri.”

“You had no right to go behind my back, Kane.” Her voice cracked as she shoved me away from the car, and the tears rolled even faster. “You don’t know anything about us, so stay the hell out of it.”

“You need to listen to me.” I wrapped my arm around her waist and picked her up before she could run off. Knowing the hurricane was brewing inside of her, driving was the last thing she should be doing. And if she was that determined to keep those kids, maybe I was wrong.

“Put me down!” She kicked and wiggled, trying to free herself, but I held her tight to me, though the action in my jeans was beginning to get even more noticeable. She felt so good being so close. Her breasts were pressed tight against my chest, and I could feel her heart banging as hard as it could. The tears were bringing out the soft beauty she already carried by enhancing the curvatures of her face a little more. One large droplet rested on her tightened upper lip, and the hunger to lick it off slammed into me like a train.

“Stop. Just stop!” Pressing her tight to the car, pinning under my body, I leaned in closer to hers and sucked in a deep breath to put the blazing inferno out in my lower stomach. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to devour her, but this wasn’t the time to do so. There wasn’t a time to do so. She was someone who was completely off limits, and I wasn’t about to get involved in her mess. Nor anyone else’s for that matter. I had enough on my plate with my businesses and the hockey arena. “Yes, I did it behind your back, but it was to keep Jordan on the team. They needed the payment and your check wasn’t going to clear.”

“I had money in there, Kane. I had the money in there for that check and groceries.” Her eyes refilled with the water, sending the next round of tears down her face. “They took it out, and they insist that I withdrew it all as soon as it was in there. I am going to talk to them on Monday and get it straightened out.”

Loosening my hold, I still kept her there, pinned between me and the car, realizing just how good it actually felt to have a woman pressed against me like this. And the woman being her. My body was craving her the instant I laid eyes on her. And I was feeling the starvations, but seeing her with Ben really stung. I wanted to be the only one who she was looking at and sitting with and talking to. But, instead of working on getting her to trust me, I was pushing her away because of her situation. Maybe I just needed to back off and help her, instead of jumping on her about the kids. If she was fighting this hard to keep them, then maybe they were better off with her. “Keri, what’s going on?”

“I can’t have them taken away from me, Kane. I can’t let them go back to where they came from. I can’t let them go through anything like that again.” Her resistance lessened as she began to fall to me with the storm releasing its powers and raining down her face. Wrapping my arms around her, I let her cry on my chest while my mind weighed out the situation. I insulted her in the first place, assuming she couldn’t take on the teens. But, my mother did tell me that a woman was more capable of doing things a man really couldn’t. And Keri was doing everything she could to give those kids a good life, better than what my birth parents had given me. “It’s not fair, Kane. I am trying. I really am, but the bank…”

“Just tell me what the issue is and we can work on it instead of fighting.” So, I just backed down like a puppy. Getting involved in her monetary mess was not something I needed to do. There were too many women out there who just wanted to score someone to take care of everything for them, but Keri, more than likely, wasn’t one of them. If she was having issues with her bank, I had a good friend at the head branch that I could make a call to, if needed.

“The bank took all my money. They said that it was withdrawn, but they won’t tell me by who. I don’t know why they are taking my money from my account. We would be fine if they could just figure it out for me. Then, there was a deposit and that was taken, too. When my paycheck went in, it was taken right out afterward.” She pulled back as she wiped the tears off her face. “Someone has access to my account, Kane, but the bank isn’t helping me at all to get my money back.”

“I put the money back that you spent on Jordan’s gear by using the account information on the bottom of your check, but I didn’t take anything out.” Why did this woman have to be my truth serum? I didn’t need to tell her that I put the money into her account. That could have been best left unsaid. The last thing I wanted to make her think while she was opening up to me was that I didn’t think she could do this on her own. She was right about one thing this whole time. I had no clue as to what her situation was.

“Why? I can do this.” Her lips pressed together, leaving a thin ridge for the tears to roll down to her chin easier.

“I filed the paperwork to have the rink sponsor him. Every year, the rink does that because some people just don’t have the extra money. He wants to play, and he has the drive to be great. I don’t want him to lose this opportunity.”

Her body lost all confidence, and her shoulders slumped and the desperation depleted her determination. For once, she wasn’t the strong and independent woman who barged into my office, nor the one who threw emotion crayons my way. This was a woman who was beginning to lose the battles and cowering to the end of defeat. 

“I just don’t know what to do. I don’t know who it’s okay to talk to. I don’t know who it’s okay to let them be around. I don’t know anything anymore.” Leaning against the side of the car, she folded her arms across her chest and the end of the battle was spreading over her high cheekbones and entering into those tender and loving silvery-gray eyes of hers. “I’m not sure I can do this anymore.”