I Won't Give Up on You (8 page)

I suck in a deep breath to calm my nerves. “Sabrina, I’m sorry about this morning,”

“Caston, shut the fuck up and…”

Our mouths collide in a needy, hasty kiss.

“Cass,” she whispers.

“Hum?”

I lean in and place a kiss behind her ear.

“I’m not upset about that kiss this morning.” She leans back and looks me in the eyes. “I know she caught you by surprise and you pushed her off of you after I turned around.”

“But…”

“Don’t get me wrong, I was livid when I stormed off. I couldn’t believe you would do such a thing to me, but when I was talking with Sara, she told me you had pushed the skank off. What I’m upset about is you leaving me this morning when I told you I didn’t want to stay in. It isn’t that I don’t want to, babe, I want to spend every waking moment with you, but I need to get back to some sort of normalcy. I had shopping planned and, well…”

I kissed her lips lightly. “I shouldn’t have left. I was being an ass. You’ve been cooped up for so long that you need this outing with the girls. Plus, I don’t plan on letting you out of our room on our honeymoon.”

She took my head in my hands and turned me to look at her. “Now that sounds tempting.”

Pulling me close, she nips my bottom lip before leaning in to deepen the kiss. Sighing into my mouth, she pulls away again. I groan at the loss, and she chuckles.

“It’s still hard for me to get past this.” She points toward her leg. “After you left this morning, it made me realize this thing isn’t only hurting me and my mental health, but it’s hurting you—us. That’s something I don’t want. I’m going to work on embracing it and moving forward.”

That’s the best thing I’ve heard her say in a long time. Tears begin to fall down her cheeks. I wrap my arms around her and pull her head down to rest on my chest.

Beginning to feel calm again, I stroke her hair and kiss her forehead.

She shifts to look at me and quietly asks, “Cass, why are you questioning meeting your mom?”

My heart begins to beat erratically. Withdrawing from our embrace, I set her to my side. Quickly getting up, it’s my turn to pace the room.

Sabrina stands up and walks over to me. Wrapping her arms around me, she snuggles into my back. My breath calms immediately. I move her to stand in front of me. Cradling her to my chest, I kiss the top of her head. My heart hurts, it’s so full of love for her.

“Bre, I need to talk to my dad about Rose before I talk to Detective Alverez. I want to hear it from him. I’m guessing he knows more than he’s let on. I guess, I just don’t understand why she—they—would keep it from me.”

She looked up at me, her hazel eyes sparkled. “Okay, Caston, maybe you should have a guys’ night with Jon and your dad to talk it over.”

“That sounds like a good plan. Thank you.”

I kiss her again, never getting enough of her.

“How soon are you leaving?” I manage to ask between our kisses.

She steps back quickly. “Oh my God, now!” Her voice is full of life, and I know, even though she doesn’t want to admit it, she’s excited to plan our wedding.

I kiss her nose and stroke my thumb over her cheek. “Go, have fun, but we will pick this up tonight when you get home.”

The blush that creeps up her neck is a beautiful shade. I love that color.

I reach down and give her ass a swift smack. “Get going before you’re late. Guys’ night sounds like a fantastic idea, I’ll set it up now.”

“Smack my ass again and I might not want to leave this office,” she growls into my ear, making my cock twitch.

Reaching my hands down her backside until I have them fully over her behind, I grab and pull her toward me. She slides her arms around my neck, grabbing on to my hair, and we lean into each other again.

A knock on the door separates us from our primal kiss. I walk over and open it.

“Did I interrupt?” Sara says as she wiggles her eyebrows, looking at me and then over my shoulder at Sabrina.

Sabrina slowly walks up behind me and wraps her arm around my waist as she slips into the crook of my arm.

“It’s good to see you both happy again.”

Kissing Bre on the top of her head, I squeeze her shoulder.

“I give Sabrina permission to spend all of our money today, but she won’t do it, so I’m leaving that to you and Beth.” I say to Sara.

“Caston,” Sabrina tries to protest.

I quiet her with a kiss.

Sara starts squirming in front of us. “Damn it, you two, stop it, or I will join in.”

Sabrina blushes. I know she’s just as excited about that option as Sara is.

“Go,” I whisper into Bre’s ear, “I’ll worship your body tonight.”

She heads off down the hall with Sara, and I have to smile because she didn’t grab her crutches.

Taking out my cell phone, I dial my dad.

“Hey, Dad… I’m good. I need to talk to you about something. Can you come over tonight for dinner and a beer? Okay, great. See you then.”

Hanging up, I call Terrance to tell him I’m heading home, and then I make my way to the garage. Thankfully, Terrance had moved the bike after I got in, so I didn’t have to go deal with the paparazzi again.

A few hours have passed, and I’m sitting on my couch mindlessly flipping through the channels while waiting on my dad to show up. I’m already tense and unsure how this is going to go. The weather outside has dimmed, there’s a storm on the horizon.

Hearing the front door open, I mute the television and reach for my rum and Coke.

“Hey, son. How’s it going?”

He walks over to the bar in the corner and pours himself something.

“Where’s Jon? I thought he was coming.”

“Nope.” I said as I take another drink.

“Something the matter, son?”

I look over at him slowly. Taking another drink, I size up how this is going to go. Terrance is already stalking back and forth in the other room, I can see him out of the corner of my eye.

“You could say that.”

He still doesn’t have a clue that I’m upset with him.

“Something wrong with BH? Please, tell me it’s not with Sabrina?”

I get up and walk to refill my drink. Turning around I rest my back on the bar. “So, Dad, tell me about my mom, Rose.”

He immediately tenses, but he shakes it off. He smiles at me, “What do you want to know, Cass?”

“How about how she died.”

“Caston, I’ve told you this all before. She was on her way home from work. It was dark and rainy. A car was speeding down the road and hydroplaned. It lost control and jumped the curb hitting her. Thankfully she didn’t suffer because she died immediately. I paid for her burial. It was a just her and me, very intimate.” He takes a huge gulp of his drink.

“Bull shit, James…”

His head snaps toward me. “Don’t talk to me like that.”

Glaring at him I walk over toward the couch. “But it is, isn’t it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I think you know exactly what I’m talking about, Dad.”

His mouth drops open, and he blinks a few times.

“How… what do you know?”

“I know she’s alive. I have a meeting with Detective Alverez tomorrow to find out more, but I’d like to hear it from you.”

He takes a deep breath and stares at me as if he was lost in his thoughts.

“I want the truth, don’t fucking try to come up with some lie. I think you owe me this.” I slam the glass down on the table in front of him, making him jump back.

“Okay. Caston, sit, please.”

I back up and sit in the chair. Leaning forward, I rest my elbows on my knees and wring my hands over and over.

James backs up on the couch and takes a drink. It was slow and painful waiting for him to continue. Right now I didn’t even want to call him Dad. Who lies to their son their whole life? Fuck, he would leave me with Beverly for days on end even though he knew she was crazy.

“Your mom is still alive,” he says quietly.

“No shit, Dad… Tell me something I don’t know.”

“God, Caston, I am not sure where to start. This has been killing me, since the day I told you she was dead.”

“Really, James?” I get up in his face and grab his shirt, “Fucking start at the beginning.”

Terrance appears in the doorway behind my dad. He’s tense, not sure how I’m going to react. Crossing his arms over his chest, he watches me closely. Knowing he’s going to be there to back me up, I loosen my grip and shove James back onto the couch. I sit back on the chair and go back to wringing my hands.

A bead of sweat appears on his brow, and he puts a finger in his shirt pulling it away from his neck as if it is choking him.

“Okay, Caston. Please, settle down. Just let me start off by saying I–we–never meant to hurt you. We were only trying to protect you.”

“Let me fucking decide that.”

“Okay, okay.” He holds his hands out if front of him to try to calm me. “You know your mom and I had an affair before you were conceived. Beverly never knew, or so we thought. I was days away from filing for divorce. That was the night we had the party and she pulled me into the room for a threesome. I froze when I saw the third was Rose. She looked surprised herself. I wasn’t sure what to do with both of them together in the same room. I mean Rose was Beverly’s sister, so we’ve been in the same room, but never for this type of situation. I tried to play it off the best I could, focusing most on Beverly, so she wouldn’t be wiser. Afterward Beverly fell asleep, Rose moved over to my side of the bed she was panic-stricken. She was crying about how she had gotten a note from me to meet in my bedroom, but to come in the back door because there would be a party. She said that she never questioned it until Beverly had walked in with me. I tried to soothe her, telling her everything would be okay, but I didn’t understand how this happened. I didn’t send her a note.”

He paused. Agitated I want him to continue. Slamming my hands down on the table besides me. “I know this shit already! Damn it, James…”

He started talking quickly now. “Beverly woke up and smacked Rose off the bed, hitting her multiple times before I pulled Beverly off of Rose. Beverly freaked the fuck out, spouting all this shit she had on me and Rose and how she would ruin us. I was terrified for Rose. Beverly was crazed, I’d never seen her this bad before. Rose was so scared on the floor, cowering in the corner. Beverly and I had it out, screaming, yelling, and hitting. Rose suddenly started getting sick and bleeding. Terrified I scooped her up, leaving Beverly without looking back. I rushed her to the hospital. I stayed by her side the entire time. That’s when we found out about you.”

“But, you told me you never knew about me.” I whispered.

“I know, Cass, I’m so sorry.”

“Whatever.” I look away from him.

“You were just a little bean.” He reached forward to try to touch my leg.

“Don’t fucking touch me.”

He pauses. “I decided that moment that I was going to leave Beverly. Getting Rose settled into the hospital for overnight observation, I headed home to finish the deal. When I got there Beverly was sitting on the floor in the bedroom with Jon in her lap. Thankfully he was sleeping, but she was rocking him with a butcher knife in her other hand. A fucking butcher knife! The look in her eye was ruthless, she told me every little dirty detail she had on me, all the blackmail she would ruin me with. I panicked. I’m so sorry, Caston. I couldn’t let my business and everything I worked so hard for go to shit. Plus, she was the one that had the money to begin with. She funded my ventures. I had to do what she said. Not to mention she had a fucking knife threatening Jon.”

He shakes his head and rubs his forehead. “I got her calmed down and vowed that I wouldn’t leave her. I had to lay low for a week or so. I wanted to make sure Beverly believed me. When I went back to Rose, she was missing. I was frantic and went to her house looking for her. Her house was empty, like she was never there. They said she’d moved out. No forwarding address, no contact information. Her phone number was disconnected. I looked for her for years. I begged Beverly to give me her contact, I just knew she had something to do with her disappearance, but she always played the innocent. I just wanted to know about you, and I was worried about Rose.”

Looking over at me he had the saddest eyes, but I wasn’t falling for it.

“Four years later, Beverly handed me an address. I wasn’t sure what it was, it was in the bad part of the city. I had all but given up until Beverly handed me that paper. Beverly told me I should go to that address today. My heart was in my throat when I walked up to that door. I was shocked when I got there. She was living in poverty. There was no food. She was crying. Rose hid you from me that whole time. I was furious with her. That’s when I took you, brought you home to live with me, Jon, and Beverly. At the time I couldn’t understand why Rose wouldn’t try to contact me for help. Beverly took you right in and said that she was so happy to have another son, and she’d love you as her own. I fell for her lies… again.”

I look into his eyes. “You fucking left her.”

Snapping his head back up to me he glares at me. “Would you fucking let me finish? You are the one to who wanted to know.”

We stare at each other for a few minutes in silence. His chest was rising and falling quickly.