His Dark Desires: A BWWM Billionaire Romance (6 page)

I
shoved
the last of my clothes in the suitcase. I would live out of my car if I had to. I knew that space at my sister’s was limited, but she would let me stay in a crunch. Once I had everything in my bag, I made my way down the stairs.

I could still hear Kristin screaming at James, and I had a little moment of satisfaction, feeling like a part of me was living vicariously through her. When I got to the bottom rail, I heard someone come bounding down the stairs.

“Oh, you don’t have to go anywhere, sweetie,” Kristin snapped at me cynically. She turned around to face James who was looking down at us from the top of the stairs.

“He’s all yours!” And with that, she spun on her heels and stormed off, making her way out the kitchen door and back to her pool house. I turned to look at James, my suitcase still in my hands.

“Audrey, baby,” James started. I pursed my lips and followed in Kristin’s footsteps. “I can explain!” James thundered down the steps and placed a firm grip on my shoulder.

“Audrey, for crying out loud, would you please give me a minute to explain?”

“Oh,” I snapped. “I think everything is crystal fucking clear.” I flitted my head and walked off.

“Despite what you may think, not everything is black and white, Audrey.”

I paused to listen to what he had to say.

“I’ve been through hell with her. There’s a lot I haven’t told you because I was trying to protect you. Protect you and the baby.”

When I looked at James, his face was drawn. He looked exhausted for the first time ever.

“Well it looks like your plan backfired. You failed, buddy!”

James’ whole body sagged. I could tell my words hurt him deeply.

“I can see that now,” he replied. “There are many things I should have done differently. I’m trying like hell to protect Kristin’s emotional state of mind, and trying to keep you safe and happy, especially now that your family has given you the boot. I’m literally juggling two swords here, and there’s just no way to keep juggling without someone getting cut.”

“Yes. And that someone is me and Kristin. Funny how you seemed to have come out of this completely unscathed. Did you plan that?”

James held his hands up.

“No, I didn’t. I would have
much
preferred that I get hurt and spare you and Kristin. Sweetheart, will you please sit down and let me fill in the blanks? If you still want to leave after that, I promise I won’t stop you, okay? Will you do that for me, baby girl?”

Damn that asshole. I melted the instant he called me that. I had no will power over those words. I set my suitcase down, walked to the French doors, and leaned against the glass, peering out at the sun reflecting off the pool water. It blinded me, but it felt good. I wanted to be blind to everything right then.

“Kristin has suffered physical complications from her alcoholism. Her doctor thinks she has a condition called Korsakoff’s syndrome. I’m not quite sure how serious it is at this point, but I’m trying to get her stable, and get her help.”

“What exactly is that?” I asked softly.

“It’s a type of cognitive disorder affecting the memory. It’s technically caused by a severe lack of Vitamin B, but most people who suffer from it abuse alcohol excessively. So, what I’m saying is that I did tell Kristin about us, but it was before I knew about this disease. They stabilized her at the hospital last week, and they have her on vitamin therapy. I tried to get her immediate treatment for the alcoholism, but the best I could get her to agree to was a two-week program.”

I felt awful about how I had acted. Why was I always jumping the gun like that?

“I’m sorry, I had no idea things were that bad,” I replied, turning to James and waiting for him to read me the riot act for being such an insensitive jerk.

“It’s okay, baby. I never told you. I realize now that I should have.”

“Wait a minute. If she didn’t remember you telling her about us, then how did she remember seeing me in the kitchen that day?”

James shrugged his shoulders. “Your guess is as good as mine. That’s the thing with this disease. You might remember something perfectly from your childhood, and yet be completely clueless about winning the lottery yesterday.”

I nodded slowly. “So what’s going to happen? When will they know if that’s what she has, and is there a cure?”

“Well, she has to stop drinking for a couple of weeks for them to do the tests. Which is why it’s so important that she attend this inpatient program. And there’s no real cure, but she can stop the progression if she stays sober and continues with the vitamin therapy. That’s really the only treatment. I honestly don’t know that much about it. My main goal is just to get her in treatment, and go from there.”

I threw my arms around James, feeling horrible that he was having to deal with so much. And I actually felt sad for Kristin, too. It must have been an awful place to be to feel the need to drink so heavily. And then for me to be pregnant on top of everything. It was like a punch in the gut.

James took my face in his hands. “Baby, I want you to know that I’m going to put you first. From here on out. I don’t care what it takes. I’m sorry that Kristin is sick, but she’s made her own choices that have led her to this place in her life. I simply cannot deal with this level of stress anymore. And I will not subject you to my problems. Do you believe me?”

I kissed James and pulled him close to me. “Of course I believe you. And I love you for protecting me so fiercely.”

James and I stood still and held each other for a few minutes. It felt good to feel his heart beating against my body. I don’t know what I would do if I lost him.

“And we’re still leaving for the beach, by the way. I just need to call Kristin’s mom and let her know what’s going on. I think she should come get her so she’s not alone before leaving for treatment on Sunday. I’ll just go check on her, make sure she’s alright?”

I nodded. “That’s a good idea.”

I took my suitcase back upstairs so I could repack quickly. I sure didn’t need to take all my clothes with me. I also thought about Kristin while I was up there. I had a sick feeling that she was not going to cope well with all of this. You know how you get those gut feelings that leave you all twisted up, when something just doesn’t seem right? That’s how I felt.

“Change of plans.”

James was standing in the doorway to the guestroom, wearing a look of disappointment.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Kristin’s missing. And she left this note.”

James held up a white piece of paper. Across the top, written in red ink, was a two-word sentence.

Die, bitch.

M
y stomach churned
as I sat in the passenger seat of James’ car. This roller coaster I was on… well… I just wanted off. How much could I be expected to take? I knew this was equally hard for James. To be such an alpha, needing to be in control all the time, and to be so powerless over this situation. At least he still had power over me. I would do almost anything he asked, and I knew he would do whatever it took to keep me safe.

We arrived at the hotel, and James pulled through the circle drive near the front entrance. After grabbing my suitcase from the trunk, James and I went inside and the valet drove off with the car.

After entering the room, James set my suitcase on the bed.

“Your only job is to get your suitcase unpacked and hunker down. You are not to go anywhere beyond the front lobby. I don’t even really want you going there, but I know you’ll get antsy if I forbid it.”

I sat on the corner of the bed and glanced out the window that overlooked a dying field.

“What about you?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve contacted the authorities. And all I have to do is get a few things from the house and I’ll be right back. I shouldn’t be more than a few hours.”

I huffed out a breath. “I still don’t understand why you couldn’t get what you needed before we left.”

James sat next to me on the bed. “Sweetheart, like I explained, I wanted to get you out of the house asap. I also want to check out a few places I think Kristin might be hiding out, and I definitely don’t want you with me for that. Just stay put, watch some tv, and I’ll be back before you know it.”

I didn’t want James to leave me alone. I was sick with worry. He had said that he wasn’t sure just how volatile Kristin was with this disease. He didn’t know enough about it, or her overall condition and state of mind, to know for sure what she was capable of.

“Alright,” I grumbled. “But if you’re not back in three hours, I’m going to go looking for you.”

James glared at me, and I knew I had overstepped.

“Okay, okay,” I said. “But I
will
call you. Very harassingly until you answer.”

James laughed and kissed me on the forehead.

“My love, I will anxiously await your harassing phone call in three hours exactly.”

I smiled as he stood up off the bed. Before leaving the hotel room he looked at his watch.

“It’s eleven am. I’ll call by one o’clock and let you know what’s going on. Order some lunch from room service. Whatever you want. Tonight I’ll get us some filets, sound good?”

I fell back on the bed, my arms spread-eagle style. “Sounds heavenly,” I sighed. I heard James chuckle and then the door closed behind him.

O
ne-fifteen
…

I paced across the room again, chewing anxiously at my fingernails. That was one thing that drove James nuts. He’d always slap my hand out of my mouth and I would pout. Then he’d start tickling me and I’d laugh till I cried.

I looked at my watch again, wondering if I should just go ahead and call him. I knew there was probably nothing to worry about, but I was still learning that delicate balance between listening to my gut and avoiding the whole melodramatic thing.

I could send a text. Yes, that’s what I’d do. He did say that he would call at one, so it was his fault for falling down on the job.

I picked up my phone and sent the standard
How’s everything going
message and went to the bathroom. Phones were like pots of boiling water: a watched phone never beeps.

I came out of the bathroom and checked the screen. Nothing. After fifteen minutes of mind-numbing channel surfing, I sent another text.

Still nothing ten minutes later. My mind went through all the possibilities. He had found her and they were talking and he didn’t want to be interrupted; he had dropped his phone under the seat and couldn’t find it; he was still in the house and had left his cell in the car; he had been kidnapped by Kristin and her band of terrorists, and they were going to threaten to bomb all of downtown until I was hunted, captured, and killed.

See how crazy my mind gets? Why couldn’t he just call me and let me know what the hell was going on?

I went down to the lobby and looked out into the parking lot to see if his car was there. I don’t know why I thought that was a possibility, but I did. The lady at the front desk asked me if I needed anything.

“Thanks,” I replied. “I’m just waiting on my boyfriend. He seems to be delayed.”

She smiled and nodded. I really wanted to get out and walk, go hunt his ass down. But I did tell him I would give him until 2:00, and it was already 1:50. I went back up to the room to wait out what would surely be an infinite ten minutes.

When I picked up the phone to call James, I got an incoming call from him. A wave of relief washed over me, and I answered frantically.

“James? Thank God! I was getting worried. You were supposed to call me at—”

“This isn’t James,” a woman’s voice came through the line. It sounded like it could have been Kristin, but I wasn’t sure.

“Who—who is this?” I asked, fearing that something horrible had happened.

“If you want to know who this is and what’s going on, meet me at the diner on the corner of 5
^th
and Maple. One hour. Sit at the bar and I’ll find you.”

And then she hung up. If that was Kristin, she sure sounded calm. James had told me to stay put. I was torn. I mean, if something was seriously wrong and James was hurt, I needed to know. He hadn’t called me like he should have, so there was definitely something amiss.

If he had just left his phone somewhere and Kristin found it, and this was a ploy to hurt me (she
did
make a death wish on me, after all), I was putting myself at risk. And it wasn’t like I could call James because he obviously didn’t have his phone.

Damn it. What would he want me to do?

Then it occurred to me. I could call the house phone. It was a long shot to think that he was still there, but it was the only shot I had. I swiped my screen and dialed his home number.

After four rings, the machine picked up. My attempts at reaching James were becoming more and more futile. I was going to have to meet this mystery person. Find out once and for all what was going on.

I opened the drawer next to the bed and took out the hotel’s pad of paper. I wrote a note to James explaining that I had tried effortlessly to contact him then told him about the phone call I had gotten and where I’d be.

On my way out the front, I asked the woman at the front desk to relay a message to James if he called.

“Tell him I’m at the Coyote Café downtown with Kristin, and to please come and get me.”

I then stood by the front doors and waited for the cab I had called.

Once the cab dropped me off at James’ house, I did a quick hunt around the property for any signs of him. His car wasn’t there, but I didn’t knock on the pool house. I knew if Kristin was there, he wouldn’t want me confronting her. I jumped in my car and headed downtown for the diner.

When I went inside, I made a beeline for the bar and ordered a sprite. I desperately wanted an iced coffee, but I had totally eliminated caffeine from my diet. What I really wanted was a shot of whiskey, but that was not going to happen.

According to my watch, I had five minutes before I’d reach the one-hour mark.

But one hour came and went, and no mystery person came and sat next to me. I started thinking that I was the brunt of some cruel joke, and I was getting angry that my emotions were being toyed with. I wanted this game to be over once and for all.

I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I couldn’t just sit there. I decided to call the hotel and see if, by any chance, James had called or showed up.

“Gatlin Hotel, how may I help you?”

“This is Audrey Braxton, room 913. I left earlier and spoke with one of the staff up front about leaving a message for my boyfriend?”

“Yes ma’am,” the woman said. “That was me, and as a matter of fact, he’s standing right here.”

“Audrey?” James said into the phone.

“James! What is going on? My God, I’ve been worried sick about you.”

“What are you doing at the Coyote? And what’s this business of Kristin being there?”

“Didn’t you get my note?” I asked.

“Audrey, I just walked in here. I haven’t seen any note.”

I explained the phone call to James and that I had just assumed it was Kristin I was meeting.

“That wasn’t Kristin who called you,” he said.

“How do you know? What is going on, James?” I demanded.

“Baby, I don’t know who called you, but I
do
know who has my phone.”

“That makes no sense, James.”

“Just come back to the hotel and I’ll explain everything.”

Well, I wasn’t totally satisfied, but I was relieved that James was at least okay.

“I’m on my way.”

I hung up and paid the bill, tossing a few ones on the counter. I was in a hurry to get answers so that James and I could just spend the weekend relaxing.

On the way back to the hotel, I sat at a stoplight, wondering about Kristin and if he had at least found her. Why hadn’t I asked? I guess I was too pre-occupied with wondering who the hell had stolen James’ phone.

My light turned green and I pulled through the intersection. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a car barreling towards me.

I remember the impact.

And then I remember nothing but darkness.