A Tangled Web (Dangerous Secrets) (6 page)

Kent wanted so desperately to hear what she had to say, he had to check his emotions so he could continue speaking as gently as possible.

“I can’t tell you now Kent. We need more privacy.”

Kent got up, ready to take them somewhere else, even if she was in her nightgown.

“No Kent. Not tonight. Can we talk tomorrow? I need to gather myself.”

Kent bellowed on the inside.

“Yeah, sure Kimberly. We’ll meet tomorrow, we’ll talk then. When? Where?”

“Um, well I’ll be home all day tomorrow so can you meet me here? In the afternoon sometime? Like around three?”

“Okay sure.”

“How’s your cheek?”

“I’ll be fine. Thanks for looking after it.”

She lowered her eyes.

“My pleasure.”

Kimberly got up and headed to the door as if to see him out.

As they reached the door Kent turned to face her.

“You sure…”

“I’m fine Kent. Everything is and will be fine.”

She smiled up at him. It was the same kind of smile she had on her face after her checkup at the hospital. Her eyes twinkled and she looked like she had a juicy secret.

“Well okay,” he replied.

He couldn’t help but give her another hug.

They held onto each other for what felt like a welcome eternity. When they finally broke apart, he headed out quickly, ignoring the way he could swear he heard her lips calling out to him. He kissed her on the forehead.

“Take care,” he said, then headed to his
vehicle
.

CHAPTER TEN

As Kent headed home, he thought about how glad he was that Kimberly had called and interrupted his little ‘rendezvous’ as she called it. Truth was, he was having trouble maintaining an erection with Amy. He kept feeling like he was cheating on Kimberly, and her face kept popping into his head. Every time he mentally pushed her away, she bounced back—one way or another. Was she okay? How were things going with the baby? Was she thinking about him? Would she call him soon? How could she just leave him? He kept fighting against himself, and up and down went the flag. By the time his cell phone rang, he realized he was fighting a losing battle with mini-Kent and was only too glad for an interruption.

He also realized that the old player in him was really dead.

He couldn’t just think of that girl as tail. He worried about consequences, thought about how it would affect Kimberly if she knew—not that it was any of her business. Still, he needed even more from the girl herself to maintain his attraction to her.

Kent felt like he had evolved into a hybrid of the Kent he used to be—the hard-edged, sneaky, ruthless player—and the Kent he had become from loving Kimberly, tender and caring. It reminded him of something he had heard on a TV show about water being both one of the softest and most dangerous things on earth.

Kent felt he was closer to a healthy combination of the two Kents, soft and hard—like water.

***

As Kent pulled up to his place, the feeling that had gnawed at him came back. It was as if he knew what Kimberly wanted to say to him, yet he didn’t—it hadn’t yet crossed over from his subconscious to his consciousness. But he was sure there were signs and he could put them together, so he started trying, thinking.

He thought about what had happened tonight, then he thought about the last times they were together months ago. There was something there—but what was it?

Maybe he was too tired; he was coming up blank.

As he entered his room and started dressing for bed, he decided to just let his mind work on it as he slept. He’d see what a good night’s rest brought him.

***

Kent tried not to look at them, looking so happy—the image of the perfect couple—but he peeked anyway, from behind the bushes. Damien wasn’t a bad guy, but
he
was the one who should be with Kimberly—him, Kent Davenport. And she looked so goddamned happy with Damien.
He
should have been the one to put that beautiful smile on her face, not Damien.

Now he was peeking from a window outside the Jordan home, watching the happy couple as they sat on a couch. Kimberly had a big belly in front of her this time.

That lucky bastard
, Kent thought.
He gets to put it on her whenever he likes, be with her, start a life with her, she was carrying his child…

The scene changed.

Kent now watched them through walls outside of a hospital room. Kimberly was pushing, pushing—it was time. She looked into Damien’s eyes…but suddenly it was now Kent she was looking at.

“It’s almost here!” she breathed, squeezing Kent’s hand. “The baby…”

Then she was screaming: “The baby!” as Damien grabbed the child and bolted.

Kent ran after him.

***

Kent sat up, the last part of his dream causing his body to imitate the adrenalin rush in his dream.

What the hell was that about?

He lay back down and closed his eyes, trying to lull his body into thinking it was going back to sleep so he could hold on to the pieces, the details that had started drifting away once he had awoken.

Was he remembering Damien and Kimberly as they were when they were a couple? Maybe, but what was that bit about them being together after she was pregnant? After knowing they’re siblings? And what about him—how come he was stalking them?

Although he did kind of do that at some point while Kimberly and Damien were still together, what was up with him switching places with Damien?

He looked over at his clock. Three a.m.

He continued trying to make sense of his dream until sleep grabbed him again.

***

The next morning, Kent woke up and felt like he had missed something.

Then he remembered the dream. He tried recalling it because he felt there was something important in it—his mind was trying to tell him something. He’d heard something about dreams being answers to unformed questions.
But what question did he not realize he had that this dream was answering? He could hardly even remember the basics of it—something about Kimberly and Damien being together and him wishing it was him instead, and then it
was
him. And then Damien kidnapped her baby...something like that.

Why did he dream about Damien anyway? He hadn’t seen the guy around for a while and it’s not like he was a threat to his and Kimberly’s relationship.

Kent got ready for work.

***

Kent could hardly concentrate fully throughout the morning. He was anticipating his chat with Kimberly and all day it was bothering him. What was it she had to tell him? Was it related to the way she smiled at him at the hospital after her checkup? That smile she gave him last night? Did she just want to declare her feelings for him and want them to get back together for good? What?

With a clear head, even after a not-so-good night’s rest, Kent’s mind went to work trying to figure out what he was missing.

He began remembering little things that alerted him a bit but weren’t significant enough to stand out at the time: that sudden phone call in the night for example—there had to be more to it than she let on. He figured whatever she planned to tell him today, she had planned to tell him at that moment. And as she was already chickening out, she heard that skank in the background.

Maybe it had to do with them getting back together after all, except it seemed weightier…those smiles—they seemed to hold a secret. But what secret could she have? Didn’t she tell him the one and only already? What could be bigger than that?

His mind flashed back to when he asked her about her due date—she did not seem to want to say; in fact, it seemed she tried to stall, but why? Also, she didn’t seem like she was expecting any day now—she seemed quite comfortable, like she had more time. And when he asked her last night specifically about when she was due, she never really answered! What did she say? Oh yes, soon…

Kent’s blood rushed.

The dream was also about Damien though. What could that mean?

Last thing he remembered was him just being a pest…although there was that one time he went too far…

Kent decided to call Damien at work—he had to put his mind at rest somehow.

He dialed Damien’s work number.

“Hey, is Damien there?” Kent asked when the receptionist picked up.

“I’m sorry, he’s not in today. He’s actually on vacation this week. And next week.”

“Oh okay, thanks.”

Kent didn’t know why, but that information chilled him to the bone.

He started thinking about his dream again—he had to be more logical about it.

Clearly it was his memories of him wanting to be with Kimberly and watching her and Damien as a happy couple, right? Reflecting his wish of wanting to be the one to start a family with her. But that couldn’t be it—dreams weren’t about things you already knew, not consciously anyway. They were mostly about feelings, wishes, desires, fears that lived beneath the surface, things suppressed, denied, kept on the back burner. Dreams brought these things to light, albeit in strange ways—ways that could confuse you even further, if you let it. Sometimes, it seemed they even gave a glimpse into the future.

Kent wondered if there was another way he should think about it.

He pushed aside the obvious.
Okay, let’s try this again—let’s twist this as much as we can,
he thought. He decided that one twisted possibility was that he was actually Damien in the dream, and Damien was him.

Kent choked on his laugh because just as he was about to laugh at the ridiculousness of it, he realized it made some sort of sense.

Okay,
he thought,
let’s say it was Damien stalking Kimberly and me, and I was the one with her, making her happy…
Then he started to reject the thought because it got confusing once the baby was brought into it, especially when he and Damien switched in the dream.
Probably because it was actually Damien’s baby
, he thought.
Or
...He started to get excited as another possibility popped into his mind,
perhaps the actual switch was the key to crack the dream’s code! But that would mean the baby was really his…

The thought slipped in so unassumingly, Kent had a delayed reaction quickly strangled by disbelief.
That couldn’t be…could it? I mean why would Damien steal my baby…unless he thought it was his? Besides, Kimberly had said it was Damien’s so unless she’d made a mistake…

Kent had to contain himself—the possibility was driving him nuts. The juicy secret she looked like she was so happy about—that had to be it!
And when I was suggesting to her that she tell Damien because I think a father should know—the way she was looking at me
…He thought about the dream again.
That dream—it was me…
I
was the one by her side, she was looking in
my
eyes…that’s my baby!

He remembered the feeling he had at the end and realized danger could be present.

Kent shot up from his seat.

Screw three o’ clock—he had to see her immediately.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Damien had it together this time, especially now with Luke’s help. He had been watching for a long while and knew the Jordans’ patterns. Right at this moment, Carl and Pat would be at work, and Monique would be in class. But Kimberly would be home. On days like this, after everyone left in the morning, she got up, ate breakfast. Then she’d take a bath, watch a TV game show or two, then start reading or writing for one of her grad classes, breaking every now and then for a snack.

Monique would be the first to come home at around six, and Carl and Pat would follow some time after.

He had more than enough time.

Luke and the men he hired had taken care of everything. All Damien had to do was show up and get Kimberly to go with him, the only part that
wasn’t
planned.

Damien watched her on the monitor as he sat in his car a few blocks away from her home. It was a little strange—she had shifted her patterns a bit. Usually, she would have taken a bath by now.

Damien dialed her phone number.

“Hey Kim!”

“Hi Damien. What’s up?”

“I wanted to talk to you about something—drive with me?”

“Oh I actually have plans pretty soon…”

“Aw sis, come on—it won’t take long I promise! Quick question.”

“Well then ask me now.”

Damien sighed. She sure wasn’t making this easy.

“Kim, I need someone to talk to about this—you said I could talk to you about anything—including my love life!” he said lightly, hoping she’d take the bait. “We’ll just go around the corner, I’ll buy you a quick brunch if you want or whatever. Twenty minutes, tops!”

“Let’s see, I have Kent coming here in about two and a half hours...”

“I need a woman’s opinion Kim. Please help me—I don’t know who else to ask.”

He heard her sigh. He knew he had her.

“Okay Damien. Just let me take a quick bath. How far are you by the way?”

Damien suppressed his laugh.

“Oh not that far,” he replied, “I can be there in ten.”

“Well I better hurry then. See you soon!”

“See you soon,” he replied, feeling satisfied as he watched her on the monitor.

***

“Okay Damien, make it quick! I don’t have much time to spare,” Kimberly said as she got in the car.

“Neither do I sis,” he replied in a way that made her wonder if this had been a very bad idea.

He pulled off.

After a couple of minutes, Kimberly noticed that he didn’t turn towards Candy C
afé
.

“Hey Damien—I thought we were stopping at the café?”

“Oh, well there’s this other place I want to take you to. Do you mind?”

“Well as long as it’s not far.”

Kimberly tried to ignore the feeling of dread continuing to fill her stomach.

***

What the…?

Kent wasn’t sure if he was seeing correctly, but he could’ve sworn the guy driving the black Mazda that went past him going the opposite direction looked like Damien. But Damien didn’t have a car like that, not as far as he knew.

For an intense moment, he wondered if he should turn around immediately and follow the car.

But what if he was wrong? What if Kimberly was still at home?

His brain won over his gut. After all, he wasn’t sure what he saw—suppose the time he spent chasing the wrong car, she was at home and in danger?

He took note of the direction the car was going and sped to Kimberly’s house just a mile away.

***

Kimberly wondered if she was seeing things—was that Kent’s car she had just seen speed past them?

Then she saw Damien pull out his cell.

“Code Blue,” he said lightly into it, then switched it back off.

Kimberly stared at him.

He laughed, looking at her face.

“It’s just a shorthand way of me informing my assistants I’ll be a little late getting back to work. I didn’t plan to see you today at all,” he said.

Kimberly wasn’t buying it. Something definitely felt off—had been feeling off for a while.

***

Larry put away his cell.

Code Blue,
he repeated in his mind. Someone was on their tail. Time to find him and take care of him.

***

It took Kent a minute to arrive at the Jordan home.

He pulled up, hopped out and pounded furiously on the door, alternating between ringing the doorbell and shouting Kimberly’s name.

There was no answer.

He knew right then that his first instinct about the Mazda was correct.

He hopped back in his car, speeding in the direction he had seen the car going.

***

“Okay Damien, you want to start to talking to me about your situation? What did you want to ask me? And can you please slow down?”

“I was just trying to get this done quickly since you were in a rush and all…”

“You know Damien, on second thought, forget it. Just take me back home. I really don’t have time for this. And you’re scaring me. I mean, I’m pregnant for Christ’s sake.”

Damien neither slowed down nor changed his direction. Instead, he replied:

“Kim, you really look beautiful as you are right now. You’re glowing!”

She paused.

“Okay…”

“When are you due again?”

“About two weeks Damien.”

“You sure?”

“What the hell do you mean if I’m sure? Of course I am!”

“Just asking.”

“Damien, why aren’t you turning around?”

“I thought it was sooner for some reason.”

“Damien…”

“Kim, did you ever wonder if we were actually brother and sister?”

“Damien?”

“I mean, suppose it was a setup or a mistake—we would have wasted all this time when we could’ve been together.”

“Damien please stop talking like that—you’re starting to scare me…”

“
Scare
you?”

Damien turned towards her so quickly with such an insane look in his eyes and intensity to his voice that Kimberly was indeed terrified out of her wits.

“Kimberly I love you!” he said, then turned his eyes back to the road.

The feeling of dread that had started in her stomach now engulfed her entire being.

***

Kent gained on the Mazda quicker than he expected but out of nowhere a car came and slammed into his side.

“What the…”

He turned to look at the car and driver.

They were both unfamiliar, but by the look on the driver’s face, dead set on running him off the road.

***

“Damien,” Kimberly began in a timid voice, “what is it you want?”

“You Kimberly, you! And that baby. We’re going to be a family.”

Kimberly closed her eyes and breathed deeply as one hand rested on her stomach.

She tried to hear Mozart in her head.

***

Kent put up a good battle, but the guy was clearly an expert. There was even a car bumping him from behind.

He couldn’t beat them.

His car slid off the road and flipped.

***

Soon Kimberly felt the car slow down and stop.

“We’re here,” said Damien.