Rapture 2: a BWWM, Alpha Male Romance (21 page)

THIRTY-THREE

Denver, Colorado

Home of Siobhan Cavanaugh

Home sweet home. Siobhan Cavanaugh exited her shower, and swayed back and forth in her bathroom vanity as she dried her hair with a towel. Once she felt it was dry enough, she removed the towel, placed it on the countertop, and assessed her Clairol dye job. Perfect, she smiled big, as she combed through her newly dark golden blonde tresses. She thought about how dumb it was to stroll around the Bay with her natural jet black hair, albeit a few grey strands in scattered places. But with the blonde, she had fixed that problem. Not to mention she felt like a brand new woman having come back from seeing her son. She closed her eyes as she thought back to seeing his face, touching him, and laughing with him—all the things she had missed out on. The reunion was bittersweet. Bitter because there was a twenty-seven year lapse that she could never get back that included many milestones, a grandchild, and possibly a wedding! But sweet, because above all, Rush accepted all that she had told him without judgment and without stipulations attached. She never thought forgiveness or acceptance would be on the table, and she for sure never in her life thought she would hear him call her Mom again! Life couldn’t be better. She departed the Bay Area fully satisfied that if the walls closed in on her today, she would accept the demise in peace because she had been reunited with the son she was coerced into walking away from.

Siobhan grabbed her brush and sang along to Leona Lewis’s
Bleeding Love
that blared from her bedroom.

♫

Closed off from love, I didn't need the pain

Once or twice was enough, but it was all in vain

Time starts to pass, before you know it, you're frozen

But something happened, for the very first time with you

My heart melts into the ground, found something true

And everyone's looking round, thinking I'm going crazy

♫

Music was her life and had always been her best company, and today she felt like singing. With each stroke of the brush, she sang louder, until she had given fair attention to her entire scalp. She placed the mass of waves into a ponytail and set off to get dressed in something to relax around the house in.

♫

But I don't care what they say

I'm in love with you

They try to pull me away, but they don't know the truth

My heart's crippled by the vein that I keep on closing

You cut me open and I—”

♫

Mid-lyric, and mid-step, Siobhan stopped dead in her tracks, and gasped at the surprise before her. Her eyes widened, in semi-terror.

“Uhh…hi…sweetheart.”

Her heart pounded loudly inside her chest and inside her eardrums. Her alerts had kicked into high gear. There was no way he should’ve been inside her house, and certainly not with the look in his eye that she was staring into.

“Hello, Siobhan…”

Oh
…
NO
!

And the moment he spoke her name…her real name…Siobhan knew there was trouble because he only knew her as Gia.

“Kenny,” she said, sweetly, attempting to veil all signs of nervousness. “What are you doing here?”

She made no mention of the fact that he used her real name—a name she hadn’t used out loud in years. She did that on purpose because her goal was to maintain control over their situation for as long as she could.

He walked toward her and took a seat on her pearl down comforter. Inside she fumed because she never allowed a single soul to sit atop her bedding, especially while wearing their street clothes. She proceeded toward him, and set into seduction mode. Still nude from the shower, she moved to sit on top of his lap, but he held his hand out before her.

“I saw you at Chaos the other night.”

Siobhan chose to ignore what he had just said because now her entire body was heating from the inside from the fear.

“Kenny…” she proceeded, still moving to mount his lap.

“Don’t even think about it. I came to talk, not play. Get on some clothes
now
, Siobhan.”

“Why, Kenny? You never wanted me in clo—”

“Get some damn clothes on!” he ordered, over the volume of the music.

“Okay,” she surrendered, covering her chest, suddenly feeling more vulnerable than she would have liked to feel.

She quickly walked to her dresser drawer and retrieved a pair of panties, then slid into a robe as to quicken the process. The sooner he stated his reasons for being there, the sooner he would leave—hopefully. She felt his eyes on her the entire time, but not once did he move from the spot he had claimed for himself.

“Okay, so now that I’m dressed…why so serious, Kenny?”

“I don’t know, Siobhan. Why all the lies? Was anything you ever told me the truth?” he spat. “Did you actually enjoy
any
of the times I fucked you? Or were just so excited about my dick because it could get you a direct line to Lance Cambridge’s business? Because I’m sure it wasn’t sheer coincidence that I happened to be fucking…quite regularly, I might add…a woman who birthed his first fucking born child! A woman who as far as the rest of the real world knew, was fucking dead. Was that what I was to you? A fucking portal for the latest events?”

“Of course not, Kenny,” she responded, softly, trying to maintain calm in the situation.

She wanted to tell him that he should be mad at himself for not knowing how to keep work and his personal life separate. He was the one who bragged every chance he got about his top notch client. From the time she scoped him out at the hotel bar it was all he could talk about. And bedding him wasn’t at all difficult. So, if he wanted to blame anybody, he should blame himself.

“Well, what then? And don’t insult my intelligence by telling me that this was all coincidence. Because I remember all the slick questioning that was disguised as you being interested in my work. Then there was the whole asking me about whether Lance was going to make it. Or whether they had any leads on his attacker. Or wait…how about me letting you in on how I don’t accompany him when he goes to…
Premier
!
Remember that, Siobhan
? Huh? Remember that?” he yelled, standing from his seat next to her. He was now towering and bellowing over her head in a way that scared her.

“Kenny, please calm down. I can’t do any amount of convincing while you’re so angry?”

“Do you understand that I have a man’s death on my hands? A man who I’ve known and worked for the last ten years? I was supposed to protect him, and instead I end up feeding his murderer information that led to his death! That is how you ended up on surveillance at Premier, right?”

Siobhan released a light gasp, and clutched her chest with a balled fist. “Excuse me…?”

“Didn’t know, did you? Yeah, you’re on camera. Had a visit from a couple of detectives wanting to know if I recognized you from any of the places Lance and I had been while I was guarding him.”

Siobhan tried speaking, but her words were stuck deep in her chest cavity. Of course the thought was always there that she could be found out, but she had only ever really cared about avenging the evil that had happened to her son. She was prepared to pay for that, but in all honesty, she hadn’t really expected it. And now that it was upon her, she felt her life draining from her all over again—just when she had gotten the chance to be a mother again.

“S-s-so…y-you’re here to turn me in?” she managed to say.

“Well, that all depends on you.”

“What do I need to do? I’ll do anything,” she pleaded.

He walked toward her and began unbuckling his pants. “First you’re gonna make all this shit up to me in
any
fuckin’ way I tell you to.”

Siobhan tugged at her robe trying to secure it tightly, knowing that before long even an armor of clothing wouldn’t matter. She was terrified of what was next.

“You’re not really going to do this are you, Kenny?” she cried. “Not like this…”

“Oh, I’m really gonna do this,” he responded, allowing his pants to fall around his ankles. “Just like this.”

“Kenny, I didn’t come after you for the sole purpose of knowing what Lance was doing. I genuinely care about you. I really do,” she insisted.

He yanked her arms from around her chest and without too much effort, had her robe’s belt undone. “Well, then you shouldn’t mind entertaining the man that you say you care about. You’ve had all this dick before. Now won’t be any different than all the other times.”

“Kenny,
please
,” she pleaded. “It’s not what it seems like. How would you like to be torn away from your child and threatened for years to stay away? I gave birth to him and couldn’t celebrate in any of his life, Kenny!”

“None of that matters to me, Gia…
I mean, Siobhan
. You had space and opportunity to tell me that before now. You didn’t have to use me. I loved you. I could’ve helped.”

“See…” she sobbed, holding her hands across her bare breasts. “I didn’t know that, Kenny—”

Her sentence was cut by the ringing of both her cell and house phone ringing simultaneously.

“Go answer it,” he instructed, following closely behind her.

Siobhan slowly picked up her cell phone, then hesitated briefly. After a pause, she swiped across the screen to answer the call.

“Hello…?”

“Siobhan, hi! It’s Alika. I just wanted to make sure you made it back okay.”

“Oh, sweetie, thank you for checking. I’m here safe as can be.”

She looked to Kenny who mouthed, “Don’t try anything stupid.”

“Well, Rush wanted me to check in with you. We wanted to see if you wanted to come back for the dinner party. We could fly you out on a private flight so you would be able to come and return at any time that worked for you.”

“I don’t think I can, Alika. I…uhhh…can I call you back later, hun? Just give me about an hour or two? Is that good?”

“Of course. I’ll be waiting!” she shrieked, excitedly. “I hope you’ll be calling back to say yes!”

“We’ll see,” Siobhan said, with a faint smile and a heavy heart.

After she ended the call, Kenny was upon her…

Two hours later, Alika dialed Siobhan again to see if she could get an answer to her question. It would be a great surprise for Rush if she could pull off getting her to come back for the party. She didn’t want to take no for an answer. When Siobhan didn’t pick up the call, Alika frowned.
Stalker much, Alika
? she thought to herself.
She’ll call you back
!
Leave her alone
!

THIRTY-FOUR

Rush

“What’s so funny, you?”

“Nothing,” she responded, cutting a sly eye at me.

“I promise I’ll throw you over my shoulder right now in front of all these guests and take you upstairs if you don’t tell the truth,” I teased.

“You wouldn’t do that!” she chuckled, under her breath where nobody but me could hear her.

My eyes widened, and the corners of my mouth turned upward in a smile, as I pretended to stand from my seat.

“Oh my God, Rush!
Sit down
,” she whispered, subtly wrapping her hand around my wrist. “Of course you would.”

“Okay, so tell me what’s got you all giggly?”

When she paused, I began counting backwards from ten.

“If you just have to know, nosy…I was laughing at the United Nations that’s alive and well in our house right now. I see you and your boy, Gavin, are all the way down with the choco-vanilla swirl. Quinton keeps giving Tracie the eye, so my guess is they’re next, and then we got Gigi and Marco over there in all their Blatino beautifulness.”

“It is kinda beautiful, ain’t it?” I commented, looking around at the table.

The dinner had come together nicely. Music was playing and food was strewn everywhere in a huge feast style. We had Mexican and Italian for our savory, a Red Velvet cake, and a Flan for dessert, and of course drinks were abound. There would be much too much food left at the end of it all, but just to have the time with everybody was amazing.

“Have you talked to your mom, Rush?” Alika quietly asked.

“No, I haven’t. I was gonna call her later or tomorrow, even.”

“I was really hoping she’d be here. I called her the other day to see if I could sneak her out on the private plane to surprise you,” she said, frowning.

“You did that, baby?”

“I did. I know she wanted to get back, but I thought I could convince her to come for just a few more days.”

“That would’ve been awesome. But I know she said she had some performance appraisals to get done for her direct reports. I’m sure once that’s all settled, she’ll be back. I’m even gonna work on trying to get her here perm.”

Alika ran her hand across my arm. “I think that would be great. She could get to know her baby all over again, her grand—”

“Aye, Rush!” Quinton yelled out, from his seat, interrupting the moment. “Word on the curb is that you had to pull those hands out the other night at Chaos!”

Laughter erupted around the table, and Alika nudged me on the shoulder with her shoulder, shaking her head left to right.

“A bar fight, Rush?!” Christina chimed in. “You’re not serious!”

“Uhhh, I’ll bet he is serious,” Gavin stated, laughing. “You don’t know this man. He’s got heat in those fists. He probably shoulda been in the ring instead of on the baseball field, quiet as kept!”

“Alika knows,” Gigi stated. “She’s probably at the root of it. King Kong jumping in to save his love! Go ahead and tell the truth!”

Alika joined in laughter. “I plead the fifth!”

“I can get Mike on the phone, Rush!” Quinton threatened. “On speaker…
right now
, so you might as well gone and share, bro!”

Out the corner of my eye, I saw Hazel headed toward the security phone, and then nodding her head as she spoke. When she turned to me and raised the device into the air to get my attention, I excused myself from the table.

“Oh! Okay! Saved
temporarily
by the bell!” Gigi proclaimed.

~*~*~

Twenty minutes later, after I had summoned Alika to let her know that I had to take a short meeting, and that she needed to entertain our guests until I returned, I sat across from Detectives Silas Winters and Rick Morgan, of the San Francisco Police Department’s homicide division.

Neither of them looked the part of cops. The younger Silas Winters looked like he should’ve been sitting behind clear lens prescription glasses in front of dual monitors and crunching numbers for high-profile clientele. I took him for a privileged kid who had gone against his family’s well-mapped out plans. I would bet my bottom dollar that he was something of a trust fund kid or close to it. And his partner, seemed as though he was only along for the mandatory ride. He appeared to want out and probably reported to the precinct each day counting down to retirement.

“I’m assuming this has something to do with my father’s murder.”

In all honesty, it was weird even speaking the words out loud about my father being murdered. He’d done some shit in his time. To me, my mother, and a whole lot of other people, but
murder
? That was a hard pill to swallow, even if I hadn’t admitted it to anyone.

The spokesperson of the two, Silas, was the first to talk. “Thank you for seeing us, Mr. Cambridge. Yes, our visit has to do with your father’s murder.”

“How can I help you gentlemen this evening?”

“Well, as you know this has been an ongoing investigation that we’ve been working around the clock.”

“Yes. So, are you here because you’ve come across something vital?”

The older detective nodded, while the younger one confirmed. “Yes. We have a photo that we would like for you to take a look at.”

“Okay,” I responded, leaning closer to the table between us.

As Detective Winters situated his manila folder and prepared to expose its contents, he continued speaking. “We’ve spoken to a Laurie Davidson, as well as Kenneth Joseph, and it was actually Ms. Davidson, who led us to you. Before I proceed, Mr. Cambridge, are you estranged from your family at present?”

I was immediately agitated. “Why?” I asked.

“Well…” Detective Morgan, started. “We haven’t heard from you at all during the investigation. Your sister, and her mother,
and
the mother of your younger brother have called pretty much every day to see where the investigation is. But we—”

“What’s your point?” I challenged the asshole who had finally decided to come out of his old man cage and speak. “Because if you have one don’t come into my home beating around bushes. Just say it. And if you
don’t
, then allow me to finish business with your capable partner so I can get back to my company. In answer to
your
question…” I commented, returning my attention to Winters. “We’re like any other family who has its ups and downs, and if that isn’t under investigation, then I suggest we proceed with what you came for. I’d like to get back to my friends.”

“Understandable. So, this image…” he said, sliding the picture to me for viewing. “…is of someone we believe to be a person of interest. Ms. Davidson believes the person in this picture is your mother. She said that…”

I lost sight of what he was saying,
immediately
. His voice faded completely to the background. The moment he pushed the glossy photo in front of me, I knew for certain it was my mother. I didn’t even have to hear him say it. I couldn’t take my eyes away from the image. If she was in town that night, then she had been here long before she told me that she’d arrived. She hadn’t told me the entire truth. Though, if she was the one responsible for what had happened to my father, it would make sense that she wouldn’t tell me.

“This picture was provided from Premier the night your father was attacked. We believe that she is responsible, and wanted to see if you recognized her.”

I slid the picture back across the table to him, and hunched my shoulders. “It
could
be her, but I can’t be certain. I don’t know if it came up at all when you spoke with Ms. Davidson, or Mr. Joseph, but I haven’t seen my mother since I was a young boy. In fact, I’m shocked,” I expressed, feigning disbelief. “Because if the woman in that picture is my mother, then that means that she’s still alive. And that she has been the entire time that I believed I no longer had a mother.”

Detective Winters retrieved his picture from the table and put it back into its folder, then placed his crossed hands on top of the folder and asked me, “So, Siobhan Cavanaugh hasn’t tried to contact you at all?”

Fuck
! My thoughts immediately ventured toward the night I took her to Chaos and introduced her as my mother to everyone in sight.
Fuck
!

“I haven’t seen or heard from my mother in twenty-seven years, detective.”

“And you haven’t even tried to find her?” Morgan asked. “I mean, it would seem that if your mother left you as a young boy, and you never knew what happened to her, that when you were old enough…” he started looking around my study. “…rich enough, you’d go in search of her with every available resource.”

“
But I didn’t
, detective. And
I didn’t
because I figured that if a woman was rogue enough to leave her child behind, that she didn’t want to be found. So why go begging for a place in her life? I’m a grown ass man. Beggin’ ain’t my thing. I’m sure you can relate.”

“Just seems a little odd and kind of heartless at the same time,” he annoyingly insisted. “I mean, just the fact that you just found out that you had a daughter after so many years, that
you
didn’t know about …shows that sometimes life throws curve balls. I’m sure you can relate, Rush.”

What I can relate to is wanting to beat the fuck out of you with your own fucking pistol.

“If that is her,” I said, pulling my darted stare away from Morgan, and back to his partner. “
If
that is her, I would like to know where she’s been myself,” I answered, with my voice lowered. “Though I can’t see that being her in that picture, Detective Winters. I don’t know a mother alive who
willingly
misses out on their child’s life. I just don’t.”

“I’m sorry to break this to you, Mr. Cambridge, but there are plenty of women who will never be candidates for the best mother award. You’d be unpleasantly surprised.”

“That’s tragic,” I stated, solemnly. “I would like to think that my mother wasn’t one of them. I would like to think that she forfeited motherhood because she had to. But who knows? It seems that I’ll never know why she left, gentlemen. And I’m okay with that.”

“Hmm. Okay. Well, we thank you for your time,” Detective Winters remarked, standing from his seat. His partner did the same, as did I.

I walked them both down the long hallway and back toward the front of the house, then stood at the top of my stairs watching as they got into their unmarked squad car. Even minutes after they’d backed down my driveway and through the gates, I remained outside in the brisk fall air and pondered. My mind was racing a million miles a minute. I had to keep my cool in front of them, but I was far from relaxed and I had nowhere to turn with my restlessness. I didn’t even know if I could return to the party without risking transparency.

I descended the stairs and paced a crescent-shaped stroll along the circular driveway. After about fifteen minutes, I made my way back up the stairs, trying with great effort to reapply my party face. But how easy would that be when I now knew that not only had my mother come back into my life, and that we had reconnected in a way that a mother and son should, but that she was also the one who had taken my father’s life? Had she really returned to Denver for work? Or was she running away?

Even with all the questions and all the uncertainty, I kept coming to the same conclusion: I had to protect her.