Secrets (Codey #1) (6 page)

Chapter Seven

The next morning Casey was feeling happy. She had dreamt of a baby boy that looked exactly like Mike. His eyes were the same shade of blue. The baby started to cry and she held him to her breast, while Mike looked on.

After getting dressed and straightening her hair. Casey was ready. It didn’t take long before the doorbell went off. After taking a much needed deep breath, she opened the door. "Wow, you must be so happy that it's your last day of school. You’re glowing."

The smile was hard to hold as she thought to herself. “You have no idea about what’s making me glow.”

The drive seemed to take no time at all. Mike prattled on about who knows what. She was too preoccupied thinking about his reaction. When they arrived at the school. Mindy, Leo and Luis were waiting for her. Mindy ran and snatched her away, claiming they needed to get into their seating arrangement. Yet all she wanted was to know if Casey had told Mike instead of waiting.

“I didn’t say a thing. I couldn’t, but tonight I will. I'm just waiting until we're alone” Yes, for better or worse, the plan was set.

When the ceremony started, they clapped and cheered when all their friends were called. Mike cheered the loudest when she was called up to get her diploma. Casey couldn’t help the frown that marred her features when she scanned the crowed and her mother wasn’t there.

When the ceremony was over, Casey excused herself and headed for the ladies room. She was lost in her thoughts and failed to see the man within the group of people to her right.  When a hand lightly gripped her shoulder, she turned to see who it was.

She felt faint. Yet the feeling quickly turned to one of anger as she stepped back and away from his hand. “What are you doing here?"

"We have to talk."

"I've told you many times before. There’s nothing you can possibly say, that I would want to hear."

The man stepped closer and his eyes narrowed in anger. “I am tired of you not wanting to listen to me. You have to hear what I need to say to you. You don’t realize it, but your life is about to change."

"Yes, I know my life is about to change. I don't care how much money you paid my mother to buy me. I will pay you for my freedom. You should be ashamed of yourself. What makes you think you can buy a person, just so you can have sex with them?" The blood seemed to have left his face and she didn’t care. He was nothing, but a perverted man.

"What, are you talking about?" He looked around making sure no one was listening to their conversation. Fuck that, she was drained from living in fear all these years. It was time to tell her secret.

"You’ve giving my mother money every other month since I was eleven years old. All, so that you can have me when I was old enough to collect. I believe those were you’re exact words. My mother delighted in telling me that I was your dirty little secret each and every time you paid her.” Casey came as close to the man as she dared.

She then poked him on the chest to emphasize her words. “I will never be your sex slave. The man I love is named Michael Codey. I'm two months pregnant with his baby. I know he’ll marry me and we will be happy. Sorry buddy, but you lose."

Casey felt comforted when she spotted Mike and his family heading their way. When the man realized it too, he once again gripped her shoulder. Harder this time. “My name is Walker Codey. I didn’t pay that woman to have you for a sex slave. I was paying her so that she would take care of my daughter."

Casey felt the moment her jaw dropped. "What, did you say your name is?" No, she must have heard wrong.

"Walker Codey. My name is Walker Codey and I’m your father.”

"Codey." The words sent a cold chill down her spine. Please, it can’t be.

In that exact moment, Mike reached them. He pulled her to him and smiled down at her. "Dad, I see you've met Casey. The love of my life.” No, no, no. On instinct, she start backing up. Her eyes looked from Mr. Codey to Mike and then back to Mr. Codey. "Casey, what's wrong baby. You look like you’ve seen a ghost."

A ghost in deed. The ghost of your life just got fucked up to the tenth power. What was there to do but turn and run as if the devil himself was chasing her? The sound of them screaming her name as they called to her was the last thing she heard as the doors closed behind her.

The first person she spotted once outside was Jim getting on his Harley. Thank goodness the boy never followed the rules and parked wherever he wanted. “Jim,” she frantically screamed. “Please get me the hell out of here.” She didn’t have to ask twice as he peeled out. She never looked back to see if anyone chased her outside.

Her mind was on over load. If it was true. That would make Mike, her half-brother. “What would that do to my baby?” Casey covered her mouth in horror. Once able to think again, she called Lucy and retrieved the money that was in the hiding spot. Her mother had left without her car so she used it to drive herself to the airport.

Hours later when she reached Chicago, Lucy was there. Her grandmother was in Las Vegas for two days so she would stay with Lucy until she came home.

Chapter Eight

End of Flash Back.

Mike had no idea what transpired between his father and Casey. Why did she run? When he was able to speak, Mike turned to his father. “What the hell did you say to her?"

His father placed a hand on his shoulder and Mike shrugged it off. "We have to talk. This is not the place to do it.  Go and tell your brothers to go on without you. Tell them you forgot Casey's gift at home.” His father ran his fingers through his hair. “Your mother and I will be waiting for you."

His father looked so beaten, Mike was worried now. "What's going on dad?"

"Michael, please do as I say. What we need to discuss will change our lives forever. I will not do it here.”

Mike did as he was told and sought out his brothers. After telling them they would meet them later, he headed for home. The first thing he noticed after opening the door was his mother crying. "What's going on?" Mike knelt in front of his mother.

"Mike my son. You have to promise me that you won’t go crazy before we finish talking. You need to let us explain everything to you.”

"What! You telling me not to go crazy, is making me freak out all ready. Dad, what did you say to Casey? She looked devastated." Mike was trying very hard not to be upset. Yet he was still unable to search out Casey to find out what happened. That alone was making him freak.

His father once again raked his fingers threw his hair. Never had he seen his father look so lost and broken. Mike walk up to him and gripped his shoulder. "Listen, whatever you have to say can’t be that bad. Take a deep breath and start at the beginning."

His father turned to look at his mother. “I fell in love with your mother the moment I laid eyes on her. I was certain that she felt something for me too. My best friend at the time was named John and he too had feelings for her. We were all friends." He walked to his mother and sat next to her.

"John started bad mouthing me to your mother. Then he started to sweet talk her." Mike noticed the way his mother squeezed his father’s hand. "They started dating and.” They both looked at him. “Your mother got pregnant. Then, John split."

Mike sucked in a much needed breath. "What the hell are you trying to tell me? I have an older half-brother somewhere?" He looked at his mother. Her eyes began to fill with tears. That was when realization finally hit. His chest tightened and it felt like the earth was caving in around him.

His father stood and went to him. "I'm not your biological father son. Yet you are my son. Maybe not created by me physically, but born from my heart. I love you no more or less than your brothers. This was a talk we promised never to have with you. Yet your relationship with Cassandra made it impossible to stay quiet any longer."

Mike was speechless, until he mentioned Casey. "Hold on a minute. What does Casey have to do with this?"

"Cassandra is my daughter." The blood drained from his face and Mike felt light headed.

"There’s so much we still need to explain son, but we have no time. We have to find her. It seems that the woman she called mother, told her I tried to buy her for sex. Before I told her she was my daughter Cassandra told me she was going to have your baby.”

“What. I’m going to be a father?’ Mike was in shock, for the third time that evening.

His father snapped his fingers. “Focus, because when you reached us. I had just told her I was her father. I never got the chance to tell her, that you are not her brother by blood."

Mike felt like his heart was going to pound out of his chest. He did not hear past the part where he was going to be a father. His mother gave him a hug. "Mike, I'm so sorry. Son, let’s go find Cassandra. Once we know she is safe and with us. We can then finish talking. I know it's a lot to take in a once, but there is still so much more."

That was all it took for Mike to snap into action. They raced to her house, but she wasn’t opening the door. Mike tried the handle and to his surprise, it opened. He turned with a worried look towards his parents as they followed him inside. After looking everywhere and finding nothing, he went to her bedroom. The sight of the open and empty drawers had his heart close to stopping.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Back in Chicago Casey moved away from the window. The hand on her stomach still kept rubbing the spot where her baby lay. Why did everything get so complicated? Just three days ago she had been happy and ready to tell Mike about the baby. Now here she was, in Chicago with Lucy waiting for her grandmother to come home. Oh how she needed her grandmother at this moment. Only she would be able to help Casey piece her life back together.

Casey made Lucy promise not to tell anyone where she was. She needed some time to figure out what to do. There was a knock at the door and she turned when it opened. "Grandmother," Casey ran sobbing into her outstretched arms.  She cried for what seemed like hours. When she finally calmed. Her grandmother sat on the bed and Casey Knelt between her legs. She looked up at the weathered face.

"Gran, I found out my father is Walker Codey. Mike's father. That makes Mike my brother. The worst part is that I'm pregnant Gran. To top it off, I graduated and mom didn't even show up. I don't understand why she hates me so much. Why did she have me if she didn't want me? My life is falling apart.” The tears came once more.

Her grandmother rubbed her back and cooed. "There, there honey. This isn’t doing the baby any good. Casey, come and sit next to me. We need to have a long talk. Maybe it's my fault for not telling you sooner, but every time we talked. I'd ask you how your mom was treating you and you would say ok. I should have known you would cover for her. She was always a cruel child and grew up to be a cruel woman." She put Casey’s hand between hers.

"Cassandra, my daughter Avery is not your mother."

What the Fuck was her grandmother talking about? There was no way she could deal with more shit, not now. Casey got off the bed and started pacing. Her grandmother just sat there following her with her eyes.

When she was sure Casey was not going to say anything, she continued. "Growing up, my Linda had a best friend named Jean. Why they were best friends I'll never know. Jean was Walker Codey's assistant here in his Chicago office. He would work and commute between the Texas office and the Chicago Office. Jean met Mrs. Codey and Mike when he was a baby. Jean said the Codey’s made a perfect couple.” Her grandmother pulled her and made her sit.

“One night Jean came to talk to me. The Codey’s were having some kind of family problem. He was drinking heavily. She worried for him and decided to go back to the office to keep an eye on him."

Her grandmother got off the bed and now it was she who was pacing. "Walker Codey confided in Jean and told her all about the problem he and his wife were having. When he passed out, she helped him to the couch. He had one in his office. She periodically check on him to make sure he did not choke if he vomited. One of those times, she moved him to a better position so he would not kink his neck. He grabbed Jean and called her by his wife's name."

Her grandmother stopped by the window and looked out. "You have to understand your mother. She had been secretly in love with Walker Codey for two years. He was drunk and mistook her for his wife. In that moment, she didn’t care. All she wanted was at least one night of knowing what it felt like to be loved by Walker. Even if the love was not directed at her, but for his wife."

By this point Casey was standing in the middle of the room, taking it all in. "When morning came, Walker remembered nothing of what happened the previous night. Jean was happy about it. That only meant she could still be close to him. Making love with the man of her dreams, even if only one time was enough of a memory to last her a life time. She talked him into fighting for his wife and his family and told him he should go back to them."

Her grandmother approached her and once again took her hand. "Two months later, she found out she was pregnant. That same day she quit working for Walker and never told him what happened. Your mother was bursting with joy from the knowledge that she would always have a piece of him with her. Jean had no family, so she was happy that now she was going to have you."

Gran went to sit on the bed again and patted next to her so Casey could sit too. "When she had you, the doctors couldn’t stop the bleeding. Avery was in the delivery room with her. She made Avery promise to take care of you. As you well know, I was the one taking care of you. Not Avery. Then one day, she read in the papers about Walker Codey finding oil on his land. She called him that very night and told him about you and demanded money. Well, you know the rest."

Tears streamed down Casey’s face. "Gran, she made me believe that Walker Codey was paying and waiting till I grew up so he could have sex with me."

Her grandmother rubbed her face with her hands. "Avery must have figured that if you found out the truth. She would not get any more money. That was probably why she didn’t go to the graduation. Avery knew he would be there for his sons. I'm so sorry for not telling you sooner."

Everything was too much to process, but it made perfect sense. That's why she didn’t love her. "Cassandra, I have several boxes containing pictures and your real mother’s things. When you’re ready. You can have them. Now, as far as the baby is concerned. There is no need to worry. You must talk to your father and Mike. They will finish explaining things to you."

Casey felt her throat tighten. "No, I don't want to see either of them."

"Well now, I called them before I came to see you. They’re waiting in the living room. I'm sending them in, so be prepared." After placing a kiss on her forehead, she left. Crap, there was no way to escape without being seen. Her gaze went to the window. Yet they were on the second floor. No way to jump out without hurting the baby.