KATIE
The soft sounds of Kensington and its picture-perfect green spaces resonated in my soul when I stepped outside, leaving the cute coffeehouse/wine bar. I supposed one chose coffee or wine based on the time of day or occasion. The little café was in the center of a garden square. So unlike Manhattan.
The Royal Borough of Kensington called out to the elite with its luxurious boutiques and restaurants, the iconic Royal Albert Hall, and the hushed residential streets, lined with trees and pristine white Victorian homes. Gone were the sirens and honking car horns and concrete jackhammering. It was easy to see why Thomas was indifferent about New York.
I missed him. I couldn’t stop thinking about our last day together. He’d surprised me with visits from Marta and Lena, with his desperate kisses and the way he’d made love to me. My first, my everything. He’d liberated me from my small, detached life. I was a whole person in his eyes, a woman, not a fragile child prodigy. But like a spoiled toddler, I’d still turned him away.
So, there I was, without him, exploring the neighborhood for the first time since I’d arrived in London four days earlier. The first three days had dragged on. I’d met with my college advisor at Balliol, the Mathematical Institute’s senior professor, and the lead from my research group, all while experiencing the effects of jet lag.
I couldn’t have been happier with my research group assignment. Professor Beam had charged us with targeting the fundamental mathematical aspects of random matrix theory and several associated areas of research, including number theory and quantum chaos.
“New York is three thousand four hundred fifty-six miles away from here,” I told my chaperon, Jessica Johnson.
Will had informed Andrew and me at the airport that Jessica would stay with us in London for a while. I’d understood at once and turned my head to hide a smile. Thomas had ordered it. His possessive behavior pleased me, satisfied a deep-rooted obscure need.
Jessica was Ellie’s best friend, Will had said. I’d stared at him as he spoke, stared at his familiar eyes.
Thomas was very much the image of his older brother. They shared distinct features. Light-blue eyes, remarkably broad shoulders, the smirky mouth. Will was leaner and had a harder edge. Thomas was intimidating, a man not to be challenged, and his brother gave off even more of the same dangerous vibe.
I couldn’t help but imagine how John would change through his twenties and become even more like his brothers, his features hardening, his presence growing darker. I’d spoken to him just after I arrived, and he was doing well.
It’s also the distance between Thomas and me, I wanted to add to my response. “Are you finished quizzing me now?”
“Sorry. I’m fascinated,” Jessica said. “You’re literally a human calculator.”
She stopped me, her palms against my shoulders, which brought Andrew Evans to a halt behind us as well.
“Call him, Katie. I can see that you’re thinking about him. This family has a dark past, but now, it’s filled with love and support and fierce devotion. I know you’ve seen that in Thomas.”
We continued walking.
“I have seen Thomas’s generosity and his commitment to family, and I admire him deeply for it. But I can’t call him, not yet. I need more time to process everything.”
Jessica smiled. “I totally get it. He’s an intense guy. Settle into your new routine first.”
“We didn’t part on bad terms, Jess. He understands me.”
“Yeah. His strength is such a huge part of the family’s support. He belongs here, not in New York.”
Jessica was the type who didn’t care if people saw what was in her heart. She spoke lovingly of “the family” often, as if it were her own. I was sure they felt the same way about her. It was easy to be comfortable with her. Maybe it was because she was a nurse by training, skilled in easing the pain and suffering of others.
She was also a gorgeous American, twenty-eight, like Thomas, and a total badass if ever there was one. Scarlett Johansson with long red hair. She wore skinny jeans, cuffed above her ankle boots, and a cropped leather jacket over her hip-length white T-shirt. A dainty silver cross hung from her neck.
Heat abruptly pumped through my blood, my heartbeat sped up, and my hands flexed, as if they wanted to ball into fists. Jealousy was stirring inside me. Another emotion I’d never experienced.
Andrew’s phone rang, startling me. He dropped back a few paces, and he kept his voice low, his tone changed. It was Thomas, checking in on us.
I took a deep breath. “Can I ask you something, Jess?”
“Sure. Ask away.”
“Have you been with Thomas? I mean, you’re beautiful, and I know you’ve spent time with him. He wouldn’t trust you with my safety otherwise.”
“Katie. Really, girl? Do I look like his type?” She shook her head and laughed. “I’m not. Nor is he mine. Thomas is like my brother, and the time we’ve shared has been in the gym. He helps me with hand-to-hand fight training. I’m actually seeing Ben Scott.”
“Oh. I’m so sorry … I shouldn’t have assumed.”
“It’s okay. This family dynamic is different. Friends are the family you choose, right? Ben is Will’s best friend. He’s the head of security operations, and he helps manage the properties. He and his daughter, Chelsea, also live on the estate. Take my advice: don’t doubt Thomas’s feelings for you. I get it can be difficult sometimes, but just remember, when one of these men loves you, there’s no one and nothing else.” Jessica put her arm around my shoulders, and we shared a knowing laugh. “Now, let’s talk about another guy … your brother.”
I gasped, stopped walking. “What? How did you—”
“Will called this morning and asked me to have this conversation with you. Thomas found your father. He’s quite well, no injuries. Katie, you should know that your father told Thomas everything, and he surrendered to Thomas’s custody.” She took my hand. “I want you to hear me when I say your dad is going to be just fine. MI5 is holding him for further questioning while they investigate his claims against the prime minister. The director general will send him home soon, back to his life as it was.”
A tear rolled down my cheek.
The truth was out. My family would be safe. I squeezed my lids shut for a moment. The nightmare was ending, but not because my mother had taken responsibility for what she’d done—for the lies, the heartless way she’d treated my brother, the pain she’d caused us all. I knew my mother, and she would have allowed it to go on until one of us was dead. It was Thomas who had unchained my father and me from the governor’s secrets.
I nodded, squeezing Jessica’s hand.
“I promise your dad will be okay. Thomas won’t let anyone harm him.”
Another single tear, relief and hope washing through me. “Have they found Hudson?”
The governor had named my younger brother after the damn river. She’d left my father and me when I was six months old. A business trip, she’d told him. A year later, Dad had taken her back.
One year, four months, and two days separated Hudson’s birthday from mine. Something other than time and distance also separated us. A gene moderator. I had it, neurologists and psychologists had said, and he didn’t. It allowed my gift to shine. Society had labeled me a child prodigy and Hudson an autistic child.
I’d seen him twice, that I could recall, the last time when he was fifteen.
“Thomas is looking for him. The Hastings influence in this country is incredible. It won’t take long to get a location.” She tugged on my arm, looked over her shoulder at Andrew. “We’ve been in one area for a while. Shall we head back to the car?”
He nodded with his phone still held close to his ear.
Thomas. God, I owed him more than I’d given. I wanted desperately to rip the phone away from Andrew. I wanted to tell Thomas that I had wanted him to follow me, that I’d been stupid and selfish. To ask for his forgiveness. The investigation had been for his brother, but the man he’d killed was for me. He had tolerated the governor and been easy on my father. Now, he was searching for my brother.
All or nothing. In the end, he’d chosen all. For me, for us.
It was time for me to do the same.
Fifteen minutes later, Andrew passed through the security gate and parked in a space inside the private lot beside the house. I yawned, lulled by the brief car ride. I had slept little since landing in England. He entered the code on the electronic security pad and then pushed open the door while extending his arm in front of me, so I couldn’t go inside. With a small nod, he sent Jessica into the house alone.
My heart raced. It wasn’t how we’d been doing things.
I panicked. “What is it? What’s happening?”
Andrew shrugged. “I’ve been fired. You’re no longer in my custody.”
“What?”
“Katie,” a voice behind me called out.
The hairs on my arm stood on end. Faster and faster, my heart pounded.
His voice. It couldn’t be. It had to be. I’d missed something.
My bag slipped to the ground. Slowly, I turned. It was him. It was Thomas.
I couldn’t compose a thought, couldn’t push words out of my mouth. I could only run. I ran to him, crossing the length of the concrete courtyard between us. He did the same, and we met in the middle. I leaped, knowing he would catch me, hold me in his arms, never let me go again.
Thomas smashed his lips against mine and spun us. I clung to his body with mine. To his heart with mine. We were the sun, and Earth revolved around us. He parted my lips with his tongue and led us into a fierce, deep kiss. We broke, me breathless, him smiling.
“Ride with me, Katie.”
Those words … the same he’d said on the day we spent at the park. The day we’d been free. Free from the pain, the guilt. Free to fall in love.
I didn’t have any words yet. When they came, they would break me. Tears fell, breaking me anyway. Remorse and relief and happiness rolled down my cheeks, dropping onto his face, his chest. I slid down the front of his body to my feet, still clinging to his neck, and I nodded.
“Close your eyes, little bird.”
I closed them, and he kissed each lid tenderly.
“Don’t open. Don’t move. Feel me, feel us.” He waited several seconds, moved his mouth to my ear, and growled, “I will not let you go again. I’ll give you anything else—you name it—but not that.”
I nodded again with my eyes still shut. I let my head fall back, and I laughed. When I opened to see him, he was grinning. Then, he gripped the back of my head, pulled my mouth to his, and kissed me again. Hard. His bruising kiss, his erection. I wanted more. I wanted everything he had. His devotion, his generosity, his powerful, possessive kind of love. His body. The darkness that unsettled him.
His lips moved to my neck, kissing, sucking. A soft growl at my ear. “Tell me you understand how fucking desperately I love you. Say the words.”
To catch my breath, to gather my thoughts, I pulled back, meeting his white-hot gaze. Seconds passed, an eternity, but still, he waited.
“I won’t apologize because you don’t want that. I’ll make you a promise instead. I won’t leave you again. Because I do understand and I love you that way too.” I put a soft kiss on his lips.
He pulled my chin higher with his thumb and forefinger. “I won’t hold you back. You have my word. I’m buying us a house here, in London. You’ll always have a home to come back to, Katie.”
“You’re my home,” I whispered. “I’m ready for that ride, now.”
We rode off on his motorcycle, free once again.
There was no roadmap for our future.
Neither of us cared.
We were in love, and that was everything.
Thank you for reading Two Pretty Lies.
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