He’d been twenty-one and a cocky college junior, home from school for Thanksgiving break, and determined to break free from the geek stigma he’d been nailed with in high school, like he already had in college. He’d met Lila at a neighborhood bar. He’d been attracted to her the minute she walked through the door, with her short skirt and I’m available attitude.
They’d fucked that night and he’d felt like a king. Until her parents showed up at Kade’s house, accusing him of raping their daughter. When she’d come home the night before, her controlling father was waiting up, figured out she’d been with a guy, and turned furious. She’d claimed Kade had drugged and raped her.
Kade had wanted to fight the bullshit accusation, but his father preferred to pay in order to make problems go away. Without Kade’s knowledge, he’d gone to Lila’s parents and thrown money at them to prevent his son from being arrested and put in jail, the rest of his life ruined.
Except Kade knew he hadn’t drugged or raped the girl, and going to the cops would have at least proved she’d lied about being slipped a roofie. There was no evidence now beyond he said, she said. He’d begged his father not to pay them off. But Keith Barnes had spent his life trying to make it up to Kade for losing his mother and brother. He thought money fixed all things, and there’d been no deterring him. He’d paid off the family.
Kade’s father wasn’t an idiot. He’d had the parents sign a nondisclosure agreement. But they could have run through the money, or Julian, the bastard, could have offered them even more to snitch.
Fast forward to today—he said, she said was enough to scare off potential shareholders in his soon-to-be public company. So was the payoff. Everyone would assume Kade had something to hide. For all these reasons, he’d confided in Derek and Luke just last year. He felt they needed to know before they took this company to the next level. They’d immediately stood by him.
“Breathe, man,” Luke said. “We’re going to get enough on Julian to bury him. That’ll ensure this stays dead and buried too. I already called Evan Mann. He’s a PI with a solid rep. We’ll get this sorted,” he assured him.
Kade breathed out hard, trying not to panic. The notion of a rape charge wasn’t something he wanted to revisit … and there was a twenty-five-year statute of limitations on sex crimes. He wasn’t close to out of the woods if Lila and her parents decided to make things ugly and press charges. They’d be as money hungry as Julian, out to get a piece of Kade … and Blink.
Suddenly his hand began to throb, and he cursed out loud, looking down at his swollen, bruised knuckles.
“Shit. That could be broken,” Derek said, having joined them on Kade’s side of the desk.
“You should have it x-rayed,” Luke said in agreement.
Normally Kade would balk at going to the doctor, but the way this mother hurt… “Yeah, okay.”
“I’d join you but I have a meeting with a new developer,” Luke said. “Derek is sitting in.”
“Then it’s a good thing Kade has a personal assistant he likes so much. She can go along for the ride,” Derek said with a shit-eating grin on his face.
Luke shook his head and walked across the room, unlocking and opening the door. “Lexie get in here!” he called before Kade, with his excruciating pain, could process what he was doing.
Lexie rushed into the room. “Is everything okay?” she asked, her voice filled with concern. Her gaze immediately rested on Kade, who cradled his injured hand with the other. “Oh my God! What did you do?”
“He had an accident,” Derek said. “Can you get us some ice? And call for a car. You’re going to need to accompany him to the emergency room for X-rays.”
“Of course.” She spared a worried glance at Kade before rushing out.
“Thanks for that,” Kade muttered. Now Lexie had proof he wasn’t just a pain in the ass, he had a temper as well. Except he didn’t. Fear had driven him to this jacked move.
“We’ll handle things here. Get the hand looked at and go home. Let your new assistant take care of you,” Derek instructed, that same pleased grin on his face.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were playing matchmaker,” Kade muttered.
“Who said I’m not?” Derek asked, just as Lexie returned with a bag full of ice, her timing impeccable.
Her presence very needed. As much as the reminder of the past had Kade wanting to close out the world and shut down, he couldn’t deny he’d much rather turn to Lexie for comfort. And much more.
Chapter Four
Lexie rushed downstairs and retrieved ice in a bag from a restaurant nearby, then headed back to Kade’s office in record time. Derek and Luke must have left, so she walked up to Kade, who stood staring out the window, as if he hadn’t heard her come in.
“Can I see your hand?” she asked softly.
He turned around, and the raw pain in his face stole her breath. Without speaking, he held out his hand. His knuckles were swollen and bruised, already a deep purple. She lightly rested the bottom of his palm in hers and gently put the ice over the top.
“I’ll call for a car, and we can head over to the hospital,” she said without pushing for answers as to why he’d gotten so angry the plaster on the wall behind him was cracked. She hoped he’d confide in her eventually because he seemed like he had a lot to get off his chest.
“You don’t have to go along. I’m capable of taking myself.”
“I’m sure you are.” She sensed this man was an island. He thought he liked it that way. He just didn’t know any other way.