Page 85 of Boss

She got up and went to the bookshelf. She located the scrapbook and brought it back to the sofa. The television was set to one of those home improvement channels she loved to watch. Tarek walked over with two glasses of brandy. The entire house was warming nicely. Especially the parlor, thanks to the heating system set to full blast.

“This is the book I found. I saw the picture of the man on the sofa, and he looked so much like you.”

“Let me see this,” he took the scrapbook from her. Kassidy sipped her brandy. This one had flavor. She actually liked the taste of it. He flipped through pages and came to the faded spot where the photo rested. He looked at the images. There were just shots of different family members.

“Could it be your father? Did Alek ever mention knowing your father?”

“No. The story I got was that Pop had visited Moscow on business and my adoptive mother wanted to see the orphanages. They met me. She said I went straight to her and clung to her legs. She said she couldn’t leave me behind.”

“Then maybe it’s a coincidence,” Kassidy said.

“Doesn’t feel like one.” He closed the scrapbook and tossed it aside.

“Do your brothers ever come out here, to this farm?”

“No. I told you, no one does but me.” He took a sip of his drink.

“Why?” She watched him.

“I like it, he said. “This land, the seclusion, and the history, being here feels authentic to me. There’s not much authenticity in my world lately.”

“Oh?” she said.

He glanced over at her and she looked over at him. “Do the Garcia’s really blame me for what happened to Clarissa?”

“Yeah, they blame you and themselves I suppose.”

He nodded.

“Why don’t you have a boyfriend? You’re pretty, smart, sexy. Hard to believe you and Daniel aren’t a real thing.”

“I’m sexy, huh?” She smiled for him.

“Yes, Kassidy, you are.”

Tarek sipped his brandy.

She decided to change the subject. “Are you close to your other brothers. Like Billy, The youngest? He lives in Austin, right?”

Tarek stared at the fire.

Kassidy continued. “Not that I should say this, because it’s not my place, but ah, Reese dated him. That’s how she and Dale broke up.”

“No, she didn’t,” he said.

“Huh? Yes, she did. She confessed it over nachos and margaritas one night.”

“Reese is fucking Dale and only Dale. She has been for years.”

“Maybe, but she dated Billy.”

“Billy’s gay,” Tarek stood and went back to the bar.The word dropped on her like an anvil. She double blinked at Tarek. He was pouring himself another drink. If what he said were true, then Reese lied to her. And it was an unnecessary lie.

“How do you know?” she asked. She knew these men; they weren’t politically correct, or understanding of differences in people. Alek Marshall wouldn’t stand for a gay son. At least that was her first opinion of them. Those prejudices she assumed Tarek shared were fading as she learned more about him.

“I keep an investigator on all my brothers to keep tabs on them. That’s what Cash’s job is,” He turned and stared at her from over the top of the glass as he drank down his brandy. “Billy is the baby in the family. He’s ignored by everyone but my mother. She spoils him and hides his secret. He has a lover back in Austin. A black man. That’s why he chooses to stay there. That and because he’s gay.”

“Why the hell would Reese lie to me?”

---