Page 34 of Risky Taste
Declan: that’s it. I’m going in.
Their cheeky banter and absolute care for my health warm my soul. My stomach grumbles as I text them back.
Cancel the S.O.S. I guess I was just really tired. I just woke up.
A series of ‘thank god’ and ‘Jesus’ filter through, my phone lighting up with Declan’s number. “What?” I answer, sleep still coating my words.
Declan lets out a heavy sigh. “Logan legit had to hold me down so I didn’t drive over there. I’m being ridiculous but I don’t trust Kurt. Not after everything we’ve learned.”
I chuckle, plopping my head back down on the pillows. “Thank you. I appreciate it. I think the stress just got to me and I really needed the sleep.” The knock comes again as I cradle the phone against my ear. “And I think that’s lunch.”
Declan mumbles a ‘I love you’ before hanging up, knowing I am not entirely ready to say it back. I feel a little guilty but push down that emotion as I head for the door. “God, I’m coming.”
I rip the door open, and unfortunately, it is the last two people I want to see. My heart sinks into my stomach as Kurt pushes into the room, taking a seat on the guest bed after placing a large bag on the ground, Heath guiding me to Sebastian’s and sitting me down. Terror consumes me as I stare at the two of them, waiting for someone to speak.
“See, I went home this morning, hoping to talk to you and what do you know? You were gone. Found a coffee mug in the sink that happened to have the remnants of my stash,” Kurt says as he sprawls out on the guest bed. I can’t see the man I grew up with. He even speaks differently, with an air as if he’s no longer hiding that he’s a self-centered bastard. “Did they sleep over after Sebastian caught us at the pub? Or maybe y’all left in the dead of night… You really got my friends wrapped around your dick, don’t you?”
I ignore the taunt. He wants a reaction and I just want him to leave. “Why are you here?”
Heath pulls up a chair near me and tries to take my hands in his but one glare from me has him shrinking back. “We need you to stop looking into things. We’ll make sure the deployment is canceled but you’re getting into things you don’t understand,” he says.
“That’s funny,” I push out. “Because Sebastian mentioned that bullshit last night and you didn’t seem like you wanted to cancel it. Also, I’m not digging into anything. Both of you are tangled up in stuff I don’t understand but even if I stopped doing whatever you thought I was, the facts are already out there. At least some of them.” I steel my voice, trying not to show my discomfort with them in my space. “I’m only in this room rather than my own because you two can’t be trusted to leave me the fuck alone. And now, you’re here again, for what? To threaten me? Silence me? Are one of you going to call Sebastian or Declan and say that you have me or some bullshit? Why do I mean that much to you?”
I have a mind to bring up the fact that we’re not siblings, that I’ve seen the birth certificate Kurt shredded but with the tension already so thick, I think that might make things worse.
Kurt chuckles, revealing that he already knows. “Because we’re not related, Noah. Oh,yeah, I got home and saw that little office wide open, your papers pieced together like a goddamn puzzle.” He leans forward, a tight grin on his face. “You have no idea what you stumbled on, do you?” he says.
“Why does it matter if we’re cousins rather than brothers? We’re still blood. I don’t know why you’re doing this to me,” I say. I shift farther away from Heath when he tries to reach for me again. “Don’t fucking touch me. Just tell me why you’re here. Why couldn’t have this been a fucking phone call?” I reach for my phone, about to panic dial or text my men when the device is ripped from my hands and chucked against the wall behind me. The lingering terror coursing through me becomes more than just a dull throb, taking over my rational mind.
My eyes widen as I realize the very real threat that these men pose to me. “Look, Noah, I’m sorry.” Kurt’s standing over me, his chest heaving before he sits back down on the guest bed. I hadn’t even seen him move, his speed just a little terrifying. “There are things you don’t understand and we knew you wouldn’t answer a call. We’re hoping it’ll help.”
Heath steals my attention next. “Do you know anything about Kurt’s parents?”
“Mom used to talk about them a little, said they were nice but she rarely brought them up.” I have a feeling that the lack of information I have on my own family means there was a much darker secret lurking in the background. Kurt, though, has yet to prove why this couldn’t have been a phone call, text, or even a fucking voicemail.
Kurt bursts out laughing. “They were absolutely nice. Wonderful. Until they were fucking convicted of war crimes. We’ve all been through the military, Noah but only my parents were the ones convicted. I’ve had to live with my aunt’s family because of what my parents did,” he mentions. He pulls out his phone and scrolls a little before chucking the device at me.
I read silently through the article frowning at both the date and the content. It’s dated nearly twenty years ago, detailing crimes that are too horrific to read aloud. The worst part is the way they condemn a mere child. “Kurt, what is-”
“I’ve never been your brother, you little shit. My parents were supposedly just out ruining the goddamn world and I was thrown at my aunt’s family–your parents–to take care of me while they did it. But when they were condemned to an eternity of ridicule and prison time, everyone thought I’d follow right in their footsteps.”
None of this makes any sense, especially when I look over at Heath to figure out how he fits into this. “But this is twenty yearsago. I feel like I would know if they were still alive and that you weren’t actually my brother. Heath, what-”
Kurt throws me a deviant grin, shaking his head. “Noah, Noah,Noah.Your parents told so many goddamn lies to protect your innocent little ears. That car accident they died in? Didn’t happen. They both died in prison, rotting away while no one cared about them. They were convicted years earlier than that article but only charged when you were about 10 or 11. They told you that it happened when you were a kid but hell, they were still alive and well, stuck in a cage of the military’s making.”
Heath smirks, leaning back and placing his hands behind his head. Neither one of these men are ones that I know anymore. Their haughty expressions, the power they seem to wield, and the secrets lurking in their eyes. “And now, Kurt wants to get back at the system that ruined his parents and I have the access to do so. It isn’t hard and I got you in the meantime,” he says.
“You mean I was just part of a transaction? Did you even ever love me?” I ask.
Heath barks out a laugh. “Did you?”
My breath catches in my throat as I crawl backward onto the bed, putting more distance between us. “What did you guys do? I still don’t understand how any of this connects. Your parents break the law and they are jailed to pay their penance. Then they died. Why does that have anything to do with me or your buddies? Why are you going up against a system that only did what they were supposed to do?”
I wrack my brain for answers because while I heard about this case, I never did more than skim the surface. My memories are shot. I only remember Kurt as my brother. He was always at the house and while mom and dad were a little harsh with him at times, he was the golden child.
Or maybe that’s just the way I saw him.
Fuck.
