Page 21 of The Redemption of Alex Cade
Kelvin followed me into the living room. He stood in the centre of the room and looked around slowly taking everything in from my crammed bookcase, to the photos on the wall, to the prints of Thai landscapes on my walls, filing away every detail, and somehow making me feel like he found it wanting. Even though he made me feel uneasy, my hackles rose. My house was on the small side, just a two bed new build, but it was my home, with my things, and I was proud of it.
“Nice place. Very cosy. Now, about that tea. Three sugars, and just wave the milk over it.” He grinned as he sat down on the sofa, his legs flopping wide as he lounged back and rested his arms along the back rest.
As I waited for the kettle to boil I pulled out my phone, ready to send Alex a text and tell him Kelvin had turned up out of the blue, but the deep voice behind me made me jump out of my skin as I spun around. Christ, I hadn’t heard a thing as he’d crept up behind me.
Kelvin was only a couple of steps away, and I backed up against the counter instinctively.
“Sorry, did I startle you?” He nodded to the phone in my hand. “Were you going to call somebody? Don’t let me stop you.”
“Just checking my messages, that’s all.”
“Anybody in particular you’re expecting one from?
The grin that had sat on his face since I’d opened the door to him had gone. There was a hardness to his expression, and a watchfulness that had me on edge. Not only scary, but dangerous. Yet hadn’t Alex said it was a technique Kelvin applied in business, one he was barely aware he used? It was nothing personal, it was nothing to do with me. It was just habit, that was all. I told myself all that, and tried to believe it, as he stared down at me, the heavy aroma of his cologne cloying and choking in my small kitchen.
The sharp click of the kettle saved me from answering. Kelvin was grinning once more. I didn’t know which of his faces was the more unnerving.
He pulled out one of the chairs at the little table in the corner and sat down, leaving me no option but to join him.
“Lovely cup of tea.” He gave me a wink as he sipped. “But it’d be so much better with some biscuits.”
“Don’t have any. Sorry.” I had an unopened packet ofchocolate Hobnobs in the back of the cupboard, but if Kelvin thought I was going to offer him any, he could fuck off.
“Never mind. I expect you don’t buy stuff like biscuits and cakes, do you? Expect you want to keep trim. But I have to say,” he said, leaning forward across the table, his voice lowering as though about to impart a secret, “you’re a bit too much on the slim side, Kitten. A bit skinny, to be honest?—”
“What do you want, Kelvin? Why are you here?” I said, ignoring his taunts. The man might have put me on edge but he was also in my house, on my turf, and he was more than pissing me off.
“I haven’t offended you, have I?” Kelvin asked with fake contrition, and not bothering to answer my questions. “But that’s lucky for you, because it’s what would have caught Alex’s eye, because skinny is how he likes ‘em. And blond. Always has. You’re his type. If I could have a penny for every little twink he’s picked up in the clubs—and he gets through them, let me tell you—I’d be a rich man. Or richer than I already am.”
He sat back as though giving me space to digest his words. I gripped my drink hard, as much to stop myself from throwing it in Kelvin’s face as it was to steady myself. The man who was watching me over the rim of his mug had deliberately insulted me. It was some kind of test, and he was waiting for me to respond. Fight or flight were waging a battle inside of me. My heart was crashing against my ribcage, and a bead of sweat inched down my backbone. Flight wasn’t an option. I forced my grip to loosen, as I forced a smile to my lips.
“Always been blond, always been on the skinny side even though I eat like a horse.” I shrugged my shoulders as though his words were nothing. “And Alex is an attractive man. Ofcourse he’d have his pick.” I took another sip of my tea and hoped Kelvin didn’t notice my trembling hands.
What I’d said about Alex was true. Attractive, and exuding power and confidence. It was a heady mix and would have many a man dropping to his knees. As much as I acknowledged it, it didn’t stop my gut from twisting with something that felt like jealousy.
“Very true,Kit. Very true. He has his pick pretty much every night. Always has, and always will if I know our Alex. And I know him very well, have done for years. Since we were kids. We’re business partners, sure, but we’re so much more. Blood brothers, I think the term is. Has he told you that?”
“No, he hasn’t. He doesn’t talk about you at all.”
Whoa, that hit a nerve. The flinch in Kelvin’s eyes was so quick I could have told myself I was imagining it, or it was a trick of the light, but I’d have been fooling myself.
I might have thrown him off his stride for a moment, but he was straight back on it. “And why would he, when he’s in your lovely company? Why would he want to, when you’re going down on him? Just like all those others have before you, and the others who’ll come after will.”
“What?” In one smooth move, Kelvin had turned the tables on me, throwing me so far off course I didn’t have a hope in hell of finding my way back to it. The fight in me had gone, and I only wanted to run, but every muscle in my body had seized up, leaving me stranded at my kitchen table just inches away from a monster of a man.
“I know it’s not an easy thing to hear, Kitten, especially when you’re clearly rather keen, but what you’ve got to remember about Alex is that he has what you might call commitment issues. Wham bam, then fuck off. Once the deedis done, he loses interest. Always been that way, and probably always will be.” Kelvin tilted his head and surveyed me across the table, his smile pitying, his eyes mocking, and holding me in place with just the power of his words. “I don’t really think you and Alex are a match made in heaven, I really don’t. Because he’s not boyfriend material, you see. Cosy nights in, snuggling up to watch a film together?—”
“What?” I rasped. Because hadn’t that been exactly what Alex and I had been doing, just the night before? I felt sick and my skin pulsed hot and cold. How had he known? Had he been watching, spying on us? It was ridiculous, a preposterous idea, but as I gawped at Kelvin, I could believe it was exactly what he’d done.
“Oh, Kitten, I see I’ve shocked you, maybe even upset you.Mea culpa. I’m only saying this for your own good, because all the boyfriend shit, that’s not what he does. Maybe he’s trying it out for size. Hmm.” He nodded, like he was considering it, before he laughed and shook his head. “No, I really can’t see him changing, because Alex is a fuck and run type. You know what they say about leopards not changing their spots. You look like a nice boy and I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt, so here’s my suggestion. Forget about Alex, because I don’t think you’re good for each other?—”
“How do you know that?” The words clawed at my throat as I forced them out.
“Because I know him. I know him better than he knows himself. We’re bound together in ways you could never begin to understand, so I know what makes him tick. And believe me, that’s not you. So do yourself, and Alex, a favour. Forget about him. Tell him you’re emigrating to Canada.” Kelvin barked out a hard, loud laugh, filling the kitchen, and I jolted back in my chair. “He went there a couple of years ago.Wouldn’t go back, he said, because it was too bloody cold, the people wouldn’t stop smiling at him and it gave him the creeps. So yes, tell him that’s where you’re going. Then lose his number.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ALEX
