Chapter Two
King grabbed Vanessa as she stumbled into him when someone knocked into her.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said and smiled. “It’s just a homeless person.”
When King got his first look at the woman, his whole world dropped away. Fuck, his Cat. The woman he’d thought of every day of his life. The pain wouldn’t seem to leave him enough to be happy. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d smiled or been able to go to bed without the help of several glasses of scotch.
But here she stood, even more beautiful than before. She was in faded, ripped jeans and a big t-shirt, but he could tell she’d lost weight. Too much weight. Her hair had grown down to her waist and was still the dark chocolate brown he’d loved, and her crystal-blue eyes sparkled. At least until she recognized him, then all the color faded from her face. She looked like she was swaying, about ready to faint, and he went to reach for her, but she’d stiffened at the last moment.
“Cat.”
He watched her blink back tears.
“I’m called Catalina.”
He wanted to yell that he wasn’t most people. But he’d given up any right to her when he’d made her leave.
His shock was compounded when a little boy called her ma and ran to her, and she picked him up. It was one too many shocks, and he didn’t know how to process it all.
“Who’s this?” He didn’t have to ask because the boy was the spitting image of himself. He wanted to roar when she called him a sperm donor. Goddamn her, how could she have kept this from him?
He watched her walk away and couldn’t get his wits back enough to call her back.
“Who was that person?” Vanessa asked.
“An old friend.”
“She looks homeless.”
“No. She’s not.”
“Can we go, darling? I’m very hungry.”
He looked down at Vanessa and almost cringed. He also wanted to laugh because all the woman would eat was a salad because she was terrified she’d become fat.
It was the way it was in their circle of the family friends he’d grown up with. The women had to be perfect and go to any lengths to be that way. Vanessa had gotten a boob job, had her nose done, and injected something into her lips. He didn’t want to think about the things she’d had done to the rest of her body, and he knew he’d never find out even though she was pushing for him to sleep with her.
King had taken the woman out a few times to please his mother. She’d been trying to get him married to a socialite she approved of, but he could never see himself married, especially to her.
He hadn’t been able to have sex with anyone since Cat. He’d tried several times but hadn’t been able to follow through. Giving himself a hand job had the same results. It was like his libido died the day Cat left.
King had so many questions, but he’d take Vanessa to the dinner he promised her and then drop her off because he had a lot of answers he needed as quickly as possible.
His jaw ached by the time he dropped off his date. He knew she tried to be pleasant, but all she did was spew her dislike and contempt for people around them, and it made having an enjoyable meal impossible.
When he got home, he called his private detective to get all the information he could on her before he called Darian.
“Hey, man. What do you need?” Darian asked.
“How do you know I need something?”
“Because you never call me at midnight to just chitchat.”
King’s gaze jerked to the clock, and he groaned. “Fuck, I didn’t know what time it was.”
“It doesn’t matter. What’s wrong?” Darian asked. “Wait, I’ll go into my office.”