Unwanted Heat

NicholasCopyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“Mackenzie?”

Before the person finishes Kenzie’s name, her hand is gripping mine so tightly that I swear she is likely going to break my fingers. I glance at her, finding her incredibly pale, which is when I know something is seriously wrong. I’m not sure what to do because I don’t know what’s wrong, but I know I need to do something.

“Kenzie? What is it, baby?”

I take her chin in my fingers and tilt her head up so I can see her beautiful brown eyes. I watch her close them and take a deep breath, slowly letting it out before her eyes meet mine once again. This time though, I see something I’ve never seen with her before. Even though her eyes are on me, they might as well be closed. I can always tell what she’s thinking by her eyes; right now though, I have no idea what she’s thinking. She’s completely closed off-it’s as if the woman I know and love is no longer here. I realize in that moment, I’ve watched her do exactly what Alex tells me that I do before walking into a negotiationKenzie has put a mask on.

Now I just need to figure out why the hell she is doing that…

“Mackenzie?”

Kenzie takes a deep breath before slowly turning around to face an older woman who is standing only a few feet from us.

“Estelle.”

I watch the two women just stare at each other for several minutes, as I try to figure out what the hell is going on. I’ve never seen Kenzie like this; her voice is cold and distant, she’s tense and no longer relaxed against me. I close the space between us, wrapping my arm firmly around her waist and lean into her so that her back is against my side.

“Kenzie?”

I need her to tell me what the hell is going on; a quick glance around confirms that Carter and Hunter are both watching whatever this is, ready to intervene if necessary. If she doesn’t say something or move in the next few seconds, I’m going to take her out of here, until I figure out who the hell this woman is and why she is so freaked out right now.

“Excuse me, Estelle, I would like you to meet Nicholas Parker, my husband,” Kenzie introduces.

“Your husband?” the look on the old woman’s face is priceless: she is completely shocked that Kenzie is married to me, which makes me again wonder who the fuck this woman is.

“Nicholas, I would like you to meet Estelle Adams… my

grandmother,” I swear in that moment I can hear the disgust in her voice when she finally reveals the identity of the woman standing in front of us. My posture immediately matches Kenzie’s in recognition of who this woman is; if I were a different man my hands would be around her neck. The woman’s hand is outstretched in an offering to me, but I don’t accept it, instead I turn my attention to Kenzie.

“If you’ll excuse us, I see someone we need to speak with,” I quickly lead her away, as the older woman is left stunned, staring at us as we walk away from her. I’m heading toward the exit, determined to take Kenzie back to the hotel so she no longer has to see the woman who caused her so much pain.

“No,” she stops dead in her tracks when she realizes we’re leaving.

“Let’s go back to the hotel-”

“No.”

“No?”

She doesn’t say anything more, but the mask that she put up earlier remains intact. I don’t know why she doesn’t want to leave, but I need to get her somewhere so I can talk to her privately about this. I search the room for somewhere that we can talk and finally settle on a small table in the corner of the room near the windows. It’s not exactly what I want, but for now it will have to do.

“Kenzie, we can leave-”

“No.”

“I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. We don’t need to stay for this; we can go back to the hotel right now-”

“No.”

“If you think I need to stay-”

“It’s not that,” for just a brief moment, I see something in her eyes, but just like that it’s quickly gone.

“What is it then? Why do you want to stay? We don’t have to-”

“If I leave, she wins,” her voice is just barely above a whisper, but those few words say it all. Just like that, I get it.

“If you’re sure that’s what you want, we’ll stay.”

“I won’t let her win again. She can’t make me leave; she can’t make me do something I… I don’t want to do again…”

“She was forcing you to marry that asshole?”

“She… after he… after he hit me the first time, I wanted to leave him… but she made it clear that if I fucked that up, I wouldn’t be welcome back in her house. Not that I wanted to go back there to begin with, but I was still working at that point, so I only needed to stay with her until I could find a place of my own…”

“What happened?”

“I called her… after he left for work the next morning. I told her I… I had to call out sick from work because he hit me so hard the night before that my cheek was still bruised. I asked… I begged… for her to let me come back, even though I swore when I left I would never return. I figured it would only be a couple weeks at most. Do you know what she said?”

“What?” I’m almost afraid to ask.

“She told me that if he hit me, I must have done something to deserve it. She said I needed to learn my lesson: it was my job to keep him happy, that was my only job as his future wife. And he obviously needed to teach me how to do that. She then hung up on me; it was the last time I spoke with her. I left him a month later when… things escaladed.”

“She made you stay with a man who beat you? What the fuck kind of person is she?”

How the fuck does someone do something like that?

“I let her win then; I’m not going to let her win now. I need to show her that I’m not that girl anymore… that she can’t control me like that. If we walk out of here right now, she’s going to know I left because of her. I

can’t… she…”

“Okay, baby, we’ll stay. But the moment it becomes too much, we’re leaving-even if that means I have to carry you out of here. I’m not going to let that woman hurt you again.”

She doesn’t say anything but gives me a slight nod in what I hope is agreement. I’m not happy about keeping her here, but if this is something she feels the need to do, then I’m going to help her do it. I take out my phone and send a quick text to Carter requesting he order a complete background check from on Estelle Adams.

“How about we get another drink?” I suggest.

“Something a little stronger than wine perhaps,” Kenzie slowly turns from the windows that she has been staring out of since we sat down.

I don’t show my surprise at her request, knowing that right now she probably needs all the liquid courage she can muster. We walk around the room, stopping to chat with a few people on our way. She manages to hide what is going on well: anyone who looks at her or stops to chat with us, has no idea the demons she is battling standing next to me. I want so badly to take her back to the hotel, to help her forget everything about tonight and to show her what a beautiful, strong woman she really is. But I know she needs to do this for herself, so at least for now, I hope that I’m at least helping just be in the same room as that woman.