Addicted (The Addicted Series, #1)(112)

"You know Dwayne Forrester?" Kimberly asked, still angry, but at least somewhat interested. "What, did you two raise some hell together?"

"Yeah, for about three months around the Caribbean," I replied honestly. "Dwayne though, he's matured, he's grown up. He has a wife now, and a beautiful daughter. Looking at the photo he showed me, I realized that unless I change, I'm never going to have that life. So I asked Dwayne what I should do. He told me the first thing was to come here and set things right, to beg your forgiveness. But then he offered me a lifeline."

"You haven't done much begging yet," Krystal noted, "does that start soon?"

I saw a ghost of a smile flash across her face when she said it, and I felt my heart leap up. Still, I wasn't out of the woods yet. "Give me a minute. Here was Dwayne's deal. He's opening another resort, near Kennebunkport. I'm to work there as the assistant manager in charge of fitness and recreation facilities, in a junior executive mentorship program. At the same time, he's going to get me into a university. I have four years to graduate. If I do, he'll make me a Vice President of the chain. Krystal, I know it's halfway across the country, but it's only a few hours by plane. Hell, I'll use my trust fund to buy a private jet if you want just so that I can see you every day I have off. But at the end of it, I can maybe, just maybe, be a man that you'd be proud to have with you."

Krystal looked at Kimberly, and the two seemed to share a psychic communication. They came closer, whispering from one to another, before Krystal nodded, turning to look at me. "I've heard what you had to say. Now, time to beg. On your knees, in the middle of the floor, eyes closed."

I swallowed and nodded, doing just as she asked. Getting in the middle of the carpet, I closed my eyes and knelt. Just as I started, my words were cut off by the sound of steel on steel. I'd heard it before, when Krystal had used a sharpening rod on one of her knives. From the deep sound of it, it was her largest, a chef's knife that I'd seen her break up a chicken with a surgeon's precision.

"Shut up, and hold still," Kimberly said, her voice as sharp as the knife I could see in my mind Krystal holding. Still, if that was what Krystal wanted, I'd give it to her.

I could hear the two women approaching, and I heard the sound as Krystal slapped the flat of the blade against her thigh. I gulped down my fear, but resigned myself as their presence came so close that I could feel them, like some sort of magnetic field or something. Suddenly, a whoosh went by my right ear, and there was a snicking sound. I opened my eyes as I saw Krystal standing there with a lock of my hair in one hand, and her kitchen shears in the other. "I forgive you Julian, but you're on your last chance. Love can only get you past so much. Now stand up."

I scrambled to my feet, looking from Krystal to Kim, who was still angry, but had a small smile on her face. "I swear, you looked like you were about to piss your pants," she said, holding up the spatula she'd been holding, smacking it against her palm twice to clue me in on the deception.

I sighed and looked at Krystal, who set the shears aside before putting the lock of my hair into an envelope she had lying on the counter from a credit card company. Turning to me, she came over and hugged me, then kissed me on the cheek. "Now, are you going to help with dinner or not?"

"Ow," I replied, wincing at the pain in my cheek. "No kissing the sunburns, please."

"Be glad I don't smack you in the arm with the spatula instead," Kimberly replied. "Since your little stunt also cost two people their jobs as well."





Chapter 25


Krystal




"So that was how I got myself fired," I explained as we sat down at the coffee table, since I wanted the meal to be more relaxed. "And yes, I admit it's not your fault, Julian."

"I'd say he's responsible for at least part of it," Kimberly said as she looked at the large plate of couscous, lamb, and vegetables. "Any particular way I'm supposed to eat this?"

"No, just dive in," I said. "Just remind me in twenty minutes to get the dessert out of the oven."

Julian looked at his plate deeply for a second. "Kim, you said I cost two people their jobs. Who else?"

"Yuki," I replied. "Mom fired her after she stuck up for you when you left. While John wasn't happy about it, he wasn't going to overrule the decision. He did give her until the end of the month to find a new position and she could stay in the manager's house until then."

"Geez, Yuki didn't deserve that," Julian said, setting his spoon aside. "Krystal, please go ahead and eat, but I need to make some phone calls. I'm going to see if there's anything I can do about that."

He got up from the table and went into his bedroom, closing the door behind him. Kim and I watched him go, and she turned back to me. "That's a step in the right direction," she noted. "I wonder what he's going to do when I tell him Gina's baby is most likely not his."

I stopped, my fork halfway to my mouth, and nearly dropped it into my plate. "What?"

"Oh, you hadn't put it together yet?" Kim asked me. "Damn, I thought you chefs were good at math."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, still trying to keep my mind from flipping out.