He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, wishing he could get a do-over on the evening, starting with the part where he and Kara had left the condo for the party. If he could have a do-over, they would never have left the condo.
He had nearly killed his own brother tonight, had happily beat the shit out of him after he had found out that Sam had hit on Kara. It hadn’t been hard to figure out. Kara had been missing and Sam had a tell-tale handprint on his face, an obvious souvenir from a pissed-off female. Furthermore, Sam had led Kara to believe that Simon wouldn’t mind if Sam f**ked his woman.
Granted, Sam had been two sheets to the wind, but Simon had been so out of control when his brother had made his drunken confessions that he didn’t care. He had pounded his brother into the ground, stopping only when his mother got between the two of them.
It was the only physical fight that he and his brother had ever had. Sam had never laid a finger on him, and Simon would have never imagined punching his brother. Until tonight. Until Kara. The thought of any other man touching Kara made Simon completely insane.
It hadn’t made Simon feel any better to know that Kara had rebuffed Sam, bitch slapping him hard enough to leave a mark. She had probably been scared, confused. And she had left him. It made him want to lay into his stupid-ass brother all over again.
He opened his eyes, noticing that he had crumpled the card in his lap. Smoothing it out, he opened it.
Simon,
Happy Birthday! I wanted to give you something that I didn’t have to buy with your money, something special. I know you collect coins, so I thought of this gift.
This belonged to my father. It was his lucky penny. He found it on the exact same day that he met my mother. He swore it was only moments before he saw her for the first time. He always said it brought him the luckiest event of his life.
I’ve always carried it with me. I’ve made it this far, so I guess it has been lucky.
I know it’s not much, but I want you to have it. I know you don’t really need luck, but I’ll feel better knowing you have it. I hope it always keeps you safe.
Kara
Simon tore open the package and stared long and hard at the small, worn plastic case. He finally popped it open, and glanced at the lucky coin.
Astonished, he flipped it over and then over again. Hell, it was 1955 Double Die Obverse. And in very nice condition. He wasn’t a professional grader, but he was willing to bet that it would grade high.
Did the crazy woman realize that she had been carrying around such a rare coin? A coin that would probably feed her for several months if she sold it?
Probably not. And he knew that Kara would probably rather die than sell something so sentimental, something that belonged to her dad.
But she had given it to him. She had parted with something extremely dear to her to give him a birthday present.
He closed the case and gripped the coin hard, placing it over his heart as pain ripped through his sternum. Why had she parted with this? Why had she given it to him? Instinctively, he knew it was special to her, so special that she always kept it close.
Simon knocked back his second drink and put the coin in his front pocket. It wouldn’t leave his possession until he could give it back to her. Personally.
Grabbing his cell phone, Simon dialed his security manager, Hoffman. He answered on the second ring.
“Are you tailing her?” he asked his security chief gruffly, not bothering with niceties.
“Of course. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but she seems settled for the night. Good neighborhood, decent house. Belongs to a Dr. Reynolds,” Hoffman informed him.
“She left. Keep a team on her twenty-four-seven. I want to know if she sneezes.”
“Okay, boss. Will do.”
Simon disconnected with a sigh. Obviously she had gone to stay with her friend, Maddie. She’d be okay there. For now.
He had never told Kara, but she had been guarded every moment of every day since the incident at the clinic had occurred. Hoffman’s team ran in shifts, always watching, always ready. The police had never caught the junkies who had shot at her and robbed the clinic, and Simon wasn’t willing to take any chances. Kara had seen their faces, had helped with composite drawings. Until the ass**les were caught, she needed to be safe. Simon needed to know that she would be okay.
Every instinct, every cell in his body was screaming at him to go after her, to drag her back over his shoulder if necessary. He wanted to, but he couldn’t win her over that way. The incident with Sam had obviously upset her. Giving her some time would help. Hauling her back would only settle the problem for a short time, and Simon wasn’t in this for the short haul. He needed Kara, had to have her forever. Anything less was unthinkable.
If someone had told him several weeks ago that he would meet a woman he couldn’t live without, he would have laughed until his ribs hurt. But he wasn’t laughing now. Kara had become his life, and he couldn’t even think about going on without her.
What kind of life had he lived before her? As he thought about all of the women he had f**ked in the past, he frowned. Women who had to get half- drunk and be offered expensive gifts, just to give their bodies to him. They had been empty experiences, women who tolerated him for his money. They may have temporarily satisfied his urge to get off, but they had left him with a huge emptiness that he had never even thought about before he met Kara. Now that he knew what it felt like to be with a woman who actually wanted him , he acknowledged that he could never go back. He needed Kara as much as he needed the air that he breathed. God knew, he didn’t deserve her, but he would have her.
Forcing himself to his bedroom, he stripped out of his clothes and headed for the bed. Turning around abruptly, he headed back to the pile of clothing on the floor and fished in the pocket of his pants. Pulling out the coin that Kara had given him, he kept it in his grasp and slid into bed, not sure if he could even sleep, but longing for some sort of oblivion.
Having Kara gone was the ultimate torture. The house was too quiet, too empty. Her presence had been palpable since she had first arrived and now he could feel only the ghost of her essence, echoes of her laugh.
Sliding the coin under his pillow, Simon flopped onto his back, already restless. He prayed for sleep to take him away…but God must have been busy because he lay awake most of the night, trying to decide the best way to get Kara back.
He would get her back. That was the only option. It was just a matter of figuring out how to accomplish his goal.
Dawn was breaking before he slipped into a troubled sleep, visions of Kara tormenting him in his dreams.