Chapter 33

thirty-three

Nevaeh

Kane came back different from his visit with Ilya. Tense and on edge. The way his blue eyes tracked me as I moved around the room before settling in the hotel bed with my book in hand to read more about my dark mafia king—that now that I’ve met Ilya seems to touch a little too real for comfort—was disconcerting. It didn’t take me long to toss the book to the side, open my arms, and ask him to come to me.

Kane didn’t refuse. In fact, he made love to me long and slow, lingering in my body as though he was afraid to leave.

I fell asleep to his big body wrapped around mine, feeling safe and happy surrounded by warmth even as the scent of a winter forest invaded my lungs.

The next two nights, Ilya, to my surprise, remained with me and the ladies as we watched the guys perform at their sold-out concerts that were nothing like the down to earth, comforting performance at Addy’s Ace. These performances were massive, and Ilya looked on edge throughout the whole time. I was certain the man would prefer to be doing literally anything else, but he stayed where he was, standing sentry as the three of us cheered for our guys on stage.

After the concerts, Candace had to get back for her shift at the hospital and Ian left with her. Cash and Wrenlee left for home too, because newly pregnant Wren was hit hard by the exhaustion of her pregnancy on top of the entertainment of the shows. They’d rest for a few days before jetting off to see her father in Colorado.

We had one last night with everyone together, which we spent at a restaurant that Ilya had arranged to be entirely cleared but for our party. The man is a force and the more time I spent with him, the more I pitied the poor woman who eventually won his heart.

She’d be in for it, for sure.

Now, with everyone gone home and Ilya gone to who knows where, it’s just me, Kane, and Tav left in New York. Tav stayed for Kane, and by extension me. Kane has a photoshoot he couldn’t get out of for a brand of guitars he is under contract to endorse, and that left me without a babysitter. Kane asked Tav and when Ilya offered to leave Muscle Man One and Muscle Man Two, I’d shot pleading eyes to Tav to stay instead. With a smirk, he agreed to babysit me so Muscle Man One and Two could jet off with Ilya to enact whatever terrors Ilya enacted when he wasn’t romancing his little brother’s crew with cleared restaurants and those alluringly disconcerting eyes.

Because I’ve never been to New York, and Kane is off doing Kane business for the day, I’d asked Tav if we chould shop and sightsee. He didn’t look thrilled with the idea, but he hadn’t denied me either.

I’ve had him all over the place since eight in the morning, my trusty ever-present bag of candy fueling me along the way. I tried to share with Tav, but he’s a killjoy when it comes to the truly delicious this world has to offer. This is why I’m hesitant about his claim that this busy little bistro we’re currently sitting down to lunch at is one of the best New York has to offer.

Settling at the table and, not knowing a whole lot about Tav, I decide to dig in. “So, how’d you become the drummer in Devils Heartbreak?”

His dark eyes flicker up from the menu to connect with mine. “I’ve always liked music.”

“That’s it?”

He shrugs. “It was a little boys dream that became a reality.”

“Tell me about this little boy.”

A brow raises and he sits back in his seat, lifting his chin just that little bit to peer the length of his nose at me. Tav gives this contemplative look a lot. I’ve seen more than one pair of panties drop for it.

“Are you asking me about my childhood, Nevaeh?”

“I’m married to one of your closest friends,” I say by way of an explanation. “I thought I’d get to know you, too.”

“Have you heard of Taviera cruise lines and shipping?” I shake my head. “My mother inherited part of the company from her father when he passed. She married my father and together they built it into what it is today. A mega corporation that my mother maintained until the day she passed, leaving my father with her twenty-two percent of the company. Before her passing, she’d been in the middle of divorcing my father. It was messy and long and it killed her. She had a soft heart,” he smiles sadly, “in spite of her strong head for business. Sadly, for her, she loved my father.”

“You don’t feel the same?”

“He’s worthless.”

“And the company?”

“My brother and I hold majority shares, me at forty-two percent and my younger brother at thirty-six percent, gifted to us on my grandfather’s passing. My father holds her twenty-two percent. It’s too much for us to push him out, even though we both want to after what he did.”

I pull a candy from my bag and pop it into my mouth, hesitant to ask, “What did he do?”

Tav watches me for a long moment as I suck the sour sugar from the treat. “My father not only cheated on my mother with a woman my age, but he left her for that woman. That woman was one of the daughters of a very close family friend and—” he curses low under his breath, hand sliding over his short hair. “She was also mine. Or I thought she was mine.”

Horror strikes a lash at my heart, because there’s pain lingering in the deep of Tav’s dark eyes. I want to make it better, but it’s not my place. Still, I whisper, “Tav.”

“My father’s relationship with her, as toxic and selfish as it is, ruined not only my family, but our relationship with people who may as well have been family. It ruined my relationship with a woman I thought I loved.”

A waitress stops by our table to take our order, and when she leaves, I offer him a sad smile. “I’m sorry.”

“My first name is Cole.” He tells me, warning quickly, “but don’t call me that. My brother’s name is Darius. My mother was American, and my father is African, immigrated to America in his early twenties where he soon met my mother, married her, and had myself and my brother.” He looks away, his lips curling in on a memory. “We had a good childhood. I thought we had a good family, strong family friends. I thought I’d marry the first girl I fell for—planned to, even. Then I found out she’d been sleeping with my father behind mine and my mother’s back.” He smirks, but it’s bitter. “It’s like fucked-up porn.”

“That’s awful.” I force my treat down my now dry throat. “But I know what it feels like to realize you’ve been betrayed like that. Not by my father, thank God. But—my best friend and my ex-fiancé.”

“People are shit.”

“A lot of them are, yeah. But a lot are really good.” I hesitate to ask but do anyway. “What about the company? You’re a majority owner but you’re the drummer in a seriously successful rock band—how?”

“I’ll never give up my shares of the company as long as he lives. I want nothing to do with it—it’s not me—but I won’t give it to him, and I won’t give it to my brother. It’s the last thing I have left of her. Thankfully, my brother is happy to manage it with him. How he looks him in the eye every day, I’ll never know.” His fists curl on the table. “Just thinking about him makes me want to—” He shakes his head, fists uncurling as he lays large hands on the table, inhaling through his nose. “We should talk about you.”

I nod. “I’m the only child to people who will never make millions.” I laugh. “Unless they win the lottery, which could happen because Mama has a bad addiction to scratch tickets, but it’s unlikely.”

“Your parents are nice.”

“They really are.” I offer him a small smile. “I’m lucky.”

“You are, Nevaeh.”

Our food appears and I shoot him a little grin. “So, there’s no woman in your life?”

He gives me that look down his nose again and I have to swallow my giggle. “There are plenty of women in my life.”

I roll my eyes. “Any special women?”

“That’s not for me, either.”

I blink. “Love is for everyone.”

Tav shakes his head. “Not me.”

At his tone, I know the conversation is done. I don’t want to press, but I have to admit I’m curious about Tav—and I want him to know what it feels like to really have love. All of it.

I decide I’ll chat with Wren and Candace. Between the three of us, we must have someone who would be perfect for Tav.