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He laughed, but it was self-deprecating. “I was gullible. I didn’t see her for about a month after my father died. Then one night, she showed up at our apartment, dressed in a short sexy skirt and a friendly smile. For a teenage male virgin...that was all it took for me. Mom was working and Sam had already gone to Florida to start a construction job there. I was getting ready to graduate from high school and Sam had made enough money working construction to bring us to Florida to join him.”
“You were graduating from high school at the age of sixteen?”
“I skipped a grade. Twice. School was never difficult for me,” he answered in a sheepish voice, like the fact that he was smart embarrassed him.
Why was shenotsurprised that he was a boy genius too? “So, what happened after she came in?”
“She came on to me hot and heavy. I responded like a sixteen-year-old who had never gotten laid. She had me in my bedroom within minutes. She was experienced and I let her take the lead. She opened my fly and had my dick out of my pants and a condom on me before I really knew what was happening.” He laughed, but there was no humor in the hollow sound. “Not that I would have objected. I had a beautiful woman above me, ready to fuck me senseless. I was a teenager in complete ecstasy.”
Oh. Dear. God.
Kara bit back a horrified gasp. Her suspicionshadto be wrong. It couldn’t have happenedthatway.
“She had the knife hidden in her bra.” His voice trembled.
She wasn’t wrong, and the nausea started to rise in her throat.
“So there I was, getting my first fuck, drowning in erotic bliss, never once thinking that there was something strange about the whole situation. She grabbed the knife and started stabbing the moment I started to come. It took me by surprise. She had stabbed me so many times before I realized what was happening that I didn’t have a chance to defend myself.” His chest was heaving, his voice strangled and raw.
Kara’s whole body quivering with emotion, she turned in his arms, straddled his thighs and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Why?” she asked, her question coming in a short sob. “Why would she do that?” Burying her face in his neck, she let her tears flow unchecked down her face. All she could think about was the vulnerable teenage Simon, lying in a pool of blood, dying, just because he was a hormonal, typical young man.
Wrapping his arms tightly around her, he answered in a graveled voice, “Revenge. My father died before he could be punished for stealing from a powerful boss in an organized and huge cartel. The organization was sending a message, letting people know what happens to a person or their family if they try to steal from them. They couldn’t let my father’s bad deed go unpunished. He died before they could send that message. I was just a substitute.”
“But why Rose?”
“The boss knew we had been friends since childhood. Her loyalty was being tested. She was pretty deeply involved in the organization. They threatened to kill her mother and brother if she didn’t kill me.” Surprisingly, there was no bitterness in his voice.
Shaken to the depths of her soul, she choked out, “Is she in jail?”
“She’s dead.” His voice was flat. “She fled as soon as I passed out from blood loss, obviously convinced that I was a goner. She went straight to an alley, took a lethal amount of drugs and slit her wrists with the same knife she used to stab me. They found a suicide note and her confession in her pocket. She begged forgiveness from both her mother and mine, saying that she had to protect her family. She never knew that I survived. Mom came home a few minutes later and found me. If she hadn’t, I would have been dead.”
Unable to contain her horror, she sobbed into Simon’s neck, crying for all of the pain that he had suffered, both emotionally and physically. How did one survive a betrayal like that? Especially by a friend, a woman he had adored. “I’m so sorry.”
“Why?” he asked, sounding perplexed. “You didn’t stab me.” He rubbed his hand up and down her back. “Don’t cry. I don’t like it.” His voice was demanding, but he rested his head against hers, his touch on her back gentle and comforting.
A sad smile crossed her lips as she tried to rein in her emotions. His comment was so...Simon. He had no idea why she was crying for him, why she hurt for him. Being loved by anyone other than his family was completely alien to him. “Tell me about your injuries?”
“I had stab wounds. Lots of them.” His voice held a slightly teasing note. He paused and asked in a more hesitant, gruff voice, “Are you going to cry again if I tell you?”
Oh, good Lord. He’s telling me about the most traumatic event of his life and he’s worried about whether or not it will make me cry?
“I’ll try to contain myself. Tell me.”
“I was in the hospital for a while. Lucky for me, Rose was a lousy murderer. She managed to miss most of my vital organs and some of the wounds were shallow. They had to do surgery and repair a few organs, but I lived through it. As soon as I was well enough, Sam moved Mom and me to Tampa.” He breathed a long, masculine sigh.
“Were you scared?” she whispered against his neck, still visualizing a young, frightened, injured Simon. Her arms tightened around his shoulders, wishing she could have been there to comfort him.
“Honestly, I barely remember any of it.” He shook his head slightly. “Sam said Mom was a total wreck. The only thing I remember was being ashamed when I was finally coherent. And sad because Rose was dead.”
Her head jerked back abruptly in shock. Searching his eyes, confused, she asked, “Why? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I was duped because I was horny. I was thinking with the head below my waist instead of the one above it. Rose coming on to me wasn’t logical. It didn’t make any sense. I should have been suspicious. Christ! All she had said to me in months was to go to hell. Should have known something wasn’t right. But I didn’t think about anything but getting off.” His face was dark and tortured. “I was pissed at myself. I put my mom and Sam through hell because I was stupid. I knew better. I grew up in the neighborhood. I sure as hell knew how to watch my own back.”
Her palm lifted to his face, stroking over his jaw, realizing that he had been a man in a boy’s body when he was injured, expecting himself to make rational decisions even when his hormones were raging. Didn’t he realize, although he may have had the intelligence of an older man, his body had still been young, his maturity still that of a sixteen-year-old boy? “Simon...you were sixteen. Still a boy. You may have been a boy genius, but you were still a teenager.”
“Yeah, and I didn’t grow up to be exactly...uh...normal.” He caught her hand that was roaming over the stubble on his face and brought it to his mouth. He kissed her palm gently and entwined their fingers, resting their conjoined hands over his heart.
“No, you didn’t. You grew up to be extraordinary. You have reason not to trust easily. What happened with Dr. Evans?” Sure, he needed to have control, but given the circumstances surrounding the traumatic event, she was willing to bet that anyone would have their demons fromthatexperience. She knew she would.