Addicted to Him

Addicted to Him

Chapters: 10
Updated: 19 Dec 2024
Author: M.O. Kenyan
4.5

Synopsis

Love is the most powerful drug. Kit didn’t expect much when he returned home after being declared M.I.A for more than a year. But he definitely didn’t expect his wife and his twin brother to be planning their wedding. He now must figure out whether or not his marriage is worth fighting for. Danny has been in a trance, ever since she was told that Kit could be dead. She grasped onto the first thing that would keep her from drowning. Unfortunately, that was Chris, Kit’s twin brother. Her mind slowly unravels when Kit comes back, and she has to make a decision that will affect their lives forever.

New Adult Romance Love Triangle BxG Broken Family Family Drama

Addicted to Him Free Chapters

Chapter 1 | Addicted to Him

Danny felt the wetness of her tongue as it smoothed over her lips, her fingers biting into the plush couch as she watched her brother DJ swirl the golden liquid in his whiskey glass. She swallowed a yelp when he threw his head back and tossed the contents into his mouth. Her gaze still fixed on him; she watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.

Oh God! She was slowly losing the leash she had placed on her need for booze. Danny had made a promise to her parents, one she’d kept breaking repeatedly for the past couple of months. She’d sworn her parents to secrecy, because she had no intention of telling her brothers her secret. DJ would only blame himself, and she didn’t want to disappoint her new, big brother Reno.

Danny had recently come out of a posh rehab clinic. Rehab, a place she never thought she would see the inside of. However, once you let your boyfriend introduce you to cocaine, after which he dies in bed, at your side and you don’t notice until two days later…rehab was apparently the place to go. Reno had been livid. DJ just kept looking at her with disappointment, shaking his head every few seconds. Her mother had cried, and her father had been rendered speechless. Her boyfriend, the football star who everyone thought was a saint, was just a nightmare with a dreamy smile.

DJ got up and Danny’s gaze tailed him. The clink of ice hitting the bottom of the glass was followed by the familiar sound of liquid pouring. Danny chewed on her bottom lip and swallowed hard. Once she’d left rehab, she’d had to replace one addiction with another. At least she wasn’t taking drugs anymore.

“Don’t you think that’s enough?” her father bellowed.

DJ glared at their father, probably wanting to say something terrible but holding himself back. Their father had been DJ’s hero growing up. DJ modelled himself after the man he had been named after. DJ hissed after gulping his drink. Danny scratched her neck. She could almost feel the sensation, the hot burn of the honey liquid as it ran down his throat, heating up his insides with a glorious fire she wished she could embrace.

“DJ, I said that’s enough?” their father asked once more.

“I don’t think you are in a position to tell me what enough is.” DJ threw back another shot and filled his glass once more. “Reno is twenty-three years old. You lied to my mother…or did you know?”

Danny was barely hanging on to the conversation. DJ’s glass had caused her to go into a trance.

“Of course not!” their mother exclaimed. “Do you think I would let my children’s siblings live on the other side of the country without looking into their welfare? Do you think I would have left your sister to whatever fate she is in now?”

“I’m here—no, wait—you must be talking about the other sister. The one father abandoned and has now disappeared. Her name is Rhyne, right?” Danny slurred her words. This part of the conversation had caught her attention. It was hard for her, now that she wasn’t the only little girl in the family.

“I think you should be telling Daniela what enough is,” DJ said as he sat back down. Danny glared at him, envious and mad at the same time. She looked around the room and immediately, she knew they could tell she was far from sober.

“DJ, that’s enough,” Reno said, his tone cool but daring disobedience. DJ’s hand froze with the glass on his lips, and Danny whimpered.

“We need clear heads if we are going to discuss this. Daniela, I think you should go to your room,” Reno said.

“You won’t tell me what to do,” Danny said.

“Go!” Reno’s firm bass didn’t get any further arguments from her. “We’ll talk about what it is you are taking and figure out a way to deal with it together, as a family.”

“I could have used your help for the past seventeen years. Oh! How could I forget? I couldn’t because our father had abandoned you.” Danny heard DJ say as she left the room.

“DJ, it wasn’t that simple.” This time it was their father speaking.

“It wasn’t? Because to me, it does sound simple. Take care of your children. You abandoned them, and now my sister is gone.” DJ again.

“Don’t you think I know that? No one in this room is tortured about Rhyne’s disappearance as much as I am,” their father shouted.

“I think Reno is. He was six years old when his sister was stolen from her bed and sold by her junkie mother. The one person who should have been there for him wasn’t.” DJ now. Danny wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or the volley of words that had her head spinning.

“I know the consequences my actions brought. I went to Hawaii for some time off, a boys’ trip. Do you think I expected to meet the only woman I would love?” The statement shocked Danny enough to slap her out of her stupor. She didn’t know how her mother managed to stay in the room. Hearing the man, you loved proclaim he was only in love with one woman—another woman—must have hurt.

The room went silent, and Danny thought the revelation must have made them all spontaneously combust. But then her father spoke up again. “I don’t expect you to understand DJ, leaping from one bed to another like you do. I was in love with a beautiful, island girl. She was everything I ever wanted in a woman: strong, gentle, and supportive and determined to face every day with a smile. And when Reno was born, I never thought I could be happier. This was the family I always wanted as my family.” The earnestness in her father’s voice pierced through her heart. She wished one day, she could fall in love. She wanted to be dedicated to someone who could make her need for him greater than her desire for drugs and alcohol.

“But I guess money was more important than family.” The steel in Reno’s tone slashed through the room, and Danny rethought her last thought. Maybe vices were the only thing a human being could hang on to. For her father it was money and as for her…

“I was going to give it all up. I did for a few months. But my father froze my accounts and the money I earned as a bartender couldn’t support us. Do you know how demeaning it is for a man not to be able to provide for his family? So, I came back to New York. I didn’t tell my father about my son. I told him Kono, and I were done. I worked at the firm and every chance I got, I would fly out to Hawaii to see my family.”

Danny leaned in as her father’s broken voice bounced off the walls of the house. Sacrifice. Maybe there was hope for love, after all.

“Is that where you went? You told me you were going for business trips,” Isadora said.

“How did my mother fit in all this?” DJ asked.

“My father wanted an alliance with her family. We dated, then got married, then had you and your sister.” Their mother’s nod affirmed her doubts.

“So, if you were here with mother and with Kono and Reno, when did you decide the double life was too much for you?”

“Before you were born. Father had threatened to disown me. And I knew I couldn’t be able to provide for Reno and Kono if I didn’t stay in his…good graces. This is what happened.”

Danny almost toppled over, her curiosity superseding her drunken legs’ ability to hold her body up.

“What do you mean? DJ asked.

“I went back to Hawaii and Kono told me she was pregnant. Then your mother called to tell me she was expecting you…”

Danny thought she would nod off at that moment.

“So, it was my fault!” DJ shouted, making Danny jump back and bump into the wall unit behind her.

“It’s not,” Reno and their father said in unison. The boom in their voices drowned out the sound of the disturbed furniture. “What he means to say is marrying into your mother’s family money was more important than his poor family on the island.”

“It was my fault,” their mother spoke up. “I knew that your father wouldn’t commit without a push. So, I got pregnant intentionally.”

“So, he was sleeping with both of you at the same time?” DJ asked.

“You’re one to judge,” his father snapped back.

“The difference between you and me is that I wear a condom each time. Or wasn’t it invented when you were making your rounds?”

“Don’t you think I know I broke my family? I destroyed Kono and turned her into… If I had been brave, my son wouldn’t have grown up in the environment he did. My daughter would be here about to celebrate her twenty-second birthday with you. I only spent two years with my daughter. Kono didn’t want anything to do with me, once I told her that I had married your mother. I broke her heart, and my own.”

“Oh, poor you. We should all feel sorry for you, right? Your heart got broken. Well, Kono’s broken heart led to her death and to my sister being sold off. So, forgive me if I don’t feel sorry for you,” DJ said, his voice thick with sarcasm.

“DJ—”

“What I don’t understand is this: grandfather has been dead for ten years. What stopped you for looking for your children?”

“Shame, and the fact that I am a coward.”

“Well, at least we agree on one thing. You were my hero. My entire life, all I ever wanted was to be like you. But now that I know you, I’m ashamed to be your son.”

“That’s fine, you can be ashamed. The important thing right now is to find my daughter.”

“Why?” Reno asked. “So, you can take care of her? Daniela, the one living in your house, is as high as a kite right now. Neither one of you noticed. You can’t take care of anyone but yourself, Dennis Kent. I’ll find my sister on my own.”

“Our sister. Of course, with Daddy’s money,” DJ said.

“One thing you can depend on is unlike my father, I will support you in everything you want. So now, what do we do about our sisters?”

It was like a tribal meeting; one Danny wasn’t invited to. They would sit there discussing and deciding her life. It was ridiculous. Danny walked into the room, clapping slowly. They all turned to face her. “This is better than a telenovela.” She laughed. “This family is so screwed up. And you wonder why I’m an alcoholic.”

“I thought it was cocaine,” DJ cut in.

“Fuck you!” Danny turned to her parents, feeling betrayed for the second time that night. “Not only can’t you keep track of your children, Daddy, or realize your husband has never loved you, Mommy, you also can’t keep your mouths shut.”

“They are your brothers. They deserved to know what was going on with you,” her father said.

“The big one over there has been hula-hooping for the past seventeen years and the other one had his face buried so deep into cleavage; they didn’t care what I was doing.” Her mother grabbed her hand and Danny pulled out of her grasp, stumbling once she was free. “And then you two: Daddy has been mourning Kono while Mommy has been chasing Daddy. Everyone was too busy to notice me. Now you want to hold hands and kumbaya. Things aren’t that simple.”

“We are trying to move forward,” her mother said.

“How?” Danny looked around the room and wondered if the rest of them were as drunk as she was. “DJ just realized the almighty Daddy is human. You, Mommy, I don’t know if you noticed, but your marriage is a farce, and Reno, he lost his sister. And I’m this… There is no ‘forward’, Mommy. The sooner you get your head out of your ass and into some fresh air, you will realize that.”

“Stop it!” Reno yelled as he grabbed her arm.

This time, Danny couldn’t get free at all. “Let go of me!”

“I haven’t been here the past few years, but I sure as hell don’t intend to leave you. You are like this because you wanted to be. No one forced you to become a junkie, but I am going to force you to sober up.”

“There is nothing you can do,” Danny squealed as she punched his arm. It didn’t matter, though. The harder she punched, the more tired she got, while Reno didn’t flinch at all.

“We already took her to rehab, Reno,” her father said.

“I intend on taking her to a different kind of rehabilitation centre. This time she won’t have any money or phone access, so no calling Mommy and Daddy to get you out.”

Fear clenched her heart. He meant it; she could see it in his eyes. Danny looked around, and the family that had given in to her every whim her entire life had backed down with tails between their legs. Reno was the Alpha now and no one was challenging him. DJ walked up to her, gave her a kiss on the head, and left the room. That was it. Her ally was gone. The only person who could talk Reno out of his decision had left.

“Daddy?”

“I think he is right, sweetie.”

Danny had been abandoned into the arms of a madman.

***

Six years later…

“Don’t leave me here! Don’t leave me here! Don’t you love me?” Reno teased. “Now you don’t want to leave.”

Danny punched him in the gut and Reno moaned, pretending the hit had hurt. She hopped onto her big brother’s back and hugged him as tight as he could. “If it wasn’t for, I’d probably be dead by now.”

“That is something I would never let happen, monkey. Now get off. My flight is about to take off and you have a job to get back to.”

Danny hopped off and moved to stand in front of Reno. She hated this part. For the past six years, it had been the same thing. He would come visit and they would look for leads on Rhyne together, then it would be time for him to go back to Lisette and the kids. Danny always found herself standing beside the taxi, crying her eyes out. She never wanted him to leave, but as if on cue, DJ would call her, listening to her cry her way home. Then she would fall asleep and begin her new day. Danny always thought that to survive one addiction, she would have to latch on to another. This time, she’d grabbed hold of her brother’s love and never let go. Later, once she was ready, she let her parents back into her life. This was her new addiction, the love for her family.

“Grow your hair back!”

“No!”

Reno backpedalled until he reached the security gate. Danny fisted her dress, as if holding herself in that spot. This was the part that had more than thrice made Reno delay his trip. You are a big girl now. Hold yourself together. Danny cursed her phone for not ringing. Where was DJ when she needed him? Her eyes clouded and Danny could feel herself losing the battle. She had to wait long enough for Reno to get through security, the point of no return.

Reno smiled at her, waited a beat, then nodded.

Danny nodded.

Tears flowed freely and Danny took a step back. It was better than running into Reno’s comforting arms. She nodded once more, this time steeling her features. At least one of them had to be convinced she could do it.

Reno blew her a kiss and that was when she rethought her decision of not going to New York. DJ was in Nice, but Reno, Lisette, her new niece and nephew, and parents would be there. But then she would remember how far she had gotten and assure herself she could do it.

Danny’s phone vibrated and she answered before it rang. “Has he taken off yet?”

“No, he is going to the check-in counter right now.” Reno turned around and waved goodbye.

“Has he said bye yet?”

“Yes,” she cried.

“You are a big girl, monkey. Come on, get into the cab and go home.”

“Okay.”

“Honey, are you still standing there, crying?”

“No.” Danny turned toward the cab and noticed the man staring at her. Normally, she would take time to do more than notice, but this time, she was too sad to.

“Come on, get in the cab.”

Danny did as she was told. She listened to the sound of DJ’s comforting voice until she got home.

***

Christian Henry had stood there watching the girl as she grabbed on to her sundress as if trying to anchor herself down, then as she put on a brave face as her male companion left. She had been crying into the phone for a while before getting into the taxi that was obviously waiting for her. Kit had to overcome the overwhelming urge to take the girl in his arms and console her. His other option had been to force the man to stay. The dude was huge, but Kit trusted his military training to give him the ability to bend a man’s will.

When she got into the cab, he wanted to follow her, hold her, and…he didn’t know what else. But he couldn’t. He was waiting to pick up his twin brother, who had flown in so they could spend their twenty-eighth birthday together. Christopher had invited his friends from New York and rented a posh club for the night. Everyone else was getting in the next night. Kit wanted to spend the day with his twin and show him the sights. His and Christopher’s relationship had become difficult when Kit had decided to become an individual and join the military. The corporate world wasn’t for him. In the military, the rules were simpler, and honour was something a soldier had to wear as a proud badge on his chest. It was different for the money-driven people. He had sort of followed in their sister Katherine’s footsteps; he and Kat had always been closer. Christopher and their older brother Duke had gone into the family business, and he and Katherine had gone into the business of saving lives. Katherine was a doctor and he’d become a Navy SEAL, career paths that their parents and Christopher didn’t understand. And as for Duke, he didn’t say much of anything. He was too busy being the emperor of the Henry Empire.

“Stand at attention, Marine!”

Kit didn’t bother correcting Christopher. As far as his brother was concerned, he was a G.I. Joe. He returned Christopher’s embrace and helped him with his bags. “How was your flight?”

“Damn long,” he groaned. “I still don’t understand why you couldn’t fly down to New York. You could have even borrowed an F-22.”

“I only got the weekend off. I report back on Monday. I already told you that.” Kit put Christopher’s bags in the trunk and exhaled the exhaust that had already begun to overwhelm him.

“I probably wasn’t listening. Did you get time to check the club out?”

“No, I just got off base, checked into the hotel, changed, and came to pick you up. There wasn’t any time to check out the venue.” Kit got into the car and called on his military training of patience to guide him through the weekend. Two days, and his brother would be back in New York.

“So, how are mom and dad?”

“Quit the army and you can find out for yourself.”

“I’m in the Navy, Christopher,” Kit said.

“I don’t care where you are, it’s where you are going that concerns me. One day, people getting which branch of the military you are in won’t bother you. Because at that time, you will be in a casket.”

Kit’s relationship with his parents had reduced to nothing ever since he’d announced, at the dinner table, his decision to join the military. Katherine and Duke were the only ones at his side. Katherine, because she would support him if he ever thought of joining the circus and Duke, well his life had already been taken over by family duty. He probably wanted to see his siblings do their own thing. The conversation—actually, it had been more of an argument—still echoed in his head. The tension at the dinner table mirrored the tension in the Jeep between Kit and his brother. It was thick and toxic, just as he remembered.

A meeting had been called to order, but in the Henry family, it was better known as dinner. Kit sat next to Katherine as he always did. They exchanged a sympathetic look. The rebels of the family had to stick together. The dinner had gone on for ten minutes in silence, meaning everyone else shut up as their father and Duke spoke business. It was then that their mother had made the announcement, angst not missing from her tone.

“Your brother wants to ship himself over to a godforsaken country. Say something.”

“Look at it this way, Kit, they too, think we are a godforsaken country,” Katherine said, and was rewarded by a few strangled chuckles from Christopher.

Their father grunted and Duke made one of his many silent gestures, shaking his head and staring at his phone. His whole life was there.

Their father, sitting at the head of the table, cleared his throat, silencing even the church mouse. “Of course, you would find this funny, Katherine. Everything is a joke to you. You, too, turned your back on your family business.”

“I’m a doctor, Father, a profession that is more important than taking over the world. Look at it this way, if people like me, people who think medicine is important, didn’t exist, your acquisitions-and-mergers executive would be six feet under, focused only on rotting away.”

“Katherine!” Their mother glared.

“I believe Kit has thought about it. He’s old enough to make his own choices. We should trust him.” Katherine looked at Duke for some needed support. After a few seconds tapping away, the man seemed to sense the stares aimed in his direction.

“I think Christopher and I can handle the family business. Let Christian do what he wants, Father.” Duke’s deep baritone had become so unfamiliar to Kit that he sat back, marvelling at its timbre.

“Yes, Father, let him do what he wants. Soon enough he will realize he can’t live without me and come back.” Christopher’s ego spoke up.

“Hardly.” Kit scoffed. “Father, I don’t really need your permission. I am an adult. This is what I want to do. I want to serve my country.”

And that was what he had done for almost six years of his life. He felt valued at his job, and his brothers-in-arms were now his new family. All he needed was Katherine, and he was complete. He was sad she couldn’t make it to the celebration, but the demands of her profession kept her away. He understood—how could he not? His career kept him away from his family; however, most of the time it was by choice. But five years was too long. He needed to see his parents and his big brother soon.

“When we get to the hotel, we need to meet with the hostess. I need to make sure the party planning is going well,” Christopher said.

“I still don’t understand why you had to rent out a whole club. It’s going to be the five of us.”

“The five of us and twenty models!” Christopher made a whooping sound as he banged on the dashboard of the Jeep. “Plus, the guys are inviting other guys. And you have friends in Hawaii too, right?”

“A few who are on leave.”

“I meant normal people. Guys who are going to want to let loose. One stick in the mud is enough,” Christopher muttered under his breath.

The few times Kit and Christopher had interacted, Kit hadn’t been interested in the debauchery Christopher had planned. Now he was known as the stick in the mud. He couldn’t blame it on the military training. Growing up, Kit always felt like he had to bear the responsibility for both. His twin was much too interested in fun to think of the consequences and repercussions of his actions. So, while Christopher got shit-faced, Kit made sure the bill was paid and his brother got tucked into bed, alone and safe. Of course, there was no gratitude for being his brother’s keeper. Christopher never could remember how he got from point A to point B.

“My normal and your normal are vastly different. It’s going to be fun, don’t worry about it.”

***

“Don’t worry about it, it’s going to be great,” Danny reassured the hotel manager and her boss for the umpteenth time. The only thing the man knew how to do was worry, and the one thing Danny was good at was throwing a party. She was the hostess, party planner, and entertainment manager, whatever the hotel needed her to be. She handled all the private functions the hotel’s club had. Today, she was meeting with the birthday boys to discuss their party for the next night.

Once Danny was left alone, she stood in the middle of the empty club and looked around. It felt familiar, nostalgic. It wasn’t home to her, not anymore, that was. However, Danny could still remember the nights she’d spent in one club after the other, the faceless people around her becoming her instant family. They were either attracted to her fun-loving nature or her father’s black card. It felt good to stand in the room and not be shackled to its vices anymore. Her brothers thought she was crazy for willingly putting herself in risky situations. As far as her parents knew, all she did was use the hotel’s spa services. They thought she lived in the hotel, and not in a tiny cottage next to the beach.

Danny closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was enjoying the fresh air of freedom that surrounded her. At that moment, empty and quiet, the place could be called peaceful. However, in two hours it would be filled with rowdy kids who’d sneaked out through their bedroom windows, strangers who would turn into lovers by the end of the night, and middle-aged men and women who only came out because they were terrified life was passing them by. For everyone else, it was a source of fulfilment. It was to Danny, too, but in a different way. This club was her trophy, proof she had conquered her demons.

“Excuse me!”

Danny yelped and spun around. Instantly, she knew that face. Who could ever forget the blond hair that brought out those blue-grey eyes? It was the guy from the airport. Through a cloud of tears, Danny had seen him watching her, a sympathetic expression on his face. This was fate. There was something a little different about him. The sympathy his face held as he watched her cry wasn’t there. In fact, the lines on his face didn’t look like they knew what an expression of sympathy felt like. He had a wolfish grin and he advanced toward her as if he were hunting her. He was about to hit on her, and Danny couldn’t help but be disappointed. She had expected more from that face.

“Hi, again.”

“Again?”

“The airport…” He had forgotten her.

“Yes, the airport. I could never forget such a lovely face.” He was lying and it was painfully obvious to Danny.

The guy stood next to her, perusing her, slowly undressing her. “If your hair was longer, you would look totally sexy.”

“Great.” Danny moved away. “Who are you?”

“Christopher Henry, birthday boy.”

He pulled his best smile, Danny assumed. It was the lady-slayer, the one that probably got him all the girls.

Danny had once been one of those girls who would swoon and celebrate the little attention that smile gave her. But having DJ as an active big brother and Reno her superman in her life, such things didn’t flatter her anymore. DJ was slowly getting there, but Reno was the perfect example of a man. This man in front of her was greatly lacking, and a huge disappointment.

“I’m Daniela Kent. I will be your hostess tomorrow night. Do you have any concerns or last-minute requests?” It was better to get down to business with these types.

“Nothing, but if you promise to take personal care of me, I promise to make it worth your while.”

There was that infuriating wolf grin again. Never had Daniela felt the need to bring up her pedigree, to declare that her father could probably buy the air the sorry jerk was breathing at this moment, but the guy was driving her to her limit.

“Christopher, don’t be rude!” The deep baritone loaded with authority echoed off the walls. Danny walked around Christopher and found herself staring into the exact replica of the man.

“You? I mean, how are you?” he asked.

Confused, Danny didn’t utter a word or a sound. So, is this the one from the airport?

“I only asked because you seemed upset before.” The harshness in his tone had disappeared, now he sounded like a smooth ballad, full of comfort and concern.

He was more handsome than his brother, not because of looks, they were identical in that regard. But there was something inside of him that floated to the surface and made him…immaculate. She didn’t know any other way to describe him. Danny’s hand flew to her chest, as her heart pounded against its cage.

“I’m better now, thanks,” she said. She could barely hear her voice over the rushing sound in her ears.

“Are you alright?” His forehead creased in a frown; his gaze glued to where her hand lay.

“I’m fine, my heart is just…” Danny blushed and looked away. “Schoolgirl moment…so is there anything I can do for you…the both of you, I mean.”

“I’m okay with everything. Christopher?”

Danny turned to his brother. The hopes he’d had fizzled into thin air. Chris was still there. His grin, too.

“Kit, could you give Daniela and I a moment?” Christopher asked, and Danny couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“Daniela, that’s your name?”

Danny turned to Kit, the smile playing on her lips disobeying her order of keeping her face serious. “Yes, Daniela Kent.”

“I’m Christian Henry. My friends call me Kit.”

He stretched out his hand to her and she took it instantly. However, she dropped it immediately. The shock that coursed through her after the contact stunned her. One look at Kit and it was obvious that the surprise and sensation was a mutual experience. “Kit, my friends call me Danny.”

“I like your hair, Danny.”

Danny thought she would melt in that moment, or cry. She had never met a man who made her feel so special, desired and worth the world, with just one look. Danny wanted to stand there for eternity, basking in the emotions his eyes, smile, and gentle touch made her feel. Heat rose in her cheeks and Danny was sure she must look a bright as a beet root, and the goofy smile her lips had stretched into didn’t help matters. She covered her face with her palms and walked away as far and as fast as she could.

Chapter 2 | Addicted to Him

“You scared her away,” Christopher said.

The note of irritation in his tone didn’t escape Kit’s attention.

However, Kit was far from caring. That girl, Daniela—Danny—she did things to his heart that he’d never thought possible. And that was it for him, a warning sign he should stay away. Kit was committed to his career and because of it, he had decided never to get married or have kids. Danny had the house with the white picket fence, the Mrs. Kent and the five babies playing in the yard written all over her. Kit was just starting to get somewhere with his career. The last thing he wanted was a woman to veer him off the path. There was only one way he knew he would be able to stay away from her.

“Topher, you should totally go for it.”

He hated himself the moment those words left his lips. Christopher and Christian had promised each other never to date a woman the other was interested in or had previously dated. And since betraying his brother would be equal to chopping off his right limb, Kit had stayed true to that promise.

“I don’t need your okay. I was going for it, before you rudely interrupted me. I think I’ll meet up with her tonight, right after the guys get in. Are you coming?”

“Where?”

“Tonight, here, for a pre-birthday-party party.”

“No, I think I’ll save my energy for tomorrow.” Kit was trying to convince himself that this was the right thing to do. True, there had been a vibe—more like an electric current—that had flowed between him and Danny. But he had to focus on his career. Turning down assignments so he could stay home with his gal was not an option. And yet he found himself staring in the direction she had disappeared to. “I’m going to head back up to the room.”

“Whatever.” Christopher was busy with his phone. Kit could only imagine what he was starting up. He was glad he wouldn’t be present for part one of the disaster. The sooner Kit could get back on base, the better.

As he started to walk out, Danny stepped into the room. They both froze the moment their eyes met. She was beautiful, even more beautiful than the first time he had seen her, only a few minutes before. Her hand flattened over her heart, here mouth hung slightly open, her pout begging for his kiss. If Kit was the kind to believe in fairy-tales, he would call this love at first sight.

“Oh God!” he mumbled. Kit had never been in love before—well, not with a person. His Navy career had been the only love of his life for years. The Navy had structure he could depend on. He could trust the people around him to follow rules, orders, and not deviate from what was ordered of them. Love—the irrational human response to a pretty face or reaction to a gesture—he couldn’t put his trust in that insanity. And he wasn’t going to.

“Hey, Danny!” Christopher cut into the tension, a welcome reprieve for Kit, but the disappointed frown on Danny’s face said otherwise.

This was his chance to make a run for it. He hoped he wouldn’t ever find himself alone with her. There was no telling what she could make him do or make him give up. It was a strange thought for him to think he could have either-or. But he had grown up with an absentee father. Harry, Senior, had been more involved in his job than with his kids and wife. His parents’ relationship could only be described as weird, like one of a dominant and submissive. Usually, other men would use their experience to strive to become better fathers, but not him. Kit’s own experience was the main reason why he shouldn’t become a father. If he didn’t have the time to give them his one hundred percent, he would rather not try at all.

The Henrys already had a male heir, Duke, and Duke had a son. Another example and proof that fatherhood was not for everyone. Duke didn’t get the time to spend with his son. He was usually flying out for one meeting after the other, his wife an appendage as well as a leech. The poor child spent most of his time with his nanny at home. There was also Christopher. Kit was sure Christopher’s seed was bound to pop up one day. So, it was okay for Kit to be a bachelor with no kids for the rest of his life.

One last look at Danny, and Kit turned his back on a life that could never be.

As he walked along the streets of Maui, he couldn’t help but think that just a few hours before, this had been his place, his domain. And now that Christopher was there, it was going to turn into Christopher’s playground. It was an odd thing to feel, but it had always been like that with the two of them. Christopher always seemed to walk in and take over, and Kit stood back and let him do it.

It wasn’t only his willingness to serve his country that had brought Kit to this island. If he was to be honest with himself, he’d wanted to get away from everything that robbed him of his identity. First, of these was the Henry family name. Living under the thumb of his father and the overcast shadow of Duke had been difficult. But not having a separate identity from Christopher annoyed and weighed him down the most.

It was normal for Christopher to assume that everything that belonged to Kit was also his, however Kit never claimed anything of Christopher. It might have been because Christopher was a screw-up most of the time. But not claiming his brother’s successes didn’t mean he wasn’t blamed for his faults. Early on, Kit had been assigned the role of his brother’s keeper.

***

A few years ago…

Christian frowned at his phone as he read the fifth message from his girlfriend. It was the usual threats of breaking up because he wouldn’t give her a real commitment. Getting married was something Kit wasn’t sure he was ready for. But Meredith Samuels came from a nouveau riche family that had managed to build a construction company, up from three men with hammers to bulldozers and forklifts. It had taken them only twenty years to do it, and that impressed Harry Henry and made Meredith his ideal daughter-in-law. The fact she was an only child didn’t hurt. Especially since Duke, his first-born, had gone and married a hula girl with no pedigree.

So, Kit’s father had planned it all, the marriage and the taking over of the Samuel’s construction company. The ring had been bought and all that waited was for Kit to propose. He was running two months behind schedule, according to his father. Luckily for Kit, the Henrys owned a bunch of companies that needed their constant attention, and it was Kit’s latest project that allowed him to delay the engagement for as long as possible.

“Christian!”

“Yes, Father.” Kit walked into his father’s den, a weight on his shoulders. His father was about to yell, Harry just didn’t know it yet. Their father abhorred three things in his life: weakness, laziness, and a lack of family honour. In other words, if you didn’t want to be on Harry Henry’s bad side, you only needed to do everything he wanted. Deviating from the path set out for you automatically turned you into a villain. This time, Kit had been left with the workload assigned to him and Christopher two days ago. Christopher had since been busy with more important things, including partying all night and having random sex with women he’d only known for five seconds.

So, a job given to two had, as usual, fallen into the hands of one. And the one hadn’t finished it yet.

“Where is it?”

“It” was a marketing plan that Harry had asked his twin boys to come up with, in order to draw in the young demographic. They were more than qualified for the job, since they were just twenty-two years old and fresh from Harvard Business School. The joke was, although technically, two Henry boys had been enrolled, it had only been one who’d attended the classes and done the assignments. Kit was nice enough to let Christopher take the finals for himself. The story of his life.

“I haven’t been able to finish it yet,” Kit said.

Harry’s head lifted from the newspaper his eyes had been glued to the entire time Kit had been in his office. His eyebrows joined together in a frown, his eyes squinting. “I?”

“I mean we haven’t finished it yet,” Kit quickly corrected.

The three things Harry Henry hated, and Kit had just managed to strike one off.

“You said ‘I’.” Harry stood up, his hands dug into his pockets as he paced the room. “Where is he?”

And “he” was the second of the list, but this time Christopher had struck it off. Since they were twins, it added up to Kit’s tally.

“Doing research.” Technically, Christopher was doing research, engaging with other youths, especially the female gender, finding out what they liked, and how and where they liked it. “You will have it in the morning, sir.”

Harry just nodded. Kit wasn’t an idiot, and he knew his father wasn’t a fool, either. Kit knew Harry knew that he was lying. But covering up for Christopher was now part of Kit’s daily routine. Kit rushed out of the room, afraid taking too long would earn him a tongue-lashing. He had to get Christopher, at least so he could pretend he was helping Kit with their assignment.

Kit took the train from Chelsea to Brooklyn and decided to walk the four blocks to Christopher’s love nest. For some insane reason, Christopher thought having a bachelor pad in Brooklyn meant their father didn’t know. But sometimes Kit wondered if Christopher knew who paid their credit card bills. Kit wrapped his coat around him as he shivered from the biting cold. As he was walking, he passed a man with a cardboard sign: “War Vet”. He didn’t understand how people who gave so much ended up with so little. He took out a wad of cash from his wallet and his coat and gave it to the man, who didn’t say anything. Instead, the man stared at him with haunted eyes that froze Kit to the bone more than the cold weather did.

Kit ran the rest of the way to the apartment. He used his key to get in. The music, the pungent smell of alcohol and smoke that invited Kit in, told him Christopher had guests. What Kit didn’t expect was for one of those guests to be Meredith. When Kit stepped into the living room he saw Meredith in her birthday suit, dancing to a very attentive audience: his brother.

Meredith froze when she saw him and when Christopher turned around, he had a surprised—but not remorseful—look on his face. Kit wasn’t sure how to feel yet. He stood there as the music continued to play, as Christopher smoked his cigar and gulped down his whiskey, and Meredith scrambled to cover her nudity.

“Meredith, what are you doing? He doesn’t care. Don’t stop dancing,” Christopher said.

Kit still didn’t know how to feel. In honesty, he didn’t care what Meredith did or who she did it with. And Christopher? Well, this wouldn’t be the first time he had slept with one of Kit’s girlfriends. However, not knowing what to do was a feeling Kit wasn’t accustomed to. So, he walked out.

The next morning was like any other for Kit. He didn’t get to sleep much because he had to finish up the work that their father had given them. But once he had handed it over to Harry, he felt empty. Like his purpose in life had all been in that work. He didn’t like his life, didn’t like how purposeless he felt. So, he decided to make his life have meaning, just like the homeless man with the cardboard sign.

The next evening, he had the family gathered for dinner. It was difficult breaking the news to them. This would be strike three, betraying the family. It wouldn’t matter, though. Kit had made his decision and he was happy with it. Finally, an emotion and responsibility that only he only could claim. There was no way for Harry to say it was thanks to him, or for Christopher to take it away from him.

“Great work on the proposal, boys. The board was pleased,” Harry said.

“Thanks, Dad. It took a lot of time and work on my part. Well, Kit helped, too,” Christopher said with a smug smile.

Kit smiled, then chuckled, then laughed. Now he was sure he had made the right decision. How long could he expect his sanity to stay intact if he spent another twenty-three years at Christopher’s side, living a lie.

“Something to say, son?” Harry asked.

At first, Kit was going to say what he usually did. He was going to shake his head and say “No, sir”, but then he looked at his sister, then his older brother Duke. Kat was happy, the happiest he had ever seen her, because she’d taken back her life and done what felt right for her, while Duke continued to walk around with this dark cloud over his head. No one knew what he was thinking or feeling, he was just…bluh! Bluh was not going to be Kit’s life. So yeah, he had something to say.

“I joined the Navy.”

Silence filled every crevice of the room. Then Harry broke the quiet by asking the most ridiculous question a father could ask a son, “What about Samuels Construction?”

“Christopher can marry her. They seem to like each other well enough.”

His father never mentioned Meredith to him, ever again. In fact, he hadn’t said much of anything to Kit ever since he’d left home. It might be a bad sentiment, but the silent treatment from his father didn’t affect him at all. But Duke, Harry, and with a little help from Christopher, they had managed to acquire majority shares of Samuels Construction. It only took a few promises from Christopher, and Meredith stabbed her father in the back.

Since that day, Kit told himself he would stay away from any girl Christopher showed a liking for. Being so far away from each other, Kit didn’t have to worry about Christopher sleeping with any girl that Kit was interested in. Now here he was, Danny stuck on his mind, Christopher’s wolfish grin right next to it. He needed to get this weekend done with so he could go back to what he was familiar with.

***

“Oh my God!” Danny groaned out loud when Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me Like You Do” blasted from the speakers. It was exactly what she needed—not. The DJ was at it again, an attempt to serenade her. But Danny wasn’t one to be easily swayed. When she’d arrived in Hawaii, she had made a promise to herself not to get into romantic entanglements. Her first and last relationship had led her into the belly of the beast, and she had fought long and hard to get out. No way would she let a party-playboy like DJ Beatz drag her back in.

However, her rules about dating had now become flexible. For Kit, she would get elbow deep in sin if he wanted her to. It wasn’t the right way of thinking for a recovering addict, but something told Danny that the only dirt Kit would expose her to was that of the sandy beaches. In six-inch shoes Danny was still shoulder height to any tall man. She craned her neck toward the front door, trying to see if Kit would walk in. Christopher had promised he would be there, and she hoped he would drag his brother along.

She wondered how two people so identical looking could be so different. Christopher was like a peacock, only interested in showing off his beauty, which to him included his money. As for Kit, he was like a swan, minding his own business, not knowing how his beauty affected those around him. Danny wanted the swan, but it was the peacock who walked in. Who could miss the come-look-at-me vibe that Christopher sent to the people around him? And just like that, seconds after he and his friends had walked in, women flocked toward him. Danny didn’t move. She watched as they were led to the VIP section.

Danny was about to make her escape when one of the waitresses tapped her on the shoulder. The waitress pointed toward Christopher’s section and there he was, waving her over with two fingers. The pompous ass thought too much of himself. Danny swallowed her pride, her anger and disgust at his lack of respect, and made her way to him.

“Anything I can help you with, Mr. Henry?”

“Nothing.” He flashed a wolfish grin that looked all too comfortable on his smug face. It might have been what reeled women in, but not this girl. “I was thinking that later on, I could help you out of that dress.”

There were a bunch of words, insults really, Danny could think of at that moment. In fact, they were just sitting at the tip of her tongue waiting for her to open her mouth and unleash them on the jerk. But she didn’t. Danny liked her job. Party planning and hosting were basically the only skills she had. Her passion might have been interior decorating, but it wasn’t easy to land a job like that here. And the last thing she wanted was to call her family for help. She had insisted on staying on Maui and convinced them she could be responsible for herself. Calling Daddy or her big brothers to buy the club so she could keep her job would only make her look juvenile. So, she smiled, nodded, and said, “Anything else, sir?”

“Sit next to me.”

“I have work, sir.”

“You don’t want a drink?”

“I don’t drink.” Danny smiled, not because of anything he did, but she loved how empowered it made her feel. She was surrounded by alcohol and drugs every single day and each time she said “I don’t drink” it made her feel like Wonder Woman. She finally had control. “I have to get back to the other patrons.” Danny walked off, knowing very well that no other VIP had come in.

The night was winding down and Danny was dead on her feet. She had to step in for one waitress when she got booze spilled all over her by rowdy clubbers. Danny was now looking forward to going home and relaxing in a nice, warm bubble bath. As she was making her way out, she spotted Christopher walking toward her. He had a glass with him. He held it out to her, and Danny pushed it away.

“I don’t drink, remember?”

“I know,” Christopher smiled and held it up to her. “It’s orange juice. Please.”

Danny took the glass, hoping he would leave her alone once she accepted his gesture of…what exactly did he want from her. Danny tipped the glass when the hint of vodka hit her. It was too late, though, as she sipped it at the same time. Danny flung the glass across the room, and watched as Chris smiled, amused with himself.

“You see, there is absolutely nothing wrong with alcohol.”

Danny’s body trembled as the volcano inside her begun to erupt. She wanted to cry, scream, and hit him all at the same time. But the rage had iced her over. She couldn’t move. She glared at him.

“Come on, let’s go party.” Chris grabbed her hand and Danny pulled out of his grasp. “Don’t be like that. We’ll have fun. I promise.”

We’ll have fun, I promise. Those were the same words Brian had said to her. Hours after meeting her family, he was introducing her to cocaine. Strangely enough, it had been the same day she’d met Reno. Reno. She held on to a mental picture of him. It was thanks to him that she wasn’t sleeping in some gutter and selling her body off for drugs. Instead, she was wearing a Marc Jacobs dress and Louis Vuitton stilettos, working as a party planner and hostess. She was more terrified of letting him down, than of letting herself down.

“I’ve had my limit of fun.” Danny looked over at his table and there was a girl passed out on the floor. Her dress so hiked up she could see the woman’s bare ass. Everyone else was still chugging down the bottles of vodka Chris had ordered. “Enough fun to last me a lifetime.”

Danny waved over the bouncer. “Make sure that girl gets a bed upstairs. Take care of her.” Danny trusted Jesse; he was fifty years old but looked better than most twenty-year-olds. He had five daughters of his own; his sixth had died in a car crash, drunk driving. It was with his help Danny had been able to open the apartments upstairs and turn them into drunk beds. Jesse watched over those girls, making sure they didn’t end up like his daughter had, and that they weren’t taken advantage of.

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself, Mr. Henry. I have to go now.”

“If you don’t stay and party with me, I will buy this place and kick you and your little friends out on the streets!” he shouted.

“You are not the only person with money.” Danny walked away. She ran once she knew she was out of Chris’ vision. She could feel the itch start. That was all it took to make her unravel, to test the grip she had on her sobriety. She sucked on her tongue and ran it over her lips every few seconds. Like a live wire, every single nerve ending in her body had lit up. Danny stopped at the exit. She wanted to curl into a ball right there on the concrete floor and cry. She wouldn’t let herself. She had to think of Reno, DJ, and her parents. It would break their hearts if she let a douche like Chris and a sip of vodka unravel her, and tear everything she had worked for apart.

Danny needed a ginger ale, or a bitter lemon drink. Anything that mimicked the potency of vodka but wasn’t alcoholic. Plus, the fizz and bubble on her tongue always seemed to soothe her. She decided to get it at the convenience store around the corner. She started running again, pushing the door open and colliding with what seemed like a brick wall. But this wall had beautifully muscled arms that were all too comfortable. Danny looked up and found herself swimming in two beautiful pools of grey-blue eyes.

***

Kit had seen Danny, but it didn’t look like she had seen him. She seemed frazzled, disturbed. When she ran into him, she bounced back, and Kit’s quick reflexes managed to catch her before she landed on her ass. He was smiling when she was looking up, but the panic in her eyes and the rigid way her body felt in his arms made him worry.

“Hi,” he said after she settled on her feet. “I’m looking for Christopher.”

“The bastard is inside.”

“Okay.” Kit was about to walk around her when she stopped him.

“Don’t move. I just want to look into your eyes for a while.”

According to Kit, only crazy people asked strangers to stop in a dark alley so that they could look into their eyes. However, when he looked into Danny’s, they glistened like glass under the moon. Then tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Your eyes. They calm me, for some reason. I just…I know I sound crazy…but I just…”

“It’s okay,” Kit said. “I’ll stand here for as long as you need.”

Kit noticed that she was doing some sort of breathing exercise. He noticed everything, something he blamed on his military training. Danny took in a breath for five seconds and exhaled for ten. Weird. It was like she was having an anxiety attack, but from the outside she was a picture of calm. “Do you want me to take you somewhere?”

“The beach, but first I need to go to the store. I need something to drink.”

Kit kept up as Danny half-walked and half-ran round the corner. She headed straight for the refrigerator, but instead of picking up the bottle of vodka right in front of her, she went for the ginger ale. Every single second he spent with her, she confused him the more. Danny paid and picked up her drinks. She looked up at him and said, “The beach.” Kit just nodded and followed her to her Jeep. She pushed the keys into his palm and settled into the passenger seat. Immediately, she had a seat belt fastened. Then she opened a bottle of ginger ale and chugged it down. He barely got the engine revving before she’d opened another.

They drove in silence. The only sound was the empty bottles clinking against each other. Danny had reclined her chair back. Kit thought she was either sleeping or staring at the stars. Kit parked the car and turned the engine off. He was about to check if Danny was asleep when she jumped out of the car, grabbed a towel from the back seat, and made her way to the sand, barefoot.

Kit watched as her hips swayed, her short hair blown to the side by the wind. In that sexy little packaging was a mysterious little girl who had apparently experienced more out of life than most senior citizens. Kit followed. He froze when Danny dropped the towel to the ground and reached behind her to unzip her dress. Black lace was bound to be the focus of all his wet dreams from then on. She was beautiful.

Danny walked into the water and only stopped when she was waist deep. Kit waited, he wasn’t sure what for, but he stood there watching her, marvelling at how perfect her olive skin looked under the moonlight. Kit took off his T-shirt, shoes, wallet, and phone, and dropped them where Danny had left her things. He went into the water after her.

“Has anyone ever told you your eyes look just like the moon? Even the weird, swirly bits,” Danny said.

“The weird, swirly bit,” Kit chuckled.

“Yes.” Danny turned to face him. He was pleasantly amused at how round her eyes got. She took in his torso, her gaze traveling up his body, resting on his lips, then finally stopping at his eyes before she quickly looked away. “Uh-mph, I mean…yes. What I said ten seconds ago, before you completely wiped my memory and crippled my ability to make coherent sentences.”

“You did very well just now.”

“Yes, I did.”

“So not crippled, momentarily lost.”

“Let’s go with that.”

Kit noticed she was biting her cheeks. He pinched the flesh free. “Do you want to tell me what happened earlier tonight?”

Danny shrugged her tiny shoulders. The disturbed look reclaimed her face. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth before saying, “Your brother is an asshole.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Kit scoffed.

“Things always have to be his way. He is a self-obsessed egomaniac, and I can’t believe I have to see him again tomorrow.”

“One evening, and you already got him pegged.” Kit laughed but when Danny didn’t join in, he sobered up.

“I’m a recovering addict. Five years sober this month.”

“Congratulations.” Kit put his arm around her and squeezed her to him. It did shock him someone who seemed so sweet would dive into such vices. But maybe it was her struggle that made her the person she was now. Being in the military, he interacted with men and women from different backgrounds, with stories of hardships. He didn’t know who Danny was before he met her, but he was glad for the person she’d become.

“I mean I was five years.”

The sad note in her tone was like a kick in the gut. What was worse was she started crying uncontrollably. Kit didn’t know what to do with crying women; neither did he know what to say. So, he held her, and they stood there as her cries were swallowed by the crashing of the waves. Kit carried her to the shore and wrapped her in her towel. His intention was to get her out of the cold water, then sit on the sand and let her finish crying if that was what she wanted. Instead, she sank into him, and they sat in suspended silence.

Kit thought she might have fallen asleep. She hadn’t said anything or moved for almost ten minutes. But then her tiny voice piped up, “My family struggled with me all this time and now I feel ashamed to tell them that I slipped up.”

“Don’t you have a sponsor or go to meetings?”

“I do, but they don’t necessarily agree with my line of work.”

“Yes. Why would you be working in a club?” Kit understood why people would wonder about that. It was shocking to him a recovering addict would put herself in a tempting situation.

“It was my way of proving to myself and my family that I have reclaimed my life. That I have let go of the addiction. But apparently the addiction hasn’t let go of me.” Danny’s mood went from sad to royally pissed off in five seconds flat. “I’m an idiot for thinking someone like your brother could be turned down. I’m an even a bigger idiot for accepting his spiked juice. What’s wrong with me? I used to swim in alcohol. I should have noticed the smell.”

All Kit heard was Danny blaming herself for something Chris had done. The story of Kit’s life was now being replayed as if in a short movie, but this time it was Danny who was Chris’ leading lady. Kit was just—angry couldn’t even begin to describe it. He had to put that rage aside for now, try and do what he did best: damage control and cleaning after the mess Chris left behind.

“You didn’t fall off the wagon. A sip doesn’t wipe out five years of hard work. Especially since you didn’t know what you were doing.”

“You don’t get it. I nearly died, fighting for my life. I used to have this war within me. I would wake up every day convincing myself that I didn’t need booze or drugs to get through the day. And when it was time to go to bed, I would fall asleep with that mantra on a loop in my head. And for three years, my mind has been silent and clearer than ever. Then tonight, one sip, and I am sitting here convincing myself that I don’t need it.”

“And you don’t!”

“I chugged down four bottles of ginger ale. I’m here at the beach standing in the water like a crazy person, asking strangers if I could just stare into their eyes for a while because they calm me.”

“Really.” Kit stood up and dragged Danny along with him. “Here I thought you were thirsty, and you brought me to the beach for a date.”

Danny frowned at him. Kit didn’t let go. He was determined to convince her that she was all right, even if it would take him all night. He held her gaze, trying to bend her will to his. He wasn’t one to give in easily and this time, he needed her to do things his way.

Danny rolled her eyes, then laughed. “Yes, I am trying to seduce you, especially since you were all hot and cold with me at the club earlier.”

Kit heard the imaginary screeching of brakes. He had to force himself to be indifferent to Danny. She was making him feel all sorts of things that he didn’t want and couldn’t understand. But being cold with her now was risky. So instead of sacrificing her smile he decided to let the walls down and let go of the tight grip he had on his emotions.

“Hot and cold? Me? Nope, I was just terrified of asking you out.”

“Big, strong, and scared? Nope that combination doesn’t make sense. I know, you were waiting to get me stripped down to my underwear before you made a move on me.”

“Guilty as charged.”

Danny pulled out of his grasp and ran into the water. “It’s not going to be that easy. I like hanging out with you. You better watch out. You might be my next addiction. Then there will be no getting rid of me. It definitely won’t be easy to leave me.”

Kit knew that to be true. It was going to be one of the hardest things he would ever have to do: share a night like this with Danny then walk out of her life come tomorrow night.