Love Song Lyrics; the New Yorker Book 7 Read online

  M.O. KENYANLOVE SONGNEW YORKER 7

  LOVE SONG

  The New Yorker Book Seven

  M.O. Kenyan

  PROLOGUE

  “Danny?”

  “You are Chris, right? And you are playing a trick on me.” Danny visibly trembled as she spoke.

  “Danny it’s me, Kit.”

  Danny shook her head in response, her now long hair flying over her head, covering her face. “They said you were dead. Chris-,”

  And just as if the at the sound of his name he had been summoned, Chris angrily burst into the room. Kit waited for the happy, excited welcoming hug, but didn’t get it. Instead, Chris snarled at him, walked over to where Danny was, pulled her to her feet with her arm and dragged her out the room.

  “What the hell?” Kit yelled. He pulled on his trousers and followed them out. But by the time he got outside all he saw were taillights as the car skidded off.

  Kit jumped when he felt a warm hand on his arm. He turned to see Sarah, a concerned look on her face.

  “I guess, she didn’t tell you. She’s marrying him the day after tomorrow.”

  Numb, that was the only word Kit knew to describe what he felt. He waited for betrayal and anger to set in but it never did. On the drive to the airport, Sarah explained to Kit everything that Danny had been going through the past year. He couldn’t help but blame himself for it. If only he hadn’t stayed away for so long. If he had at least given her a call and told her that he was alive. What he didn’t understand was his twin brother’s reaction at finding him alive. It was as if he already knew.

  What he also didn’t understand was why Reno had gone out of his way to hide his sister away days before her wedding. But what concerned him more was that Danny had gone back to drinking and Chris wasn’t doing anything about it to stop her. Kit was well versed in Chris and his antics to control people who rebelled against him. Kit just hoped that letting Danny drink wasn’t Chris’ way to keep her by his side because no one else would let her.

  Kit had gone to the house and after twenty minutes of calming down a shocked housekeeper, he was able to get the location of the engagement dinner. He didn’t think about anyone else’s reaction when he went to the restaurant. He only had one thing on his mind and that was to take back what belonged to him.

  He hadn’t prepared himself for the reaction his family would have to his back to life routine. He barged into the room, two waiters trying their best to dissuade him but failing. When he walked in they were all sited together like one big happy family. The gasps, the cries and his name being called out as they hugged him didn’t distract Kit from his target. Everyone but Chris and Danny was on their feet congratulating him for being alive again.

  Chris had his hand over Danny’s and she had her fingers curled around a glass of brandy. One look at Reno and DJ and Kit could see that they were slowly defeated and just about to give up. But then when they looked at him, he saw hope. As if their sister’s salvation had just walked it. Kit pushed his parents aside and with three strides got to where Danny sat. Chris stood up blocking his path.

  “What are you doing?” Chris asked.

  “You don’t seem too happy to see me, considering I just came back from the dead.”

  “You weren’t dead. You were in Brementon playing nursemaid to other injured soldiers,” Chris smirked.

  “You knew!” Danny screamed.

  It was obvious that she had already drunk one too many. Kit grabbed the glass in her hand and threw it against the wall. “What are you doing?”

  “You knew he was alive and didn’t say anything,” this time it was their mother that asked.

  Kit’s eyes were glued to Danny, she sat, her back straight and her eyes glued to the wall in front of her. This was the moment that worried Kit most about Danny when she was silent. He was yet to figure out everything that went on in her head.

  “The only reason I found where Reno had hidden Danny was is because I was tracking Kit,” Chris said to their mother nonchalantly.

  Kit’s gaze didn’t waver, not even when he heard the sharp sound of flesh hitting flesh when their mother hit Chris. “Danny,” he called out to her.

  “Danny and I are getting married,” Chris announced to the room, but Kit knew it was directed at him.

  “You can’t,” Kit said.

  “Why, because you said so?”

  “No, because she’s my wife.”

  Kit felt the air shift as the whole room went silent and still. For a moment he thought that the battle was over, that it was time to take his wife home.

  “There is no baby, there never was,” Danny mumbled. “You didn’t give me a chance to explain. And you were so willing to marry me-,”

  “I don’t care,” Kit blurted out. Kit had wondered where their child was when they were back in Hawaii. Sarah had explained that too. He felt like an idiot for not confirming the pregnancy before dragging her to the justice of the peace. But the marriage was now in his favor. “Let’s go home.”

  “I care,” Danny stood up, and angrily pushed him. “I care that I almost died thinking that you were gone. I care that you decided to stay away instead of being with me. I care that once again the Marine code came before me.”

  “She doesn’t want you,” Chris said as he put his arm around Danny.

  Danny shook him off and stepped up to Kit. Kit saw it all now, what he had put her through. What he saw at the beach didn’t hurt as much as the look in Danny’s eyes did right now. Betrayal.

  “Christian, my Kit,” Kit cupped her cheek and caught her tear with his thumb. “My Kit, I love him, I still love him,” hope swelled in his chest only to have a pin stuck into it. “But he keeps leaving me.”

  Danny was mad that he was alive. After hearing what she went through, he too was a little mad. If he was dead then there would have been an actual point to all the pain she went through. Kit thought of giving her a chance to fall in love with Chris, just as her brother had requested. But that was too hard for him. She was the reason he came back to life and he wasn’t willing to let go. He was just about to reject Chris’ request when Danny said something he never thought he would hear in his entire life.

  “I’m leaving with Chris.”

  ***

  I’m leaving with Chris.

  “I must be stupid,” Danny mumbled to herself once she was in her room in Chris’ apartment. She was just so mad. How could he stay away for so long when he knew she was desperate to see him? Danny had decided to leave with Chris as a way to punish Kit, but instead, she felt like she was punishing herself.

  “What are you doing here? You are a married woman.” Danny grabbed her purse and slipped on her sneakers. She was impulsive and irresponsible. It was something Kit had grown to know about her. Turning up at his house hours after she had rejected him wouldn’t be surprising to him at all. Danny got to the front door and froze, her hand over the handle.

  “…I went to Hawaii for some time off, a boys’ trip. Do you think I expected to meet the only woman I would love?” here she was her father’s daughter uttering the same words that he had almost eight years ago to her mother. However, she couldn’t lie. Danny loved Chris in her way. As Kit’s brother. He was there when she needed Kit the most. His resemblance to the man she was in love with gave her comfort. But now, Christian, her Kit was back. She couldn’t go on using Chris the way she had been doing for the past year.

  “Danny, where are you going?”

  Danny froze at the sound of Chris’ voice. He caught her trying to sneak out of their apartment again. What excuse was she supposed to use now? “I’m going to see my niece and nephew. I want to help Eve out. It’s the first nigh
t with the little Dennis home.”

  “Are you sure?” Chris walked out of the light of the bedroom and into the darkness of the living room. He looked so intimidating. “It’s ten o’clock at night. You are going to see my brother aren’t you?”

  Yes. “I don’t want to argue Chris. I told you this before we got together in the first place. I will always love Kit.”

  “I got that. Your outburst during our engagement dinner, ‘I love him, I still love him.’” He mocked. “It was ridiculous and embarrassing considering everyone heard you.”

  “I thought the love of my life was dead. Then in true Eve fashion, he walks in during our engagement dinner. You were trying to keep me from him.”

  “You left with him that night. You had sex with him, am I right?” Danny didn’t say a word. She knew it was better to be quiet when Christopher got this riled up. “Why won’t you have sex with me? I have been patient for a whole year.”

  “Me too.” Danny shook her head, not quite sure what she was doing with Christopher or why the wedding was still on. Their mothers had decided that they couldn’t take the embarrassment of disinviting everyone. She wondered if their shame would survive when she was being carted off to prison for bigamy. “I couldn’t be with you because I couldn’t cheat on my husband.”

  “What!”

  “Kit and I…we are married. I have to be with him.”

  Danny’s phone shrieked from her purse. She wasn’t going to be rude and pick it up just as she was ripping Chris’ heart into shreds. Although she wanted to. She intended to take any opportunity that would help her escape the tension in the room.

  “Answer it. It’s probably your husband.”

  “Hello?”

  “Miss Kent?”

  “Yes?”

  “I have been trying to reach your father and your brothers, but I can’t seem to get through. I have some news. I found your sister.”

  “Oh, God?”

  “What is it?” Chris asked.

  “They found Rayne.” Danny hugged him, her joy superseding her sensibilities. “I have to go see my brothers.”

  “We can take the train. I’ll take you.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Chapter 1

  The Night We Met

  She looked up in the night sky and a star winked at her, she swore it was her father. Known to most as a soldier who fought for his country, but to her he was Daddy. Death was the only thing that kept them apart. On nights like this she missed him, his reassuring smile, and his comforting hugs. He was the greatest part of her and now he was gone.

  The darkness of death is like the evening twilight; it makes all objects appear lovelier to the dying. Jean Paul said that, and Jada wondered if the man had ever met her father.

  Jada listened to the waves as they crushed against each other. Her head gently dancing along to the melody and the song lyrics that only she could hear. It sounded like a Lord Huron song heavy on the emotion, mind-blowing messages and heartbreaking desire. Her toes sank deeper into the sand grains, sometimes she wished she could just disappear in them. Maybe her life would be better, somehow she would have her freedom and control of her life.

  “All of you, most of you, some of you and now none of you,” she said in an astonished whisper. All she had to do was replace you with me and those lyrics were her biography.

  Jada Williams, she was the floated all the while still on her feet. That was how her dancing had been described. At sixteen years old she decided to give ballet a shot. Her older sister Nina was already a recognized prodigy. But when Jada had risen to pointe for the first time on that audition stage, she pirouettes into a dance company faster than her sister did.

  That was the problem. Jada had taken to things too quickly and once she did, she wasn’t just good at it, she became a master. One too many times Jada had risen the ranks in her classes faster than other girls older than her. Nina hated that her little sister who she often referred to as a gangly horse was regarded as a swan.

  Taking away Nina’s spotlight in what Nina liked to refer to as her world had given her older sister carte blanche on anything and everything that Jada had considered hers. It didn’t matter how hard she had worked on it, or how dear it was to her, Nina had to have it. It was Nina’s world and Jada was only there to help her live it.

  Jada had earned respect and her talent had secured her a starring part in The Swan Lake. She was going to make her debut at just eighteen on the stage of the New York Ballet Theatre, two years after she had slipped on her first pair of slippers. Jada had worked hard to get to that stage, but the most gratifying part of it was that people were going to see her.

  Nina was beautiful, long straight black hair. Brandy colored eyes that popped against her brown skin. Her fifty kilograms carried curves in all the right places. She was a black Barbie doll while Jada was more of a rag doll.

  A rag doll that had worked her way to become a swan.

  And that was what killed Nina and Jada’s career.

  Nina looked like her mother and was just as capricious. To Helena, one could not get any better than her firstborn and her biggest regret was that Jada wasn’t another copy. Jada was darker, her hair kinkier than it was curly. Her eyes were the part her mother hated the most about her. Jada had Heterochromia Iridis. Her eyes were brown with bright shade of blue little specks in them. Helene hated them so much that she had Jada wear brown contacts ever since she was eight years old.

  However, fixing that offensive part of her daughter didn’t make her mother love Jada anymore. Nothing Jada did made her mother proud. It only bred envy with Nina and resentment in Helena.

  Jada had been shocked when she went to the theatre to find her understudy rehearsing her part with her leading man. Helena had called ahead and told the directors that Jada had injured her ankle. Jada’s ballet career ended the night it was meant to begin. For the next ten years that was the story of her life. Just as she was about to achieve something, Helena and Nina would take it away.

  To make sure that Jada didn’t dream of going back to the stage, Helena had arm-twisted her father into moving out of the city and to Southold, Suffolk County. The only good thing about it was the beach, because in that town, Nina was once again the jewel everyone loved, while she was the flawed girl hiding behind her brown contact lenses. Her father was a sweet man but he never stood a chance against her mother. Once he died it became Jada’s responsibility to make sure that the queen and her princess lived their life in comfort, even if she had to break her back.

  Jada went to community college a great sin against her Valedictorian honor in high school, but exactly where she deserved to be according to her mother. She was now a bank teller at the local bank. She had a good job that paid the rent, put food on the table and designer labels on her mother and sister’s backs.

  Once upon a time she even had a fiancé. It had been just two months ago when she was getting ready to be Mrs. Darrell Scott, wife to the bank’s branch manager and free of her overbearing mother and sister.

  But Nina wouldn’t let her have that.

  Nina had taken away her groom and her wedding.

  It wasn’t that Nina couldn’t get a man of her own, she just couldn’t find a man who could afford her and who wanted Jada. Darrell ticked two of Nina’s most important criteria when it came to picking a husband.

  As Jada sat on the beach on her own, enjoying the cool night air and the sound of the water. Nina on the other hand was having a bachelorette party on the eve of the wedding day that was meant to be hers. There was something her mother said that Jada couldn’t get out of her head. Nina and Darrell had walked into the kitchen where Jada was making dinner for the family, announced that they were in love and getting married and Helena said, “Jada you need to be considerate of other people’s happiness.”

  “Other’s people’s happiness,” Jada chuckled, those turned into uncontrollable roars of laughter that quickly transitioned to sobs. Apparently, according to her mother, ever
yone else’s happiness was more important than hers.

  All Jada wanted was to exist in a world where it was all about her, even if it meant that she was the only person existing in that world.

  “Can you keep it down, or at least share the not so funny joke.” A deep baritone rolled through the night air and caressed her ears. He sounded beautiful. Usually, those low tones carried a bit of menace in them. But his- ufff- it was like a soft echo that belonged in a melody.

  The moon and the tiny stars surrounding it lit up the night sky. She could easily see his facial features, but what pulled her in was the blue-gray swirl of his eyes. So much like the heavenly body that sat above them.

  Hallelujah!

  What else was she supposed to say above the remarkable sight?

  ****

  They had stared at each other with eyes and expressions so identical to each other. The only difference between them now was that Kit had let his beard grow out. Chris wasn’t sure if it was an attempt to hide the scar that ran down his face or because he liked the look.

  His twin brother had tracked him down. Chris wasn’t exactly surprised. The man found terrorists in the desert, plus the abundance of the Henry resources, the only thing that could have stopped Kit was death.

  Chris had been pretending to be dead for a while that he had slowly got used to not existing to his family and an extent to himself. He was Luke Evans here. Wasn’t it strange? That even though he had run away from his family to punish them for taking Kit’s side, he was using his own middle name as his first and Kit’s as his last.

  He needed Danny, or he wanted her. Whatever it was, his family should not have sided with Kit. Yes, his twin had married her but when he was supposedly dead, Chris and Danny were about to begin a life together. So what Kit came back from the dead, why should his happiness trump Chris’?

  So what they were married?

  So what that they were in love with each other?

  So what Danny didn’t love him?

  So what?

  Chris was punishing them, they owed him and their grief was his payback. They would mourn him, ask themselves why they hadn’t let him have Danny and they would resent both Kit and Danny. It was the perfect plan until Kit turned up, forcing him to move from the tiny town of Cold Spring to Southold, Suffolk County. There were more people there, but a better chance of him blending in.