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Kade got off the highway when we hit the Sonoma wine country, driving us down lonesome roads lined with vineyards and ranch houses. With the wind at my back and the sun heating my face, I felt my stress ease, and I started to enjoy the ride. I loved the feel of the bike and Kade's body so close to mine. I had never ever imagined that riding a motorcycle could be so hot, but it wasn't just the bike, it was the man who was driving it. With my arms wrapped around him, I could feel the muscles in his abs, the power in his body, and I felt not only safe but also charged up. I thought I could ride like this forever. I could forget about everything that we'd left behind us.
But as the afternoon shadows lengthened, Kade got back on the highway, and headed south toward the city. As we neared San Francisco, I felt tense again. I was dreading what I had to go back to, all the secrets I still had to unravel, the danger I had to avoid. So when Kade took the exit right before the Golden Gate Bridge, I was happy to put reality off for a few more minutes.
He drove up into the hills and parked the bike in a small lot. As I got off the motorcycle, I took off my helmet and shook out my hair. Kade did the same, giving me a questioning smile. "Fun?"
"More fun than I've had in a long time," I said. "I thought you were taking me back to the gallery."
"I am taking you back, but not yet. This is the best view of the city. Have you seen it from these headlands?"
I shook my head. "No."
"Come with me."
I didn't think I could ever not go with him. He was a magnet, and I was caught up in his pull. Or maybe I just wanted to be caught up, so I didn't have to choose to do something else, something that would be a lot less fun.
We walked down a sloping hill just above the bridge. Kade was right. The view was magnificent. The city was directly in front of us. Off to our right was the Pacific Ocean where a thick bank of fog was making its almost daily entrance into the bay. Off to our left was Alcatraz, the once famous prison, and Angel Island. In the distance was the Bay Bridge leading over to the East Bay.
"What do you think?" Kade asked.
"It's stunning." I shivered as the wind lifted my hair and the fog grew thicker as it blotted out the sun. "But this also feels like a metaphor for my life. Everything was so clear a minute ago, and now it's hazy. What I could see before is now disappearing into the mist."
Kade nodded, digging his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "I can relate to that feeling. I talked to my mother again," he said, surprising me with his words. His gaze moved from the view to me, and there was an unhappy light in his eyes.
"What did she say?"
"She wasn't completely honest with me on the phone yesterday. After she sent the money back to the foundation, she got a call from a woman who said that she'd received the money but wanted to make sure that we would be all right without it. My mother told the woman that she'd taken the money for too long, but that it had been a lifesaver, and she was grateful. It had helped her pay for me to go to college."
"You went to college?" I asked, surprised by that.
"For two years. It wasn't for me. But that's not the point."
"Was the woman's name Laura?"
"My mother thought the woman's name was Claire."
"Claire? That's a new one. Unless it wasn't my mother who called her."
"I feel certain it was Laura. My mom told her I was an artist. She mentioned that I had an upcoming show in Seattle."
"And then my mother went to your show. Why? Why was she so interested in you?" I asked.
"I don't know. I asked my mother flat out if I was adopted. I told her she had to tell me the truth. She said I was not adopted. I was her son. She didn't know why the woman was so interested in me, but she thought it might have had something to do with the way my father died."
"The way he died? How did he die?" I had assumed it was an accident or an illness that had taken Kade's father.
"He was killed."
"You didn't say that before."
"It's not a secret," Kade said with a frown. "I wasn't trying to hide anything."
"What exactly happened?"
"My father was a security guard. That night, he worked a party at a mansion on Long Island, the home of a very wealthy man who was a real-estate investor and well-known art collector. All was well during the party, but afterward, my father was making one last sweep through the home when he interrupted a robbery in progress. He was shot, and he died in that house in the middle of the night. A house manager found him the next morning."
Kade's voice was stoic, but I could feel the fire burning within him. Now I knew where the rage and dark nightmares came from.
"I'm so sorry, Kade."
