A waiter entered the room and announced they were ready to seat the group.
I set my drink on the bar and handed Brenda my purse. “Brenda do me a favor. Take my purse to the table and save us some seats. I’m going to let Stuart know they are taking us to our table.”
Stepping into the lobby area, I found Stuart leaning up against a wall with his cell pressed to his ear. He noticed me immediately and watched as I moved towards him.
Just as I reached where he was standing, he tucked his phone into his jeans pocket.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. I came to tell you we are being seated.”
Keeping to my plan, I ran the tip of my tongue over my lips causing Stuart’s attention to hone in on my mouth. His hand shot to my hip and pulled me closer.
“Stuart, can I ask you something?”
“Angel, you can ask me anything.”
“How do you and Dr. Bennett know each other?”
Stuart’s eyes lowered to the neckline of my t-shirt dress where the skin above my breasts was exposed. “We went to the same high school.”
My body stiffened. Worried my reaction was going to give me away I rubbed a hand against the row of buttons on Stuart’s chest.
He needed to keep talking. I needed to keep him talking.
“Were you friends?” I purred.
Stuart clasped both my hands over his heart. “No, we weren’t. We didn’t run in the same circles at all. Kean was a couple of years ahead of me in high school. He was one of those rich popular assholes who thought he was above the rules. You know the type everyone loves, no matter what. He had a reputation for sleeping with anything in a skirt. The sad thing was, nobody cared. He was worshiped because his family had money. That was until one day when he assaulted a younger student.”
My hands fisted in his shirt. Did he just say what I thought he did? “That can’t be right. There has to be some mistake.”
“Ciaran, there’s no mistake. They found the girl crying in an empty classroom with her shirt ripped to shreds. She was bleeding from her mouth and nose and she was hysterical. Kean admitted to it when he was arrested and questioned.”
The memory of Kean’s darkened eyes with his hand around my throat lit up in my head, then just as quickly faded away. It was followed by the memory of Gloria’s voice, as she told me about how he helped those children. I was ninety percent sure Kean would never hurt anyone like that.
“There is no way Kean would do anything like that.”
Stuart’s grip on my hands tightened. “Kean? Since when do you call him Kean?”
Disregarding his question, I pulled my hands free of his and stroked at his chest again. “What happened after they found the girl?”
Stuart frowned but answered. “The same thing that always happens with pampered spoiled rich kids. He confessed and his family threw a bunch of money at the problem to make it go away. He was suspended for a couple of weeks but returned as if nothing had happened, which was complete and utter bullshit. Because he had money, the faculty and the school board put everyone else in the school at risk by leaving a monster in their midst. The family of the girl moved to another state because they were so traumatized by the situation.”
I wasn’t sure when it happened but sometime during Stuart’s last comments, his hands had moved to my face and were cupping my jaw. I shook my head and took a step away from his touch.
“Ciaran, you need to stay clear of him. People don’t change. He had violent tendencies as a teen and he is no different now, except his preferences have changed and he preys on adult women instead of young girls. Write your article, expose Kean Bennett for the monster he is and move on.”
“Are you saying I should include the alleged attack in my assignment?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. He got away with forcing himself on a female, which isn’t right. You hold the power in your hands to correct a past wrong.”
Warning bells went off left and right. Stuart was too adamant for my liking but I was curious as to what else he might know. I wanted to bring up Dr. Duarte but didn’t want to take the chance of accidentally giving away information he wasn’t aware of.
While all this was running through my brain, I failed to notice his arm had wound around my waist. Pulling me flushed against his chest, Stuart tucked his face into the side my neck. “Ciaran, do you know how much I want you?”
Revulsion. I felt nothing but revulsion. I placed my palms against his chest and pushed hard, forcing my body away from his.
Protectively wrapping my arms around myself, I took a deep breath. “Stuart, why don’t you head in and find the group. I’ll be there shortly. I’m just going to grab my drink from the bar.”
He stared at me blankly for a couple of seconds before wrapping a clammy hand on the nape of my neck and grinding a kiss onto my closed mouth. His tongue stabbed at my lips as he tried to breach them but I refused to open. He sighed and stepped away. “I’ll let them know you’ll be right there.”
Chapter Fourteen
Ciaran
I tugged at the necklace around my neck as I tried to ease the constricted feeling that was spreading rapidly through my chest. The crowd of people hovering around the lobby of the bar suddenly seemed stifling. And loud. I couldn’t catch my breath. I was standing in a crowded room asphyxiating.
Closing my eyes, I concentrated on filling my lungs with as much air as I could suck in, aware of what was happening. It had been years since my last panic attack but they were nothing new to my life.
“It surprises me what an easy fuck you are at restaurants.” The smooth baritone that issued the attack should have sent me spiraling out of control but, to my surprise, instead eased the pressure.
I opened my eyes. “Stalking me now, Dr. Bennett?”
Kean grinned at my sarcastic tone, but it didn’t go along with the incensed look in his eyes. “I know you would enjoy if I was, but I’m not. I’m meeting some colleagues for drinks.”
“At the same restaurant? Again? And what colleagues? Oh wait. You mean your most recent conquest, don’t you? What happened? She got tired of waiting for you to finger fuck her at the bar and left?”
“You seem to be in quite the mood, Ms. Thompson. Whitman leaving you unsatisfied?”
“Trust me, I’m more than satisfied.”
“So, then you lied to me about you and Whitman not being in a relationship? I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Lying seems to be your thing.”
“No, I didn’t lie. Stuart and I aren’t together, not that it’s any of your damn business. He is a really sweet guy and I enjoy his company,” I responded with a smile.
“Sweet, my ass,” he bit back.
“He is a thousand times the man you could ever be.”
An inferno blazed in Kean’s eyes as they darted over my face.
He held out a hand, palm up, towards me as if he expected me to take it. I looked down at it and swallowed before stubbornly meeting his eyes.
“Ciaran, take my hand,” he growled, stepping closer.
I raised my chin defiantly. In response, he raised his hand a bit higher.
I knew the man wasn’t the type to take no for an answer. Hesitantly reaching out, I gently slid my palm over his.
No sooner had his fingers closed over mine, he began to walk.
He led me out the front door and towards his car. Upon reaching it, he opened the passenger side door and shoved me into the seat before slamming it shut.
Were I a normal person, the way Dr. Kean Bennett acted would have been frightening, but the shiver coursing through my body had more to do with lust then fear.
As soon as he slipped behind the wheel, I asked, “Where the hell are we going?”
“Text your friend and let her know you’re with me,” he commanded instead of answering my question. He had seen me with Brenda.