This room in particular hardly ever sees people unless it’s me quietly reading or someone walking through from the backyard. Like most of the backside of the house, the walls are floor-to-ceiling glass with a sliding door, which is also why it’s great to read in. It’s fancy, a place meant to host guests, and while occasional business takes place here, most happens away from the house, at the office, restaurant, or the club, ever since Addy was born.
Hide-and-seek, not so much.
Thankfully, I have one place in mind. Whether or not it works, I do not know. All I can do is hope to throw her off long enough so that Addy isn’t upset that I got her caught.
Maybe I should just tell her to go find Des? He’s always been better at this kind of thing.
“Ready or not, here I come!” Kat’s voice is distant, letting me know she’s probably still upstairs, but if I can hear her, she can’t be too far.
Looks like Des is out of the question.
There are glass displays built into the walls, trophies from mine and Des’s childhoods, and a few other memories. The opposite side of the stairs has the same storage but was converted into a bar, so anyone who doesn’t know the house might not look here.
Hopefully.
I pull one of the cabinets below open and smile when I find it mostly empty, with only a few magazines and a set of coasters that I bet no one even realizes is here.
Addy doesn’t need an explanation. The second she sees the space, she all but flings herself from my arms and scurries intothe small space. Thankfully, she’s small; nevertheless, it’s a tight fit, and I worry about closing her in.
“Hurry, close it before Mommy comes,” she hisses, trying to be quiet and failing miserably.
Making sure her fingers are clear, I close the door before quickly moving back toward the couch with the magazines and coasters in hand.
I just make it to the table when Kat walks into the room, a smile on her face as she looks around, no doubt searching for a tiny girl and not me. Yet still I can’t help but stand straight, dusting off my pants and straightening my shirt.
Not that I need to impress her or anything.
I watch as she looks around the room, and her smile dims a bit at seeing me.
I shouldn’t care; it shouldn’t bother me, but it does. What's even worse is I have no one to blame but myself.
Kat is uncomfortable around me because of me.
That had been my intention when I first saw her here because I was upset. I’d thought she was just like all the other women who sleep with the infamous Lawson men in an attempt to get a leg up, but I was wrong.
Well, kind of. She had, in fact, slept with Desmond and my Father, just not in an effort to get something from them. She’d been the one to leave them wanting so much so that even months later they were still hung up on her… and I can see why.
Kat’s beautiful, smart, funny, caring, kind, and loyal. She’s perfect to raise Addy, everything anyone would want in a mother or wife.
I’d known that after just one meeting at the school, the day I had to pick Addy up when Des had been unavailable.
It’s why I’d been so mad when I found her here. I thought she was different; I thought I knew everything, but I didn’t.
I fucked it all up because I made an assumption and thought she was like Natasha.
She’s not; I see that now, but I also know the danger she could bring with her, even if it isn’t her fault.
Life isn’t fair, and despite how good she might be for Addy, she might be just as bad. And there's no telling what she will be like in a year or two. Will she still be like this, or will she be sick of us? Will power and money corrupt her, too?
“Have you seen Addison?” Her question pulls me from my thoughts, and I realize I’ve been staring.
Good job.
I’m half turned toward the stairs when I remember the reason she’s asking and freeze.
What is the point of helping her hide if I planned to give up her spot in less than ten seconds?
“Um, no.” It’s the least convincing thing I’ve ever said in my whole life. I don’t need to look at Kat to know she doesn’t believe me, but I do anyway.
