Kashi hugged Carr tightly, sitting down beside him for a few minutes. She wasn't honestly sure how much time passed. But she wanted to make sure he had all the time he needed to sort through what had happened. Kashi frankly needed to sort through all that had happened. Jeremy Hughes was Carr's father. The scumbag who left his family for another. She could see why Carr wasn't proud to be his son, and she could see why Carr had been mad at Matthias…
She sighed heavily. She'd never known such betrayal as Carr had. She understood why Carr told her that her dad loved her. That night before she'd admitted to herself that she had fallen for Carr he'd said "My dad never cared so much Kash. I know your dad can annoy you, but he's a good guy. He means well. I may not know the whole story, but I'd love to have a guy like your dad for a father, you know?"
She ended the embrace as Belle came over. "Two slices of cake, as usual?" she asked, smiling a little. She tucked a strand of hair that had fallen loose from her bun behind her ear. "How's your dad doing Kashi? He and Felix stopped by the other day."
Kashi smiled to herself a little bit. If her dad wanted to go after Belle, then let him. "He's pretty good. I think he was going to ask you to cater Felix's birthday party in a couple weeks." It was a total lie, but she'd tell her dad about it later. It was worth it to see her face light up a little bit. "I'll have dad give you a call about it later to remind him. He has always been a last minute guy."
"Tell me about it." she laughed. "Do you remember the time when you were about eleven that he came bursting through the door asking for seven pies for that afternoon?"
Even Carr chuckled at that. "He's an interesting guy to work for, that's for certain."
"Well I'll grab you guys some slices of butter cake. On me today."
Kashi thanked Belle before she returned to her seat across the booth. "Carr, I'm so sorry that happened to you. I— I am a little upset that you withheld that from me, but I get it."
"I told you everything I knew Kashi, I did. I pretended to find things on the internet that I knew from his being my dad. He was never a great person to begin with. He made mother nervous with his business dealings. He had just started the LLC when I was a freshman. Whatever he did for a living before, mom didn't like it. I'm not sure if she knew what he did or not but it wasn't good. He never brought anybody to our house but I'd see him at a restaurant or bar when I was in town with people." He ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know Kashi. I'm honestly not sure what he's up to. But he makes a lot of money now. He must have made money before to start an LLC."
Kashi agreed, every new piece of evidence they uncovered made the mystery more puzzling. "I know how you feel about him, but what about Matthias? Does he still—?"
"I don't want to talk to him or about him." Carr groused, stabbing a piece of cake with his fork.
"Then let me," Kashi argued, "I think he would know more."
Carr grumbled. "He and dad aren't exactly on wonderful terms at the moment. Matthias flunked out of college and got caught drinking and driving. He was at a party when things all… fell apart."
"How do you know all this if you guys stopped talking?" Kashi asked.
"We both dated a girl named Lydia." Carr's stony expression didn't change. Kashi couldn't help the little pang of jealousy at the mention of another girl. She swatted her brain for that. After kissing Matthias it was a wonder Carr was still willing to talk to her. She'd be angry. "Well she met Matthias when she decided to go to the same college he did. And she… she left me for my brother. She called me a few weeks later and I almost didn't pick up the phone. I'm glad I did. She found out that Matthias was with two other women and when she confronted him about it…" Carr didn't finish. "Look Matt is not a good guy. He's selfish and cruel. Though if you look at who his dad is, there's not much of a surprise."
"Carr—"
"Just be careful Kashi, okay? I meant what I said the other night."
"Carr, I'm sorry about getting so mad. When we talked about the kisses," she blushed, "I thought you only wanted a fun time, keeping things light and flirty. I wanted more so when I thought you didn't, I got upset. I went back to aimless flirting and… I'm sorry."
"It's okay Kashi. I'm… I am upset. It hurt to see you kissing my brother. I was jealous but I was also scared that he was going to do to you what he did to Lydia: lead her on and hurt her."
Her heart sank.
"Just, go to Matthias and see if he knows anything. I'd be careful not to reveal too much, alright? I do care about you Kashi. Let's just focus on finding out what your uncle is doing with my dad."
Kashi got in her truck to drive to her uncle's house fighting back tears. The rain was so heavy she could barely see ten feet in front of her. Thunder clapped loudly enough that she jumped. Kashi smacked a hand on the steering wheel. She ruined it. She could have been with Carr if she'd only had patience and self control. But she'd had to go and kiss his brother of all people. She was so stupid. The look of hurt on Carr's face had made her heart feel like it might crack.
Kashi was flying down the road towards her uncle's house. A massive puddle covered the road and before she could stop, her truck slid, spinning in a circle, the tires losing traction. She let out a scream before her truck smashed into a telephone pole. The airbag collided with her face and Kashi's world went black.