Life's Next Chapter (14 page)

After my call to Dr. Pierce, I call Beth. “Katie, hey honey!” She joyfully answers her phone. I feel like the worst friend ever. I haven’t talked to her in days. I have no idea how she is doing with her pregnancy, or how the boys are. I feel like my life is out of control.

I lose all control and sob. “Beth, I need a restraining order against Keith. He’s watching me, and I know he bashed out my taillights last night. He’s harassing me, too.” Pulling off the road as I cry into my phone.

“Katie, listen to me. I’m going to call Anna to come watch the boys. I will be at your house in thirty minutes. We’ll get this all squared away. I need you to go home, call the police, and make a report of your taillights and him watching you. You don’t have proof or much to document, but at least it’s filed. Can you do that for me?” I nod, as if she can see me. “Katie, are you okay, can you do that for me?”

Wiping away the sniffles, I whisper to her, “I’m on my way back home, I’ll meet you there.”

Two police cruisers are parked in my driveway as I pull up. I park the truck on the side of the road. Getting out of the truck, my heels sink into the soft dirt. I take them off and run up the driveway. As I approach the stables, I notice Keith, Tommy, talking to Luke. Tommy is Keith’s partner. I’ve known him for as long as I’ve known Keith. Brody is on the phone and Luke looks pissed. Shit, please do not let anything terrible happen.

Walking up to Keith I raise my shoe to him. “You asshole, what the hell are you doing?”

Tommy leaves Luke’s side and grabs me by the waist. “Kate, settle down. It’s been reported that Luke Ashton here harassed Keith Saturday night. We are trying to get a statement.”

I wiggle out of Tommy’s arms and look at him in disbelief. “Tommy, Keith fucking asked for it, if anything Keith was harassing me in the parking lot. Luke was just protecting me.”

Tommy knows Keith is mental. He knew Keith was cheating on me, but was never man enough to come to me about it. “Keith, do you have some kind of agenda to hurt me, hurt your daughters, or is your new personality to be the biggest fuckwad I ever met? You harassed me this morning on my way to work, you bashed my taillights in, you watched Luke and me in the privacy of my home, and now you are going to get a preposterous statement because he bruised your fucking ego? You fucking started it, why couldn’t you be man enough and just fucking walk away? I HATE YOU!”

Luke is pissed with rage, his jaw is clenched, his eyes are black with fury, and the veins in his neck are bulging. “You were fucking watching us! You’re psycho, man! Seriously, who the hell watches their ex-wife fuck her boyfriend?” He growls to Keith.

I’m speechless because I think at any moment my muscle man might break Keith in two, and he just made it clear to me I’m his girlfriend. The rage for Keith is slowly diminishing with that simple compound word ‘girlfriend’. Luke perceives me as his girlfriend, he considers us in a relationship.
Shit Yeah!
“Tommy, you know this shit is outlandish. Ask the valet at the club, they will tell you Keith provoked it, and it was towards me!”

Tommy looks cornered. Looking at Tommy, I see Beth out of my peripheral walking up the driveway. “Well, well, well, Keith Caldwell, we meet again under such fun circumstances,” Beth drawls out to Keith. I love this woman, especially when she gets into lawyer mode. I wouldn’t want to mess with her. I believe if she weren’t pregnant she would personally kick his ass.

“Weren’t you knocked up the last time I saw you? Do you make it a habit to keep getting pregnant?”

She shakes her head as she walks right up to him until she’s inches from his face. Beth might be a petite little thing, but she is one beast when you fuck with her. “Keith, I suggest you watch your mouth because let me tell you something: you are digging your own damn grave. What you pulled last night, this morning, and quite possibly now, is making your file look mighty good to the judge. Just because you work for the law doesn’t scare me one bit. You fuck with Kate, and the ones she cares about, you fuck with me. Let me just say: I have many, many district attorney friends who eat pieces of shit cops like you for breakfast. They will chew you up and spit you out so fast, you will never speak a Miranda warning again as long as you live.”

Beth backs away. “Tommy, I suggest you and Keith leave now. You know as well as I do there is no statement needed for what happened, or in this case what didn’t happen. You fight me on this, and I will nail your ass to the wall. You know this little charade going on here is a pile of crap. Keith provoked her.”

Tommy looks to Keith. “Keith what the hell is going on? Did you provoke him?”

Keith is so enraged, if he could blow steam out of his ears, he would. “Tommy, let’s go. I will talk to Captain about this.”

Tommy steps back as Luke walks to me and embraces me. His hand engulfing my face, he leans down and kisses me softly. “I was so fucking worried, did he hurt you, are you alright?”

I nod my head. “Yes, babe.” I can’t believe this is all happening. If only I hadn’t seen him that night, none of this would have transpired. Keith is obviously pissed I have moved on with my life.

I step out of his arms and with Beth in step, walk to the house as Keith and Tommy’s cruisers pull out of the driveway. Luke and Brody walk back to the stables. Once in the kitchen, Beth makes a pot of coffee for me. “Tell me what happened, Katie, so I can write this all up and present it to the judge for a restraining order.”

I grab two coffee mugs from the cabinet. “Before I start, has Jacob ever seen you in ‘lawyer mode’? Because let me say, you were one fiery badass out there. You almost scared the shit out of me. Damn, honey, you were on a roll. I so wish I had that recorded. Now, do you have awhile? Because it’s some crazy shit.”

Beth grabs a cup out of my hand. “Please, babe, he’s seen my red-headed temper, and if he’s not at fault it just turns him on. Here…pour me one.” She just giggles. Beth walks to the kitchen table and pulls out her tablet. Bringing the cups of coffee to the table, I sit next to her.

“Beth, I want to go back and fight for full custody. I don’t want the girls around him unless it’s supervised. I don’t trust him. I have no clue what the hell is happening here, or what has gotten into Keith, but I will not jeopardize my children’s welfare with that man. He is unstable.” Beth is already typing away into her tablet. I continue telling her what all went down at the club, then explain that he was watching Luke and me. Finally, I tell her what happened this morning on my way to work.

“All right, I think I have everything I need. When I go in to work tomorrow, I will send this in and set up a hearing,” she says, returning her tablet to her bag.

“Beth, he hasn’t paid me child support in months. Not saying I want his money, I’m sure it’s tainted. But, I want him to pay for not being a father to our girls. How dare he!”

Beth stands from her chair and leans over to give me a hug. “Katie, we will work this out. I’ve got your back, and the girls, too.” She swings her bag onto her shoulder. “Let me get going, I need to relieve Anna from the boys. She has a hard time handling three boys who are going through the worst case of ‘the almost terrible twos’.”

I just laugh and shake my head. “Girl, terrible twos are nothing, it’s the three’s that are terrifying!” She moans and groans on her way out.

I walk her all the way to her truck. When I walk back, I see Brody and Luke in a heated discussion. All I hear is Luke yell to Brody, “It’s final, Bro, we’re installing one!” Brody walks off and Luke turns around and punches the door.
Ouch
! I know that had to hurt. I leave Luke alone, needing some time to myself right now. Back in the house, I call the girls’ school and ask them to call me right away if Keith happens to come and get them.

ANOTHER MONTH HAS flown by. Beth performed miracles and got us a court date three weeks later, right before Halloween. I have an injunction order against Keith. I tried to get supervision added to his custody, but the judge didn’t find it necessary, saying he was not harming his daughters. But Keith is showing his true colors because he has only asked to see the girls once this past month when he took them to a fall carnival. The girls looked like they had fun, but didn’t talk about their time with their father. The clinic is complete, and I have been back to work full time with my practice. Busy is not even close to what I have been experiencing. My clinic is amazing. Brody did a superb job, giving me everything I asked for. My facility is modernized, clean, and organized. Luke did an awesome job remodeling. He has a passion for what he does. He’s great working with his hands, and they’re even better in the bedroom. Luke has stayed the night several times, but still runs out before the girls get up.

We are about a week out from completion of the stables. The stables have got to be the best part of the remodel. Top of the line stables are being put in, with vaulted ceilings and beautiful windows. My heart melts every time I walk in there. I can’t wait for my clients to see this. They will be floored.

For Halloween this year, we did things a little different. Luke wanted me to finally see his place. I personally think he’s lonely now without Danika. It also gave me a chance to finally meet her. He cooked dinner and I was pleasantly surprised, but then again, he has been a single father for many years. I met Danika; she is your typical teenage girl. I didn’t get the vibe she liked me. She rolled her eyes a lot when Luke would come around me. Dinner consisted of small talk. Luke is a different person when Danika is present. You can see that Danika adores her father.

The girls liked Danika, and she enjoyed being with them. She ended up doing their make-up for Halloween and they thought that was the coolest thing. Nicole went dressed as
Sofia the First Princess
and Julia went dressed as
Doc McStuffin
. Can you tell the Disney Junior theme here? They were cute and had fun walking around Luke’s complex.

“Thank you for coming over and doing this with me,” Luke announces, as we are walking hand in hand to each house.

“You’re welcome, thank you for inviting us.”

“I didn’t do this with Danika when she was this little. I hate that I missed so much with her. Now my baby girl is a month away from being an adult. I can’t believe eighteen years have gone by.”

“You have to know you are a good father. You did the best you could for the situation you were in. Danika knows that, and she couldn’t be more proud of you. I’m proud of you.” As I lean my head against his bicep, we walk from house to house.

Luke is quiet the rest of the night, I can only assume he’s taking in the experience and the chaos my girls bring with them wherever they go. We finished Trick or Treating, and went back to Luke’s for milk and candy. Once the girls were in a sugar coma, Luke followed me home and helped me put them to bed.

I took a quick shower and went down stairs to see Luke sitting on the couch watching TV. When I curled up in his lap, he kissed me on my head. The vibes he gives off are so hard to read. He doesn’t seem to be having a PTSD episode, but he seems down or upset.

“You okay?”

Looking down into my eyes, he gives me a half smile. “Fine. Why?”

I place my palm on his jaw. “You just seem…I don’t know what you are feeling because you never talk to me. You know you can talk to me?”

He grips my face and pulls me into a hungry kiss. “I know I can talk to you, and I will. There’s just so much you need to know about my past. It’s not pretty. In fact it’s worse than hell. Plus, with these new feelings, I need to understand what I’m feeling before I tell you, but baby, I promise to tell you all of it, the good and bad. I just feel so much with you. To be honest, it’s foreign to me, and scares the shit out of me.”

“What are you saying, Luke? You want to stop seeing each other?” I tense, instantly defensive.

Luke lifts me up and swings my leg around so I am straddling him. “No way in hell will I ever want to stop seeing you. I want more.” His hands slide up my nightshirt. It’s actually one of Luke’s that I swiped from his overnight bag and kept to sleep in. He brings his hands to my breasts, where his thumbs skirt my already pebbled nipples. I lean in and kiss him. His calloused hands slide down to my bare ass. I feel the wetness pool between my legs. When he squeezed my ass, I bucked off his lap, grinding back down against his hard erection pressing against his jeans. I place my fingers on the button on his jeans.