by Lexy Timms
She sat down on the bed, feeling more alone than she had in a long time. It was hard to imagine starting all over again. She knew there would never be another man in her life like Ben. He was a once in a lifetime match and she’d had to walk away to protect him. It made her hate Tim more than ever.
The thought of taking a dip in the pool was too good to ignore. Her neck was stiff, and her butt was a little sore from nearly two days of sitting. It would be good to soak. She plopped her suitcase on the bed, unzipped it and dug out the one-piece bathing suit she had been carrying around for over a year. It was one of the little luxuries she let herself have. Almost every place she stayed had a pool. Often times she would go down late at night when she could swim and relax without anyone else around. It was almost eight and she hoped she would have the pool to herself.
With her suit on, she grabbed a towel out of the bathroom and her room key and set out in search of the pool. It wasn’t hard to find behind the row of rooms. It wasn’t a big pool, but it didn’t need to be. It looked perfectly refreshing. She unlatched the gate and went inside, thrilled to find she could be alone, which was odd after just feeling so lonely only moments ago.
She pushed the thought to the side and put her towel and key on a lounge chair, kicking off her one pair of shoes and quickly diving in.
“Too good,” she whispered when she came up for air.
She did a few laps before turning to float on her back, relaxing her body and letting the water carry her away. Her eyes closed as she willed away all the stress and anxiety that had been plaguing her the last two days.
“Does it feel as good as it looks?” a female voice called out, breaking Katherine’s concentration.
Her arms flailed as she fought to right herself without sinking in the water. She wiped water from her eyes and looked to the edge of the pool where a young woman with short, choppy blonde hair was standing in a skimpy two-piece.
Katherine nodded her head. “It feels amazing.”
“Do you mind if I join you? I’ve been driving for hours and really need to relax my tight muscles.”
“Of course,” Katherine quickly said.
She felt no threat from the woman and decided to hang out a bit longer. The pool was too good to leave after her brief swim.
“I’m Lindsey,” the woman said, slowly walking down the steps into the pool.
“I’m—” she stopped for a second. “Dawn,” she said, struggling to think of a name on the fly.
Lindsey eyed her carefully. “Hi, Dawn,” she dragged out the name, clearly not believing it was her real name.
“I’ve been on a Greyhound for almost two days. I feel your pain with the stiff muscles,” she said, trying to be polite without saying too much.
The woman nodded. “That’s brutal. I’ve been driving for what feels like forever, but is actually only a few days.”
“Where have you been driving from?”
“Arkansas,” Lindsay replied.
“Wow, that is one hell of a drive!”
Lindsay laughed. “Yes, it is. I’m doing it all on my own. I’ve never felt so liberated in my life.”
“Where are you headed?” Katherine asked, knowing she was probably asking too many questions.
Lindsay shrugged a shoulder. “Would it sound too crazy if I said I didn’t know?”
Katherine smiled and shook her head. “Not in the least.”
They both swam and chatted about nothing in particular. Katherine felt Lindsay was a kindred spirit. She had no idea what Lindsay was running from, but it was clear she was doing exactly that. Like recognized like, she mused, thinking of a saying she had heard a long time ago.
“I should probably get to bed. I’ve been up since dawn and I’m sure I’ll be up early again tomorrow,” Lindsay said, slowly climbing the steps out of the pool.
“Goodnight. Thanks for hanging with me,” Katherine said with a smile.
“Sure. It was nice to kick back and relax. It’s been a long time,” she said, and Katherine knew her earlier assessment had been right.
“Good luck,” Katherine said, climbing out of the pool and wrapping her towel around her.
Lindsay stopped at the gate and looked back. There was a familiar sadness in her eyes that Katherine recognized. “You too. I think we both need it, huh?”
Katherine nodded her head. “Definitely.”
Lindsay walked away, fading into the darkness. Katherine picked up her room key and made her way back to her room, stopping to look at the options in the vending machine before deciding it wasn’t worth the money. She’d eat the peanuts in her purse and search out food in the morning.
She put on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt after showering, then crawled into bed. It was at night when she felt the loneliest. It was times like these she wished she could pick up the phone and call Ben or Talia. She hated leaving them without telling them goodbye or even letting them know she was okay. They didn’t deserve to be dismissed or ditched. She doubted either of them would understand she was doing it for their sake. Tim would continue to haunt her and them by proxy if she stuck around. Leaving was the right thing to do.
She wiped the tears that had been falling without her even realizing it. She was so tired of crying.
“Pull it together, Katherine. This is nothing new,” she muttered, rolling over to turn off the light.
Running wasn’t new but leaving a life and a man she cared a great deal for was definitely new. That’s what was making this so hard. She’d packed up and left so many times in the past without ever looking back. Soon enough, she would get over Ben. Her heart would heal.
Her head sank into the pillow. She thought about Ben and how he would snuggle behind her, always making her feel safe and protected. She felt so empty without his big body there beside her. She had a glimpse of her future. Was she destined to keep running? Would she ever be allowed to find love and the happiness it brought with it?
More tears slid down her cheeks as she came to the realization she would not get that future. One wrong choice five years ago had led her down this path. One wrong choice was going to ruin her life forever. If only someone would have warned her about Tim. If only there had been some way of knowing the type of man he was before she ever went out on that second date with him. A man like him should have to wear a badge, identifying him as a soul-sucking, abusive son of a bitch, she thought, her sadness turning to anger. If she ever got the chance, she was going to tell the entire world what kind of man Tim Marshall really was.
Chapter Twelve
Ben
HE WAS GOING OUT OF his mind with worry. He wanted to believe Katherine up and left in the middle of the night of her own free will, but there was a part of him that was terrified Tim had dragged her out, kicking and screaming, and was now holding her hostage somewhere. The possibilities were endless.
His phone started ringing and he nearly jumped across the coffee table in his living room lunging for it. He kept expecting her to call and tell him she was okay. It hadn’t happened yet. He looked at the screen and saw it was Rachel calling.
“What?” he groused.
“Don’t you dare talk to me like that. Am I clearing your schedule for the day?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Is there anything I can do to help? I can call in a temp or we can just say we both have the stomach flu and operations must cease until Monday,” she offered.
He ran a hand through his hair. “No, it’s fine. I need you there holding down the fort. Feel free to cut out early. Clear my schedule for Monday as well. If I don’t find her by then, I’m not going to work.”
“Okay. Ben, please try and take care of yourself. I already know you didn’t sleep last night,” she said in a soft voice.
He sighed. “No, I didn’t. What if he has her?” he said the words that had been running through his mind since he’d seen the apartment.
“You said she had a suitcase packed. You knew she was thinking about running before she ever f
iled for divorce. This is her M.O., it’s what she does. Don’t blame yourself. Maybe something happened and she got scared. She’ll call you if she wants to be found,” Rachel said.
He was shaking his head. He didn’t want to believe she would leave him hanging without so much as a screw you or a see you later. It didn’t make sense.
“I’ve got to go. Meredith is going to be calling soon.”
“What is Meredith going to do?” Rachel asked.
“She has a couple private detectives she works with. She offered to let me hire them to find Katherine.”
“Oh, is that a good idea?”
Ben clenched his jaw. “I’m not going to drag her back here kicking and screaming. I just want to get a message to her. I won’t force her to do anything.”
“Okay, okay, I get it. I’ll talk to you later,” Rachel said and hung up the phone.
He hadn’t meant to snap at her. He was cranky, frustrated and terrified that Katherine was in a bad situation. He only wanted to find her and let her know he was willing to stand by her no matter what was happening.
Meredith called, and he quickly got the information from her. She had already made the first call to the investigators who would be calling him shortly.
“Can you hang on a second,” he mumbled, hearing a knock at the door.
It wasn’t like his security detail not to announce a visitor, but they could have tried, and he ignored the intercom. He’d been so focused on doing everything he could to find Katherine, he’d not thought of much else or even been able to pay attention to anything else.
He pulled open the door to see a sheriff’s deputy standing on the other side looking entirely uncomfortable.
“Hold on Meredith, the cops are here,” he said into the phone.
“Don’t hang up. Put me on speaker phone,” she demanded.
Ben did as she asked. “What can I do for you, officer?” he asked the man who had removed his hat and was holding it in his hand.
“I’m here to serve you papers,” he said, his tone and demeanor revealing his unease.
“Serve me papers? For?” he asked.
“Tim Marshall is suing you for harassment, medical costs and pain and suffering caused by the incident that transpired a few weeks ago, Mr. O’Leary,” the young deputy said.
“Did you get that Meredith?” he asked, not taking the papers the man was holding.
She let out an audible sigh. “I heard. Take the papers. Thank you, Deputy, your job is done.”
The deputy looked at the phone and nodded his head as if she could see him. He spun around on his heel and headed for the patrol car parked outside. Ben caught his security guy looking at him. Ben through up his hands, asking what the hell. The guard shrugged his shoulders as if to say there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Ben slammed the door. “What the hell?” he growled.
“Send me copies of the suit. I’ll get right on it,” Meredith said.
“Can he actually sue me for all that?” Ben asked, pissed and surprised.
“He can sue you because your house is a color he doesn’t like. It doesn’t mean he’s going to win. Send me the paperwork. Don’t worry about this Marshall guy. I’ve done a little background research. He thinks he’s hot stuff in LA. I’m the queen bitch around these parts and I look forward to raking this guy over the coals. Any man that beats a woman is already on my bad side,” she grumbled.
“I’m sorry to make more work for you,” Ben mumbled.
Meredith burst into laughter. “Are you kidding? You’re paying for my retirement. I knew you were good for business.”
He chuckled but didn’t really see the humor in his situation. “Will those investigators call me soon?” he asked, wanting to do something right away, not later.
He could hear Meredith talking to someone else and was about to get pissed that he didn’t have her undivided attention for a call he was sure was costing him at least five-hundred dollars.
“We just got the divorce papers back via courier,” Meredith said.
“Back? What do you mean?” Ben asked. “Katherine’s papers?”
“Yes. That smug jerk sent them back with a post-it note.”
“What does it say?”
“No,” she snapped.
“What?” Ben asked, confused why she wouldn’t tell him what the note said.
“It says no. Like he refuses to sign. How much you want to bet he talked to Katherine?” Meredith said, her voice full of rage.
“What if he threatened her?”
“We need to find her and ask her what happened. I’m going to get the paperwork for a restraining order started. I need to find her and have her sign it. Tim wants to play games. I need to protect my client. He’s going to continue to harass her. Every time he calls her, looks at her or attempts to get near her, I want to slap him with a violation of the order,” Meredith grumbled.
“Great, but first we have to find her.”
“I’m not worried about that. Katherine is smart, but it’s very hard to get truly lost in this day and age. We’ll start with her bank and credit cards and go from there.”
“How? Is that legal?”
Meredith burst into laughter. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You just said—”
He got it then.
“Look, you need to know this Tim character is going to drag this thing out. He is going to do everything he can to paint himself as the victim with Katherine as the cheating spouse. You can pretty much guarantee your name is going to be dragged right into the middle of it all,” she explained.
“That’s fine.”
“I don’t think you understand what this could mean if Tim paints a good story. Your business could suffer. Are you sure you want to move forward with finding her? Maybe she knew what Tim was up to and is trying to protect you,” Meredith suggested.
Ben scoffed. “I have no doubt in my mind that’s exactly what happened. I don’t care. I want Katherine safe. People can say whatever they want about me. They always have and I’m sure they always will. I’m not worried about me and I have a feeling Katherine doesn’t care about rumors that might get started about her.”
“Good. You need to know this Tim guy wins his cases in the public eye because he’s a smooth character. He knows how to work a jury as well as the public. Women everywhere are going to see her as the villain with you as her evil sidekick. The lawsuit against you is only giving his story credibility,” she continued.
Ben paused. “I know. It sucks, but that’s the way it is. I know the truth and maybe Katherine will be able to tell her side of the story. All it would take is one picture of her after Tim beat her. Then the public would know why she ran.”
“I agree, but that is a very private matter and I don’t see Katherine ever letting that happen. She doesn’t want to be seen as a victim.”
Ben knew Meredith was right. She refused to let anyone think she had been a victim. She was a strong, stubborn woman and would balk at the idea of her personal life being put on display. There had to be another way to beat Tim without sacrificing Katherine’s privacy. She’d already lost enough of herself. She didn’t deserve to sacrifice anything more.
“You’re right. Tell your guys to call me or I’m going to start looking for my own people to hire.”
“Ben, listen, you need to think about hiring a publicist. I don’t think you understand how bad this is going to get,” Meredith warned.
“I’ve never used a publicist in my life,” Ben said, affronted at the very idea of someone cultivating his image.
He liked who he was and didn’t need to hide behind a bunch of fluff. He was a private man and had managed to avoid most of the front pages of the society sections. He wasn’t the type of guy who went out with hot models or Hollywood celebrities. He preferred to keep things much lower key.
“Do it. That’s an order. I’m going to need the help fighting this thing in court. I can’t have that guy smeari
ng your name and your company while I’m trying to get this thing dismissed. You can afford it,” she ordered, leaving little room for him to argue.
“Fine, I’ll call my assistant and have her set one up.”
“Good. Get used to be driven around as well. No more driving. I can’t have you running over paparazzi or breaking the speed limit.”
“Meredith,” he grumbled, feeling like a teenager having the keys to the family car taken away.
“I’m serious. This is my arena. You listen to me now.”
“Fine,” he said and hung up the phone before she told him to wash behind his ears or something stupid.
He called Rachel and told her to get a publicist lined up, filling her in on the details. Rachel’s life was about to get hectic as well. There was no doubt the press would be calling the office, wanting a statement. Once he was done with Rachel, he strolled out to the small guard shack next to the gate to his home and spoke with his security. He wanted everything locked down tight. No one got through the gate, not even delivery men. He gave the very short list of people he would allow in and headed back inside. It felt like he was getting ready to ride out a violent storm. In many ways, he guessed he really was.
He had no idea how long it would take the press to pick up on the story, but he wanted to be ready when they did. If he was lucky, it would be a busy news cycle and his story would stay off the radar. He had a feeling Tim would not like that and would work very hard to get the lawsuit front and center. It was his way of coming out ahead in the divorce. Ben was more than willing to sacrifice a few million dollars if it meant Tim would be out of the picture for good.
Chapter Thirteen
Katherine
IT WAS A NEW CITY AND a new hotel for Katherine as she tried to find her bearings. She felt like an aimless, wandering arrow with no destination in mind. She knew why she was struggling to pick a place to start over. It was Ben. She didn’t really want to leave and therefore was stalling at really starting over. Katherine really wanted to go back to him. By continuing this limbo, there was a small chance that she could. At least that’s what she told herself. In reality, she knew that returning to Ben would make his life hell, even if he couldn’t see it.