by Kahlen Aymes
“You’re a family. I find it amazing after all you went through together.”
“Yeah.” The corner of my mouth tugged upward into a slight smile. “I think it just made us more solid than ever.
“I can see that.” Her tone was sad, and though I had to watch the stove, I made sure to glance her way.
“Do you miss Ben?”
“Of course. He’s been my rock since I left Derrick.”
“Your mom will be here soon, too.”
“I’m not sure I want to have her move right now. Not with everything going on.”
I flipped the burgers and filled a saucepan with water, ignoring the instructions on the box. “I can see that. We have to get a restraining order on this prick, Missy. As soon as possible.”
“I can’t unless he hurts me, first.” She looked and sounded so defeated. “It’s so hopeless.” Her voice cracked on the last word.
I turned and moved closer to her. “You don’t have to be afraid of him. I’ll be with you—”
She looked at me brokenly. “You can’t be with Dylan and me, both, so I’d rather have you with him.”
She was right, I couldn’t be in two places at once, and I searched for the words to make her feel better. “Chase already has security in place.”
Missy’s eyes got big, and a look of utter terror flashed across her face. I was confused. She should be relieved, but instead, she shook her head wildly. “No! Derrick would go berserk if he knew that! Oh, my God.” Her head fell into her hands, and her hair fell forward; hiding her face.
“You knew we were going to do that. I thought—” I began, taking the skillet with the finished hamburgers off the heat and leaving the pan of water sitting on the counter. The mac and cheese would have to wait. “That’s what you wanted.”
“That was before!” Her voice rose frantically.
I moved around the island and sat next to her. I reached for her wrists to gently pull her hands from her face so I could see her eyes. She was crying. “Before what, sweetheart?” I had to know exactly what we were dealing with.
Her eyes implored mine; tears rolling silently down her face. “Before I found out Derrick murdered my lawyer just to get rid of the restraining order in Wyoming.”
“Holy fuck,” I exclaimed incredulously, my mind racing. I needed to know the rest of the story, but I was stunned. I didn’t ask her how she knew it or why she didn’t tell me before; I believed her. She was visibly shaking, and everything inside me wanted retaliation. I hated seeing her so terrified.
“He threatened to hurt Dylan. He threatened to hurt you,” her voice broke on a sob, and her hands curled into the front of my button down as she struggled to control her despair. I slid my arms around her and gathered her close, pressing my lips to her forehead. “And he told me to check my attorney’s fate to prove he wasn’t bluffing.”
“It’s gonna be okay, babe. I’ll keep you both safe. I won’t let anything hurt you again.”
“What about you? You—you do—don’t know him,” she cried. “He’s a lunatic! The-there’s only one way to ma—manage him, Jensen.”
As I held her, I could literally feel her grief and fear seep into me. She was desolate and anxious. Anger welled up, but ranting would not change the situation. My goal was to make her feel safe. “What can I do?”
Her arms slid around my shoulders, and she cried hard into my hollow of my throat. “We have to convince Derrick we don’t see each other anymore, Jensen. Oh, God!” She was clutching at my flesh, gasping for breath as she cried her heart out. “I have to let him see my son. It’s the only way he won’t resort to violence.”
My own breath rushed out of my lungs in a rush of protest. “I don’t think that’s the answer. That bastard hurt both of you when he thought he had you under his control, so giving him what he wants won’t protect either of you,” I tried to speak calmly, stroking my hand down Missy’s back as I held her close. I turned and pressed my lips to her hair. She was fragile.
My own heart was pounding as emotions flooded through me, only amplified by the crying little boy I saw over his mother’s shoulder. Dylan was standing silently between the formal dining room and kitchen and shaking his head no; chin trembling with tears rolling down his face. He’d obviously heard most of what was said.
I pulled back from Missy and nodded in Dylan’s direction, regretful that he’d had to listen to his mother’s sobbing pleas.
“I don’t want that man to be my dad!” he screamed, his cries finally erupting into the room. “I don’t want to talk to him! He hurts us!”
Both Missy and I scrambled away from the bar and moved toward the little boy, arms open and going down on our knees side-by-side. Missy enveloped him in her embrace, and I gathered them both in a tight hug. Tears formed in my own eyes as I listened to her comforting words, and Dylan’s tearful protests.
“I want Jensey to be my dad, Mom!” Dylan cried harder and harder. “I want Jensey!”
Missy held him, stroking his hair over and over as he clung to her, tears running down her face. “It’s gonna be okay, baby. I promise,” she soothed, kissing the top of Dylan’s head as I held them both close.
The sound of Missy’s ringtone merged with the sound of his tears, and she stilled in my arms, pulling back to look into my face.
“It’s him, isn’t it? I asked, knowingly.
She nodded and started to extricate herself from my arms and her son’s. “Can you hold him for a second?”
“Babe, don’t,” I commanded. “Ignore him.”
Missy hurried to get her purse and remove her phone, shaking her head. “No. I’m just going to get it over with.” She put it up to her ear. “Stop calling, Derrick! Dylan doesn’t want anything to do with you. You aren’t talking to him! You aren’t seeing him! Just leave us the hell alone!” She hung up the phone; her eyes held a terrified expression, but her body sagged in relief.
“Now what?” I asked, still sitting on the floor cradling the crying little boy in my lap.
Missy sat down next to us and reached out to stroke the back of her son’s head lovingly. “We wait, I guess. And try to keep the focus on me.”
I felt like someone had just punched me in the gut. That was precisely how she’d dealt with that motherfucker for years; give in and take it. I’d never hated someone so much in my entire life! Protectiveness roared inside me. I wanted to take care of these two for the rest of my goddamned life.
“What?” I asked incredulously, shaking my head. “What are you thinking?”
“If he’s focused on me; if I distract him, he’ll turn it all on me. Then, maybe we can get the restraining order.” A calmness overtook her; a determination to keep Derrick Ellington away from her son. Suddenly, I had the perfect picture of what her life used to be. She’d be the punching bag, take the beatings, submit to rape, just to keep Dylan safe.
I wanted to scream out my fury but knew that I couldn’t say anything out loud while Dylan was within earshot, but my blood was boiling, burning me alive from the inside out. Even if that fucker made a move that would result in a restraining order, it wasn’t likely to stop him. If Derrick Ellington was a murderer, a piece of paper wouldn’t stand in his way.
“I want Jensey!” Dylan cried out in soft sobs into the front of my shirt, his little arms hugging my neck hard.
And then… my heart exploded like a nuclear bomb.
JENSEN
After the phone call from Ellington, and Dylan’s reaction to it, even Missy realized her plan of placating her ex-husband was impossible. I agreed to lay low and not to flaunt our relationship in case he was stalking her, but in my gut, I knew he had to be.
He left her alone for two years, so why now? I wondered. What had changed? Surely, he hadn’t had a sudden change of personality or conscience. Not from what I’d seen at her door.
Late last night when Chase called, I told him everything Missy had shared about her attorney’s suspected murder. He was as upset as I was and was fly
ing back earlier than planned; late on Saturday afternoon; as soon as his last practice had wrapped up.
In the meantime, the security detail was magically doubled. Missy and Teagan would have two men with them at all times, and it was decided that both women would take their respective children to school separately and one of the security teams could stay with each of the kids. If Ellington made a move on Dylan, we didn’t want Remi anywhere close.
Out of concern, I also hovered a safe distance outside the school watching to make sure both Dylan and Remi were safely inside the doors.
For two days, there had been no sign of Missy’s ex-husband. God, I hated thinking of that monster touching her, hurting her… and hurting that innocent little boy. I was insane just thinking about it. If I had a chance, I’d love to take him into some back alley and beat him to within an inch of his life. Every emotion inside me was teeming with it.
While Teagan and Missy had consented to having security assigned, the private school refused to allow the men on their campus grounds; the headmaster insisted it would make the other children unnecessarily afraid. It was not an ideal situation, and I knew that if Ellington was going to make a move, it would most likely be during drop-off, pick-up or recess. All of us continued to sleep at the Forrester home as a precaution.
On Thursday afternoon, Missy and I met with the family attorney that Chase’s legal team had recommended. She assured us we could file a custody motion to limit visitation, but there were no guarantees we would win, and it might be risk taking it to court. She said Missy’s ex could win, and all we’d be doing was helping him by getting the matter in front of a judge when the other party hadn’t filed a motion. With her help, we decided to wait for Derrick to start the process. She explained that fathers had rights, and we’d have to prove why he was unfit, and we only had a fifty-fifty shot.
Missy had been right about the restraining order; unless we could prove Derrick posed a tangible threat, the lawyer said that no judge would grant us a restraining order. However, she advised Missy to write a letter outlining Derrick’s threats and past abuse and include what he’d told her about the murdered attorney in Jackson Hole, have it notarized and put in a safe deposit box. It would serve as proof in case something suspicious happened to her, Dylan, or anyone close to them.
It made me sick to think about it.
That was all we could do? Write a fucking letter and wait for that dirtbag to hurt one of them?
Missy had asked her mother, Jean, to put off coming to Atlanta for a while, explaining she deserved a vacation before moving. She’d gone to visit friends in Orlando without too much protest. The last thing we needed was more people to protect, but Missy couldn’t tell her mother what was really going on. What was the sense in making her worry when there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to help alleviate the situation? Having Jean with us might even make a terrible situation worse.
The past couple of days had dragged by because we were all on pins and needles. Missy hadn’t answered any of Derrick Ellington’s calls, but he’d called several times, and we were dreading the weekend. Both of us were stressed about Missy leaving town for her next assignment, though she was more concerned about leaving Dylan, and I was more worried about what could happen to her. If that sack of shit had followed her to Philadelphia, he might show up in Denver, too.
My first instinct was to go with her, but I was struggling with leaving Teagan and the kids alone in Atlanta with Chase gone, despite the security he had in place. Missy was adamant about me staying with Dylan, in any case.
Now, it was Saturday morning; the day of the dreaded birthday party. The kids had been talking about it non-stop and despite my appeals to forbid they go, both Teagan and Missy didn’t want to disrupt the children’s routine.
Waiting in the kitchen for everyone to come down for breakfast, I received an incoming Facetime call from Chase.
“What’d your investigator find out?” I didn’t bother with pleasantries or greetings, and he wouldn’t expect me to. His hair was plastered to head by sweat because, clearly, he was in the middle of a practice session or workout.
“That asshole’s business is in huge trouble. He put all of his capital into a government road construction project, and at the last minute, it fell through due to appropriation issues at the state level. He purchased a bunch of equipment and supplies with a substantial loan using his payables as collateral. When the job fell through, the loan was called in. He had to sell the equipment for pennies on the dollar to recoup what he could. However, he still has a huge chunk of it to pay off; millions of dollars. It’ll take him years to get square, but he’s in default, and the bank will end up taking his business. He sold his house. He’s in a world of hurt.”
At least we had an answer about Derrick’s timing, but I remembered my Google search. I shook my head. “He has the job here; McIntire project downtown. What about that? It has to be bringing in some money.”
Chase shook his head. “Yes. It’s on the report, but it’s not enough to cover his losses on the highway thing, so he’s more dangerous than we thought.
“I don’t understand Ellington’s thought process; Missy doesn’t make enough for him to blackmail her over Dylan.”
“Who knows what he’s thinking, but people do awful shit when they’re desperate.”
I nodded in agreement. “Yes, I agree. Anything about Missy’s lawyer?”
“The whole family were killed in the wreck, but the police report lists it as an accident. I think we’re screwed on that front, man.” Chase held the phone close, speaking in low tones.
I sighed. “Fucking deviant,” I said under my breath, running my free hand through my hair.
“He needs money,” Chase stated casually; as if it were nothing. “Maybe we can buy him off. I just got that big endorsement deal with Adidas.”
I appreciated my friend’s generosity, but I shook my head. “Even if we could come up with the money he needs, we’d be opening ourselves up to continued blackmail.”
“I thought of that, too, but it may buy us some time. Have you had any signs of him lurking around? Security said there was nothing at the house or school to report.”
“No, I haven’t seen him anywhere, but he’s called at least ten times in the past two days.”
“Has he left any threatening messages?” Chase wanted to know. “That would help get a restraining order.”
“No such luck. Obviously, he knows the drill. This bastard is smart, even if he is crazy.”
Chase wiped his face on the sleeve of his shirt. “What about the birthday thing? Did you make a plan?”
“Yeah. I’m going with the kids. I’ve tried to dissuade the women from attending, altogether.”
“Yes, I’d rather Teagan not go, for sure.”
I understood Chase’s apprehension. “It’s a public place, but I’d hoped to take one security team with me and leave one with the girls.”
“Sounds like a solid plan. I’ll call Teagan and tell her that I agree with you.”
I smiled. Neither one of those women were good at being told what to do. “Do you think she’ll listen?”
He chuckled. “If I pout, she might, but she’s worried about Remi and Dylan. She wants to be there.”
The weight of the situation weighed heavily on me. “I’m sorry to have dragged you guys into this.”
His face twisted wryly. “It isn’t like you meant to get involved yourself.”
“Maybe not, but I’m not sorry I met Missy, or that I have her and Dylan in my life.”
Someone was yelling his name in the background, and he turned and looked over his shoulder. “Okay! I’ll be right there!” he acknowledged, raising one of his arms into the air to signal he heard the summons. “I gotta go, buddy. I have a few more hours on the field; then I’m heading home.”
“See you later.”
“Be careful. I’ll check in with security on my next break.”
“Great. Can you ask the two coming wi
th me not to dress like Men in Black? They don’t blend.”
He smiled again. “Yeah. Bye.”
I ended the call just as Remi and Teagan appeared.
“We need our presents!” Remi squealed, running down the stairs. She wore a cute white top with the Little Mermaid printed on the front and a pair of matching teal pants. Her hair was pulled off of her anxious and exuberant face in a white scrunchie. Remi lit up with anxious anticipation. “Dylan!” she called up the stairs, where the subject of her hollering was getting ready with the help of his own mother. “We gotta hurry to Jessica’s birthday!”
Teagan followed behind Remi a bit more slowly.
“Presents?” I asked, hoping I wouldn’t be expected to stop at a store. The less time in public, the better.
“Don’t worry,” she said, rubbing her lower back with one hand. “I stopped yesterday and got a few things while the kids were in school. Remi and Dylan picked what they wanted to give Jessica, and I’ll return the gifts they didn’t choose. We still have to wrap them, though.”
“Cool.” No doubt, Remi picked a Barbie or some other such princess-y thing, but I wondered what Dylan chose. “Are you feeling okay, Teags?”
“Just a backache and I have to pee every ten minutes. I’m sure ready for this baby to be born.”
“You only have a month left, right?”
“Ugh! Don’t remind me.” Teagan rolled her eyes. “I wish it was yesterday.”
“Dylan!” Remi called again, running back to the foot of the stairs and yelling up. “Dyyyyylllllaaaaaan!”
“Remi, hush!” Teagan scolded. “You have plenty of time. You have to have breakfast, and we have to wrap the gifts.”
“The baby will be here before you know it.” I squeezed Teagan’s shoulder just as Missy was coming down the stairs with Dylan. My hand flew away from Teagan. I felt guilty about touching her, even though I knew there was no reason to be.