by Shelly Jones
“Ok, well you’re making me nervous. What’s going on?”
“I’m opening up a bakery,” I say walking away from him, not sure how he’s going to react.
“A bakery, ok...”
“The bakery next door to the floral shop is up for sale. Long story short, I’ve decided to fulfill a dream of mine and Rachel’s, a floral shop, bakery and café business,” I explain to him.
“What about the photography?”
“I can do that if there’s still a need for it. I’ll give it six months to a year. If I don’t see it going anywhere then I’ll sell my equipment and call it a day.”
He’s staring at me, blank faced. I’m not sure what he’s thinking, not that it matters because this is my money, my life and I’m doing what’s best for me and Ava.
“Well congrats I guess,” he says.
“Are you ok?”
“Yes, no, I don’t know. I mean don’t you think this is to fast? Aren’t you afraid?”
“Afraid of what? Of Dean? Are you serious right now Eric? You know damn good and well he’s not controlling my life. My life is moving forward whether he’s in jail or not. My life, our life is moving forward Eric.” I take a deep breath. “If I don’t follow my dreams, he wins. If I sit here and feel sorry for myself, he wins. Fuck that! I’m so sick of everyone winning but me and damn it, I’m winning.”
I start to walk towards him. “I have a house, I have a beautiful little girl, I have my friends and family and most of all, I finally have my soul mate, and every minute that we are together I fall deeper in love with him,” I say wrapping my arms around his neck. His face is still blank. “Say something Eric.” I stare into his eyes.
He gives me that cocky smile. “I love you too. We will make this work, with the bakery and everything.”
“So you’ll support me?”
“Whatever you want babe, but it doesn’t mean I’m not going to worry. I think I’ll always worry as long as Dean is concerned.”
“And I love that about you, but we can’t live locked up.”
He takes a deep breath, “I hate it when you’re right,” he says kissing me on the forehead and pulling me into his chest.
I let out a giggle. “Well.... get used to it, because I will always be right!”
“If you think so babe,” he says, letting go and grabbing water out of the refrigerator.
“I know so!”
“What time are we meeting everyone,” he asks leaning up against the counter.
“Not really sure, but I’m guessing 7-8ish. I’ll text Rachel in a little while and ask. Why?”
“Just wondering. Hey, whatever happened between Maddie and Brody?”
“Ah, Eric I don’t want to get into it. It’s a long ugly mess and I’ll all say is that they got into a huge ass fight over something that happened to Maddie and Brody wasn’t around. She then took off to Colorado for nursing school.”
“What happened to Maddie?”
“Not going to tell you - I’m not going there. I’m sure your dad knows or you can ask one of the guys if you want to know, but I’m not talking about it.” I walk towards the bedroom and into the closet to find something to wear.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up bad shit again. I tend to do that a lot,” he says as he stands in the doorway.
“It’s ok Eric. You’ve been gone for a while, but just let it go. They’ve both moved on, it’s best to just let them be.” I turn and look at him.
“I feel like I’ve missed so much.”
“You have Eric, a lot of shit has happened, and now that you’re back you will find out, but let it come out in time. I don’t know about you, but I’ve waited a long time for this and for once I’m happy and I want to stay that way for a while, so let’s enjoy being with our friends.”
“Ok, you’re right yet again.” He smiles, “I’m going to go take a shower,” he says taking off his t-shirt and throwing it at me. “You can join me if you want,” he says walking away from me. I peak around the door and he’s got his shorts off, all he’s wearing is his plaid boxers. Damn he’s got a nice ass. I’m tempted to join him in the shower, when I hear the doorbell.
“Fuck,” I say out loud walking into the living room to the door.
I look through the peep hole and my stomach drops.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” I say to myself. I quietly open the closet next to the front door and enter the six digit code then grab my hand gun. I put the gun in the waist band of my skirt and hide it under my tank top. Dean knocks and it startles me. “Fuck,” I say out loud. Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath I open the door. “Um Hi,” I say confused.
“Hi,” he says and gives me a smile that gives me the creeps.
“What are you doing here?”
“Just thought I’d stop by and see how you’re doing.”
“Why? Wait, how do you even know where I live? Oh wait, never mind, Reagan,” I say and roll my eyes.
“What? Can’t a friend come over and check on another friend?”
“Dean, cut the shit. What are you really doing here?” I say a little bold. Keeping my feet dug into the ground and the front door open. I got this.
“Wow, you’ve become somewhat of a bitch haven’t you?” he says licking his lips and giving me that cocky ass smile.
“Excuse me? Alright Dean you should leave. It’s obvious you’ve had a drink or two or a case.”
“What, you going to call your big bad boyfriend and have him come rescue you?” he says in a kind of baby tone.
“Dean, stop! What do you want, what do you need? Why are you here? I don’t get it, you seemed like you were going to leave me alone and now here you are on my front door step. I don’t get it.”
“Did you know your boyfriend came to see me today?”
“That’s a fucking lie,” I hear coming from behind me and I jump.
Dean starts to laugh, “Of course you’d be here.”
“I didn’t come to fucking see you. I was over at Paul’s getting some things. Didn’t realize I couldn’t go over to my friend’s house now without your permission.”
“If you were over at Paul’s then why did you come over to my house? And let me guess, you’re going to deny that you threatened to kill me too right?”
Whoa, what the fuck is going on here. I need to say something, but I can’t. I just stand there watching these two argue. “No, I won’t deny that and I’ll say it again. If I didn’t love this woman so much, you wouldn’t be breathing. And I’m pretty sure you told me you would let me and you also told me you would stay away from Katie, but I see you’re nothing but a dumb fucking liar, and you know damn well I came over there looking for Heidi. So fuck off!”
“You wanna fight prick,” Dean asks as he puffs out his chest and I’m not sure, but I swore when Dean moved his arms, he had something in his pants.
“Dean STOP,” I shout.
“Wow, look at you. Thinking your all brave and can take care of yourself. My biggest regret was that I didn’t finish you off,” he says creeping closer to me. Eric has his chest up against my back and is holding me. He feels the gun on his stomach.
“Don’t come any closer Dean. I mean it,” Eric growls and gets in front of me.
Dean starts to get closer when out of nowhere I see cop cars come flying up. There are a total of five, two of which are pretty much in my fucking yard.
“Dean Bryant, don’t move any closer, back away from the house,” one officer shouts. I look out to see all five of them have their guns drawn. Eric starts to walk us backwards deeper into the living room.
“You fucking bitch. You’re dead,” Dean growls and reaches for whatever he has hidden in his pants. The officers see what he’s grabbing for and one makes a run for it and slams him to the ground at my feet. Dean’s gun goes flying. One officer is sitting on top of him handcuffing him while the other one comes up and grabs the gun.
“Dean Bryant, you are under arrest...” the officer s
ays and starts to read him his rights.
“Eric, I have my gun,” I say out loud.
“I know baby, they know you have your gun on you.”
“Ma’am,” I hear the officer in front of me.
I shake my head, “Katie, my name is Katie.”
“We know Ma’am. Can we have your gun?”
“Why? I never shot it.”
“We need to secure the location Ma’am and we can’t do that until your gun is put away.”
I turn around and lift up my tank top allowing the officer to take my gun. He checks it and takes the clip out. “Did he hurt you?”
“Who, Dean, no, but I’m pretty sure he came here too.”
“That was his plan. We got a call that gave us the tip, we were already on our way to your place, but when your boyfriend called, we knew it was a threat.”
I close my eyes and the tears start to come, “Fuck!”
The next thing I knew, our dads were coming at me.
“Are you ok?” my dad asks.
“Yeah I’m fine. He didn’t touch me. If Eric hadn’t have come out of the bathroom when he did, I’m pretty sure he would have, but Eric saved me this time.”
“Yeah, I heard all of that.”
Shit, Ava, where’s Ava? “Dad, where’s Ava?”
“She’s with Dana. She was napping when I got the call. I told Dana I’d be right back.”
Eric’s dad takes my statement. “He’s not getting out anytime soon is he?” I ask.
“Nope, not this time. He’s going away for a while.”
“Good, I’ll go to court if you need me too.”
“Katie, I need to tell you something.”
“Ok?”
“Reagan’s in the hospital. She’s pretty beat up. Looks like Dean’s handy work,” Eric’s dad tells me.
I shake my head, “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I’m afraid so. Reagan was the one that went to his mom. His mom didn’t think he was serious, until he started drinking and then he beat up Reagan and headed over here.”
I have to sit down, I feel like I’m going to throw up. I cannot believe this shit. “Is she going to be ok?”
“Not sure, she’s in rough shape.”
After a few hours, it’s just Eric and I, finally. He’s sitting on the couch, and I’m lying down with my head in his lap. He’s playing with my hair.
“Eric, I don’t want to go out tonight, but there is one thing I would like to do.”
“Ok, name it.”
“Will you take me to the hospital? I want to see Reagan.”
“Um, ok,” he says confused.
I sit up and wipe the tears from my eyes, “I don’t know why I want to see her, but I do”
“Ok, well I’ll just text the guys to let them know we’re not coming. Do you want to see anyone tonight?”
I shake my head no, “I just want it to be us, if that’s ok?”
“Of course baby, let’s go to the hospital, then we’ll swing by and get some take out and come back home.”
I lean over to kiss him, “Thank you for saving my life today.”
“I told you, you are my life. I’m never loosing you.” The tears start to flow again.
We get to the hospital and we see Reagan’s parents in the lobby. “Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery,” I say walking up to them.
“Kaitlyn,” Mrs. Montgomery says.
I give her a small smile “Is she going to be ok?”
“Yeah she should make a full recovery. The doctors are checking on her right now. Can I ask why you’re
here?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just know how she feels and I thought maybe I could say or do something to help ease her? I honestly don’t know.”
“Would you like to see her?”
“Can I?”
“Sure, but try not to upset her.”
“I promise.”
The doctors come out to let everyone know they can go back in, and they let me go in by myself. When I walk in, I have no idea what to expect. I see her laying there in the dim lighting, her head is bandaged up, and her face is swollen and bruised.
“What are you doing here?” she snaps at me, “Came here to see his master piece?”
“Reagan, stop the shit. I came here to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry he did this to you.”
“Yeah well, I guess you could call it Karma.”
“You could, if you wanted to, but that’s not why I came here.”
“Then why?”
“I don’t know. I guess because you’re the mother to my daughter’s brother. Just because you and I hate each other doesn’t mean I wish you dead or anything. I do have a heart.”
“Yeah well I don’t need your pity.”
“I’m not giving you pity. I was where you are, I know what you’re feeling and going through. Fuck it. Forget it. I’ll leave you alone for good,” I say walking away.
“I am so stupid,” she mumbles.
“What?”
“I’m stupid. I knew what he did to you, but I still went after him.”
“You’re not stupid.”
“Yeah well I’m something. Three guys, three guys who loved you and wanted you, and I went after them. God what is wrong with me?”
I have to hold in my laughter. “I don’t know Reagan,” I shrug my shoulders.
“He’s going away for a while right?”
“If I have my way about it he’ll be gone for good.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“Not this time. If Eric hadn’t come out of the shower when he did, I’m pretty sure he would have.”
“He had a gun,” she says.
“I know, but how did you?”
“He put it in my face and his mom walked in.”
I closed my eyes and hold my breath to keep the vomit from coming up.
“I’m sorry Reagan.”
“Not your fault. I should have just told Steve about Hunter. Then I could have just been with Steve and you wouldn’t have lost all this time with Eric.” Has hell frozen over? Did Reagan just apologize to me?
“It’s done, it’s over,” I shake my head. “I’m going to go. You need your rest.”
She gives me a slight smile, “I don’t deserve you coming to see me, but thanks.”
“I know you don’t and I don’t know why I did, but I’m glad I did. Get your rest and if Hunter ever wants to see his little sister, I’m ok with him being in her life.”
“Even if that means you have to deal with me?”
I laugh to myself, ‘Yes because I have the one person you never will have.’ “We managed to be nice to each other for almost thirty minutes, I think we could do it for the kids,” I say and I give her a small smile.
“Ok, well let me heal and then we’ll play it by ear.”
“Take care of yourself Reagan.”
“You too Katie.” We both smile at each other and I walk towards the door and open it. I close the door behind me and lean up against it, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.
“Well that was interesting,” I whisper out loud.
“Baby you ok?”
“Yeah I’m ok. We were actually decent to one another,” I let out a small laugh.
Walking out of the hospital I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I feel like I can breathe for the first time in a long time.
“I love you,” I tell Eric as he’s opening the truck door for me
“I love you too, now let’s go get some food and go home,” he says kissing me.
We swing through the drive-through and get take-out. “Did you talk to Brady,” I ask Eric.
“Yeah, I told Brady you’d call Rachel later. She’s going to flip on you, you know that right?”
“Yeah, I’m prepared. She’s going to go off on you too cause you didn’t call her.”
“Well I only had one person in mind and that was making sure you were ok.”
We pull into the driveway and I see Rachel and Brady�
�s truck. “Shit, here we go,” I say out loud.
“Want me to tell them to leave?”
I shake my head, “No, that will just piss her off.”
Eric parks the truck and I open the door. Before I can even get out, Rachel is standing there with that pissed off look on her face. “What the fuck? I have to find out from Brady that, that stupid fuck was over here? I thought you cared about me!”
“Oh for fucks sake Rachel, really, you’re going to play that card? I’m sorry, with everything that has happened today the last thing I thought about was calling you. Actually, I did think about you hence the reason why Eric called you and Brady. Christ!”
“Oh so now I’m in the wrong for caring? This is bullshit!” She turns around to walk away from me I go to follow her, when Eric is standing in front of me.
“Your dad just called, Ava is fussy and keeps calling for mommy. I told him I’d be over in a minute to bring her home.”
“Is she ok?”
“Yeah she’s fine. Your dad just thinks she wants her mommy.”
“Yeah go get her, or I can go get her.”
“No, I’ll do it.”
“We’ll do it,” Brady chimes in. He says something to Rachel and she looks over at me and shrugs her shoulders.
I grab our bags of food, kiss Eric good bye, and head inside. Eric has the house unlocked already and the door opened for us. I close the door behind me and take the food in the kitchen.
“Want a beer,” I ask Rachel.
“Sure,” she says quietly. “So what the fuck happened,” Rachel finally asks, breaking her silence.
I go over everything that happened in the time I left her place and dropped Ava off at dads.
“Please tell me that bastard will be sitting in jail for a while?”
“He should be after beating the fuck out of Reagan and having a gun on him.”
“Whoa, wait, what? He beat the shit out of Reagan? You’re shitting me.”
“No Rachel, I’m not, she’s pretty fucked up. Not as bad as I was, but she’s bad. He put the gun in her face and if it wasn’t for his mom, he would have killed her.”
She starts to laugh a little, “Karma’s a bitch ain’t it?”
“As much as I want to dance around and say she got what’s coming to her, being with her tonight, I felt sorry for her.”