Oxygen Deprived (Kilgore Fire Book 3)

by Lani Lynn Vale

  When we pulled up to Chili’s, I held back, waiting for everyone to go inside, and then I called my lawyer.

  If she wanted me divorced, then I was getting fucking divorced.

  She was worth it.

  ***

  The papers were signed a few days later.

  It would be official, and I’d spent damn near my whole life savings to make it so.

  I felt not one single regret as I signed my name at all the flagged spots, then handed the papers back to my lawyer.

  “She’s happy with the settlement?” I asked Todd Masterson, my lawyer.

  “She’s as happy as she’s going to get,” he corrected. “I wouldn’t have given her what you did, either, and I’m willing to bet that she would’ve settled for a lot less.”

  I nodded.

  “I know,” I said. “I was hoping she wouldn’t balk this way.”

  He nodded.

  “Well, I would say she was quite happy. She knew it was going to happen, and she was just waiting for you to up the ante, so to speak. And up it you did. By way too much,” Todd muttered.

  He hadn’t been happy about all the money I’d given Constance.

  Not that I’d given it to her, per se.

  It was all conditional. Something that I likely wouldn’t have accomplished if it wasn’t for Constance’s ignorance, and her haste in signing once she saw all the money I was throwing at her.

  She had to spend all the money on living. She couldn’t use it to buy clothes or frivolities. She had to use it to pay her bills, or anything that had to do with Attie. She couldn’t just spend it wherever the fuck she wanted.

  And if she broke the rules, she got it taken away with no chance on getting it back.

  It also only stayed in her name for two years before it was transferred to Attie’s college fund. Once Attie graduated college, she’d get the rest put into a bank account which she’d get a stipend each and every month.

  Although it wasn’t much, a measly fifty grand in the grand scheme of things, it was all the money I’d had to my name.

  Now the only things I had left that were mine were the clothes in my house, my house, and my truck.

  I’d be working for the next twenty years, and would have no chance at retiring any time soon, that was for sure.

  But I was free.

  And it was oddly sad.

  Not that I was divorcing my ex-wife, but that I viewed it as a failure on my part.

  I didn’t like to fail. Hell, no one does.

  But somehow knowing that I’d promised to spend my life with that woman, and it had fallen apart somewhere along the way, made me feel a bit sad and a whole lot confused.

  Adding to my confusion were my feelings for Aspen. I cared about her, and I wanted to be with her. Hell, I was even willing to do it again and that scared the absolute hell out of me.

  If I couldn’t make it work the first time, what made me think I could make it work the second?

  All of those questions followed me out of the lawyer’s office and swirled in my head the entire way home.

  I was so lost in those thoughts, I was actually a bit surprised when I pulled into my driveway.

  The entire ride home was a blur.

  I shut the engine of the truck off and got out, staring up at the house that would be mine for a long time to come.

  My phone rang, and I groaned when I saw it was my ex-wife.

  “Hello?” I answered tiredly.

  “I can’t believe you did it. You quit us.”

  Chapter 12

  Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because I didn’t end your miserable existence like I wanted to, bitch.

  -Aspen’s secret thoughts

  Aspen

  I took the dildo out of the box and was surprised to see all the other items in there.

  “Jesus,” Naomi said from the phone I was holding. “Why did they send you more?”

  I smiled, even though she couldn’t see me.

  I was pointing the phone at all the goodies that’d come in the mail.

  “There’s a shop in Uncertain, Texas called Uncertain Pleasures. They really liked my reviews of their products and wanted me to try a few of their other product lines,” I explained. “But they sent half their store.”

  “What’s that one sticking to the window?” She asked. “What’s the purpose of the suction cup?”

  I heard the door open behind me but didn’t bother to stop explaining.

  I was mad at Downy, and he was four hours late…for the second day in a row.

  I wasn’t really seeing the point of doing anything with him this late in the day, either. It was now twelve o’clock PM on one of my ankle monitor free days. I had things to do and he’d promised to take me. It wasn’t enough time to get back by five, no matter what I did.

  I needed to go to Longview and get a new computer. Mine was acting wonky.

  I wasn’t sure how long that would take me, either, and I didn’t want to be too long.

  “Oh, my God.” Naomi exclaimed. “What is that?”

  I looked where the phone was now pointing and smiled.

  “That, according to my master list, is the…” I pulled out my sheet of paper. “Monster Marcus nine-inch realistic dildo with balls,” I read to her. “And it feels like real skin.”

  I heard an amused snort behind me that most certainly did not sound like my brother, causing me to whirl around.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked my ex, Danny.

  “I’m here to see if you’ve seen the paperwork I left here the week before your…meltdown,” he replied sweetly.

  Without even thinking about it, I hung up on Naomi and turned to face Danny, not happy in the slightest that he was here.

  And that he’d just walked into my house without knocking.

  That privilege had been revoked when he’d stuffed his cock into his partner while he was still with me.

  “Well…” I said slowly. “I threw out everything of yours that was left here. I’m pretty sure your passport was one of those things, as well as your car tag renewals.”

  Danny’s eyes narrowed. “You stupid bitch,” he took a threatening step forward.

  I held the dildo up like a sword and pointed it at him.

  “Don’t you fucking think about it,” I ordered him.

  He stopped, looking from me to the dildo then back again.

  “And you think that’s going to stop me?” He asked, slapping the dildo aside before he advanced on me.

  I’d never in my life been scared of Danny.

  Never once had he shown me anything that I would even consider as abusive tendencies. But, right then, with the look of pure hate in his eyes, I knew he was willing to hit me.

  I’d pissed him off, and this had nothing to do with the papers I’d thrown away.

  “What are you doing?” I shrieked semi-worriedly.

  I say semi, because instead of backing up like I should’ve been doing, I was advancing and I could see that Danny was pissed.

  I didn’t have any God-given sense, apparently.

  And he was about to take his anger out on me.

  His hand advanced and before I could step back, it was resting around my throat. Not tight, but definitely not lightly, either.

  My eyes widened, and my breath froze in my lungs.

  Never once had I had anyone’s hands on my neck.

  Not like this.

  My hands automatically came up to hold onto Danny’s wrist, and I felt the pure strength pulsing through it.

  “So, what were you saying, Aspen?” He hissed.

  I pushed at his chest, but his hand tightened around my throat, hampering my ability to breathe and triggering my need to fight.

  And that’s what I did.

  I fought him.

  My nails dug into his hand while my knee kicked up.

  He held onto my neck, but stepped back, leaving my body
at an awkward angle as he took me with him.

  His other hand came up, the palm flat, to slap me across the face.

  He would have, too, had my brother and Drew not come in before he did it.

  “Let her go!” Downy roared, his hand automatically coming up, sweeping in a round house punch to Danny’s face.

  Danny saw it coming, though, and stepped back, placing me in front of the punch.

  Luckily, my brother was able to stop himself from hitting me square in the face, but he couldn’t stop his fist from making contact completely.

  It hit me in the shoulder, knocking me forward and down before I even knew what hit me.

  Danny released my throat, causing me to fall.

  I was sure that was largely due to the fact that he needed them to defend himself against Downy who was now actively beating the shit out of him.

  Drew picked me up off the floor, his eyes scanning my face and neck before he said, “You okay?”

  I nodded, my throat working as my heart beat frantically.

  He gave one quick nod, then helped me to the kitchen where he sat me on the kitchen counter.

  He pulled out a butcher knife from the knife block and said, “Hold this.”

  I held it, then watched in amusement as he walked carefully around the kitchen island, straight up to Danny who was preoccupied holding off my brother, and promptly pulled him back by the collar of his shirt.

  Then, with hilarious ease, he began his own beat-down of Danny while my brother watched with a satisfied smirk on his face.

  I bit my lip, wondering if I should intervene…then decided to hell with it.

  I reached for the bag of chips that were sitting on the counter next to me, opened them up and started munching away.

  My brother and Drew took turns pushing Danny around, and the scene playing out before me reminded me of the saying ‘Don’t play with your food.’

  Not because of the fact that they looked like they were going to eat him or anything, but because they were the predators and Danny was the prey.

  And he just didn’t know when to shut up!

  “I fucked her first,” Danny coughed, wiping a stream of blood from his mouth. “How does it feel to know she had my cock in her cunt…her mouth?”

  My mouth dropped open.

  “I never gave you head!” I yelled loudly, drawing the attention of my brother.

  He looked furious, sure.

  But the look on Drew’s face…that was a sight to behold.

  He was in a full rage.

  With one look at my face, he leaned forward and whispered something to Danny, causing my ex’s face to turn from a red to flat out purple.

  “My dick is not vomit inducing!” He cried. “She did not say that.”

  My mouth dropped open.

  “You told him that?” I cried. “I told you that in confidence!”

  Drew’s eyes lit with mirth.

  “The man needed to know that his dick made you rather have sex with your dildo instead of him,” Drew added. “I can see it’s starting to add up.”

  “My dick is not bad looking!” he fumed.

  “Actually,” I said. “It is.”

  Danny’s face became mottled with rage.

  “Take that back,” he hissed.

  The front door to my house banged open and I immediately hopped off the counter.

  “Get out of my house!” I screamed at the woman.

  The woman tossed me a cursory glance, ignored me, and walked straight up to Danny.

  “Let him go, or I’ll arrest you,” she ordered Drew.

  Drew laughed at her.

  “I’d like to see you try,” he said to the woman that I’d caught Danny cheating on me with.

  Her hand shot forward, but Drew caught it before she could punch him in the face.

  “Darlin’,” he drawled. “I know you’re a cop…but you’re a woman. No matter what you try to do, you’re never going to be a man. I have the same training as you…in fact, I have more. I’ve easily got a hundred pounds and eight inches on you, and your form’s all wrong.”

  He pushed her fist away from him, also knocking her back a few steps in the shove.

  She hissed and pulled out her gun, or she would have had Downy not stopped her.

  “Ms. Meek,” Downy said with authority lacing his tone. “You are off duty. You’re in a house that’s not yours and you were not invited into it. You assaulted a fire fighter, and to be honest, I don’t like you all that much. I suggest you take Danny and get the fuck out of here. I don’t think I need to tell you how this will go if you decide to pursue this, right?”

  Officer Meek bared her teeth at Downy.

  “No,” she said. “I don’t think you do, Assistant Chief Downy. You’ve made yourself clear, Sir.”

  Drew let Danny go, who immediately sagged when Drew was no longer holding him up.

  “I don’t want to see you here again,” Downy snapped.

  “Except for when you return Aspen’s things,” Drew added when the two went to leave.

  Danny snarled a curse.

  Downy’s brows rose.

  “You took some belongings that aren’t yours, Officer?” Downy asked Danny.

  “I didn’t…” Danny started to say, but the lady dragon stopped him before he could get much more out.

  “We’ll return it via a courier tomorrow,” she replied hastily, exiting as fast as she could get Danny out of there.

  “Well…” I murmured, turning to my brother and Drew. “Are we still on for lunch, at least?”

  Downy’s eyes narrowed.

  “You never told me he took your stuff, Ridley,” Downy growled grumpily.

  I shrugged, not bothering to correct him on my name.

  “You also never come over for me to tell,” I added. “And you actively ignore my calls.”

  “I do not,” he argued.

  My brows rose.

  “I called you last week to wish you happy birthday, and you chose to ignore the call three times,” I told him.

  His mouth opened to deny it.

  “I was at SWAT training…” he lied.

  My mouth dropped open.

  “You’re a lying sack of shit!” I accused him. “Do you not realize that Drew would be attending the same SWAT training that you go to? And he was here. With me.”

  Downy’s eye twitched.

  I pushed.

  Why I thought this was the time, I would never know, but since he wasn’t running away like he usually did, I thought I should press the matter.

  “Why do you call me Ridley?” I asked softly.

  Downy’s eyes flicked to Drew, then back to me.

  I flicked my eyes at Drew, and he took the hint.

  “Be right back,” he muttered. “I’m gonna make sure they’re gone.”

  He disappeared in the next instant, closing the door quietly behind him as he went.

  “Well?” I challenged him, crossing my arms over my chest to stare at my stepbrother… who was actually my real brother, only he didn’t know it yet.

  I didn’t expect him to answer.

  Not really.

  And what he said blew me away.

  “Aspen was my father’s name, and it hurts to call you by that. It’s a constant reminder that you’re here and he’s not,” Downy hissed defensively.

  My mouth dropped open.

  That was the first time he’d ever told me that. Sure, I’d known his father’s name. My father’s name. Stupidly, I’d thought it was an honor to be named after our father, but apparently I was wrong.

  “I…” I said. “I don’t know what to say.”

  Downy shrugged.

  “I can’t help it. I just hear your name, and I’m reminded of how much I miss him. It’s nothing against you…it’s just how it is,” he hedged.

  “Okay then,” I said. “Well, that sucks, but at least I know now.”

&nb
sp; I started backing away, a strange feeling welling up in the back of my throat.

  “I gotta use the restroom,” I whispered softly, backing up faster now.

  Downy started to reach for me, but I stopped him with my next words.

  “I want you to leave.”

  Downy’s brows furrowed.

  “But what about lunch?” He challenged.

  I shook my head.

  “I think that’s enough for today, thanks.”

  With that I left, not looking back.

  If I had, though, I would’ve seen the devastation on Downy’s face.

  Would’ve seen the instant regret filling his eye and in his entire demeanor.

  But right then, I chose instead to focus on myself.

  Seemed like a good time to do that.

  ***

  It was hours later when I heard my bedroom door open.

  I didn’t bother looking over my shoulder.

  I knew who it was.

  Drew got into the bed with me, curled his big body around mine and settled in deep.

  The room was dark except for the glow from the street lights streaming in through my blinds.

  The clock next to my bed read nine P.M. Meaning I’d fallen asleep, seeing as I’d come into my room a very long time ago.

  I lay there, with Drew’s arms wrapped securely around me, thinking.

  Thinking about what’d happened that day. About Downy and his inability to ever see me as anything but a reminder of what I was and was not. Then finally about Drew. About how he was in the process of divorcing his wife.

  And I just wanted to be someone’s first choice.

  I wanted to be loved by someone forever, someone who’d never chose anyone else over me.

  Danny. Downy. Drew.

  Maybe it had something to do with ‘D’ names. Maybe I should look for a Sam or a Michael. Possibly a Luke.

  When Drew’s breaths finally evened out indicating he’d fallen to sleep, I inched my way out of his hold, heading to the kitchen.

  Maybe some ice cream would be helpful right now.

  Blue Bell had finally returned to Texas grocery stores, and not a day went by that I didn’t gorge on my favorite ice cream. It’d been a helacious few months without it after they pulled all of their ice cream off the shelves, and I still got kind of panicky when I was close to running out.