Hang Em' Up: A Bad Boy Sports Pregnancy Romance

by Ashley Stewart

  “Do you want to do some digging, like you always did in your journalist days, or do you just want to wait it out and not know for sure?” she asked challengingly.

  “Well,” Angela tilted her head. “When you put it that way... when do we get started?”

  Kaitlyn grinned at her.

  “That's my girl,” she said with a decisive nod. Her brows furrowed for a moment in thought. “As far as where we start, I think we need to review all of the facts that the police have released so far. That's about as far as we're going to get for now,” she reasoned, nodding slowly as she spoke.

  “That makes sense,” Angela agreed. “I think the police released a statement about the murder,” she muttered, already heading over to her computer to check. A few keystrokes later, and sure enough, she was able to pull up the full police statement – that the murder was carried out elsewhere, and her body was dumped into the river, death was by blunt force trauma to the head, and that there were no suspects at this time. “Well, the method of attack is the same, but the biggest difference is that Martha wasn't moved to be disposed of,” Angela said with a frown.

  “Maybe the attacker was spooked away before they got to finish the job,” Kaitlyn offered as she looked up other things on her laptop on the couch. “It would explain how Martha made it out and lived to tell the tale,” she frowned as a thought seemed to occur to her. “You don't think the attacker will come back to finish the job, do you?”

  “Doubtful,” Angela said distractedly as she pulled up another article. “She's under police protection, and they're on watch for her even in the hospital.”

  Kaitlyn nodded, satisfied, and resumed looking.

  “Well, now,” she said. Angela stopped doing what she was doing and swiveled in her seat to see what Kaitlyn was up to. “This might shed some light on the subject.”

  “What is it?” she asked, immediately going to her side to see what she found. There, on the screen, was an article about David and a lawsuit that came up between him and some of his former workers, where they were suing the company over wage issues. “You think it might be one of them getting back at him?”

  “Might be more than one of them,” Kaitlyn suggested, scrolling through the names of the plaintiffs as she talked. “Do any of these names sound familiar to you?” she asked, turning the screen toward her so that she could take a look at the list for herself.

  “This last name looks familiar,” she said, pointing to one of the names, Bridges. “Where have I seen that last name before...?” She frowned and tried her hardest to recall where she heard that last name from and why it was so familiar to her.

  “Maybe someone from your work?” Kaitlyn asked. Angela frowned and tried to put the pieces together, but couldn't. “It's something that's easy to check off the list if it isn't someone from your work – it doesn't take much to find out what your coworkers' last names are.”

  “True,” she said with a sigh. Exhaustion hit her hard, and she found that all she wanted to do was take a nap. “I think I'm going to go sleep a little. I didn't realize how tired I was.”

  “Sure thing,” Kaitlyn said to her retreating form. “I'll keep researching, see what I can pull up.” Angela was fairly certain that she gave a faint noise of confirmation, but couldn't be sure as she went to her room, threw herself onto her bed, and fell asleep without bothering with to pull the covers over her.

  * * * *

  The interrogation was a complete waste of time, both on his part, as well as the police's; there wasn't anything for them to find by picking apart his brain, and there certainly wasn't anything on his part for him to hide. All it took was a few hours of questioning on the police's part for them to get that through their thick skulls, but at least they understood that they had nothing on him in the end.

  After the police officer was kind enough to take him back to his office, he immediately took out his phone and sent Angela a message letting her know that he was finished with the police and that everything was fine. He wondered what she was up to, and was vaguely of the mind to ask her if she would mind terribly if he had a car pick her up so that they could continue their weekend together in the loft.

  He scowled at the thought that the police wasted a morning that started out so wonderfully, and now that it was mid-afternoon, his day was, more or less, tossed out of the window. If there was one thing that he hated more than anything else, it was when someone wasted his time.

  When Angela didn't respond to his text message, he frowned and sent her another one to see if she was awake, or if she was busy. He wondered if she was ignoring him like she did the last time that he upset her, and wondered what she would be upset about.

  She didn't think he was involved in all of this, did she?

  That thought made him pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. It was bad enough that the police wasted his time with all this worthless prattle, but for her to doubt him in this, of all things, was enough to make his blood boil at the thought. Needing to know now more than ever that she didn't doubt him, and that she trusted in his innocence, he sent her another text message asking her to get in touch with him as soon as she could, as they needed to talk before heading to his car and driving home.

  The car ride to his house was thankfully dull and uninteresting, and once he got into his house, he shed his suit, changed into something far more comfortable, and flopped onto his bed. He checked his phone to see if Angela had gotten back to him, but was met with absolutely no notifications to speak of. He groaned in frustration and ran a hand through his hair.

  Now that the idea that she thought that he had something to do with the murder and the attack had been planted in his mind, it was all that he could think about, and it wasn't long before he was out of bed and pacing the expanse of his room. He knew that he was jumping to conclusions entirely on his own, and had no evidence to speak of; for all he knew, Angela was just sleeping, or busy, or her phone was dead, but the thought would not leave him be no matter what he did. With a growl of frustration, he stomped out of his room and walked the long hallway down to his in home gym, hoping to work out his frustrations until he couldn't think anymore.

  * * * *

  When she woke a few hours later, the first thing that Angela did was check her phone to see if there were any further developments from anyone at work. As it turned out, David messaged her multiple times, asking her how she was doing and what she was up to, and a few letting her know that he was finished with the police interrogation and that things were fine. Unsure of what to make of it, she opted to not answer him at the moment, as her emotions pertaining to his potential involvement were still frayed and uncertain.

  She rose and went to make herself some tea before checking on Kaitlyn to see how she was doing. She found her friend asleep on the couch, with her laptop opened but turned off on the coffee table in front of her. She smiled and draped a blanket over her friend, letting her get some much deserved rest. With Kaitlyn safely tucked in, Angela noticed a small notepad beside the laptop that was open and evidently freshly scrawled on.

  Picking it up and taking a look at what her friend had to write, she found that her notes were meticulous, and were probably the best information that they were going to get, on account of them not being police detectives themselves and could therefore not interrogate anyone in any capacity. From what Kaitlyn found, the most likely candidates for the suspect were either someone David knew personally, David himself hiring someone to do his dirty work, or one of the plaintiffs from the case that David had defended himself against, a case that David ultimately won, so the motive was certainly there. Though she still had her doubts about David and whether or not he was actively involved, she felt at least a little better knowing that, percentage wise, it was unlikely that it was him that was behind it, and was far more likely someone else.

  Setting the book down and returning to her cup of tea, she contemplated what she was going to do next. She knew that she had to confront David with what she was feeli
ng at some point – they were dating, and it was only right that he be aware of her concerns, after all. But she found herself at a loss as to how to accomplish that without outright saying, “I'm worried that you might be a murderer,” which would get too awkward in the long run if it turned out that he was innocent.

  She heard her phone go off back in her bedroom, and had a guess as to who it was, but honestly couldn't find it in herself to answer the call. She knew that David had been trying to get a hold of her for the better part of the day, but she still didn't know what to say to him, or how to even begin to open up to him about what she was feeling. In addition, she knew in her heart of hearts that she couldn't continue to pretend that nothing was wrong when that couldn't be farther from the truth. Still, she felt a little bad for letting it go to voice mail.

  Deciding that she was better off getting something to eat and enjoying the rest of her day off, she opted to go out and pick up some food from her favorite Chinese takeout place. She contemplated waking Kaitlyn up to ask her if she wanted anything, but opted to just get her something and let her sleep instead. If her friend wound up not liking what she picked out, more for her to enjoy, right? With that thought in mind, she grabbed her phone, slipped on her shoes, and made her way out into the world.

  Getting to the takeout restaurant took much longer than she had anticipated because of the traffic, but thankfully she was able to get there with plenty of time before they closed for the night. After she placed her order and took a seat to wait, she pulled out her phone to fiddle with to pass the time. What greeted her once she powered the screen on was another four messages from David wanting to know if she was alright, asking where she was, and why she wasn't answering the phone.

  With a sigh, she figured that the least that she could do was shoot off a text message letting him know that she was doing alright so that he wouldn't worry anymore about her. She spent a little time messaging other people and keeping herself occupied while she waited until her order number was called. Getting her bag of food and heading to her car, she paused before getting in when she heard her phone start ringing. Curious as to who was calling her, she pulled it out, seeing Kaitlyn's name and picture on her screen.

  “Kaitlyn? Is everything alright?” she asked, holding the phone up to her ear with her shoulder while she opened her car door and hopped in.

  “So, uhh, your boyfriend is here,” she heard her friend say slowly. “He came to the door and asked to see you, but I didn't know that you weren't here, so I invited him in, but now that I realize that you're not home... what do I do?”

  “What do you mean, 'what do I do?' You invited him in the house, didn't you?”

  “Well, yeah, because I thought that you were home, so he could see you and all that,” she said, clearly frustrated with the situation. “But now that I know that you're not home, I don't know what to tell him.”

  “That I'm not home,” Angela said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Which, to her, it was, but then again, David might come off to Kaitlyn as somewhat intimidating. Now that she thought about it; the two had never met, to her knowledge, and it was understandable that Kaitlyn was at a loss as to how to deal with him. Especially if he was angry with her for not answering her phone all day, then that might have something to do with how he was coming across to poor Kaitlyn at the moment.

  She heard her roommate tell David that Angela wasn't home, and she could swear that she was feeling the anger radiating through the phone. She heard David say something, but couldn't make out what it was, before Kaitlyn brought the phone back to her ear.

  “Will you be home soon? He said that he doesn't mind waiting for you, or meeting with you somewhere tonight, but he says that it's really important for him to see you tonight.” Angela swallowed as she started up the car. Man, she must really be in for it if he's willing to wait her out at her house.

  “Yeah, that's fine,” she said with a sigh of resignation. “I just went out to get some food, anyway. I'll be home shortly, if you're comfortable with him chilling there for a few minutes until I get there.”

  “It's no problem for me, but, seriously, Ange,” Kaitlyn said, having evidently gone in another room from where David was waiting, “is everything okay between you? He seems kind of miffed about something.”

  “I haven't been answering his phone calls or his texts all day,” Angela supplied, knowing how that must have sounded to her friend. “I imagine that he's upset with me for that.”

  “Any particular reason that you're avoiding him, or is it just because of what's been happening with the attacks?”

  “I didn't know what to say to him,” Angela responded honestly. “I still had my doubts about him and whether or not he was involved, so when he reached out to me, I just didn't respond to him. I figured I would just wait until I knew what to say to him.” Her heart went out to Kaitlyn, knowing that this must be a pretty awkward first meeting.

  “I don't think he's down for that, if him being here is any indication.”

  “No,” Angela replied wryly, “I don't think he's on board with the idea. I'll see you in a few minutes, I'm on my way home from the takeout place now.” she promised.

  “I hope so,” Kaitlyn said with a sigh. “I honestly don't know what to say to him in the meantime, and I feel like it's going to be nothing but awkward until you get here.”

  “Offer him some of the hazelnut coffee that we have, it's a great ice breaker,” she said before hanging up the phone. Sticking the phone in her pocket, she let out a sigh and made an earnest attempt to mentally brace herself for the confrontation that was no doubt going to happen the moment that she walked into the door. She shuddered at the thought of how angry that he must be.

  She supposed that she could see why he was so bothered with her for not answering the phone; things got pretty hectic this morning, and it was easy to lose sight of the fact that he went through an ordeal in order to take care of clearing his name with the police. It didn't take much of a stretch to imagine that he wanted to be reassured that things were alright between them after he was out of the police station, and it was more than reasonable for him to want to reach out to her as his girlfriend – he was probably looking for some form of support from her, and she had left him wanting.

  Thinking about it from that perspective, she did feel pretty awful for not answering any of his text messages or phone calls throughout the day, but she had her own emotional well-being to consider as well. And who was to say that she would even have been able to make things better in the emotional state that she was in, considering everything that happened, or if she would have said the wrong thing and just made things worse for the both of them. As she pulled into her driveway and parked her car, she decided that she had done the best thing for the both of them, even though it wasn't the greatest feeling option out of what she had available to choose from at the time.

  Taking her bag of food in hand and hopping out of her car, she walked into the house with her head held high, and ready to face whatever David had to say, even if he was mad enough at her to break up with her. Though the thought hurt, she had to think of it as a possibility, and mentally prepared herself for the worst.

  “I'm back,” she called out when she didn't see anyone in the entryway of the house. The kitchen light was on, and she guessed that the two of them were likely chatting over a cup of coffee, waiting for her to get back. “I got some food for you, Kaitlyn. You weren't up when I left, so I had to guess at it, but—” she choked on what words were left in her mouth when she walked into the kitchen to set the bag of food down.

  David was sitting beside Kaitlyn, each of them holding a mug of coffee. The rich scent of freshly brewed grounds filled the air, but did little other than flavor the tension that hung in the space. He didn't show his anger blatantly on his face, and that was probably what made it so scary to behold, especially for Kaitlyn. But Angela had known him for long enough to know the signs that he was very clearly not a happy camper. She si
ghed and walked over to the kitchen counter, setting the bag of food down upon it. Turning to face them, she gave him what she hoped was her best winning smile. Maybe cheerfulness could win the day? It was worth a try.

  “It's good to see you, David,” she said in what she hoped was a conversational tone, hoping that she was treading carefully enough that things wouldn't devolve into an argument. The last thing that she needed was for both of them to lose their cool and get into a screaming match over things that couldn't be changed. “How did things go with police?”

  “I tried to tell you all about it,” he said coolly, not looking directly at her as he took a sip of his coffee. Kaitlyn excused herself quietly before taking her mug and slipping out of the kitchen as quickly as she could, clearly not wanting to get caught up in their discussion. “I tried to tell you about it multiple times, in fact. Imagine my surprise when I found you that you had better things to do than make sure I wasn't detained unjustly.”

  She suppressed a flinch at that but didn't try and bother denying that she didn't respond to him when he reached out to her.

  “I was busy,” she said, folding her arms over her chest defensively. “And I didn't know what to say to you or how to feel. What good would talking do when we would just end up in an argument over nothing in the end? I figured I could get my thoughts in order, and then we could talk calmly about what had happened.”

  “Why on earth would you think that we would argue about anything?” he demanded, setting his coffee mug down roughly. “The only reason I even want to get into a rough discussion with you is because you ignored me for the entire day! At least tell me what's going through your head!” He stood and closed the distance between them, and Angela could feel the sparks of tension firing off between them, causing her to shiver. “I can handle your thoughts, whatever they may be, but if it's one thing I can't handle, it's your silence!”

  “What do you want me to say?” Angela asked, her arms still folded over her chest defensively. “Do you want me to say that I was absolutely terrified of what you being taken in for questioning could mean? Do you want me to say that I didn't know how to feel, so I just shut down? Is that what you want?”