The Predator [2]

by Brooke May

  “I was wondering—”

  “I want my daddy,” Marissa states to me, completely throwing off the doctor and saving me from having to issue another rejection. I kiss her forehead. Of course, I know she is referring to the picture she has of him in her room. It is a picture of only him, lying in his bed at his apartment; a wide smile brightened his face as he had smiled up at me when I took it. But I’m not about to tell Dr. Hill this. He looks surprised, and I tuck my ring finger under Marissa so he can’t tell if I’m wearing a ring or not.

  “Well, umm, I-I’ll let you two go.” He stands quickly, looking around the room as he avoids eye contact. “Take care, Marissa.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Hill.” He walks out, and I follow, stopping to straighten out the insurance and then return to my car.

  “I don’t like that man.” She pouts as I buckle her back into her seat.

  “He was nice.”

  “No wike Dr. Boo.” She folds her arms and grabs her panda.

  I kiss her forehead. “I know.” I close her door and get into the driver’s seat. “We are going to get some medicine and then go home for some hot soup and a nice nap, okay?”

  “Otay.”

  XOXO

  “YOU OKAY, SWEETIE?” I push Marissa’s hair out of her face as I lay her on her bed. We just ate some homemade chicken noodle soup, and I gave her some medicine before I brought her upstairs to put her down for a nap. Since she doesn’t take pain medicine very often, her pain goes away quickly, making it easier to get her to sleep. I hate seeing her not feeling well.

  “I sheepy, Mommy.” She yawns.

  “That’s why you and I are going to take a nap, okay?” I kiss her and then head back to my room.

  “Otay.” She yawns again and rolls over, hugging her panda. I grip my chest as a pang of sadness hits me. I need to just face the pain and talk to Chamberlain. For all I know, he will want to be in Marissa’s life, and she deserves to know her dad. I’m not sure if he will demand a blood test, but I refuse to drag Marissa through that. If he doesn’t believe me, then so be it. I don’t need him.

  I’m on the verge of lying down when my phone goes off. My tired eyes scream for me to go to sleep and call Beth back, but I answer anyway.

  “Hey.” I yawn into the phone.

  “What the fuck happened last night?” Beth shrieks into the phone, making me wince. My ears still hurt from Marissa’s crying.

  “I was fired.”

  “What!” she shouts. “That fucking prick, no good as—”

  “Stop, Beth,” I plead. “Yes, I’m angry, but I have an interview at the end of the week, so maybe this is for the best.” I yawn.

  “Still, he had no right—”

  “I know, but I don’t feel like fighting it. He isn’t worth it.” I yawn again.

  “Well, I’m sure you’re frustrated; want to hit the gym in an hour?” Bless her; she gets me. I could use a good sweat at the gym.

  “That sounds good. I’m going to lie down for a half-hour, and then I’ll meet you there.”

  “Right-o.” We hang up, and I turn onto my stomach and close my eyes.

  XOXO

  “FEEL BETTER?” Beth shuffles back and forth in front of me, holding two focus pads for me to hit.

  “So much,” I say as I jab her left pad again. Chamberlain was on to something when he first took me to the gym and taught me how to throw punches. Right after Marissa was born, I started hitting the gym as much as I could with Beth. Since we couldn’t afford a lot, we started at the university gym since it was free, but recently, Bob gave us both memberships to one of his gyms. It is nice to have more equipment to train and work with now. And since the university is only free for students, we needed to find a new place.

  “I’m glad to hear that.” She smiles over the pads, but her smile slips quickly as she looks past me. Her gloves drop, and I nearly slam a gloved fist into her face.

  “What?” I drop my gloved hands and glance over my shoulder just as she groans. Bob is walking into the gym and right behind him is Scott and Chamberlain.

  “Great.” Bob turns around to face them and starts pointing things out to them. I look back at Beth; all the color in her face is gone. “What’s the matter?”

  “And I thought I would be asking you that.” Her large hazel eyes stay focused on the men as they start to move around.

  “What is going on, Beth?” I step in front of her, blocking the view of the three.

  Blinking, she looks up at me. The color isn’t returning to her face. I need to get her out of here. “Bob wants more …” she trails off and starts to remove the focus pads.

  “And?” I can feel an ‘I told you so’ coming, but I won’t do that. Not to her. We stand by each other’s sides.

  “And I don’t. You know this already. I tried breaking it off, but he isn’t having it. I don’t know what to do, K.C.” Her shoulders slump. I guide her over to the bench where our water bottles are. “No, locker room.” She grabs my hand and drags me toward the back.

  “Why isn’t he having any of it?” I look over my shoulder and see the three of them watching our retreat.

  “He says I owe him.” She closes us in the locker room. “Why did I have to do this to myself?” She falls to the floor, grabbing her hair by the roots. “First, my dad, then …” she mumbles to herself but stops herself.

  “I wonder that all the time.” I drop to the floor next to her, ignoring her mumbling. “How much?”

  “What?” Her head snaps to me.

  “How much does he say you owe him?” I elaborate.

  “Sex,” she groans. I roll my eyes. I knew that guy was dirty to begin with, but I’m still not going to tell her those four words.

  “We’ll figure this out.” I slap her knee, get back up, and start to change.

  “There is no ‘we’ about it, K.C. I have to get myself out of it. I’ve been through enough in my life, so getting rid of an old man should be easy.”

  “Whatever you say.” I stop and grab her hands, helping her up. “But, please, tell me when you need me. Please?” I plead.

  She gives me a reassuring smile and nods. “Always.”

  “I’ll see if he’s gone.” I grab my bag after I change and head out after refilling my water bottle. I walk down the hallway and look around when I step out into the open room, glancing around. When I’m seized around the waist and spun around, I can’t help but scream.

  “Oh, lil’ bit! How I’ve missed your beautiful face!” Scott’s laughter does very little to calm me. He sounds like a madman.

  With my eyes bugging out of my head, I grab his hands to stabilize myself. “What …?”

  He releases me and walks around to the front of me. “How’s it been?” His cocky grin is still there. It feels like I just talked to him yesterday.

  “Good, I guess.” I breathe and look up at him, trying to smile. I’m still a little freaked out. It isn’t every day I get manhandled.

  “That’s great.” He nods and looks around, unsure what to say. This is unknown territory. Scott never runs out of things to talk about. “Chamberlain has been …”

  “Living.” My knees quake as Chamberlain’s deep voice radiates from behind me. I turn so I can see them. They are both still daunting to be around with their height and muscles.

  “Ah, I see you’ve found the lovely K.C.” I cringe as Bob walks around Chamberlain and places himself between Scott and me. “K.C., this is Scott Franks, and this”—he directs my attention to Chamberlain—“is Chamberlain ‘The Predator’ Lawrence.” I can’t help the small smile that comes to my face as I watch Chamberlain’s jaw clench. “You were at his fight the other night.”

  “We’ve met, Bob.” Chamberlain steps closer to me. “She’s my Katie.” I look up at him, finding his eyes sparkle.

  “Really?” Bob seems far too intrigued by this development. “K.C.—”

  “Hey, Bob, could you show me something over here?” Scott draws Bob’s attention away and quickly le
ads him away from us.

  Hesitantly, I focus on Chamberlain. “Please talk to me, Katie.” For the first time, I feel the wall right behind me as I come into contact with it.

  I shake my head. “I can’t, Chamberlain,” I whisper while wrapping my hands around myself.

  “Why?” He steps into me. He’s so close; I can feel his heat. My traitorous body craves for his touch.

  Why does this have to be so difficult?

  “It hurts too much.”

  He places a hand on my shoulder. “Baby, whatever your parents did, it wasn’t me.” He just doesn’t get it; I never took him for being this dumb. “Please, Katie. I want to make this right between us. I want to know my daughter. Don’t let your parents come between us again after we managed to find one another.”

  “My parents have nothing to do with this, Chamberlain!” I shout quietly. I push past him just as Beth comes down the hallway. “It has to do with you.” I sneer before giving Beth a weak smile. “I’ll call you later.” I don’t wait for her reply as I rush out of the gym.

  “KATIE!” Chamberlain shouts, but I’m not stopping.

  Chapter Nine

  Chamberlain

  “GODDAMIT!” I roar, slamming into the heavy bag that Scott is standing behind. She got away, again! All this feels far too familiar. It’s almost laughable that Scott and I are in the same position we were four years ago when I was biding my time to talk to Katie, to introduce myself to the woman who captured my attention like no other had. “Why is she treating me like I’m the bastard?” I slam my fist into the bag, sending Scott back a few feet.

  “Fuck if I know, man.” Scott shakes his hands as he glares at me. “But instead of taking this shit out on the bag or me, you should go after her.” He walks away from me. “Forget training for today.”

  Again, this is all too familiar. At least, I know this time he won’t tell me to screw another girl in the hopes of getting Katie out of my head. I grunt a reply as I throw my gloves off and roughly unwind the tape around my hands. I take a seat next to Scott as he hydrates.

  “I may have a thought,” he says warily. “Don’t you find it strange that everything between you and K.C. was going great until your fight, and then boom, she was gone?”

  It is strange. I’ve always thought so. Even with her parents sending her away, I always thought she would have tried to find me. I thought our love was stronger than what it turned out to be. “So? I’ve thought of that.”

  He scratches the back of his neck and looks nervously at me. “Remember what Gwen did after you won the fight?”

  I frown at first, but then it hits me. Gwen had kissed me that night when I was still in the ring. For a moment, I had thought it was Katie. I was so focused on the fight that I didn’t even realize the body pressed to me wasn’t soft, the hair was barely there and dark, and the lips were completely wrong.

  It pissed me the fuck off. I had shoved her away after it hit me that the lips I was kissing weren’t the ones I wanted on mine. For a split second, I was overjoyed that Katie was there only to open my eyes and see Gwen’s face instead. Her face lit up with happiness like she had won rather than me.

  “Do you think …?”

  “You never know. There is only one way to find out.” Scott gets up. “Go and force her to talk to you. Get the answers you both need and then get your fucking head back into the zone.”

  I rub my chin and look up. I close my eyes and think back to that night …

  I won! I fucking did it! Standing in the middle of the ring, I can hear the crowd around me thunder and scream with my victory! This has to be the best feeling in the world.

  Mom, Dad, I did it!

  I’m floating on a cloud when a body presses against me and lips touch mine.

  Katie, she made it! This day is an amazing one! I wrap a single arm around her to pull her to my body. Tonight, I’m making more dreams come true than just this fight. But when her body hits mine, it feels completely wrong.

  Jerking back, my eyes fly open when I realize the body pressed to mine is not soft and the smell is all wrong. Gwen’s eyes slowly open and a huge smile crosses her face, her eyes lighting up as if her life is now complete.

  What the fuck?

  “I knew you felt the same.” She breathes, trying to pull me back to her.

  “What the fuck, Gwen!” I shove her away. I frantically look around to see if Katie is somewhere.

  “You felt the connection, Chamberlain.” Gwen tries to grab me again, but I step back, shaking my head.

  “No. I. Didn’t.” I growl. Katie was worried about my friendship with Gwen, and until just now, I thought it had to do with her being jealous. “Just friends, Gwen,” I shout as I shove past her and make my way out of the ring and to the locker room.

  “Oh, course.” She plays it off. “I was just testing you.” She laughs and pats me on the back, walking away.

  Scott and I share a look. Gwen has been acting strange, and she has since we were teens, but I don’t know what to make of this. She had no right to kiss me. I brush it off for now because right now, I want to bask in my victory and get to my girl.

  Once I’m in the locker room, I don’t bother changing or getting the tape off me. I go straight to my bag and get my phone out to call Katie.

  I hope I don’t wake her. This bug she has is horrible. I want my girl to get better. We have a lot of celebrating to do now.

  I pull out a tiny ring box from my bag as well and open it to look at the tiny diamond ring I bought her this week. I don’t give a flying fuck what anyone else thinks; I’m going to ask her to marry me as soon as I get home and have her in my arms. I knew she was the one for me the moment my eyes saw her walking out of the women’s locker room at the center, but it really didn’t hit me until she told me she loved me as she drifted to sleep at my grandparents’ cottage.

  I want her by my side, in my life, and in my bed every night. We’ll have to figure out what we are going to do about her schooling. I’m sure she can do something online. We won’t have to worry about money because my new contract will allow me to give her the education she deserves and desires. We don’t need her parents or anyone else.

  “Hey, it’s K.C., leave a message.” I frown. I rarely get her voicemail.

  Shrugging it off to her not feeling good and likely asleep, I leave a message. “Hey, panda. Give me a call when you get this. I have some good news.” I hang up and change, but a bad feeling plagues me, grabbing my heart, and I can’t shake it.

  When I’m done, I head out to Scott and find Gwen waiting with him. I glare at Gwen and how she is dressed. I don’t know what kind of attention she is trying to get with that outfit, but it can’t be any good.

  “I’m going to my room.”

  “But we were going to celebrate,” Gwen whines as she ropes her arms around one of mine. She leans into me, leaving me confused as I push her off.

  “We’ll celebrate tomorrow when Katie is with us.” I take off after throwing a questioning glance at Scott, who is equally confused.

  I manage to dodge fans and reporters and make it to my room. I lock myself in and try calling Katie a few more times before I give up and go to sleep. Lying in bed, I feel empty without her in my arms. I send her one last message before I fall asleep.

  Me: I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.

  XOXO

  I’M CONFUSED AND worried. It isn’t like Katie to go this long without replying to me or calling me back. I woke up this morning thinking I’d either would have a text from her or would be able to get a hold of her, but I haven’t.

  “Can you drive a little faster?” I bark at no one who can hear me as we eat up the road home. I’m panicked.

  The traffic is ridiculous. Sunday drivers. I need to stay calm and get back to Boston.

  “Not until I know she is okay.” I focus on the box in my one hand and my phone in the other that displays Katie’s beautiful, angelic face on the screen.

  I dial again, and like the
last four times, it goes straight to voicemail. I don’t leave a message this time. “Something isn’t right.”

  Was she hospitalized?

  Is she sicker than we thought?

  What if her parents did something to her?

  “What makes you say that?”

  “She isn’t answering me, and her phone is still off.” Her phone is never off unless she is pissed at me, and I know she isn’t this time.

  “Maybe it died.”

  I shake my head. “Not possible. She always makes sure it is charged.”

  “You didn’t do anything to piss her off again, did you?” he jokes.

  Like I haven’t thought of that.

  We were talking, and everything was fine yesterday morning. She was off, but I’m sure it was because of that fucking bug. “Do you think her parents did something?”

  I wouldn’t put it past them to do something to her in order to get her back under their rule. This fuels me more. I need to get to her and get her and Fiona out of that house.

  “I have no fucking clue,” I manage to grind out, my jaw locked.

  XOXO

  “WHAT DO YOU mean you haven’t heard from her?” I ask the poor girl quivering in fear behind the counter from me. I tried all day yesterday to reach Katie but had no success. I called all the hospitals asking for Katherine Carrie Cunningham’s room claiming to be her fiancé but no luck.

  I’m starting to freak out. This morning, I thought for sure I would find her in the workout room but only found Gwen waiting for me. And then when I went to her class and found all the girls crying, I lost it.

  “I don’t kn-know, sir.” She sobs. “Sh-she never ca-called in or any-thing to-today.”

  “C, chill out, you’re freaking the girl out.” Scott shoves me back and calmly talks to her.

  I’m seeing red. “Where the hell is she!” I roar. I don’t care if I get thrown out of this place; something has happened to my girl, and I’m determined to find her. I’ve never been this helpless before in my life, and that increases my rage.