by Eden Rose
I stood outside of the room listening to my mother as she made up excuses after excuses. “Oh she's been sick that's why she hasn't been in school.”
“What about your other daughter? She hasn't been in school either?”
I knew at this moment that this was the only time I had to protect myself and to make sure my mother wouldn't do what she did to my sister to me. I stepped out from behind the room and made sure that they knew everything that had happened.
“Callie died,” I blubbered. I placed my face in my hands and cried harder.
“What happened to your sister?” The officer asked. The two officers that stood in the room with my mom looked confused as to why I was telling them that my sister had died. “You know, it’s not good to make false accusations,” the woman officer said to me.
I shook my head and then began to cry harder. “My mom killed my sister.”
“Children, I’m telling you. Their imaginations are so warped that they will believe anything,” my mother tries to explain.
Again, I shake my head and then walk up to the female officer with the pretty red hair. “You came for us. You came to save us, didn’t you?” I ask her.
The officer looks down at me and then squats so she is eye level with me. “What do you mean save you?” She seems genuinely concerned.
“I need to show you something,” I say to her and stick my hand out for her to grab.
Gingerly, she takes my hand and then I lead her to the closet that has become where Callie has been resting. She opens the door and then lets out a choked cry. “What happened?”
I shake my head and then look towards the living room where my mom is standing with the officer. He has his hand placed on her shoulder as if that will help him control her. It won’t. I know it won’t.
“No, please don’t make me tell you,” I demand.
“You have to tell me or I can’t help you.”
The officer jerks my mother back and she goes flying onto the couch. “What happened to your daughter?” He demands.
“I don’t know what you are talking about. My daughter is playing at her friend’s house.”
Knowing that she was only making excuses, he approaches the subject again. “No! Your daughter is dead and lying in a closet. I want to know right now what happened to your daughter.”
“What daughter? You see my daughter standing right in front of you,” she tries to explain.
I miss my dad. Too bad he took off because he couldn't handle my mother. But he left us, too.
I have my hands holding my head as I cry harder. She’s always been a good liar. So good, that I wonder if she believes what she’s saying is true.
“Ma’am, if you aren’t going to cooperate, we will have to take you to the station to ask you questions,” the male officer says.
The female officer that is next to me places her hand on my shoulders and then says to me: “Don’t worry, sweetie. She won’t hurt you anymore.”
Chapter 1
Wyatt
The whole way home, I couldn’t get the look of Keeley’s face off of my mind. She looked tortured and haunted and it’s all my fault. I can’t stand to see her being touched by her husband. It’s literally making me feel sick thinking about him kissing her. Or worse.
All last night, I thought about what they could be doing. Were they having sex? Did he put his mouth on her? Did she put her mouth on him? Was she thinking about me?
What if they are having sex and she is thinking of me the whole time? And I’m not there to share her orgasm with her. I loved watching her face light up as she came from the pleasure.
My mind kept replaying every touch and every time she looked at me with pleasure on her face. Every time she reached for me and all of the words that she said to me. All of them kept screaming in my mind as I tried to sleep.
My hand reaches over to grab the keys off of my desk to go see Keeley but then I stop. In a moment of weakness I almost allowed my obsession with her to cloud everything. What the fuck am I going to do standing on her porch?
Beg her to come home with me?
Convince her that I’m the one that she should be with?
Jesus Christ.
It was then that I realized that I couldn’t do it to myself anymore. My mind and nerves are like a roller coaster and I don’t know how to stop it from whirling out of control. I just had to end things with her or tell her to come home with me. I could give her a life so much better than the one that she has with Jerry. I could make her so much happier, it’s not even funny.
Staring at my house, I think about how yesterday, I had Keeley in there. And just for that one day, it felt good to have someone there for me. Even with Ruth and Luke here, I still get lonely and my bed's too big for just me.
My nephew is in rare form by the time I get home. I know that he’s happy to see me but all I can think about is the look of panic on Keeley’s face as I left her at the office.
Since she and her fucktard of a husband are lawyers, I sincerely doubt that I could get away with kidnapping her and holding her hostage. Instead of money, I would wait for the divorce papers and then allow her to be free.
I know that if she knew what Jerry was up to that she wouldn’t be with him. That she would come to me and let me take care of her like I want to.
Luke goes running past me and the force of his running makes the remote control drop onto the floor turning on the television. I can see that the news channel is still on from when I was watching it this morning and I hear a name that I didn’t expect to hear.
Somehow, my feet carry me over to where the remote fell to the ground and I lean over to rewind the program a little so I can watch it from the beginning.
Around five o’clock this evening, the most sought-after sport attorney and wife of the most sought after defense attorney, had been rushed to the hospital. Onlookers claim that they saw Keeley Johnson, collapse on the front steps of her law firm. They claimed to have seen her fall to her knees and then fall. According to the onlookers, they saw her hit her head on the stairs causing her to go unconscious. First responders arrived minutes later and have rushed her to the hospital. Little has been said as to what her current condition is, but-
“Luke, where’s your mom?” Something that Ruth and I had talked about last night was the fact that she needed to start being a parent and not expecting me to do everything. I’m tired of it. If she wants me to just be an uncle and her brother, that’s fine but she can’t expect me to also be the father. If that were the case, she would need to bow out and let me do it my way.
He pouts and holds his hands out to me. “I go too. I go too.”
Knowing that there is no other way to get out of here than to bring him, I pick him up and swing him so he’s on my back. “Hold on, little man. Hold onto my neck like I taught you.”
I shut off the television and walk out of my door. I need to check on Keeley. I need to make sure that she is all right. There is a huge possibility that what happened to her is all my fault, but I do love her. And I want what’s best for her… I also want to make sure she’s okay. Once I know that, I will convince her that I’m the best choice for her.
By the time I slide into my car and begin driving down the road, I pull out my phone and call in every favor that I have. I call the medical personnel that the team uses and have the main doctor call the hospital for me.
So, when he calls me back, I about jump out of my skin. I have zoned out so much by thoughts of Keeley and feeling her soft lips on my own. Again.
“What do you have for me?” I ask as a greeting.
“You owe me big for this.”
I shrug and then remember that the dumb ass doctor can’t see me doing that. “I’m pretty sure that the team pays you enough. What did you find out?”
“That girl you are looking for is in the ICU. She was severely dehydrated and she had a panic attack. They said that her blood pressure was so high that she was on the verge of having a stroke. They are ext
remely worried due to how young she is.”
I squeeze my eyes shut for just a moment as I push foot further on to the gas pedal. “Are they allowing anyone in her room?”
“Unca Wywy. Slow down! I getting dizzy.”
I look towards the back and see his little head shaking and nodding. “Sorry, buddy. We are just going to see Cupcakes.”
“I love Cupcakes!”
“I do, too.”
I can hear the doctor groan and then grunt. “Thorne! This is not something you should be getting in the middle of. This is a real life couple and a real life woman. She’s not some model who didn’t eat her cube of cheese tonight!”
I snap. I can’t help it but I do. “You don’t think I don’t fucking know this? I’m so in love with her that I left her at the office because I couldn’t stand to be in the same place with her knowing that she’s with her husband. Do you think that this is something that I don’t fucking realize? God damn! You people forget that I’m the one that pays your paycheck. Thank you, Dr. Moe. I will see you at practice next week.”
Without saying another word, I hang up so I don’t say anything that I will later regret. It’s bad enough that I admitted that I loved her. Fuck!
I hear a squeal in the back of my car and Luke is tsking me. “You said bad word. I telling.”
“Luke, be quiet. Okay?”
He huffs and then scowls.
I swing my car into the prestigious hospital and then fly out of my car but grab Luke out of his car seat first. “Keys are in it! Park in the covered garage.” Before the attendant could say anything to me, I was running through the door and to the front-desk personnel. “Keeley Johnson. She was just brought in. Where is she?”
“Are you her husband?”
Something in the way she said it made me believe that she knew that I wasn’t her husband. I could lie and say that I am but that wouldn’t help my karma very much. “Look, we both know that I am not her husband, but I need to see her. Is her husband already here?”
The personnel lady shook her skinny and angular face from the left to the right and then began typing in her keyboard. She was an attractive lady, but I didn’t have any feeling towards her. My mind and heart are 100% attached to Keeley.
“She’s in room four-oh-nine. Take the stairs-”
I’m already running towards the stairs before she finishes her statement and I yell: “Thank you!” over my shoulder. I take the stairs three at a time and for once am happy to be almost seven feet tall with Luke holding onto my neck.
I reach the door that holds Keeley’s room and I open the door slightly. Her face is ashen, her beautiful hair is hugging her face. The plump and puffy lips are paler than normal, but she still looks like a goddess.
“Cupcake… oh, shit. What happened?” I whisper as I fall to my knees next to her side of the bed.
My hands grip her lifeless hand and I wish that there were some life in her hand. I miss the way that she squeezes my hand as I hold hers. It’s almost as if she’s telling me that she loves me just through that motion.
“Cupcakes?” Luke asks me.
I reach behind me and grab his arm to pull him closer to me. “Yeah, buddy. Cupcakes isn’t feeling too well.”
“I give kisses make her feel better.”
As I’m lifting him up to the bed to kiss her, I get off of my knees and to my full height. Even though I’m tall enough on my knees to give him enough room to kiss her, I want to make sure that he doesn’t press on anything or hurt her. The little man is a rhinoceros.
“Get away from my wife,” I hear behind me.
“Daddy!” Luke calls from my arms.
Jerry’s face drops as he looks at my nephew. “Are you serious? Why is this kid calling me Daddy?” But then I caught a nervous twinge and knew that he knew who Luke was. Especially since Ruth had explained a lot of what is going on to me.
I shake my head and then glare at him. “Don’t do this to my nephew, man. He didn’t do anything wrong.” Jerry is holding a bouquet of roses in his hands and I can’t help but kick myself for not thinking to pick up flowers for Keeley.
Mentally, I’m dragging my loser ass all over this hospital for not thinking about that. This woman consumes my every thought and I couldn’t even bother to pick up flowers for her when she’s hurt.
Part of me wonders if Jerry would let them stay or if he would throw them away.
He drops both the flowers and his phone on the ground and comes charging at me. “Look, you little asshole. I’m sick and tired of you showing up at places where you don’t belong. This is my wife we are talking about.”
With a quickness that I haven’t seen since my earlier years playing ball, I climb up to my full height and tower over him while setting Luke on the floor. “Jerry-”
Jerry formed a fist and plowed me with it in my stomach. The force of his fist caught me off guard and made me almost vomit. “Stay away from us. Find a new lawyer. Keeley is off limits to you. I swear to fucking god that I will sue you for harassment and you will lose all of your credibility. Do you get me?”
I stare down at him and then look over at Keeley. I don’t want to leave her but he’s fucking right. I’m not her husband and she’s with him… I have no rights whatsoever to even be in the room. “There’s something that you don’t have, Johnson,” I say menacingly but calmly all at the same time.
“What?” He stands up straighter and puffs his chest out towards me. “Or maybe she should know about the type of trash that you are. Mixed trash, I might add. You disgust me.”
For a split second I consider letting him know that I know exactly what he did and who he is. For just a second, I wanted to let him know that he wasn’t going to get away with what he’s doing. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t leave Keeley here by herself. “Proof of everything you have done.”
I point to Luke and then I look at him. “You see that?” He stares incredulously at my nephew. “There is living proof. You rat bastard.”
Before he could say anything to me, I lean over Keeley and kiss her forehead. I nod my head at Jerry and then stroll out of the room with Luke strolling behind me. Any second longer being around him would only end up with me being in trouble. I couldn’t do that, I couldn’t risk Keeley being hurt.
Well, hurt any more than she already is.
The one thing that has me questioning this whole situation, in the time that I have known her, I have never heard her talking about fainting. How does one faint from their blood pressure too high? There has to be a better explanation for this. I sincerely doubt that she would have this type of condition without telling me.
However, we haven’t known each other that long. How many other things is she keeping from me?
I know that I don’t have the right to be angry. I am keeping from her the fact that I killed a man.
Chapter 2
Keeley
There’s a flashing light that is being shined into my eyes and it’s making me sick from motion sickness. I don’t know who is flashing the lights but it’s making me want to stab them in the face. What is their problem? Can’t they see that I’m trying to sleep?
I roll over but am stopped by a hand grabbing my own hand. What the hell? “Keeley? Baby, are you okay?”
I strain to hear the voice and then when I realize that it’s not Wyatt, I just cry. There are hot tears that are flooding my eyes and sting my chapped cheeks, but I don’t even care. I want Wyatt. Why is Jerry here and calling me baby? Does he think it’s cool what he had done to me all these years? He’s cheated on me, fathered a child with my boyfriend’s (well, ex) sister and then had stolen thousands of dollars from me. I don’t want him here and have him confusing me even more than I already am.
The light humming and beep of the machines is grating on my nerves. Why didn’t I hear it before? I must have been out of it if I didn’t hear it before.
“Mr. Johnson.” I can hear shuffling and then another voice that is manly comes up. “I would like to
discuss what happened to your wife. Did we want to wait for anyone else to come?”
With a force that I didn’t know I had, I forced my eyes to open but then the light forced them to shut all over again. My field of vision is being attacked by the bright lights of this sterile environment. In order to protect them, I squeeze my eyelids tighter and hope to gain some sort of protection from the light.
Fuck my life.
“No, I’m not waiting for anyone else to come. What happened to Keeley?” Jerry says as he walks away from my bed. I can hear his feet glide across the tile of the hospital.
The doctor moves and shifts some paperwork, or at least that is what it sounded like. “I’m showing that she is having a bad reaction to her birth control-”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
My world had fell through the cracks before I could even wake up. Things went black again and a sharp feeling splintered through my whole body.
***
“I don’t know what else to do. I feel like I don’t even know my own wife. After all of these years, she would go behind my back and kill our child?”
Jerry sounds so discouraged and upset that it makes me feel like shit. “I’m sorry,” I whimper, I open my eyes to see him.
His dark eyes darken and lighten as he looks at me. I knew then that I was in trouble and everything was about to change for me. Jerry is looking at me like the most-sought after defense attorney that he is.
“Things are about to be different, Keeley.”
I shake my head and then wince. The back of my skull is on fire and so is my left shoulder blade where I fell. Briefly, I had heard what the doctor had said about high blood pressure and everything, but I doubt that is what Jerry wants to change.
Chapter 3
Wyatt
I have spent the past three days trying to visit Keeley in the hospital and every time they tell me that she’s not there or accepting visitors. It’s all Jerry’s fault. I just know that he’s gotten to her and she’s not going to listen to what I have to say.
For the fifth time in three days, I walk out of the hospital and to my SUV. I brought Lucas with me today in hopes that he would bring me good luck, but he did something that I didn’t expect. He asked about his father and I couldn’t tell him anything. It’s a horrible thing trying to keep the truth from a toddler.
