Lyon's Heart

by Jordan Silver

  Chapter 7

  LYON

  It wasn’t Caitlin that woke us up in the morning, but the ringing phone. Rolling over, I answered as I looked at the clock. Almost seven, my baby will be waking up any minute screaming her head off.

  “Hello.”

  “Mr. Lyon, this is the nurse at the hospital. Your charge is ready to be discharged later this morning and we were wondering if you’d made any arrangements to have her picked up?”

  What the fuck?

  “There seems to be some sort of misunderstanding. I don’t have a charge in the hospital.”

  “The young lady that was admitted after a car accident, we have you down here as the only contact.”

  “ She’s not my anything, first of all, and my mother is supposed to be there to get her.” Of course Kat woke up just then and started motioning for me to give her the phone. Yeah, like that shit was gonna happen.

  “Well, there was a problem with that. Some ladies did show up here to take her home but she was very afraid to leave with them since she doesn’t know them. Your wife apparently left instructions that either you or she were to be called when it was time for her release.”

  “What time is she being released?”

  “Anytime after eleven, that’s when the doctor finishes his rounds. We’ll need someone here to sign her out by then.”

  “I’ll have to get back to you in a bit.” I hung up the phone with that unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach. If this bitch whoever she turns out to be, ruins my daughter’s first Xmas, I’ma break her fucking neck; the fuck?

  “Do you know anything about that chick being released into our custody from the hospital?”

  “Um, I might’ve said something that first day that if they didn’t find her family we’d take responsibility.”

  “So you went behind my back and against my wishes.”

  “Colt…”

  I just got up off the bed from next to her because after the night we’d just had it wouldn’t be right to slap the shit out of her. Leaving her lying there to think about her stupid fuck move, I headed to the bathroom to shower off the night before. I couldn’t even think about this shit right now. I have less than three hours to figure out what the fuck I’m gonna do about this disaster. One thing was for certain, she was not stepping foot in my house not with my kid here. It’s like someone had a personal vendetta or some shit. All my well laid plans were going up in smoke. Maybe I’m paying for my past sins. Can’t think about that shit now either. I have to get my head straight; fucking Kat.

  Although I’d come up with the idea of putting her up in one of my rentals, even that felt wrong to me now. I just didn’t want anything to do with this person. And why did it seem like she was trying to get close to me or some fuck? It’s true she doesn’t know mom, but she don’t know me either. Wouldn’t it make more sense for a female on her own in such a vulnerable position to be more comfortable with another woman? Kat seems to think I have some sort of personal issue against this woman or that I’m just being mean for the sake of being mean. Why she couldn’t understand where I was coming from was totally beyond me. While Kat was pregnant, I’d started watching those cop shows on TV maybe that shit warped me a little. Then I’d moved on to the internet where I spent most of my time reading up on child safety. I wanted to make sure that I was doing everything I could to protect my little family. As if I didn’t already know how fucked up the world is the point was driven home for me from what I learned there. There are some sick fucks in the world and I want to give my little girl a fighting chance. I know there’re no guarantees in life but I’m prepared to do all that it’s in my power to do. I signed up for the sex offender alerts online and found a couple pedophiles about ten miles away. That was way too fucking close for comfort, so me and the boys, along with my boy Travis who lives in that particular town had paid them a visit. He wasn’t too jazzed about them being in his backyard either. Needless to say, they found it expedient to hit the fucking road. I don’t give two fucks if they paid their debts to society, they’re not going to get the chance to do that sick shit to another kid in my backyard. And they damn sure ain’t breathing air that close to my daughter. All this time I’ve been doing my part to make my little world that much safer for my daughter and now her mother wants to bring the danger to the door. I can see this isn’t going to end well unless I put her little ass over my knee. It’s long overdue but she’s just begging for it. Either that or a fucking she won’t soon forget.

  “Colt.”

  “Get the fuck away from me Kat.” I tried not to raise my voice in front of my kid so though the words were harsh they were said with less heat than I would’ve liked.

  She jumped back like I’d punched her and her eyes filled up with tears. Too fucking bad, if she couldn’t see what I was trying to do here then I was going to have to get drastic with this shit. Because of her I now have to get more involved in some shit that I know is not gonna end well. It’s my little girl’s first Xmas and I’m going to be spending it worrying about this fuckery instead of enjoying it with my baby. I was tempted to get them on the plane and head to the island or some shit but that wouldn’t be fair. My mom and hers were all excited about spending this time with their first grand baby. They had a million plans, half the shit would be lost on Caitlin but they would have memories of it. I wasn’t about to test Elena’s wrath because she’s lost her damn mind too since the baby came.

  “Colton please don’t be mad…”

  I turned to her and she took a quick step back. What my tone lacked my face made up for.

  “I said step the fuck off you fucked up. I know you can’t help disobeying me but now my fucking kid is involved and not even you Kat, not even fucking you are allowed to put my kid in danger. Now walk away and stay away from me for the next little while.”

  She turned away with her shoulders hunched and head down. I know she has a soft heart, that’s one of the things I love about her but I won’t accept irresponsibleness. Maybe I haven’t explained things well enough to her. I don’t know all I know is that on this I refuse to give in. There isn’t much I would deny my wife and child, she knows this but when it comes to their safety all bets are off.

  After shunning her I spent the morning playing with my daughter. I guess Kat was off somewhere licking her wounds but right now I didn’t really care. I don’t think I’ve ever been this mad at her before and she’s made me plenty mad in the past but this shit was dangerous. I have to decide what the hell I was going to do because time was running out. I’m almost tempted to leave the girl in the damn hospital and let her make her own way since she refused my mom’s help. I don’t buy that bullshit story about her being afraid for one minute. While Caitlin took her nap I went on the Internet again looking for missing persons in the surrounding areas but there was nothing, not a peep. I felt at a lost for the first time in my life and I didn’t like it one bit. In the end I decided to call the hospital and have them put her on the phone. I explained to her that it was either mom or she was on her own. Yes I know I’m a cold motherfucker but I had shit I had planned on doing with my kid today and I’ll be fucked if I’m putting them off for her or anyone else. Fuck that.

  I can’t believe Colt told me to get away from him, what is wrong with him? He can’t really be that threatened by a helpless woman lying in a hospital bed with no memory. It just doesn’t make sense the way he’s been acting. I don’t see the danger; Colt sees danger around every corner these days. It’s even worse than when we first met. He’s taken over protectiveness to a whole new level. It started out on a smaller scale but right after I told him I was pregnant something changed in my husband from then. He’s always been super protective but he amped it up a notch, like a really big notch. Then when we found out we were having a little girl he really lost it. It’s like he expects the worst at all times now. I know part of his attitude is because of what happened to me but I’ve tried explaining to him that you can’t be that overly cautious a
bout everything. The thing is when it comes to himself he loves taking risks; the man races his bikes at break neck speeds. He faces down dangers that would make lesser men shake in their boots, but when it comes to his family it’s a whole other story. No matter how I try to get him to ease up and relax it just goes in one ear and out the other. When my tummy really started showing things just got way out of control. He hardly ever left my side back then which I loved because I had my moments of fear as well. For Colt with impending fatherhood it seems as though he started seeing the world as a cold dark place when I was finally beginning to see it as light and happy for the first time in a long time. Having him in my life had helped heal a lot of what was wrong in it. His strength love and the way he cosseted me made things so easy that I didn’t have a care in the world. What I feel for him transcends everything else. Every fear every hang up he just takes them away with his care and understanding. He really and truly makes me feel safe when just a short time ago I thought my life was never going to be whole again. It’s like I know as long as he’s there nothing and no one can touch me. Am I taking that for granted? I’m not sure anymore it just feels wrong to me to leave that girl all alone at Xmas. I’m the one responsible for her losing her memory and not being able to go home to her family. I have no idea how to go about finding them for her and it makes me sad. I don’t want to piss Colt off any more than I already have but I don’t know what else to do. Since he doesn’t want her here the only thing left for me to do is try to make her holiday as comfortable as possible but how am I supposed to do that when he won’t even let me talk to her let alone go see her? Now he’s not talking to me and that hurts. He’s confiscated the baby too the mean jerk. I can hear the two of them out there laughing and playing. She does love her daddy he makes her light up just by entering a room. It makes me feel good because I have that type of relationship with my dad although we spent so much time apart when I was younger. I always knew my dad loved me though and he never stopped showing me all those summers we spent together. I don’t think my dad was as nuts as Colt is though, I feel for poor Caitlin when she grows up. That man will probably lock her up in a room somewhere so she can’t get hurt poor thing. I knew I shouldn’t have let him watch all that true crimes crap, the shit gave him nightmares but did he stop? Oh no. He thinks I don’t know this but one of the sisters told me all about the crew running off the sex offenders a few towns over. I couldn’t fault him for that one, though I found it a bit out there. Now he’s acting as though I don’t want to protect our daughter as well, like I would knowingly invite danger into our home. I don’t see things the same way he does; does that mean I’m a bad mom? If only I could shake this feeling of guilt then I could just let it go and we could get back to being happy again.

  I walked back into the living room where he was laying on the floor with the baby sitting on his chest. She had one of her little stuffed toys and was trying to feed it to him while he pretended to bite her fingers making her squeal with laughter, so cute.

  “Can I play?”

  “No.” He practically growled the word at me.

  “Colton.” There was a little heat in my voice though I didn’t raise it. I didn’t want to startle Caitlin plus that was one of Colt’s rules we weren’t allowed to argue in front of the baby. He read somewhere that it scares them and can warp them somehow. I’m lucky I can even walk hard around the kid; crazy ass. I ignored his no and knelt beside them staring down at him which he chose to ignore.

  “You’re hurting my feelings.”

  “Not now Kat I’m playing with Caitie bear.”

  “No you’re being mean.” I felt stupid tears clog me up. I wanted to punch him in the chest until he snapped out of it. Why is he crazy right now?

  “Kat we’re not doing this now, it’s a few days before the holiday and I want to enjoy it with my daughter before you and your fu…bull…before you and your mess FUBAR everything. You made your play and it was the wrong one. I’ve told you about disobeying me yeah? Well that was your choice now you can deal with the consequences. Just know that if you let that woman anywhere near my daughter we’re going to have a serious problem I am not fucking around with you on this. Sorry Caitlin, daddy didn’t mean to say the bad word in front of you.” He glared at me like it was my fault. What the hell is he on? I needed to call his mom and mine to ask for their advice but somehow I knew that that would only make things worse. He was really serious about this and I’m not brave enough to cross him when he gets like this. A Colton Lyon spanking during sex play is good times, the same cannot be said for one of his punishments. Those things leave me sore for days and I avoid them at all cost. He went back to ignoring me and I just sat there like a lug with egg on my face. Even the baby was too busy having fun with her daddy to pay me any mind. When it looked like he wasn’t going to change his mind, I got up and left them alone to go sit on the couch. Yes, I was feeling sorry for myself but who could blame me? I only tried to do what I thought was right and this is the thanks I get.

  Chapter 8

  LYON

  I bundled Caitlin up about two o’clock that evening. We had an appointment with the big fat bastard.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m taking her to see Santa.”

  “Wait what? I’m supposed to go too.”

  “You can come if you want.”

  “You’re being an asshole.”

  “Watch your mouth.”

  She started that crying shit again, too bad. Three hours ago, Elena and Char had taken her new best friend and set her up in one of my places just outside of town. Neither of them had told me anything about their visit to the hospital the day before and I didn’t ask. If there was something to tell mom would’ve told me, besides I didn’t need anyone else to see what I see I don’t roll that way. Kat’s spoilt ass has been getting away with murder. While she was pregnant and then even after having the baby I guess I grew a little lax but if she didn’t stop fucking around she was gonna end up with her ass beat Xmas or not. Fuck.

  Shit, I can’t stand to see her like that. That’s probably why she thinks she can get away with shit.

  “Stop crying you’re gonna upset the baby.”

  “Then stop being mean to me.”

  “Then stop disobeying me. You know that shit can only go so long before I rein your ass in. Why you insist on doing it, I’ll never know.”

  “I wasn’t trying to be disobedient, I just felt guilty Colt. I’m the one who hit her. Why can’t you understand how that makes me feel?”

  “That has nothing to do with shit. I told you to leave it alone, nothing else matters. I told you one thing and you did another. What is that Katarina?”

  Of course she didn’t have an answer for that one.

  “Da da.” My baby girl turned my face to hers and babbled away at me. I’m pretty sure she was picking up for her mother. Freaking females. I kissed her cute little nose and gave her my full attention.

  “Yes Caitlin.” She was bundled from head to toe in her winter suit. Her eyes weren’t as fever bright as before, thankfully, but I wanted to get this over and done with so I could get her back as soon as possible. Her mother was watching us with her sad face on. Damn infuriating female. Shit.

  “Come here.” She couldn’t wait to get under the arm I raised for her. Why the fuck I can’t stay mad at her for more than ten minutes beats me. That’s probably part of the reason why she is the way she is.

  “Look at me; I don’t want you going anywhere near that woman not until I find out who she is, do you understand? This is the last time I’m gonna say this. I’m supposed to be your protector. You’re not letting me do that when you go behind my back and do this shit. I don’t want anything happening to you. People are fucked in the head baby and I don’t trust this person as far as I can throw her. I’m not asking you to feel the same but I am telling you, you are not going anywhere near her or you’ll be over my fucking knee.” Shit I’ve been cussing all day in front of the baby.
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  “Wait a minute Caitlin daddy needs to talk to mommy.” I placed her in her playpen for a sec. She fretted for a minute before calming down and I walked back over to my hardheaded wife.

  “You’re being fucking selfish right now too and I don’t like it. I’ve been letting you get away with shit and you’ve let it go to your head. Well that shit ends right now. The next time you do some shit I tell you not to, you’re not gonna be able to sit for a week are we clear?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “I’ll say this for the last time so you finally get it. I don’t want you getting hurt. I don’t know who the fuck this person is. I’m not interested in who the fuck she is. I only care about you and the baby. If that makes me a bastard, I give a fuck. You two are my only concerns. Just do as I say and we’ll be fine. Tell me you understand me.”

  “I understand Colt. It’s just that I don’t get why you’re so sure that she’s up to something. I mean I did run her over. It’s not like she came looking for me specifically or something.”