Down on Me (Club 24 #7)

by Kimberly Knight

  “We got in a fight before y’all came over.”

  “It wasn’t because y’all were fighting. It was like she was in a daze. We’d talk to her and she’d have to clear her head and think about the question before answering. Kinda like she didn’t hear it or she wasn’t paying attention. At the time I thought she was just watching JJ get into y’all’s stuff. But now that you’re talking about this—disconnection is a symptom.”

  “Well, thank God poker night wasn’t a total bust.”

  She furrowed her brows. “What do you mean? You won—like always.”

  I grinned. “That’s not what I mean. J and I had a plan to get the guys to help us come up with ideas on how to find out if Michael is after us again.”

  “Right. I know.”

  I sighed. “The guys were no help. They gave elaborate ideas that you only see in movies. Talking about setting up a sting where we actually put Spencer in danger again. Or killing his mom to send a message. Stupid shit like that. They were no help.”

  “Well, first things first. We need to get Spencer healthy because if she isn’t, then she’s not going to have a clear head and she won’t be able to protect herself or Kyle.”

  I ran my hands down my face as I leaned back in my chair. “I know.”

  “You either need to make her go to the doctor or we need to make her happy again.”

  “I think we should start with the happy again part.” I smirked. “We’re working on it.”

  She raised her hand up in front of her. “I don’t want to know, but I didn’t mean that.”

  “I know. I need—” Before I could finish my sentence, a ping on my phone went off alerting me that the code for the safe room had been entered and locked from the inside. My gaze lifted back to Becca.

  “What?” she questioned.

  “FKF has been activated.” My heart started to pound as fear was seeping in, a sinking feeling instantly going to my gut.

  “Maybe Spencer is testing it out?”

  I stood quickly, knocking my chair over in the process. “We tested it plenty when it was installed!”

  “Call her then.”

  As I reached for my phone, it lit up with our house number. “Babe?” I answered.

  “Someone was following me.”

  My veins turned to ice at her words. It was happening again.

  Chapter Eleven

  Spencer

  My heart was beating fast and my palms were sweaty as I sat on the floor. Not on the chair in the safe room, but the floor because I was that messed up—rocking Kyle in my arms. I had a death grip on him and if anyone other than Brandon were to open the steel door that looked like your typical white wooden closet door, I wasn’t sure what I would do.

  Brandon was on his way home and had instructed me not to hit the button that would call the cops. Not to hit the button! He’d said that we weren’t sure if someone was actually following me and he’d handle it.

  What did that mean?

  As the minutes ticked, I glanced up at the button wanting to reach up and push it, tell them that someone was after me and maybe in my house. Tell them that I was locked in a tiny ass room with my newborn baby and my dog. Instead, I stayed, rocking Kyle and trying not to think who was on the other side of the door.

  Ten minutes turned into fifteen.

  Fifteen to twenty and then Kyle started to cry. I was no longer rocking him but just staring at the door. This wasn’t happening. I couldn’t handle the crying. Not now. Not today. I was finally happy. Finally starting to feel as if a weight was lifting from my shoulders because I knew what was wrong me and then just like that it was taken from me.

  I started rocking him again and looked around. I couldn’t think of anything but having the door open and seeing Brandon standing there. I needed to be prepared and not breastfeeding or changing a diaper. I had no pacifier in the room and if Kyle was hungry, he’d have to wait. If he needed his diaper changed, he’d have to wait.

  How safe was this safe room? Could this person hear Kyle’s cries from the other side? And what if he killed Brandon when he got home?

  I reached for the phone and called Brandon—needing to hear his voice—needing to make sure he was okay—needing to know what was happening.

  “I’m almost home. Ryan thinks she found the guy.”

  I scrunched my eyebrows. “Ryan?”

  “I called her on my way home to drive by.”

  “What do you mean you called her to do a drive by?” I rushed out, clearly not saying the exact same words.

  “I’m almost home. Are you okay?”

  Why didn’t he answer my question?

  I looked down at Kyle in my arms and Niner who was snoring, not realizing the terror I was feeling. “Yeah, but this guy can be in the house.”

  “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  “Okay,” I breathed.

  “I love you, Spencer.”

  Tears pricked my eyes. It might be the last time I’d hear him say those three words to me. I wanted to cry more than anything.

  “I love you, too. Be careful.”

  “I will. Bye.”

  I swallowed. “Bye.”

  The time on my clock had started over. One minute turned to three and then five. Five to ten. Ten to fifteen and my heart was pounding.

  Brandon wasn’t home. Where was he? Was he hurt? Dead? Alive?

  Then the phone rang and it was him calling me. I answered it on one ring. “Brandon?”

  “You can come out now.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m on the other side of the door.”

  I stood quickly, causing Niner to jump up as well. “I can’t hear you talking.”

  “I’m really here.”

  “I just mean I thought at one point the guy could hear Kyle crying and I can’t hear…”

  My voice trailed off as the door flew open the moment I entered in the last digit to disable the door. Brandon was really standing on the other side and had no scratches. No ripped clothes. Nothing out of the ordinary.

  I rushed into his arms, dropping the phone and trying not to crush Kyle in the process. “You know the safe room is sound proof,” he said against the side of my head.

  I did know. But I’d forgotten in my panicked state. “What happened?” I questioned.

  He dropped his arms from around me. “Let’s put Kyle down and I’ll tell you.”

  He grabbed my hand and we walked to our bedroom. I placed Kyle in his bassinet. Then Brandon sat on the bed and pulled me onto his lap.

  “Ryan found the guy.” My eyes widened and he smirked. “I knew she’d be resourceful.”

  “That’s dangerous,” I scolded.

  “I didn’t send Ryan to go kick the guy’s ass. I sent her to come here to see if we needed to call the cops.”

  “Clearly you don’t know Ryan.”

  “You think she’d come in here if there were a guy with a gun or something after you?”

  “Probably.”

  He huffed. “Spencer …”

  “Okay, maybe not a gun or a knife, but she’d come in after a guy to kick his ass.”

  “Luckily, she didn’t have to find out if this guy had one or not because she found him leaning on what I’m assuming is the same fence you saw him on. He said that he saw you come by with Kyle and Niner and then take off around the corner.”

  “Who was the guy?”

  “He lives at that house, babe.”

  I pulled my head back and stared into his chocolate eyes then shook my head. “That can’t be the same guy.”

  “It’s the same guy.” He smiled tightly.

  I stared at him for a beat. “How do you know?”

  He looked down at my clothes and then back up to my eyes. “For starters, he described what you’re wearing.”

  I looked down as well then back up to his eyes. “But you knew before you confirmed he was correct.”

  “Your best friend is very resourceful. She asked for his ID.” />
  My eyes widened. Ryan totally would do that. She was brazen and when it came to protecting what and who was important to her, she’d do just about anything. “She did?”

  “I wasn’t there, but Ryan said she confirmed it was his address.”

  “So I totally freaked out for nothing?”

  He reached up and tugged a stray hair behind my ear. “I wouldn’t say for nothing.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “For starters, it showed that you can protect Kyle.”

  “All I did was run and lock us into that tiny room.” I waved my hand in the direction of the safe room.

  “You also held it together when you could have fallen apart. It doesn’t look like you’ve been crying.”

  “I wanted to cry!”

  “What mother wouldn’t?”

  Kyle woke at the raise of my voice. “Shit,” I mumbled.

  “I got him.” Brandon kissed my lips and we both stood.

  As I watched him change Kyle’s diaper, I thought about what had incurred. Was Brandon correct? Was it possible that I really did keep it together because I was healing?

  *

  Hours later, I stared up at the black ceiling replaying the man’s face in my head and me running with Kyle and Niner then locking myself in the safe room. I was okay about what had happened. I just couldn’t believe it.

  We’d talked again about how we couldn’t live our lives looking over our shoulders and Brandon assured me that he’d find a way to put us at ease. For all we knew, he came up with this idea all on his own and there really wasn’t a threat to begin with. He just didn’t know how to solve the problem and I wasn’t much help because if it were up to me, we’d move. But then that hadn’t keep Michael from tracking us before when he lived in Seattle and Brandon lived in San Francisco.

  Slowly, my eyes drifted closed and I was finally asleep, dreaming of being in Hawaii with Brandon as he’d promised the day we came home with Kyle.

  “What do you want to do today?” Brandon asked.

  “Same as every other day we’ve been here. Lay on the beach and watch you play in the ocean with Kyle.”

  “You don’t want to go zip lining or canoeing?”

  “With a four year old?” I chuckled.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe they have booster seats or something.”

  “And this is why I love you.”

  “Because I’m dumb?”

  I laughed. “No, because you’re cute.”

  He stepped closer to me. “And because I can make you come just from dancing.”

  “That too.” I winked and turned to Kyle, who was on his iPad not paying attention to us one bit. “Hey, Jelly Bean, do you want to go to the beach?”

  He looked up and then over to Brandon. “Can we look for sharks again?”

  Brandon smirked. “Only if Mommy lets me go down tonight.”

  “Oh my God!” I shrieked and shoved his shoulder then eyed Brandon in a, “What the fuck? That’s our four year old son you’re talking to,” look. He smiled his sexy smile that always sent butterflies to my stomach.

  “Mommy, will you let Daddy go down tonight?” Kyle asked, tossing his iPad and moving closer, ready to beg if he needed to.

  “Yeah, Mommy, will you?” Brandon inquired, smirking still.

  I narrowed my eyes. I was going to kill Brandon. “Only if Mommy can come four times.”

  “You want to snorkel four times tonight?” Kyle questioned.

  I kept my gaze locked on Brandon. “Something like that, bean.”

  “Done,” Brandon said.

  I laughed.

  “You think that it won’t happen?” He crossed his arms.

  “Cover your ears, Kyle,” I snapped.

  He groaned. “I thought we were talking about snorkeling?”

  “No. Mommy needs to yell at Daddy.”

  Kyle covered his ears, and I whisper-hissed, “You think I can come four times with him in the next bed?”

  “There’s a bathroom right there. You know I can make you come on the counter, in a bathtub, on the side of a bathtub, against the shower wall—”

  “Okay.” I held up my hand for him to stop.

  I turned to Kyle. “Ready to go to the beach?”

  He removed his hands from his ears. “Yeah, but I thought you needed to take a shower first?”

  I narrowed my eyes at Brandon again and grabbed our beach stuff. “It just went up to five.”

  He laughed. “Like I care. You know I love it.”

  “Good.”

  *

  I laid on the beach, the boys in the water. All I could see were their butts floating across the sparkling blue ocean and snorkel tubes sticking out from the water. They were out in the distance by a cove of lava rocks apparently searching for sharks.

  As I lay face up toward the sun, a shadow came across my body. I opened one eye to yell at Brandon so I could continue to work on my tan, but I couldn’t see anything except a dark silhouette. I raised up on my elbows, hoping the adjustment could give me a better view of the person standing next to me.

  “Hello, Spencer,” he said.

  I shielded my eyes to make sure the voice I heard matched the face of the man I remembered. I hadn’t heard it in years. Hadn’t seen him in years. Hadn’t thought about him in more.

  “Travis?”

  I jolted awake, my heart racing, my breaths coming in pants. Why the fuck was I dreaming of Travis?

  “Babe?”

  “I’m okay…”

  “Nightmare?”

  “It wasn’t until the end.”

  “Come here.” He wrapped an arm under me and I laid my head on his chest, his hand going into my hair. He started to rub my head to relax me.

  “It was a good dream. We were in Hawaii and you promised me four orgasms.” I smirked.

  He chuckled, his bare chest moving under my head. “Sounds like a good dream to me, too.”

  “Then,” I swallowed, not sure if I should tell him the last part. Then I remembered how hiding secrets got me in a world of mess, and if anything, Brandon would help me take away the memory. “Then Travis showed up.”

  His body went ridged and his hand stopped moving.

  “I can’t control my dreams,” I explained.

  He sighed and started moving his hand again. “I know, but I swear if I ever see that motherfucker, I will not hold back. I’m done with everyone fucking with us.”

  “He’d have it coming to him.”

  “Yeah, he would.”

  I smiled against his chest. Brandon continued to play with my hair and my heart rate finally returned to normal.

  “So,” he said, “tell me about these four orgasms.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Brandon

  Because of Spencer locking herself in the safe room and my talk with Becca about postpartum depression, I decided to take the day off to spend with my wife. I couldn’t leave her home alone again.

  I packed us a lunch and loaded the car with blankets and everything Kyle would need while we were out. I needed this day to go smoothly and not cause Spencer any more stress or anxiety.

  “Do you want to go have a picnic?” I asked, finding Spencer on the couch watching TV.

  She looked down at her clothes and then back up at me. Before she could say anything, I did.

  “It’s only a picnic. The three of us.”

  “But I have to get dressed.”

  I chuckled. “You can go in your pajamas if you want or you could throw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. I don’t care.”

  She thought for a moment, looked outside through our window and then said, “Okay.”

  “Good, because I was prepared to beg. The car’s packed and everything.”

  *

  As we got closer to the Golden Gate Bridge, Spencer turned to me. “Where are we going for this picnic?”

  “The city.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I have a place in mind and I
want us to go there.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “I just don’t understand why we have to drive all the way into the city.”

  I shook my head slightly. “You will.”

  *

  We parked along The Embarcadero not far from AT&T Park where the San Francisco Giants play baseball. It had been a while since Spencer and I had been to a game and I couldn’t wait to take Kyle to his first one.

  I pushed Kyle in his stroller and Spencer was carrying the basket of food. “Jesus, what did you pack in here?” she grumbled.

  “Here, let’s switch,” I said. I hadn’t realized it was heavy and we weren’t going far.

  “We could have just gone to MoMo’s,” she pointed out, talking about a restaurant we used to frequent when we lived in the city.

  “It wouldn’t have been as fun.”

  We crossed The Embarcadero and started to walk along the waterfront. “We’re not going to the grassy spot right there?” Spencer asked, pointing toward the area by Brannan Street Wharf.

  “Nope,” I said and kept walking toward the stadium.

  We walked for a few more minutes and finally arrived at South Beach Park that was adjacent to the baseball field. A funky red and silver steel art sculpture that was at least sixty feet high sat in the middle of the grassy area. Families already had blankets out on the lawn and were enjoying the California sun as we made our way to a spot near the waterfront.

  “Is this good?” Spencer inquired, coming to a stop.

  “I think so.”

  We laid the blanket down on the green grass and then I took Kyle and the removable car seat from the jogging stroller and placed it on the blanket while Spencer opened the basket and started to remove the sandwiches I packed.

  After I sat, Spencer handed me a sandwich and looked around. “Can you believe that we had our second date there,” she pointed at the big brick building that house the baseball field, “and now we have a baby?”

  I finished chewing. “I can’t believe it, but I’m glad it happened.”

  “Me too,” she said and kissed me.

  We sat and watched the boats in the bay gliding over the water as we ate. There was no game being played next door but that wasn’t why I picked this place. I wanted to take us back to a time Spencer was happy. We’d had many memories down by AT&T Park and MoMo’s. Spencer had also had a bad memory at my condo that wasn’t far away, but we’d also had more good ones. It was the place we’d first slept together. AT&T Park was where we caught our first baseball game together. And MoMo’s was where I’d stuck up for Spencer to Travis when he tried to flaunt his new relationship in front of her.