Decker (Torey Hope: The Later Years #1)

by A. D. Ellis

  “If I’m going to get my balls busted for letting you get in this situation, I might as live it up while I can; won’t Decker just about shit a brick when I tell him I had to kiss his girl all in the name of acting out a scene in front of his psycho bitch of an ex; here’s an extra little improv to really add insult to injury.” He let his hand move from her shoulder to cup her ass right as they reached the Mustang.

  Laughing for real, no longer acting for Angela, Katie faced him and cupped his face in her hands. “Kendrick Jordan, I love you, you wicked man; you just pulled off the perfect little lie. I love Decker with everything I am, but you will always hold a very special place in my heart; even when you lose your balls once Decker finds out about this. Thank you for jumping in and saving me when I acted without thinking.” Kissing him quickly, she opened the car door and climbed in.

  Kendrick’s heart fluttered and warmed unexpectedly in his chest.

  Driving off to meet up with the whole family, Katie wondered what Angela’s next move would be now that she thought Katie and Decker were finished. She shivered with dread at the thought of Angela watching close enough to know about their vacation; she could only hope Angela bought the story about why they were both out of town that weekend. With any luck, they were one step closer to their problems being over.

  Chapter 27

  “You fucking did what?!” Decker roared at Katie and Kendrick, standing up and slamming his hands on the kitchen table in his grandparents’ home.

  “Son, you need to calm down. Let’s listen to the whole story and figure out what the next step should be here.” Nate laid his hand on Decker’s shoulder and forced him to sit down.

  “Libby, dear sister, I think some of your calming tea is definitely needed in this situation.” Audrey cocked her head at her baby boy and wondered just what Kendrick and Katie had been up to. She walked with her sister to the counter and began preparing mugs of steaming hot tea.

  “Let’s take this to the living room, shall we? I think we’ll all be a bit more comfortable.” Judy Jordan suggested and the clan trouped toward the couches.

  Once they were settled, Decker all but barked, “Let’s hear it.”

  “Decker…” Katie knew he was mad, or upset, but she needed him to look at her. She needed to feel that connection and see the love in his eyes; right now he was acting as if she wasn’t even in the room.

  “Kate, not now.” Decker held his hand up and cut her off.

  Hurt and fuming mad, Katie took a deep breath; this would not be something that was worked out or solved within a quick five minutes, she knew she was going to have to be patient. Knowing she’d hurt Decker bothered her, but the childish part of her wanted to stick her tongue out at him and say, “See how it feels to not have any say in someone’s actions? You hurt me, I hurt you, we’re even.” She knew this wouldn’t solve anything and in the end it wouldn’t even make her feel any better, but she had to work hard to control her response.

  Decker’s hard, angry eyes drilled into Kendrick’s; the two of them were cousins, as close as brothers, Decker would do anything at all for him, but at this point in time, all he wanted to do was take him out back and beat the ever loving shit out of Kendrick.

  “Deck, I know you’re mad, and you have every right to be.” Kendrick spoke sincerely to his cousin. Looking around at the rest of the family, he gave a sheepish half-grin, “You all know I’m the type to act first and think about it later. I’m sorry for doing that yet again.”

  “No, Kendrick, you’re not taking all of the blame on this one.” Katie interrupted him and openly made eye contact with each family member, including Decker. “Kendrick and I gathered some information and made a plan; I took a huge detour from that plan, and Kendrick stepped in to save me from what could have been a really bad situation.” Katie finished and looked at Decker; the heat in his eyes was hard to read. Anger? Desire? Fear? All of the above?

  “Kate, can I talk to you for just a second?” Decker was on his feet in 2 seconds flat and stalked towards the kitchen.

  Katie looked around helplessly, meeting curious expressions, smirks, and wide eyes. Standing slowly and rubbing her hands down the front of her thighs, she gave a small nervous smile and quipped, “Well, I guess I’ll be back in just a second.” She walked to the kitchen with the awkward laughter of Decker’s family echoing behind her.

  “If you’re not back in 10 minutes, we’ll send a search party.” Sawyer winked at her as she walked by him.

  Feeling defensive the moment she stepped into the kitchen, Katie crossed her arms over her chest and stood with her feet planted wide, as if ready to fight. “What is it Decker?” Her heart was hurting so badly, but she’d be damned if she’d let him try to control her and reprimand her like a wayward child.

  Taking a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose in his signature get it under control move, Decker took a step toward her. His face twisted in pain, he rubbed his hands over his face and then held his hands out to the side as if to surrender.

  “Kate, I don’t want to fight. This is all so very hard. I’m scared for you, for us, for The Center+; I’m also angry as hell that you and Kendrick dragged yourselves into a dangerous situation.” He stopped for a moment and looked at her with a strange sad expression. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I can’t listen to you tell this story right now. When this is completely over, you and I can sit and talk things through and figure out where we go from here, but for now I need you to let Kendrick tell the story.”

  Katie’s foggy brain cleared slightly as his words sunk in. “What are you talking about, Decker? Talk things through and figure out where we go from here? What the hell? What is there to talk about, where else would we go?” She pinned him with a questioning glare. And then, it began to make sense. “Oh my God, you’re not sure about us? You’ve curled back into that cocoon of tight control and all you can focus on is keeping it. Fine, let’s go listen to Kendrick tell the story, but understand this: I told you I wouldn’t sit idly by and let go of what we had. While you were so busy pushing me away and reigning in your damn control, Kendrick was there to listen and help me. I guess I was wrong thinking you’d welcome me back with open arms.” She shook her head sadly, disappointment with him evident on her beautiful face.

  Turning on her heel, she returned to the living room and took a seat next to Sawyer. Noticing her defeated expression, he put an arm around her and pulled her in close. “Give it time, Katie-girl. Remember I told you it would probably get worse before it got better?” He placed a kiss on the side of her head and turned to listen to Kendrick.

  “Long story short, those who want a longer version can ask me for it later, I believed Angela was involved the moment Katie brought up her name. I didn’t feel the phone call we made was enough to proof to end the suspicion on her. So, I told Katie where Angela was planning to work after college. She and I called Starsky Enterprises, pretending to be interested employers, and got all sorts of dirt on Angela. I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say the psycho we thought we knew has developed into a stark raving mad psycho in the last several months. The main information we got to help in this whole scenario is that she’s not been working there for a long time, almost the whole time we’ve been back in Torey Hope. And, here’s the nail in her coffin, the last known address she gave to Starsky was 1341 State St., Torey Hope. Yep, Angela Ford has been living here in Torey Hope almost as long as we’ve all been back home. Which means she’s been watching Decker and Katie; she’s had perfect motive and opportunity to wreak havoc at The Center+.” Kendrick stopped for a moment; that was the easiest part of the story. He knew the hard part was going to be telling Decker about their run-in with Angela.

  “Now, here’s the part you’re probably really going to get pissed about. Katie and I decided we’d just drive past Angela’s place and then we’d meet up with the family and take the information we’d found to the police. Angela’s place is that little group of townhomes along the
edge of town. She’s got it all spiffy and looking quaint and lovely, total façade obviously; that is one crazy ass bitch. Anyway, we were sitting in the car across the street from her place when we spotted her on the sidewalk. Well, my girl here let her emotion get the best of her, and she bounded from the car and approached Angela.” Kendrick gave Katie a sympathetic smile, knowing she regretted not thinking her actions through.

  “I hauled ass out of the car and followed her; I didn’t really have time to plan anything through, I just came up with the most plausible sounding story I could within the 20 seconds it took me to catch up with Katie.” Kendrick gave Decker a look that communicated sorrow, regret, but also a little bit of payback, as if he was rubbing it in his cousin’s face that it was wrong of Decker to push Katie away.

  “After a few minutes of conversation, we had convinced Angela that Decker and Katie broke up. Then we headed over here to tell all of you and hopefully head to the police.” Kendrick ended the story so abruptly that everyone in the room cast suspicious eyes upon him.

  “I don’t know Angela, but how did you convince her that Katie and Decker broke up? She saw them together at the wedding and she’s seen them together in town since she’s living here. Surely she didn’t just take your word for it?” Nicky spoke slowly, trying to piece together the story without all of the pieces needed.

  Zach leaned forward on his knees, “Feels like something’s missing, cousin.” Zach’s eyes gleamed in anticipation, as if he could read Kendrick’s face and knew what was coming. The guys never passed up a chance to give each other a hard time, and Zach was sure the rest of the story was ramping up to be perfect fodder.

  Wincing and glancing at Katie, Kendrick hung his head. When he lifted it back up, he spoke regretfully, “Just know, this was a spur-of-the-moment plan, and it sounded much better in my head than it’s going to when I speak it out loud.” Stalling for time, Kendrick stole a look at Decker and steeled himself against the molten anger simmering there.

  “Spit it out, fucker.” Decker spoke menacingly, clearly already having a slight idea of where this story was headed.

  “So, we told Angela that Decker’s feelings for her were brought to the surface after seeing her at the wedding, and that Katie had refused to be second place and had broken up with Decker.” At Decker’s raised eyebrow seeming to say, And that’s all? Kendrick rushed on, “And we thanked her for coming back into Decker’s life because it brought Katie and me together. Angela thinks that Katie and I are taking it slowly, but that we have a real chance at a relationship because Decker still has feelings for Angela.” Deciding to throw it all out there, Kendrick went all in, “And I may have laid it on pretty thick with some kisses and ass rubbing.” He winced and ducked as Decker came across the coffee table at him.

  “Decker, that’s enough. Outside, now.” Nate spoke to his son gruffly. He stood and ushered the younger man towards the door. Jeremiah Jordan and Kyle Martin following with the nod of Nate’s head.

  **********

  Nate shook his head as he watched Decker pace in the backyard. “Decker, get your ass over here.” Decker walked towards the three men he’d looked up to all of his life. Crossing his arms over his chest, he was closed-off and defensive.

  “Son, I realize you’re angry with Katie and Kendrick for going after Angela on their own. They made some mistakes, and they’ve owned up to those mistakes. I’m guessing your pride is stinging a bit at the thought that your own actions of pushing Katie away may have actually led her to working with Kendrick.” Nate watched his son’s jaw tighten and knew, even without a confession, that Decker was feeling responsible for a lot of things at that moment.

  “I’m sure knowing your cousin was kissing your girl isn’t the easiest thing to swallow; but, Decker, there’s absolutely no spark between those two. That girl is crazy about you. Sure, she loves your brother and cousins, but she’s in love with you. I think this is one of those situations where you need to admit you were wrong, let some things go, and move on.” Nate put his hand on Decker’s shoulder.

  “Decker, you know that Kendrick loves you with every ounce of his being; I know he doesn’t have the best track record with his dating history, but there’s no way he’d every purposely take your girl from you.” Jeremiah spoke with a sureness of his son.

  “Don’t let something like this ruin what seemed to be the start of something really good, Decker. In the grand scheme of life, this is just a bump in the road. Drive over it and don’t look back.” Kyle spoke with understanding; knowing his history, Decker had no choice but to listen to his words.

  “I’m not sure what’s going to happen with Katie and me. But, I know we need to get this information to the police station.” Nate rolled his eyes and shook his head at the stubbornness of his son.

  “Nathaniel, I seem to remember a certain young man who wouldn’t give up on fighting for what he thought was right so many years ago. There’s no question in my mind where Decker got his stubbornness from.” Cindy Morgan had joined them in the yard and touched her son’s arm as she watched her grandson stalk toward the house.

  **********

  In the kitchen, Decker caught Katie alone for a moment. “Kate, we’re going to the police station. I’d like you there, please.”

  “And what happens after that, Decker?” Katie turned sad eyes upon him.

  “I don’t know, Kate. Right now I can’t think about that, I need to know that you and The Center+ and my family are safe. We can figure us out when this is all over.” Decker looked at her as if he wanted to reach out and pull her close, but he sighed and turned away.

  **********

  Kendrick, Katie, Decker, and Nate went to the police station. The officer, Smitson, who had been assigned to the case from the beginning took notes and nodded appreciatively. “Now, this isn’t the way we’d usually advise citizens to gather information; we don’t like thinking that any of our residents are putting themselves in danger, but I have to say this is really good information. Knowing about the break up, her words at the wedding, her behavior at work, and that’s she’s been living here this whole time, all of that is at least enough to bring her in for questioning.”

  Taking a sip of his coffee, the Officer Smitson continued, “I don’t want you to get your hopes up too high. There’s a very good chance that the questioning won’t garner enough for us to hold her, and she’ll be released. At this point, we have reason to believe she’s the perpetrator, but not enough evidence for an arrest. We’ll probably question her and then keep close eyes on her, waiting for her to mess up.”

  Katie’s heart fell; she had thought that the information they’d gathered would be enough to end this whole mess with Angela.

  “Ms. Turner, I have to advise that you take extra precautions. I’d assume, based on her actions and threats, that Ms. Ford is going to be especially angry with you when we release her from questioning. Do you have somewhere you could go, out of town, for a while? At least a few days? It would make me more comfortable knowing we were just watching the suspect instead of watching her and trying to protect you.” Smitson spoke sympathetically, as if he understood he was asking a lot of Katie.

  “She can go to her dad’s, it’s pretty far out of town, I’ll call and let him know what’s going on.” Decker spoke to the officer as if Katie wasn’t sitting in the room.

  “Damn it, Decker, I’m right here. Stop acting like I’m invisible!” Turning to the officer, she spoke. “Do you really feel this is necessary? Leaving town? Leaving my place of employment? All because a jealous ex-girlfriend doesn’t like me?” Katie was exasperated, but deep down, where the threat against her life kept playing loudly in her psyche, she knew that leaving would be the best. She just didn’t want to appear like she was running away.

  “Ms. Turner, I really do think it would be safer for you to go to your dad’s, or someplace, for at least a few days until we see how Ms. Ford is going to react to the questioning.” The officer gave her an I’m sorry look
and finished with the paper work on his desk.

  As the group left the station, Decker walked away from them and headed toward his car. The look of dismay on Katie’s face was more than Kendrick could handle. He looked at his Uncle Nate and shook his head in disgust and disbelief. Nate nodded toward Decker as if indicating to his nephew to go stop his son. Grabbing Katie’s elbow, Nate stopped her on the sidewalk.

  “Katie, I get what he’s doing, but I’m sorry for how he’s doing it. He’s going to come to his senses at some point and be embarrassed about the way he’s handling this whole thing.” Nate held her hand and patted it in a fatherly way.

  “Nate, I’m glad you get it because I don’t. Not at all. Protect me? Fine. Focus on fixing this problem? Okay. But shutting me out completely, and throwing a little pissy fit because of what Kendrick and I did? That’s not okay.” She wanted to stomp her foot as she spoke, but she refrained.

  They looked over to where Kendrick and Decker were having heated words in the parking lot. “Come on, I’d rather not see those boys in a knock-down-drag-out in front of God and everybody, let’s go see if we can calm them down.” Nate put his arm around her and held her close, feeling very much like a dad comforting a daughter upset about a boy.

  “Boys, I think coming to blows in the police station parking lot would possibly be a bad idea. Could we talk about this calmly?” Nate took a step to place himself between his nephew and son.

  “Dad, I’m worried that Angela is watching us; she’s clearly been watching us for a while, I’m afraid if she sees Kate and I talking, she won’t believe we’ve broken up. Douche-bag here is mad because I’m giving Kate the cold shoulder, but I don’t want to risk that Angela may see something to contradict that ridiculous story these two told earlier.” Decker glanced around nervously as if looking for any sign of someone watching. The hair on his neck stood up, and he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.