Chapter Seventeen
On Monday, Katie found herself smiling for no reason at all.
Okay, maybe there was a reason. Two of them.
Ry and Jed. They’d had a wonderful weekend together and not just all sex, either.
Saturday, they’d spent time curled up on the sofa watching movies, eating junk food, and just cuddling with each other.
Sunday, they’d taken the horses out for a ride on the ranch and cooked a late lunch before she went home.
Both Ry and Jed had taken care of her, making sure she wasn’t too sore, but also making sure she was satisfied. As if she wouldn’t be after their loving her. Her lips turned up in a smile. She couldn’t wait until they pleasured her like that again.
Sitting down at her desk, she turned on her computer and started checking her email. Nothing urgent, so she began working on the ranch accounts. When the doorbell rang at ten, she frowned. Who would be coming to the house?
Saving her work, she went to the front door and looked out the peep hole.
What the hell? Her fingers shook as they curled around the knob.
Part of her didn’t want to open it, but she knew she had to.
If she didn’t, Walter and her father would never leave her alone.
She twisted the knob and pulled the wooden door ajar.
“Hello, Katherine.” Walter said, pushing his hand into the pocket of his suit pants.
* * * *
“Sheriff,” Josh said from the doorway of Ry’s office.
Ry lifted his head from the nuisance reports from the weekend. Monday was already turning out to be very busy. After a quiet period, it now looked like the vandals were back again. Mainly broken windows and cars prowls.
“What’s up?” He looked at his deputy.
“Mabel just got a call. Suspicious vehicle.”
“Okay, go check it out.” He went back to the mound of paperwork on his desk.
“I thought you might want, too, boss. It’s in front of Miss Mazie’s house.”
Ry was on his feet as Josh finished his sentence. Snatching up his hat, Ry ran out to his SUV. His cell rang as he pulled out of the driveway. “McKade here.”
“Get the hell out of this house.”
That was Katie’s voice. What the fuck? He floored the SUV. Had someone broken into her house?
“Now, Katherine—”
“Don’t ‘Katherine’ me. Get out.”
She knew the person. At least it wasn’t a stranger.
“I want nothing to do with you, Walter. You or my father.”
He concentrated on her voice. It was strained, but not afraid. Katie must have dialed his cell and set the phone down. Pushing the mute button, he got on his radio. “Betty, call Jed and get him over to Miss Mazie’s house.”
“Yes, Sheriff.”
“You’re coming back to New York City,” the male voice said.
Fear gripped him so hard he couldn’t breathe. Was he going to lose her again?
“Like hell I am.”
Ry grinned. The pressure in his chest lessened. Good, Katie wasn’t going to take any of this man’s crap.
“What the hell is going on in here?”
Jed. Ry frowned. How had Jed gotten there so quickly? It had been maybe a minute or two since he told Betty to call him.
“Jed.” The relief in Katie’s voice was heartwarming to Ry. The tension in his spine eased.
“This has nothing to do with you,” Walter said.
“Get out, Walter, and don’t come back.”
“Oh, I’ll be back.”
There was quiet for a minute or two. Then a door slammed.
“Okay, Kitty Kat?” Jed asked.
Ry pulled up to the house just as a white Mercedes pulled away from the house. Walter, he hoped. He quickly noted the license plate, called in to Betty that he was on scene, and then jogged up the walk.
Everything looked all right inside Miss Mazie’s house. Nothing seemed out of place, so there was no fight or anything like that. Katie was standing quietly in Jed’s arms.
“Okay?” Ry asked.
Katie’s head lifted, and she held a hand out to him.
Ry took the offered hand, and they pulled him into their embrace.
His heart stuttered before resuming its normal beat.
She’d called him. She trusted him to help her, but he did wonder how she got also got a hold of Jed so fast. His arms tightened around her.
As soon as they had everything sorted out, he’d follow up to make sure Walter had left town.
But for right now, there was no place he’d rather be than here with his lovers, holding them.
How long they stood there, he didn’t know and didn’t care. This was for Katie, for Jed, and for himself.
When they broke apart, Ry saw her cell on the side table. He picked it up and ended the call. “What happened?”
“I think we better sit down. This might take some time.” Katie blew out a breath.
Ry called in and let them know that everything was good, and he was going to take a very early lunch.
“Please, sit on the sofa,” Katie said, heading for the nearby chair.
“With us,” Jed said, taking her hand and guiding her to the sofa between them. “Thank you for calling me.”
So that’s how Jed had gotten here so quickly.
“And me.” Ry took her left hand and squeezed.
“I was a little short with you, Jed.”
Jed chuckled. “Short but I liked hearing the words ‘Need you, now’ from those lips.” He glanced up at Ry. “How did she call you?”
“I dialed his number on my cell and left it on the table.”
“Which I appreciate.” Ry still wanted to go after that man and beat the crap out of him, but he’d wait.
“Who was the guy?” Jed asked.
“Walter, my ex-boyfriend.”
“And he’s here because?” Ry asked even though he knew the answer. Jed needed to be aware.
“Because he and my father cannot accept reality. I’m not going back to New York City.”
When she said the words, the constriction in Ry’s chest loosened.
“Do you want to tell us why he thinks you would?” Jed asked.
“Because he thinks he’s God’s gift to women.”
Laughter filled the room, and Katie’s hand relaxed in his.
“I know my father isn’t anyone’s favorite topic, but I think it’s time you understood why I did what I did when I was eighteen.”
“I know we’ve discussed it a little bit; you said we didn’t scare you off, so I’ve always assumed it had something to do with your father,” Jed said.
“I was scared, yes, but not of the two of you. Maybe of the lifestyle you led, but never of you as men.” She squeezed each of their hands.
“I was chasing a dream. You both know my father left my mother when I was eight. Mom did her best to raise me. When she died, Randall couldn’t be bothered with me.
Gran raised me from the time I was fourteen. ”
Ry stiffened, and Jed’s fingers tightened around hers. “Katie,” Ry started.
“Let me get this out, Ry. Please.” She stared at him until he nodded.
Having Walter show up on her doorstep had her determined not to lose the two men she loved. Calling them had been an automatic response.
“Randall approached me a few days before my eighteenth birthday. He offered me a job in New York City and everything. I thought maybe he was ready to be a father to me.” She pushed back the disappointment.
“He came back the day after my eighteenth birthday, right after you two had left, with Peggy Morris in tow.”
Both men swore, and Katie smiled sadly.
“I told you about what she had said. My father pushed me into making a decision right then and there. He gave an ultimatum—either I go with him, or I become a play toy for the two of you.” She let out a sigh.
“I was confused. I so wanted a relationship with my father. But he never really cared about me, only what he thought he could get from me.”
“And what did he want?” Jed asked.
“Someone who could take suspicion away from him and Walter.” She shook her head. “I guess I wasn’t really paying attention. I missed Felton’s Creek, and I missed both of you. Even if I didn’t realize it at the time.”
“Did he hurt you?” Ry’s voice was low, and she squeezed his hand.
“No. He never touched me.”
“There are other ways to hurt, Kitty Kat,” Jed said.
“I know.” She smiled. Her fear of not being enough of a woman for the two of them was fading.
“Anyway, I went with him. About a three years ago, Randall introduced me to Walter. We went out, but I knew he wasn’t right for me.
I liked him, but there was no spark. My father kept inviting Walter to events he insisted I be at.
Things like that.” Looking back now, she realized she hadn’t put up much of a fight, either, and that had been her mistake.
“After a while, I just didn’t care enough to argue with Walter or my father.
About a year after I started working for Randall’s company, I began to notice things. ”
“Right, you said you worked at another company until your father bought it out,” Jed commented.
“Like what?” Ry asked.
“Discrepancies in some of the accounts I managed. Small but they were still there. I talked with my boss, who talked to his boss, and I was told they were aware of them and not to worry about them.”
“But that wasn’t the end of it,” Jed said.
“Nope. They kept getting bigger and bolder, so I did some backtracking on my own.”
“That was dangerous.” Ry lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles.
“I didn’t think about it. I was just doing the job I was hired for. When I found out what was going on and who it traced back to, I knew what I had to do.” She took a deep breath. “I knew it was time to come home.”
“What did you do, Kitty Kat?”
“I had planned on confronting my father and Walter about my findings, but…” Her anger at her father and Walter returned as she remembered the night she confronted them.
Anger, disappointment, and the fear of her own wants and needs had clashed that last night in her father’s place.
“God, sometimes I wish I could forget certain things.”
The guys’ reactions were instantaneous. Their hands left hers, and they put their arms around her shoulders and on her waist, giving her as much comfort and support as they could with the way they were sitting.
“I’d gone to my father’s apartment. I had a key and let myself in.” She could still hear the odd noises coming from the back of the apartment. “At first, I thought there was no one home until I heard a cry from the back bedroom. I followed the noise and found my father and Walter.”
“Oh, hell, they were fucking each other,” Ry said.
“If only,” she whispered. “They had a prostitute, and they were whipping her.”
Both men stiffened, and Katie tilted her head back.
“Not like you two, nothing like you do. This wasn’t for her pleasure but theirs. I could tell the difference from being at the clubs.”
“What did you do?” Jed asked.
“I screamed, and I scared the shit out of everyone. I marched up to the poor woman, helped her out of the X frame they had her tied to, and took her into the bathroom.” She remembered the poor woman flinching as she cleaned her up.
“She had several cuts on her back from the whip. Her name was Judy. I talked with her as I cleaned her up and bandaged her wounds. I found out she had been a student but had fallen in with the wrong crowd and was now beholden to some pimp.”
Her anger rose. Her father was a predator. He walked out on her as a child, then came back and fed her lines of what she wanted to hear. Her father was sadist. He got off on other people’s pain. No more. She was in control of her life.
“I left her in the bathroom with some of my old sweats and a T-shirt, told her to dress, and not to worry. Then I went out and faced my father and Walter.”
“That could not have been fun,” Ry said.
“Hell, those two deserved each other. My father was furious, but Walter just looked guilty. I told my father I was taking Judy with me when I left. Randall started to try to explain, but I told him I didn’t want to hear his lies.
He was a monster and a hypocrite . And I quit.
Then I marched back and got Judy, and we left. ”
“And they just let you?”
“I think they were both in shock. My father because I actually told him off, and Walter out of guilt.”
“What did you do with Judy?” Jed asked.
“We went to my apartment. I called Dr. Pam, and she came over. After a few hours, she had a place for Judy to stay where she’d be safe. Pam started counseling Judy the next day.”
“What about you?” Ry asked.
“Me? I packed up my apartment, arranged for my stuff to be shipped here, got in my car, and came home.” She kissed Ry’s jaw and then Jed’s.
“It was time. I was tired of the ity, of my father and Walter, but I also missed Gran.” The fluttering in her stomach encouraged her to continue.
“And I missed both of you. I missed your voices, your strength, and your attention.”
The room went silent, and Katie peeked at the men from beneath her lashes. The surprise and love on their faces caused the last of the tension to drain out of her body.
“What you saw didn’t color your views of us and our lifestyle?” Jed asked.
“No. There was nothing safe and sane about what my father and Walter were doing. What we do is safe, sane, and consensual.”
“We wouldn’t have it any other way,” Ry said.
“The city was just a place to live, and I missed home. Felton’s Creek is home.
Gran is home. You are both home. I let my father convince me what I would have with you was nothing but violence and shame.
But he was the one with the violence and shame issues, not me.
” She snuggled closer to the men. “He made me doubt my feelings for both of you and doubt myself. But you’ve shown me real love.
I’m sorry it took me so long to figure things out.
I will never doubt us or what we have together. I don’t.”
“Never,” both men whispered.