Chapter 17 #2
“Please, please…” My frantic whispers got lost in the breeze, drifting on the leaves, finding the kind of freedom I wasn’t allowed. “Oh please…I can’t…”
And that’s when the vibrations stopped.
I wasn’t sure how long I leaned against the tree, eyes closed, chest expanding and collapsing with each hard-won breath. Coming down took time—more time than I thought it would, considering I hadn’t reached nirvana.
After a while, I started shivering, and I had just taken a step away from my hiding place when I heard voices. Pressing as flat as I could against the trunk, I prayed the cloak of darkness would conceal me to whoever had decided to encroach upon my private moment.
Two people stalled in front of the gazebo, and I recognized Gage immediately. The build of his shoulders, the way he walked, and the authority inherent in his tone—if nothing else gave him away behind his mask, those traits certainly did.
But he wasn’t alone, and it took me an extra five seconds to realize the woman with him was Katherine. I pressed a fist to my mouth to cover a gasp.
“You’ve got five minutes before I have you thrown off the grounds,” he said, and the undeniable anger in his voice leeched some of the tension from my body. This was not a rendezvous between two lovers on the down-low.
This was…I had no idea what this was, but forget the rules against eavesdropping; I wasn’t about to blow my chance to find out more.
“Don’t be so mean. No one’s around, Gage. It’s just us.”
He closed the distance between them and grabbed her chin. “How pathetic are you? In what world would I want you here? You weren’t invited.”
A nearby lantern cast their faces in dim light, and I saw her full mouth curve into a sultry grin. “I can have anyone I want, Gage. It was child’s play getting a date to this thing.”
“Like I said,” he growled, letting go of her chin in a move that bespoke of frustration. “Five minutes, Katherine. If you used our son to lure me out here—”
“You can’t take her into the circle,” she said, her voice rising in desperation. “It was supposed to be me!” She dropped to her knees and kissed his black dress shoes.
I chewed on my fist, swallowing vile hatred because the bitch was laying her nasty lips on what was mine. Those were my feet to kneel at. My shoes to kiss. I clenched my hands so tightly they cramped, but my gaze…I was transfixed, lost in the scene unfolding, like one would watch a horror film.
He stepped back, arms crossed, mouth in a scowl. “Get up. You’re only embarrassing yourself.”
“Please, Mr. Channing.”
“Don’t you dare ‘Mr. Channing’ me! She is my wife. When will you get that through your thick skull?”
Katherine lifted her head, but instead of the submissive pose I’d expected her to take—the one I adopted every fucking day—she sneered at him, her hands forming tight balls at her sides.
“Fine,” she snapped. “She can be your wife all she wants. Little Miss Perfect with the adorable daughter and a penchant for scrubbing your house and serving your meals, but we both know you need more than that. I can give you what you need, baby.”
“You never gave me what I needed. Why do you think I broke it off after a few months?”
His words blasted a hole in my heart, and I almost threw up on the spot. Rage simmered in my gut, heading for a full-on boil, and only closing my eyes and counting to ten kept the vomit at bay. He’d been fucking her.
For months.
I stepped forward, my thirst for a confrontation blazing an inferno in my veins, but he spoke before I exited the cover of shadows.
“Katherine, seriously, get up. What we had meant nothing. Hell, it was years ago. You need to move the fuck on.”
“Like you were able to move on from her?”
“That’s different.”
“No, it’s not, and I know you want me. Deep down, you know it’s true. Why else would you have called me down to your basement?”
“That was about her. It had nothing to do with you.” Leaning down, he grabbed a chunk of her hair. “I will not repeat myself. Get the fuck up.”
She struggled to her feet, and he instantly let go of her. “After the shit you pulled last week, you’re lucky I don’t go after full custody. Your behavior makes me question how fit you are to be a mother to Conner.”
She smirked at him. “You’re just pissed because I forced your wife to face her past in that hotel room.” Planting her hands on her hips, she cocked her head. “The photo I sent you was nothing. They were all over each other.”
That was it. I stormed from my hiding spot, and her face stopped my out-of-control fist. She covered her cheek, eyes wide. In my periphery, I registered Gage’s equally stunned silence, stowing that rare expression away in the dregs of my mind to process later.
“Thank you for that,” I told Katherine, forcing my voice on an even keel. “With these damn pregnancy hormones, I never know when my fist might go flying.” I held my right hand up and contracted my fingers. “The thing has a mind of its own sometimes.”
Slowly, she dropped her hand, and I was way too fucking pleased to see red smarting across her skin. Her face wasn’t so perfect anymore.
“Wh…what?” Her eyes grew wider if that were possible. Two blue pools of utter disbelief—though whether from the punch I’d landed or from my pregnancy announcement, I didn’t know. And I didn’t care.
Planting my fist in Katherine Mitchell’s face had felt…way too satisfying.
She turned incredulous eyes on Gage. “Are you seriously going to let her assault the mother of your child?”
I stepped forward before he could answer, invading her space. “You’re nothing but a lying bitch, jealous over what you can’t have,” I said, meeting her glare head-on. “You think you’re a special snowflake because you gave birth to his child?”
Something ugly took over me—maybe my own version of jealous and possessive woman—but I felt my lips curl into a nasty smile.
“You keep forgetting one vital fact. You’re just the baby mama.
But me?” I lifted an elated brow. “I’m his wife and the mother of his unborn child, so I guess that makes me the winner here, sweetie. ”
She stumbled back, and only then did I realize that I’d inched forward with each verbal strike to the bullseye of her venomous core. I would have kept on pushing, refusing to back down until the bitch fell flat on her ass, but Gage grabbed my shoulders.
“Come on, Kayla. She’s not worth it, and this stress isn’t good for the baby.”
I knew he was right, but hell, I wanted to keep going at her until not a trace of her claim on my husband remained.
“If you’re not gone in five minutes,” Gage told her, “I’ll send security after you.” He veered me in the direction of the estate, and I caught a glimpse of something dark passing over her face, settling into the depths of her eyes.
The promise of payback.
She might be down this round, but she fully intended to dig her claws into what was mine….one way or another. Beneath the mask of momentary defeat lived an irate woman who issued a silent challenge.
Game on.