Chapter Eleven
They had lunch at the diner, Sue munching her way through a cheeseburger and loaded fries. She was just finishing her milkshake when Ty walked in, holding the door open for an attractive dark haired young woman.
“Who is that?” Sue asked quietly, motioning towards the entrance with a nod of her head.
“That’s Shelly, the receptionist at the clinic,” Kelsey replied, watching them walk up to the counter. It was obvious, even to Kelsey, that the girl was standing far closer to Ty than was necessary.
Sue arched her brows and stared as Ty bent down to listen to what Shelly was saying.
“I don’t like this, Kels, I really don’t,” Sue said under her breath. “I can spot a player a mile away.”
“Are you suggesting Ty is a player?” Kelsey gasped back.
“No, I’m just saying that girl is interested in a lot more than a job. You better be careful. She wouldn’t be the first woman to set her sights on the guy who signs her paycheck.” Giving a loud, fake cough, Sue managed to attract Ty’s attention and he immediately made a beeline for Kelsey.
“How’s my girl?” he asked, sliding into the booth next to Kelsey and giving her a kiss. “I didn’t know you were coming into town today. Are you doing anything special or just came in for lunch?”
“Nothing special,” Kelsey replied, smiling nervously. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to pick up lunch and Shelly asked if she could ride over with me,” Ty replied smiling.
“Doesn’t she have a car?” Sue asked smoothly, dodging Kelsey’s kick under the table.
“I guess she does, I didn’t really think about it”, Ty replied, surprised at the question.
“Well, maybe you should, you know, think about it,” Sue suggested, looking straight into his eyes.
Ty glanced from Kelsey to Sue and back again, slightly unclear what she meant. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Shelly approach the booth, a smile on her face that looked a touch forced.
“Shelly, you know my fiancée, Miss Reed. This is Susan Shaughnessy.”
“Susan, Kelsey,” Shelly nodded, immediately reducing them to her level.
“Still no ring on your finger I see,” she observed smiling sweetly at Kelsey.
“I guess I’ll have to give Ty, I mean Dr. McCarthy, a talking to about the proper behaviors of a fiancé.
Nothing is really set in stone until there’s a ring and a date is it, and sometimes not even then.
Well, we better get back, Ty. Don’t forget Mrs. Lockwood is bringing her Doberman in this afternoon and you know how he terrorizes everyone in the waiting room,” she said, lightly touching Ty’s shoulder.
“I guess you’re right,” Ty said as he stood and bent to kiss Kelsey good bye, lingering at her lips for a moment. Sue watched the expression on Shelly’s face when his back was turned. It was pure, unadulterated envy and she didn’t bother to conceal it.
“Bye Sue, tell Marcus to give me a call later will you?” Ty headed to the counter to pick up their order, with Shelly following close behind.
“Sure, Ty,” Sue replied sweetly. “Oh Shelly,” she called.
Kelsey watched as the girl turned and sauntered back to the table.
“What is that marvelous scent you’re wearing?” Sue asked with a gush. “Dog Piss #5?”
Shelly’s mouth dropped as Kelsey’s milk shot out of her nose.
“Sue,” she choked, “what are you…”
“Shut up, Kels,” Sue ordered, fixing the other girl with a glare.
“I know what you’re planning and I’m here to tell you it’s a very bad idea.
If you do anything, and I mean anything at all to hurt my friend,” she continued indicating Kelsey, “Mrs. Lockwood’s Doberman will seem like a new born kitten next to me. Do I make myself clear?”
“Are you threatening me?” Shelly demanded.
“Yup,” she snapped back. Picking up her shake, she snapped the straw between her teeth; her eyebrow raised in challenge.
“Look you redheaded bitch,” Shelly ground out between her teeth.
“I’ll do whatever the hell I want. Until Ty has a wedding ring on his finger he’s fair game, and maybe even after that,” she sneered.
“If a woman can’t hang onto her man, it’s not my fault,” she tossed back over her shoulder giving Kelsey a pitying look as she walked away.
Sue almost dove out of the booth, but Kelsey pulled her back using all her strength.
“I just want to talk to her,” Sue growled, trying to break free.
“No!” Kelsey insisted. “You need to talk to me,” she pleaded, all of her earlier joy wiped from her eyes.
“I don’t know how to cope with this. Oh Sue, I had a bad feeling about her the minute I met her, but I couldn’t explain it.
At least now I know why. What am I going to do? ” she asked with a sniffle.
“Don’t worry about it, Kels. If Ty loves you, everything will be all right,” Sue promised, although she didn’t believe a word of it.
Oh, she believed Ty loved Kelsey, but he was no match for the manipulative threat Shelly presented.
“I mean it,” she repeated, “I don’t want you worrying about this.
I’ll talk to Marcus and see what he thinks.
Just don’t get all sad on me; we were having so much fun today. ”
“You’re right, Ty loves me. Maybe he will let her go if I ask him too. I’m not going to be able to stand the thought of her rubbing up against him all day.”
“Don’t do anything until I talk to Marcus, okay? He’s a smart guy and he knows his brother better than anyone else. He’ll know how to handle this,” Sue assured her.
The girls paid the check and headed out, stopping at several shops to check out the local wares.
After Sue dropped Kelsey off at home, she thought about how to approach Marcus without sounding like she was sticking her nose in and tattling on his brother.
No good ideas came to mind and she decided to just wing it.
As it turned out, she needn’t have worried.
Marcus was yelling for her as soon as she walked in the door.
“Red, get your butt in here,” he shouted from his office.
“You bellowed?” Sue replied dryly, flinging her purse on his desk and dropping into an over-stuffed chair.
“I didn’t know you were going into town for lunch today,” he stated calmly, getting up from his chair and walking around to the front of his desk. He extended his long legs in front of him as he leaned against it, arms folded over his chest.
“What, did the food police call?” she asked, draping one leg over the arm of the chair and swinging it. God she hated ugly flat shoes, she thought, trying to ignore Marcus’s attitude.
“No, Ty called,” he growled.
“How nice, guess I don’t have to ask you to call him later then,” she smiled.
“Red,” Marcus asked, running his hand through his hair. “Did you threaten that girl?”
“What girl?”
“Don’t play games with me Red, you know what girl. Ty said his receptionist cried all afternoon after you scared her.”
“I’ll just bet she did,” Susan snorted.
“You cannot go around threatening people,” Marcus stated, his hands now on his hips as he scowled at her.
“Why not?” she shot back, inspecting her nails.
“Because eventually someone is going to kick your beautiful little Irish ass,” he growled, covering the distance between them quickly and plucking her out of the chair.
Keeping his hands on her shoulders he gave her a small shake.
“In case you’ve forgotten, that ass belongs to me, and the only one kicking it, in any way, better be me. ”
“I can take care of myself,” she insisted, struggling to get away and failing miserably.
“So you say,” he shot back with an evil grin as he pulled her towards the desk, his intentions clear.
Sue tried to dig her heels in and stop her forward motion to no avail.
“See, this is exactly why I need heels,” she shouted in defiance.
Marcus propelled her over the desk, picking up her hips and raising them until her feet dangling helplessly as she braced herself for the first stinging swat.
“Ok, you can spank me if you want to,” she yelled in anger, “but that’s not going to help your brother or Kelsey.”
Marcus paused for a moment before lifting her back up and setting her on her feet in front of him.
“What are you talking about?” he demanded.
“I’m talking about that girl being after him as though he were the last piece of beef at an all you can eat buffet,” she spat out.
“How do you know that?”
Sue rolled her eyes so dramatically Marcus laughed and picked her up until they were eye to eye.
“All right you have about twenty seconds to explain yourself,” he ordered. “Spill it.”
It took about five minutes to give him all the information he needed, and by that time she was nestled on his lap in the chair.
“How’s Kelsey handling all this?” he asked, absently rubbing her ass.
“Nervous and tearful,” Sue replied, stroking his cheek as she sat up.
“Oh Marcus, you should have seen her this morning, so happy and hopeful. I wanted to slap that bitch just for stealing that joy away from her. It was the first time since I met her that she actually acted like she had a future. So,” she demanded, crossing her arms and pinning him with her eyes, “what are you going to do about it?”
“I don’t know, what do you think?” he asked, stumped.
“Well, I’d like to sneak into town, find out where she lives and at least flatten the tires on her car so she could beg a ride off someone else. After that I could key it with the word…”
“No!” Marcus roared, half horrified and half admiring her bravado.
“Well then, what do you suggest? Ty already bought the whole ‘poor me’, story that she gave him this afternoon. Shortly he will be home questioning our Kelsey who didn’t have a thing to do with it, but will probably lie to save my butt, which will make everything worse.”
“I’m not sure you’re giving Ty enough credit,” Marcus told her thoughtfully.
“You didn’t see that girl in action. She’s determined and didn’t scare easily, which really pisses me off, now that I think about it,” she replied with a frown.
“And you’re used to being able to intimidate people aren’t you, Red?”