CHAPTER 7
Greg
Of course, the one day I promise Melissa that I won’t do anything work related, I get a call from Axel about an issue at the office. A damn ‘issue’ is the last thing I want to deal with today, especially knowing that it more than likely has to do with Mrs. Hutchins, our newest and most aggravating client.
Mrs. Hutchins first came to us about a month ago, convinced that her older husband was sleeping with every female around. She calls constantly. She stops by the office daily. There isn’t a damn thing we can say to convince the woman that her husband is very much faithful. She doesn’t believe it. I’m starting to get the impression that she is only comes around because she has her eyes on Asher.
During the first meeting we took with her, she all but offered to pay Axel and me to sleep with her. Even if I weren’t the happiest damn married man around, there isn’t a check large enough that would convince me to sleep with her. She has something evil scratching the surface, and I want that as far away from me as possible.
If only Asher could see things the same way. I know that he hasn’t yet, but he’s thinking about it, and I know that if he sinks into that woman, she will leave him with something he can never wash off.
Shaking off the creepy-as-hell feeling Mrs. Hutchins always leaves me with, I jog up the stairs in search of my wife. I can hear her and Cohen’s laughter coming out of our bedroom and head that way.
“Why do my angels have a party when they’re still in your belly? They can’t open any presents when they’re in your belly. Do you think we’ll get cake? I love cake. Will Dilbert be there?”
I smile, walk over to Melissa, and wrap my arms around to rest against her swollen belly as Cohen continues his random questioning.
He finally stops talking and jumps off the bed. Without even a word, he takes off running out the bedroom door.
Melissa and I both laugh at the tornado that is Cohen Cage. Damn, I love that kid.
“Sometimes I wonder if he just talks because he likes the sound of his voice. You know, almost every time he starts on his twenty questions, they end in him running off without even having one answer.”
I laugh because she isn’t wrong. But Cohen is a boy full of energy, and if asking a million questions and fighting imaginary villains is what it takes, then hey, I can work with that.
Melissa turns with her smile beaming. I thought I was being careful to mask my expression, but she must have noticed that my mood was off because her smile slips and she looks at me with wide, hopeful eyes.
“Beauty . . .” I start.
“Don’t you Beauty me, Greg. You promised you would make it clear to Axel that you weren’t doing anything work related today. It’s my baby shower, and while I know this isn’t something you have any interest in attending, it means something to me. Everyone is excited. Cohen is through-the-roof excited. And I was excited until I realized that you’re not going to be there.”
She takes a breath, but before she can continue, I interrupt her. “Melissa, if it were any other client, I wouldn’t even think about it. I need this woman taken care of before our girls get here. Axel can’t deal with her alone, Beck can’t deal with her at all, and Asher isn’t allowed to deal with her. With Maddox gone, it’s only me.” I lean my forehead against hers and take a deep breath. “She’s one of our highest-paying clients, Melissa, and even though we live a comfortable life, I can’t help my worries with our girls coming. We’re going from a family of three to one of five overnight.”
Her face softens and her eyes lose their wounded look. I know she wants me there—hell, I want to be there—but I’m not lying.
“It’s that terribly nasty trophy wife, isn’t it?”
She may think she has me fooled with that bored tone, but I know she and the other girls secretly plot ways to make Mrs. Hutchins disappear.
“Yeah, Beauty. It’s her.” I brace for it because I know it’s coming.
“I hate that plastic, home-wrecking, troll-trotting, skank bitch,” she seethes.
She isn’t unjust with her hatred either. Between her, Izzy, and Dee, each of them has witnessed her attempt at getting their men to stray. We joke about it, because they know we would never even think about it, but when it comes down to it, we all want her out of our lives.
“I know, and you aren’t alone. We agreed a few weeks ago that we wouldn’t take meetings with her alone anymore. She threw herself at Beck, which is why he flat-out refuses to even be near her. Asher is out of town so he can’t help. It’s just me, and baby, as much as I hate it, I can’t let Axel deal with her alone.”
She nods her head in understanding, “I know. I get it, I really do, but that doesn’t mean I like it.” She hugs me close, and I rest my chin on the top of her head.
“I’ll be there before you even open your first gift or play your first game. Promise.”
She smiles, though it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “I know you will. Now, go get Cohen dressed, please. No rain boots with shorts though!”
After getting Cohen dressed and waiting until Melissa was finally ready to go, I helped her buckle Cohen into her car before pulling her into my arms and giving her a deep kiss.
“Before the first gift, I’ll be there,” I remind her, hating that I’m letting her down, even just a little.
“I know,” she smiles. “I’m not upset, I just wish you didn’t have to go. I love you and everything you do for us. Missing a baby shower really isn’t a big deal. I’m sorry I made you feel bad earlier, but my hormones are all over the place.” She laughs, and the blush she seemed to adopt when she got pregnant spreads across her cheeks.
“I love you and your crazy hormones.”
She smiles and gives me another deep kiss. “I love you, too.” Laughing, she folds herself awkwardly behind the wheel.
I make a mental note to go straight to the dealership before the week ends and get her the minivan we’ve been talking about for a while now.
* * *
“But, Greg, isn’t there something else you can do? I just know that Harry is sleeping with that woman. I saw the way she looked at him. There is no way that a woman who hasn’t seen him naked would look at him like that.”
“It’s Mr. Cage, Mrs. Hutchins, and as Mr. Reid has gone over with you already, there is no evidence that points to any infidelity on your husband’s behalf. We’ve been watching him closely since the day you walked into our office for the first time. There hasn’t been a single grain of proof that we could even offer to you. I’m positive that this is a good report, correct?”
We’ve been playing this game for the last thirty minutes. I keep checking my watch, knowing that Melissa should be at the country club that the girls are using to host her shower by now. If I plan on keeping true to my promise, I need to get this woman out of our building as soon as possible.
“Oh, don’t be silly, Greg. I told you to call me Alison,” she purrs. Literally purrs. Axel rolls his eyes from his perch across the room. He’s about to blow, and I’m not far behind him.
“Mrs. Hutchins, how about this? We will put the cameras back up inside your home as well as his office for another two weeks and then reevaluate at the end of that time?”
She instantly brightens when I confirm that we aren’t cutting her loose. Shit. Axel’s going to flip.
“Darling, that is just perfect.” She makes a move to touch my arm and I pull back roughly.
After another five minutes of bullshit, she finally agrees to a time for us to come and reinstall the equipment in her home. Another pain in the ass, but this time I wouldn’t make the mistake of showing up alone.
“Swear to Christ, I’m ready to just say to hell with the ridiculous amount of money she’s paying us and cut her loose. She’s like a fucking parasite.”
I laugh at Axel and flip the lock on the front door. “Give her another two weeks of babysitting her monk of a husband and that’s it. If I weren’t in a rush to get to the baby shower the girls are throwing Melissa, I wouldn’t have even given her that.”
Axel follows behind as I make my way down the hallway and into my office to grab my keys and the files I need to go over at home tomorrow for the upcoming week.
“You aren’t telling me anything I don’t know. Izzy almost took off my head when I told her I would be late for the shower,” he laughs, palming his keys and following me out the door. “That woman actually offered to ‘service’ me before you showed up. It’s a shame it isn’t the husband who hired us. Wouldn’t even take five minutes before we had a stack full of proof.”
“Pain in the ass. That’s all she is. But right now, I couldn’t care less,” I chuckle, pausing my steps off the sidewalk when my phone starts ringing. My brow pulls tight when Axel’s own cell starts ringing too. “Popular, I guess.”
He snorts and we both pull our phones out.
“Izzy,” he smiles.
Looking down and seeing Dee’s name across my screen has my stomach dropping. I can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right as I stare at Dee’s smiling face on my phone.
I swipe my thumb across the screen to answer, but before I can speak, I notice Axel’s look of pure terror as he stands a few feet in front of me with his phone pressed against his ear.
That look alone is enough to have my body locking tight in stone-cold fear. Something is definitely very wrong.
“Cage,” I answer almost robotically.
“Greg! Oh, God. Greg . . .” She starts sobbing, and it takes every ounce of strength in my body to keep myself up and not crumpled into a mess on Sway’s golden sidewalk.
“Dee,” I gasp. There’s a simple reason for her to be upset. I’m sure it’s nothing.
“Hold . . . hold on. Let me . . .—let me put Beck on.” Her words wobble and her breath hitches a few times before I hear Beck take the phone.
“Listen to me, brother.”
I nod my head even though I know he can’t see me. My whole body is about to shut down. I just look at Axel and beg him to make my fears unwarranted. His normally tan skin is pale, and his eyes are concerned and . . . full of agony.
NO! No, oh God . . . NO!
“Greg, I’m going to tell you something and I want you to keep your shit together, no matter how hard this is going to be. Axel’s ready to help you. Let him.”
“Just say it,” I plead.
“There was an accident, Greg. Melissa and Cohen . . . Jesus, Cohen was taken by ambulance to the hospital. From what little I was able to get from one of the first responders on the scene, he’s not badly injured.”
I close my eyes. I know that my son is okay, but that relief is short-lived when I realize he’s stopped talking and hasn’t mentioned how my very pregnant wife is.
“John Beckett, you tell me right now that my wife, my fucking heart, is okay. Tell me right now that Melissa, Cohen, and my girls are okay!” I don’t even attempt to wipe the tears that are falling down my face. Axel clamps his arm down on my shoulder, offering his support.
“She had to be airlifted out, Greg. You need to let Axel get you to the hospital as soon as you can. It . . . it doesn’t look good.”
I drop the phone, hearing it shatter against the sidewalk, and it isn’t until I’m sitting in Axel’s truck while he speeds down the interstate that I realize those terrifying wails I hear are coming from me.