Rolling over in bed, I reached my hand out for Kay, forgetting that she wasn’t there. I cracked my eye open just to make sure that she wasn’t in the room, because she had a tendency to go and sit on the chair and stare out of the window.
I’d hardly slept last night; all I could hear were Kay’s cries. Not being able to get to her killed me, several times I’d debated on breaking her door down. I’d managed to talk myself out of it but that didn’t stop me from sitting on the other side of the door.
It was my fault; she must have heard me lose it with Kitty last night. I couldn’t believe what she had done, her bitchy tone and face told me enough. There was no way that Kay would have told her that she had to leave and Kitty knew that.
She was pushing it. Something was clearly going on with her, and any other time I’d have been there for her to talk to but I had so much on my plate, I didn’t have time for all of her petty bullshit. And I certainly wasn’t gonna put up with her upsetting Kay.
When the sun started to come up, I decided to go to bed and now all I’d had was a few hours’ sleep. Looking around the room, trying to figure out what woke me up, I saw the door handle turn and Eli’s face pop through the gap.
“Ty?”
I sat up, scrubbing my hands down my face. “Yeah, bud?” I didn’t want him to see any of this, as far as he was concerned, everything was good. At least, that’s what I wanted him to think. The reality of it was, things were going far from good. My team were falling apart.
Always having one of us off the compound was affecting the whole team and now this thing with Kitty was just adding to the strain.
“Mama’s crying again,” he said, looking down at the floor. His hair was sticking up in all directions and his spider-man teddy dangled from his hand and onto the floor.
“I know, bud.” Smiling sadly, I patted the bed beside me and waved him in. “Come here.”
He ran over and jumped up onto the bed, slipping in beside me and leaning his head on the same pillow that Kay slept on. This was the first time in so long that we hadn’t slept in the same bed and I hated it. It didn’t feel right, not having her next to me.
“I don’t like it when she cries,” he whispered, turning his sad green eyes to me.
“Me neither, bud.” He fidgeted on the bed, looking up at me before turning away. “What’s up?” I raised a brow.
“I just don’t want mama to get sad again.” He shrugged.
A lump formed in my throat. I knew how he felt and I’d noticed her pulling away from all of us again. She liked to hide her emotions; putting up a wall, she did it well. But I could see past them. I had since that very first day; I saw all of the pain that she was feeling, that she carried around with her on a daily basis.
I didn’t want to see her back in that head space again, and whether I liked to think it or not, it was partly my fault. Serena being back didn’t make things any easier and I knew that Kay still had nightmares about that sick fuck.
“I’ll make sure she doesn’t, okay?” I said, ruffling his hair.
“Promise?” He turned back to me with hope in his eyes.
“Promise.” I nodded.
“Okay.” He held his hand out and said, “You gotta shake on it. Uncle Luke says that when men make a deal, you have to shake on it.”
Chuckling, I placed my hand in his, my large hand encasing his small one. “Well, if Uncle Luke says it then it must be true.”
“Yep!”
“How about this?” I asked. “Shall we get ready and get some pancakes before preschool? Give mama a lie in?”
“Yeah!” He threw his fist in the air and jumped off the bed.
“You get dressed and I’ll meet you in the bathroom for wash and teeth. Yeah?”
“Okay!” He jumped down, running off as fast as his little legs could take him, completely forgetting about his spider-man teddy.
Maybe that was all she needed? To just get some extra sleep? All I knew was that she was going to tell me what was going on inside that head of hers. She couldn’t keep it all locked up inside of her.
That shit didn’t do anybody any good.
After eating the biggest stack of pancakes each, we both waddled to the car with full stomachs. Maybe I shouldn’t have let him each that much? I just didn’t have the heart to tell him not to eat all that he wanted. I knew food wasn’t a substitute but if he wanted to eat his weight in pancakes then I wasn’t gonna stop him.
I dropped Eli off at preschool and started the drive back to the compound. Pressing the buttons on the steering wheel, I dialed Luke’s number.
“Boss?” he answered.
“Come back to the compound.” I stopped at some lights and waited.
“No one has taken the shift over yet.”
“Yeah, I know. We’re gonna look into a different route. It ain’t good to always have one of us off the compound.”
“Has something happened?” he asked, his voice becoming deeper.
The lights changed and I drove forward, debating what to actually say to him. I didn’t want to sugar coat it but, at the same time, I didn’t want him knowing mine and Kay’s business. His past made him able to connect with Kay and understand her in a way that I was afraid I never would.
I scrubbed my hand down my face and blew out a frustrated breath.
“It’s too much,” I started. “I don’t know what’s going on with Kitty, some shit went down last night and I came home to Kay locked in her room.”
“The fuck?” I heard his car start in the background. “She okay?”
“Kitty? Fuck knows. I ain’t seen her since I told her to get out of my house.”
“No,” he growled. “Kay?”
“Fuck!” I turned onto the road that led to the compound. “She’s still in her room. She barricaded herself in.”
“Shit,” Luke said under his breath. “This ain’t good.”
“Your fuckin’ tellin’ me.” I pressed the button to open the gates and drove on through. “We need to get together as a whole team and sort all this shit out.”
“Yeah, Boss. I’m on my way.”
I pressed the end call button as I parked my truck, then jumped down and heard a car pull up to the gates as I was about to go into the warehouse. Moving closer so I could see who it was, I groaned. I recognized that car.
I looked over at the house, hoping that Kay was still in her room because she didn’t need to see this.
I stomped to the gate, my hands clenched into fists at my sides. What the hell did she think she was doing here?
“What the fuck are you doin’ here, Serena?” I growled.
“Ah, Ty Ty.” She smiled, walking closer to the gates and wrapping her hands around the bars. “You gonna let me in?”
“Hell to the fuckin’ no.” Stepping back, I crossed my arms over my chest and watched her.
“It’s important,” she cooed, fluttering her eyelashes at me.
“Yeah? You have my divorce papers signed?” I raised a brow.
“Ah, don’t be like that, Ty Ty.” She scowled, but schooled her features quickly. Any other person wouldn’t have seen it. Me? I saw that shit and I hated it.
She was dressed impeccably; suit dress and jacket to match with shoes so high that I wondered how she could even walk on the things. She pouted, probably thinking that would work on me like it used to.
She was wrong, I was immune to that now. Looking back, I couldn’t believe I’d fell for all that fake bullshit. I was a complete sucker. Now my eyes were open to her and all of her persuasive ways. There was no way that I’d be falling for any of that. Not this time.
“You ain’t stepping foot on my property,” I gritted out.
“Well, technically, it’s half mine.” She smirked. I clenched my jaw, trying my hardest not to say anything.
When she saw that I wasn’t going to respond to her, she stomped her foot and leaned back. “Why are you doing this!” she screeched, gripping her hair.
That was the Serena I remembered, the one who had no patience and always wanted things to go her way. Hearing the crunch of gravel behind me, I turned and watched as Evan and Kitty came to stand either side of me.
“Go away, Serena,” Evan huffed.
“Ah, Evan! Tell Ty to let me in. I have some really important information.”
“Yeah?” Kitty asked, stepping forward. “And what would that be? Huh?”
“It’s about Daley,” she said, looking over at me.
I squinted my eyes at her, not knowing whether to believe what she was saying. My eyes flicked to the house and then to Evan.
“She’s still in there, boss,” he whispered.
Closing my eyes, I tried to decide what to do. Letting her on the compound could upset Kay and after last night, I didn’t want to make things worse. But if she did have information about Daley, information that could help the case, then it was worth bringing her onto the compound.
The sound of another car had my eyes opening. Luke stuck his head out of the window and I could see the fire in his eyes from here.
“What’s that bitch doing here?”
Serena whipped her head around to Luke and gasped. “Are you going to let him talk to me like that, Ty Ty?”
Chuckling, I stepped forward. “Yep.” Her hand flew to her chest but I knew it was all an act.
“You come in, tell us what you know and then you leave,” I told her, making sure she knew that I was dead serious.
“But-”
“No,” I ground out. “You leave when you’ve told us what you know.” I said turning back to the warehouse.
“Clear the wall,” I said in a low voice to Evan. She didn’t need to know what we knew, after all, I still didn’t trust her.
He nodded, and I watched him jog back to the warehouse.
“And Serena?” I turned my face back to her.
“Yes,” she said, pulling her shoulders back and facing me head on.
“You mess us about and you’ll regret it.” Spinning around I walked a few steps and shouted, “Let her in!”
I woke up in a panic, seeing the time on my phone and rushed to push the chair away from my door. I couldn’t believe I’d overslept, I never slept in this late. I hadn’t for the last four years.
“Eli!” I shouted, getting no response. “Ty!”
I ran down the stairs, finding a note on the kitchen counter from Ty telling me that he had taken Eli for pancakes and then to preschool.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I looked around me and out into the garden. The woods calling to me in that way that they always did. Only this time, it was louder than ever before.
Running back up the stairs, I got dressed in my gym clothes, deciding that a walk up to the clearing would do me some good. Grabbing a bottle of water, I pushed out the sliding doors into the back garden, slipping out of the gate at the back and straight into the woods.
I was overthinking everything, I felt like I’d taken three steps forward and five back. I didn’t want to go back to how things were, I didn’t want to be that person again.
I was losing the battle of talking to any of the guys about Serena. It didn’t matter how many times I said it. When it came from me, it looked like nothing but jealousy.
I had to come up with a way to still investigate her without the rest of the guys knowing. I didn’t trust her and there was a reason why my gut was telling me that.
I just had to find out that reason.
The fuzzy head that I had from lack of sleep started to clear as I got closer to the clearing, the fresh air making me feel a million times better than I had.
By the time I came to the clearing, I was sweating but had a smile on my face. I had a plan, a plan that would mean I wouldn’t be seen as the jealous girl.
I needed to put that plan into action, without any of the guys knowing what I was doing.
If the nightmares would stop, that would be even better, but I couldn’t see that happening anytime soon. Every night since that day, I had at least one a night. The only time they seemed to settle was when Ty was next to me. It was partly my own fault for locking myself in my room last night.
Gulping down half of my water, I admired the view from here. The woods a magnificent green, flowers lining the entire clearing. Even with all the equipment that Ty had put up here, the view was still breath-taking.
With one last look, I spun around and headed back down to the house. I was determined to get a start on my plan. The ironic thing was that I knew Ty would be proud of my plan. If only he knew about it.
Coming back through the garden, I slipped into the house and went to go up the stairs when I saw a car pull up outside of the warehouse. Any other time I wouldn’t have bothered to stop, but the obnoxious colored sports car drew my attention. Walking closer to the windows, I watched as Serena stepped out of the car and walked towards the warehouse, Luke following behind her.
My eyes widened at what I was seeing, I couldn’t believe that Ty had let her onto the compound.
I watched as she flicked her long blond hair over her shoulder and lay her hand on Ty’s arm. My nostrils flared and my feet moved forward of their own accord. Before I knew it, my hand was on the door handle.
I stopped, taking stock of what I was doing. I was still in my gym clothes and I looked awful compared to her. If I was going to go and show her that she wasn’t welcome here, then I needed to look bad ass.
My lips lifted into a smirk as I spun around and ran up the stairs. Yeah, it may have been childish but that was the way women like her worked. It was the only way I’d be able to get through to her and to be honest, I’d have fun doing it.
Taking the braid out of my hair, I curled it with my straighteners and applied a small amount of makeup. Not much, I didn’t want to overdo it like she did but I still wanted a little on. Pulling out the tightest pair of black skinny jeans I could find, I wrestled them up my legs and lay down on the bed to do the button up. Slipping my combat boots on, I then riffled through my wardrobe for the tank tops that Ty had ordered for me and Kitty. Opening a new one, I pulled it over my head.
Grabbing my belt, I clipped it on and looked in the mirror.
I gasped at the woman I saw reflected back at me, she was a totally different person to the one that I saw only a few short months ago.
Her eyes were brighter, her hair shinier, standing tall and looking completely confident. This was the me that I’d fought to become again and I wasn’t letting anyone take her back to that dark place.
Jogging back down the stairs, I placed my hand on the door knob and took a deep breath.
I’d show her what she was dealing with. Wife or no wife, she wasn’t going to worm her way back in here, I wouldn’t let her.