Uncaged

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.”

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