Decker (Torey Hope: The Later Years #1) (23 page)

At a loss for words, Decker simply stared at his cousin for a few moments. When Zach crossed his arms over his chest and quirked an eyebrow, Decker shook his head to clear it and tried to recall why he’d sought Zach out in the first place.

“Do you have a bit? I need to punch something, and I didn’t think my wall would be a good idea. Want to go a few rounds?” Decker inquired hopefully.

“Sure man, I’ve got time. We can punch, talk, or both.” Zach slapped him on the back, almost seeming glad Decker was having issues so as not to have to address his own misstep. That being the huge elephant in the room of Zach being caught with his much younger cousin in what appeared to be a personal and intimate moment.

When both men had changed into their gym shorts, laced up their shoes, and donned their gloves, they walked into the small boxing ring which sat off to the side of the gym facility. With some warm up swings, Zach struck first. Decker, stunned from the sudden punch, gathered his wits and realized that Zach needed this form of therapy right then as much as he did.

Throughout their jabs and crosses, hooks and uppercuts, they bobbed and weaved and they talked heatedly.

“Want to tell me why you had our much younger cousin wrapped in your arms like you wanted to devour her?” A quick jab followed this question from Decker.

“No, I don’t want to talk about it. At all.” Some quick footwork by Zach and he deflected Decker’s next blow. “But, I will remind you that she’s not blood related to me. There’s nothing else to talk about.” And with that, Zach landed a heavy blow to Decker.

“Fair enough, man. For now.” Decker ducked and popped up with an uppercut.

“What’s got you in such a pissy mood?” They took a quick break for a drink and to wipe the sweat from their bodies.

Heading back to the middle of the ring, they went through the motions of boxing while not landing any real punches so that Decker could tell Zach what Smitson had told him about Angela.

Pausing for a moment, Zach rested his arms above his head. “Shit, man, that doesn’t sound good. Not good at all. I mean, we already knew she was crazy with the way she hit my dad and threatened Katie, but this sounds like some serious psycho shit.” Beginning with some light jabs again, the men continued to slog it out.

“So, what are you going to do about Katie?” Zach’s question came with a right cross to Decker’s jaw.

“Nothing I can do right now. If I’m going to keep her safe, I have to keep my distance.” He was immediately defensive and followed with a quick jab cross to Zach’s midsection.

“Are you kidding me right now, man? Angela is a fucking psycho, but keeping Katie away from you isn’t the right thing to do anymore.” Zach stopped throwing punches and looked his cousin straight in the eyes. “I’m not kidding here man. Maybe you thought you were doing the right thing in the beginning, but you need to man up and admit that keeping her away isn’t going to help anyone right now. We need Kendrick back here, Katie needs to be with us, we are her family and friends; she’s good at what she does here at The Center+. I say we bring her back home, circle the wagons, and protect the family and business until Angela screws up and they can arrest her sorry ass.” Zach’s voice had grown heated as he spoke.

“Fuck, man, don’t you think I want to bring her home? But if she comes home, Angela has easy access to her and anyone who is around to protect her. I can’t put people at risk like that.” Decker had begun to pace the ring.

“I call bullshit, Deck. Want to know what I think? I think you realize you screwed up, but instead of just calling it for what it is, you’re trying to control the situation from the backside of it.” When Decker started to defend himself, Zach help up a gloved hand to stop him. “I’m not finished. I also think you’re scared; you know you screwed up with Kate by pushing her away and then by getting so pissed at her and Kendrick. That whole thing about reassessing your relationship when this is all over, that was a total bonehead move; you let your anger speak to her through that, and it didn’t come out well.”

When Decker looked puzzled as to how Zach knew about his misguided words to Kate, his cousin shrugged. “You know the family grapevine is more efficient than those celebrity gossip sites. Anyway, you know you screwed up and now you’re taking the easy way out by keeping her away in the name of protecting her; in reality, you just don’t know how to fix things, you’re not sure you can fix things. So, instead of admitting that your relationship is out of control, you’re clinging to that one shred of control you have left and keeping her away. Not to protect her, but to protect yourself.”

He had barely spoken the last word when his head jerked violently to the side as the deadly powerful punch was delivered from Decker’s glove. Immediately fighting back, Zach ignored the gloves on his fists, and barreled himself into his cousin’s midsection. When his right shoulder plowed into Decker’s abdomen, he heard the air whoosh out of him before they were both on the ground. They rolled around, kicking and punching for a few moments before a voice was heard above them.

“Knock it off, both of you.” Nate Morgan stood, hands on hips, glowering down at his son and nephew. “We have clients, paying customers, here in the building. Could you two stop grappling on the ground and act like you’ve got some common sense?”

Nicky Morgan stood beside his brother. “I don’t like seeing my son and nephew fight; fighting makes me sad. Why are you guys mad at each other?”

Wiping sweat from his eyes and a trickle of blood from his nose, Decker yanked off his boxing gloves and refused to answer his uncle.

Licking the blood which seeped from his busted lip, Zach laughed in disgust, “He’s mad because I called him on his bullshit and the truth hurts.” Pulling his own gloves off, he jabbed a finger at Decker’s chest. “Fix this shit, man. Angela is crazy no matter what; I’d rather have family all together, ready to fight and protect each other, rather than have us spread out. Bring her home man.”

Decker pushed his cousin’s finger away from his chest and lunged at him. “Decker, stop.” Nate held his son back from continuing the brawl that Decker so badly wanted to see to the end.

“Zach, go hit the showers. You two need to cool off; I know you’ll work this out, but no more fighting for now.” Nate spoke to his nephew while he kept an eye on Decker.

Zach shook his head and gave Decker one final look, and walked away to take a shower.

Nicky spoke quietly to Decker. “You’ll do the right thing, you always do. Ever since you were a little boy, you’ve had a hard time admitting when you were wrong, but you always come around and do the right thing.” Nicky delivered his subtle blow and advice all in a few soft-spoken words before he turned to leave.

Leaning against the ropes, Decker felt his body sag as heavily as his heart. Dropping to the ground, he let his head fall between the knees he had pulled up to his chest. He felt rather than saw his dad lower himself to sit beside him.

“So, does everyone think I’ve totally screwed this up?” Decker’s muffled question sounded from between his knees.

“Decker, everyone loves you and thinks you were doing what you thought was best.” Nate spoke surely.

“But?” Decker knew there was more.

“But, we also know that sometimes our first reaction to things isn’t always the right one or sometimes our plans need to be changed when the situation changes.” Nate delivered his words diplomatically.

“Zach says I’m scared to bring Kate home for fear I’ve messed things up with her too badly by acting like I wasn’t sure where things would stand with us when this was all over.” Decker hated repeating those words.

“Are you?” A simple question from his dad.

Decker took a moment to gather his thoughts. “Yeah, I guess I am. I just wanted her to be safe and for all of this to be over. I was scared to death when I found out about the threat against her, I was beyond pissed when she and Kendrick put her in a potentially dangerous situation, and I spoke out of anger instead of speaking to her as the woman I love. And, if I’m being honest, I’m afraid I’ve messed things up and we may never get back what we had.”

“Well, you’re never going to know if things are beyond repair until you get her back by your side. Once she’s home, talk to her, admit you were wrong, tell her what you just told me. But let her decide where things stand now instead of taking that control from her like you did in the beginning of this whole mess.” Nate patted his son’s arm and then pushed off the floor, leaving Decker to stew in his own thoughts.

**********

Decker walked into the house he shared with his brother and cousins just as his cell phone rang. “Decker Morgan” he barked into the phone.

It had been a few days since Angela was brought in for questioning, and he’d yet to be able to reach Kate. He knew she was okay; Kendrick had been keeping him updated. His cousin was sleeping at Kate's dad’s house and spending the days with her. There had been nothing suspicious going on, and they didn’t expect there to be since Mr. Turner probably wouldn’t be on Angela’s radar. Kendrick reported to Decker a couple times a day. Kate was sad, she was angry, she was bored, she wanted to come back home, she wanted this to all be over. Decker wanted to put his hands through the phone screen and wring Kendrick’s neck when his cousin sent a snapshot of Kate pulling on a pair of yoga pants. The caption, “Today’s underwear of choice is a beautiful teal and matches perfectly with the bra she has on” had Decker seeing red. He called Kendrick.

“What man, I thought you wanted to know everything about her days. Yesterday was pink. She’s got a purple pair she hasn’t worn yet.” Kendrick just laughed as his cousin cursed him.

“Fucker, stop looking at her underwear and stop taking pictures of my girl’s ass.” Decker knew Kendrick meant no harm and was simply trying to get a rise out of him; it worked.

“Your girl? Really?
Is
she your girl?” Kendrick taunted.

“Shut up. I’ve been through this with Zach and my dad already. I messed up man, I get it. I just want to give it a little longer to see what Angela does, then I’ll let her come home.” Decker noticed the tsk, tsk, tsk from his cousin.

“Man, first you better hope she’ll speak to you. She seems to be getting angrier each day we’re here. Second, you better rephrase that ‘let her come home’ bullshit; that’s one of the things that got you in deep shit earlier. You don’t ‘let’ a girl like Katie do anything; you talk to her, you stand beside her, you support her. She wants nothing more than to be on your team, working with you, but you’ve got to stop trying to control everything; she’s your equal, treat her like it.” Kendrick had hung up then, but teased Decker once more with a cleavage snapshot as he ate dinner across the table from Kate that evening.

Now Decker took the phone call from the police department.

“Mr. Morgan, it’s Officer Smitson. There’s been a development in the Angela Ford case. Are you able to speak to me for a moment?”

Decker walked straight to his office, laying down on the couch to hear what the officer had to say. “Of course, Officer Smitson. What developments?”

“Well, it appears that Angela Ford has left town. The eyes we had on her reported that she packed a few boxes and drove off last night. One of our officers discreetly followed her all the way to the bus station. She left her car there and boarded a bus to New York. Upon running the plates of her car, we found it registered to a Robby Thomas who lives in Torey Hope. Mr. Thomas was questioned and says he knew Angela through a mutual friend and had let her borrow his car. The officer checked the records of that bus headed to New York; Angela rode it all the way, never disembarking or switching buses.” Decker had sat upright on the couch to listen to the information Officer Smitson was delivering.

“The second officer who we’d assign to watch Angela checked out her townhouse; it’s completely empty. Not a stitch of clothing, a pillow, or even a random piece of lint was left.” Officer Smitson spoke in a way that lead Decker to believe he was just as shocked by this turn of events as Decker was.

“What do you think this means, Officer?” Decker wanted to be happy that Angela was gone, but it was such a surprising turn of events that he wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Well, I spoke to Dr. Sai. She said it’s unclear to her why Angela would up and leave so abruptly when she obviously doesn’t have a job to return to in New York. Right now the best she can advise is to keep eyes on her. I’ve contacted the PD where she is staying; they’ve got an officer assigned to watch her. If she makes any moves to come back here, we’ll be the first to know. I don’t want to give any false hope, especially since Ms. Ford seems very unpredictable and volatile, but for now it looks like you can breathe a little easier.” Officer Smitson ended the call and Decker sat in stunned silence.

“Katie, can I talk to you for a minute?” She and Kendrick looked up from the TV program neither of them were really watching. She could tell Kendrick was bored out of his mind, as was she, but he refused to leave her alone while she was at her dad’s.

“Kendrick, I’m safe here. You are missing out on all kinds of work; you’ll have a mountain of paperwork and phone calls to return when you get back. What about signups and tryouts for the teams you’re running? Don’t you still have some coaches to hire? I love you, and I love you for what you’re doing, but you don’t have to babysit me.”
She had spoken to him a couple days before.

“Katie, my cousin loves you like I’ve never seen him love anyone except his family. I’m not going to leave you here to wallow and convince yourself that you two are over. We’ll take care of this and get things back to normal. Plus, I like sending Decker texts about your underwear just to piss him off. And, another bonus, when this is all over, I’ll be able to rub it in his face that I was the one here comforting you and spending time with you; I’ll get plenty of mileage out of this little bump in the road.”
Kendrick had kissed the side of her head and turned back to his cell phone where he was happily enjoying her father’s WiFi connection to play games, and probably to torture Decker about the color of her underwear. With any other guy, finding out he was talking about her underwear would have seemed creepy; with Kendrick it just made her shake her head and laugh.

She was surprised when her dad asked to speak to her, but she patted Kendrick on the leg and told him to go do something while she talked to her dad. Kendrick nodded and pulled himself off the couch; keys in hand he returned from the kitchen to kiss her head and strolled out the door after a respectful nod to her father.

“What’s up, Dad?” Katie and her dad had a pretty good relationship. It had hurt when her parents divorced, but as she grew up she realized that they were not a good fit for each other. She wasn’t sure how they had ever thought they were a good fit in the first place. But, in the end, going their separate ways was truly for the best for everyone involved. She spent time with her dad growing up, when he wasn’t on business trips or too busy at work. He was the type of guy who could only focus on one thing at a time; if Katie was at his house for a week in the summer, he took off work (the one week a year he’d take off for non-holiday related activities) and spent every minute with her. But, when he was working, he couldn’t split his time or focus between his daughter and business. It made Katie sad, but she had come to accept him for who he was.

Watching her dad’s face as he spoke now, she wondered if that was also who Decker was. Would he ever be able to split his time and focus between his professional and personal life? Assuming they got back together, although Katie knew what happened when one made assumptions….if they married and had kids one day, would Decker be the type of dad who couldn’t make it to sporting events, was always stuck at the office, never made it home for dinner?

She had lived with that her whole life both when her parents were together and when they split up. She only got her dad’s full focus on holidays and one week in the summer. She didn’t want that for her own children. Painfully, she thought about the rest of Decker’s family. Without a doubt, she knew they would step in and fill the void if Decker couldn’t pull himself from work, and she already loved them for that, but it wouldn’t be the same.

She was a talented, smart, confident woman; if she let her heart lead, she would walk straight back to Decker when this was all over…but, if she let her head lead, she wondered if it would be wise to end things completely. Recalling his words from several nights ago, about seeing where things stood when this was over, she briefly contemplated that maybe Decker had the same thoughts about letting this end before it got too deep. Marriage and kids would complicate things tremendously; she knew those things weren’t on the agenda at the moment, but she didn’t want to bring kids into a situation and have it end the way her parents did.

Her dad must have noticed she was deep in thought because he let her sit and think for several moments before he spoke.

“Katie, I love having you here and you’re welcome anytime for as long as you’d like to stay.” He spoke genuinely, but Katie sensed a ‘but’.

“But?” She smiled softly at her dad. She knew he’d seen her occasional tears and heard her conversations with Kendrick about Decker.

“But…I know you’re missing your job, your mom and grandma, your boyfriend. His cousin seems like a great guy and I really appreciate him being by your side as the police try to take care of this situation, but I know you miss Decker.” He cleared his throat before going on. “Katie, I wish like hell I had realized what a gift I had in my life before I went and threw it all away on my business endeavors. I thought I could have my family and my business; when it became apparent that I couldn’t divide my time, I foolishly chose my business over your mother and you. It breaks my heart that I gave up on that love and the years I could have had with you. Hindsight really is 20/20, and I can see now that I made the wrong choice.” He sighed heavily.

“Dad, I’m sorry you have these feelings. I wish things could be different too, but they can’t be; don’t beat yourself up, we have a pretty good relationship, I’m not scarred for life. Let’s just make the most of what we’ve got and not dwell on the past.” She paused and thought over his words. “Plus, I think maybe your speech would find a better audience with Decker than with me. It’s him who I worry about not being able to divide his time and feeling pressured to choose his business over love. Not pressured by anyone but himself, but pressured all the same. He’s got this crazy need to control everything around him and a notion that everything in life is his responsibility; he doesn’t like the idea of letting people down.” Rubbing hands over her face, she sighed, “I love him, but I’m not sure if it’s enough. I don’t want to end up like you and Mom; if he can’t pick me 100% or truly divide his time between work and love, I may have to admit this needs to end.” A tear threatened to fall from her eye. “The problem is, how will I know if he can or will divide his time until it’s too late? Whew, I think my no-dating status was a lot easier than this falling in love thing is.” She laughed sadly and leaned over to hug her father. “Thanks, Dad. I love you.”

Kendrick had pulled back into the driveway while they were talking, but he continued to sit in his car talking on the phone. Katie walked to the door and waved him in. As he bounded up the steps, he wore a huge smile. Pulling her into a hug, he spun her around. “We’re going back to Torey Hope, girl! Angela left and the police think it’s reasonably safe for you to come home.”

**********

A few hours later, after packing up and saying goodbye to her father, Kendrick and Katie drove in relative silence. She was thrilled to be heading home, getting back to work, putting this behind her, but something just wasn’t sitting right with her. She couldn’t decide exactly what was bothering her, but she waffled between Angela’s abrupt departure and the fact that Decker had called Kendrick to tell him they could come back rather than calling her. Both of those things were weighing heavily on her.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Kendrick smiled at her as he drove.

“Why didn’t he call me? This whole time, we’ve all talked about ‘when this is over’ everything will be okay. But, now it’s ‘over,’ and he still hasn’t spoken to me. I guess I’m just scared that too much has happened, and he’s had a moment to pull back on the reigns and get that tight control back, and now he’s going to close in on himself. I love that man, but I hate what he does sometimes. I just get a feeling that I’ll get the ‘let’s just be friends/colleagues’ thing when we actually do talk.” Katie glanced sadly at Kendrick and realized with dread that he was afraid of the same thing.

“You know my cousin very well. Just give it some time.” Kendrick patted her hand and drove on.

**********

Three days. Three days is how long it took before Decker spoke to her as anything but an employee. She had hoped beyond hope that Decker would call her or come over when she and Kendrick got back, but he kept his distance. Keeping her calm and realizing that this time to decompress from the whole Angela thing would probably be good for them, she promised herself she would give things time, let work get back to normal, before addressing things with him. She knew that running back to him the second she arrived home would have been too emotional, and emotions make it hard to have rational conversations.

Emotions were what he was going to get though. Three days! She’d seen the heat in his eyes, the hurt haunted his expression every time he spoke to her about the budget or expense reports or new hires. Decker Morgan was a stubborn asshole and Katie was tired of waiting.

“Mr. Morgan?” She smiled inside when she saw his jaw tick and his body stiffen at the sound of her saying his name that way. “I was hoping to have a business dinner meeting with you tonight. I took the liberty of checking your schedule; you have no plans. I’ve set up reservations at that little Italian place off the courthouse square. I’ll see you at 7:00 p.m.” She smiled genuinely, knowing he was pissed that she was ordering him around.
Yeah, well, I’m tired of you being in charge here. It’s time for you to relax the reigns a bit, bucko.
And if he refused to relax the reigns? Well, his brother and cousins told her to keep at him, but she wondered if she’d be better off just to hand those reigns back over and let him go.

**********

Damn it. Things had gone from bad to worse, and he didn’t know how he’d gotten in the mess he was in. Decker kept telling himself things would be fine once the Angela fiasco was done. But, here he stood, three days since Kate came back home, and he’d not even spoken to her. Well, he’d spoken…but it was more like he’d spoken
at
her, not
to
her. He wanted to go back to the way things were; he wanted his sexy, beautiful, fun girlfriend back as his assistant manager and friend. But, he feared letting go and allowing her back into his life in that capacity. Last time he did that, all hell broke loose. Now, this huge problem was sitting between them, and he didn’t know how to address it. He felt like a stupid high school kid, letting emotions and miscommunication or
total lack of communication
cause this riff between them; pride was a vicious bitch, and he didn’t know how to overcome this.

His body ached to hold her, laugh with her, kiss her. Hearing
Mr. Morgan
on her lips was enough to have him growing hard; having her tell him what to do both pissed him off and turned him on. And now he had a business meeting with her.

Before she had left his office, he’d blurted out, “Can I pick you up for this business meeting?” The longing in her eyes almost did him in; he wanted to cross the room and gather her in his arms and never let go. But he watched her steel herself and shake her head. “No, I’ll meet you there.” Seemed he wasn’t the only one being stubborn.

He pulled his sleek black car into the parking lot at 6:55 p.m. He watched as Kate pulled in as well. She stood from her car, adjusting her gray dress. His eyes traveled down her legs and his gut clenched at the sight of her shiny red shoes. Exiting his car quickly, he strode toward her attempting to look casual. Stopping in front of her, he looked to the ground sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. When he lifted his eyes to hers, he smiled bashfully. “Kate, it’s good to see you, you look gorgeous.” Leaning in, he meant to just place a kiss on her cheek, but his heart and body had other plans. One hand slid around her waist and he found himself pressed hard against her as he breathed in her scent. “God, Bug, I miss you.” He swallowed deeply, took a deep breath as if to fortify himself for what was to come, and kissed her cheek softly.

They turned to enter the restaurant. He reached to hold her hand, but she moved it from him; shaking her head no. He knew she was fighting her feelings, but he also knew she had a motive for this meeting. Upon being seated, Kate excused herself to the restroom and Decker placed an order for wine.

Staring at her reflection in the mirror, Katie attempted to get her breathing under control. Hearing him speak that ridiculous nickname had brought stinging tears to her eyes; feeling his body against hers had shook her to the core. She wanted him and what they had back more than ever, but she needed to make sure he was clear on where she stood.

Returning to the table, Katie gratefully sipped the wine placed before her. After placing their orders, an awkward silence fell over the table.

“Decker, I feel like we slipped off track and instead of righting ourselves we’ve let that one little slip derail us completely. We went from confident, mature, intelligent people in love, to ridiculously immature, ignorant, stubborn people who don’t talk. This dinner isn’t to point fingers or place blame; all of that is water under the bridge and there’s no reason to rehash it.” Sipping her wine, enjoying the sweetness on her tongue, she continued.

“My dad was, is, a lot like you. I watched my mom compete for his attention with his job. He couldn’t divide his focus or his time between the two, so they split up. I could never compete for my dad’s attention when he as working. I spoke to my dad while I was out of town and he floored me by admitting he was wrong; he wishes he had divided his time or chosen my mom and me over his work. It’s too late for him to do that now, but his admission had me thinking about us. I’m not planning marriage and kids right now; heck, I’m not even 100% sure about
us
right now. But, if we work through this issue and decide to make it work, I have to know that you will
always
choose me and our life over your work. I can’t ever think of bringing kids into this life if I’m not assured that their father will always put his focus on them and me before anything in his professional life. You’ll have me on your side at work, I’ll support you and help you run The Center+ like the kickass business it is. But, home and love and family will always come first.” Draining her wine and looking at the hard expression etched on his face, she drew in a deep breath. “If you can assure me of that, then I want to ask that we try to work this out. If you can’t assure me of that, then I want to ask if you think we can still work together; if not, I’ll give my two week notice and begin searching for another job.” Grateful that the waiter took that moment to fill her wine glass and deliver their plates, Katie took another gulp of her wine.