My Mind's Eye (Pub Fiction #1) (33 page)

“No, no, of course, Matt. You tell Claire to go wait outside. Tell her we’re nearly there and not to worry.”

After what feels like the longest drive of my life, I barely get the car in park before I’m through the door of Kat’s house.

Chapter 59

Kat

S
tanding in front of me, Seth is seething, anger radiating from him to the point where his body has a slight tremble. “Kathleen, Happy Valentine’s Day, baby. Will you be mine?” he sneers, and it’s the most revolting words I have ever heard in my life. This person standing in front of me is not the boy I once knew, the boy I thought I loved. I know now what real love is, and it’s what Ryker Eddison gives me on a daily basis. This version of a man is nothing more than a psycho and a stalker. I’m petrified of what his next move will be.

“What’s the matter, whore? Cat got your tongue? You look surprised to see me, Kathleen,” he draws out my name and it’s like nails on a chalkboard. I hate my full name, and this asshole damn well knows it.

“What the hell are you doing here, Seth?”

“It was time I checked in on you. You’ve been a real skank since you’ve moved into this new place. Dancing on bars, spreading your legs for that dick.” He refers to Ryker with disgust in his voice. “Did you get the flowers I sent? Oh yeah, right, you tossed them out in the trash, you ungrateful bitch.”
Holy shit
, is all I can think as the realization hits me. Seth has been watching me for months. My pulse rate starts picking up.
Oh, God, please not now.

“Again, Seth, why are you here? Why aren’t you in Ottawa at school?”

“I dropped out. I needed to come here, fuck school!” he shouts “I came to get what’s mine, sugar, and that’s you,” he says with a smirk and a look of lust in his eyes as he takes in my dress.

“Aww, did you dress up for me? I gotta tell ya, Kat, I fucking love it. I will love it more when it’s in a heaping pile on the floor.” With that, he moves in closer.
Breathe, Kat, just keep breathing.

“Not a fucking chance, asshole,” I mutter more to myself than to him, but of course he hears me. Shit.

“Listen here, you fucking whore. You are mine. You
will
be getting naked and you
will
be begging for me to take you and your slut ways back. You stupid cunt. Did you think I’d let that asshole have what’s mine? Hell the fuck no. I’m back just in time for that shit to stop. I see the way you look at that guy, and I DON’T FUCKING LIKE IT,” he comes up and yells in my face. Stepping back to look down at me, he begins to really lose it, and it’s clear that Seth is not mentally stable at all, and I’m honestly beginning to panic. “I see the way he thinks you’re his. Too fucking bad I’m back now, sweetheart—back for what’s mine, for what will always be mine,” he spits while coming closer to me. I’d like to think he most likely won’t hurt me. He never has before, but I can’t take the chance, so I decide to try and reason with him.

“Seth, please, I’ve told you we’re over. You chose that whore over me.”
Idiot Kat,
I think as the words slip from my mouth. I should keep my stupid comments to myself. The last thing I need to do is piss him off more. Like the stupid person I am, I continue on anyway. “You made that choice, not me. You decided we were done, that I wasn’t enough. You’re the asshole, not me!” With that, he backhands me hard across the face before grabbing me, shoving me up against the fridge. I cry out in shock and pain from the impact of the pressure he’s putting on my body with his own. Suddenly, he’s whispering he’s sorry in my ear, trailing kisses along my jaw and face. I think I’m going to be sick.

“You always smell so sweet, Kathleen. I need you. I’m going to make you forgive me, sweetheart. I’m going to make you remember how good we are.”
No, No, No.
He grips my breasts before he starts sliding his hands down to my ass.

“Please, Seth, don’t do this,” I beg. But it falls on deaf ears as he begins trying to push up my dress, using a force that tells me he’s got a one-track mind. Bile rises in my throat and tears stream down my face now as I prepare for what’s to come. Seth is too strong and has me pinned against the fridge that I can’t seem to budge, no matter how hard I try.
Ryker,
is all I can think as a loud sob escapes my mouth before closing my eyes, willing what’s to come next to be over as fast as it possibly can.

“
Get your fucking hands off my girl
.” Those seven words are all I need to hear before I visibly relax, knowing everything is going to be okay.

Ryker.

Chapter 60

Ryker

“K
at? Kat, baby, where are you?” I say as I make my way up the stairs. What I see makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand as fury takes over my entire being. I see that asshat has my sweet girl pinned against the fridge. His body is flush to hers with one hand holding her two smaller ones above her head, his other hand roaming her body while he kisses her face, muttering words I can only imagine.

I’m like a raging bull in Pamplona at the sight.

I charge.

“I will fucking kill you, motherfucker!” I say, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck, getting in his face. “You see that beautiful fucking girl you were touching? That girl, asshole, is mine! And I swear to Christ, you need to fucking learn that fact real fucking quick!” Headbutting him, I give him the lines I want him to recite out loud. “Now repeat after me, asshole: Kat belongs to Ryker. Now say it, dickwad.” I hold him by the hair, forcing him to look up at me, to see the rage behind my words… “Fucking say it, dick,” I slap him upside the head. “You fuckin learnin’ it yet?” I ask while I stand him up, pinning him against the fridge. Using my leg as leverage, I move it between his to sandwich his balls, and like the pussy he is, he begins to beg.

“I get it. I-I-I geeet it, asshole!”
Are you fucking kidding me?

“Did you just call me asshole, asshole?”
Punch, whack, punch.
With these last relentless bouts, Kat’s screaming for me to stop wailing on him, but I can’t. He needs to know he’s no longer welcome in our lives. Ever. By the time the campus police arrive, Seth is a bloody mess, crying and whimpering like the pansy ass bitch he is.

Chapter 61

Ryker

August

I
t’s been six months since that asshead fucked with my girl. Thank God she’s so fucking resilient. Kat never let that piece of shit get inside her head. She bounced back pretty much immediately, never letting him stop her from moving forward with her life. I’m proud of my girl. I know she was more worried about Claire than anything. I swear to Christ, I have never been that pissed before in my life as I was that day when I rounded the corner, seeing that asshole with his hands all over my sweet girl. It was scary as hell, because in all honesty, I have never in my life had such strong feelings like I do for Kat. Never have I been this happily consumed with thoughts, feelings, and amazement like I am for this woman. Love isn’t nearly the right word to begin to even describe the way this girl makes me feel. And knowing that asshole was threatening the very thing I’ve come to hold the closest to me, just about destroyed me. I really thought I was going to kill that son of a bitch.

Believe me, no one in my position would have thought any different. Seth better be counting his lucky stars every single day that campus police showed up when they did. Seeing Kat pinned up against that fridge with that fucktard’s hands trying to violate her did something to me that took me a real long time to come to terms with. I would have gladly gone to jail for my girl if that would have meant I kept her safe. I think it was shortly after this incident that I realized how much I’d fallen in love with her. When I grabbed him off her, it was like I became this crazy adrenaline junkie who just couldn’t stop.

The last we heard, Seth had been charged with assault, stalking, and a slew of other offences that would keep him tied up in jail or court proceedings for years to come. According to the police, Seth had flunked out of law school and had been exhibiting a series of unstable behaviours for months. A restraining order has been put in effect just in case, and he is not permitted within a thousand meters of my girl.

Tonight I’m taking Kat out to celebrate. We’ve graduated University and quit our jobs at Pub Fiction; not that we won’t help Levi out from time to time. I mean, after all, that fucking place holds a special place in our lives. Mainly, we’re heading out on the town to celebrate our new adventures. Kat has been offered a job teaching third grade here in the city at Highview Elementary. As for me, I’m just waiting to close the sale on a building a few blocks away from Kat’s school where I plan to start my dream. The Locker Room is no longer a pipe dream, baby! Needless to say, the last six months have been amazing, and I am ready to move forward with Kat and our lives.

Boy, do I have a surprise for her.

Chapter 62

Kat

I
t’s been six months since Seth tried to destroy my life and happiness. I count my lucky stars every day that no one was hurt. Claire, thank goodness, only suffered a little bump on the back of her head. She was having a harder time letting go of the feeling of guilt that seemed to be consuming her because she let Seth get to me, but also because she didn’t come after him once she got her bearings. Claire feels she is responsible for the fact that Seth even got near me. She says she should have looked out the peephole and she let me down by not having my back when I needed it the most. She can’t seem to get past thinking what could have happened to me. It wasn’t until one drunken night about a month after the incident, that I finally convinced Claire to let it go and reminded her she is, in fact, the best friend a girl could ever have.

That night, I took Claire to our favourite Italian restaurant,
Spazzo,
because we were in desperate need of girl time. Over the last few weeks, Claire had been avoiding me and that shit was not okay.

It was time to fix this shit.

“Claire,” I peered at her over my menu, “we are having the deep fried Ravioli and a bottle of red to start.” Matty and Ryker told me they would pick us up, so we could have a good time, which according to them includes lots of alcohol, food, and girlie talk. “Okay, sound good?”

Looking up, with the first genuine smile I’ve seen on her face in way too long, she agreed, “Sounds perfect. But we need to add the calamari; I love it here.”

We ended up having three bottles of wine over the course of four hours, along with a few more appetizers before deciding to share a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. We had the best chat, and I knew things would be back to normal between us.

“Never again, Claire. Never again,” I reaffirmed her as we waited on the curbside for the guys while holding onto each other. Claire tried to hide a tear as I faced her, placing my hand on her shoulder, just like the night of the fire. “That shit was no way your fault, just like you told me at the fire, remember? God, Claire, it was you who saved me. You called Matt. Do you remember what you said to me the night of the fire? I mean, they are after all pretty ingenious words to live by, but now I think it’s your turn to heed them.”

Claire smiled while wiping her face. “Yeah, I think I remember saying something genius, like I usually do.” She laughed and I joined her, before making sure she actually remembered.

“You basically told me, and I quote, ‘We are both safe, and that’s all that matters. From this moment on, don’t ever think about anything other than that!’” With that, we hugged and cried just in time for our two incredible guys to arrive.

***

Looking back on that day, even now, all I can think is thank God Ryker got to me when he did. It took me a while to get past the what-if’s of that night, just like it did with the fire. But in the end, I’ve managed to work through all the thoughts, feelings, and emotions associated with those two traumatic events, and I can actually smile at how far I’ve come.

Today I know I’ve made it through, and I’m moving forward, not dwelling on a past I can’t control, one that is just that, the past. I’ve got amazing friends, I’ve graduated University, gotten a job, and best of all I have Ryker. I know without a doubt that Ryker Eddison is my rock. He’s been an amazing support system, and I could not have gotten past any of this without him.

Tonight, I am planning on bringing that boy to his knees like I had planned many months ago.

“You ready for me to style your hair now, Kitty Kat?” Claire asks from the vanity where she’s pointing to the chair in front of her.

“Yeah, one sec,” I call out, peering at her from the en suite where I’ve just put on the pretty pink bustier Ryker still has yet to see. “I just gotta throw on my dress.”

“Okay, but hurry up! Ryker said he’d be here by seven o’clock sharp, and it’s not like I can keep him out when it’s his own place, ya know? Besides, I need to get out of here before you start this little sexcapade of yours.”

I smile at her comment as I slip my heels on my feet. Yep, Ryker and I have moved in together! Eeeppp! We bought a beautiful condo just on the outskirts of the city, and I’ve loved every minute of my new life with this man. Despite our parents being reluctant of our decision, we didn’t care. We know without a doubt we are in this life together. I have to say, Ryker’s mom has actually been on our side from the get-go. She even helped to convince my parents that her son would absolutely do right by their little girl, not that they ever doubted it. Ryker’s mom is truly amazing and we’ve become very close.

Patricia is very sweet. I can see why Ryker never introduced her to his randoms before. I’m honoured that right was reserved for me.

I smile at the memory of him finally inviting me home to meet his mom…

“
Fuck,
hot girl, you keep smothering those titties down and around my cock like that and I’m fuckin’ gonna come—ahh, shit—all over the fucking place,” Ryker uttered as I sat on my knees in front of him with his hard cock sliding between my oiled up chest like he loves so much. I discovered his fascination with my tits after the first time we had sex. Ryker Eddison is one hundred percent a boob man.