Chapter 49
October
“No,” she said, shaking her head, because there was no way that she was doing this. “No, sorry. Not happening.”
“It won’t be that bad,” Reese said with that charming smile that wasn’t going to work on her, not this time.
“No,” she said, shaking her head furiously as she backed away even as she kept an eye on the little girl determined to send her to her doom.
“Come on, mom! Just one throw,” Mikey said with a smile that matched Reese’s as she tossed the ball that she was determined to send hurling through the air at Kasey, into her worn glove.
“No,” she said firmly, making sure to keep an eye on them as she backed away, ready to turn and run scr
eaming for help at a moment’s notice.
“It’s just one throw,” Reese, the charming bastard, said¸ as he gestured for her to hold her glove up.
“Yeah, no. I’m going to have to pass on this one,” she said, which pained her.
It really did.
She wanted to be there for her daughter and support her in everything that she did, but, well, she’d seen the damage that one of her throws could do and she really didn’t feel like experiencing it firsthand.
She was good.
“So, I’m just gonna head back inside now and make dinner while the two of you play?” she suggested, giving them her best smile as she slowly backed away, praying that Mikey didn’t aim that ball at her and let it fly.
“Baby, she’s not going to hurt you,” Reese promised.
“I won’t, mom. I swear. We’ve been working all summer and I’ve been practicing while Reese was gone,” Mikey said earnestly with a nod and if it hadn’t been for the devious glint in her eye, she might have believed her.
“I see,” she murmured, mostly for something to say as she searched the deserted beach for somewhere to hide, but alas, there was nowhere to run.
“Would it make you feel better if she threw the ball to me first?” Reese offered, holding up his glove and gesturing for Mikey to toss him the ball.
“No, not really. In fact,” she said, licking her lips as she shot a nervous glance towards Mikey, “I would probably start questioning your sanity if you did.”
With a muttered, “Big baby,” he once again gestured for Mikey to toss him the ball and with a smile, she did just that. Kasey on the other hand…
Dropped to the ground with a startled scream, curled up into the fetal position and closed her eyes and stayed there until Reese walked over and dragged her to her feet, ignoring her protests every inch of the way.
“Stop being such a baby and toss the ball with your kid,” he said with a chastising tsk as he pulled her back to the spot that he’d first instructed her to stand on, helped shove her hand back in the oversized baseball glove that he’d tossed her when he’d dragged her out here, and threw her a glare that told her exactly what was going to happen if she moved from that spot.
More than willing to deal with whatever he did, she shifted from the spot only to find herself back in Reese’s arms as he wrapped one arm around her and held her gloved hand up with the other, making sure that she couldn’t move.
It was then in that moment that she realized the truth…
The bastard was trying to kill her!
“Is this because I refused to let you have the last pancake?” she demanded, trying to break free, but the large bastard was stronger than her and kept her where she was.
“A little bit,” he admitted while he gently caressed her stomach through her shirt as he held her there as Mikey shook off her hand and eyed her.
“Seriously, Reese. I’m sorry. I swear to god that if you let me go right now that I’ll make another batch of pancakes,” she offered, licking her lips nervously as she watched Mikey, too terrified to take her eyes off her executioner.
“It will be okay, sweetheart,” he promised her.
“No, it really won’t,” she said, frantically shaking her head as she watched Mikey get into position and raise the ball, ready to strike.
“Just a light toss, Mikey,” Reese called out, which only made Kasey’s panic double, because Mikey didn’t know how to just “toss” a ball.
“Wait, Reese,” she said, licking her lips nervously. “We can talk about this.”
“It will all be over in a minute,” he promised her.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she said, once again trying to escape.
“No trust,” he said with a tsk.
“I-I’ll cook whatever you want, do whatever you want, Reese, but please let me-What the hell?” she broke off with a gasp as the ball soared through the air and hit her glove with a soft whoosh.
There was no agonizing pain shooting up her arm and making her pray for a quick death to ease her suffering. Kasey looked from the ball that had hit her glove and bounced off to land on the soft beach sand to her daughter, standing there, smiling hugely as she pulled out a second ball.
“I can control my fast ball now, too! Wanna see?” Mikey asked with a huge smile and with that, Reese released her with a curse and Kasey managed to make a run for it, because if there was one thing that she definitely knew, it was that she didn’t want to be on the receiving end of one of Mikey’s fast balls.
*-*-*-*
“Bye, Reese!” Mikey said, giving him one last hug before tossing her baseball glove aside and running towards her room to pull on her uniform for the game that he was going to miss.
“Bye, sweetheart,” he murmured, watching her go.
“I’ve packed you something for the road,” Kasey said with a smile that looked a little forced as she handed him a large brown paper bag that weighed a ton.
“Thank you,” he said, placing the bag on the small table by the door so that he could pull her in his arms. “Did you steal my shirts?” he asked, leaning down and brushing his lips against hers.
“First thing I did when I came in,” she said, nodding solemnly as she wrapped her arms around him.
“And my boxers?” he asked, already noting that she liked to lounge around in them.
“I was nice enough to leave you a pair.”
“I see,” he murmured with a chuckle, making a mental note to pick up a few more packs on his way home.
“I washed your uniform for you,” she said with a little sigh as she pressed her forehead against his chest.
“You didn’t have to do that,” he said, hating this.
“It was the least I could for stealing all your clothes and everything,” she said with a little shrug as they stood there, trying to figure out something to say that would make this okay.
Christ, he didn’t want to leave, but he didn’t have a choice. He had a three and half hour drive ahead of him and he had to be at work by five-tomorrow morning. He needed to leave now if he had any hope of getting some sleep tonight.
Not that he really expected to fall asleep tonight, not without her. He’d lay in bed, exhausted, but unable to stop thinking about her. He’d drag his ass to work, sit in his cruiser all day and keep thinking about her, counting down the hours until it was Thursday night and it was finally time to come home.
Chapter 50
November
“Why are you pouting?” Sara asked, shoving Kasey’s legs off the couch so that she could sit down, swipe her bottle of apple juice and give Kasey a pitying look.
“No reason,” she said, shoving another spoonful of cookie dough in her mouth and absolutely refusing to admit that she was sitting here, wearing Reese’s oversized shirt and boxers at two in the afternoon because Reese had been forced to cancel his visit.
Again.
No, she would happily keep the fact that she was pathetic to herself, she decided around another spoonful of dough. She would just lay here, watching whatever the hell it was that she was watching, getting fat and old, waiting for Mikey to get out of school at the end of each day so that she could at least beat her daughter at Monopoly and try to cheer her up, which wasn’t much, but it was really all she had at the moment.
“Reese had to cancel?” Sara asked, grabbing the mixing spoon and helping herself to a big spoonful of dough while Kasey had to resign herself to a small spoonful at a time.
“Yes,” she said with a shrug, telling herself that it shouldn’t matter, but it did.
She missed him so much.
“Training?”
“State of emergency,” she said, glancing at the window and