Love's Suicide (Love's Suicide #1)(76)

My phone didn’t ring again, and after a couple of hours passed, I was still in Brooks’ arms, holding onto the only man that could protect me. B had come over and climbed beside us, so Brooks could read her a story. He changed his voice for different characters and she got a kick out of it. “Again.”

He’d start again, reading the story, as if it were the very first time, all the while holding me with his bad arm, because I’d begged him to not let go.

Brooks got up to stretch, and B began jumping on the bed. “Don’t do that. You’re going to hurt yourself, bug. How about we go for a ride and let Mama get some rest?”

She shook her head. “Bye byes.”

I was thinking that they’d be going in a car, but he sat her down in a wheeled chair at the desk and started running her from one end of the room to the other. She laughed and begged for him to continue. He walked over and kissed my forehead. “Take a nap. I’m going to tire her out and hit the snack machine. I’ll bring you up a soda.”

I smiled, knowing that B was in the best of hands. As soon as they left, I picked up my phone and called Sarah.

“Katy, tell me that you’re not shacked up with Brooks when Bobby is sitting in a jail cell that you put him in.”

“He beat me again, Sarah. This time I needed stitches. He accused me of things that I wasn’t even doing. He threatened Brooks life and then mine. I know you and Dave love Bobby, but I can’t live like that anymore. Since I know he called you two to get him out, I just wanted you to know the real story. I’m not shacked up either. I’m in a safe place with my little girl, and until I speak to a lawyer I won’t be back at my house. If you could ride by there in the morning, I would appreciate it.”

“Katy, marriage is full of ups and downs. You can get through this. Bobby’s jealous of the love you share with Brooks. It ain’t fair for you to keep running around with him.”

“He’s the father of my child, the only man that I’ve ever loved with my whole heart. I didn’t leave Bobby because of Brooks. I left Bobby because I can’t be physically and verbally abused anymore. I won’t let my daughter grow up in that kind of environment. Whether Brooks is around or not, has nothing to do with my decision.”

“If you leave Bobby I don’t know if we can continue bein’ friends. People in this town talk, Katy. They know you’re havin’ an affair.”

“I’M NOT!” I screamed. “What is wrong with you people? I’ve never even kissed Brooks. This is ridiculous.”

“I’ll check on your house and call you tomorrow. Maybe by then you’ll have come to your senses.”

She hung up, leaving me sitting there with my mouth open. Bobby could be the sweetest man, but they didn’t know him like I did. If they wanted to believe him then they weren’t really my friends to begin with.

I turned off my phone and decided that the best thing for me was to get some rest. The only problem was, I couldn’t calm down. So I lay there, staring at the ceiling, thinking of what I was going to do next. I was positive about one thing. No matter what I had to do, or who I had to fight, I wasn’t losing Brooks this time around.





Chapter 36


I heard them coming back into the room and opened my eyes to see B holding all sorts of snacks in her little hands. She was giggling and Brooks couldn’t stop laughing himself. “Hey Mama. We’re back.”

I sat up in the bed and smiled. “I see that. Did you get everything they had?”

“We didn’t know which one you’d want.” B climbed up on the bed and watched as Brooks scattered the bags of chips and packages of candy.

I covered my mouth and began laughing. “We’ll never be able to eat all of this, and she’ll never go to sleep.”

He grabbed her and started tickling her until she screamed. When he stopped she reached for his hands and put them up to her belly. “Again.”

He tickled her again as I opened up a peanut butter cup and popped it into my mouth. I hadn’t had one in so long and it was like a burst of heaven awakening my taste buds. “This is so good.”

“Two matching cups, but you only get one.” He opened up his mouth and as I fed him a bite, I was taken back by a memory of when we were seniors in high school.

Of course, I was with Branch at the time and my relationship with Brooks was slowly fading into nothing. He was beginning to see lots of girls and staying away from us as much as possible. On this particular day, being Halloween, I decided to dress up to go to school. I knew I’d get in trouble if I showed off too much skin, so after finding a short black skirt and black top, I attached a tail and a pair of mouse ears and then added a few whiskers on my face. When we got into the car to head to school, Branch told me that I looked embarrassing and that he didn’t want to walk around with me to my classes. Brooks remained quiet in the backseat, never saying a word until we’d reached school. As Branch found his sport friends and walked away, I stood around waiting for Brooks. “I think you look cute, Kat.”

“Thanks.”

“You know how Branch is.” We began walking and I didn’t reply to his comment.

Brooks proceeded to walk me to my locker and wait as I exchanged my books. “You know, we could go out and trick or treat tonight if you want.”