Chapter 29: Chapter 29

TYLER

The seat beneath me rumbled as I drove through the streets back to the Upper West Side. The radio was silent, leaving me alone with my fucked-up thoughts. I hated that scumbag cousin of Kate’s.

~How dare she not call the police? Is she insane?~ That asshole was lucky Fred and John were there to haul him away and send him off.

I overheard Fred tell his son he needed to pack his shit and move back to Florida. He wasn’t welcome on the team anymore. I thanked God for that.

I parked next to my Mercedes in the parking garage, shut the Hellcat door gently, then stalked into my apartment building. I wondered why Kate had to stay behind all alone.

That girl was going to give me a damn heart attack, but she was so independent and stubborn that one just had to listen to her.

I shoved my key into the doorknob, pushed my door open, and found my best friend lounging on my sofa.

“About time, man,” Ben said, looking over his shoulder. I had given him a key, but he usually called before coming over.

“Long night.” Opening my fridge, I took a few beers out, two for myself and one for him.

“That bad?” he asked, raising a brow.

I plopped on the couch, giving him a quick rundown of the night’s events.

“Shit,” he yelled. “Your life has been full of craziness lately.”

“That’s what happens when your job puts you in the spotlight,” I agreed. “Enough about my night. How’s whatever her name is?”

Ben laughed, standing up from the couch “She was crazy. Every chick that wants a relationship is a no for me. I was down to try that with Piper though, but she got scared and ran away.”

“Kate has run away from me too many times to count. She always used to be scared; she probably still is. Just keep trying, I guess.”

My advice sucked, but I wasn’t ever good at giving advice. Ben tossed me another beer, seeing that I had chugged the two I had in mere minutes.

I jumped when the doorbell rang. I looked through the peephole, praying it wasn’t my family. A finger covered the hole, but the soft laughter coming from outside told me who it was.

“I really need you tonight,” Kate said, pushing her body into mine.

Our lips smashed together as she jumped up into my arms, and I held her weight with ease. Kicking the door close, I proceeded to carry her to the couch where we’d be more comfortable.

Just then, someone cleared their throat behind me, reminding me Ben was still in my apartment.

Kate slid down my body, cheeks bright red. Straightening her messy hair, she said, “Hi, Ben. I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Work keeps us all busy. I’m actually leaving tomorrow on business for a few weeks, so I just wanted to have a beer with my man here before I left. But I’ll get out of your guys’ way now.

“I wouldn’t want to interrupt.” He turned and wiggled his eyebrows at me.

He was my best friend, but I couldn’t wait for him to leave. I had a hard-on the size of a cruise ship and was antsy as hell, needing to get Kate in my bed.

“No, please, stay and have another beer. I don’t want to ruin that,” she urged sweetly.

I rolled my eyes. Kate was always too kind and friendly. ~Dammit.~ Ben shrugged, facing me, and held his bottle out. I ran to the kitchen to get one for Kate. Our bottles all met in the middle.

“Cheers to you two,” Ben said. “And sorry about your night. He’ll pay for touching a woman like that.” Kate blushed again as the bottles clinked together.

Ben asked how Piper was and made some small talk about the Blades. Soon after, he decided it was time to leave. He said he’d call when he returned from China and made plans to drink more beer again.

“I thought you had decided to stay in tonight with Nicolette.”

She pulled her dark hair up into a ponytail, drawing more attention to the bandages on her face.

She was still wearing those shorts, showing off those sexy-as-sin, long legs. I couldn’t stop myself from reaching for them. I ran my fingers up her thigh, lifting the hem of her shorts.

“You assumed that,” she replied. “I just said I was staying at the warehouse with Nic for a while.” I trail kissed her from her shoulder to her neck, then onto the other side.

“The only person I want tonight is you, Tyler. You’re all I ever want.”

Her words did me in. I stopped kissing her for only a minute to look into her sparkling eyes. I kissed around her injury, hating that someone, especially a man, had hit my beautiful girlfriend.

“You’re all I’ve ever wanted, Kate.” I kissed her lips, simultaneously running my thumb over the bandage. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Typically, Kate and I were rough and passionate with each other. But that night, there was something about the look in her eyes.

That, along with the knowledge that she had just been abused earlier in the evening, stopped me from being rough with her, even if that’s what she wanted.

“I’m not breakable,” she told me in between moans.

“You are to me.”

After those words, she let me please her more gently. She let me take care of her and touch her like she was indeed a breakable piece of fine china.

I’d never treated someone as gently as I did Kate, but I’d also never been in love like that before. She was the strongest woman I knew, but she was still mine to take care of.

Hours later, we fell asleep in each other’s arms after a long hot shower. Her chest rose and dipped steadily against mine, soothing me.

There were people in her life who didn’t love her and would purposely hurt her, but at least I’d know she was always safe with me. I could never and would never hurt that woman.

The smell of coffee awoke me. My phone told me it was only six o’clock in the morning. I wondered why Kate was awake. I rolled out of bed, threw some boxers on, and rushed to the kitchen to see my girl.

Kate was sitting on my couch, a cup of coffee in one hand and a piece of paper in the other. Deeply engrossed, she didn’t even look up when I walked in. I poured a cup of coffee for myself and moved toward her.

Kissing the top of her head, I said, “Good morning beautiful.”

“Hi,” she smiled up at me.

“What’re you reading?”

Kate handed me the folded piece of paper. “It’s a note from my dad Piper and I found. You can read it.”

As I took the letter from her hand, I immediately felt nervous. That was the only glimpse I would ever get into Richard Martin’s mind, the only glimpse into their father-daughter relationship.

I read through her father’s beautifully written words and was able to feel the emotion attached to them. He loved his daughter more than life itself; that was blatantly obvious.

I smiled as I was reading it but toward the end, my hands started shaking. He wanted her to love and be loved in return. He knew she’d run from love. By his own admittance, she was like him in that aspect.

Briefly, I wondered if he would have approved of me or thought I was below his daughter’s level.

I stopped those thoughts immediately. ~Fuck money. I will love Kate better than anyone else will ever be able to.~

I prayed she knew that, and I prayed Richard was looking down on us, knowing how truthful my words were.

“What’s on your mind? You seem out of it,” she told me sadly.

“I want us to live together, Kate. I don’t want another moment without you.”

She stood up from the couch, moving slowly toward me in my t-shirt with wide eyes and rosy cheeks. She was going to be the death of me if she kept looking at me like that.

“Really?” she asked.

“Yes, really.” Kate grinned and jumped into my arms. I spun her with her legs wrapped around my waist. “Is that a yes?” I asked.

Our lips met, and she nodded. “Of course.”

The air lightened after we made the decision to live together. Her legs rested across mine on the couch. We were carefree and happy, laughing about the furniture oddly enough.

“We can look for places this week if you’d like,” she said. “But I can’t give up Dad’s penthouse. I truly can’t.”

My fingers stopped running up and down her smooth, tanned leg. “I would never want you to give that up. I can move in with you if you want,” I offered.

“No. Then you’d never feel like it is your home.”

“Yes I would, Kate. You’re my home.”

I took her back to my bed, and we showed our excitement to each other about our new living situation in our own special way. I then headed back to my kitchen for some lunch.

“I hope the Blades don’t trade me,” I joked, watching her make sandwiches.

She looked up from the tomato she was cutting. “Good thing I own the team,” she said playfully. “Just don’t start sucking. Luckily, you’re extraordinarily talented.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “You’re just trying to flatter me.”

“Absolutely not,” she said. “Eat up, babe. You need to be at the Garden in an hour.”

I looked at the time on my stove. ~Shit, she is right.~ We had a quick skate before the game against the Devils. My phone vibrated across the breakfast bar. Kate smiled when she saw who was calling.

“Hi, Mom,” I answered on speaker, which might not have been the most brilliant idea.

“Hello, honey. How are you?”

“Good. I have to get ready for the game soon. What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you were able to set up that meeting with Kate for me,” she asked.

I grabbed the phone and clicked it off the loudspeaker, but it was too late. Kate had already heard. I had no idea what Mom had in mind for that meeting, and I didn’t want to know.

Glancing up to meet Kate’s eyes, I saw her shooting me this stubborn look that said “hand me the phone.” So I handed her the phone.

“Hi, Pat, it’s wonderful to talk to you,” Kate said.

After a few more minutes of “yes” and “no,” she handed me the phone back and whispered to me, “She’s asking if I’m living with you yet.”

I rolled my eyes, put the phone to my ear, and braced myself. “Kate and I were moving in together that week.”

The shrieking from my mother’s end couldn’t go unnoticed. “Tom! Tom! Ty is moving in with that spectacular woman! Can you believe this?”

“Lord help me,” I mumbled, making Kate laugh. “I’m hanging up, ma. Love you and Dad.” I set the phone back on the counter with a shrug.

“I like them,” Kate said. “It’s so obvious how much your family loves you.”

I stood up. “Enough Mom talk. I want to watch you get dressed before we have to leave.”

Kate shoved the last bite of the sandwich into her mouth and took off running. I was faster than Kate, probably by a hundred times, but I didn’t want to catch her just yet.

She stayed super busy every day of her life with all her serious work. If I could make her laugh like she was laughing then at least once a day, I knew she’d stay young forever.

Her dark hair swayed as I chased her through my apartment. She sprinted into my bedroom, closing the door behind her. I waited for about twenty seconds before gently pushing the door open.

Kate was sitting at the end of my bed, looking innocent and naughty at the same time. My t-shirt wasn’t on her anymore. She stood up, naked except for black booty shorts.

I groaned the moment I saw her. I knew I could never get tired of her.

“Can you make this happen in fifteen minutes?” she asked sweetly. “That’s all we have.”

Pulling her body into mine, I kissed the woman of my dreams. “I accept that challenge.”