Clearwater’s Redemption by Tiffany Casper

Chapter 2

Fiona

Thanks to the double shift that I had worked for Virginia, my feet ached so bad that I wanted to lay down outside of the apartment building instead of walking all the way up four flights of stairs.

Did I care that god knows what is all along that sidewalk? Negative ghost rider. I didn’t.

Inhaling a deep breath, I put one foot in front of the other and groaned at that first step.

The pain that had been in my feet had now radiated up to my thighs as I finally cleared that very last step.

Just the thought of taking my shoes off, taking a bubble bath, and drinking a little whiskey, made the pain in my feet and legs loosen just a molecule of the pain. I've never been a whiskey drinker, not since that thanksgiving day at the clubhouse. I had tried whiskey, none of it tasted right, not until I tried Jack Daniels Honey. Maybe it was that I really did like it, or it was simply something that made me feel closer to Knox.

Only, as I approached my front door, certain sounds were coming out of my apartment when there shouldn’t be any.

What the fuck was that? Was my dog going ape shit again, I swear if he was, he was getting fixed immediately.

Ever since Cole had called and told me that the mess in my living room and the papers that had been on my island had been knocked off, I had wanted to beat Kida.

Kida was my fourteen-month-old, fifty-five-pound Lycan Shepherd. He had cost me a pretty penny, but ever since I had seen a picture of his breed, I had been hooked.

Kida loved me unconditionally, I had bonded with him when he was a puppy and the owner had told me that he was mine. Kida hated Cole though, we had been in too many arguments over that one. When I was working, Kida stayed in the spare bedroom.

Which was odd that Cole said the mess in the apartment was Kida’s fault when Cole supposedly let him out during the day so he could use the bathroom.

I went to unlock the front door, which was odd, since it was unlocked already..

I walked in and that was when I saw a shoe. A red heel to be more accurate sitting on the floor beside my couch. Looking around I saw the other shoe, as well as Cole’s shoes. A short red mini skirt soon followed, as well as a piece of black fabric.

That was when I heard the sounds. They were coming from the spare bedroom; no they were coming from my bedroom.

I dropped my bag on the end table nearest the front door, then not knowing what I was about to find, I went to the spare bedroom, opened the door and Kida came out, pushed himself against my legs, almost sending me to my ass, and then he started to push me, not in the direction of my bedroom but out to the front door.

I placed my hand on the side of his face and shook my head, my dog fucking huffed.

Walking to my bedroom, I pushed on the door since it was open a crack and what I saw had me wanting to puke.

There on my bed was a naked woman on her knees looking bored, but that wasn’t what had my attention, no it was Cole who was behind her pounding into her, panting, and groaning.

I cleared my throat and Kida barked.

Cole’s head snapped up and like a shot he pulled out of her, mind you, without a condom on.

I stared at my now ex-boyfriend as he scrambled off the bed, grabbing a sheet to wrap around himself while the woman grabbed the comforter.

I walked out of the bedroom, picked up the girl's things, and handed them to her. This wasn’t on her. No this was on Cole.

“Not mad at you. Take your time.” I told her. She looked at me with a confused expression until she saw the glare that I tossed Cole as I returned to lean against the entryway table with Kida at my legs while I waited for him to start his newest explanation.

Cole came out of the bedroom in a pair of pajama pants, and a wrinkled t-shirt.

However, I didn’t really care about his explanation, not this time. “I want you gone, so I can pack up my stuff. Since your name is on the lease it's your place.” I hadn't had good enough credit back then to put my name on the apartment but I had everything else in my name except the power bill which I paid anyway.

“You’re not leaving this apartment. We are going to talk about this.” Cole said angrily.

“Fine, I’ll go, you let me know when I can come and pick up my stuff.”

Kida was at my legs shoving me with his body away from Cole. Seeing that move Cole snarled menacingly at Kida. He better hope and pray that he never laid hands on my boy.

“Talk about what? The fact that you had someone in my bed not sleeping this time?” I shouted at him.

“Well had you given me that pussy, I wouldn’t have had to.” The smug arrogance in his tone and on his face, had me wanting to hit him.

I sneered at him, “That just proves that you’re a piece of shit. Not every woman wants to have more than one man inside of her. I for one, only want one man and one man only.”

“And you’re a fool. You’ve got a good man standing right before you that does love you Fiona.”

“You wouldn’t know what love was if it slapped you in the face.” I shouted at him.

I saw his face turn red. And then in the blink of an eye his hand shot out and he backhanded me across the face. Kida then stopped growling as he lunged at Cole.

Grabbing Kida’s collar with seconds to spare I pulled him towards me, grabbed my bag and backed out of the apartment.

I didn’t know if Cole would try to have Kida put down for protecting me had Kida gotten ahold of him, but it was something I wasn’t chancing. Cole wasn’t worth losing my baby.

I ignored the woman that was pulling her clothes on and making a beeline for the front door as well. “I didn’t know. He told me he was single. I should have guessed that he wasn’t because of all of the feminine things. And don’t worry, you weren’t missing anything, his dick is too small, I didn’t even orgasm. Also from one woman to another, I admire the fact that you only want one man. If I could turn back time, I would do the same thing as you.”

I nodded at her and as we all left the apartment as Cole started to shout yet again, but this time, Kida’s hackles rose, and Cole wisely shut up.

As soon as I made it to my car, I dropped to my knees, placed my throbbing cheek in Kida’s fur and sat there with my baby on the sidewalk.

There were only two people I would call but seeing as though Knox had barely spoken to me when I had texted him randomly, I called the other person, however, what I hadn’t been expecting was that the person I had called had been in the same area with someone else.

That someone had come roaring into the parking lot on his Harley.

The moment the bike skidded to a stop, he tore his helmet off, and with an angry growl  I saw fire in his eyes, he asked, “Where?”

I didn’t want to answer him, but the fire in his eyes told me otherwise. “Apartment forty-four, top floor.”

What shocked me was that before Knox walked up the stairs, he walked over to me and placed his finger-tips to my throbbing cheek. What shocked me even more was that Kida didn’t growl at him, no before Knox pulled his fingers away, Kida licked them.

And then in a flash, Knox turned, then stormed to the entrance, threw open the door then disappeared from my sight.

I wanted to see what Knox would do, so Kida and I followed him up the stairs, only for us to never catch up to him.

When we made it to the fourth floor it was to hear things breaking and a man shouting and pleading.

“No. Look man… I..”

As soon as we made it to the door, it was in time to see Knox backhand Cole so hard his neck went sideways, with that momentum, he fell over the couch.

Not done with him, Knox bent, grabbed Cole’s shirt as he hauled him with one arm over the edge of the couch. “Payback.” Knox growled.

Cole wasn’t a small man, he was six foot and around one hundred and ninety pounds, but he was no match for Knox.

And then he said in a low voice, “Respect a woman’s choices.”

That was all that was said as slammed Cole’s face into his jean-covered thigh.

Just like that Cole fell to the ground in a motionless heap.

The entire time, Kida kept his body in front of me, making sure nothing could hurt me.

A few neighbors walked out of the doors, then peered inside my apartment and one woman said, “About time.” Then she walked back to her apartment and closed the door.

“Grab your things honey. You’re going with me.” Knox said after he lifted his head, his nostrils flaring with anger.

“What about Kida?” I asked. I wasn't leaving him behind.

He looked at me, his jaw tightened as anger filled his eyes, “Your dog protected you. He comes.”

Nodding, I grabbed my essentials with Kida’s face low to the floor watching to make sure Cole didn’t move.

Placing my three suitcases by the door, I grabbed Kida’s things, and then like he was built of bricks, Knox grabbed everything except my bag, and a bag of Kida’s things then he nodded for me and Kida to go first.

Once we made it to my car, opened my trunk for two suitcases, then my back door for the other, while Knox was putting them inside, I opened my driver’s door for Kida to hop in.

As soon as I climbed in my car I looked at Knox. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

He looked down at me, his face softened as he said, “Give me you.” touching my cheek yet again he growled, “Follow me.”

I nodded as he closed my door.

His words ended up running through my head the entire drive. Give me you.