Page 16 of Katie 3 (Desires #6)

Chapter fourteen

I don’t know why they thought they could hide it from me.

It was obvious when they were being so sweet.

They’re too affectionate and overwhelming.

Of course they’re preparing me for bad news.

My eyes start to water again and Brad adjusts, pulling me towards him by my legs. He stares deeply into my eyes.

“Katie…”

“Brad, let’s—” Carter starts.

“I need to tell her. I got us into this mess. Just make some dessert or something,” Brad snorts.

Carter rolls his eyes. I don’t have to look over. The sound he makes proves it. Brad keeps staring at me, studying my face. “You’re strong. You know that.”

I snort. “Yeah, real strong,” I say with a small shake of my head.

“You’re probably going to be called as a witness, which means you’re going to be asked a lot of questions.

Not great questions either. Your options are to lie well and feel guilty, to lie badly and be booked for perjury if you’re proven wrong, or…

tell the truth. I’m not going to make that choice for you,” Brad says too calmly.

“I’m not going to tell the truth! You’d go to jail!” I argue. “How could I do that to you when…” I touch my stomach. “I need you to stay in my life.”

He chuckles softly and kisses my forehead. “Even if I go to jail, you have Carter and Henry.”

I know that, but I want them all. I love them all. I can’t just shove Brad into jail myself. I swallow. “I don’t know what they’re talking about. We were home. We were studying and it got really heated and hot and I don’t want to share things like that on the stand.”

“See, you’re doing it well already. Dad is really good at what he does. Carter is going to help. Their legal team isn’t stupid, but…”

“But juries aren’t professionals,” Carter chips in.

“I told you I’d handle this,” Brad says sharply.

“Juries are just people. They can understand things like motive. They can be swayed by the best story. A lot can sway them. Pregnant women always get sympathy, for example. Genuine emotions connect with the jury. We’re not trying to convince anyone of the truth,” Carter finishes.

My brow furrows and I look over at him. “What?”

“That’s not what matters in a courtroom. What matters is whether the jury believes the story we tell. It’s two competing narratives. The evidence is what we have to take into consideration. Witnesses say Brad punched Dan. Witnesses know that Dan was going to keep… pursuing you.”

Brad grunts. “Not the word I’d use.”

And they’re still keeping things from me.

I can tell. Their eyes shift and they have one of those silent conversations that only brothers can have, I’m sure of it, but Carter continues.

“We don’t know what their witnesses will say and what they’ll own to.

We have to rely on our evidence and what we’re sure of just like the other team has to rely on theirs.

Brad will own up to having a temper. He’ll own up to punching Dan.

They’re going to go after his character and history. You have to defend him.”

“It’s easy to defend. He’s passionate and sometimes acts out, but he would never plan something like that and he would only punch someone or go after someone to protect family or a friend,” I whisper.

“Or this one woman I happen to love,” Brad answers.

Carter shares a little more, not everything, but it keeps me from feeling hopeless, which I think is the best they can manage right now. It will have to do.

“We were supposed to have a nice time here,” Brad sighs when Carter finishes. He hasn’t stopped touching me since this conversation started. “We were supposed to forget reality and just enjoy what we have.”

I yawn, exhausted by sheer information overload and stress. “I’d rather know.”

“Katie,” he warns. “This isn’t like knowing what kinks someone’s into.”

“It’s more important. It’s about you,” I argue and press a kiss on his lips.

“I love you. Carter and Henry love you too or they wouldn’t be fighting this hard, so I…

” I put his hand on my belly. “ We need you to fight in the right way for yourself. I’ll be very upset and stressed if you’re put in prison. ”

Carter

I take another sip as Katie’s last comment plays in my head again and again. I know what stress can do to pregnancies. The doctors were inescapably clear about it on our visit.

If we don’t handle her stress, make sure she gets good sleep and stays balanced mentally and physically, she could lose the baby. So far everything has been good, but she’s still in the first trimester. It’s a dangerous time to stress her out.

Brad glances behind him and I follow his gaze through the doorway to see Katie sleeping on the couch. Her head is propped up by a pillow and her feet are up too. I shake my head. “Her feet are going to fall asleep.”

“That’s how she fell asleep. I just put a pillow under her legs so she wouldn’t miss my lap,” Brad answers.

I down another gulp of the drink. Brad steals the bottle and chugs some. “Odds of me walking away free?”

“Strictly based on the case… low. Even if they don’t have hard evidence to put you there, the circumstantial sucks. Even the recording we have just gives you more motive to do exactly what you did. Plus, Katie’s going to have to be careful with her wording and lie successfully.”

We hear a car door shut and both of us perk.

I glance at the door and lean back. Dad said he’d try to be here too.

I know it’s for Katie. We’re all addicted to her.

Henry has been dealing with enough. A marriage ending, sharing a girlfriend with his sons, trying to keep work afloat, now all of Brad’s shit and a baby. No wonder he’s going gray so fast.

Brad glances at Katie. “Why do I have a feeling I should take her upstairs?”

I take another drink. “Just do it.”

He doesn’t say anything about me giving him orders this time. He just walks out, scoops Katie into his arms, and gently talks to her while taking her upstairs. I hear her mention me, but Brad soothes her, teases her, and I’m sure she’s going to end up right back asleep.

It takes Dad ten minutes to walk in. I’m sure he’s trying to process whatever news he got. I’m sure he’s trying to dust off his shoulders and make himself presentable in case Katie’s awake.

His eyes land on me, then peek up at the couch and back at my drink. “Had an unpleasant conversation?”

“Katie’s too perceptive,” I answer.

“Good and bad,” he answers. “Does she feel ready, does she understand? Did you tell her about the recording, what’s going to come up, the perjury problem?”

He keeps asking more and more about her being prepared to defend Brad, but he hasn’t asked about her .

I nearly slam my glass down on the table.

“She’s stressed about losing Brad. She did manage to sleep last night, thankfully, and she ate all three meals today.

Oh, she’s also cried twice over this situation.

Thanks for asking about our pregnant girlfriend’s well-being. Such a caring partner.”

He purses his lips. “I am worried for her and I’m aiming to fix it.”

“It wouldn’t hurt you to show you care,” I hiss, trying to keep my voice down. “You think she doesn’t know you’re pulling away? You think that doesn’t hurt her?”

“And you know that I fixed that before you all left.”

“Fucking her once, even twice doesn’t fix it if you keep lying to her and pushing her away when she needs someone. When she needs—”

“She has the three of us and a baby on the way,” he says before grabbing the bottle from me and getting his own glass. “A fucking baby.”

“Is that why?”

“Be clearer with your words. We’re going to court,” he sneers.

“Is that why you’re pulling away? The baby?”

He pauses and swirls the drink in his hand. “You don’t know what it’s like to raise one with just two parents. And now it’s a mess. All of us are involved. I’m your father.”

I roll my eyes. “Believe me. I know.”

“So what am I to that child? What’s her mother going to say? The divorce has just been finalized and already…” He exhales sharply.

Dad doesn’t have to say more. I know this is a mess.

It was never supposed to happen. In good blended families, the father and mother are deeply in love and want the best for their children and stepchildren.

In good blended families, stepbrothers don’t crave their stepsister to the point they forget the new relationship.

In good blended families, divorce doesn’t happen because stepbrothers are caught fucking their stepsister and the stepdad definitely isn’t involved in that.

Even then, we’re worse. We’re fucking monsters because we weren’t careful. We kept Katie in the divorce and her mom is on her own. We’re monsters because our favorite girl got pregnant and my brother is on trial for heinous crimes. I’m sure Katie’s mom will be there too.

“There isn’t enough time to fix everything. The fucking divorce.” He drinks. “This backwards relationship we all have.” Another drink. “The baby.”

“The baby isn’t a bad thing. It’s innocent. It’s barely—”

“Don’t fucking talk to me about this.”

“You’re hoping it fixes itself, aren’t you? You want it gone to make things less complicated!”

“Don’t you fucking start,” he raises his voice.

“Of course you wouldn’t tell her that! You wouldn’t dare blame your angel, so you’re going to blame us for—”

“It was one fucking question, Carter,” Dad says, eyes wild. “One question to be asked. Whether or not she was on birth control. One question could have prevented this. Perhaps if you two had better control over your dicks, we wouldn’t…”

He doesn’t finish the sentence. Instead, he finishes his glass.

“First off, she was on birth control. Second, did you ever use protection? Did you wrap your cock before you stuffed it inside her? When you climbed into her bed—your stepdaughter’s bed— ”

“Don’t remind me.”

“So you’re ashamed of her?!” I demand.

He starts to speak but cuts himself off when he realizes how loud he is. He takes a slow breath. I can tell his control is hanging by a thread. “Stop putting words in my mouth, Carter.”

I continue to watch him. I’m not letting him leave, certainly not letting him approach Katie, until I get answers.

“We don’t have time to fix this. We don’t have time to get everything in order,” he says slowly.

“You have time to say two sentences to me about this.”

“She asked if I wanted her to get rid of the baby and I said no. I meant it. I’m not ashamed of her. I’m pissed at the situation. And the situation is about to get worse.”

My mind swirls. Brad is going to be arrested, detained, have a bail hearing, and then trial itself. It means it’s happening soon if Dad’s already here. All the shit I said to Katie was… fuck.

I thought he had some last-minute option for us so we could escape this path but instead, here he is confirming that we’re fucked.

“When?” I ask. “How did it get—”

“We’re going to have to head back tomorrow so it doesn’t look like he’s evading arrest.”

My world folds in on itself, imploding. But Brad speaks up as he walks into the kitchen. “I’m not going back.”

My dad looks between us. “Carter, take care of this.”

How am I supposed to do that when all I can picture is my brother kicking someone’s ass while he’s detained and waiting for trial?

How am I supposed to make sense of anything when horrible futures keep playing out before my eyes?

All the options are worse than the last, ending with Katie alone, pregnant, and terrified just like she imagined.

We’re so fucked.