Page 17 of Finally, Our Forever

Maci Kate

Pound, pound, pound.

I jerk awake to the sound of someone beating down my front door. Heart slamming against my chest, I sit up to search for my clothes, only to realize they’re already on. Aww, he put my clothes back on me. What a sweet guy.

Pound, pound, pound, pound.

“Who the fuck is beating down your door, Maci Kate?” Reece growls under me.

I look down at the man who gave me the best orgasms—yes, plural—of my life, expecting to see a whole bunch of pissed off man. I’m surprised to find him smiling at me. “I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.” Rubbing my back, he leans in and kisses my temple. “Get up so I can check the door,” he says.

“I can get the door, Reece. It’s my house.” I roll off him and fall onto the floor— ungracefully, I might add. Reece is faster and makes it there first, pushing me behind him before I can answer. I peer around Reece as he opens the door, and I’m shocked to see a red-faced David in his LPD uniform. Huh, wonder what’s got him peeved?

David’s eyes zone in on Reece and how close we’re standing to each other. “Who the fuck are you? Why are your hands on my wife?” Reece and I both still at his questions, and my hands go to Reece’s belt, holding him back.

I snap, before Reece can. “David! What the hell is wrong with you?” I take a breath to calm myself before I lose it and wake up Bennett. “This is the second day in a row you’ve shown up at my house without being invited. The only reason for you to be here is for Bennett. You need—”

“I don’t give a shit if it’s my time or not. This asshole is spending time with my whore of a wife and son.” Immediately, I’m filled with shame. I can’t imagine what Reece thinks about me now, knowing I let someone treat me so poorly.

Reece’s arm that was holding me back is now heading towards David’s face. I pull it back—not by strength, but because Reece allows me to. I can’t watch him get arrested for assaulting an officer, even though the douche deserves a few hits. Holding my hand in his, he brings me to his chest.

“Shut the fuck up. Any decent human being wouldn’t talk to anyone the way you’re talking to Maci, let alone the mother of his child. You aren’t that much of a dickhead, are you, David? Watch your fucking words when you’re speaking to Maci and Bennett,” Reece says, in a voice that is controlled but on the edge of danger.

“Yeah, you can go to hell, prick. You and Maci aren’t happening. Stay the fuck away from my family, or I’ll fucking end you. This is my damn town,” David says to Reece, and then turns his accusatory ass to me. “If you keep seeing him, Maci, I’m taking you to court for full custody. Trust me, I’ll win.”

Walking around Reece, I stand in front of him to deal with my crazy ass ex-husband. “That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”

“Stop thinking, Maci. It’s going to make your head hurt.” David says, holding his thumb and pointer finger about a centimeter apart.

I sigh, not wanting an incident, and change the subject. “I thought you were off today.” He looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“I picked up a fucking shift. Jesus Christ, Maci, get this asshole out of my house.” David shouts, shoving a finger in Reece’s direction. “I don’t want to find out that he’s been here again, Maci Kate. Keep your fucking legs closed. You’re acting like a slut. It makes you look like a shitty mother.” My mouth drops open and I can’t form words.

“Leave. Now. I warned you about how to talk to her.”

“You warned me? I warned you. Your place in her life is done. It never even started. Don’t call her. Don’t see her. Don’t talk to my son. I will see you Wednesday night with Bennett, Maci!” With that, David the douche, turns around to walk back to his cruiser. But Reece isn’t finished yet.

“My fucking place in her life was cemented years ago. You were only in it because I screwed up and let you. Maci Kate is my woman—has always been mine, and will, from this point, forever be mine. You speak to her the way you did today we will have words. You might know people, but I can guaran-damn-tee you that I know more, and they will have my back.”

David looks at me with fury and understanding, and goes to walk towards me, but Reece pushes me behind him. David leans around and asks, “This is him, isn’t it? This is the guy you couldn’t get out of your head? Reece, he’s the reason you left me, isn’t he, Maci?”

I’m struck stupid, because, on some level, he is the reason I left David. Just, not for the reasons he thinks. His eyes go wide with my silence, taking that as my admission of sin. “I knew it. I fucking knew there was someone else.”

He turns and around and walks back to his cruiser, gets in, and slams the door. He backs out of my drive quickly and is gone in seconds. Reece turns around and looks at me with questions in his eyes. “Reece, I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything, baby,” he says, sounding as mentally exhausted as I feel from the encounter.

“I—” Swallowing, I go for honesty. “When we were getting to know each other, me and David, we talked about our previous relationships. I didn’t have any. You broke my heart when you left, though. I told him about it.”

“Maci, you don’t have to do this. I get it.”

Shaking my head, I sit on the bottom step of my porch. Elbows on my knees, head in my hands, I mumble, “I didn’t talk about you that much. At least, I don’t think I did. I told him that you and I shared a lot of good memories. You’ve always been a part of my life. Shit, did I push him away because of how I felt about you? Is it my fault that he cheated on me because I made him feel like he didn’t matter?”

Sitting behind me with his legs on either side of me, he pulls me into his chest. “Baby, stop that right now. I don’t know what your marriage to him was like, but I know you. I’m sure you put a hundred percent of yourself into that relationship. You didn’t push him away; he just used what you said to make you feel bad.”

I look up to Reece, who is trying to hold his shit together for me. He stands and holds his hand out to me and I take it. “Let’s talk inside, baby.” As he walks us into the house, he closes and locks the door, then follows me into the kitchen.

“Baby, I don’t want you near him. I know you can’t cut him out completely because of Bennett, but if I can’t be with you, you will meet him in a public place when you are picking up and dropping him off.”

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