She looks absolutely gorgeous. I swear she does it on purpose. I’m sitting out here on the couch, minding my own business and she walks out looking like a fucking goddess and I’m supposed to just sit back and do nothing about it.  Life is not fair.

“You look nice,” I said softly, almost regretting it when she gave me that look. It’s her we’re-NOT-together-anymore-you-can’t-say-that-shit-anymore look. I’m really fucking sick of that look.

“Thanks Justin,” she answers sincerely before grabbing her purse, “Ready?”

I nodded my head and let her walk in front of me so I could watch the way her black bubble dress fell on her ass and legs. “So, today went really well.” I spoke to break the silence while we stood in an elevator.

“Yeah, I think everyone had fun. How was JJ?”

“Good,” I chuckled, “Maybe next time we shouldn’t have him play with the Beckham kids. Those little shits were seriously showing of JJ’s lack of athletic skills.”

She laughed, that damn laugh that made me fall in love with her the first time, “I don’t understand why he’s so horrible at every physical activity. We were both athletic as kids.”

“We still are. It must skip a generation. His kids will be the next Tiger Woods.”

She laughed again, making it impossible for me to wipe the smile off my face. When we got married I knew I’d be able to make it through everything if I could just hear that laugh every day.  “Well, that would be interesting. Kay tried to play kickball with him the other day. He just could not grasp the concept. He kept picking up the ball. I mean, bless his heart, but he plays soccer, you would think he’d be able to understand it.”

“I’m not surprised,” I laughed, “He doesn’t need to be into sports, he’s going to find a cure to cancer or something.”

“Yeah. But he’s into sports, he loves playing. I always sit there and watch him and he’s having so much fun. I wish life was that easy again,” she trailed off and kept quiet for a few seconds before changing the subject, “So, where are we going?”

“Circo.” I answered, getting ready for her response.

“Circo? It’s kind of…” romantic? That’s what she wants to say, it’s too romantic.

“Close,” I finished before she could, “It’s good food, we’re hungry, it’s right here. It doesn’t have to mean anything more than that.”

Ken nodded her head and bit at her bottom lip. Sometimes I think she goes out of her way to make sure we never do anything even semi couple-ish. We haven’t even been divorced a year, it gets annoying that she puts so much effort into reminding me. We’ve been to Vegas many times in our relationship and have found ourselves at Circo at least once every trip. Ken absolutely loves their Penne con Gamberi, Pinoli Tostati, Pomodorini di Pachino, Salsa al Brandy. I absolutely love the way she says it. Her accent trying to pronounce it in Italian is just too damn cute.

I watched her look through the menu; I don’t know why she even bothers. It’s probably just to buy time. When we were actually together she didn’t even look at the menu, she’d rather sit and talk to me. Now it’s the opposite. I ordered a bottle of wine and ignored the look I knew she was giving me. Since when does wine automatically equal romance? I’m not trying to wine and dine her, I’m just hungry and I would like a couple glasses of wine with my meal. It was difficult for me to hide my smile when she ordered, but hearing her do it made this whole thing worth it.

“About your tour,” Ken began as she started to butter her bread.

“What about it?”

“JJ. I just don’t think…”

“Let’s not worry about that now.” I know I shouldn’t have brought it up but my mouth doesn’t always do what my brain tells it to. Once I get going I can’t stop, I have no control.

“I know, but he really can’t live in hotels…”

“We’ll talk about it later. We’ll figure it out. I was thinking of going home for a couple days. Maybe you and JJ would want to come?”

“When?”

“I don’t know, within the next couple weeks. I told him we’d go camping so I want to take him before the tour starts up.”

She bit her lip again; I know she doesn’t like the idea of us camping. It’s weird what being a parent does to someone. She used to always love camping, I’m sure she still does, but she gets so protective with JJ. “I don’t know if he’s ready to go camping.”

“Just down by the lake, for a night, maybe two. He’ll have fun. We haven’t taken him before, he’s been asking for months. You could come with us.”

“I don’t know Justin.”

“We’ll get separate tents,” I added. I’m not trying to get her to share a sleeping bag with me.

“That’s not what I don’t know about. I just don’t know if he’s old enough.”

“He’s old enough Ken,” if she keeps treating him like he’s a baby he’s going to turn out to be one fucked up kid. “We’ll talk about it later.”

She nodded her head, but looks like she’s not even paying attention anymore. I turned around to see what she was looking at, “What?”

“Don’t make a scene but,” she leaned forward and whispered, “Isn’t that that Rob kid my sister used to date? You know, the one…”

I turned around quickly and saw that scum sitting at a table with a girl, “That fucking…”

“No Justin, don’t,” she grabbed my hand before I could get up.

~*~*~*~*~

It was almost 9 o’clock at night when I heard banging on the front door. JJ was only two months old and I hadn’t slept for more than a couple hours at a time since. Neither had Justin, and he had to work all day too. I carried JJ with me to answer the door, fully expecting Justin to have forgotten his key, something that had happened very frequently the past few days.

Instead of seeing my husband, I saw my sister, tears and mascara running down her face, “What’s wrong Kay?”

“Oh fuck, the kid. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, he’s sleeping. What’s going on?”

“It’s fucking Rob and… can you talk? Is Justin here? I don’t want to…”

“Come in, it’s raining,” I moved over so she could get out of the cold, “Let me get you some clothes to change in to and I’ll put him down. Justin isn’t home yet.”

“He’s going to be pissed when he gets home and sees me here.”

“He’s fine, stop,” I said as I placed JJ in his crib before going through my drawers to get Kaylee a pair of sweatpants and a tank top.

She gave me a weird look before turning around and pulling her shirt off. I noticed the mark on her arm right away.

“What the hell is that? Did Rob…?”

“Yeah,” she cried, “He just like… out of nowhere.”

“Has he done that before?”

“No! That’s why I fucking left.”

“Tell me everything that happened,” I said as I grabbed the baby monitor and walked back downstairs to get her some ice. “Kay.”

“We were fine and then like he found out Jimmy called me a couple days ago and got crazy jealous. He’s never been like that before. I told him that Jimmy called because he needed Jen’s number so he could get his floors done where she did. I swear that’s it, it was like a ten second conversation.”

“I know, you told me he called.”

“Yeah. So that’s it and he went all ape shit. And I told him he needed to chill and he got even more pissed. I swear it was like he had smoke coming from his ears, it was scary. He got all mad and told me not to tell him what to do. So I said I was leaving and he grabbed onto my arm and didn’t let me go, then he pushed me to the ground and told me to fuck off.”

“Then he left?”

“No. Then I fucking left. He went into the other room and told me that I need to get my shit straight and I ran out. Fuck that. I’m not about to be one of those crazy bitches that gets beat up when her fucking boyfriend feels threatened.”

“You need to be careful though Kay. Maybe we should call the cops.”

“They’re not going to do shit,” she said, “It’s pointless. I just want to forget anything happened. Do you think I can crash here?”

“Obviously, of course. Take the room down here so JJ doesn’t wake you up when he cries. Can I get you something? I don’t know what to do.”

“I’m fine, I’ll be ok. I just need some sleep.”

It was late by the time I got home. My wife just had a baby a couple months ago and all I’ve been doing is working and spending time with them. Sleep just didn’t happen. You could imagine my disappointment when I saw Kaylee’s car in the driveway. It’s no secret we’ve had our problems but I think the major issue with us is that we both want Kendall all to ourselves. We don’t want to share. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to share that night, it was that I was tired as hell and didn’t want to play host all night.

When I opened the door Kendall came running into my arms, “Hey,” I held onto her tightly and could feel her crying against me, “What’s wrong babe? Where’s the baby? Where’s your sister?”

“You know Rob? He got mad at her for something stupid and he pushed her down and hit her.”

“What?” I shouted. The whole idea of a man hitting a girl is just something I could never comprehend, “Where is she?”

“She’s in the spare room. I didn’t know what to do. I mean, she’s got bruises and stuff.” I walked towards the room before she could finish. When I opened the door the lights were off and she was already asleep so I turned on the lamp so I could see the bruises first hand. OK, this fucker is going to pay.

“Where are you going?” Ken whispered as she followed me back to the front door, “Justin, no. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“I’m not,” I lied, the first and last time I ever lied to Kendall. “I just forgot...”

“Obviously you didn’t forget anything. Don’t be stupid. I appreciate you looking out for my sister but…”

“I’m not doing anything. I just need to go take a ride. I’ll be back soon,” I said before kissing her softly, “I love you Ken.”

“I love you too but I really wish you wouldn’t do anything. We should call the cops or something.”

“Yeah, we will,” I assured her. I know the police aren’t going to do shit to this guy. I need to take this into my own hands, it’s not like I’m going to kill him, I just want to scare him a little. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Are you all right here or should I call someone? I can call Rachael to come over to stay with you until I get back.”

“I’m fine. Just be careful, all right? Please.”

“I’m always careful,” I said with a smirk before kissing her forehead.

That hour that Justin was gone was the longest hour of my life. I sat on the couch with JJ in my arms waiting nervously.  Even JJ knew something was going on. It’s weird that even at two months old he could sense that stuff. He finally fell asleep and I placed him in his crib. As soon as I made it back downstairs Justin was walking in the door complete with a black eye.

“Oh my god!” I shouted as I ran over to him.

“I’m fine, it’s not that bad. Shh, don’t wake up your sister.”

“Come on,” I whispered and grabbed his hand, pulling him into the kitchen and handing him a bag of frozen peas. “You’re an idiot, you know that right?”

He laughed and sat down at the table, “Of course I know that.”

“I mean, we could have handled this differently.”

“We could have, but it wouldn’t have been as rewarding.”

I couldn’t help but crack a smile but I grabbed the teapot so he wouldn’t notice. “Should you go to the doctor?”

“I’ll be fine. How was the baby today?”

“He was fine, how was work?”

“Fine.”

“Oh my god, you have that interview tomorrow!” I giggled as I poured him a glass of tea, “Justin, your publicist is going to kill you.”

He laughed when he remembered, “Oh well.”

I stood behind him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, “Thanks for looking out for my sister.”

“She’s family. That’s what we do.”

The next morning I was in the kitchen cooking breakfast. JJ woke us up early and I figured I might as well make a big breakfast for Kaylee. Justin sat at the table reading the paper and drinking his coffee until Kaylee came into the room.

“Morning Kay, did you sleep alright?” I asked before placing a cup of coffee in front of her.

She nodded her head, “Yeah, thanks. I’ll be out of here soon Justin.”

“No, you stay as long as you need,” Justin said as he put the paper down, “That room is yours for as long as you want it.”

“What happened to your eye?” she asked immediately.

“I walked into the bookshelf. Gotta learn to turn on the light when I’m trying to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.”

Kaylee licked her lips and looked over at me. I’m not exactly going to sell my husband out but she’s no idiot. She knows what must have happened. She stood up behind Justin’s chair and hugged him tightly, “Thank you Justin.”

“No problem Kay. You stay away from him, alright?”

She nodded her head but still hung on to him tightly. “I’m sorry I called you a jerk all those times,” she laughed before pulling away.

“Yeah yeah,” Justin laughed, “You’re fine. I’m going to stay home today. I’ll watch JJ, give you girls some time to do whatever you want to do.”

I felt my eyes watering up as Kaylee came over to give me a hug. That was the first time they actually acted like they could stand each other, and Justin really stepped up and showed me how much he cares about her.

“If you need to go get your shit at his place you better not go alone. And not just with the girls either. I’ll go with you or if you don’t want me to go we’ll get one of my security. That’ll scare the bastard.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

         “It is him,” I said as our food was placed in front of us, “What the fuck is he doing here?”

         “Eating dinner I would assume. I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have even mentioned it. The food looks good.”

         I need to keep my cool but the fact that this bastard is here is making me sick. Not even to mention that he’s there with a girl he’s probably beating the shit out of.  “I’ve lost my appetite.”

         “Come on Justin, you can’t do anything. I’m sure if he were hitting her she would leave.” Ken said as she held onto my hand. “Let’s just try to think about something else.

         “Yeah, alright. What are you going to do tomorrow? They were going to close out the pool in the back so everyone could go with the kids.”

         “Yeah, that sounds like fun,” Ken said as she continued looking over at their table. She’s obviously lost her appetite as well. “Do you think maybe we could just get it wrapped up? We can go back to my room and eat it. I really can’t eat with him here.”

         I nodded my head. She read my mind. I know I’m not the only one that wants to kill this guy, Kaylee is her sister. I called the waiter over and he wrapped our food up quickly. I had it charged to the room and left him a fifty for so at least it was worth something for him. “Are you ready?”

         “Yeah. I can’t…” she paused as we walked by him and then stopped at the door and walked back.

         “Ken, what are you doing?”

         “I just…” she walked up to the table, “Hi, remember me?”

         “Uh,” the bastard cleared his throat and looked a little nervous when he saw me come over to the table. That’s right jackass, you remember what happened.

         “Can I talk to you for a minute, please?” Ken asked the girl. She looked over at me then back and Kendall and stood up, following both of us to the lobby. “Hi. Thank you. I’m sorry to interrupt your dinner, but my sister used to date him. He got pissed about something stupid once and he like beat the shit out of her. I don’t know how close you are or how well you know him or if he ever hit you but…”

         “This is our first date,” the girl answered, looking between the two of us nervously.

         “OK, good. He’s scum, like the scummiest of scum and I know I don’t know you but he really isn’t worth anything. You’re a beautiful girl and you look smart and interesting but you could do better. Cause he’s a complete asshole and I’m worried for you. You can come with us, we’ll walk you back to your hotel.” This is what I love about this girl. I love how I’m ready to kill the dude but all she’s worrying about is this girl that could at some point get abused by the bastard that hurt her sister.

         “My purse is…”

         “I’ll get it,” I answered as I walked back to the table where asshole Rob was sitting there giving me a look like I fucked up his night.

         “Dude, what the fuck?” he asked.

         “Yeah man, what the fuck? You need to stay the fuck away from my family and me and if you see me you better run the other fucking way. And stay away from that girl too.” I grabbed her purse and went back to the lobby where Kendall and the girl were waiting. “I got it.”

         “Thank you so much,” she said as she took it from my hand, “I really owe you guys. I mean, you don’t even know me.”

         “No way, it’s a public service that we have to do for anyone he tries to get with,” Kendall said with a smile. She’s so good at making people feel better, she should have been a nurse, “I’m Kendall by the way, and this is Justin.”

         “I know who you are. I’m Stacy. Seriously though, thank you.”

         “It’s nice to meet you Stacy. I’m going to give you my cell number in case he comes by.  I’m sure he won’t, but just in case. Don’t fall for his lines either.” Ken handed Stacy her card.

         “I won’t. My room’s right over here. Thank you guys so much. I can’t thank you enough.”

         “It’s not a problem. Have a good night,” I said as she went into her room and we walked back to the elevator. “Another young life saved.”

         Kendall laughed, “Ugh, I can’t believe we saw that bastard, and that poor girl didn’t have any idea. Ew, it makes me sick to think he just goes around and finds these poor girls and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

         “Yeah, he’s sick. We should send her tickets to the show tomorrow. Do you think she’d want to go?”

         “Of course. She had a little googly eyes when she saw you standing there,” Ken laughed.

         “Yeah? You think I have a chance?” I asked with a smile.

         “Definitely, I think you have more than a chance.” I’m not sure if that’s jealousy or not. She doesn’t seem upset by it; I sure as hell hope she’s not telling me to go for it. Not that I would, but that would mean she’s completely over me. She can’t be completely over me, can she?

         “Oh all right, good to know,” I laughed as I wrapped my arm around her waist, fully expecting her to push it away but to my surprise she didn’t.

         “Stop being so dumb,” she laughed when we got to her room and she went through her purse. “I don’t have my key.”

         “Sure you don’t. This is all a ploy to get into my room isn’t it?”

         She giggled, “Shut up. You were rushing me and I must have left it…”

         “Oh stop, I was not rushing you,” I said as we headed to my room down the hall, my hand still around her waist, for the record. I don’t think I’m going to be able to move it until she makes me and it doesn’t seem like she’s going to make me any time soon. “I was hungry.”

         “I still am hungry. Where’s your room?”

         “Right here, patience.”

         “Well where’s your key?”

         “In my pocket.” My left hand is around her waist and my right hand is holding the food. I don’t want to move my hand away from her waist because I may never be able to put it back there again.

         “So we’re just going to wait out here and wait for it to just magically pop out of your pocket and jump into the door?”

         “I guess so. I mean, my hands are kind of occupied.”

         She giggled and rolled her eyes before going into my pocket and grabbing the key. “You’re kind of ridiculous.”

         “You love it.”

         Ken had that smile cover her face and then spoke softly, “I do.” She tried to be quiet so I wouldn’t hear but I heard it loud and clear, “Come on though, I’m really hungry.”