Page 4 of Coveting Catherine

Catherine flinched as her mind instantly flew to a memory of Ash. He returned home from deployment. She dressed the baby in the cutest pink outfit with white laced ruffles and little embroidered pink roses on the hem of the dress. Catherine, still nursing, wore a nursing top and jeans. She took the time to style her hair and apply makeup she usually didn’t bother with since she didn’t go anywhere.

When he didn’t show up for hours, Catherine nursed Melody and started to place her in bed when Ash walked through the door and slammed it shut, making the baby cry in protest at the rude awakening. Catherine rushed to soothe her daughter back to sleep. Angered that his wife didn’t provide him with the same immediate attention, Ash paced as she placed the infant in the crib. When she exited the room, he grabbed her arm and threw her against the wall. As she slumped against it, he invaded her space.

“I gotta say, Cat. They say women grow beautiful and glow with motherhood. You resemble a cow. What the hell is that get-up you got on? I'll be lucky to keep myself hard long enough to tap that. Get it off and get into bed. I'll have to turn off the lights and use my imagination.”

Catherine bent her head and bit her lip. She worked hard at losing ten pounds before he returned from the mission and met his daughter for the first time. He barely glanced at Melody and exclaimed Catherine was fat. She grabbed the edge of the nursing top, pulled it back over her head, shimmied her pants and undies off and slipped under the covers. Her body shivered involuntarily as she dreaded Ash’s advances. No matter how hard she tried, whenever Ash kissed or touched her, she closed her eyes and imagined Leo's hands caressing her skin.

Ash wiped his mouth and handed her a glass. “Drink, I don't want you all tense and shit.”

Catherine took the beverage from his hand and held it to her nose. “It's alcohol. I'm breastfeeding, Ash. I can't drink this. It's not good for the baby.”

Ash clenched the glass in his hand. His face turned red as he sucked his lip in. “Don't you have extra in the freezer? Geez, your tits hang like cow udders. Ya gotta at least have a gallon jug in each of them.”

She winced at his words. “I only have enough frozen breastmilk in case of an emergency.”

He stood in front of her and thrust the glass at her. “I consider this an emergency. We haven't had sex since before the kid arrived.” He held it to her lips and pressed the glass against them. “Don't tell me you don't want to make love to your husband. All the other guys picked up barflies last night. Man, Leo was on fire. He left the bar an hour after we arrived. She was hot. Long blonde hair, tits out to here.” He gestured with his hand high on his chest. “And here I'm with you and jugs down here.” Frowning, he gestured low to his waist. “Leo has no idea what I saved him from.”

Catherine closed her eyes to shut out his remarks. She opened her mouth and let the warm liquid hit her stomach.

Leo’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “I'm sorry, Catherine. It’s my fault he stayed over there so long,” Leo apologized. His worried eyes searched her face trying to figure out what to say or do next.

Catherine shook her head. “You have no idea, Leo. Stay away from me.”

Leo stopped, and his hand slowly uncurled from her arm. She felt the heat of his gaze follow her up the hill. She jumped into the truck, floored the gas pedal, and raced off the mountain.

CHAPTER THREE

Catherine rolled the window down to allow the air to hit her face. It didn’t stop the feeling of despair rolling around in her stomach. She wiped the tears rolling down her face with her clenched fists. Her lungs refused to allow her to breathe in a normal breath. Her chest labored heavily to receive the smallest amount of air. Catherine struggled to stay on the road as her vision threatened to go black, yet she continued to slam the pedal to the floor.

She turned the curve sharply, making the truck jerk hard to the right. Her stomach rolled and she hit the brakes. She barely made it out of the vehicle before she vomited on the side of the road. She wiped her forehead with her hand and searched the vehicle for Melody’s wipes. She cleaned her mouth and calmed her breathing. This was her fault. She squeezed her eyes shut as she remembered how it all started.

"Is this seat taken?" Ash flashed a sad smile at her.

"I’m sorry, Ash. I’m probably not good company right now," Catherine sighed as she stared at her warm beer. Leo’s teammate and friend stood waiting for an invitation.

"I won't bother you. I wanted to offer my condolences. Olaf was a good man. He didn't deserve what happened to him." Ash hung his head as if grieving for his fallen friend.

At his words, Catherine's head snapped up. "What happened to my brother? My parents said Leo wasn't allowed to talk about it."

He gestured to the booth seat across from her with his chin and waited for her to invite him.

"Why don't you join me?" Catherine offered, pushing away the ruined beer.

"If we're saluting your brother correctly, we need better stuff than this." Ash gestured to the waitress and requested a bottle of whiskey and two shot glasses. Pouring a healthy swig into Catherine's drink and then his own, he held it up and made a toast. "To Olaf."

Catherine clinked her glass to his. "Did my brother suffer?" she asked hesitantly. Her brother suffering, worried her the most. "My mom wanted to say goodbye and see him one last time. They advised her not to." She shoved her glass closer to the bottle, and Ash poured her another shot.

"No," he told her quietly. "He didn't know what even hit him. I thought Leo covered him…"

"What happened?" Catherine leaned forward.

"We aren’t supposed to talk about it." He shook his head as if struggling with himself.

"Please, Ash. I need to know. I’m not stealing state secrets. I want to know what happened to him. I need to make sense of all this," she begged.

"I can't tell you all the details. All I can tell you is Leo’s job involved protecting Olaf’s back… and he failed your brother."

Catherine slumped in her seat and nodded her head. Leo didn’t keep his promise to her.

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