Kiss Me (You & Me 3)

Alexandra rolled her eyes. “That’s why he always tells me I shouldn’t have a Facebook account.”

Katherine didn’t respond. Tim’s reasons were something else entirely, but she’d save that for another conversation.

“Well, I’m not here because I’m jealous, I’m here because I felt I needed to warn you,” Katherine said.

“Warn me?” Alexandra replied.

Katherine took a deep breath, not entirely sure where to start the conversation. It was an uncomfortable one at best. It was incredibly awkward and a little embarrassing for both of them.

“I was married to Tim for a couple years before I realized I was in an unhealthy and unsafe relationship,” she started, keeping things vague.

“Unsafe?”

She slowly

nodded her head. “Tim is a violent man. Maybe you already know that. I’ve been on the run for two years. Unfortunately, he finds me every time and when he does, it doesn’t end well for me.”

Alexandra winced, and Katherine had a feeling she knew exactly what she was talking about. “I’m sorry.”

“It isn’t your fault. Tim showed up at my place of work about a month ago. He tried to drag me out of the bakery in front of several witnesses. They all tried to intervene, but Tim’s size gave him the advantage. That and his ruthlessness. He was stopped by a man I was seeing.”

“Stopped?” Alexandra asked.

“Yes, there was an altercation. I’m sure you had to wonder how Tim’s nose was broken,” Katherine said, a small smile on her lips.

Katherine hoped her knowledge of Tim’s injuries would help prove her story. She wasn’t a jealous ex-wife making up stories to ruin her husband’s life. It couldn’t be farther from the truth.

“He said he was mugged while on a business trip in Chicago,” Alexandra muttered, then I saw the paper.

“Did you ask him about it?” Katherine asked in a soft voice.

“He’s been away on business.”

Katherine nodded. “I’m sure he’s in San Francisco looking for me and making Ben’s life hell.”

“Ben—that’s the man you were seeing? The man who attacked Tim?”

She scoffed. “Ben saved me from getting seriously injured. I have no idea what Tim was capable of on that day, but I know he was furious. The last year of our marriage he broke my arm, cracked my ribs, left me so battered and bruised I couldn’t get out of bed for days, and somehow, he always made it my fault.”

Katherine watched Alexandra’s expression and could see the disbelief. She didn’t believe her story.

“He’s not done that with me,” she said, slightly haughty.

“Good, I hope he never does, but I had to warn you. I wish someone would have warned me. I lost too many years of my life and every single friend I had as well as many family members. Tim came into my life as one man, but behind closed doors, he was very different. Over the course of our marriage, he slowly isolated me. I had no one to turn to for help. When the violence started, I didn’t know what to do. I stayed in the marriage, hoping it would get better. I realized it would only get worse so I finally packed a bag and ran,” she said, shrugging a shoulder.

“He told me you ran off with some pool salesman,” Alexandra said.

Katherine giggled. “Not quite. I ran away, completely alone. It only took him a couple months, but he always managed to find me. I had really found a home in San Francisco and was finally rebuilding my life when Tim showed up again. He beat me. It was Ben who helped me. It was Ben who was there, wiping away the blood and taking care of the injuries,” she said, her voice full of emotion as she thought back to that morning when she’d shown up unannounced and uninvited.

“I need to get back inside,” Alexandra said, looking around nervously.

Katherine knew that look. She was worried she was being watched. She could relate. If Tim happened to show up and find her here, talking to his new girlfriend, it could end very badly for both of them.

“I understand.”

She reached into her purse and pulled out the new burner phone she had bought at the Wal-Mart nearby and handed it to Alexandra.

“What’s this?” she asked, taking the box.