Chapter 9: A Brief Encounter

The next three days were uneventful. They all were getting used to their routine, and they were enjoying it too. After Cappie would drop Catlin off, he would return to the hotel and his day with Casey would start. Most of the time they just lay in bed; reminiscing about the good old college days or talking about how their lives were the past eleven years.

Casey was unusually happy. When she was with Jack, just lying there was never enough. She needed to be doing something, or else she felt useless. On the other hand, Cappie was nothing like Jack. Cappie made Casey laugh like no one could; he had a certain look of longing in his eyes every time she looked at them. And his smile, that gorgeous at the same time goofy smile that reassured her everything was going to be alright.

They had this unspeakable bond no one, not even either of them could explain. They just knew it was there, and it was all they wanted.

Come Friday though, Cappie asked Casey to come with him to bring Catlin to school. Of course, Casey didn't mind at all, but she was curious as to where they were going afterward. She was half- afraid that he was going to take her somewhere extravagant.

By now, Casey had a ball- park idea of exactly how much money Cappie had inherited from his deceased grandfather. She knew that he was richer that Evan ever was, and it frightened her a bit. She didn't want Cappie changing because of all that money, and she really didn't want him splurging it on her and Catlin.

As they pulled up to Catlin's school however, Casey saw a familiar yet unexpected face.

"Mom, it's Jack" Catlin pointed out

Casey turned to Cappie, waiting for an explanation.

But Cappie looked shocked as well.

"Don't look at me. I didn't know he was going to be here, I swear"

"Then what is he doing here?" Casey asked no one in particular

Catlin looked like she didn't want to get out of the car. She was waiting for one of her parents to make a move first. Casey did as such. She stepped out of the car, removing her sunglasses.

"Hi Jack, what are you doing here?"

"Casey! So it's true!" Jack said angrily marching up to her

"Is what true?"

"You're staying with him"

"How did you find out?"

"What, you were trying to keep it from me then?"

"No! Jack you were the one who told me to find myself! Now you're acting like a lunatic!" Casey could see the fire in his eyes, and she was kind of scared

Jack pulled Casey further from the limousine.

"Ouch Jack, you're hurting me!"

"Hurting you?" Jack stopped walking, but his grip on Casey's arm was stronger than ever. "What about me? Don't you think you're hurting me?"

Casey was on the verge of tears

"Let go of her!" Cappie shouted stepping out of the car

"Oh, you want me to let go of her, do you?" Jack spat. He then pushed Casey towards the pavement, and then walked up to Cappie.

"You! You stay out of this! The moment you entered our lives, it ruined everything" Jack threw a punch, but Cappie saw it coming and dodged it.

"Jack, stop it! You're making a scene!" Casey screamed standing up.

"You're the one making a scene Casey! You just had to go looking for him, didn't you?"

Cappie ran towards Casey, helping her up.

"The both of you disgust me! Especially you Casey. He left you with a child, after declaring his love to you! The bastard comes back 11 years later and acts as if he never broke your heart! And where was I in all this? I was the one who took the both of you in! I was the one who nursed you aching heart! Now you're leaving all that for what? This hot shot with his fancy car and designer suits? You're such a hypocrite. It's the money that you're after, isn't it? Admit it!"

Casey was sobbing furiously into Cappie's shirt.

"Just walk away, Jack. We can deal with this in another way." Cappie said seeing that the other children in the school were staring at them.

"What are you, Mr. Knight in Shining Armor? I've got news for you; you won't get anything out from her. The Casey you left? She's long gone, buddy. All she does around the house is mope! She doesn't know how to be happy! You give her everything she wants, she still won't be contented"

Cappie laughed a hallow laugh

"She was only like that because she knew there was something better out there for her. You trapped her inside the house like some prisoner. What kind of life was that for any person?"

"She's my wife" Jack's eyes turned into slits

"Not for long"

That was the last straw, Jack couldn't take it. Casey looked up and saw that he was charging towards them. Cappie pulled Casey aside to protect her, causing him to receive the blow of Jack's fist. He got hit right on the nose, but he fought back.

Both men were throwing punches left and right. Although Jack was about an inch shorter, he was getting in some nasty ones. Cappie had gotten more hits in though.

Casey was screaming, but was scared to death to intervene.

Soon, the school guards were pulling Jack and Cappie apart from each other. Casey ran towards Cappie and brought him inside the car, but not before they heard Jack shouting, "You'll hear from my lawyers"

Inside the car, they found Catlin crying.

"Honey, please stop crying" Casey said between sniffs, as she attended to Cappie's bruises.

"There's an ice pack in the freezer, it's that drawer at the bottom of the refrigerator" Cappie could barely open his eye. He also had a bruise on his right cheek and his lower right jaw.

"I'm so sorry Cappie" Casey said putting the ice pack onto his cheek slowly.

"Sorry? I got to fight for your honor" Cappie joked, "and Cate, great job!" he looked like he was giving his daughter a half smile.

She looked at him through the tears, confused.

"For what, dad?"

"For following instructions—you too Bryce. Now let's go to my surprise!" Cappie said calling out to the driver.

He obviously wasn't letting Catlin go through the humiliation of going to school.

"What are you talking about, Cap? What instructions? What surprise?" Casey was confused.

Catlin sat beside her father and hugged him.

"O-ouch—there" he relaxed when she moved a little.

"Oh. I told them that whatever happens not to get out of the car and to drive away when I told them to. And, I have a surprise for the two of you. I was going to show it to you first," he told Casey, "before I brought Catlin to see it, but I guess she's not going to school today."

Catlin bit her lip.

A few minutes later, they were standing in front of a two-story house which had a huge lawn before it. It wasn't the biggest house in Stamford, but it was bigger than most houses.

"Here it is!" Cappie said as enthusiastically as he could muster

"What is it, exactly?" Casey asked, not sure what to make out of it

"It's our new home" he smiled at her, she wanted to say something, but her daughter responded for her.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Catlin shouted

"No dad! No mom! No! No! No! By now everyone's heard of what happened. You don't really expect me to go back to that school, do you? Ship me off to some boarding school, home school me. I don't care! Just please, please, please don't send me back there." Catlin's eyes were starting to water again

Cappie looked at Casey

"I'm sorry Cappie. This is my fault. I can't let her pay for my mistakes that would be unfair."

"I guess we'll have transfer you to a different school then" Cappie shrugged

Catlin's eyes twinkled

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Catlin said carefully hugging Cappie and then hugging Casey longer and tighter.

"We'll discuss it when we get back to the hotel" Cappie smiled.

As they were entering the car, Cappie held Casey back.

"Case, this isn't your fault. The guy's psychotic. First he tells you to find what you truly want, even if it isn't him—that's already oddly suspicious, by the way; and then he ambushes you. What person in their right mind would act like that?"

Casey hugged him, forgetting about the pain by his ribs.

"Ouch"

"I'm sorry" she blushed

He smiled and hugged her again.

"It's well worth it Case"

"What's taking you?" Catlin asked poking her head out of the window.