Always A Pleasure [Book 2]

Seventy-One

09.12.23 — Please make sure you are caught up with all the newest chapters. Chapter 68 is the first chapter of the newest update!

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The moment Katherine stepped into her therapist's office, she wanted to completely unload all the pain and guilt and awful feelings of the previous night onto her. She wanted to feel some sort of relief, but knew it wasn't going to be that easy.

She sat in the chair across from Dr. Feldman, twisting her fingers painfully in her lap, trying to find a jumping off point. Where did she start? Did she spill all the little details of Harrison's trauma about his mother's abandonment to her therapist to give her some background on the situation? Or did she just give her the cliff notes?

She felt like she'd done enough wrong already in the past twenty-four hours, and the thought of sharing anything about Harrison just seemed like a major violation. So she sat there, twisting her fingers with a pit of nerves in her stomach and her heart bleeding in her chest.

"You look as though you have a lot on your mind," Dr. Feldman pointed out, causing Katherine's vision to shoot up to the doctor's.

"You look anxious, panicked even. What happened?"

"Uh..." Katherine breathed as her chest began to heave slightly. Oh, god. Was she going to have a panic attack?

There was an abrupt knock at the door a moment later, which was so out of the norm that Katherine and Dr. Feldman sent each other a startled look.

"I'm so sorry, Katy. This never happens," she apologized as she stood up from her chair.

"Dr. Feldman?" They heard as the door opened and Darcy, the receptionist, came into view. She looked more than a little alarmed and it made the anxiety tighten in Katherine's chest, making it almost hard to breathe.

"There is a situation," Darcy relayed.

"A situation? What do you mean?" Dr. Feldman asked as she moved toward the door.

"There's been an active shooter reported in the lobby. The whole building is going on lockdown," she reported, causing Katherine to sit up on the edge of her seat, feeling like her panic attack was about to overwhelm her.

She sent Mr. Bates off to get coffee while he waited for her to get done with her appointment. The coffee shop was in the lobby. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening.

As the receptionist and the doctor continued to talk, loud alarms began to sound in the hallway, startling all three of them. Katherine quickly pulled out her phone, swiping through to find Derek's number. No. God. He better be okay. Her mind was spiraling. Mackenzie. Baby Leo. They needed him. Fuck.

Mr. Bates answered just as Dr. Feldman and Darcy began moving the large desk in the room in front of the door before turning off the lights.

"Katherine!" Derek shouted into the phone, sounding relieved to hear from her.

"You're okay? You're okay? Derek, where are you?" Katherine questioned as her breathing heightened and she felt a bit light-headed.

"I'm okay, Miss Mason. You're okay?" Derek asked her and she replied to tell him that she was fine, that they were barricaded in her therapist's office.

"You're not down there, are you? Please tell me you're not down in the lobby," Katherine asked quickly.

"I'm in the stairwell. I'm trying to make my way back up to y—"

The call was dropped a second later, leaving Katherine to call out his name into the receiver.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," Katherine grumbled as she tried to call him back, but got his voicemail right away. He must have lost service in the stairwell.