"Courthouse marriage?" Morgan raises his brows. "You don't want a ceremony?"

"Not really." Kate responds, sitting at her desk. "But we have a party afterwards."

"Huh." He glances at her nameplate. "Mrs. Katie Wallen, huh?"

Kate can't stop the huge grin that forms on her face. "You ready to spend the rest of your life with me? Think you can handle it?"

"Oh please. The question is, can you handle spendin' the rest of your life with me?"

She chuckles. "Can't wait."

He smiles to himself. "I gotta get back to work." He says, sadness hinting in his tone as he stands.

"Hey, clear your evening." Kate says, leaning back in her chair, crossing her legs as she presses the arm of her glasses against her lips.

He turns back to her, his hands sliding into his front pockets. "Why's that?"

"I have plans for tonight." She says simply. "They involve you so don't try to wiggle your way outta this." She teases, her brown eyes looking her fiancé over with a fire Morgan has been seeing a lot of recently.

"Yes ma'am." He playfully says, biting his lip. "I'll see you at home then." He shoots her a wink before leaving with the biggest smile on his face.

"Sorry man." Kate looks up to see Morgan smiling politely at Riley, holding the door open slightly.

"Thanks." He forces out, opening the door the rest of the way. "Kate, can I talk to you for a second?"

She looks at Morgan who gives her a look back. "Yeah, c'mon in."

Riley shuts the door then leans against the door frame. "I wanna give you a, uh, formal apology for tour." He says, looking down at the carpeted floor with his arms crossed. "Sorry for my, uh, behavior and shit."

"You mean splittin' and gettin' into a bar fight? Or gettin' shitfaced before you went out on stage? Or kissin' me knowin' I had a boyfriend?"

He clenches his jaw and nods. "Everything."

"Well thanks." She says. "Is that is?"

"What went wrong between us?"

She's taken aback by his sudden question. "Excuse me?"

Riley sighs. "It's been buggin' me Katie. I wanna know what I did wrong."

"I just... I couldn't marry you when I was in love with someone else." She states. "I couldn't do that to you."

"I call bullshit." He scoffs.

"Fine." She sets her glasses down. "I loved you in the beginning, I did but you started being an asshole to me. After we moved to Alabama, that's when I started to realize I was stringin' you along and it wasn't fair to you." She licks her lips and looks down at her desk. "I slept with Morgan when we came back to visit the first time."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, I really am but I couldn't marry you if I was in love with someone else."

"You slept with Morgan while we were dating!?"

"Yeah." She rubs her face.

"So when I proposed, you went and slept with your ex?"

"Just once." She states. "We just weren't right for each other. I didn't want you to be miserable with me."

He looks down again. "Thanks for tellin me this now!" He snaps making her jump.

"You wanted to know." She responds. "I'm just tellin' you the truth." He clenches his jaw. "If that's all you needed, I gotta get back to work."

He scoffs.

"Please close the door on your way out."

He scoffs again as he slams the door shut behind him so hard, it could've fallen off the hinges.

She picks up her cell and calls Michael. He answers in a few seconds. "Kate, what's up?"

"Hey- Hey." She breathes out shakily. "Hey."

"You okay?"

"No." She shakes her head. "Where's Morgan?"

"He's sittin' next to me, everything okay?"

"Riley's- I'm- I'm scared Riley's gonna do somethin' to him. Maybe beat him up- I dunno-"

"What?"

"He's on a warpath, Michael. I'm just- I'm just-"

"Hey, calm down." He says. "We'll come see you, okay?"

"Okay." She hangs up, sitting back down in her chair with her head in her hands.

A couple minutes later, her door opens.

Kate immediately stands and wraps her fiancé in a tight hug. "You okay?" She asks, looking him over.

"Yeah. What's wrong?"

"Just-"

The door swings open again and Riley storms in, grabbing Morgan by the front of his t-shirt and drags him out to the hallway.

"Riley!" Kate shouts, going to grab his hand but Michael pushes her behind him. "Oh my god."

"What the fuck man!?" Morgan shouts between punches, his head bouncing off the white tile floor, blood flinging from his face with each hit throw his way.

"You slept with Kate." He growls through gritted teeth. "You fucked her when we were dating!"

"What- fuck!"

"Hey!" A security guard is there, ripping the guys apart. "What the hell!?"

"Let me go!" Riley shouts. "He's a fuckin-"

"What the hell, man!?" Morgan shouts back, touching his hand to his mouth then pull it back to assess the blood covering his fingers.

"You slept with her when we were dating!"

Morgan's face drops but he hides it with a cough.

"Riley, calm down!" The guard shouts.

Michael has his arm around Kate's middle protectively, keeping her back to give them some space.

Her teary eyes stick on her battered fiancé, blood that's splattered on the floor, the wall, his clothes and Riley's clothes.

"You gonna calm down or do I gotta call the cops?" Riley shoves him back then storms down the hall.

Michael lets Kate go and helps Morgan to his feet. "You okay?"

"Think he broke my nose." Morgan pants, his head throbbing. "Fuck."

"I'm so sorry. I-"

"Hey." He gives her a weak smile. "I'm okay."

"Let's get you home and cleaned up." Kate says, peeling away few strands of hair that are stuck to his face. "C'mon." She wraps an arm around his middle, her other hand holding his arm.

Once Morgan's in his truck's shotgun seat, Kate turns to Michael. "I had no idea Riley would do something like this." She says shakily, fiddling with the necklace around her neck as she glances at the door.

"You okay?"

She nods. It's obvious she's worked up, she has every right to be, but she isn't going to let her no nonsense exterior break now.

"Get home safe, okay?" Michael gives her a friendly hug then sends her on her way.

Morgan's got his head against the headrest with his eyes closed with one hand pressed against his side and the other clutching a wad of tissue to his bloody nose. Kate sighs to herself as she throws Morgan's truck into drive, heading down to the closed Urgent Care to see if anything is broken on him.

+++

"Upstairs, c'mon."

"I told you I'm fine." Morgan huffs. "It's just a broken nose, not my back." Kate looks down and nods.

He winces slightly, grunting quietly as he takes he steps to the front door. He swings it open and makes a beeline to the kitchen.

"Upstairs, Morgan."

"I'm hungry, damn." He mumbles, looking through the fridge.

"Just take a shower, I'll make you somethin'. Deal?"

He rolls his eyes then turns to face her. "Yeah, sure." He hands her his bloody t-shirt then heads up stairs.

He's upset, not with Kate but with himself.

He couldn't defend himself as well as he could when Riley was beating on him. He caught him off guard and he didn't react fast enough. He looked so weak in front of his fiancé and he's incredibly embarrassed.