“I will. Bye baby.”

I hung up the phone and put it down in my lap, I didn’t look up at Dominic right away. I was kind of nervous. Was there something he wanted? Was it about Brittany?

He cleared his throat, got up from his seat and walked over to the side of the bed. Talk about making someone uncomfortable, and to make matters worse I couldn’t exactly get up and move.

“I know I don’t have a lot of time, I saw Hunter’s truck in the driveway and thought I was safe for at least a little while.” He was nervous, I could sense it.

“Hunter’s about to leave the house now, so you’re right; you don’t have a lot of time.” And I really don’t want you to be in here with me like this. Yes, I loved Dominic as a friend; he had always been good to me, except for when he cheated on me, but keeping Brittany around was something I couldn’t understand and I didn’t care to.

He chuckled, “It looks like someone threw up balloons in your front yard.” I snorted; my guess was that Hailey was behind that. “There are ‘It’s a Boy’ balloons everywhere, along with ‘Welcome Home’ ones as well. Oh and a big ass stork too. You’ll love it.”

I rolled my eyes, “Oh yeah more attention that I don’t want.”

Dominic tensed and I knew he was about to bring up Brittany. “I just want to let…”

“It was her Dominic. I haven’t said anything to anyone and I’m not sure if I will.” I took a deep breath. “When I left the house for the doctor’s appointment, there was a car at the end of the driveway; I didn’t pay too much attention to it because it was pouring out. I was driving down Route 295 and the cars in front of me spun out. I started losing control then I was hit from behind and that’s when my car flipped down the embankment. The last thing I remember was someone saying, “If I can’t have him neither can you.” The police haven’t asked me anything yet; no one’s actually brought up the accident except them. Did I want that bitch to pay? Hell yeah, but I believe karma is a bitch and she’ll get hers. If Hunter asked me about the accident, I’d tell him the truth and see how it played out. He’s working in the detective’s office so I’m sure if there’s a will there’s a way, and Hunter would find it.

“Fuck,” he said while scrubbing his face with both of his hands.

He can say that again! “That bitch needs help Dominic and you know it. She’s obsessed, thinking my baby is yours.”

He looked like he was in pain, “I know. I don’t know what to do. Her mom died of cancer when she was three, so it’s only been her and her dad and she said that he’s never really around. It’s not like I can just go to her house and talk to someone about this.”

It was awful to hear about her mom and her dad, but it’s still not healthy to get so hooked on something. “Well don’t expect me to feel sorry for you. What she did was wrong and there was no excuse for it. You should agree with me.”

He sighed loudly, “I do, completely. She hasn’t been around lately and I haven’t heard from her. Maybe she’s finally going to stay away.”

I doubted it; I think it’s going to take a lot more than this for her to get it. Before I could respond, Dr. Clearly walked in; he looked over at Dominic for a second and then went about his normal business, checking me over. While he filled out my discharge paperwork, Dominic winked at me and made a move towards the door, “I’ll see you around, I’m going to get out of your way.”

I gave him a small smile. I wasn’t going to hold my breath. If Hunter ever found out for sure that it was Brittany, he would go ape shit and take it out on Dominic for bringing that girl into our lives.

“Well MacKenzie, everything seems to look good. Are you experiencing any issues, other than the ones you mentioned yesterday?” Dr. Clearly said while he pushed his glasses back on his nose.

“No! I actually feel pretty good today, not even a headache.” I was lying, but I wanted out of here. I wanted my boys, my bed and my life back.

I could spend all my time thinking about the situation we were in, trying to figure out what would make Brittany do what she’d done to me, trying to justify it, but why? Why not just put one foot in front of the other and never look back? She was not taking anything more from me, not even another one of my thoughts.

Looking over Mom’s shoulder to see what had made her stop was like a gust of cold air hitting me. I was staring at the exact same eyes as my own. I’d never thought I’d see him again, not since he walked out on us all those years ago.

As soon as everything had sunk in I started to act. First, I grabbed the car seat and set it behind me. No way was this f**king ass**le getting near my son! I’m nothing like him and I protect what’s mine. Always. Then, I grabbed a hold of Mom’s arm and pulled her slightly behind me with Ryder. Mr. Cahill planted himself in front of Mom and he pulled Mrs. Cahill behind him as well. We were making a wall and protecting our own. In my eyes, once you’ve violated that trust, that’s it, you were cut and never trusted again.

Jason, my father, the sperm donor in my eyes, started laughing loud and deep. It was nasty and so was he. “Well that wasn’t the greeting I was expecting.”

Mom gripped the back of my shirt and I shifted from one foot to the other. Who does he think he is? “What the f**k do you want?” I snarled.

Dickbag glared at me, “Watch your mouth, son.”

“I’m not your son.” I spat back.

He huffed, “Figures you would grow up to be a disrespectful little ass**le. I should’ve taken you with me and taught you how to treat your elders.”

“Yeah? You set a real great example of being respectful.” I seethed. Mom tightened her hold on my shirt and I heard Mrs. Cahill fidgeting behind me. I glanced around and noticed we were drawing a crowd.

“Let’s not do this now.” Mr. Cahill spoke up.

I started to turn around to grab for Ryder when Jason started running his mouth again, “And you are?”

“None of your business Jason, we were just leaving.” Mom said, raising her voice slightly.

If my night wasn’t already ruined with this piece of shit in front of me, Mason and Hailey showing up did the job.

Mason’s hands turned into fists and Hailey looked confused. I had talked to Mase about my father a few times and he’s even seen a few pictures, so I could tell he knew exactly who was standing here with us. CC knew of Jason, but that was it. I’d never wanted to show her who he was, since he was nothing to me and never would be. I’m not really sure how Mr. and Mrs. Cahill knew who he was, and I didn’t really care right now, I wanted my son away from all this shit.