Mike shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Aiden. I really—”
“Oh, shut the fuck up, you’re not sorry! I don’t even know who you are, Mike!” Aiden bellows and then storms inside, his feet pounding so harshly it’s like the tiles could crack beneath the heavy steps.
I nurse my jaw as Jeni wipes the tears from her face. “Chris, I’m so sorry. I’m sure he didn’t mean to hurt you,” Jeni cries as she comes over and checks my bruised jaw while I stumble up from the ground.
“No, it’s fine, I deserved it. I should’ve told him last night when I found out. But he was having such a good time, I didn’t want to be the one to tell him.” I glance at Mike. “Apart from that, it isn’t my secret to tell. I wanted to give Mike and Callie a chance to do it first,” I admit. Sarah places her cold can of cola on my jaw.
“I better go find him,” Jeni murmurs, looking across at Callie. “You should have told him,” Jeni berates and then walks off.
“I’m sorry, Chris… I thought if he was going to punch anyone, it would’ve been me. Are you okay?” Mike questions.
“I’m fine, nothing a bag of frozen peas won’t fix. It’s fine, Mike, don’t feel bad. We knew he wouldn’t be happy about it, and you always take it out on the ones you hold close. I don’t take any offense, and I’d rather he hit me than you, anyway,” I say honestly.
Suddenly, we hear Aiden yelling upstairs. I can’t quite make out what he’s saying, but I can vaguely hear Jeni telling him to calm down.
“Maybe we should go?” Sarah suggests as she caresses my cheek. “Are you two going to be okay?” Sarah asks, and they nod.
> Poor Mike looks heartbroken. I think he was hoping that Aiden would secretly be happy about it. And I know he will be once he gets over the initial shock.
We move around getting everything ready to head home, making sure the kids are packed and ready to go. We wait to see if Aiden will come back down, but he doesn’t, so we decide to leave. It’s for the best. Our drive home was in silence. It was until we get out of the car that either of us speaks.
“That was intense,” Sarah breaks the silence as we walk to our front door.
“Tell me about it. I’ve seen Aiden angry before, but he was furious. Not that I blame him. I can’t even imagine what he’s going through right now,” I murmur as I fumble with the keys in the door lock. It eventually opens, and we walk in, then put the kids in bed.
“Do you think he’ll forgive us? I mean, what happens if he never wants to talk to us again? I can’t lose Jeni, Chris,” Sarah admits.
“I know, babe, and I honestly don’t know what I’d do without Aiden and Jeni either. I absolutely love Brody, too. I hope Aiden can forgive us, but more importantly, I hope he can forgive Callie and Mike. I think that’s going to be the hardest one for him to deal with. I can’t even imagine how Mike is feeling right now...” I let out a small sigh, “… probably relieved to have it all out in the open but heartbroken at the same time. I just… I hope Aiden can come back from this. You know?”
Sarah nods. “Well, babe, you’ll always have the kids and me. We’ll never abandon you. And if Aiden doesn’t want anything to do with us, then we’ll deal with it together, okay?” Sarah reassures.
“Yeah, well, I need something to take my mind off it,” I grumble.
“The kids are asleep, so I can think of something to keep us occupied,” she insinuates while raising her eyebrows up and down.
I finally smile, and she takes my hand and leads me to our bedroom.
Sarah pushes me onto the bed and pulls off her top, throwing it to the floor. She’s so fucking sexy right now, and I guess a distraction is what I need. She leans down and kisses me, lifting my shirt over my head.
“Sarah, do you know how much I desire you?”
She smirks in such a way that has me hot for her already.
“Fuck yeah, I do.”
I bolt upstairs to get away from them.
All of them.
Everyone who’s been lying to my face for God only knows how long?
How could they do that to me?
After everything I’ve been through?
“Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!”
I storm to the bedroom and start to pace. My thoughts are running a million miles an hour.