“What the fuck?” Adam blurts out while his father holds his hands up.
“Now hold on, we just want to talk,” he says.
“This isn’t the time or the place. This piece of shit you call a son knows where I live. I suggest you visit me there if you want to talk about my niece.”
Mr. Nelson scoffs. “Actually, I can speak to Ally whenever I want.”
“Actually,” I say with the harshest tone I can as I step toward him. “You can’t. Come near her, and she will press charges. Come near my niece, and I will end you. Do I make myself clear?” Neither acknowledges the threat I shouldn’t have made, but I said what I said.
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” The manager steps between us and holds her arms out as if she can stop an assault. When they don’t move, she reaches for her phone. “All right, the police it is.”
“We’re leaving,” Mr. Nelson bites. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Something tells me that’s the only honest thing you’ve ever said in your entire life.”
Mr. Nelson smiles and says, “You’re probably right. Let’s go, son.” He indicates to Adam and his wife before striding to the door.
Adam gives me a look and then shakes his head. The fact he thinks he’s better than me really sets me off. He’s nothing, just a little boy playing with his daddy’s money. I follow them out, keeping enough distance between us until they exit the building. The manager stands next to me and sighs.
“I’m sorry about this,” I tell her as I watch my sworn enemies get into their black Escalade.
“I’m just happy I didn’t have to call the cops.” She sighs and turns away.
“Me too,” I say to the space around me. I wait until the Nelsons leave the parking lot before turning away. I don’t need any more surprises as this one was enough to last me a lifetime.
I make my way to the bathroom at the back of the building. At least, this is where I hope Ally, Thea, and Lacey are. It’s the direction I saw them run off to, but I also wasn’t paying a ton of attention because I didn’t want to take my eyes off Adam and his father.
When I get to the back, there’s a small line of girls doing the very famous potty dance. Instantly, I feel bad because I’ve caused this, but also, it makes me wonder why there isn’t another bathroom in this place.
“I’ll get this door open for you,” I say to them as I pass by. A couple of them cheer, and to them, I’m probably a hero—Lacey’s uncle saving the day. My knuckle taps against the door. “It’s me. The coast is clear.”
The lock on the door slides, and I step back. Lacey comes out first and greets her friends, almost as if she has no idea what just happened. Ally comes out next. Her eyes are puffy, and her hair is in pigtails. I look at her oddly, but she says nothing as she buries her face into my chest. “He’s gone.”
“What if he comes to the house? What if he tries to take Lacey from me?”
“We’ll talk about this later, Ally. Believe me, I have a lot of questions, and I need some answers, but now isn’t the time or place. Go get new plates from the manager and let’s get the cake cut.” I don’t bother asking about the pigtails because I feel this was a diversion tactic to keep Lacey calm, for which I’m grateful.
When Thea and I make eye contact, my relief that Lacey and Ally are okay turns to anger. Deep down, I’m livid. Thea allowed Adam to play her, and that isn’t okay. She wraps her arms around my waist, and instead of embracing her like she wants, I stand there. She steps back slowly and looks up at me. “Ky?”
“I think you should go home, Thea.”
“Wh-what?”
“You heard me. I think you should go home.”
“Ky, I didn’t—”
I hold up my hand to cut her off and shake my head. I don’t want to hear any excuses. Not from her and definitely not right now. Shedidcause this by allowing Adam to use her phone. For someone who hurt her so deeply, she was far too trusting of him, and it bothers me. It hurts me. Her actions have put my sister and niece into a situation they weren’t in hours ago. “You did. You let that piece of shit stay in your life. I should’ve never trusted you. Leave. I don’t want you here, and I don’t want you near Lacey.”
Thea steps away from me and nods. It pains me to watch her walk away, but I do. I search for Lacey and find her laughing with one of her classmates, oblivious to everything happening around her. And then I look for Ally. She and my mom set up the plates and get ready to cut Lacey’s cake. I head toward them, needing to speak to Ally. There’s more to the story, to what happened here, and I want answers. I don’t want to wait because whatever’s going on affects me in more ways than one. I just told my girlfriend to leave because she caused this, but so did Ally and her damn secrets.
When I get to the table, I touch Ally lightly on her arm and motion her to follow me. Right now, I hate my life. I hate that I’m the protector, that I’m the one who has to fix everything. Ally and my mom push things aside and live with the idea I will take care of whatever the problem is. I’m tired of it, and I want out.
“Spill,” I say to my sister. “I want to hear it all, or I’m walking out of here and never coming back.” It’s a threat, but one I will never follow through on because of Lacey. If she weren’t in the picture, I would’ve been gone a long time ago.
Ally inhales deeply and then nods. “Austin Nelson is Lacey’s father. We dated for a bit, it was off and on, and then right after I found out I was pregnant, everything went south, and fast.”
“Where’s Austin?” I ask. “Is he the kid in jail?”