by Amy Muscat
But when I looked at her face, I saw her botox lips pursed and her eyes throwing daggers at me.
It was then that I finally figured out the look in her eyes. She'd always looked at me with disgust, displeasure and hate, I could just never understand why.
But it was the smugness in the depths of her silently laughing eyes that made me snap.
I launched at her without a second thought.
As I latched onto her, a startled scream escaped her, and I swung my hand out and slapped her right across her left cheek, hearing the impact with a whack!
“You stupid fucking whore! How dare you? How dare you do this to my family, to an innocent child?” I shouted the questions at her.
She got her momentum back and pushed me off her, and tried to hit me back, but I caught her hand just in time and took another swing at her. Only this time I punched her surgically thin nose. I heard a crunch and heard her scream in pain. Blood immediately started pouring from it and over her, now red covered, Botox filled lips.
Just as I was about to hit her again, I felt arms wrap around both my chest and my waist, pulling me away from Sandra and her bloody self.
“Baby calm down. Pey... Pey, PEYTON! Calm down right now!” Keller was the one who had pulled me back from the bitch.
I tried, honestly I tried to calm down, but the veil of red that had overtaken my vision wasn't letting me. I needed to hit her some more. Needed her to feel pain, even if it was just a fraction of what I- we had both been through over the past five years.
“Shh…Shh... Pie. Calm down baby, come on that's it. Calm down for me,” Keller had turned me away from Sandra, and we now had our backs toward Rob and Sandra and he was rocking us, calming and soothing me.
When I was fully calm, I nodded at Keller and without letting me go, he spun me in his arms and when I looked up he had a shocked look in his eyes but a smirk on his lips.
Raising an eyebrow at me, he said, “thought we weren't going to come in all guns blazing? That we were going to sit down and talk and get the truth from her?” A smirk firmly in place on his gorgeous face, his eyes shining with love and pride and just a little humor.
“Yeah well, that was before; the stupid bitch had it coming to her,” I said shrugging my shoulders.
“How's your hand? You hit her really hard, baby.” His pride was now showcasing through his voice too, and it made my heart soar to know that he wasn't angry at me for rushing Sandra like that, but was proud of me.
“It’s okay; it doesn't really hurt at the moment. I'm sure once the adrenaline runs out it’s gonna hurt like a bitch.”
“Yeah, I'm sure it will. Gotta say that was one good punch, and it was very hot to watch you stick up for yourself, for us.” He said bending and lifting my hand to his lips, where he placed a shower of kisses before standing back up and giving my lips a quick peck.
"Would someone like to tell me what the fuck is going on?!" Rob's question brought us out of it, and we turned to see him comforting his wife, his arm wrapped around her hips.
I glanced up and saw Sandra's hand cupping under her nose while the other was pinching it, trying to stop the blood flow, and couldn't help the smirk that graced my lips- silently taunting her.
Her eyes narrowed.
Bring it on bitch.
“Hello? Anyone want to answer my question?” Rob said, sounding impatient now.
“Sure, dad. One sec, let me just ask you one,” Keller said. Rob nodded and waved his hand for him to proceed. “Did you know Peyton was pregnant with Ivy and didn’t tell me?” He asked his eyes solely focused on his dad.
Mine, however, were on Sandra, and I watched as her sun kissed golden skin paled all over once she realized what this whole thing was about.
“What? No, I only knew about Ivy when you brought her here, you know that. Why are you asking such questions?”
I felt Keller sag as he realized that his dad was being truthful. I knew that had taken a lot to ask, and knew that it was the truth- Rob looked so confused it was almost comical.
“You remember Peyton and I told you how someone had intercepted our letters and had written us both bogus ones, pretending to be each other?” At Rob’s nod, he carried on. “Well for the past couple of weeks the guys and I have been working excessively to get to the bottom of it all. And yesterday we got a breakthrough. Remember the mailman Mr. Bell? Well, I spoke to him yesterday about it all, and he denied everything.” Keller said, and I watched as Sandra sagged in Rob’s arms. I glared at her, and so did Keller, but Rob just looked at her funny wondering why she probably felt relief. He still didn’t know why, I had a reason to hit her. Stupid bitch.
“Yeah, well I went over to his house today-” Rob interrupted him before he could carry on with his story.
“Why did you go over to Mr. Bell’s house? You think he had something to do with it?” Rob asked his eyes getting bigger.
“Dad, think about it. Who else was or is capable of getting someone’s mail without breaking into their house?”
“The mailman…” Rob breathed out, looking shocked.
“Exactly. So as I was saying, I went over there today and told him I had evidence against him and told him it was against the law to steal someone’s mail. I told him that if he didn’t tell me who had set this whole thing into motion I was going to call the cops. I also told him that I had a couple army buddies working in a couple different jails and that I’d find out which one he went to and that they wouldn’t make it pleasant for him. Needless to say, he shit and told me everything.” Keller said looking both smug and pissed.
“Holy shit Keller! Well, who did it then?” Rob looked angry just like his son- like he could kill the person who did this.
I inwardly winced for him.
Rob didn’t know who the sort of person his wife really was, apparently.
“That’s why I came over here dad.”
“What I don’t understand…”
“Mr. Bell told me that it was dear old Sandra here, who did it.” Keller and I were looking at Sandra now, and we watched as she stepped away from Rob’s hold and moved back and to the side.
Rob had a stunned expression on his face. “What, no. He’s wrong; he must be telling a lie… Sandra… Sandra what’re you doing… nooo….” He breathed out. His voice sounding hushed, and it broke on his last word. He was shaking his head back and forth in denial.
“No, no. That’s wrong; it’s wrong… where the fuck are you going?” She was trying to run away, but Rob quickly snatched up her arm and pulled her back. He searched her eyes for a minute and whatever he saw there obviously gave him the truth as he then threw her arm away from him, like she had just electrocuted him.
“Why would you do such a thing?” He asked her.
She just stood there not saying nothing, her lips tightly pressed together.
“Answer the fucking question, Sandra. Why would you do that? They deserve to know why you broke their hearts and ruined their lives.”
Sandra seemed to get a spark back into her eyes as she snapped her head over to me, and I saw a fire burning in them.
“Broke their hearts? Ruined their lives? Well, what about my life! She ruined mine the second she was conceived!” She fumed her body bristling with anger. Anger that I didn’t have a clue about.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Sandra?”
“I’m talking about the fact that if your whore of a mother didn’t get pregnant with you, I would’ve been with your daddy by now!”
Gasps ran through the house- mine being the loudest.
WHAT THE FUCK!!
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I managed to get past my suddenly dry throat. My tongue felt like it was swelling, and my throat was constricting. It felt like the air in the room was being suctioned out.
Sneering at me, Sandra said, “I was with your dad before your mom got her claws into him, trapping him. With you. We had been the ‘it’ couple in college.” At my shocked expression, she sm
We had all been standing there with our mouths hanging open, in shock.
I just couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe that my dad had dated Sandra.
Couldn’t believe that I was a product of a one night stand.
Did my parents actually love each other?
Did they only stay together because that’s what they thought best?
No… I saw the way they looked at each other- like they were deeply in love.
Maybe they had grown to love each other- grown to care for one another.
“Fate is one nasty bitch.”
Sandra’s words brought me out of my thoughts.
“I turn up at Rob’s house, trying to be homely and get his kids to like me then bam. There you stood, looking the spitting image of both your parents, and I just knew who you were. And Rob only confirmed it the next day when I asked him about you. I couldn’t believe it. The person who had singlehandedly ruined my life was standing in the man I was seeing’s house. All loved up with his son and close to the other brother as well. I hated you from the minute I realized who you were. And then one day I saw you going to the store, I saw you walk down the aisle with the pregnancy tests and I couldn’t believe it. It was happening again. You were about to ruin another person’s life, and I couldn’t have that. So I got, Mike Bell, on board. When I read the letter you wrote, confirming that you were pregnant, I knew I had to do something to stop it. So I wrote you a letter back pretending to be Keller, and I wrote one to Keller and told him how you couldn’t be with someone like him. Someone in the Army, waiting for word if you were okay, blah, blah, blah. Watching you go through the heartbreak, I had gone through- heartbreak you had caused. I finally felt I had my revenge.”
The smug smile on her face grated on my nerves, and I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier. I felt my blood boiling.
“Re- REVENGE! That’s what you fucked my life over for, revenge? So you took it upon yourself to break both our hearts for something so petty? Broke an innocent child’s heart over revenge? When Ivy would ask where her daddy was, or why her daddy didn’t want to come home, I didn’t know what to say at first. It was never that he didn’t want her; it was because of some fucked-up shit in the past that wasn’t mine nor Keller’s fault?” I was sure I was foaming at the mouth, and I could feel myself vibrating with anger.
I couldn’t even look over and see how Keller and Rob were reacting ‘cause it felt like I had tunnel vision and all I could see, all I could hear was Sandra.
Sandra’s blood coated lips pulled up into a smirk and what came out those lips made me explode.
“Dear Keller,
I’ve got something to tell you baby, and I’m scared of how you are going to react to it.
I hope you’re sitting, if not go sit down...
I’m pregnant.
I just found out, like five minutes ago, and I tried to Skype you but got no answer.
I’m sorry Kel. I know we didn’t plan this, I certainly didn’t.
I don’t know what we are going to do, but I know we can do this together baby, I know we can.”
The way she recited what I had written all those years ago to Keller and the way she acted it out -like she was on a stage- made the all the blood-brain from my body and stop at my feet. It made me feel weightless- like I could fly- and I moved so quickly it felt like a blur as I pounced on her. Again.
But this time it took both Keller and Rob to pull me away from her- kicking and screaming
TWENTY-THREE
“Well, that was eventful.” Keller said as we sat in the car pulling way from his dad's house.
I burst out laughing.
It was only an hour ago that both him and his dad had pulled me off Sandra.
And even then I think I was unwilling to let go.
Rob had asked Sandra if she still had the letters, and when she had hesitated, I knew she had them and voiced it. She'd given me a dirty look, but went and got them when Rob had threatened her, telling her he'd call the cops himself.
Returning with a box, she stomped over to us. She had hidden them in a shoebox; it was filled to the brim with letters from the both of us.
They were now sitting on my lap, and I couldn't wait to read them later.
Rob had told Sandra that she had fifteen minutes to get her shit and go, and to send him her address, and he'd have the rest of her stuff sent over. She'd stood there in shock, and started begging for him not to throw her out. When that didn't work, she started screaming and cursing up a storm. Finally getting the hint she disappeared upstairs, returning several minutes later with two suitcases and a couple of other bags. Walking over to me with a sneer on her face, she said that I'd regret this- whatever that meant. Stupid bitch. Then she got this look in her eye that I couldn't decipher. With one last look, she walked out of the house, cell phone attached to her ear demanding something off someone.
When we'd heard the screech of tries leaving, we'd all breathed out in relief.
I felt so bad for Rob; he'd just found out that his wife was a psycho. But he'd taken it in stride and said that there wasn't any lost love- that they were just coexisting in their relationship.
Poor Rob.
Keller and I had stayed there for a while with him, but he said that he had to go back to work.
With hugs and promises of him coming around the next day to see Ivy, we said our goodbyes to him, before jumping in the car- that brought me back to the present.
Wiping the tears from my eyes, I was still chuckling when I said, “Yeah, very.”
I still couldn’t believe what we’d found out today. I was still in shock.
Sandra and my dad!
My dad went out with Sandra?
We’d had dinner’s together, family parties, and I’ve never noticed anything different from anyone.
“Have you ever noticed anything between our parents? I mean I know Sandra never really got on with my parents, but she didn’t like anyone, so I thought it was normal, nothing abnormal.”
“No, never...” He said shock evident in his voice and on his face.
“I feel bad for your dad.”
“Yeah, me too, but maybe it’s a good thing that he found out what sort of person Sandra is, aye?”
He turned to look over at me when we hit a red light.
“I love you, you know that right?” He asked me, searching my eyes. For what? I didn't know, but whatever he saw there made him smile a shy smile and made his face light up, his eyes sparkled and shined brightly.
“Yeah baby, and you know I love you too?”
“Yeah Pie, I know.”
“You hungry? ‘Cause I'm starving,” he said rubbing his flat torso emphasizing the fact that he was ‘starving.'
Just then I felt my stomach rumble and heard it growl.
I laughed and told him that answered his question.
Nodding, we turned left at the light and drove for another ten minutes before we pulled up outside a nice small restaurant called ‘ROZ'S.'
Keller turned the engine off and told me to wait as he jumped out and jogged around the car.
Opening the door with a flourish, he said, “Me lady,” bowing slightly but lifting his head up as he presented me his hand.
And grasping it I jumped out and said, “Thank you, kind sir. Whoever said chivalry was dead?” I grinned at him.
“Don't know, baby, but I'll be a gentleman all the time. Well... Except in the bedroom. I’ll be whatever you want me to be,” he said throwing me a wink.
I liked playful Keller, especially after the day we had, had.
“Hmm... Well, if that's the case, I may just have to accept that offer, Mr. James.” I said, giving him a wink back.
“Deal,” he said quickly and leaned down and pulled me to him, making me stop.
Gripping me by the hips he pulled me closer, so our chests were touching, then he moved his head and gave my forehead a peck. Without lifting his lips from my skin, he moved them over my brow and down my nose and over to my right eye, then my left, before he peppered kisses over my cheeks and the corners of my lips. I whimpered. He grinned against my skin. Finally, putting me out of my misery, he pressed his lips to mine. It was just a press at first, the lightest of touches and I moaned in frustration, he was killing me. I moved my hands from his chest, up to his hair and gripping it between my fingers; I gave a hard tug and crashed our lips together in a breath-taking kiss.
Growling, his hands now roaming my back, moved down and grabbed a hold my ass, giving each cheek a squeeze, pulling our pelvises closer together. We were so close; I don't think there was any air to breathe between us.
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