“We really should be getting back to Casey,” I said at a lull in the conversation between Taylor, Natalie, and I. Zac had fallen asleep, after lunch, in the recliner, watching cartoons with the boys. Chris eventually climbed up beside him in the chair and fell asleep curled up next to him while Ezra fell asleep on the couch.
Natalie had cornered me in the kitchen, asking me about the new baby. She hadn’t seen Kay or Casey since the day after Kay was born. I told her she should come over to visit, but she said she wanted to give Casey a little more time to settle in. Mother’s instincts I guess, because it’s not something I would have thought of.
Taylor raised his eyebrow at my statement about wanting to get back to Casey and the baby. I knew what he was thinking, so I quickly added, “I just have a bad feeling about her being there alone.”
“What kind of bad feeling?” Natalie asked, concerned.
“I don’t know, just a bad feeling. I didn’t feel comfortable with leaving her alone today.” Taylor smirked, and I wanted to smack him. He wasn’t taking me serious. Just as Zac hadn’t when I told him the exact same thing. It seemed Natalie was the only one on my side.
“Maybe you should get back to her then,” she agreed. I felt that she deserved a really big hug. When she saw Taylor looking at her questioningly, she explained, “a lot of times, gut feelings have a way of being correct. And while I’m sure Casey enjoys some time to herself once in a while, I don’t think leaving her alone for a long time with a newborn is wise.”
“Especially in her situation,” I added.
Taylor silently conceded, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. He still had a smug grin on his face that annoyed the hell out of me. I knew what he was thinking. He was thinking I wanted to get back to Casey because couldn’t bear to be apart from her for very long. But that wasn’t the case. The feeling in the pit of my stomach hadn’t gone away. And we’d been at Taylor’s for a little over two hours. I just felt like we needed to get back home.
“I’m going to go wake Zac and Chris up,” I announced. I scooted my chair back abruptly, causing the rubber on the bottom of the legs to squeak across the linoleum floor. It sent a shiver up my spine. I heard Taylor and Natalie talking quietly to each other as soon as I left the kitchen and I rolled my eyes. Taylor was a pain in the ass sometimes.
“Zac,” I said, shaking Zac’s shoulder. He mumbled something and shifted in the chair, wrapping Chris into a tighter cocoon than he already was. I smiled sadly. He would have made a great father. Better than the asshole named Mike. Thinking about Mike made me think about Casey, in the apartment alone with Kay, and the bad feeling worsened. “Zac,” I repeated, firmer this time. His eyes opened a little bit before closing again as he tilted his head to the side. “Zac get up, we gotta get home.”
His eyes popped open quickly. “Why? What’s wrong?” He tried shifting in the chair, but noticed Christian laying beside him. He looked up at me confused, apparently not knowing that he’d crawled up next to him while he was asleep. I shrugged my silent answer to his silent question.
“Nothings wrong, we just need to get back home,” I answered his first question.
He sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Get Chris,” his words hidden behind a yawn.
I leaned down and gently picked him up. His eyes barely fluttered as I held him to my chest, his head on my shoulder.
“Get his shoes,” Zac instructed me, leaning forward to grab his own shoes. “They’re over there,” he pointed to the couch behind me. I bent down to grab them, still holding Chris who was still sleeping. When Zac looked up at me, he looked to Chris’ feet and then back up to my face. “You gonna put those on him?”
“He’s sleeping. He’ll be fine.”
“He has to wear them,” he said, snatching them from my hands. He took Chris from me and sat him down on the couch, causing him to wake up in the transition. As Zac slipped his shoes on, Natalie came back into the living room with a Tupperware bowl filled with some lasagna.
“Take this home to Casey,” she told us, handing the bowl to me.
As we left Taylor’s house, the anxiety in me was growing. I didn’t know what it was, but I felt uneasy and rushed. The ride home was mostly completely. Chris was still half asleep, and Zac knew that I wasn’t happy with him about tricking me into talking to Taylor. And I couldn’t get my mind off of the feeling that was something was wrong.
The three of us piled out of the car as the cab pulled up in front of our apartment building. Zac walked ahead of Chris and I, holding the door open for us. The trek to the apartment was just as silent as the car ride. Until we turned the corner to the hall where our apartment was located. As we turned the corner, we saw the back of a man that we’d never seen before, but we knew, as soon as Chris spoke, who he was.
“Daddy!” He exclaimed eagerly.
The man turned around quickly and I saw the faintest look of irritation on his face until he looked down at Chris. Immediately, his face changed into one of elation, and I could not believe this was happening. Mike could not be standing there in front of us. Not a few doors down from where Casey and Kay were. It was like a bad dream, that I was praying I could wake up from.
Mike knelt down and reached his arms out as Chris ran straight into his arms. For a fleeting moment, I forgot about the hatred I had for the man I’d never even met. He looked like another loving father. But the thought didn’t last long when I remembered everything that Casey had told us about him. I looked at Zac, but he was just staring at the two of them as they talked happily to one another.
“Shit,” I mumbled under my breath, suddenly realizing that I had no clue what to do.
Zac looked at me, panic in his eyes and then back at Mike and Christian. “Can I help you?” He asked, his voice sounding more solid than I knew he was feeling.
“I’m looking for Casey.” His voice was deep and unwavering, and I admit, it intimidated me. His eyes locked on Zac’s for what seemed like eternity, but in reality it was only a couple of seconds. “I assume you know where she is.”
I knew there was no point in lying. Chris was there, and I could tell that he wasn’t going to hold anything back. He proved my suspicions to be correct when he declared excitedly, “I do!”
“Lead the way little man!” He said, setting Chris back down. Chris lead the three of us down the hall, the short distance it took to get to the familiar door of our apartment. The whole time I was praying that he would forget which one it was. Though, I knew even that wouldn’t do us much good. Because we’d have to eventually show him anyway. Chris stopped and looked up at him, smiling, and Mike knocked on the door.
Zac and I looked at each other momentarily before I stepped forward. “I’ll…get that,” I said, unlocking the door. I pushed it open shakily. I could only pray that this confrontation didn’t get nasty. But the look I was receiving from Mike wasn’t exactly comforting.
“She lives with you guys?” He asked, anger painted throughout his voice. Apparently he hadn’t quite grasped that fact yet.
“For now,” I admitted. I pushed past him into the apartment, not wanting to be in the path of his glaring eyes anymore. What I really wanted was to beat the hell out of him for the things he had done. And I wasn’t sure, that if Christian wasn’t around, I could stop myself. I set the bowl of lasagna that Natalie had sent home with us on the coffee table and then looked back towards the door.
Zac had followed Mike and Christian into the apartment, and slowly closed the door behind them. I watched Mike’s eyes for a moment, scanning the apartment. I wasn’t sure if he was evaluating us or if he was looking for signs of Casey. But when I looked at Zac, he was glaring at Mike. The hopes that maybe this wouldn’t get nasty were quickly diminishing with both Mike and Zac’s attitudes about the situation.
“Why don’t you go find your mom?” I said to Chris, hoping to get him out of the situation as quick as possible. I knew things could go sour with a snap of the fingers. He agreed happily and went running towards the back of the apartment, looking for Casey.
“What are you doing here?” Zac seethed first. An invisible blow, the first punch of the imminent fight.
“Question is, what the fuck is Casey doing here?” He spat back at my brother. The fact that he had the balls to ask what Casey was doing here, as if we could treat her any worse than he already had, pissed me off.
“Getting away from you,” I threw out angrily.
His eyes narrowed on mine, and honestly, I couldn’t see what had attracted Casey to this man in the first place. But I knew just what had frightened her into staying. This man was terrifying. “I want to see my daughter,” he said shortly.
“As far as I’m concerned,” Zac started, and I immediately cringed. I knew, when coming to Casey, Zac wouldn’t back down from defense mode. “She’s not your daughter,” he finished through gritted teeth in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.
“As far as I’m concerned, you’re the shit on the bottom of my shoe. I want to see my fucking daughter.”
Zac opened his mouth to shoot something back, but Casey’s voice startled our attention towards her, standing in the corner of the living room at the entrance of the hallway. “How did you find me?” She wanted to know.
“Don’t worry about it,” Mike said, his words suddenly coated in sugar. He quickly closed the gap between them and put his hand on the back of her neck, holding her face close to his. A visible shudder coursed through her body. “I’m here now, and that’s all that matters.”
To me, she looked terrified, but the words out of her mouth were very courageous. “I don’t want you here. Chris and I are doing just fine without you.”
His grip tightened on the back of her neck, and before I could say or do anything, Zac lunged at him. “Don’t fucking hurt her,” he bellowed, taking a shot at Mike’s face with his fist. Before his hand could make contact, Mike spun around and grabbed both of Zac’s arms and shoved him against the wall, pinning him there with all of his weight.
“Don’t you ever interfere in something that is none of your business.”
“Don’t fucking lay a hand on her,” Zac spoke, his voice calm and angry at the same time as Casey and I stood behind Mike, trying to pull him off of Zac. He paid no attention to us. It was as if we were just bugs on the back of his shirt.
“Zac,” Casey pleaded. “Just let it be.”
“Zac huh?” Mike said, pulling Zac closer to him and then throwing him into the wall again. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“As I have you,” Zac managed to choke out. I could see the fear in his eyes. Mike wasn’t bigger than him in the least, but he sure had him pinned against the wall, and there was nothing Casey or I could do to get him off. In a matter of seconds, that didn’t matter. He took his attention away from Zac and spun around to face Casey.
“Running away to your ex-boyfriend huh? You fucking him again? Telling him how horrible of a person I am and running right back into his arms?” With each question he took one step closer to Casey and she took one step backwards. Soon, I feared, she would be pinned against the wall just as Zac had been. I jumped toward her and grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the wall. It didn’t stop Mike from continuing. He just followed in her direction. Casey was visibly trembling. “You playing him again? Just like you played me? Pretending you loved me. You fucking bitch.”
“Fuck you!” Zac jumped in again to Casey’s defense. He grabbed Mike by the shoulder and forcefully turned him around to face him. “Leave her the fuck alone.”
Mike angrily shrugged Zac’s hand off of his shoulder and glared at him. “I suppose Casey ran straight back to you. ‘Oh Zac, Mike is so horrible. I love you. I miss you. I never wanted to leave you.’ Well, you know what? Fuck that!”
Zac opened his mouth to say something, but Mike cut him off.
“I know you. I know the things you’ve done to her. The shit you put her through. You were a fucking asshole, and I can’t believe she went straight back to you.”
“Yea,” Zac said, running a hand through his hair. Mike’s words had gotten to him, in the worst possible way. As if Zac hadn’t been feeling guilty enough, Mike was bringing up the things that Zac had been beating himself up over for years. “I was. I was a complete dick. But at least I’m man enough to fucking admit it and move on with my life.”
“That’s what this is?” Mike shot back. “Moving on with your life? Making your moves on her? Trying to win her back.”
Zac grabbed the front of Mike’s shirt with both of his fists, and shoved him back against the wall, not letting go of him. He brought his face close to Mike’s. The fire in each of their eyes was terrifying. I looked at Casey who was now crouched down against the wall, trembling with tears rolling down her face. I quickly moved beside her and pulled her into my arms, the only thing I knew to do at the moment. I had a feeling this battle was only going to involve Mike and Zac.
“I never had any intentions of getting her back,” Zac growled into Mike’s face. “I fucked that up years ago. But you….she deserves better than you. Better than both of us.”
“The hell she does. Running away to New York, acting like a fucking tramp.” Zac’s grip on Mike’s shirt tightened.
“If you can’t fucking respect her, I don’t think you should be here,” Zac snapped, shoving Mike harder into the wall just has Mike had done to him only minutes before.
“I don’t want her back,” Mike said dryly, but eerily calm. “I just want my fucking kids.”
“No,” Casey said firmly from beside me. I was shocked to hear her voice. Other than the fact that I was right there with her, I’d almost forgotten she was even in the room. She was still crying silently, but she stood her ground to him. “You’re not getting them.” I’m sure Zac holding him against the wall gave her some courage. She pulled herself away from me and stood up and stared point blank into his eyes. I stood up with her, praying that he wouldn’t get away from Zac and come at her.
“The hell I’m not,” he seethed, trying to pull away from Zac. Zac just held him tighter.
“You don’t deserve them. They don’t deserve you.”
“I’ve changed Casey,” Mike said, in the most convincing voice he had. Casey just stared at him, not backing down. “I have, baby.”
“You haven’t, and you never will. I want you out of here,” she said calmly. Mike was livid. He struggled some more against Zac, but Zac was twice as strong as he was.
“Casey has spoken. If you know what’s best for you, you’ll just leave and not come back,” Zac warned. He cautiously let Mike go, but didn’t take his eyes off of him for a second.
“Mommy?” Chris appeared in the doorway, tears on his own cheeks. “I want to go with Daddy.”
Casey quickly moved to scoop him up in her arms and hold him tightly to her. “Not tonight, baby,” she cooed, soothingly. She threaded her fingers through his shaggy hair.
“He wants to go with me,” Mike said, irritated.
“As his mother, I have to make the decision that’s in his best interest. And letting him leave with you would be stupid on my part,” she said, maintaining the calmness that had been in her voice most of the night.
“I’m his fucking father!” Mike yelled, approaching Casey and Chris angrily. Zac kept his defenses up, and stayed as close to Mike as possible. “And he wants to fucking go with me.”
“Watch your language in front of the child,” Zac grunted.
“He’s not your fucking child,” he shot back at Zac. “Don’t fucking tell me what to do with my child.”
“Mommy,” I heard Chris whisper, wrapping his arms around her neck tightly. “I changed my mind.” Casey set him down on his feet and quietly told him to go check on his sister as Mike and Zac argued back and forth.
“Mike, get out of here,” Casey cut in. “Or I’ll call the cops.”
Mike glared at her and shook his head defiantly. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Casey made a quick move toward the phone on the table beside the couch. Her hand moved confidently around the receiver and picked it up. “Try me,” she dared. For the longest sixty seconds of my life, they stared each other down. Each daring the other to test them. A grueling game of chicken between the two of them, neither wanting to back down. It came down to who had more to lose, and finally to much relief on my part, Mike decided to back down.
“This isn’t over,” he informed her. He looked at Zac and I one last time before walking towards the front door. Each of us let out the breath that we’d been holding in and looked at each other anxiously as he slammed the door behind him. Casey let the phone drop to the floor beneath her feet before sinking to the floor herself.
I took it upon myself to go check on Christian while Zac sunk down to the floor next to Casey to make sure she was alright. There was a very somber tension throughout the house. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what Casey and Chris had gone through before she left him, and the only thing I could think was that they could never go back. It’s one thing to hear all the bad stuff about a person, but to actually witness it for yourself…it’s not something I would want to subject anyone to. Especially someone as undeserving as Casey. She deserved so much more. So much better.
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