*THank-you for the reviews on the last chapter. THey were greatly appreciated. thank-you all so much.
John was in the middle of giving Zuri and Zaiden a bath, Zachary was in the middle of playing with his legos when they both heard the screams from Scarlet. John was unable to get to her as he heard her yell, "NO! STOP! JOHN! HELP!" He couldn't leave the little kids alone in the tub so the screams kept up until Zachary dropped his legos at the screams of his little sister.
Zachary ran into the bedroom to see Zola hitting poor Scarlet in the back with a belt. "What are you doing?" yelled Zachary. "Stop it now!"
"We're playing a game," said Zola as she dropped the belt.
"You're hurting her," said Zachary as he started to walk over to her.
"Stop. Leave her alone," said Zola.
"Or what?" asked Zachary, "I'm not scared of you. Why don't you hit me with a belt and see what I do."
"Leave her alone," she said again as Zachary helped her up off the ground.
"She is MY sister," said Zachary. "Are you okay?"
"I want Mommy," she said as she cried. "I want mommy."
"It's okay," said Zachary, "let's go to my room." He started to walk passed Zola, stopped and said, "if you ever hurt my sister again I am going to hurt you. Got it?" he asked. Zachary had always thought himself to be Scarlet's protector. They were only a little over a year apart in age so he thought it would always be his job to protect her and that's just what he was doing.
"Don't threaten me, Zachary," she said full of haste as he walked out of the room with Scarlet as she cried. Zola was irate as she stormed out of Scarlet's room and went into her room. She hated Scarlet, she hated Zachary, she hated Zaiden and she hated Tessa. She just wanted them all to disappear and wanted it to only be John, Zuri and herself. She even wanted her mom back. She wanted them to be a family not the way it was now.
John finally took the kids out of the bathtub and got them into their pajamas. It took him 15 minutes to go check on Scarlet to see what happened to her. He walked into Scarlet's room and didn't see her so he went to Zachary's room. "Zachary do you kn…" he started to say as he stopped when he saw the bruises forming on Scarlet's back and said, "Oh my God. What happened?"
"If you would have came," said Zachary, "you would have seen Zola hitting Scarlet with a belt."
"Zola did that to you?" asked John.
"No," said Scarlet with the fear of upsetting Zola more. She had already upset her once. She didn't want to do it again. She also didn't want anything to happen to her mom either.
"Scarlet, tell him the truth. Tell him Zola hit you with the belt," he said.
"Scarlet," said John, "did Zola hit you with the belt."
"I don't know," said Scarlet as she looked at both of them. She didn't know what to say. "It hurts! I want my mommy!"
"Your mommy went out for a little bit," said John, "she'll be back and she's going to kill me."
"Yes she is," said Zachary. "Why didn't you come?"
"I couldn't leave the kids alone in the tub," he said.
"I could have watched them like I did for my mom before. You should have came. Zola did this, Dad. She hit her with a belt."
"Scarlet is that true? Did Zola hit you with the belt?" asked John.
"She isn't going to tell you because she's scared of Zola. Do something!"
"I can't do anything unless I know it's true," said John.
"You're ridiculous, Dad," said Zachary as he got up to leave the room.
"Where are you going?" asked John.
"To call my mom so she can come home and do what you didn't do," he said as he left the room to go downstairs to call Tessa so she could come home. As he reached the stairs Zola was standing there trying not to let him go down. "Get out of my way," he said.
"No," she said.
"Get out of my way," he said. "I'm not scared to push you if you don't' move. Move."
"No," said Zola.
"Fine," said Zachary as he pushed her out of the way causing her to lose her footing. She managed to fall down the stairs as Zachary ran to get the phone to call his mom. Zola managed to get herself up off the ground and ran to her dad as Zachary called Tessa.
Before Zachary could speak to Tessa John called him upstairs middle name and all. "Zachary Ryder! Get up here right now!" He sighed and hung up the phone on his mom to go upstairs. He knew he was in trouble and sure enough John sent him to his room for pushing Zola down the stairs. John did not even give him a chance to explain the situation. Zachary went to his room like asked while Zola went to her room to lay down.
John took Scarlet downstairs to get her some ice on her back because the welts were bruising into pinkish, purple marks on her back. He needed to get something on them before Tessa got home. It was almost too late as he had Scarlet sitting on the island with her shirt up exposing the bruise. He was getting the ice out when Tessa walked into the house. She was in a panic because Zachary called her but hung up on her. "John!" she yelled.
"I'm in the kitchen," said John as he handed Scarlet a bag of ice to put on her back.
Tessa rushed into the kitchen and said, "what happened?"
"There was a little accident," said John. "I took care of it and it's all good."
"What happened to Scarlet's back?" She asked as she looked at the bruises forming.
"I don't' know. She was screaming but I couldn't get to her," said John.
"Scarlet, what happened?"
"I don't know," she said quietly.
"Zachary said that Zola hit her with the belt but Scarlet said she didn't."
"Then she is obviously lying, John. Where the hell were you when my daughter was being beaten with a belt? Why didn't you go instead of Zachary? You are the adult correct?"
"I had Zuri and Zaiden in the tub," he said. "I couldn't leave them."
"I don't care. Then you get Zachary to watch them and you go find out what's going on. You're the adult. Do your fucking job as a parent," said Tessa. She was beyond upset. She felt that John neglected the entire situation. "You should have done something."
"I'm sorry," said John.
"You're sorry?" asked Tessa, "Look at my daughter's back. Are you going to explain that to Dave? Are you going to explain that to my lawyer and to Dave's lawyer?"
"It's not that serious," said John.
"It's not that serious?" asked Tessa, "look at her back. Your daughter brutalized my daughter with a belt. What's it going to be next time?"
"Tessa, calm down," said John. "It's fine."
"It is not fine," she said. "Look at it. Where is she? Where is Zola?"
"She's upstairs," said John.
"All right," said Tessa as she started to storm up the backstairs.
"Where are you going?" asked John.
"To spank her ass since you aren't doing anything about it. She needs an ass spanking and she's going to get one. She's not going to get away with whipping my daughter with a belt," said Tessa.
"Leave her alone. I will handle it," said John, "she is hurt right now."
"What happened to her?"
"Zachary pushed her down the stairs," said John. "She's hurt."
"Big deal. So is my daughter she is going to be punished," said Tessa.
"Mommy, no," said Scarlet. "Don't. I'm okay."
"Scarlet, she hit you with a belt. She needs to be punished."
"I told her to, Mommy. Don't punish her," said Scarlet. She had to make up some type of lie to save her mom. She didn't want Zola to get angrier so she needed to tell a lie. She felt bad about doing it but she had to.
"See," said John, "Scarlet told her to do it."
"Shut up," said Tessa looking at John. "It shouldn't have happened. If you had been watching them like you were supposed to it wouldn't have happened."
"No. I was giving the younger kids a bath. I am one person. If you wouldn't have stormed out of here in a selfish rage then there would have been two sets of eyes and it wouldn't have happened."
"If you would punish your child there wouldn't be an issue to piss me off causing me to leave."
"Tessa, do you understand she has problems?"
"That's always the excuse," said Tessa. "Look at Scarlet's back," she said picking Scarlet up off the island, "but I guess that doesn't matter because Zola has problems."
"Tessa, she does have problems. You know that. She's been going to a therapist for a year."
"And it's not helping," said Tessa. "One day a week isn't helping."
"Well then I will talk to him about more intensive therapy and send her 2-3 days a week. Does that work for you?"
"What would work for me is if you could control your daughter. I don't know. Maybe I was crazy for thinking this could work again. Maybe I was crazy for thinking that we could live together. Maybe it was crazy. It's not working obviously."
"Tess, don't talk like that," said John. "Everything will be okay."
"When, John? When my daughter is dead because of your daughter's problems? Get her more help or get out," said Tessa.
"Tess, you don't mean that."
"I do.. So if you want to live with me and you want Zola to be here I suggest you get her the help that she needs. I will not sacrifice my children for anything do you understand that?" She asked.
"I understand," he said, "so are we good?"
"You're funny if you think you're sleeping with me tonight. I'll bring you a blanket down later for the couch. So go get comfortable."
"Tess," he said.
"Goodnight," said Tessa as she went upstairs to put Scarlet to bed leaving John in the kitchen by himself. Tessa didn't want things to be tense between her and John but she was not willing to sacrifice her children for some man. Her children meant everything to her and if Zola didn't change then there was no way her relationship with John would work out.
*A/N: So what did you think? Please review and thank-you for taking the time to read.