Bima: Looks like its just you reading this story now. Well, probably not… just the only one reviewing. 3 you!
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Chapter Ten
I was on top of him, almost ready to slide him into me. Almost ready to have the night I knew I'd remember. Was this really happening? I leaned into my arm and bit myself… yep this was reality. I raised my hips and braced myself for what was ahead. Dom rested his hands on my hips, pushing me back down over his upper thighs.
"Dom." I whimpered. He squeezed my hips and slowly let his gaze go from my lower stomach up to my chin. I leaned down and kissed him softly. He kissed me back and I pushed myself up again. I groaned when his hands pushed me back down over his upper thighs. I pulled away from him and sat up. He started at my chest. Once I noticed this I covered my chest with my arms. I scooted down his legs and off my bed. I grabbed my bra and covered myself with it, slowly putting it on. I looked around and picked up an old t-shirt that was folded up on my dresser.
"Letty." Dom tried. I shook my head and he nodded. I opened my dresser drawer and picked out a pair of underwear. I pulled them on, shortly followed by a pair of short shorts. "Letty, come on." I shook my head and ran a hand of fingers through my hair.
"Dom. You need to go home." I thought shortly about the words that just left my mouth. "Go home." I repeated, more sure of what I was saying. He sighed and sat up on the edge of my bed. I handed him his boxers without taking one last glance at his package. He stood and pulled them on. He reached for his clothes, which were folded up neatly on a rocking chair beside my bed. After he was dressed he looked over at me from where he was standing.
"So, you're kicking me out of your house?" I nodded my head without looking up at him, finding a dust bunny on the floor more interesting. "Look up at me, in my eyes, and tell me why." I let my eyes travel up his now dressed body and into his eyes.
"You don't want to sleep with me." I said with a sigh. "You may think you do, but you don't. I can tell with the little actions." He nodded a little. "Why don't you want to sleep with me?"
"Your married." That actually hurt. He was married too. I shook my head and opened my bedroom door. I stepped out and he followed behind me. He put an arm around my waist and stopped me, turning me toward him.
"Get off!" I said louder than I meant to. I was sure the kids heard that.
"Letty, every time we've slept together one of us leaves, usually you, and you end up pregnant. I don't want that to happen again."
"Well, Dom, it won't." I put my hands out and pointed to my stomach. "I'm already pregnant. So, that is one thing you wouldn't have had to worry about." I dropped my arms and stepped away from him. "Why don't you go ahead and get out of my house."
"Letty, don't kick me out, please." I sighed and swallowed hard. "I don't want to leave you or the kids again. Don't make me leave or you'll be sorry." I pushed his chest hard in anger and shook my head at him.
"If you knew me as well as you think, you wouldn't be making threats toward me. I'll be sorry? You'll be sorry." He put his hands up in surrender. "What are you gonna do?"
"Try for custody of my kids." I took a step back at that statement. I chuckled silently to myself. I stepped closer to him and laughed in his face. He grabbed my wrists and threw me into the closest wall, pinning my hands over my head. "I love how you think that's funny."
"I love how you think you can come here after ten years and try and take my kids away. That's right, Dom, my kids. They don't know their father. Never knew him." A chuckle.
"If I knew they were alive."
"You knew Dom, don't even fucking try that. Yes, I told you DJ was dead the day after Mari was conceived but you knew what? If you knew me as well as you should have, you would have known I was lying. Then after she was born, you disappeared. Ten years ago, we got back together, 'member? You asked me to marry you. And being the crazy fool I am… accepted. Not knowing you were screwing around behind my back. I'm glad I found that out."
"Your still a stupid whore, Letty. I meant it when I said it." I reached behind me and opened the front door. I stepped to the side then looked out. It was dark, obviously since it was late. I looked back to Dom and sighed.
"Get out." I said quietly. "You have… no right to call me a whore when I've only slept with four men in my life. If I'm a whore, just imagine what you are… bringing a new girl home every night to sleep with in OUR bed."
"Letty."
"No! I don't want you here. Get out." He nodded and stepped closer to me, moving toward he door. He was about to get the door slammed on him. But then, before he stepped out, he did something only a drunken abuser would do. He hit me. I'm not talking about a slap, more like a punch. Right into my eye. "Out!"
"Fine." He nodded and walked out the door. I slammed it behind him and leaned against it, sighing. I took a deep breath and started toward the kitchen. The kitchen was dark and empty, just the way I wanted it to be. I sat down at the table and put my head down, closing my eyes. A few minutes later there were footsteps in the kitchen. Somebody sat down in the chair next to me. I didn't want to look up, knowing it was one of the kids. I didn't want them to see me like this. They didn't want to see me like this, they never have.
"Mom." It was Mari. "Here. You should put this on your eye." I looked up and she had a bag of frozen mixed vegetables wrapped in a clean dishtowel. "It'll swell up even bigger if not." I took the vegetables and put them on the table, then put my head down on the bag. Mari sighed and I closed my eyes again.
"You should be asleep. You have to get up early to go to Mia's." I sat up and looked at her. She was shaking her head. "How'd you know?" She gave me a funny look. "That your dad hit me." She nodded a little and sighed.
"I fell asleep on the couch about an hour ago. You two woke me up with your fighting." She sighed again. "I'm sorry I pushed you two together. I didn't know he'd every hit you. I didn't know he was like that."
"Baby, it's not your fault." The words she said registered in my head. "You heard everything?" She nodded a little and I frowned. "That stuff was never meant for any of you kids to hear."
"I realized that." She looked around the kitchen. "I should get to bed, it's late. She stood up and I grabbed her arm, forcing her to sit back down.
"I didn't want you to leave without giving you an apology." She nodded and looked at me. "I'm sorry about everything that was said tonight between me and your dad." She nodded a little and smiled.
"It's cool mom, it doesn't bother me. Just now I know that my dad is a jerk and not the man I thought he was." I nodded and she looked at the table. "Now I'm going to go to bed, I'm getting tired." She stood up and I stood up too. I wrapped my arms around her waist and hugged her tightly. "Night mom."
"Night baby." She smiled and walked off toward the stairs. I sat back down with a yawn and looked around the kitchen. It was still dark, the way I wanted it to be the whole time. I didn't want Mari to know about the fight her dad and I had. I didn't want her to know that most likely she wouldn't see her dad again.
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"Sheesh, mom, I've never seen you cry." DJ said as we walked through the front door. I flopped down on the couch and he took a seat next to me. Leigh was at school and I let DJ stay home so he could go say bye to Mari with me. I wouldn't have been able to keep myself together as well as I did. I hardly kept myself together. I felt like I wasn't going to see my daughter again for a long time, but it was just going to be a few months. She'd be back before she had her baby. "Mom, I got to tell you something."
"Great, there's something I have to tell you too." I said. I didn't want to tell him but he needed to know.
"Well, you go first. What you have to say is probably more important." I took a deep breath and looked over at him. "Go ahead."
"I just don't want you to hate me for it."
"I could never hate you for anything."
"I'll take that to memory." He chuckled and I nodded a little. "Um… DJ… there's a chance that you and Mari and Leigh don't have the same dad." He sat up on the edge of the couch and I looked at him.
"What?" He questioned.
"There's a chance that you and Mari have different dads." He looked down and I sighed. He shook his head and stood up putting his hands in the air. I stood up and put my hands on his shoulders.
"So, that guy might not be Mari's dad. Hopefully I am considering I'm named after him." My eyes fell to the floor and he sighed. "He might not be my dad." I nodded a little. "Who?"
"I was drunk one night and I was tired of Dom cheating on me every single night. I loved him, I did, but I was fed up and I had to give him a taste of his own medicine. I hooked up with his best friend."
"What's his name?"
"Vince." I said softly. He nodded a little. "You don't know him. I haven't seen him in seventeen years."
"Seventeen?" I nodded.
"He's a famous racer. I found out about that about ten years ago. I've seen him on TV a few times. Don't say anything to Leigh or Mari because I'm not sure yet." He nodded. "So, what did you have to tell me?"
"I enlisted."
"What?" I questioned.
"I enlisted."
"No you didn't." I said, not believing him. "There's no way you did. You aren't old enough to do that."
"Mom, I'm eighteen." He said with a sigh. "You have to be eighteen to do it and I'm just waiting until June, after I graduate." I shook my head and stood up. I sighed and walked into the kitchen. "Mom." He said following me.
"What?" I asked turning toward him.
"What's wrong?"
"You're leaving to go into the military!" I challenged. "What the hell do you think is wrong with that? You're my only son; I don't want you to do this. I doubt that either of your sisters would want you to do this either."
"Mom, just let me do it. It'll be two years after school. Two years then I'll be back home when I'm twenty." I shook my head and walked over to the fridge. I grabbed a bottle of beer and sat down at the table with it. DJ looked at it then up into my eyes. He sat down at the table across from me as I opened the beer and took a long drink. It felt so good going down that I took another drink. "You lost the baby, didn't you?" I looked at him before putting the bottle down and raised an eyebrow.
"What makes you ask that?" He shrugged a little and I tilted my head and pointed the bottle at him. "Something made you ask."
"You're drinking again. Your smoking again, or so Mari says. You aren't showing, which you should be and I think Leigh is too young for tampons." I chuckled and shook my head.
"You go through my trash? DJ, why are you so worried about this? It's my business and it's David's business."
"It's my little brother or sister."
"Yeah, DJ, I know. Mari and Leigh are your sisters."
"And I care about them." I nodded. I knew that, he didn't need to tell me that. DJ would kick anybody's ass for either one of his sisters no matter their age. One time Mari and him went to a party, he tried to beat up the hostess' dad because he was hitting on Mari. The guy was well older than DJ, even older than me maybe. DJ was like my big brother, quick to defend his baby sisters. "When did you start being such a bitch anyway?" I raised an eyebrow at him and he turned and walked up the stairs. He'd regret that later, we both knew that.
"DJ!" I shouted after him. I heard his bedroom door slam and I sighed. "Shit." I said standing up. I picked up the bottle and finished it. I walked over and dropped it in the trashcan and sighed. I walked into the living room and flopped down on the couch. I put my head on the arm and closed my eyes. Why was I so tired?
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My eyes shot open to a scream. I sat up as I heard it again, I looked around and it was darker than it was when I fell asleep. I looked at the clock and it was 5pm. The scream happened again, it was Leigh. It wasn't anything serious; I could tell in the tone that it was just a playful scream. DJ must have been playing with her. I got off the couch and walked into the kitchen. I walked to the fridge and reached for a beer but to my surprise the fridge was empty. DJ and Leigh were out back playing in the yard. He must have gone and picked her up from school to let me sleep. I walked over to the sink; there were empty beer bottles. I leaned down in the sink and sniffed, it smelled like beer. DJ poured my beer down the drain. My eye twitched for some reason as I looked out the window to the picnic table. DJ was sitting there with Sam next to him. I walked to the door and pushed it open.
"Mom!" Leigh screamed from where she was, running over to me. She wrapped herself around my legs and looked up at me. "Guess what!" She cheered I closed my eyes and opened them again.
"What?" I questioned. She smiled and took my hand leading me toward another part of the yard. "I'm playing hide and go seek. Dad's hiding. Will you help me find him?" She questioned still pulling me behind her.
"Your dads here?" I questioned. She smiled and nodded.
"We were going to wake you up but DJ said to let you sleep. Dad said you looked really cute when you sleep. Then he mumbled something about your eye. I asked him what he meant and he said it was grown up stuff and he needed to talk to you about it." I nodded and looked around the yard.
"You go sit down next to your bubby. I'll find him, okay?" She smiled and turned back toward her brother. I looked around the yard I knew where Dom was… I would have hidden in the same place. I walked over to the tree where there was an old tree house. It used to belong to DJ, now it was Leigh's but nobody ever went up there. The perfect place to hide. I started up the wooden ladder and poked my head up the little hole in the floor. Dom was sitting in the corner of the tree house with his knees up into his chest. I pulled myself into the wooden box and he watched me carefully. I moved back against the opposite corner and he smiled at me a little. "What are you doing here?" He shrugged and I looked at him harder. "There's always a reason."
"I needed to see you. I needed to talk to you." He said quietly. I nodded and opened my arms. "Are we alone here? I mean will we be eavesdropped on?" I shook my head and he nodded. "I was going to wake you up earlier, DJ said not to that you can be sort of bitchy when you first wake up."
"Did he use those exact words?" I joked. Dom chuckled a little and shook his head. "You, personally, know how I am in the morning." He laughed and nodded a little. "Why'd you come up here to hide, it's a dead end."
"Well, we weren't playing hide and seek with bases, just come and find me." He said. I nodded and hiccupped.
"Well, I found you. What do I get?" I just realized I was being way too nice to him especially for what he did to me. I gave myself a little nod in agreement. "Do I get punched again?" He lost the smile and sighed. I shrugged a little and he shook my head. "I suppose now your going to tell me how sorry you are?"
"Letty, I am very sorry about what happened. Actually, I don't even know what happened. I don't know why I did it. I didn't mean to. It just slipped." I shook my head and looked up.
"Dom, I know you didn't mean it. It wasn't you. You aren't a hitter, you may be a yeller but you are definitely not a hitter. That's for damn sure." He nodded a little. "We can't be a couple."
"I know that." He said sadly with a sigh. "No matter how bad either one of us want it to work, it wont." I nodded. "I think we should still go out. But, seriously, just as friends. Let, I don't want to lose you… not again." I nodded again. "Don't make me leave…"
"I won't." I said assuring him I wouldn't. He smiled and nodded a little. "There are a few things we need to talk about but I don't want to talk about them anywhere around the kids or even in this much privacy."
"Why? What's wrong with privacy?"
"I'd be scared that you'd get pissed off at me." He shook his head and pulled me toward him with his arms. He squeezed me so I squeezed back. No harm in hugging, right?
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"Hey, Mari. Welcome to New York." Jo said as she noticed it was Mari sitting in a chair with a bag in the chairs on either side of her. Mari looked up at her and smiled a little. "Mia sent me to pick you up because she couldn't get away from work for enough time to come get you." Mari nodded and stood up. She threw a bag over her shoulder and reached for the other bag. "Need help?"
"I'm okay." Mari said softly. Jo nodded and Mari followed her to her car. "So, by any chance did Mia say when I'm going to start school?" Mari questioned her cousin. Jo shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.
"Probably soon. Tomorrow maybe? You know Mia." She nodded and smiled a little. "So you're actually related to Mia and my dad and stuff." Mari looked over at her and looked back down at her feet. She just realized that Jo didn't call Mia mom, she called her by her name.
"Mia's my aunt. My dad is her brother, my mom used to be her best friend along with Leon. Leon's your dad… Mia's not your mom?" She asked. Jo looked at her and shook her head. "I bet that hurt." Jo nodded a little and Mari decided to shut up.
"I found out when I was thirteen." Jo started pushing open the door the parking garage. Mari walked through the door and kept following her. "Mia asked me to stop calling her mom and to start calling her Mia. It was so hard. I never met my mom though." Jo stopped at her car and looked at Mari.
"I just met my dad a few days ago. I first met him when I was five, he said he left me then he left. He hasn't left yet but I think he might be gone when I get back home." Jo frowned and opened the trunk. Mari shoved her bags in the trunk and closed it when she finished. Jo stood there and watched her. "What?"
"Can we be friends?" Jo questioned. Mari made a funny face and Jo shrugged. "Last time you were here, we didn't get along. We almost ended up fist fighting together. You remember that?"
"Yeah. Over the guy across the street." Mari and Jo both laughed and Mari nodded a little. "We can be friends." Mari pulled Jo into a hug and they both laughed. The nodded and both got in the car.
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"Dad!" Jo yelled through the house as her and Mari walked through the front door. The house was just as Mari remembered it. It was just really quiet. Jo set her keys down on the end table and started toward the kitchen. She popped her head in the door and sighed then looked back at Mari. She walked over to Mari and grabbed her arm. "We're sharing a room, I'll show you where you can put your things." Mari nodded and followed Jo down a hall and into a room. There were two medium sized beds on either side of the wall. Jo pointed to the bed that was neatly made and Mari set her bags down on it.
"Thanks." Mari said. Jo sat down on the other bed and hugged a teddy bear. Mari sat down next to her and looked at her. "Something wrong?" Jo shook her head and frowned.
"Do your parents fight? Well, since he came back, have they fought a lot?" Mari shook her head and Jo nodded. "Mia and my dad fight… a lot."
"Maybe we can break them of that. You know since I'm here… maybe they won't do it. I am going to be here for a long time." Jo nodded and made a face that asked how long. "Till schools over."
"Your gonna love school." Jo said sarcastically. They both laughed and smiled. This was a good way to start what they both knew was going to be a long two months.
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Woot. Done with this chapter, finally. It literally took me since I last updated until today. It's been insanely hot and that is too hot to sit in front of the computer and type for an hour plus… even if there is a fan there.