Disclaimer: The characters in my stories are completely made up characters and have temporally been given borrowed names for the sole purpose of satisfying the qualifications for posting on this fanfiction site. These stories are fiction and should be perceived as such. They in no way reflect the lives, beliefs or views of any persons living or dead and any similarities are coincidental. I am not affiliated with any company or professional wrestler in any way. No disrespect or copyright infringement intended. And if any of my favs happen upon my stories, I hope your not offended because this is not about you, it is about feedback on my story ideas. :) I love and respect what you do and I thank you for all the joy and entertainment over the years.
Thanks for all the reviews guys. Love reading them all. :D
Chapter 12
What did I do? I sat on my bed that night and everything I had said. Everything I did and everything I had been thinking come down on me like a ton of bricks. How could I expect Joey to just fall back into my arms after nearly two years of ignoring her? Of course she had fallen out of love with me. Of course she wasn't interested. I had abandoned her when she needed me the most.
I was hurt that I had lost her. I guess I never thought that in all the time we were apart. And I know I deserved it. I had never done a damn thing to win her back. I should have asked her out on a date. I should have busted into her home and stole her from that mean old man that beat her continuously. I could have offered her a life. I could have given her and my baby a good life. But instead I acted like a spoiled brat who was used to getting what he wanted.
Joey wouldn't even look at me. We went to the court house. We made our agreement and she came and took Mia with her on Saturdays. Those were the days I felt the worse. Instead of having a day with my girls, I ended up sitting alone with too much free time.
"I want Mama." A month later, Mia was sick. She had a fever, a cough and an earache. The doctor said she would be fine, but she was inconsolable. "I want Mama."
"Maybe we should call Joey." My mother said. She'd tried everything to comfort Mia but nothing was working. Her little ears were hurting her. She wouldn't eat. It tore at all our hearts. She'd never been so sick before.
"Joey doesn't have a phone." I sighed.
"I want Mama." Mia moaned and cried constantly so I got in my truck and went to find Joey.
I heard giggling inside the trailer when I stepped up to the door. I guess I was about to interrupt their intimate game. I knocked and I heard Joey squeal out and a round of heavy footsteps running. The answered the door together, laughing.
"Randy?" Joey couldn't stop laughing even after laying her eyes on me.
"Mia's sick." I told her and her face turned pale instantly. "She wants you."
"Let me get dressed."
She wasn't wearing much and my eyes did follow her as she rushed to put on a pair of jeans under her tee shirt.
"I'm sorry." She stopped long enough to give Roman a gentle good bye with her hand on his cheek and kiss. "Raincheck."
"No problem girl." I know Roman's smile was forced. I'd heard the two didn't spend a lot of time together those days. They'd both left school and enrolled in online courses. They picked up full time jobs and Roman was studying something at night on top of trying to earn his diploma. I never knew the guy could be so determined. I guess being with Joey had done that for him. He wanted to be a better man and honestly, they both inspired me.
Joey looked great sitting shotgun in my truck. It had been a long time.
"I can't believe you still have this thing." She commented, but I could see the worry in her eyes.
"The doc said it's just a cold and a little ear infection." I tried to ease her worries. "She's just not happy with anything we do." She nodded. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah."
"You always were a bad liar Joey."
"Roman signed up with the military." She sighed. "He's going to boot camp over the summer."
"But he hasn't graduated yet."
"We'll both be done in a couple months." She sighed.
"Boy, you two really move fast at everything."
She laughed.
"We're just trying to get to a goal."
"What goal is that?"
"To live comfortably. You know get us a nice house. We just want enough to pay the bills the minute they come in."
"You'll get there." I tried to be a friend to her. That's what the whole thing had been about anyway. Saving the friendship. Too bad I had to be an idiot and screw it all up.
"What's she doing here?" Seth growled the minute we stepped inside. "It's not Saturday."
"I think you popped one too many steroid pills today, Seth." Joey snapped back. "Those things are making you mean. You need to stop." I saw the same girl she had always been. She'd cared about all her friends. She cared about people and she reached out and laid an understanding hand on Seth's shoulder.
I never saw it coming. Seth snatched her hand, shoved it off then delivered a hard slap to her cheek, knocking her to the floor.
"What the hell, Seth!" I dropped to my knees, helping her into a sitting position.
"I thought you'd learned your lesson last time bitch. I don't want your kind of friendship."
"It was you." I was fuming. "You're the one …" I tackled him. I didn't care if he was my brother or not. He had no right to lay his hands on Joey. All I could see was that day she'd showed up so beaten up. Those bruises on her face. I'd never seen anyone hurt so badly. And it had been done by my own brother.
My father had to break us apart.
"Why?" I shouted at him. "Why would you hurt her like that? You always claimed to love her man."
"She's trash. She's not good enough for me to associate with and I will put her in her place any time she thinks she has a right to speak to us."
"Us?"
"Rachel and I are a couple and we are far better than you people who pretended you gave a damn about us."
"You know that's not true." I shouted at him. "I think you're high."
"So what? I'm happy. That's what matters." And he stormed out.
"He'll be okay." Joey slowly got to her feet. "It's just the drugs. They're both using. They're trying a lot of different stuff." I saw how much still loved her friends. And I knew she would never stop trying. I wondered how many times she had approached one or both of them.
Joey went up stairs to Mia's room. I went to the kitchen for an ice pack and when I got to Mia's door, I just stood for a moment. She was singing to our daughter and rocking her and soon Mia was asleep snuggled up next to her mother.
"She needs you all the time, Joey." I sighed, walked across the room and gave her the ice pack. "Things really should have been different."
"I think things turn out how they are meant to be." Joey always had a way of accepting things. She really believed in fate. No matter how tough she tried to be. Or how distant she wanted to be, she was always all heart. And the girl had every reason to hate the world.
Joey dozed off almost instantly. I sat down on my bed. I liked the way it looked with both of them sleeping in it. But I wasn't really thinking about that at the moment. I was worried about the bruise showing up on Joey's cheek. She'd hit her head when she fell and I was suddenly afraid she wouldn't wake up.
I crawled into the bed beside her and wrapped my arms around her and Mia. I didn't know what I would do without either of them. They really were my whole world, rather I could call Joey my girl or not. I wanted her to be happy. It was the only thing I wanted. I guess her blowing up at me had caused me to grow up a lot.
Please Review.
