I don't know why I was surprised to find no mail in my mail box. That is how it has been for almost four months now. I guess I'm just hoping it won't have to come to more court dates and more drama for my boys to go through. But…this is how she wanted to play so maybe I should start playing back. I slammed my mailbox hard and shoved my car keys into my jeans walking up the walkway to my front door which was wide open. I heard Josh and Kevin in the kitchen already getting snacks and even heard Carlos laughing along with them. I slammed the door shut a little too hard probably and walked out into the kitchen as well as throwing my sunglasses onto the bar of the island. I sat down hard neck to Carlos who gave me a concerned look but said nothing. I watched Kevin pour Josh a glass of milk and hand him four shortbread cookies. Josh screeched and ran out of the kitchen towards the living room. Kevin then went onto make himself a healthier snack of carrots and celery. I loved football season because it meant he actually took care of himself. The right way. "So Sammy called me when you were picking the boys up." I raised an eyebrow and turned to Carlos seeing him nod his head. "She asked em if we could have lunch tomorrow. She's ready to talk to me without wanting to rip my cock off." I heard a snicker form Kevin and turned to him frowning.
"Don't you have a history paper to write? Especially before you have to go to practice tonight?" His smile fell and he grabbed his vegetables and ranch walking out of the kitchen. I turned back to Carlos and yawned setting my elbows on the edge of the island. "That's a good sign Los. It's been almost two weeks, which means she's thought about this hard and may even let you back into the house and not get a divorce."
"Yeah but…I just keep thinking about when you told us Ashley fucked that guy and how easy it was for you to make that decision to divorce her. Maybe it wasn't that easy for her, and when I see her tomorrow, she's going to kill me completely and leave me." I shrugged and opened my mouth to say something along the lines of, maybe you shouldn't have screwed another girl but didn't get the chance. I heard knocks at the front door, two little pitter patters from Josh running to answer it and then heard the one word I never wanted to hear from my 9 year old again.
"Mommy!" I jumped off the bar stool, Carlos not far behind and rushed into the living room. My jaw dropped to the floor seeing my ex-wife down on her knees holding around Josh who was practically bouncing on her lap. "Mommy guess what I didn't in school today! I got to make a diagram of the planets mom!" Josh started to ramble, which he usually did, but I could tell Ashley wasn't paying attention which was her MO. We locked eyes as she stood up letting Josh grab her hand and pull. He was demanding all of her attention but I didn't want him to get too attached. She wasn't staying.
"Kevin take your brother upstairs and do your homework." Ashley looked down, hurt, and I watched Kevin grab Josh's hand, and both their schoolbags along with their snacks. Josh gave me a sad look, like he wanted to tell me he wanted to see his mom some more, but he knew my tone. I wasn't joking around. I watched them walk up the stairs the whole way and remained silent and still until I heard a door shut upstairs. I turned to her, anger seeping out of every pore on my body. "What the hell are you doing here? You didn't think it was good enough to not pay child support for the past four months you have to come here and make our kids think you're coming back?" She looked at me but then looked beside me. Carlos was still standing there.
"Can we talk alone please?" Her voice sounded so…sad and hurt but I wasn't going to buy it.
"No. Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of my best friend." She sighed quietly and tucked hair behind her ear.
"I can go…help the boys with homework." He started to walk away but I grabbed his arm and pushed him to the couch so he was sitting between the two of us.
"No stay Carlos. I want to have a witness to all the bullshit she's about to spew at me."
"Kendall please…I'm sorry. I don't want this anymore. I want to be with you again."
"Why?! So you can fuck another guy behind my back while our kids our sleeping two doors away!?" She put her head down and sniffed quietly. "Ashley you signed the divorce papers. You gave your kids away and you agreed to pay child support. You are not allowed to see them anymore. No way in hell am I ever going to give you the satisfaction of breaking my heart all over again by trying to take my kids away from me!"
"Like you did to me?!" My mouth dropped open and she stepped forward. My mouth went completely dry and fell open a little more. I hadn't noticed it until now but…her makeup wasn't doing a good job of covering everything up. "I made a dumb mistake and acted on thoughts of anger because I thought you didn't love me anymore. I never wanted to hurt you I just…what are you staring at?" I heard Carlos stand up and walk towards me also mouth hanging to the floor staring at Ashley. Her cheeks went red and she looked down tucking hair behind her ear again, nervously. "What?" I wet my lips and cautiously put one finger under her chin raising it slowly. We locked eyes again and I stepped closer feeling not only my soul ache but felt like a ginormous asshole.
Her makeup around her eyes must have been smeared or something because it was starting to come off. And the reason she had the makeup on in the first place was shinning bright at me. She had a black right eye. And once I got close enough there was a cut on her bottom lip on the right side. "Ashley…what happened to you?" Carlos's voice was the first break in our stunned silence and he took the words right out of my mouth. She pushed my hand away softly and wiped at the tears running down her cheeks.
"Noth-nothing…I...I fell."
"Inot someone's fist?" She looke dup at me appalled and gave me a stupid look. A look I knew too well. She was trying to think of a way to cover this up. "Was it Justin?" She closed her eyes and let more tears fall out as she shook her head. Of course it was Justin. "I'll fuckign kill him." I mad eone movement to go around her, to my front door but she jumped up and grabbed my arms getting in front of me.
"No Kendall! Don't!" I stopped and raised my eyebrows at her. "He didn't…mena to. He was just drunk and he…please it's nto a big deal."
"Let me guess. He's the reason you haven't paid child support. And let me guess again…he told you to come here, get custody of the kids so he can make money off me?" She let me go and shook her head. I sighed and put my hand son my hips.
"That's not why I'm here. I miss my kids. And I miss you." I swallowed had and she wiped her face again to reveal the bruise, about 10 times worse then I first saw it. "When Justin and I met…I'll admit Kendall, I only had sex with him because I'm a bitch. I wanted to make you feel how I had been feeling because of you. And then we divorced and I was completely happy with not having custody of the kids but then something…happened…and I realized what a mistake I had made." She stopped and looked up at me with sad glistening brown eyes. "I know I can never have you back. I've actually come to terms with that to be honest but I can't just let my kids go." I wanted to pull her in and hug her, but something strong stopped me. Rather…someone. Janet.
"Where is Justin?" I turned to look at Carlos who stepped up and handed Ashley the box of tissues from the coffee table. "Does he know you're here?" She took one and shook her head laughing quietly.
"No, he's passed out drunk off his ass in my house. I have had enough…I need to get away from him and the first place I thought of was here." She looked up at me smiling small and shrugged. "You always knew what to do. And I feel safe with you." I don't know why, but those words brook me down and I reached out pulling her into my chest. I glanced to Carlos over her head and he reached out rubbing her back softly.
"Do me a favor Los…call Claire." He nodded and slowly walked out into the kitchen. "Ashley…I'm going to help you. I'm going to make sure that piece of shit goes to jail and I'm going to make sure no one ever hurts you like this again. And if your serious about wanting to be in your kids life again, we'll go back to court and we'll have joint custody but other then that…there is no us. We have two kids we have to raise. That's it." A small sob ripped onto my chest and I held her tighter. "You hurt me Ashley. I can never forgive you for that. But I would never want anyone…especially you to go through this. And you will not have to go through it again." I felt a tiny nod on my chest and heard another little sob. "And if the son of a bitch is lucky, the cops will get to him before I do." She held around me tighter digging her face into my chest.
"Claire is on the way. I told her the minimum and she said she was on the way with James. My question now is, why are we not fucking murdering this douche bag?" I glared at him as he walked to us and shook my head. He frowned and sat down hard scoffing. "I'm just saying…"
I sat with Ashley while we waited for Claire and James to show up, while Carlos went upstairs to tell the kids everything was okay. While she cried and continued to call herself stupid, she told me how it all started and everything that had happened in the past four months. I decided to keep my new relationship to myself and resisted the urge to go over to her house and kill the bastard. He had a drinking and cocaine problem and all the money she was going to give to me for child support he took and used for his addictions. She also admitted she was afraid she would go to jail for not paying but I assured her once she told the cops about the drug addict living in her house and once I vouched for her, no one would find her not paying as an issue.
By the time James and Claire showed up, just shoving their way into my house, I gently set a hand on the back of Ashley's back and helped her stand. Claire looked between the two of us before rushing forward and pulling her best friend in for a hug. "I'm going to kill that little pussy." I smirked and let go of Ashley walking to James. He seemed shocked to see Ashley's face but turned to me and shook his head.
"I would have thought you would have killed the guy by now."
"She won't let me. And I don't feel like spending the rest of my life in prison, although it would be worth it." I glanced over to the girls and sighed out putting my hands on my hips. Ashley looked to me and we locked eyes again. She smiled small and wiped at her eyes, which I don't think had stopped leaking sine she first got here. I smiled back and for some reason felt my cheeks get hot. Before I could turn back to James he was in front of me with his back to the girls and glaring down at me.
"I don't think I need to remind you that if you ever break my daughters heart I'll rip your fucking throat out. I know that loo, especially to Ashley. Don't make me murder you Knight." I glanced up at his face, a stupid cocky grin on my own face and shook my head.
"James, I don't think I need to remind you that Ashley broke my heart and I love Janet. I could not have a better girl then Janet. Why would I fuck that up?"
BOO! Haha…I'm evil. What a plot twist huh? Now you kind of feel bad for Ashley don't' you? I've messed with you emotions to the point of no return. It's basically my only joy in life. I just felt like this drama sandwich just need a little more meat to make it delicious so…this happened. Tell me what you think. Even if you hate me. I want to hear your thoughts!