-14-
The next morning, Emma woke up with Punk's arms still wrapped tightly around her waist. She closed her eyes and sighed; for the first time in a long time, she was all right with him laying next to her and actually touching her. She knew about his insomnia and how he had trouble sleeping at night. It looked like he just needed to sleep next to his wife to get over that bout of insomnia that had been plaguing him for the past seven months. Very gently, she unwrapped his arms from her waist and slipped out of the bed to head to the bathroom. She needed coffee, and lots of it. Her and Punk had stayed up until at least three this morning talking and laughing; it had been a long time since they had done that.
Today was Monday, which meant that Jack had school all day, Josh had kindergarten this morning and Jenna would spend the morning doing errands with her grandma. Emma knew her mom was going to be pissed as hell when she found out what her daughter had been up to while Evelyn had agreed to keep the children for a few days so she could 'relax'. Ever since Emma told her mother that she had intended to divorce Phil, she was more than willing to do whatever she could to help Emma out. Evelyn hated Phil and had never understood why her daughter insisted on taking up with such a...punk.
After she was done in the bathroom, she looked around for some clothes to throw on. She found a pair of hot pink short shorts and smiled when she saw Punk's Misfits sweatshirt laying on the floor. She pulled it on over her head, glanced over at her sleeping husband one more time and headed downstairs to make some coffee. After talking last night until the wee hours of the morning, the couple had decided that they were going to have a full day today ahead of them.
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Beth rolled her eyes as she watched Scott pace back and forth in the living room of his crappy apartment. He had begged her to come over this morning so she could help him figure out what the hell he was going to do with the Emma, Punk and Jenna fiasco. "I'm going to leave if you don't stop pacing, Colton," she growled as he passed by her one more time. He nodded and sat down in a chair across from her.
"What the hell am I going to do, Beth?" he asked worriedly. "Punk knows about Jenna. And knowing him as well as I do, he's going to want to see the test results or he's going to want to do his own paternity test. Then what the fuck am I going to do? You said this was all going to work out according to how we had planned it out, as long as I kept after Emma."
"Ok, first of all, I don't understand what the fuss is all about. When he comes to you and asks to see the test results that the clinic sent you, just give him the ones that we had made for just this type of situation. Shit, do I have to think of everything?" she asked as she rolled her eyes.
"What if still doesn't believe them and wants to take the test himself? Huh? Then what happens? He's gonna know that those results were fake!"
Beth chuckled. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh right now, but I still can't get over how gullible Emma is; I mean, I know it's been like two and a half years since you told her, but I still can't believe that she just took your word, without seeing the test herself, that you had fathered that little spoiled brat."
"Well, I'm just that convincing, I guess," Scott said with a smirk. "So, you think I should just show Emma the doctored results and then Punk will be all right without getting tested himself?" Beth nodded. Inside she was screaming at Scott to shut the fuck up. How could he be so stupid sometimes? "All right. Then you're sure that Punk will go ahead finalize the divorce?" Again, Beth nodded.
"Yeah, and then they're broken up, Emma will turn to you because Punk broke up with her and left her with nothing, and my darling Punk will be on the rebound, giving me the perfect opportunity to swoop in and convince him that it was always supposed to be me and him that were meant to get together, and not him and that little bitch Emma. It's been almost ten years since she ruined everything. I hate her," Beth growled as she thought about how Emma had charmed Punk and wormed her way into his life. A spot that was supposed to Beth's.
Scott sighed. "You know, Beth, we've been working on this plan for like four years now, I'm gonna be pissed as hell if it doesn't work out like we planned."
Beth shook her head. "It will work out, Colton. Like Punk always says...have faith," she whispered with an evil smile on her face.
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Emma was sitting at the kitchen table, a hot cup of coffee next to her, trying to put her cell phone back together unsuccessfully, when Punk wandered downstairs. He stopped next to her on his way to the coffee pot and watched as he wife started throwing the broken pieces of her phone against the wall. "Morning, baby," he whispered in her hair as he bent down to kiss the top of her head. "Fixing your phone?" he asked with a smirk on he sat down next to her, his hazel eyes full of amusement.
She turned and glared at him. "Stupid phone..." she mumbled as she pushed the rest of the phone onto the kitchen floor and crossed her arms across her chest.
Punk bent down and picked the broken pieces up and threw them in the garbage. "You're so cute when you're mad. I'll buy you a new one today," he whispered in her ear before he sat down. "But you have to promise to play nice with this next one."
"Punk, you know as well as I do, that I don't like to play nice."
"Trust me, Emmy, I know; and I've got the scratches down my back to prove it," he said with a wide smile.
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Later that morning, after a quick make-out session in the living room, Punk and Emma headed over to Punk's apartment to pick up some more of his clothes and to pick up the suitcases that the kids had left there Saturday.
Emma hadn't been to the apartment that her husband had rented for himself after she had filed for divorce and the court ordered him to move out of the house he owned. She had grilled Jack for details about the place every time the kids came home from spending a rare weekend with their dad. From what Jack said, the apartment was in an old building on the second floor, the hallway smelled funny and it was always a mess. Emma didn't doubt that it was a mess; Punk was never home and he tended to be messy when he was home. He probably didn't even see the need to pick up after himself; he had always had Emma to do that for him.
Punk held Emma's hand as they walked into the old building and headed up the first flight of stairs. She looked around at her surroundings and found herself shuddering when she thought about her kids having to sleep in a place like this. It reminded her of the first apartment her and Punk had shared when they first started getting serious. She must have had a small smile on her face when she thought of that because Punk stopped walking and turned to her. "What are you smiling about, Em?" he asked curiously.
"Oh, nothing. Just thinking about how much this building reminds me of the first apartment we had together on the north side," she said quietly.
He found a smile breaking out onto his face as well; not because he remembered how rough it was back then and how far they had come since then, but because he remembered all of the heated love they had made in that small one bedroom apartment. "I see," was all he said before he unlocked the door and let her go in first. She sighed when she looked around the living room—toys everywhere.
"Phil...how...why...you know what? Never mind," she mumbled as she started picking toys up and putting them back into the toy box.
"Em, you don't have to do that," he said quietly as he sat down in the chair and watched his wife pick up after him and the kids.
"Yes, I do. Otherwise it will drive me crazy," she mumbled as she took a load of clothes that Jenna had been playing with back down the hallway to her room. She opened the door to Jenna's room and wanted to scream. Not only did Punk let his little girl throw toys everywhere, he had also let her color on the walls. She had to stay calm; this wasn't her problem. Forcing herself to count to ten she grabbed Jenna's suitcase and closed the door behind her. She stopped in the boys' room and picked up their suitcases too.
Punk had made himself comfortable in the chair and was watching television when she came back into the living room with the suitcases. "Are you ready to go?" she asked as she set the suitcases down.
"Not yet," he mumbled with his eyes still glued to the television. She turned to see what he was so engrossed in and held back a scream of frustration—it was a baseball game.
"Really? I thought we had talked about this last night-"
"And I thought we had talked about you not turning into a raging bitch at the drop of a hat," he spat back, his eyes still glued on the television. "Sit down," he said gentler.
Emma reluctantly sat down on the couch, but not before she grabbed Punk's phone when she walked by him; he didn't even notice. At least she could log on to her Facebook or Twitter for a few minutes while she waited for him to finish up his precious baseball game. Logging into her Facebook account, she smiled when she saw that she had a message from someone. She was hoping that it was from Amber or one of her other girlfriends. She hadn't spoken to any of them since Friday night and they would have a lot to catch up on when she finally did get to meet up with them.
Her smile quickly turned to a frown and then a look of frustration when she realized that the message wasn't from a girlfriend, but from Scott. 'What the hell did he want?' she wondered to herself.
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Hey Em,
I know you told me that you don't want to talk to me and that I should leave you and Jenna alone, but I can't do that. And you know why. That's cool that you came clean with Punk and told him about our kid, but it doesn't sound like you told him about what else was going on. And don't act dumb you know exactly what I'm talking about. So, I guess, I hate to do this, but you should tell him before I tell do. Lol, I know you well enough to know that you're going to say that I'm lying, but it seems like you forgot about who else knows about me and you and the promises you had made me. I know what you're doing, me and Beth saw you and Punk together last night, holding hands and kissing like nothing was wrong. You were acting like you weren't a slut, who had been sleeping around on her husband for over four years. I don't know what game you're playing with him, but I just wanted to let you know, that pretty soon, the game is going to be over.
Talk to you soon,
XX
Colt
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He had signed his message with his ring name; a nickname she had always called him when they were getting it on. Shit, she thought to herself. "What's the matter with you?" Punk asked when he looked over at Emma during a commercial break. She looked like she had just seen a ghost. "Emmy, what's the matter?" he asked again before she started crying.
She wiped the tears from her face and logged out of her account, handing his phone back to him while she got up. "Are you ready?" she asked quietly as she grabbed one of the suitcases and he shut the television off and grabbed the other two.
"Yeah...Are you sure you're ok?" he asked again as she opened the door. She just nodded and headed downstairs.
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On the way to Scott's apartment, Punk called him to see if he was actually home. After some heated and strained conversation, Scott agreed to meet them at his place and show them the test results that he had gotten from the clinic three years ago.
After Scott hung up he turned to Beth. "They're on their way over," he said quietly.
"Both of them?" she asked in a surprised voice. She never expected that those two could come through something like still together. She had actually expected Punk to get pissed enough and to have felt betrayed enough, to force the court to move the divorce through the system faster this morning. She had a bad feeling that Emma had used sex, or something similar, to get Punk back on her good side.
"Yeah, they just left his place-"
"For crying out loud. Seriously. What the hell is wrong with Punk? Why can't he see what a little bitch she really is?"
"Hey now. I happen to be in love with that 'little bitch', Beth."
Beth rolled her eyes. "Why, I will never understand. Do you want me to take off?" she asked as she stood up from her chair.
"No, stay here in case I need you. Emma knows that you know about the kid. Well, we both know what Emma thinks," he said with a chuckle.
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"Phil, I don't know if I want to do this," Emma whispered as her and Punk sat in the parking lot of Scott's apartment complex.
"We have to, Em," he said quietly. "I have to see those test results, I can't just take Scott's word for it like you did."
Scott was waiting for them when Punk and Emma knocked on the door; he opened the door quickly and let them in; Punk was sure to keep Emma close by his side. He held in a groan when he saw that Beth was here also. Before him and Emma had gotten married and started having babies, Beth had been bound and determined to hook up with Punk. Fortunately for him, however, Emma had agreed to marry him and promised him forever and a day.
"Let's see them," Punk said quietly as he held Emma's hand and squeezed a little to let her know that she was all right.
Without a word, Scott handed over the paternity test. Punk started reading and let out a soft, "Son of a bitch." He let got of Emma's hand and glared at her. "Let's go," he growled at her.
"Hold on. Emma, you don't have to leave with him; you can stay here and I can drive you home. He knows the truth now." Scott said quietly.
"I don't believe this fucking test, Scott. I'm getting that little girl tested myself. For some reason, I don't trust you anymore-"
"Punk, if there is someone that you shouldn't be able to trust, it's your wife," Beth spoke up from her spot on the couch.
"Stay out of this, Beth," Punk said softly to her.
"No. I am not going to stay out of this. What the hell is wrong with you, Punk? She fucking cheated on you and then never told you that little Jenna wasn't your baby. Not only did she cheat on you, she did it with your best friend."
"Stay out of this, Beth," he said again, this time with a little bit more force.
"Um, no. Explain to me, Punk, why you're even standing here next to her right now? Did she suck you off this morning and promise not to do it again? Did she lay down for you and let you have her way with you? Did she agree to let you move back in? Or did she threaten to take your boys away from you? What is it about her that makes her have this...control over you?" Beth shouted.
"She promised me forever and a day. And forever isn't over yet," was all Punk said before he grabbed the test results from Scott, grabbed Emma's hand and stomped out of Scott's apartment.
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The ride back to the house was silent. Punk was fuming over what he had just read in the test results and what Beth had had the balls to say to him about Emma. It's true, that Emma had cheated on him and kicked him out of his own house. But damn it, he loved her, and she was finally coming around to him. There simply had to be a way to work around this. Over and over in his head he thought of scenarios of how this could all play out. They could agree to stop the proceedings and he could move back in, and then they could act like nothing was wrong. He was that little girl's daddy no matter what any test said.
"Talk to me," she whispered beside him, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"Not now, babe. Let's go home and make an appointment at the clinic for testing and see if we can get it done today yet. Then we'll go pick up Jenna's from your mom's house. I know you want to talk about this right now, but right now, I am so pissed off, I'm afraid that I'm going to say something that I'm going to regret."
A few minutes later they pulled into the driveway of their house and went inside to make some phone calls. Hopefully in a few days, this mess would all be behind them and they could move forward. Until then, they just waited.