*Thank-you for the reviews on the last chapter. they were greatly appreciated. Thank-you all so much.
Natalie:
I am just getting up to put John's beer bottle in the recycling bin and to get myself another beer to drink when I hear the front door slam. I know exactly what's about to happen. "NATALIE!" I hear Max yell. I continue walking to the kitchen trying to avoid him. "NATALIE!" he yells again. I hear him stomp through the living room as I put the empty beer bottle in the recycling bin and walk over to the fridge to get myself another beer. "NATALIE" He yells it again and I can hear his footsteps getting closer to the kitchen. As I open my beer he bursts into the kitchen. "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?"
"I'm getting a beer," I say. I try not to allow him to get me worked up. I remain calm when he's obviously upset.
"WHAT WAS HE DOING HERE?" He yells.
"He came to visit," I say, "would you like a beer?"
"So that's what you do when I'm working?"
"Do what, Max?" I ask taking a swig of my beer.
"Have guys over to my house," he says.
"Your house? I believe this is MY house," I say. "I remember working my ass off to buy it. MY name is on the deed.. I make the mortgage payments. It is MY house you just stay here when you want to."
"Okay so that's what you do? You just let guys come over here?"
"Why do I have to tell you this over and over again? HE IS MY FRIEND!"
"Natalie, I see the way he looks at you and I see the way you look at him. He is more than a friend. I thought I told you to stay away from him?"
"And I thought I told you I wasn't going to," I say. I am in smart ass mode but I don't like Max telling me what to do. I am 28 years old. I am pretty capable of making my own decisions and doing what I want to do NOT what someone wants me to do. I do get tired of him trying to control me.
"Are you sleeping with him?" He doesn't waste any time getting to what is on his mind. He is pretty blunt.
"No, I'm not sleeping with him. John is my friend. He was here visiting Angelina. He took her to the park and then out to get ice-cream. That is all. Stop getting so upset over nothing. I don't know why you can't trust me."
"Because you're always having these men in the house," he says.
"What men? I've had ONE other man than you in this house and it was John. I told you. He took Angelina out for the evening. It's not a big deal."
"Why? Why is he spending time with Angelina?"
"Right now that's none of your business," I say. I'm just not ready to tell him about John and Angelina. Especially right now because I know he's already upset and telling him that bit of information is only going to make him angrier.
"It's none of my business?" He asks storming toward me. He knocks my beer bottle out of my hand and grabs me to push me up against the kitchen counter. He is forceful and as I feel my back slam against the corner I just feel as if my back is going to break at any moment. I hold back my tears. I don't want him to see that he hurt me. "You're my fiance' and Angelina is my daughter. It is my business," he says.
"First, Angelina is not your daughter. Second, it isn't your business and third, you need to get off of me," I say.
"Angelina isn't my daughter? Could have fooled me," he snaps slamming me against the counter once again. "I have been in her life for the last 4 years. I might as well be her father. Her deadbeat dad walked out on her and didn't want anything to do with her. I consider her my own."
"Since when?" I ask. "Since when did you consider her your own? You never considered her your own before."
"We are getting married," he says. "Don't you think it's time I took my place as her father?"
"She has a father," I blurt out.
"One that doesn't give two shits about her," he says.
"Actually," I say. "He does care about her."
"Since when?" He asks as he lets me go.
"Since I told him that he has a daughter," I say. I tried to hold it in as long as I could but I can't anymore. It's time for me to tell Max the truth.
"What?" he asks.
"Angelina's dad isn't a deadbeat. He would have been there for her if he had known but I didn't let him know until recently."
"So you lied to me?" he asks and I can hear the anger rising in his voice again.
"Yes," I say. "But I didn't want you to know the truth. I didn't expect for him to come back. I didn't expect him to ask me if he was her father. I didn't expect that. I couldn't lie to him. I had to tell him."
"But you could lie to me? You lied to me for 4 years. So the dad never knew?"
"No. I never told him until Monday night," I say. "It was the first time I had seen him in 8 years."
"Let me guess that wrestler is her father," he says.
"Yes," I say. "John is Angelina's father."
"So you did fuck him?"
"I wouldn't call it fucking him. I would call it making love and yes I slept with him. We went out with one another for a month or so," I say. "John is her father."
"So he isn't just a friend. He is someone you slept with in the past?"
"Yes but he's a friend now. We are working this out. He wants to be in Angelina's life. He wants to be her father."
"Why didn't you tell him at the beginning?" he asks. I can't tell if he's angry or surprised.
"To make a long story short. We didn't plan to get pregnant. He was going off to film a movie and he was getting somewhere in his WWE career. I couldn't let him give all that up to be a father. That was everything he had worked for since he was a little boy. I couldn't ruin it for him so I broke up with him and never told him about Angelina. My plan was to have her and put her up for adoption but when I saw her beautiful face I couldn't give her up. I decided to keep her and raise her on my own. I chose not to tell John. I never planned to tell him but then here he was in Hershey and he asked me about it. I had to tell him."
"You could have told me, Natalie. In fact you should have told me. I hate when you lie to me," he says. He acts as if he has never lied to me before. I'm pretty sure his Friday night work stories are lies. Just like I'm pretty sure his working late tonight is a lie especially since I can smell perfume on him. I guess he is just getting sloppy at covering up but the best part is the perfume smells familiar. I have smelled it before therefore it is someone I know.
"I haven't even told my own parents. What makes you think I would tell you?"
"That's a selfish thing to say. We're entering into a marriage. Don't you think all skeletons should be out of the closet before we go any further," he says.
"And don't you think your skeletons should be out of the closet too. Like how you're fucking someone else behind my back," I say. It is probably the first time I have spoken my thoughts out loud when it comes to Max.
"Baby, I'm not fucking anyone behind your back. You know how I feel about you not trusting me," he says. "In fact I told you to stop with your paranoia," he says as he strikes me in the face. "I told you, Natalie."
"Stop it," I say. "Stop lying to me, Max. I know you were with another woman tonight. I can smell her on you." I am holding my face before he strikes me again telling me to shut up. I know I deserve better than this. Seeing John these past few days makes me realize that. I deserve so much better than what I am getting from Max. John is right about one thing I am not happy in my relationship but I'm scared to leave because I don't know what Max is going to do. "Please," I say crying, "stop."
"I'm sorry," he says even though I know he's not. It's just going to keep happening and happening. "So what does John want?"
"He wants to be a father," I say through my tears.
"How much would it cost to get rid of him?"
"I'm not getting rid of him," I say. "He wants to be a father. I don't have the right to deny him. Besides John is richer than all of us. Don't think for ONE second that he wouldn't lawyer up and sue me for custody of Angelina. Max, he's going to be her father."
"No he's not. He hasn't been here for 7 ½ years. He's not just going to come in here trying to be a father."
"He hasn't been here for 7 ½ years because of me. You are not her father. John is her father and he is going to be in her life."
He grabs me once more and slams me against the counter again. "Get rid of him, Natalie," he says.
"No," I say. "I love Angelina and she loves John. He is her father. He will be in her life."
"Natalie, I told you to get rid of him," he says with force.
"No," I say.
"Don't' tell me no!" He yells forcefully before slamming me against the counter and then striking me in the face more than once. He's hit me before but tonight it's different. It's never been like this. It's never been like this. He continues to strike me before throwing me to the ground.
He goes to kick me before I hear Angelina's little voice, "Max, stop it. Leave my mom alone."
"Angelina," I say, "go back to bed."
"No, Mom," she says as she runs over to me. "I was sleeping and then I heard yelling. Mom, are you okay?"
"Angelina, go to bed!" Max yells at her.
"Don't yell at her," I say as I kick him in the shin.
"Damn it, Natalie," he yells as he kicks me down as I try to get up.
"Mommy!" yells Angelina. "Max, stop it," she begs through tears.
"Go to bed," he yells at her once more.
"No," she says.
I see Max go to strike her before he can I intervene and take the strike myself. Angelina runs away as I get up. "Don't ever try to hit my daughter again," I say. "I don't know where all your anger comes from but you need help and a lot of it. Get out."
"You can't kick me out," he says.
"Do you want to bet? I own this house. If I tell you to get out get out or I'm calling the police."
"The police aren't going to do anything?"
"Look at me, Max," I say wiping the blood from my lip and the blood from my nose. "You attacked me. You beat me up in MY home. I can press assault charges so if that's a chance you want to take…" I say.
"Fine. I'm leaving, Natalie," he says as he storms out of the kitchen. I hear him stomp to the front door and walk out slamming it shut behind him.
Angelina runs back into the kitchen and wraps her arms around my waist. "Ouch," I say as she squeezes my sore spot.
"Mommy," she says squeezing me tighter and crying.
"I know," I say as I grab the house phone. I turn it on. "It's okay now," I say as I dial John's number.
*A/N: So what did you think? Please review and thank-you for reading.