"I hardly think that's called for. What, is my word not good enough?"

It was his turn to scoff nastily "No, not at all. You always were full of shit. I never thought you'd pull this one me though. You must really be fucking desperate to ruin me."

"Chris..." Jessica said, her tone gentler now.

A hand touched his knee and he fought the urge to jerk it away but didn't want to risk it while driving

"You're being irrational. Why don't we just go back to my hotel room and talk about this?"

"There's no way in hell you are getting yourself out of this one Jessica, so give it up." Chris knew her games all too well. She always thought getting in his pants would cure everything. Not this time. After today he didn't want to be in a two mile radius of his ex wife ever again if he could help it. Pulling into the convenience store parking lot, he pulled his jag into a spot half straight and killed the engine and got out. When Jessica childishly didn't move, he back pedaled, yanking the door open and half dragged her out and into the store

He all but snatched up the first employee he laid eyes on "Excuse me, where are your pregnancy tests"

"Aisle seven." the older woman said pointing. She smiled at Jessica "Think there's a bun in the oven?"

"I pray not." Chris muttered

He grabbed two tests from the shelf and let the woman ring them up before shoving them at Jessica "Bathroom?" he asked the clerk

"I am not doing this here." Jessica whispered harshly

Anger boiled over. He had to bite back the blow up threatening to overflow when he noticed the clerk was watching them with wide eyes. He gave her a dazzling smile before escorting Jessica to the back of the store, taking the tests from her, tearing the packaging open

"Listen. You're going to go in there and take these fucking test or I'm going to call the fucking cops and tell them you broke into my house and assaulted me with that damn bat."

Begrudgingly with a childish stomp, she snatched the test and retreated to the bathroom.

Chris sighed, a headache brewing. He could still feel the clerk watching him so he pretended to browse to make himself look less like the madman he'd turned into. He casually pulled out his phone and checked his email to make himself look busy, Through the glass mirror in the back of the store, he noted the trickle of blood running from his hairline where Jessica had actually hit him with that bat she'd wrecked his place with. No wonder the clerk was gawking at them. They must have looked like a crazy pair.

Noticing that twenty minutes had pass with not a peep from his darling ex wife, he pushed open the door or the ladies room. Jessica was on the filthy bathroom floor, her head in her hands, mascara marring her blue eyes. On the edge of the sink, the two pregnancy tests all but called to him and he snatched them up eagerly

"Why can't you just be with me? Why can't we try again?" Jessica asked softly

Chris sighed, tossing the negative tests in the waste bin, the knot in his chest loosening.

"Is it because she's pregnant? A fine time to finally decide to do the noble thing for once."

Chris said nothing, leaning against the sink in the confined space, his eyes locked on hers

Getting no rise out of him, she stood and reached out for him "She'll never love you. Not like I did."

He knocked her hands away from him "I'm going to say this for the last time Jessica. Don't ever come near me or her again or I'll file a restraining order. Stop showing up at my house. Stop showing up at my job. Don't call of text me. I don't want to see you ever again after what you pulled today. We're finished."

"You don't mean that." she wailed

Chris pulled his phone out and tapped at his screen "I called you an Uber to take you to your hotel. Goodbye Jessica. Have a nice life."

And that was how he left her, standing in that bathroom with a look of utter and complete shock on her face, a burden he no longer had to bear.

"Yelena?"

"Hey. You busy?" Yelena asked, walking with no direction on a random street.

"Have you been crying?" Punk asked

Yelena snorted, sniffling slightly, dabbing at her wet eyes "Are you home?"

"Yeah, but what-"

"Why don't I fly out to see you and AJ, I miss you guys."

Punk's dark brows knitted together with worry "Yelena you know you're too far along to fly, you can't. What's the matter?"

"I just..." she choked back a sob, cover her face from the pedestrians around her, feeling embarrassed that she couldn't even form a sentence to express herself "I knew he'd find a way to trap me here where I can't leave. I should have stayed in Cleveland, I never should have left home. I should have stayed with my family. Hell, I never should have moved here in the first place-"

"Wait, Yelena slow down. Breathe, you're getting hysterical on me. Where are you right now?"

She glanced around "I don't know. One minute I was driving and I couldn't stop crying so I stopped and got out of the car to walk and now I'm not sure where I am."

"You're telling me you're walking around in almost a hundred degree weather?"

She sniffled again. The last thing she was concerned about was the heat "I have to get out of here Phil. I have to get away from him."

A vein in Punk's forehead pulsed visibly in anger "What the fuck did Chris do? Find somewhere cool to rest. You shouldn't be out in that type of weather. How long have you been wandering around in the sun like that?"

She checked the time "A few hours."

He really let her have it, refusing to hear anything else until she found somewhere with AC. Lucky for her, she was able to google map her location and find an ice cream shop. Settle in a booth with two scoops of Salted Caramel ice cream. She was able to collect herself and tell Punk what happened.

"So he's still sleeping with his ex wife? You'd think the way he talks about her, he wouldn't touch her to save his life."

"I didn't stick around to hear the lovely details, I hauled tail out of there."

Phil scratches his brow, sighing heavily

"I'm sorry to burden you with all of this on your day off Punk, I should let you rest, I might just find a hotel for the night or maybe-"

"Shush, you know you're not a burden. I just hate that you're so far and that I can't really help you. You know I'd kill for you Yelena. What's a few more black eyes?" he snorted

Always the Knight in Shining Armor

She ran a frustrated hand through her hair "I don't know what to do..."

The tears flooded her eyes once again and she brushed them away angrily.

"Do you want me to fly out? Hunter owes me a favor and I'm sure AJ would love to see you"

His kindness only made the tears worsen. After practically abandoning all of her friends, they were still willing to move heaven and earth for her. She wanted to tell him yes, but that was selfish. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she was truly stuck this time. Almost everything she owned was at Chris's place. She could take a flight due to her condition. Pretty much everyone was back on the road, so she didn't want to intrude on their personal space with her dogs, and if she went back to her townhome, Chris would find her him a matter of seconds.

"What do you want to do? I'll help as best as I can" Punk offered, stealing her from her thoughts.

What DID she want? Of course her first instinct was telling her to go. Vanish into thin air. It was always her solution, the easy way out of confrontation, so what was stopping her from acting on just that?

Chris. The look on his face when he realized that she had heard everything. It wasn't the caught canary look he'd had when she'd heard his conversation in Daytona. He looked... ashamed. Terrified, even. She'd never seen him look so caught off guard. What went through his mind when he saw her? At Jessica's shocking revelation of being pregnant too? The thought made her nauseous. She almost felt for him.

A million emotions ran through her all at once

"That look on your face is terrifying me. What are you thinking?" Phil asked, worry clear as ever in his hazel-green eyes

She twisted the sunflower pendant and her throat with a long sigh. She was was tired. Tired from wondering aimlessly in the scolding Florida sun. Tired of crying. Tired of the uncertainty, tired of fleeing. Just plain tired.

"I..."

I have to admit how painfully ashamed I am that i haven't updated this story in 2 years. I hope you all are doing well in this day and age and staying safe. If my fans are still reading, thank you.