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I was not about to go out of my way to keep them from each other; it just had to be done in the right manner to ensure that Christian would be safe. And she better be sober when I get there. Otherwise, all of my self-control was going to explode, and it was not going to be pretty.
The second I saw her house in the distance, I could feel my heart beating against my chest. I had to get a grip on myself, but it would appear I needed to lower my expectations on it. If I could just get through this without having an all-out screaming match, I would consider that a win for tonight.
Fuck please be sober.
The house itself was on the smaller side, but it was still as extravagant as I knew she wanted. It was always about the show for her. I would have been happy in a simple two story house on the beach, but that always seemed too lower class to her. The house was very modern, most of it built out of glass walls. Something that was odd for the town and it stood out, but not in a good way. Not in my opinion anyways.
Small towns should stay as a small town and not be modernized. They needed to sustain, but that doesn’t always mean expanding and compromising on what makes them special. It was why I loved this town so much. The tourists helped with funding the town and as long as tourists were interested in everything Newport had to offer the town would stay the same.
I pulled into her driveway and parked my car. I was tempted to leave it running, but I turned it off. A small part of me was really hoping that everything was fine inside, and I could leave Christian here. The last thing I wanted to do was drag him out of there. I knew how important it was for him to spend time with Ellis. I knew he had been waiting for this for a long time now, and the very last thing I wanted to do was hurt him.
After turning my car off, I got out and went over to the front door. A brief thought of barging in crossed my mind, but I rang the doorbell and waited for her to answer. Hopefully answer. When no one came, I knocked on the door. The doorbell was more than loud enough; she should have heard it. Her car, the one I bought her, was in the driveway, so she was obviously home.
The longer I was left standing here, the more angry and anxious I became. It was after seven. Christian should have been in the bath by now. She knew that, so I couldn’t imagine they were out in the nearby forest playing. Not to mention it would be getting too dark for that, and the mosquitoes would be out. Not that Ellis ever went into the woods to begin with. Her idea of camping was staying in a beach resort. Not that I was one to talk. I didn’t care for camping either.
When no one answered the door, I tried the handle and was surprised to find it unlocked. I knew this was a small town and crime was non-existent. But still, anything could have happened. It’s why I always made sure the doors were locked and the windows at night. I walked in and I didn’t know what to expect. I had been hoping for the best, but I was prepared for the worst.
Walking into the house I noticed that the TV in the living room was turned off. The house was quiet and for a second I thought maybe they were sleeping already. It wouldn’t be unheard of for Christian to burn himself out, especially if he didn’t get a nap. I headed towards the kitchen, where the stairs were located just outside of it. I didn’t even get one foot on the bottom step when I turned my attention to the kitchen.
There were empty wine bottles all over the counter. The kitchen was clean outside of that. But it didn’t matter how clean it was; all I could see were the bottles. The back door opened and Ellis stumbled in. She actually stumbled into the door jam as she walked through it.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I seethed, doing my best to keep my voice down. I didn’t know where Christian was, but if he was asleep I didn’t want him waking up hearing our fight.
“What are you doing here?” She said, shocked that I had even gotten in the house. Jesus fuck. Just how drunk was she?
“You show up and take my son without even speaking to me about it? What did you think was going to happen when I got home from work to discover your lies?”
“I don’t need your permission to see my son. And what lies? I said we spoke yesterday, and we did. No lies there,” she said with that drunken smirk that I couldn’t stand.
I wanted to scream at her. I wanted to grab her and shake her. Tell her to open her damn eyes and see what she was screwing up. What she was missing out on. Try and shake something back into place so she would go back to being the woman that I knew three years ago.
I didn’t do any of that though, because it was pointless. Arguing with Ellis drunk was like arguing with a wall. She was never going to understand where I was coming from. All she would do was give smart ass remarks and that fucking smirk.
“You know Ellis, one day you are going to wake up and realize how much you have missed. You’re gonna look at your reflection and not recognize the person staring back at you. I just hope Christian isn’t an adult by the time that happens.”
She rolled her eyes, actually rolled them. And this was why arguing with her while drunk was completely pointless.
“I’m gonna get Christian and bring him home. When you can prove to me that you have been sober for three months straight, then we can talk about you seeing him again.”
“You can’t keep him from me. We’ve been over this. I’ll sue you for custody and win.”
“You can sue all you want, but you won’t win Ellis.” I shook my head as I continued, “Look at you right now. What would you do if he got hurt? If he was sick? You couldn’t drive him to the hospital. You hadn’t seen him in over a year. This was your chance to prove to me that you weren’t this person any longer. To show him how much you love him. And you couldn’t even stay sober for one night.”
I honestly didn’t know if I was more pissed or just sad. This was pathetic. I had been pissed. I spent every day since she walked out on us pissed off and hating her. Now that I was getting to see her like this, that anger was receding. In its place was pity and disappointment. I hadn’t been expecting it. I really hadn’t. That didn’t mean I was going to allow her to put Christian in harm’s way.
“Get help Ellis. Before you lose him,” I said before I turned and made my way up the stairs.
She could rant and rave all she wanted, but I was not going to keep Christian here, not when she was like this. I needed to get him home so he could get some sleep and there was a very long conversation due between Jasmine and me.
Jasmine
Itwasafterninewhen the back door opened, and I saw Liam coming out onto his deck. I had been sitting outside trying to enjoy the night air. Jeremy was asleep, and I didn’t feel like watching TV. I had suspected that Liam had returned with Christian, but I hadn’t seen them since they arrived. I had been waiting for the pounding at my door for when he did come back wanting to continue to yell at me for something I had no idea shouldn’t be done. This man was making it easy for me to not reveal to him the truth about Jeremy’s blood.
I was also aware that still made me a bitch.
Liam didn’t look surprised when he saw me sitting out here. I was in my section, but I had brought one of the chairs from the front of the house around to the back. I wanted to be able to look up at the sky and see the stars. I had been hoping to relax for a bit before going to bed. Today had been really good, except for my fight with Liam.
Jeremy and I had explored some of the town and did a bit of shopping. I was hoping to get him to the beach soon and maybe do some of the tourist stuff. We hadn’t seen the aquarium either, because I wanted to do that with both of the boys. I figured it would be a great bonding time for them with their love of underwater creatures.
