Fall On Me (31 page)

Ending the call, Tracy placed my phone on the
counter before patting me on the shoulder. "You were right," she
said in a soft tone. "Don't listen to his poison. It won't do any
good."

I inhaled a few deep breaths before I found
my voice. "I need to go." Jimmy's words were swarming my mind. I
needed to check on Lee. I shouldn't have come here in the first
place. I shouldn't have left her on her own.

"My daughter is a very lucky woman," was all
she replied.

****

Our bed was empty.

Our bed was fucking empty and I couldn't find
her. Jesus Christ. "Lee?" I called out as I rushed out of our room
and into the hallway. "PRINCESS?"

I heard the sound of furniture scraping and
then the sound of a key unlocking before Hope's bedroom door opened
and Lee peeked her head around the door. "Keep it down," she
growled when her eyes met mine. I felt like collapsing on the floor
in relief. I watched her as she crept out of Hope's room and closed
the door out quietly before walking straight past me, into our
room.

"What were you doing?" I asked as I trailed
after her.

"Sleeping," she snapped as she threw back the
covers and climbed into bed. "What were
you
doing? And don't
lie to me, Kyle."

"I was…" Shit, how was I going to explain
this to her without upsetting her… "You're mother called me," I
confessed. "She was worried."

"Make a list, Kyle," Lee hissed as she curled
into a ball on her side.

"A list?" I shook my head in confusion as I
shrugged off my clothes and climbed into bed beside her. When I
tried to wrap my arm around her she flinched and batted my arm away
with her elbow. "A shit list?" I asked feeling totally fucking
confused.

"No," she whispered as she wiggled further
away from me. "A list of priorities. But yeah, as far as shit lists
go, you're topping mine."

"Nothing new there then." I sighed as I
rolled onto my back. "And I happen to have my priorities in order,
Lee."

"Are you sure about that?" she snapped as she
sat up straight and rolled the sleeves of my long-sleeved t-shirt
up to her elbows. "You lock me away in the hotel for weeks," she
hissed. "Frighten me half to death about the dangers of being on my
own, only to move us into a house in the middle of nowhere and
leave me on my own at night to chase after…that woman. You know how
I feel about her, Kyle."

I flinched. It sounded fucking terrible when
she said it like that. "Princess…"

"Do you want my list of priorities, Kyle?"
she asked as she stared down at me, her gray eyes full of hurt. "It
consists of two people." She turned her face away and stared
straight ahead. "You and Hope, Kyle," she whispered. "That's my
list."

"That's my list, too, Lee," I said quietly.
"Your mom…she's had a very hard life."

"Shut up, Kyle," Lee hissed and the venom in
her tone stunned me. "I hate that woman. I hate her. You hate your
father. Well, I hate
her
." Her voice broke and she sprang
out of bed, clutching her back. I moved to follow her, but the look
of hatred in Lee's eyes nailed me to the bed. "And I don't care
what you think of me for feeling like that," she added as she
flinched as clutched her side. "I was starved. Locked up and beaten
with more objects than I can bear to remember," she cried, tears
streaming down her face. "I was slapped for speaking, kicked for
breathing too heavily, burned with irons and pokers…"

"Stop," I choked out as I covered my face
with my hands.

"No," she screamed. "You wanted me to tell
you, so here it is." She inhaled deeply and wiped her eyes with the
back of her hands before glaring at me. "When I was six years old,
I came down with a stomach bug." She backed up until she was
pressing against the wall and then she lowered herself to the
floor. "I was so sick…" she whispered. "And instead of having a
mom, I had him," she spat. "Do you k-know what he d-did to me when
I vomited in the sink instead of the toilet …" Her voice cracked as
she held the sides of her face and stared into nothing. "He filled
the sink and held my face under the water and vomit until I passed
out…"

"Lee," I begged. "Please, I can't hear this,
baby. It fucking rips me open…"

"Well, join the club," she hissed as she
stalked back to our bed and wrapped herself under the covers.
"Because you are ripping my heart open every time you speak to her.
How would you feel if I went running to David…"

"It's not the same," I snapped. "It is a
totally different situation, Lee."

"To you, maybe," she whispered. "But not to
me."

****

Derek

I spotted the maternity merc pull into the
driveway and groaned. I didn't want to get involved in their drama.
And I just knew there was drama. It seemed to walk hand in hand
with those two…

Besides, I had enough problems of my own.
One very big problem I had was sitting on the couch right now,
grinning at me like I was a good person. If he knew what I'd done
he wouldn't be smiling at me. He'd be handing my ass to me.

"So," Danny grinned as he took a swig of his
beer. "Is it cool if I crash here for the night?"

"Uh…"
No. No. Hell fucking no…
"Sure,"
I mumbled. "But I have to run it by Kyle first. It's his
house."

The front door slammed and Kyle's voice rang
through my ears. "She's driving me fucking crazy," he snarled as he
stormed into the living room. "I swear to god, Der, I am going to
lose my …" His voice trailed off as his eyes landed on Danny. "Who
the hell are you?" Kyle asked in confusion.

Nice, dude, way to be diplomatic…

"Kyle," I said with a sigh. "This is Danny,
my
friend
from Addyston I was telling you about."

Kyle eyes widened as he looked back and
forth between the two of us. A slow smile crept across his face and
I tensed. "Hey," he grinned as he stepped forward. "Sorry about the
abruptness. Derek's told me a lot about you, man. Told me you guys
were
close
growing up?"

"I've heard a lot about you too, man," Danny
said in a friendly tone as he stood and shook Kyle's outstretched
hand. "Nice place you've got here."

"Yeah," Kyle replied. "Some people think
so." His eyes flickered to me and I shook my head. "So, Danny…"
Kyle said with a smirk as he sank down on the couch and propped his
feet up on the coffee table. "Got any sisters?"

Bastard…

****

Kyle

My mood considerably lightened the moment
I'd walked through the front door in Thirteenth Street and realized
Derek had bigger problems than me.

"Dad said to say hey, Der," Danny chuckled
as he slid his phone into his back pocket and took a slug of his
beer. "I swear that man loves you more than he loves me."

Ha fucking ha…

Derek squirmed in his seat and I had to bite
down on my fist to stop myself from laughing out loud. Derek glared
at me. "So, Kyle," he said with a smirk. "How's Lee doing? Made her
cry lately?" He turned to look at Danny and waggled his brow.
"Woman troubles."

Asshole.

If he knew just how bad my woman troubles
were I doubt he'd make jokes. Lee wasn’t speaking to me over her
mom and I was growing agitated. The silent treatment was wearing me
down and I'd come here to offload, but obviously, Derek was in one
of his moods…

Danny laughed and slapped my knee. "Let her
loose, Kyle," he chuckled. "That's my motto. You gotta throw the
clingy ones back into the pond. Plenty more fish and all that…"

"And here's my motto." I turned my face to
glare at the imp's stupid fucking face. Who the hell did this guy
think he was? Jesus, my bad mood was back with a vengeance. "Don't
talk about something you have no understanding of."

"Ooh," Danny smirked. "Hit a nerve have I?"
He shook his head and chuckled. "Girl must have you sunk like a
stone. Who is she? The mother of your kid or something?"

"Yeah," I said through clenched teeth. "As a
matter of fact she is."

The smirk fell from his face. "Dude," he
muttered. "Sorry. I respect the hell out of that. Good for you.
Fucking hate seeing women being screwed over by assholes who don't
man up."

I reasonably relaxed and nodded. Danny had
just saved himself from a guaranteed fist in the face. "Yeah, me
too." There wasn't a hope in hell I would ever be one of those
guys. I was the son of one of those guys…

"Girl or boy?" Danny asked with a genuine
mile.

I couldn't stop the smile from creeping
across my face. "Girl," I told him as I pulled my wallet out of my
pocket. "Hope. She's seven months." Flicking it open, I pulled out
a small photo and handed it to him.

"Cute stage," he said knowingly as he
dropped his gaze to the photo. "Holy shit…she's beautiful." He
looked up at me and then back down at the photo. "Seriously, man,
she's gorgeous."

"Thanks," I grinned, pride swelling inside
of me. Hope was gorgeous. "And she's really advanced. She's started
crawling a little and sleeps through the night."

"No," Danny muttered. "The kid's adorable,
but I was talking about her." He pointed to Lee's face and I
stiffened. "I can see why you're sunk. Holy hell, I have a semi
from looking at her." He looked over at Derek and glared. "You've
been living it up here, haven't you, jackass? Never thought to tell
your oldest friend you had
her
living in your house for a
year?"

Derek lunged for me and tackled me to the
floor before I had a chance to take a good swing at the creep.
"Calm down," Derek said slowly.

Danny laughed. "Hey, Kyle, do you share
around here?" He waved the photo in the air. "'Cause unless you
have a wedding ring on her finger she's fair game."

"I'm gonna kill you," I roared as I glowered
at Danny, who was still ogling my fucking woman. "Get the fuck off
me, douchebag." I tried to buck Derek off, but the fucker was
sitting on my chest with my hands locked under his legs.

"Are you stupid?" Derek hissed as he glared
at Danny's smug face. "She's the mother of his child."

"What?" Danny asked innocently.

Yep, I hated him.

I fucking hated him already.

I was going to tear his throat out.

"You should take it as a compliment, Kyle,"
he smirked as she stood up and stretched slowly. "Not too many
women have that effect on me. She's looks damn fine for a woman who
has a baby."

"Get out," Derek shouted. "Or I'm gonna
personally kick your ass."

"Fine," Danny mused as he dropped the photo
on the couch before sauntering over to the door. "Catch you later,
Derek." He grinned down at me. "Kyle, tell your baby momma I said
hi…"

"Out," Derek roared.

The front door slammed out and Derek stared
down at me. "You cool?" he asked as he slapped my cheeks with his
hands, not hard, but enough to make me want to draw blood. "You
good?" I nodded my head and he sat back and sighed.

Swinging my legs up. I wrapped them around
his neck and dragged him backwards before climbing on top of him.
"Yeah, I'm good, asshole," I growled, bitch slapping his cheeks.
"But if I ever see that prick and you try and stop me, I'm gonna
take you out. Got it?"

"Yeah," Derek panted.

"God, I hope you got his sister good," I
snarled.

"Three times," Derek said with a smirk.

I clapped him on the back. "Nice, dude."

He nodded his head. "Thanks, man."

****

Chapter 16

Liar
Liar

Derek

I was a liar and apparently, a mighty fine
one at that. I'd mastered my new skill to a fine art. I could look
my best friend in the eye, lie right to his face and not even
flinch. "How you doing, man?" Kyle asked me as he lifted Hope out
of her crib, in the pinkest room I'd ever stepped foot inside.
No, it's not…

"Nice room, dude," I said from the doorway
gesturing around at all the pink–and mentally blocking out the
image of her face from my mind. "This yours?" They'd moved in weeks
ago and I'd finally dragged my ass out of bed to check it out.

"Funny," Kyle grumbled as he placed Hope on
her changing table and unbuttoned her onesie.

"Don't hide behind Hope," I joked. "We both
know about that pink feather boa in your old room. What was that
chick's name again? Mia…Tia?"

"Fuck if I can remember." Kyle shook his
head before adding, "And keep your voice down. I'm already in the
dog house."

I shook my head and glared at him. "What did
you do now?"

"Pass me that blue tube of cream from her
diaper bag, will you?" he asked ignoring my question. "I think
she's cutting another tooth. Her butt's a little red."

"Who are you?" Shaking my head, I passed him
the cream.

"Good girl," he crooned as he pinned on the
sticky tags of her fresh diaper before dressing her in an outfit I
presumed had been laid out by Lee. If not, he needed to get his
masculinity reevaluated.

"If the hotel business ever fails you'd make
a killing as a nanny," I told him. "I can see it now. Carter's
Crèche. Butt cream extraordinaire."

"Wait until it's your turn, douchebag," he
retorted as he picked up his baby. "You'll see."

I followed Kyle into the lounge and stopped
dead in my tracks and let out a whistle. "Oh, man," I whispered.
"She's beautiful."

Kyle grinned as he sat Hope into her
baby-walker and turned on some cartoons. "Sixty inches of pure
pleasure, complete with the latest Xbox just waiting to entertain
you…if you move in that is…"

He was a manipulative son of a bitch.
Shaking my head, I forced my eyes away from the most beautiful
television I'd ever seen and sank my ass down on the most
uncomfortable couch in the history of cream leather furnishings.
"So, how you been doing, man?" he asked taking the armchair
opposite me.