Page 54 of First Surrender

“Now, Dec.”

He hangs his newly trimmed and faded head but complies. While she’s waiting for his door to click shut down the hall, I step outside. I need the open air to stop me from flying off the handle when she lays into me.

As suspected, she stomps out after me, shoving me roughly when she reaches me. “What the hell did you do? Why did you cut his hair?” Her voice cracks as she yells.

“Go ahead. Get it all out of your system. Yell at me, hit me, scream at me, I don’t care. There’s nothing you can do to me that will make me feel worse than what happened today.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I don’t know, let’s start with why you were unreachable today. Hot date? Booty call? What?”

“You’re insane. You’re literally insane.”

“Dec’s school called me, they couldn’t get a hold of you.”

“What? Why?”

“How about you tell me where you were today first?”

“I had an appointment. The lady doctor, you asswipe.”

That cools some of my anger but it doesn’t put it out completely. “Dec’s gym teacher cut a chunk of his hair off. As a punishment.”

“WHAT!” Her volume pierces my eardrums and all but rattles the windows of the house.

“He was upset. I took him to my barber to get it fixed, okay?”

“No, not okay! I’m going to kill him. How dare he!” She scrambles to open the front door, grabbing her purse from the hooks on the wall before storming back out.

“Stop, you are not leaving.” I block her path before she can make it past me.

“Jackson, move out of my way!”

“No. Dec needs you. I have everything else handled.”

“Bullshit. I need to talk to the principal, the fucker should be arrested.”

“Dammit, Natalie! I said that I have it handled!” I shout.

She steps back at my tone as if I slapped her but I continue. I’m too riled up and tired of being seen as her enemy. As if I’m nothing but a nuisance to her.

“You know that I would never stand by and let someone hurt that innocent little boy. Go inside and be with him! Now!” I bark at her.

She looks at me like I’m the biggest villain in her story but I don’t care. I’m done proving myself.

She turns slowly and marches inside without looking back. I sit on the concrete steps as it gets dark and attempt to calm my rage before I do something stupid.

Even as I get in my SUV and leave, I know it didn’t work.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Natalie

After talking to Dec, I learned exactly how well Jackson handled the situation at the school. Dec and I have always been close so I know he was being honest about everything. From Jackson yelling at the principal, to holding him while he cried, and then taking him to the coolest barber in town to fix his hair.

The guilt has been eating at me since then. My hormones have been off the charts. I cried while Dec told me what happened. I’ve cried myself to sleep almost every night since I found out I was pregnant.

My OB appointment confirmed that I’m almost five weeks along based on my last period. She still encouraged me to get scheduled for an ultrasound at the free clinic to confirm the timeline.

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