Page 85 of Fourth Wall

“And I promise you, I will make YOUR life fucking hell if you dare to even think about taking my children away from me.” With that, she turned her back and walked out the front door. I walked over to Stephen.

“Congrats, man. I guess it's kinda a weird time to say that, but you should have told me.” Stephen offered me a hug.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” I muttered aimlessly because I wasn't sure what else to say. I thought this was another version of shock.

I looked at Tyler. “I love her. I will take care of her. I will take care of your girls. I will never be their dad because you are one killer fucking dad to them, which is something I can never take away from you, but I hope that I can be another role model, like Stephen, to them.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “But if you ever talk to the mother of your children, of my child like that ever again, I will personally fuck you up regardless if you happened to be married to my brother or not.” I glanced over at Stephen, gave him a curt nod, and then walked to the car.

Maeve was already tucked into the front seat, curled up into a ball when I opened the driver side door and pulled out of their driveway. You could cut the silence in the car with a knife.

As I drove away, I couldn't shake off the anger that coursed through my veins. My mind raced with thoughts, but I tried to keep a semblance of composure for Maeve's sake. She didn't need any more stress right now. Instead, I focused on the road ahead.

I couldn't take us home. We had so many unspoken things to say, so I drove a few minutes down the road to the nearest beach. We parked the car in the dark parking lot. There was nothing but a wall of black shadows ahead of us, but we both needed to be outside right now.

“Why are we parked?” she asked as I got out and walked over to her side of the door, opening it up for her and offering her a hand.

“We need to talk.”

40

Maeve

I knew those four words were coming, but I never expected them to happen like this. I suppose I didn't expect tonight to end up like it did, though. I wasn't planning to throw it out there at Tyler’s house that I was pregnant, especially when I hadn't even had the chance to tell Christian, but when Tyler kept houndingme about being more serious and that Christian and I were fake, I just felt it bubbling inside me. I needed to do something to remedy the situation, and that was the first thing that came out.

Now, we had driven to the beach, and Christian had parked in the parking lot and was walking into the black wall toward the sounds of the ocean. I trailed him, embarrassed and ashamed of my behavior. This wasn’t news you wanted to hear at your girlfriend’s ex’s house.

“Can you please wait up for me,” I begged.

I could see in the darkness Christian had turned around.

“Why, so you can throw some other news at me now? Are we having twins or something?” His hands ran through his hair. “Fuck,” he screamed into the abyss.

“Christian, it wasn't my—”

“That was fucked up, Maeve.”

I felt the sadness creep up in my chest.

“I know,” I responded sadly.

“God, though.” Hands ran through his hair again. “I am so proud of you for how you stood up for yourself. It was so fucking hot and so fucking empowering.”

I gave a sad little chuckle before shoving my hands into the front pockets of my jeans. We were still feet apart from each other.

“When did you find out?” His voice was so low I could barely hear him over the hum of the ocean.

“Yesterday,” I answered. “I started to gag on the smell of toothpaste, and I had a test from a long time ago. I confirmed it with many more this morning.”

“Why didn't you tell me?” His voice was hurt, and I felt horrible. No, worse than horrible. I finally stuck up for myself with Tyler, only to put down the one person who cared about me the most. The one person who I should always tell the truth to.

“I was consumed with what was happening with the girls.” I started to tear up again. “I’m so scared, Christian. I am so incredibly scared that he’s going to take them away from me.”

He closed the distance separating us and wrapped me into his warm arms. The pine scent mixed with the cool ocean breeze, and the sounds of the waves coming into the shore felt like home.

“I don't think he is, firecracker. There is nothing for him to say in court.” He looked down at my stomach and placed his hand on the center of my belly. “Is this really happening?”

I nodded slowly. “I didn't mean to keep things a secret.”

“I’ve never imagined myself with a family. My mom was never around for me. I don't even know how to be a dad.” He moved his hands off my stomach.

---