Page 129 of Irons

Derrick stood. “Hey, why don’t you let me take you home?” He offered to Matt.

Matt looked at him. “Fuck you, Steiner. You’re here with your fucking wife. I see Steve is the same.” Matt looked at me. “So, what, you’re going to marry him? You must have a bad memory, Wrenly. He’s the reason we even had our first date. Then you fucked me over, made me marry a girl that was ridiculously perfect, then she fucked me over too. Guess what?” He was still swaying.

I looked at Steve. “Could you please make sure he gets home safely?”

Steve went to lay his hand on Matt’s arm, but Matt swatted him away.

“She needs to hear this!” He looked at me again. “She lied, Tyler doesn’t even have a brother.” He stood strait and puthis hands out. “The kid ain’t even mine! What a joke I am to this fucked up world! I bought all her lies, just like I did yours. You said you loved me! You carried my son! And now look at you!” He shook his head as he let out a sarcastic laugh. “Sleeping with the fuck up that almost killed Shelby.”

Magnus stood quickly and I panicked. When I went to stand I felt unsteady. Travis reached for my hand and laid one on Magnus’s arm. “It’s okay, let it go, both of you. He’s drunk and obviously in a bad place in his life.”

Matt pointed at himself as he started crying. “Everything keeps getting fucked up because we aren’t how we were meant to be, Wrenly. I fathered your son, our perfect little boy.”

I heard Magnus gasp next to me.

“Steve, please get him out of here or go ask the bartender who he thinks Matt came with tonight.” My own tears were breaching the surface, but then I felt warm arms wrap me up in them. I laid my head against Travis’s chest and shut my eyes as all those few precious moments of holding my baby fluttered through my memory.

“I have woken up every damn day for eleven years feeling gutted because it’s another day without my family. Wrenly my wife and Tyler my son! He should be playing football, we should be going together as a family to his pee wee games every Saturday morning. We should have a daughter, one that looks just like her mother. But no, you did exactly what I asked you not to do! I told you to stay home and rest, but you betrayed me. You left, because of course nobody tells Wrenly Carlson what to do! You killed our son because you wouldn’t fucking listen!”

Steve and Derrick were trying to pull him away from our table. “Come on man, that is not true. Wrenly did not kill him.”Steve was trying to calm him. Matt was twice their size and stronger than them, even while drunk.

I cried in Travis’s arms as Matt just kept letting the most hateful things fly out of his mouth.

“Know why I married that cheating whore? Because I thought she was the opposite of you! She was safe, she knew God, and she was good. You ruined my life, Wrenly! Ruined it! You ripped my heart out when you left me! I’m a broken man and it’s all your fault! Your impulsiveness killed our boy, then you took off and left me! Left me alone to grieve by myself!”

“Someone please help get him out of here.” Travis said.

“Know why she says she cheated? That’s your fault too! She said it’s because I could never love her the way she deserved because I will always love you! Guess what? She’s right!”

I opened my eyes to walk as Travis tried getting me away from Matt, but he just followed us.

“You never loved me because of that son of a bitch! You were delusional, a fucking crazy bitch! You couldn’t let go of the kid that didn’t think you were worth shit!”

Magnus walked in front of us as Travis tried wiggling us through the crowd and toward the exit.

“Do what you’re famous for, Wrenly! Run away, just like you did when we buried him!” Matt was behind us. “I can’t believe you’re with that fuck up! He doesn’t even know what a family is, Wrenly!”

Magnus shoved the exit doors open, and we walked outside. I was still wrapped in Travis’s arms as our shoes stepped onto the gravel parking lot.

“You said it yourself! Tyler fucked up your dreams! You were going to leave but only stayed because you were pregnant! You were selfish and probably wanted him to die!”

Travis suddenly stopped and I could hear his heavy breaths.

“Irons, come on man. Just ignore him, he’s broken and lashing out.” Magnus said.

Suddenly, I was pushed toward Magnus, and he caught me. I watched as Travis stormed toward Matt.

“She loved and wanted that baby. Don’t you ever say that fucking shit again!” Travis pushed Matt backward. “She cared enough about you to stay as long as she could, but she was grieving.” Travis pushed him backward again. “That baby became her dream.” Travis pushed him again and Matt almost tripped backward. “I was just about to go back out the doors of that gym to go get her that night of the dance. I made a bad decision, and I knew it. We were too young to understand love.” Travis pushed him again. “You had precious years with her, but instead of appreciating them your blaming her for not wanting your dreams.” Travis pushed him again and I realized he wasn’t doing it to start a fight, he was pushing him toward Steve and Derrick who had the door of a truck open. Matt might have been a good football quarterback, but he was a lover, not a fighter.

“Fuck you, Irons!” Matt yelled at him.

“Don’t act like you’re superior to me or anyone else when you and your fake Christian family let Emma and Brock suffer away in that house.” Travis took more steps forward, but Matt stopped stepping backward after almost falling several times. “Instead of being a good man and helping them, you prayed for them. All the while making millions for playing a stupid fucking game.” Travis pushed him but Matt gained his senses and stoodtall. “You never cared about Wrenly, Emma, or Brock, all you care about is yourself! Prayers won’t feed your family. They won’t buy their medication, or heal mental illness. I’m sure you want to be a good man, but you’re a fucking hypocrite! You married a woman you didn’t love but expected her to be loyal and love you anyway. Ever think that’s why your wife sought attention from another man? Don’t blame Wrenly for how your life is now.”

“Back off, Irons.” Matt warned Travis.

“Tyler died because a kid made a horrible choice. Not because Wrenly didn’t stay home when you ordered her to do so! Get off your high fucking horse and grow the fuck up!”

“Of course you would side with my son’s killer! That kid was just like you!”

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