Page 49 of Single Mom's Mountain Men
“Oh baby,” he said and steered my face so I could look into his apologetic eyes. “I’m so sorry, for that. I don’t know what came over me. I… I’ve been having a stressful week… Jesus, baby, I can't believe I did that. I didn’t mean to hit you. Are you okay?”
I nodded numbly, cold seeping into my chest.Keegan just hit me. I knew it was wrong and that I should tell him it was wrong or cry or do something here. But I just sat therenumbly, while he pressed kisses to my hair and promised he would never do it again.
Eventually, I tried to get over it. He took me to a nice restaurant for dinner that night and we had great sex afterward. He was super sweet to me for months after, and never so much as raised his voice.
We never spoke about that incident again and I chucked it up as a onetime thing.
But it was the beginning of the end.
A noise jolts me back to the present and my eyes fly open. I orient myself noting that I'm cuddled up with my girls, Maddie in one arm and Katie in the other.
But there's a sense of wrongness in the atmosphere, beyond the nightmare I was having.
It's probably paranoia,I think, and decide to go back to sleep.
I’m right on the cusp of slumber when I hear a commotion in the form of a faint clatter and a crash, followed by a dull thump.
I'm suddenly wide awake.
Instantly alarmed, I slip out from between my sleeping girls and rush out, making sure to lock the door behind me.
I head to the main house where the thumping sounds are coming from, like two sacks colliding with each other, accompanied by various higher pitched crashing and smashing sounds. I walk into the kitchen just in time to see Wes drive his entire body into Charlie, wrapping his arms around his brother's waist.
Charlie barely budges. With Wes bent over, he brings his elbow down on Wes's back and Wes retaliates by driving his fist into Charlie’s side.
“Oof!” Charlie grunts from the pain as Wes grabs him around my middle again, tackling the bigger man to the floor.
“Stop it!” I scream, but they don’t listen to me. Charlie soon seizes the upper hand from his brother. He grabs Wes's head, driving his forehead into it and this discombobulates Wes enough for Charlie to push him off. Before he can get up though, Wes grabs his leg causing Charlie to stumble and fall.
“Both of you stop!”
Again they ignore me. Wes gets Charlie with an uppercut and Charlie drives his knee into Wes’ gut, before punching him back in the eye.
Oh God, they’re going to kill themselves if this keeps going on.
“What the fuck is happening over there?” A door slams and a shirtless Mitchell emerges from the dark hallways. When he sees his brothers fighting, he doesn’t look alarmed, merely irritated. “God, y’all couldn’t wait till morning to pull this bullshit? Take it the fuck outside before you break our good china.”
The boys don’t listen to him either. Wes shoves Charlie against the wall and then with an angry cry, he starts raining his fists on him. Charlie put his hands up to block, sneaking punches here and there.
I’ve finally had it with them. I head to the sink and grab the largest pot we have from the cabinet above it. I fill that pot with cold water, growing angrier as the sounds continue behind me.
By the time I turn around again, Charlie has Wes in a headlock and Wes is slamming his fist into the side of Charlie's face. Mitch is trying to separate the men, but he’s not doing a great job and is somehow getting dragged into it, ending up catching a stray blow from Wes.
“Damn it Wes, calm the fuck down,” he snarls, and then his eyes catch mine as I move into position.
I send him a signal with my chin. He nods and steps outof the way, right before I send the cold water flying into the air, and onto the two men.
“Fuck!” Wes barks as Charlie releases him and they both stop to stare at me. Wes has a swollen eye and a cut on his lip. Soaking wet now, he looks ridiculous. “What the fuck was that for Patty?”
“That’s for acting like an asshole,” I yell back at him. “What on earth were the two of you thinking, fighting like a pair of zoo animals? Are you insane? You’re lucky you didn’t wake up my girls because then there would have been hell to pay."
They both blink at me, chagrin growing on their expressions. Mitch stands off the side with his arms crossed, grinning almost like he’s impressed. But I’m still too mad to enjoy the comical picture they make.
“Sorry,” Charlie is the first to apologize. He looks better off than Wes, although it looks like his jaw might be swollen and he definitely took some hard hits to the ribcage.
“Yeah, I’m sorry Patty,” Wes says too. “We didn’t mean to disturb you.”
“You disturbed me as well,” Mitch says, letting his hands drop. “And I’m annoyed because if y’all got enough energy for this bullshit, then you have enough energy to finish your work on time.” He turns to head back to his room. “Get some sleep after she's done chewing you out. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow with the upped quota.”
