Chapter Six
McKenna
“Asshole,” I muttered, wringing my hands around the steering wheel so tight my knuckles turned white.
I was still upset about my fight with Pee Wee the night before.
So much so that I’d barely slept after he stormed out.
Every time I closed my eyes, I heard the crash of the lamp hitting the wall.
My stomach twisted.
I couldn’t believe he’d done that.
I’d seen Pee Wee pissed off plenty of times. Hell, I’d seen him break a guy’s jaw for groping me at the Underground, but he’d never directed that anger at me before.
I cranked up the volume on the radio, hoping to drown out my thoughts, but they kept circling back to the same question: What the hell was I doing?
The man I loved had a wife. He wouldn’t leave her. No matter what he said about not sharing her bed, he still went home to her every night. He still had a life with her that I couldn’t touch.
Maybe Diana was right. Maybe I was just another notch on his belt.
“No,” I said aloud, shaking my head. “That’s not true.”
I knew Pee Wee cared about me. He showed me in a thousand different ways.
But I still had to wonder, was simply caring about me enough?
I wasn’t so sure anymore.
Pulling into Angel’s driveway, I hoped my older sister might have some wisdom to share.
She had a way of helping me sort through my bullshit and seeing things clearly.
As I walked up to the front door, I could hear kids screaming inside. I winced. My nephews were sweet boys, but they were loud as hell.
I knocked and waited, and when the door finally swung open, my eyebrows shot up to my hairline.
“Uh…” my eyes raked over my sister.
If there was one thing about Angel, it was that she was always put together—hair perfect and makeup flawless.
The Angel standing in front of me was none of those things. The angel trying to avoid my prying eyes had messy hair, smudged mascara, and bloodshot eyes that looked like she’d been crying.
“Are you okay?” I asked immediately. “Blink twice if you were abducted by aliens.”
Angel rolled her eyes. “Real funny. I’m fine.”
My eyes went over her shoulder. I wasn’t so sure about that. Her normally spotless house was a mess, her boys were running around like wild animals, and the baby was screaming his head off.
Everything was not fine.
“Come on in.” Opening the door wider, she motioned for me to come inside.
“Are you sure everything is okay?” I asked as I closed the door behind me.
“I said I was fine,” she said, sounding like she was losing her patience.
“Okay,” I conceded. I wasn’t there to pick a fight with my sister. I had enough people mad at me.
“Hey, little man,” I cooed as I went to my crying nephew, scooping him out of his bouncy chair. “What’s the matter?”
“He doesn’t like it when I have to put him down.”
“Is that right? You want to be held every second of the day?” I babytalked the little turd, making him grin.
“So,” I turned my attention back to my sister. “What are you up to today?”
“Nothing,” Angel said, sounding distracted.
My sister was cooking something on the stove, mechanically stirring a pot without really looking at it.
“Well, I had a hell of a night,” I said, testing the waters to see if she was actually listening. “Pee Wee and I had a massive fight.”
“Oh?” Angel turned slightly, but her eyes were still distant.
“Yeah.” I shifted the baby to my other arm. “I’m tired of always being last on his priority list. I told him I wanted more, and he completely lost his shit and threw a lamp at the wall.”
That got her attention. Angel’s head snapped up. “He did what?”
“Relax,” I said quickly. “He didn’t throw it at me. Just... near me. ”
“That’s not better, Kenny.” Angel’s voice was sharp. “That’s how it starts.”
I shook my head. “It’s not like that. He was just frustrated.”
“So frustration is an excuse for a grown man to throw things?” She turned back to the stove. “Sounds familiar.”
Something about the way she said it made my stomach drop. “Angel, what’s really going on? This place is a disaster, you look like you’ve been crying, and you’re barely listening to me.”
Her shoulders slumped. “It’s nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me.” I stepped closer, keeping my voice soft for the baby’s sake. “We don’t do that. Talk to me.”
Angel’s face crumpled. “Jake’s cheating on me.”
My sister’s husband was a piece of shit. In all the years they’d been together I had never liked him, but my sister loved him and I loved her. “Oh, Angel.”
“I found texts on his phone,” she continued, her voice barely above a whisper. “A woman who works in the office at the construction company. They’ve been sleeping together for months.”
A surge of anger rushed through me. “That motherfucker. ”
“Language,” Angel said, gesturing to the baby in my arms.
I rolled my eyes. “Like he understands.”
Angel’s lips quirked up briefly before falling again. “I confronted him about it last night. He denied it at first, then admitted it when I showed him the texts. Said it was my fault for being so focused on the baby.”
“That’s such bullshit,” I said, shifting Mathew to my shoulder and patting his back. “He’s a grown-ass man. He made a choice.”
Angel nodded, tears welling up in her eyes again. “I told him to get out. He took some clothes and went to stay with a friend.” She let out a bitter laugh. “Or maybe with her. I don’t know.”
I wanted to punch something. Preferably Jake’s face. “Good riddance.”
“It’s not that simple, Kenny.” Angel wiped at her eyes. “I’ve got three kids. No job. How am I supposed to support them on my own?”
“He’ll have to pay child support,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, if I can get him to.” She sighed heavily. “You know how he is with money.”
I did know. Jake was notorious for “forgetting” to pay bills, then acting like it was Angel’s fault when the electricity got turned off.
“We’ll figure it out,” I promised. “You’re not alone in this.”
Angel got the hot dogs off the stove and fixed her sons’ plates. “Boys! Lunch!”
The thunder of little feet announced my nephews’ arrival. JJ (Jake Jr.) and Samuel crashed into the kitchen, fighting over who would get there first.
“Aunt Kenny!” Samuel, the younger one, squealed when he spotted me.
“Hey, buddy!” I grinned as he launched himself at my legs, careful not to jostle the baby too much.
“Did you bring us anything?” Jacob asked, eyeing me hopefully.
I laughed. “Not this time, kiddo. But I’ll bring you something next visit, promise.”
Angel set their plates on the table. “Eat your lunch, then you can go play.”
The smell of hot dogs hit my nose, and I instantly felt like I was going to puke. My stomach lurched violently, and I knew I had about three seconds before I lost it.
I quickly handed off the baby to Angel and rushed to the bathroom, barely making it in time to empty the contents of my stomach into the toilet.
Wave after wave of nausea hit me as I knelt on the cold tile floor, my body heaving until there was nothing left.
When it was finally over, I slumped against the wall, breathing heavily.
What the hell was that?
There was a soft knock at the door. “Kenny? You okay?” Angel called.
“Yeah,” I croaked, standing shakily. “Must’ve been something I ate.”
I went to the sink to rinse out my mouth, and when I opened the door, Angel was standing there with a knowing look on her face—and a pregnancy test in her hand.
“I’m not pregnant,” I said automatically.
Angel raised an eyebrow. “When was your last period?”
I opened my mouth to answer, then closed it again. When was my last period? I wasn’t sure. I’d never had a regular cycle, which was why I was on birth control pills.
“I don’t know... four, maybe five weeks ago?” I tried to calculate in my head, but everything was fuzzy.
“Take the test,” Angel said gently.
“I’m not pregnant,” I insisted, even as a tendril of fear curled in my belly. “I’m on the pill. ”
“Take the test,” Angel repeated, concern written all over her face.
With a shaking hand, I took the box from her. “Fine. But it’s going to be negative.”
Closing the door, I followed the instructions, my heart beating like a kick drum as I squatted over the toilet and peed on the stick.
After washing my hands and putting the cap back on the end of the stick, I glanced down at the box.
Three minutes.
I set the test on the counter and paced the small bathroom, trying not to look at it.
This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not when everything with Pee Wee was so up in the air.
What would he say? Would he be happy? Furious? Would he think I was trying to trap him like Diana had?
The timer on my phone went off, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.
Taking a deep breath, I picked up the test and looked down.
Two pink lines were staring back at me.
“Oh fuck.”
I sank to the floor, my legs suddenly too weak to hold me up.
What the hell was I going to do? This couldn’t be real.
The bathroom door creaked open, and Angel peeked in. One look at my face and she knew the answer. I was pregnant.
“Oh, honey,” she said softly, coming to sit beside me on the floor.
“What am I going to do?” I whispered, tears filling my eyes. “He’s married, Angel. He has kids already. And after last night...” A sob tore from my throat.
Angel wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “First things first. We need to get you to a doctor to confirm it.”
I nodded numbly.
“Then you need to tell him,” she continued. “Whatever happens after that, we’ll deal with it together.”
“What if he doesn’t want it?” I asked, voicing my deepest fear.
Angel’s arm tightened around me. “Then he’s an even bigger asshole than I thought. But it won’t matter because this baby will have you and it will have me, and that’s all that really matters. Everything else will work itself out.”
I leaned my head against her shoulder, my mind racing with a thousand thoughts .
Part of me was terrified, but another part—a part I hadn’t even known existed until this moment—felt a fierce protectiveness surge through me. This was my child, and I would protect it with my last breath.
“I need to think,” I said finally.
“You don’t have to figure everything out right now,” Angel assured me. “Just breathe.”
I nodded, taking a deep, shaky breath.
Angel was right.
Everything would work itself out.