Chapter 13 #2
“He banged on the door really hard, shouting for you, and DJ got mad.”
My heart plummeted.
“I’ll be there in ten, Gabby. Stay inside and don’t let your dad in. When DJ comes back, tell him I said to stay put until we get there.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “But please hurry.”
Donovan was already helping me down from the desk as I ended the call. “What the fuck’s goin’ on?”
“Evan turned up at the house, banging the door and yelling that he wanted to talk to me. I guess DJ went out there to tell him to lay off, and they started fighting. Gabby sounds terrified.”
He grabbed my elbow, propelling me through the door, and we hurried down the stairs. “Would he get physical?”
“I don’t think so; he never has before. But DJ’s almost as tall as him, and my boy’s pissed at his dad right now. It doesn’t bode well.”
We hit the bottom step, and Arrow, who was on the treadmill next to Karma, peered over at us, his eyebrows pulling together questioningly. He turned the speed down and called over, “Everything okay?”
“Rosie’s ex is at her house fighting with DJ,” Donny informed them. “Can you two keep an eye on this place while we sort it? Gael’s due in soon; he’ll take over until I get back.”
“Go,” Karma instructed, jumping down from the machine and heading for his gym bag. “I’ll call Atlas. You may need backup.”
“I won’t,” Donovan assured him, propelling me toward the door. “But the ex will fucking need some if he touches DJ.”
“Keep your cool,” Karma called after us. “Rosie’s in a custody battle. You laying the fuckwit out won’t help her in court.”
Donovan ignored him and pulled me toward his truck, beeping the key fob as we approached. I headed for the passenger door, while he hauled himself up into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“Seat belt, baby,” he instructed.
I reached behind me to pull the belt over my lap. “I know. Hurry, please.”
Despite his olive-toned skin, Donovan’s knuckles were white as we sped through Main Street and hit the road that took us to the outskirts of town and into the quiet, rural area where I lived.
Gazing out the window, my mind buzzed and my belly filled with a familiar nausea.
This was exactly what I’d tried to protect my kids from. Their dad could be an asshole and turned aggressive when he didn’t get his own way. He’d never laid a finger on me—he wouldn’t dare—but I’d been at the wrong end of his temper before, and it wasn’t a nice place to be.
Kids should never have to play peacekeeper between their parents, but there was DJ, not even seventeen, and already having to be a protector and against his own father, no less. It wasn’t right, and I couldn’t believe Evan had put us in this position.
“What’s going on with the custody case?” Donovan prompted.
“Kennedy sent a letter to Evan’s attorney with my demands. She told me the guy was on summer vacation, but I guess he’s back now.”
“No shit,” Donny muttered, his eyes slicing to me and then back to the windshield. “Does your ex do this a lot? Do I need to prepare to take him down? I’ll put the asshole in a goddamned hospital bed if I have to, but I don’t wanna overstep any boundaries or fuck up your case.”
“He can be aggressive,” I advised. “But he’s never hurt the kids or me.”
“I’ll have to play it by ear,” Donovan said as if to himself. “I won’t let him close enough to hurt you, but anything I do will be in defense of the kids and us.”
My hand automatically reached for his thigh, subconsciously looking for comfort, and I whispered, “I’m so sorry about this.”
His fingers caught mine, and he splayed them together.
“Nothin’ to be sorry for, baby. It’s not your fault your ex is throwing a tantrum.
He’s a grown ass man who turned up at your door—uninvited—and then made the very stupid decision to get into it with DJ.
If he thinks I’m letting that slide, he’s crazy. We’ve got this, okay?”
I glanced at him and murmured, “Okay,” before squeezing his fingers tightly.
A few minutes later, we drove down the dirt road that led to my place, and I immediately spotted Evan’s shiny green CR-V parked behind DJ’s old blue Chevy truck down the side of the house.
I almost let out a snort at how sparkling clean my ex’s vehicle was, remembering how he took better care of his damned truck than he ever did me.
My eyes fell on Evan, who stood on the porch, leaning against the post with his arms folded across his chest, watching us pull up with his eyes narrowed to slits.
Donovan shifted his truck into park and killed the engine, then braced both hands on the steering wheel while his neck swiveled to me. “You ready, Posy?”
I stared at Evan and gave a determined nod. “Let’s go.”
Donovan threw his door open, jumped out, and rounded the hood, and by the time I opened my door, he was there, ready to help me down.
He threw his arm around my shoulder and pulled me under his huge bicep so securely that his forearm hung down my chest. Turning toward the house, we marched to the front door—well, Donovan marched; I had to power walk just to keep up.
Evan’s stare tracked our every step, and I watched his expression turn into a sneer. “About fuckin’ time,” he called over to us. “I see you’ve brought your rottweiler.”
I felt Donovan’s body tense around me, but he chuckled. “Been called worse.”
“I bet,” my ex-husband muttered, watching closely as we ascended the porch steps and came to a halt a foot away from him. Evan looked Donovan up and down. “So I’m guessing you’re the asshole I spoke to on the phone? The latest in a long line of Rosie’s fuck buddies.”
I cocked a bored eyebrow. “Donovan and I have known each other for years, which means he also knows that what you’ve just said is bullshit.
Now stop the petty dramatics. Cut to the chase and tell me why you think it’s okay to turn up at my door unannounced and more importantly, why you’re fighting with DJ? ”
He leaned forward and spat, “I wanna see my kids, and I wanna know why my attorney just told me that you’re taking me to court to rearrange the custody agreement. As for DJ, he needs to learn some damned manners. You may let him get away with disrespecting his parents, but I won’t.”
“Daniel Junior doesn’t disrespect me,” I threw back.
“But then again, I don’t give him reason to, and as for you wanting to see the kids, you can tell by the fact they’ve locked themselves in the house and refuse to come out that DJ and Gabby don’t want to see you.
The instant your bitch of a girlfriend abused our daughter, and you subsequently did nothing about it, our custody agreement went under review. ” I smiled at him, saccharine sweet.
He looked me up and down that time, his face twisting as if I was some kind of bad smell. “God, you’re bitter. What the fuck did I ever see in you?”
My lips twitched, and I popped a hip. “Weird that, considering you’ve consistently begged me to give your cheating ass another chance ever since I threw you and your dirty dick out of my house for sticking it where it didn’t belong.”
Donovan let out a humor-filled snort.
“Must’ve been off my rocker,” Evan muttered.
“Agreed,” Donovan fired out. “Never understood why some assholes wanna go out and ride in a clapped-out Honda when they’ve got a hot GMC waiting in the garage at home.”
It wasn’t lost on me that Evan drove an old Honda CR-V while Donovan’s truck was a top-of-the-line, brand-spanking-new GMC Denali.
I twisted my neck and peered up at my guy. “Did you just compare me to your truck?”
He peered right back down at me. “Babe. My truck’s sexy as fuck. She’s the hottest truck in town.”
My bright smile flashed across my face, and I shrugged. “True dat.”
Donovan grinned and dropped a kiss on my upturned nose before turning back to Evan. “I suggest you say your piece and get the fuck outta here. Me, Ro, and the kids have got shit to do.”
Evan pulled away from the porch post. “I’m not goin’ anywhere until I talk to my son and daughter.”
I rolled my eyes and yelled, “Gabby! DJ! Your dad’s here. Wanna come out and say hi?”
Silence.
“Kids!” I bellowed louder that time. “Give me a sign of life, please...” My voice trailed off because two things happened at once.
First, I heard the sound of a vehicle in the distance. Twisting my neck, I peered over my shoulder—and Donovan’s tattooed arm—to see Atlas’s truck speeding toward the house.
My stomach dropped.
Great. This was all I needed.
The second thing that happened was that the door flew open to reveal DJ standing in the threshold, red-faced and mad as hell.
“I thought I told you to fuck off,” my son roared at his father.
Evan rounded on him angrily. “And I told you not to speak to me like that.”
I pulled away from Donovan and stepped toward my son. “DJ. It’s okay. Go inside and let us deal with it.”
My boy turned to me, his eyes stricken. “No, Mom.” He threw his arm out toward Evan.
“He can’t keep doing this. He always puts his girlfriends before us.
We see him once every two weeks, and he’s always working, then at night he takes out whatever woman he’s with at the time and leaves us indoors.
And after all that, a few weeks later, we visit again, he’s moved a new woman in, and the cycle starts again.
You’ve only ever brought Donovan around, and he’s done more with us in six weeks than Dad’s done with us in sixteen years. ”
“Did you hear him?” Evan demanded, turning to me. “He’s got no respect.”
I stared up at Evan, wishing I could defend him. Co-parenting consisted of us being a united front so the kids were never confused about what we expected of them, but how could I have my ex’s back when our son was obviously so hurt by him?
“Yeah, I heard,” I murmured, my eyes sliding to DJ. “And I wish he’d told me a lot sooner because I would have done this a long time ago.” I stepped toward Evan, got up in his face, and screamed, “Get the fuck off my property!”