58. Chapter 58
Chapter 58
On Friday evening, after leaving Jacob with Valerie, David drove to Ashley’s apartment. He’d been a little on edge all day, but as he knocked on her door, his anxiety seemed to settle into a feeling of resolve.
When Ashley answered the door, he noted her perfectly curled dark brown hair and flawless make-up, obvious signs she had plans for the evening. She was also wearing her signature skinny jeans and a revealing blouse that screamed Look at my boobs! Look at them! She’d always been a fan of displaying her cleavage, but was obviously taking it to new heights—or rather, new lows—since she could’ve tucked her phone in there. And a house plant.
Taking in the beautiful woman before him, it occurred to David that all those times he’d dropped Jacob off and thought she looked really nice because she’d just come from work, he’d been a fucking idiot. She’d probably just always been minutes away from heading out to have a good time with her boyfriend … which led him to wonder how many times she’d actually stayed home with Jacob.
After clipped greetings were exchanged, Ashley led him into the living room, which was surprisingly clean, given that when they’d been together, she’d hardly ever helped with the housecleaning.
Perhaps Liam was a neat freak.
David set the envelope he’d brought with him on the coffee table before sitting down on one end of the couch. Ashley took the other end, leaning back and arranging herself in a way that made it look as if she was acting out a scene from the movie Cleopatra.
“So, what’s this about?” Ashley asked, checking the time on her phone and frowning. “And how long is it going to take?”
“Why? Do you have plans tonight?”
“Yes.”
“With your boyfriend, Liam?”
Slightly taken aback at the question, she blinked at him before answering. “Yes.”
She didn’t ask how he knew about Liam, so David assumed she thought Jacob had passed along that information. “Well, you might want to let him know your plans are going to be delayed.”
“Delayed for how long?”
“I don’t know,” he told her blandly. “Hopefully not long.”
Her expression aggravated, David watched as she proceeded to send a text to Liam, then stare down at her phone, waiting for his reply. “So, what’s this about?” she asked again.
Now aggravated himself, because Ashley was focused on her phone like a thirteen-year-old, he did what he’d always done in the past when having to ‘compete’ for her attention: nothing.
It took her about a minute to realize he hadn’t responded to her question and looked up. “What’s this about?” she asked a third time.
Since she now actually had eyes on him, David said, “It’s about Jacob.”
“What about him?”
She sounded only mildly curious, and not in the least bit concerned, so David decided to just dive right in. “It’s recently come to my attention—”
The whoosh of an incoming text cut him off, and Ashley immediately diverted all her attention back to her phone. After reading the reply, she sent one back, and then she and Liam continued to exchange a dozen or so more texts, until finally, Ashley set her phone down. She appeared to be a little anxious, as if Liam had been displeased their plans were being delayed.
Good. Fuck him in the ass with a cactus.
For a moment (even though it was nebulous, given he didn’t have a clear picture of what Liam looked like and had to picture a generic man’s ass with a cactus jammed in it), the visual almost brought a twisted smile to David’s face.
Clearing his throat, he started all over again, now that he mostly had Ashley’s full attention. “It’s come to my attention that Jacob’s been abused.”
She frowned. “What? When?”
“During his visitations with you.”
The frown disappeared as her eyebrows rose halfway up her forehead. “Is this a joke?”
Feeling the telltale signs of his blood pressure rising, David slid a hand in his pocket and grabbed onto the red jasper worry stone and discreetly began to use it. Rub, rub, rub. “No. Nothing that’s happened to Jacob is a joke.”
“And what, exactly, are you saying has happened to him while staying with me?”
“Neglect, for starters—”
“Neglect? What neglect?”
“Well, Jacob’s inconsistent mealtimes are an issue, as is his constant diet of McDonald’s while in your care—”
“But he loves McDonald’s,” Ashley argued.
“That’s true, but McDonalds is a shit substitute for healthy and nutritious home-cooked meals, which is really important to young, developing children.” He waited a beat, then plowed forward. “There’s also the issue of you not providing him with basic necessities, like Goodnites, when you were aware of his bed-wetting issues, and his lack of consistent bedtimes and naps—”
Ashley muttered something unintelligible under her breath, as if her patience was being sorely tested.
He thought about asking if she’d spent any of the money he gave her to buy Goodnites, but decided it didn’t matter if she had, because he was going to do everything in his power to make it so Jacob never stayed with her again. “Last, but not least,” he said, instead, “is the fact that you’ve repeatedly left Jacob in the care of a babysitter during his visits, rather than spend time with him.”
Ashley cut her eyes to David, as if expecting him to explode over the violation of their custody agreement, but he simply stared back with his best dead-eye shark impersonation, which seemed to unsettle her.
After a long pause, she told him, “Fine. I’ll cut back on the McDonald’s, buy him some Goodnites, make sure he doesn’t miss a single nap, and I won’t leave him with a babysitter anymore. Does that make you happy?”
“As far as the neglect goes, yes.”
“Well, what else is there?”
“There’s the emotional and physical abuse that Jacob has suffered—”
“What are you talking about? I haven’t emotionally or physically abused Jacob.”
“No, but your boyfriend has.”
A shocked layer of silence filled the living room for several moments before Ashley broke it with an outraged, “Are you out of your fucking mind? Liam would never—”
“Yes, he would. And he did, on multiple occasions.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“He put his hands on our son, Ash, and called him a ‘fucking brat’ and a ‘little shit’. To his face.”
Ashley shook her head in denial. “No. Liam is a really great guy, and I can’t picture him doing—or saying—anything like that. Jacob has to be making it up.”
He narrowed his eyes at her, while his thumb worked away on the worry stone. Rub, rub, rub. “Why do you think he’d make something like that up?”
“Because he’s looking for attention. Isn’t that what troubled kids do?”
“He’s ‘troubled’ because of your boyfriend.” Letting go of the worry stone, David pulled his hand out of his pocket and leaned forward to grab the envelope off the table. Opening it, he pulled out several sheets of paper and handed them to her. “Here.”
“What are these?” she asked, barely glancing at them.
“Those are the official reports detailing Jacob’s abuse, written by his therapist—”
“Jacob has a fucking therapist? He’s not even four years old.”
“Yes, he has a therapist. After his last visit with you, he was such a fucking mess that I became concerned and made an appointment for him to talk to someone, because he wouldn’t talk to me. He ended up seeing Lauren—that’s his therapist’s name—several times, and during these visits she uncovered multiple instances of abuse.”
Ashley reluctantly turned her attention to the papers in her hands. David wasn’t surprised when she seemed to barely skim the contents of the first page before laying it down on the table, unimpressed, since the first session had really been about establishing trust, so there wasn’t anything overly problematic in it. The second and third reports, however, did get more of her attention, garnering some raised eyebrows and a few frowns, and when she was finished, she set the last page down and turned to David with a bland expression. “If Liam did say those things to Jacob—”
“If? He did say those things.”
“—then he probably shouldn’t have—”
“Probably?”
She released an annoyed sigh. “I’ll talk to Liam about his language, okay?”
David gave her a look that said it clearly wasn’t okay.
“And as for his spanking Jacob—”
“Your boyfriend didn’t ‘spank’ Jacob. Liam emotionally and physically abused Jacob,” David corrected her. “So, let’s call it what it is, okay?”
“I’ll ask him not to do it again,” she said with another annoyed sigh. “All right?”
“You’ll ask him?”
“I’ll tell him not to do it again,” she rephrased, then added, “I’ll make sure he doesn’t.”
“Ashley,” David said slowly, “I’m not sure which is more disturbing here, the fact that you would let this prick be around our son ever again, or the fact you think I would allow this prick to be around our son ever again.”
“Liam is not a prick.”
“Yes, he is, and fuck you for not telling me about him.”
She made an ugly face. “And how long were you seeing Paige before you told me about her?”
“That was different.”
“Why? Because you’re a hypocrite?”
“No, because she never came in contact with Jacob during any of that time. There was no reason to tell you until that was going to change, and when it did change, I told you right away, so you’d be aware of who I was bringing into your son’s life—before I did it, I might add. You never gave me that same courtesy. You brought Liam into Jacob’s life probably right after you two started banging, subjecting Jacob to weekend visits with that man, instead of simply not seeing Liam when your son stayed with you.” David exhaled in angry frustration, the red jasper worry stone in his pocket forgotten. “I mean, for Christ’s sake, did you really need dick so much you couldn’t go without it for two weekends a month?”
Ashley glared at him. “You’re such an asshole.”
“I’m an asshole? Remember when I asked for full custody and you told me only getting to see Jacob during supervised daytime visits on the weekends wouldn’t be enough? That you needed more time with him and wanted all his visits to be overnight? Such bullshit. You ended up cutting back from eight days to six, then down to four. Four days. And then you left him with a babysitter a lot of that time, because you couldn’t make him your sole focus during his visitations.
“So, this time I’m not asking for full custody. I’m asking for sole custody. And honestly …” he paused to tilt his head for a moment. “I’m not really asking.”
Her mouth opened, then closed. “Now I understand why you’re making such a fucking fuss over that—” she broke off, making a face and motioning to Lauren’s reports with a dismissive hand.
“Just so you know, Lauren actually had to report that—” he motioned to the reports, as well, then finished with, “—to the authorities.”
“What?” Ashley’s entire body stilled. “What ‘authorities’?”
“Child Protective Services, I believe.”
“Jesus Christ.”
The sight of her, clearly horrified, probably should’ve garnered some sympathy, but it didn’t, mainly because it was the first sign she was taking this seriously. “Because of her profession, Lauren’s legally obligated to report any suspicions of child abuse, as well as any findings.” He let that simmer for a moment, before continuing. “However, since CPS is overwhelmed and understaffed, it was determined that an official investigation wouldn’t be opened—”
“Investigation?”
David nodded, the noticeable tremor in her voice also failing to garner any sympathy. “But if there had been one, you possibly could’ve been charged with neglect or negligence, both of which are misdemeanors—”
“Misdemeanors?”
“That’s right. Your boyfriend, however, could’ve been charged with two felonies, for emotional and physical abuse of a minor—”
“Felonies?”
Ashley’s face actually paled at the word ‘felonies’ in relation to Liam, making it abundantly clear that all of her concern was for what could’ve happened to him, rather than what had actually happened to Jacob. Which, while David found it reprehensible, it was also something he could use.
“That’s right. But, fortunately for you and Liam, CPS was willing to let that—” he motioned to the reports, “—go. Unfortunately for you and Liam, though, I’m not willing to let that—” he motioned to the reports again, just to be annoying, “—go. Not at all.”
David gave her a hard look. “I’ve played nice for too long, hoping you’d step up and become the mother Jacob needs, but I’m done with that shit. I want sole custody, and I’m prepared to take you to court to get it. Because that—” he motioned to the reports yet again, “will not be repeated. Not by you, or Liam, or whoever your next douchebag boyfriend might be.”
Ashley’s face took on an angry flush as she glared at him.
“Don’t give me that resting bitch face,” he told her coldly, Hale’s line from that night at Bender’s coming in handy. “Your boyfriend hit our son and called him shitty names, which should make you want to rip Liam’s balls off, like I want to rip his balls off. It obviously doesn’t, though, because you’re not the mother Jacob needs. And if I take you to court to get custody, I’ll make that clear to the judge.
“I’ll tell them you basically let me raise Jacob when we were together and that I paid for everything. I’ll tell them how, after we split—for reasons I’ll have no problem disclosing—your irresponsibility and poor judgment put Jacob directly in the path of your prick boyfriend, which resulted in Jacob being called shitty names and getting hurt. I’ll show the judge these reports, so they can understand what Jacob went through while under your supervision during the four days a month he stayed with you.
“I’ll inform the judge that when I told you about what happened to our son, you asked if it was a joke and didn’t believe me, and then you accused Jacob of making it all up for attention … proving again that you’re not the mother he needs.”
David paused for a moment, to take a cleansing breath before going into his final push. “It’s obvious you don’t really love him, Ash—”
“How can you say that?” she protested. “Of course I love him.”
The absurdity of that statement almost had David scoffing out loud. “How can I say that? I’ve been here—” he glanced down at his watch, “—a little over twenty minutes. And in all that time, you haven’t even bothered to ask me about Jacob, about how he’s been since the last time you saw him, which was three weeks ago. Nor have you texted or called me during that time to check on him … information the judge will also be interested in.”
Ashley blinked at him and quickly asked, “How has Jacob been?”
He leveled his dead shark eyes on her again, ignoring the question. “It’s obvious you don’t really love him,” he repeated as evenly as he could. “And it’s obvious you don’t really want him, either, so it would be in everyone’s best interest if you did the right thing and relinquished your parental rights to me, the one who does love and want him.”
She regarded him with a flat, calculating expression, one he was very familiar with and despised.
“You want me to make things easy for you? Well … go fuck yourself.”
“Hmm, I thought you might say that,” he mused, with a knowing smile. “But maybe you’ll change your mind if you know making things easy for me will make things easy for your boyfriend, at the same time.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, her calculating expression slipping a little.
“I mean, that if you choose to not make things easy for me, and I have to take you to court to get what I want, then I’ll choose to not make things easy for Liam and take him to court, too, by filing a civil suit against him for abusing my son.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you seriously threatening Liam?”
“Yes, and I am not bluffing, by the way. I will go after your boyfriend, and it’ll be my extreme pleasure to do so.”
Ashley sat and stared at David, her cheeks flushed, her breaths rapid and shallow. “You. Fucking. Dick.”
He shrugged off the insult, amazed at how much anger she was directing at him for threatening her boyfriend, after directing none at her boyfriend for threatening her son. “Like I said, I’m done playing nice,” he told her, then leaned forward, casually resting his forearms on his knees and clasping his hands together. “So … it looks like you have a decision to make. You can either fight to keep joint custody of a child you don’t give a shit about, just to fuck with me—and fuck Liam as well—or, you can give up joint custody of a child you don’t give a shit about and save your prick of a boyfriend from a potentially messy legal battle.”
“I really hate you, right now,” she told him with a vicious sneer.
He could’ve easily responded in kind, but refrained, wanting to stay on track as much as possible. “So, what’s it going to be, Ash?”
“If I give you custody, how do I know you won’t go after Liam with a civil suit, anyway?” she asked, after a brief, charged silence.
“Because I’ll give you my word that I won’t.”
She shook her head. “That’s not good enough.”
“When have I ever lied to you?” he demanded. When she didn’t respond, he answered his own question. “Never, that’s when. I’ve never lied to you and I’m not lying now. If you give me custody, I won’t go after your prick of a boyfriend with a civil suit, even though it will pain me greatly not to. The two of you can then go enjoy your lives and do … whatever the fuck it is you do when you’re together. You know, without the inconvenience and aggravation of having to deal with a ‘fucking brat’ anymore.”
Another silence grew between them, becoming heavier and uglier as they stared at one another. with almost identical expressions of loathing. “So, what’s it going to be?” he repeated.
Whoosh.
As if spring-loaded, Ashley immediately turned away and grabbed her phone to read the text. Assuming it was from Liam, David watched as she proceeded to text back and forth several times with the prick. At first, Ashley seemed slightly on edge, as if their communications were tense (possibly from the continued delay of their evening plans), but after a few exchanges, David saw a shift in her demeanor. She relaxed a little and her expression became softer, with a smile curving her mouth.
When the texting mini-marathon came to a close, Ashley set her phone down and then directed her attention back to David once again. As she did, her smile slowly turned into a cold frown.
“You win,” she told him flatly. “Now get the fuck out.”