Chapter 6
Ashley – Current Day
“Why can’t I just stay with you this weekend?” Cole complains as I scan through a customer’s items who thankfully is busy on her phone to take notice of my whining son, and I side-eye him.
He’s sitting near me, his math homework out in front of him, a scowl that is so much like his father's on his face, yet again putting up a fight about going to his dad's like he does every single weekend.
He may have my physical features, right down to my green eyes, but his facial expressions and body language are all his dad's, whom he currently hates with every fiber of his being. Every day it is getting harder to convince him to go to his father's and not just because he’ll spend time with his father and see the love he has for him, but also because the club is getting bigger and growing up in it, I don’t want him to feel pushed out all because his father couldn’t keep it in his pants.
My stomach churns at the thought yet again, my chest aching but I try and swallow it down as I scan a few more items, placing them in the brown paper bag.
Ty and I have been legally separated for roughly eight and a half months, and each day, it gets harder and harder to breathe. He was my home, my family. He tore that away, along with everyone else I thought was my family.
Doc has fallen in love, and so has Stone.
Both finding themselves with women who have given them not only their hearts, despite their past mistakes, but also children.
Both brothers went through hell and back to keep their loves and now they’re holding onto them tightly, adamant to keep knocking them up or so Olive explains every time she sees me hoping I’ll long to be a part of a big family again.
The club is expanding, and it isn’t fair for Cole to miss out, especially when they are his only family.
I chose him. I decided on Ty over my parents, and I won’t let my son experience the emptiness I feel every day, being alone, especially since I thought the club was my family too which clearly I was wrong about.
They all sat back and watched my husband have a full-blown affair for a whole year, allowing him to convince them I was sleeping with someone else.
They broke me, and I refuse for my son to be broken.
“Sweetheart, Granny and Grandpa want to spend time with you, your dad misses you during the week,” I try as I press the payment amount on the screen and say, “That’ll be $42.36,” to my customer and I grab her paper bag, putting it on the counter.
She scans her card which beeps to state it’s been accepted and I hand her the receipt before she leaves, and Cole snorts, shaking his head, making me flinch.
While Ty and I have been in therapy for six months, me trying to end this marriage, him trying to, I don’t even know anymore, Olive and Scar have been the in between.
The are the ones picking up and dropping Cole off between our two different homes and a few months ago when Cole came home from school with tears in his eyes asking questions I never wanted him to ask, questions I tried so hard to keep away from him but failed, I was ready to tear the world apart.
“Thank you for picking him up, Olive,” I say politely, and she gives me a soft smile, one I am not used to, and replies, “Anytime, though he’s been a little quiet today…”
I furrow my brows as I turn my head towards my son, who so far hasn’t said much with us living in a different home than his father's, or the fact that it’s a rundown apartment. I explained his daddy and I have decided we would be better parents living apart, something Ty was pissed at.
He’s been upbeat, seeing it as an adventure, but the look that he’s giving me right now, my stomach drops.
Tears shine in his bright green eyes as he asks, “Mama, is it true Dad had an affair?”
Oh god no...
I look at Olive sharply, terror and pain pulling me, and her eyes tear up as she defends, “I didn’t tell him.”
“So it is true?!” he demands with such force for a ten-year-old, and my mouth opens and closes, not knowing what to say.
I never wanted him to find out.
I swallow hard and go to defend his father, something he doesn’t deserve, but Cole opens his mouth again and tears my world apart as he cries, “That means he really didn’t want me, that I was a mistake!”
No, no, no, no.
He runs off crying, the door to his room slamming, and I choke, “What-what just happened? P-please tell me he hasn’t been told everything?!”
“Oh god,” Olive whispers before I hear, “Honey, I-I, you need to tell Tyler that Cole knows, someone told him at school today.”
“He doesn’t want me, Mama,” Cole says with a matter-of-fact tone, and I sigh.
“He does, sweetheart,” I say softly, “He was a teenager when we had you…”
Cole looks at me and unhelpfully reminds me, “So were you! You lost everything for Dad, only for him to cheat on you, and growing up, he wasn’t around!”
“Because he was working for the club, ready to take over the role of Sargent, Cole, you know this. Now your father has made some real mistakes, I’m not defending him, but where you are concerned, he loves you,” I state firmly, knowing Ty does love his son, he just went through a ‘I’m a jackass phase’.
“He chose his mistress over me, over us Mama!” Cole growls as he throws his pencil just as Nat walks out from the back, easing the tension as she sighs dramatically and half falls on Cole making him laugh, his anger fading as she sighs, “I can’t believe you’re leaving me,” as Cole pushes her off him, smiling.
She gives me a wink as she takes a seat next to him, and I mouth, ‘thank you,’ before reminding her, “I’m not leaving you, we can still meet up and besides, I don’t even know if I’ve passed yet so you could be stuck with me.”
She scrunches her nose up, and Cole asks, “Are you going to steal animals as well, like Aunty Brit? Her new dog, Max, is amazing!” completely ignoring my worry about my results.
I chuckle as I shake my head. I’ve been offered a job at Wincher Vets as a qualified vet pending on my results after years being in school, running myself thin between there, work, Cole and my soon to be ex-husband.
I am excited to finally find my passion but the only problem is that the vet nurse is Doc’s old lady, who, as my son said, steals the animals when they’ve been mistreated which I wholeheartedly agree with by the way.
She also lost her memories after being attacked, and she woke up from a coma, pregnant.
It took Doc everything to win her back, all while caring for their child.
Meanwhile, she's unaware that Pauline has offered me a job, again pending my results, and none of the brothers know I’ve been studying all this time.
I don’t want any of them knowing so I’ve got to somehow convince her not to say anything even though she has no idea who I am – easy right?
“I know it just won’t be the same,” Nat sighs dramatically, “unless you steal me a kitten then I may forgive you,” and I snort, shaking my head as the bell on the door announces someone’s presence and Cole mutters, “Great,” and I wince, knowing it’s most likely Ty’s mama.
“Is that the kind of greeting I get nowadays?” Olive asks as she walks over to us, and I sigh as Cole remarks, “It is if I’m not staying at yours this weekend.”
“Cole…” I warn him, and he looks away as I look at my soon-to-be ex-mother-in-law.
“Still wants nothing to do with Trigger, huh?” she confirms sadly, and I shake my head.
“It doesn’t matter what I try, but suddenly every time his father was absent, including when he got really sick, it's flittering through his head,” I admit quietly.
Olive’s jaw ticks, and she threatens, “When I find out who told him, I’m going to kill them.”
“Then I suggest you go searching for your son's mistress, Olive,” I state, and her eyes widen. I shrug and ask, “Did you really think she wouldn’t track Cole down at his school and tell him everything just like she did with me?”
“But he’s a child…” She gasps.
I retort, “She doesn’t care. Cole admitted last month that a woman with light blonde hair, blue eyes, and dressed like the clubwhores was waiting for him in the office at his school. She claimed she was his aunt and he had forgotten something.”
“That’s why you pulled him out of the school, not because it reminds you of how you and Trigger met.” She whispers with realization, and I look away.
“Mama, I don’t want to go,” Cole whines, and I drop my head as Olive flinches while Nat tries, “Cole, your grandpa will be upset if he hears you talking like that, darling, you know you’re his favorite grandson.”
Cole exasperates, “I’m his only grandson...” making her grin wide.
I give her a small smile in thanks as he sighs knowing he has to go and the bell announces another arrival.
I swear the scowl that overtakes my son's face is exactly like his father's, and I look to see what has gotten that look from him, only to lock eyes with my boyfriend's hazel ones, and I swallow hard.
“You feel so good, babe,” Talen whispers as he pushes inside me, my walls squeezing him, but more trying to push him out not pull him in and the filthy feeling I always get intensifies even more than it did with Tyler, and not because I’m scared of getting him dirty.
It’s like my body knows him but wants him out.
Maybe it’s because I never thought I would sleep with anyone other than my husband.
Ignoring the ugly feeling in the pit of my stomach, knowing it’s time I allowed someone else in because I won’t be returning to my ex. I wrap my legs around Talen’s waist, my arms going around his neck, and I pull him down, kissing him as he begins to thrust, our tongues tangling.
“Oh great, it’s jackass,” Cole murmurs, shocking me out of the one and only time I have slept with Talen, and I spin around and hiss, “Cole Kyle Davis!”
He flinches at the use of his full name and looks away, and I grit my teeth.
Dammit!
I’ve already had tantrums from Tyler over Talen, even though he's the one who caused all this. I don’t need it from my nearly eleven-year-old as well, especially when I’m just trying to move on.
Seventeen years of being in love with the same man, a love that still shines bright despite my pain. I don’t need their negativity as I try to live my life without that man anymore.
“I guess he doesn’t like the new boyfriend,” Olive murmurs, a hint of happiness to her voice, and I reply snidely, “There wouldn’t be a new boyfriend if your son hadn’t had an affair after I gave my whole life to him.”
She winces but nods in understanding just as Talen walks over and I reluctantly leave the safety of the counter making him grin as he wraps his arm around my waist and pressing a kiss to my head. I smile slightly despite feeling a little off with him as I place my hand against his chest.
He’s not as tall as Ty, not the same build, lacking some muscles but he’s sweet to me, though something is off…
Since we met four months ago, I’ve had a feeling like I knew him, but I can’t place it.
It just, it feels wrong and I know it’s because of Ty, because I’ve spent seventeen years loving him, it has to be that.
“Hi,” I say, and he grins widely, which, as usual, makes my stomach tighten with regret.
Swallowing hard, I look at Cole and say, “Alright, kiddo, pack up your homework, you can finish it off at your dad's.”
His little jaw ticks, but he does as I ask, slamming his books into his bag before snatching his bag off the counter and rounding it.
He gives me a slight, angry hug and a kiss on the cheek before storming out, and I sigh as Talen asks, “Bad day?”
“Something like that,” I whisper as Olive says, “I’ll get him to call you later,” and I nod before she leaves, sending a glare at Talen on her way out making me roll my eyes as Nat announces, “Right, you are officially clocked off! You two can go on your date.”
“Thank you,” I say with a smile as she hands me my bag, and I look at Talen, who is already looking my way, and he grins before bending down and pressing his lips against mine.
The feeling of pushing him away hits me, but I ignore it as I kiss him back.
Wrong, so wrong...
I pull back first, the bile rising becoming too much, and I begin to walk towards the door, Talen quickly after me as he wraps an arm around my waist with a chuckle before his lips touch my neck sending shivers down my spine and not in the good way but I ignore the feeling.
As we leave the store, I feel him before I notice him, just like I always have, our bodies always in tune with one another.
Ty sits on his bike, parked next to his mama’s car, his face etched with anger while his eyes lock onto Talen, who holds me, unaware of the danger surrounding us as he continues to lightly kiss my neck as we walk.
We lock eyes for a moment, pain and anger shining in his eyes, but I look away, not allowing him to see my discomfort with Talen's touch, refusing to give him the satisfaction. Instead, I lean into Talen and walk down the street towards his car.
While I don’t plan on sleeping with Talen again anytime soon, I do plan to continue dating him as a way to move on.
Tyler made his bed when he chose to get a mistress, trying to live out the teenage years he lost, and now he can lie in it while I move on.