Chapter Twenty-Six #2
“I respect your feelings. If this is too much for you to handle, and you don’t want to be around it, then I’ll let you go stay with your father, if that’s what you need.
Because although I’m going to live my life, I will always make sure you and your brother are taken care of and feel safe.
That won’t ever change. But don’t make me neglect my own needs for your happiness.
I did it for fifteen years with your father; I refuse to do it again. ”
My son’s eyes well up with tears that cascade down his face. “I want you to be happy too. I’m sorry.”
He wraps his arms around me tightly. I hug him back, happy to have him in my arms. It would have been hard having AJ out of the house, but I would have given him his freedom to decide.
“This is bullshit,” Andrew shouts, breaking up me and AJ’s moment.
I wipe the happy tears from my eyes. “This is reality.” I stand on my feet. “Thank you for bringing my boys over, but you can leave now.”
After walking over to the door, I opened it and pointed to the porch. The way Andrew’s eyes shot daggers at me made me look down at my body just to make sure I wasn’t actually bleeding. If looks could kill, I’d be dead and gone.
He storms over to the door with a sneer. “You’re going to run back to him, aren’t you?”
“Yep,” I say, popping the p at the end.
He chuckles. “Well, while you were slumming it with my ex-best friend, did he tell you the truth?”
“What truth?” I frown.
Andrew laughs. “Mitch knew about Kiely. Before the divorce, he knew I was with Kiely and didn’t tell you. I bet running off to the sunset with him doesn’t sound so great anymore.”
I let his words sink in for a moment before a smile lifted my lips. “He told me.” Leaning in so that only he could hear me. “After making love to me so good I cried, he told me how you used him as an alibi, and that’s why your relationship was strained.”
That night at the cabin, when I noticed something was off with Mitch, he finally told me the truth.
As I laid on his chest, he told me how Andrew had called him that day and asked him to lie.
He explained that if he had known what he was lying about, he never would have done it.
He also told me how he nearly beat Andrew’s ass for it too.
Admittedly, I was hurt at first, but after talking to him and thinking it over, I understood his side and why he couldn’t tell me. We talked, kissed, made up, and fucked like rabbits for the rest of the night.
I watch as that cocky anger turns into sadness.
Andrew really thought it would be that easy.
He thought I was still the same Ella that allowed him to take control of my life and tell me what he wanted from me.
But that’s not me anymore. I found myself after my divorce.
And I learned that the woman I found is strong, independent, and wise.
Slowly, he turns away from me and walks out the door. I shut it behind him with a slam.
Mama and Cameron ran out from the hallway and into the living room.
“That’s my baby,” Mama cheers. “You handled that like a pro. The nerve of that no-good fool to think he could get you back.”
“Mom, the boys,” I softly warn. Even though I agreed with her, it has always been my rule to not talk badly about Andrew in front of the boys.
She waves her hand through the air and turns up her nose.
“Mama, I want you to know that I don’t have a problem with you and Uncle Mitch,” Cameron says, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Dad told me not to answer your calls. But Jacob and I are rooting for you two.”
It pisses me off Andrew tried to use my boys against me. But I’m also not surprised he stooped that low. I placed a kiss on Cameron’s head.
“I wasn’t angry that you and Uncle Mitch were together,” AJ says. “I just didn’t want it to ruin us. When Uncle Mitch is around, it feels like a family. He listens to me and really cares. I guess I thought if things didn’t work out with you two, he’d be gone just like Dad.”
Now that I understand my son’s fears, I can better help him.
“Mitchell loves you boys. He’d never abandon you. No matter what happened.”
“I know that now. He told me.”
My neck snaps back as I stare at my oldest. “What do you mean he told you?”
AJ shrugs. “Before we came over here, he called me. He told me that no matter what happened between you, Dad, and him, he would always have my back. He also told me to talk to you and be honest about how I felt. And to never disrespect you the way I did that day in the living room. Which reminds me, I want to apologize about that again.”
I wave his apology away. “Did you tell Mitch why you were angry?”
AJ shakes his head. “No. He didn’t ask. He just told me all that stuff and that he loved me. I never really said anything.”
Oh goodness, that means Mitch doesn’t know that AJ isn’t angry anymore.
I turn toward the door, ready to rush out after my man.
“Where are you going?” AJ asks.
“She’s going to get her man back,” Mama answers for me. She knew exactly what I was doing.
“He’s not at home.”
Those words stopped me in my tracks. I turn back to AJ.
“Where is he?”
“At the cabin. I can show you how to get there.”
Shaking my head, I reply. “I already know where it is.”
Cameron gasps behind me. “He really loves you if he took you to the cabin.”
Grabbing the keys off my sofa table, I rushed to the door. I didn’t stop to change out of my clothes or anything. There was only one goal in my mind: get to that cabin and get my man back. I only hoped I wasn’t too late.