6
Maeve
I hated Christian West. I hated the way that he came into my house and started to immediately judge the way it looked. I hated how fucking hot he looked all the time in the most effortless way possible. I really fucking hated how much my parents loved him. My parents loved no one. They despised Tyler when we were married and only tolerated him because of the girls. But no, somehow, they have a huge hard-on for a six-two tattooed-to-the-brim Viking-looking hunk of a man.
We pulled up to Tatum’s sprawling mansion, and I quickly jumped out of the car and pranced toward the front door, leaving Christian.
“Thanks for the ride.” I waved at him, not bothering to look behind me.
“Next time, be on time,” he shouted back.
My wave turned into the middle finger, where I screamed, “Never!”
I found Tatum in the kitchen drinking a ginger ale. I threw some hard candies that helped me when I was in my first trimester on the counter before giving her shoulder a warm rub. When I first met Tatum, she hated hugs, but it'd been a few years now, and she was finally getting used to them a little bit. I tried to offer a handshake first, though, and reserved our hugs for moments when I thought we both really needed the physical comfort.
“How are you?”
“Better now. It comes in waves.” Tatum waved at Christian as he passed us on the way to Julian’s office.
“I caught him creeping on me earlier. I was changing, and the door didn’t shut all the way, and he watched me change. Ew.” I grabbed a mug and filled it with coffee that Julian had made.
When Tatum didn’t respond right away, I looked over at her, and she stood at the counter just grinning at me.
“Don’t go there,” I retorted.
“Christian and Maeve sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N—”
I playfully patted her, and we both ended up in a fit of giggles.
“He is so annoying to me. I don’t understand why he can’t like, take a shower or shave or cut his fucking hair.”
She waggled a finger at me just as her doorbell rang. James came out of the office and asked if we were expecting someone. We both shook our heads.
“Fuck,” he mumbled, reaching for his weapon in the back of his pants. It was so ironic how used to guns I had gotten over the past year. None of them ever used it in front of the girls, but around me? They seemed to always be on the brink of violence and destruction.
James answered the door and muttered something that neither of us could make out.
“MAEVE,” he shouted.
“Me?” I asked Tatum, who shrugged her shoulders and linked her hand in mine as we walked over to see why James called me over.
“What?” I looked over at him and then back at the inconspicuous person at the door.
“This person is here to see you?” It was a combination of a statement and a question. Why would anyone be here at Tatum’s house to see me?
“Yes?” I glanced over at the man standing at the door. He seemed like a very average person. He wore jeans, a T-shirt, and a baseball cap.
“Ohhhhhh. Is it from your lover?” Tatum giggled from behind my shoulder as she tried to see who it was too.
“Maeve Pierce?” the man asked.
“That is me,” I responded hesitantly, but I looked down and saw James had a steady hold on his weapon in the back of his shirt.
“You have been served,” the man told me as he handed me a stack of papers.
“Wait, what?!” I startled at the papers in my hand and attempted to reach out to the man, but Tatum quickly pulled me away and ushered me back into the kitchen.
“Open the packet immediately,” Julian told me as he grabbed the papers from my hand. He and Christian now joined us at the kitchen countertop. I was too stunned to do anything else. Who would be serving me? Tyler didn’t even have to do this when we got a divorce.
I was shaking. How did the person know I was here? I mean, they must have followed me when Christian and I drove here. Shit, I couldn’t stop shaking.
“What is it?” I hesitantly asked Julian before glancing at Christian, who suddenly appeared beside me.
“We’ll figure it out.” Tatum grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze, but for some reason, I didn’t think even she believed herself.
Julian opened the papers and started to read them.
“What does it say?” Christian asked as he leaned in toward me. Just the very tips of his fingers grazed over my lower back, sending shivers down my spine for some reason. I shot him a look, and he quickly moved his hand. It was almost like he didn’t know what he was doing either.
“Tyler is taking you back to court.” Now I shook quite uncontrollably. He was messing with my family. What did the fucking snake have against me?
“For what?” I tried to keep my voice even, but I knew I was doing a terrible job. Even James came over to give me a supportive hug. His touch was very different, though, than when Christian’s fingers grazed my back. His felt friendly, but Christian’s felt…electric.
“He is asking for full custody of the girls,” Julian said as slowly as possible, and then all of a sudden, the world got dark. I was falling apart. My entire world was literally falling apart. I could barely hear Tatum when she shrilled.
“For what?!” she screamed. The world was tunneling in. I wasn’t able to move. My feet were concrete underneath my body, and I didn’t know if they would move. My heart raced, and I felt it climbing into my throat. My morning coffee threatened to come up.
“He wants full custody. He’s claiming that you are an unfit mother without a proper home and stability for the kids,” Julian explained.
Full. Custody.
He wanted to take the girls away from me. The two little humans that I birthed, that I raised, that I worked so fucking hard to do the best I could possibly do for them.
“We’ll get the best lawyer. Julian, call Alex and get him to connect us with the best.” Julian silently nodded, but the voices were still nothing but a blur around me. I couldn’t see or feel anything, but I needed a bathroom immediately.
“Bathroom.” I just waved and hobbled over, where I immediately felt like the oxygen was getting sucked out of the room as I opened the door and puked up my coffee from this morning.
How was this happening to me? I was a good mom. I took care of my kids. I worked hard to make sure I provided for them. I never even blinked twice when we split anything together. I think, considering the circumstances, I had my life together. I was also incredibly freaked out that someone followed me all the way to Tatum’s house. It felt like some sick form of a reality show.
And what a fucking douche for not giving me a heads-up when I saw him this morning. My grief was quickly shifting to anger as I gripped the seat of the toilet and took some centering breaths in a technique that Gianna had taught me.
Suddenly, I heard a knock on the door.
“I’m fine,” I called out, trying to calm my tone.
“Let me in, Maeve,” Christian said. I really wasn’t in the mood to see him right now. I didn’t need to hear some shitty comment that he would make about how I deserved this. I didn’t want to hear from anyone about how I needed to clean my house. The anger from the whole situation coursed deeply through my veins as I got up and opened the door. I could feel the fumes coming off my body in waves.
“I’m not in the fucking mood right now, Christian,” I barked back, and just as he was about to say something, I cut him off immediately. “Whatever fucking comment you have to make about my parenting or my cleanliness, it’s not the time. I don’t need to hear about how I deserved this or what a shit mom I am because, in fact, I’m not. I don’t want to hear about how maybe if I locked the guesthouse door or lived alone, this would suddenly solve all my problems.” He stared at me as if I had just sliced a knife into his heart too.
“I especially don’t want to hear about what a shitty person I am from you because, trust me, I’m perfectly capable of making myself feel that way all by myself.” I lifted my hands to my face, where I let out the deepest guttural sob that was stuck in my chest. It broke through me, and the waterworks just exploded.
Christian’s sturdy arms grabbed me tight, and he held me against his chest. He didn’t say anything, just let me sob into his black T-shirt, completely soaking it.
Tatum came in behind him, and I felt her tender arm as she circled my back.
“This sucks,” I finally sniffled as I pulled away from Christian. It felt like he didn’t want to let me go for a moment, his arms lingering on my lower back.
“We’re going to make this better. You know you’re the best mom in the world,” Tatum reassured me.
“I know, but it sucks that the girls are over at his house for the week too. My court date is in four days.” Christian still didn’t say anything about how I completely exploded on him just minutes ago. No, he stood there with a furrow in his deep brow and a large wet stain on his shirt from where my head was.
“It’s also creepy that the guy followed me here. My parents are going out of town this weekend, so it's just me on the property.”
“I’ll stay.” Christian spoke almost immediately as I finished my sentence.
“That is ridiculous.” I took two steps away from him and rolled my eyes. I looked over at Tatum, whose head was cocked to the side like Christian suddenly had a good point.
“No.” I looked at her and walked back out to the kitchen, where Julian was on the phone with his brother, talking about lawyers from the hushed sentences that I heard.
“You said Julian needed you and James to review tapes anyway, so you are busy.” I waved him off, grabbing the paperwork off the countertop.
“He’s fine to stay with you,” Julian said, pulling the phone away from his mouth for a moment.
Tatum moved in closer. “Let him just make sure everything is okay with Tyler. I don’t know what else he has planned for you. Please,” she begged. I placed a hand on her stomach. “He’s a bodyguard, Maeve. Out of anyone here, he is the most trained if anyone were to come in.”
“I’ll agree, but only because I don’t want to upset the preggo.” We smiled at each other for a moment.
“It’ll all be okay. We’re going to work this out as a team,” Tatum told me.
“Can you let the other girls know what’s going on? I’ll need a drink tomorrow. Maybe we can do a wine night, and the two pregnant ones can have mocktails?”
“Chels is already on her way here,” Julian said, who was talking to Alex, her fiancé. Thank god because she was the only other non-pregnant one, so I needed a drinking buddy right now.
I hugged everyone, and Julian promised to text me the name of the lawyer Alex claimed was the best and meanest family lawyer in the entire state.
Christian walked me out to the car, where he opened the door this time.
“Don’t do that. It’s weird.” I pulled the door away from him and got in myself and heard him chuckle. It was the first thing that had come out of his mouth since I exploded on him.
He opened the driver's side and slid right in. I looked over at him and realized how large he looked when he splayed out along the seat.
“I have to go grab a bag from my house. You’re coming along, firecracker.” He looked over at me with those sad blue eyes.
“Hey, about earlier—”
“It’s nothing. Do not worry about it.” He glanced over at me quickly before peeling his eyes to the road and driving to his house.
“Can we stop at 7-Eleven?” I asked hesitantly as we pulled onto the highway.
“7-Eleven?” Christian questioned but again didn’t look at me.
“Yeah. Got something against it?” I half giggled.
“All right, firecracker. Let’s go to 7-Eleven.” He laughed, his voice filling the silent car with a bit of happiness. It was a sound I wish I could bottle up. After Kelsie and Kinsley’s sweet little giggles, I think Christian’s laughter was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard. Probably because it was so rare.