Have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy being with this incredibly gorgeous man lying next to me?

Well, I do.

We have spent the better part of the morning screwing like bunnies and I can’t say I have any complaints about it at all. The one thing I would’ve liked to change about this whole thing was the fact that his mother was downstairs. I really could’ve done without that.

Justin looks dead tired and with good reason, so I guess now would be a good time to take the bull by the horns and go talk to Lynn about what’s up her ass. I promise to be nicer once I get down there, but right now I’m in a shitty mood about this whole thing… Bitch has seriously fucked up my week and I want to know why, because I’m not buying this whole jealousy shit.

I grab a pair of shorts from my pile of clothes in the closet, pulling them on, throwing one of Justin’s t-shirts over my head before making my way down death row to go have this talk with the bitch.

“Good morning, Lauren. How’d you sleep?” Paul asks as I walk into the Kitchen.

“Good morning… I slept really well, how about you?” I ask with a smile.

“Like a baby.” He says, glancing over at Lynn. She shoots him a look that plainly says get the hell out of here now. I roll my eyes as he scrambles out of his seat quickly saying good-bye before leaving the room.

“And how did you sleep, Lynn?” I ask as sweetly as I could. I pour myself a cup of coffee, sitting down at the island.

“Cut the small talk.”

I almost chocked on my coffee at her harsh tone, “Excuse me?”

“Have you ever cheated on my son?”

My eyes grow wide, “Of course not.”

“Have you ever cheated on any man?”

“No.”

“Have you ever slept with a married man?”

I shake my head, “No… What is with you?”

“I’m just trying to figure out if you’re anything like your mother.”

My eyes start immediately watering and I’m pretty sure my heart stopped. Did… Did she just say my mother? How could she possibly know my mother? I don’t even know her.

“Are those guilty tears?” She asks, rather snide.

“No… how do you know my mother?” I ask in a whisper.

“She tried to steal my husband away from me. She was doing a really fine job of it too.”

“What are you talking about?”

“About 18 years ago, your mother, decided she was going to put her trashy paws into my husband. She got him drunk at a bar and took him back to her motel. I’d like to hope I don’t need to draw you a picture of what she did to him, but needless to say, your whore of a mother fucked her way into my marriage.”

“Oh my god…” I say in horror, my hand smacking over my mouth.

She has to be mistaken. How does she know it was my mother? How could this have happened? Hold the phone… Paul cheated on Lynn? Holy shit!

“Is that all you have to say? Your mother almost cost me my marriage and I refuse to let your family ruin mine. You will stay away from my son. I will pay you what ever you want just like I did your mother and you two can leave us alone. I don’t ever want to see you around my son or my granddaughter again, do you understand?” She asks and I just stare at her in horror, “Now, name your price.”

I shake my head, “You…” I try to talk, but words just aren’t forming. What the hell is happening? Justin’s father slept with my mother? How the hell does that even happen? I know it’s not his biological father, but still. Shit, this is just insane. How the hell did this happen?

“How… how do you know… my mother?” I finally get out.

“I hired a PI to find her and find out everything about her. Your name along with your brothers and sisters names came up.”

A whoosh of air just flew out of my lungs, “Brothers and… sisters? I… I… I only have Ryan.”

She pulls a piece of paper out of her back pocket, unfolds it and tosses it in front of me. I glance down at the paper and gasp.

This can’t possibly be happening right now. I have two sisters and a brother that I had no idea I even had? Why would a woman keep having kids after leaving me and Ryan to live with our dad? Were we not good enough for her? Is she taking care of her other kids or were they abandoned like we were? I have so many questions, my heads spinning and I’m suddenly feeling nauseous.

I look up at Lynn, tears pouring down my face, “Is this real?”

“It’s very real. Don’t act like you had no idea about them or your mother.”

I gasp, trying desperately to remember how to breathe, “I haven’t seen my mother since I was five.” I said in a whisper.

“Don’t lie to me you little whore.”

I sob into my hands, trying to wrap my head around all of this, “I… I… She left me and Ryan when I was five. I… I haven’t seen her since. Not even at my father’s funeral.” I tried to take a deep breath, but it only made me cry harder, “I didn’t even know these people existed… I didn’t know…” I trailed off into another sobbing mess.

“What the hell… Lauren?” Justin says, wrapping his arms around me, “What did you say to her now?” He growls towards his mother.

“I… I thought she… I thought she knew…” Lynn says, and I can hear the shock in her voice.

“You thought she knew what? What the fuck is going on?” He yells, pulling back from me. “Baby, what’s the matter?”

I grab the paper with shaking hands and pass it to him. He looks at me confused before looking down to read it.

“What the fuck is this?” He looks up at his mother, “Where did you get this?”

“I hired a PI to get information on her mother.”

“How the fuck did you know her mother…” He looks down at the paper then back up at her, “18 fucking years ago? What the hell is going on?”

“I cheated on your mother.” Paul says from the doorway.

Justin’s eyes go wild, “You what?” He growls.

“It was 18 or 19 years ago now. It was the biggest mistake of my life.” He says, walking towards Lynn, stopping when he got next to her.

“What does this Tina person have to do with anything?” he asks looking from his parents to me and back again.

“Tina’s my mother… Apparently she’s the one that he slept with.” I answer, finally gathering air back into my lungs.

“And these other people on here?” He asks, confused.

“Apparently, Ryan and I have two sisters and a brother out there somewhere.” I say, beginning to sob all over again.

“I… Why did you show this to her?” He asks his mother, still trying to figure this whole mess out.

“I thought she knew.” She whispered again.

“Wait… Is this what this whole fucked up mess has been about? Lauren’s goddamn mother that abandoned her over 21 years ago?” He asks, obviously getting seriously pissed off.

When his mother doesn’t answer he goes off, “You’ve been pissed off at Lauren because your husband fucked her mother? What in the hell does that have to do with Lauren? She was… what? 7 or 8 at the time? How in the fuck does that give you the right to take out your past insecurities on her? She did nothing! She didn’t make your husband fuck another woman… She didn’t make her mother seduce him… I don’t get it. Why the hell have you been treating her like shit because of something that has absolutely nothing to do with her?”

“I thought she knew.” She whispered again.

“You’ve already fucking said that!” Justin yells, the veins in his neck starting to bulge out.

“Don’t yell at your mother like that.” Paul yells back.

“You stay the fuck out of this. This is all your goddamn fault. All because you couldn’t keep you dick in your pants. So you just stay the fuck out of all of this.” Justin yells, pointing his finger at him.

“Justin…” Paul warns.

“I said stay the fuck out of this you fucking...” He growls back.

“I’m sorry… Lauren, I… I thought you knew… I was wrong and I’m.. I’m so sorry.” Lynn interjects.

I look up at her and I can see the pain in her eyes and I know she really means it this time. I nod at her, trying hard to stop crying again.

“I need to talk to Ryan.” I whisper to Justin and the crazed look on his face falls. Now all I see is sympathy and I don’t think I like that any better.

“Come on.” He says, extending his hand. I hesitate for a moment, but take his hand, letting him lead me back up to his room. I immediately fall on the bed, rolling myself into a ball with my knees up against my chest and I start sobbing again.

Justin lies down in front of me, pulling me against him a few minutes later, running his hands up and down my back not saying a word. I know he wants to talk to me and tell me it’s going to be ok, but he knows it would be a lie.

************************************************************************

“What the fuck is going on? I heard Lauren sobbing in the background and now you wont let me see her? What the fuck happened this time?” Ryan yells, barreling into the house.

Lauren cried herself to sleep in a matter of minutes and I’ve been waiting on the front porch for Ryan to get here since. I figured if I could talk to him first it would soften the blow when he gets to talk to Lauren.

“Look Ryan… You may want to sit down for this.”

“I don’t want to fucking sit down. Tell me why I heard my sister crying and now you wont let me see her, Justin.”

“She found out some things today about your mother.”

“My what?” he screeched.

“To make a long story short… My mom had a PI look into your mother about 18 years ago and she found some things out about your mom and showed them to Lauren this morning. Lauren isn’t taking it well.”

His face goes hard, “What did it say?”

I sigh, “I think Lauren should tell you, but she fell asleep and I think she needs to sleep.”

“Then you tell me.” He all but growls.

“I don’t think…”

He grabs my shirt, pushing me against the wall, “You either tell me now or I’ll beat it out of you. Which do you want?”

I sigh, “Put me down Ryan. This isn’t going to make things better. It will only upset your sister even more.”

He slams me against the wall again, “Tell me!” He yelled.

“Hey! Ryan, dude, chill out.” Trace says, walking towards us.

“Not until someone tells me what the fuck’s going on.” Ryan says, gripping my shirt a little harder.

“Well, let’s put Justin down first, then we can talk about what’s bothering your sister.” Trace suggests.

Ryan hesitantly loosens his grip on my shirt before finally letting go. “What’s going on?”

“I really think Lauren should tell you. I don’t feel right telling you.” I say, readjusting my shirt.

“Where is she?” He barks.

“She’s upstairs.” He was off before I could even get the words out of my mouth. I ran up the stairs two steps at a time behind him, stopping at the door to my room to listen.

“Lauren?” Ryan sits on the edge of the bed, slightly shaking Lauren.

“Ryan?” She asks, groggily.

“Yeah, sweetie…”

She immediately started to cry and it broke my heart. I wish I could make this whole mess go away, but I’m not a genie and unfortunately Lauren doesn’t get three wishes.

“She’s still fucking up my life.”

“What happened Laur?” He asks, lying down next to her.

“We have two sisters and a brother… and apparently she slept with Justin’s dad.”

“Huh.”

That’s it? That’s all he has to say?

“Ryan?”

“If they have anything to do with that woman, they aren’t my family.” He says with a sigh.

“But…”

“Not buts Lauren. I don’t want to know about them, I don’t want anything to do with them. She left me when I was 8 years old. You don’t forget something like that and you don’t easily forgive something like that. When she left, she was no longer apart of my life. Whatever she did when she left has nothing to do with me and I want nothing to do with it.”

“I don’t have a choice. Her decisions have made my life hell. She slept with Justin’s dad. His mother has been holding it against me like I had something to do with it. I don’t know what to do anymore. She hasn’t been my mother since I was five and somehow she still manages to screw up my life.”

“Does Justin not want to be with you because Tina slept with his dad?” Ryan asks and I hope to god she knows I would never leave her over that.

“No, but his mother hates me because of it.” She says, bursting out crying again.

“If he loves you as much as I think he does, it wont matter what his mother thinks.”

“He’s right.” I say, making myself known to the room. Ryan looked up and smiled. Quick change from the crazy beast that wanted to kick my ass downstairs.

“I love you Lauren, nothing is ever going to change that. Especially something that the woman that gave birth to you may or may not have done in the past. It has nothing to do with you and it doesn’t change how I feel in the least.” I say, sitting down on the opposite edge of the bed as Ryan.

“I’m sorry about your dad.” She says, wiping her face with the sleeves of her shirt.

“It has nothing to do with you so don’t worry your pretty little head about it. It happened 19 years ago. You can’t change the past, but we certainly can make sure the future turns out better.” She sighs, and I run my hand down her cheek, “As long as my future has you in it, I’ll be happy… But what will put a smile back on your face?”

“I’ll be ok. I’m just still shocked that’s all.” She says, sitting up to face me.

“Well,” I start, leaning over, pulling something out of the side table before continuing, “Maybe this will speed things up.” I say, handing her the box. She stares at me for a minute before slowly opening the little blue box. A whole new set of tears fall down her face only this time they bring out that beautiful smile I fell in love with.

“It’s beautiful.” She says, smiling up at me.

“It’s not half as beautiful as you, but I didn’t think it was too bad.” I say, grinning at her. She loves my corniness. I grab the ring out of the box, a beautiful 2 carat princess cut diamond with ¼ carat diamonds all along the band, picking up her left hand slowly sliding the ring on her finger.

“You can keep it on two conditions.” I says, kissing the ring on her finger.

“Oh yeah? And what’s that?” she asks, smiling that beautiful smile again.

“One; you have to promise to spend the rest of your life letting me love you.”

“Ok… and two?” She asks, biting her lower lip.

“You have to smile like this at least once a day for the rest of your life.”

“You know… You’re the only man that could make her smile like that. Please promise me you’ll give her a reason to smile like this every day for the rest of your life.” Ryan says in an all too serious tone.

“I can certainly promise to do everything in my power to keep that smile on her face.”

“And I will try my hardest to smile everyday for the both of you.” She says, patting both of our legs with her hands.

“I love you guys, more than you will ever know.”

“And we love you.” Ryan and I say at the same time making us all laugh.