I have been seriously slacking on the whole cleaning thing. I hate to clean as it is, but I’ve been spending so much time with Justin it seems like cleaning hasn’t even been a dot on my radar. It’s not like the house is a mess, it’s just the little things, like I haven’t vacuumed in what seems like years and the laundry is seriously piling up. While Brady was at school I managed to vacuum the apartment and get most of the laundry done. Now I still have an hour before I pick him up and I’m going to sit in front of the television and catch up with Ellen DeGeneres while I finish folding.

         A knock on the door ruined my plans for the afternoon. I got a feeling in the pit of my stomach, like I should be worried about who was there. I had no idea who it could be, but he saw me before I could pretend I wasn’t there. I felt my heart beat in my throat as I opened the door, only a little.

         “Hey Chloe!” He answered with excitement; it had to be fake excitement, why would he be excited to see me? Why would he want to see me? What is he doing here?

         “What are you doing here?”

         “You’re not going to invite me in?” he asked with a smile.

         “Uh… no. I have a restraining order,” he still makes me nervous, to this day. He’s not as scary as he used to be though. He doesn’t look as tough. I think I’m older now and I’m tougher myself, I’ve been through enough shit not to be afraid of a jackass that beat the shit out of me because I wouldn’t have an abortion.

         “You HAD a restraining order Doll, it was only for two years. Come on Chlo, let me in, I’m a changed man.”

         “What are you doing here?” I repeated.

         “I want to see you, I want to see my son.”

         No, no NO! He will not see MY son, there is no way I will let that man within a fifty-foot radius of MY son. 

         “Is he in there?” he continued.

         “No Gabe, he is not. Leave, or I will call the cops.”

         He laughed, full out laughed, “Doll, I’m not doing anything wrong.”

         “You beat the shit out of me!”

         “I was seventeen, that was six years ago. I’ve changed, I’ve grown up.”

         Nobody grows up from that. It doesn’t happen. “Please go away.”

         “Look Chloe, I’m not here to start shit. I just want to talk.  I’m not going to just leave, I came all the way out here to talk to you.”

         He’s not one to just leave, and I know he’ll stay around here until I’m outside with Brady or something. I can’t have him see Brady. I don’t trust him. “Wait a minute,” I closed the door and grabbed onto my cell phone. I’m supposed to pick Brady up in an hour. I called Kelly but she didn’t answer, she must be working. What the hell am I going to do?

Perhaps against my better judgment I called Justin, he answered after two rings, “Hey Chlo.”

“Hi, can you do me a huge, huge favor and go pick Brady up from school in an hour and take him back to your house?”

“Yeah, sure,” he sounds confused, please don’t ask questions, “I can take him back to your place.”

“NO!” I shouted but caught myself, “No, thank you, I’ll come get him at your house. It won’t be too long, maybe an hour or so. Thanks so much Justin.”

“Is everything alright?”

“Mmhmm,” I answered quickly.

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah, I just… something came up. Just take him to your house though, ok?”

“I will.”

“K. Thanks. I have to go,” I hung up the phone and walked out to let Gabe into my apartment.

         He smiled an arrogant smile and walked right past me and into my apartment as if he lives there. He didn’t even wait for me to invite him in.  “So Chloe, what have you been up to?” he asked with the smile still on his face. He sat down on my couch and even had the audacity to pat the spot next to him so I would sit down with him. Obviously I didn’t sit; I just stood there staring at him with my arms crossed across my chest. “OK,” he chuckled, “How have you been? I missed you.”

         This can’t be happening. It has to be a nightmare, “How did you find out where I live?”

         He ignored my question, “How’s your mother doing? I haven’t seen her in…”

         “She’s dead. What do you want Gabe?”

         “I already told you, I want to see you. I want to meet my son. She’s dead? Really? When the hell did that happen?”

         “Really?” I asked out of disbelief. I’m trying to be tough, but I can’t take much more of it. I’m shaking and I feel sick to my stomach, and I’m scared, I’m so fucking scared of him.

         “Well fuck, how am I supposed to know? You just left, overnight, never told me where you were or what the hell was going on.”

         “Because you beat the SHIT OUT OF ME!” I screamed, “Are you serious? I’m supposed to leave you a forwarding address when the reason why I left is because cause I was scared you’d beat me up again?”

         He laughed, “You’ve always been dramatic Chloe. You act like I killed you.”

         “You tried to kill me but you couldn’t go through with it. And luckily for me my mother came home. And you tried to kill Brady.”

         “Brady? That’s his name? Brady?”

         “What did you think I’d name him after you?”

         Gabe laughed, “That mouth of yours, always got you in trouble. It’s good to see some things never change.”

         “What do you want Gabe? Why are you here?”

         He took a deep breath and threw his head back before speaking, “You still don’t listen huh? How many times do I have to tell you the same fucking thing before it sinks in?”

         OK, and now he’s right back to the way I remember. “Can you please leave my house?”

         “I would love to leave your apartment Chloe, but I didn’t drive all the way out here to see you for a minute and then drive back.  Where is he?”

         “Why do you want to meet him? You’ve gone this long without meeting him and then what? You just woke up one day and realized, hey wait I have a son, maybe I should stop playing the deadbeat dad card and actually meet him? I call bullshit Gabe.”

         “I didn’t come out here to fight with you Chloe. He’s my son, I have the right to see him,” he answered calmly.

         “You’ve lost all rights when you never even tried to contact us within the first five years of his existence. Not even to mention the whole trying to kill him by throwing me down the stairs thing.”

         “That was an accident.”

         “Not even your mother believed you on that one Gabe, not even your mother.”

         “You’re a fucking bitch Chloe, just like I remembered.” He spoke quietly, almost under his breath, “Don’t you want to know how I’ve been?”

         Not really jackass, I kind of enjoyed not knowing anything about him. I liked having the ability to dream up what happened, like that a million killer bees attacked him, each stinging him multiple before he died very slowly and painfully.

         “Well I went to Harvard, as you know, graduated a year early, cum laude. Then I got a job, right away, back home at Johnson & Johnson. I started at the bottom, you know how that works, but then moved right on up. Here we are, three years later and you’re looking at the youngest vice president of advertising in company history.”

         I was trying to fold the towels as he spoke so I wouldn’t have to concentrate completely on him. But when he finished I couldn’t move. The youngest vice president in company history? “You’re vice president?” I screamed, throwing the towel down while he gave me that cocky smile, “Are you fucking serious?”

         “I am. That’s pretty impressive, isn’t it?”

         “How long have you had that job?”

         “About two years,” he’s like proud of himself.

         “OK, wait” I stood up throwing my hands in the air, “You’re telling me that you have this job where you make 6 figures, right?” he nodded his head, still fucking proud, “Do you have ANY IDEA the shit I had to do to put food on that fucking table for my son?” I threw the towel at him and paced around the room, “Do you have any fucking clue Gabe? You’re here, driving a fucking Mercedes and you have no idea what I had to do to survive with my son.”

         “What you had to do?” he laughed, “Like what Chloe? Clue me in.”

         “You are fucking ridiculous. Do you get that? Fucking bullshit. I had no money Gabe, no fucking money and I had to…” I stopped myself before I actually said it; “I had to do so much shit to put food on that table for my son. I knew you had money, we all know your parents have more money than God himself. God forbid, anything ruin their fucking reputation but now you make 6 figures on your own?!?!” I screamed, “Did you ever think maybe we could have used some of that? Did you ever think, oh shit, I wonder what happened to that girl I fucked and got pregnant and threw down the stairs when she wouldn’t get an abortion? Oh wait a minute, shit; she didn’t get an abortion, which means I have A FUCKING KID! Did you ever stop for a second and think about how the fuck we were getting by?”

         “You seem to be getting by just fine.” I really might kill him. I might have to.

         “You have no idea what I had to do!”

         “Or who you had to do, right Chloe?” he asked with a half smile.

         “Get out of my house,” I replied softly.

         Gabe laughed, “I said I wasn’t leaving until I saw my son.”

“I won’t let you see him.”

“Then I’m not going to leave. What are you going to get your pop star boyfriend to come kick my ass?”

“Fuck you.”

“I did fuck you. Many times and look what that got us. You were a good fuck though; I’ll give you that. A real good fuck,” he moved a strand of hair behind my head and I got chills. I was frozen, I couldn’t even move even though I wanted to kill him with my bare hands. Or at least cry, I’m probably more likely to cry. “I remember exactly how you like it. Do you remember how I like it, Doll?”

I slapped his hand away from rubbing up my leg, “I want nothing to do with you. Nothing.”

“Well,” he laughed, “We have a kid together so, that’s going to be awful hard. You should have thought of that before you decided not to have an abortion. I tried warning you but, once again, you just don’t listen.”

“I’ll call the cops.”

“Your phone is right here next to me so, I’m not really worried.”

“People come to check on me all the time. I have lots of friends, that are boxers and UFC wrestlers…”

He laughed, “I’m sure you do Chloe,” he rubbed my leg again, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“So you’re here to get laid? Is that what this is all about?”

“That’s just an added bonus bitch.”

“You’ll go to jail. Do you want to go to jail? I hear they have a soft spot for rapist and wife beaters in the big house.”

Gabe laughed again, grabbing my jaw in his hand, “You really need to learn when to shut the fuck up. I have good lawyers.”

“Me too. My boyfriend has the best lawyers money can buy.”

“Your boyfriend,” he mimicked. It did sound weird calling Justin my boyfriend, I’m not exactly sure if he is. “We’ll see then. I’m not worried. I’m the fucking VP Chloe, who are they are going to believe?  VP of Johnson & Johnson, Harvard graduate, a year early or a fucking prostitute.”

“I am not a prostitute. Get out of my house.”

“You know what, I think I am ready to go,” he stood up and walked towards the door and I felt my heart start beating again.

“And don’t ever come back!”

He laughed and walked back to me, grabbing my jaw once again, “That mouth, getting you in trouble again. When are you going to learn Chloe? I will be back, don’t you worry. And I will see my son. I’m not going to tell you when I’m coming back, I’d rather you fear it, every fucking day because you’re a bitch, and you deserve to be treated like one. I’ll see you soon Doll.” He kissed me on the lips and shoved his nasty ass tongue down my throat before laughing and pushing me away. “You have a good night.”

         The second he got left I ran to lock the door and fell to the ground crying. I really thought I would never have to see him again. What the hell am I going to do now? Just when things start to look up, he has to come back and fuck everything up again. I don’t know what to do. I can’t let Gabe see Brady. I don’t trust him for a second and he made it pretty clear that I shouldn’t. If he did all that to me, what is he going to do to a little boy? I can talk back and I can hit back but Brady can’t. Brady won’t.  I have to go get him so Justin doesn’t freak out.

         Shit, Justin. What am I going to say to him? He’s going to want to know why I couldn’t pick up Brady. This is a disaster, a pure disaster.

         I quickly washed my face and put makeup on to cover my puffy eyes. No more crying, I need to straighten myself out. I locked the door carefully as I left, looking around before I walked down the open hallway. I was still nervous and breathing heavily that I jumped three feet in the air and screamed when I rounded the corner and almost bumped into Justin.

         “Whoa, sorry, you all right?” he answered with a smile that quickly slid off his face when he saw my face. I guess I didn’t clean myself up as well as I though, “What’s going on, are you ok?”

         I nodded my head, unable to move, but when he pulled me into a hug it almost felt like we’d get through this. “Where’s Brady?”

         “At my house. Trace is there and Rachael and… I didn’t want to bring him, you said not to bring him.”

         “I said that I’d come get him.”

         “I know but you sounded weird on the phone. I wanted to make sure everything was all right. Why didn’t you want me to bring him here? Is something going on?”

         “No, I just didn’t want to make you come all the way down here.” I lied.

         Justin nodded his head and grabbed onto my hand, “Well it didn’t work, I came anyway,” he answered with a smile. Could he actually be falling for it?

         I forced a smile and reminded myself to take deep breaths. I wanted to cry and fall into his arms and tell him everything. I want him to protect Brady and me and make sure Gabe is out of the picture completely. “Is Brady being alright?”

         “Oh yeah, he’s fine. He was a little surprised that I went to pick him up, so were the other kid’s mothers,” he laughed, I’m sure they were, “This one lady, was looking at me for two minutes straight, I’m telling you, no blinking or anything, I thought there was something wrong with her. I tried talking to her, nothing.”

         That’s cute; I could just see Justin standing there trying to make conversation with this lady.  “But yeah, he’s behaving,” Justin continued, “He was playing wiffle ball with Trace and Rachael. They were having a ball with him. He’s a fun kid,” he laughed, “He wanted to go swimming, but it’s up to you. Why don’t you get your suits? It’s hot out, you guys can cool off for a bit.”

         I nodded my head automatically; I would like to be as far away from this place as possible. The thought of being here, alone with Brady when Gabe is going to come back any time makes me sick to my stomach.