Replace Me (Kin #2)(29)
Author: Jennifer Foor

“She’s fine, man. I think she’s just beatin’ herself up over all of this bullshit. Look, I’m not doin’ it for you, but I’m keepin’ her away from Joey. A failed relationship has already cost us our friendship, I don’t want to lose another cousin over the same thing.”

“Do me a favor, Ford. Let me know if she’s not alright. I care about her, even if she doesn’t believe it.”

“Will do.”

I felt a little better when we’d hung up, but not completely sure that Lacey was okay. I knew I was to blame for all of it, but couldn’t get past her sleeping with Joey and the fact that she’d run right back to him, after I’d hurt her again.

A knock on the bathroom door broke my train of thought. “Yeah, hang on.”

Megan was standing at the door as I walked out. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Family drama, that’s all.”

“I just wanted to say goodbye before I left. I needed to be in by twelve, so I need to head home.”

I shouldn’t have done it, and looking back, I don’t know what made me think that I could take on anything else in my already f**ked up life, but I asked for her number anyway.

After walking her out to her car, I got in my own. It wasn’t like I could go back to sleep, and even if I could, my postponing the inevitable with my father was stupid. I was at the end of my rope and needed to get as much worked out as I could. He was going to expect me to be with Ashley, so I had to prepare us both for what that may entail. I needed a place to live, because I couldn’t stay with Boner or any of my other friends without owing them something.

About thirty minutes later, I was pulling up at my parent’s house. I knew they’d both be at work, which gave me time to go inside and shower. Peyton was still sleeping when I walked past her room. She called my name when I hit the bathroom. “Shayne, is that you?”

“Yeah. I came to get cleaned up before I go and talk to Dad.”

“He’s meetin’ Ashley’s dad at the shop. I heard him talkin’ to Mom about it. They argued and he said that he had to be responsible since you couldn’t get your shit together.”

I ran my hand through my hair. “Jesus Christ, are you f**kin’ kiddin’ me? What else can go wrong today?”

“Why, what happened?”

“Lacey called to tell me she slept with Joey.”

“That bitch!”

“Don’t call her that. If I would have been good to her, none of this would be happenin’. Besides, she can be with whoever she wants.”

“Still, calling to brag ain’t cool.” Peyton leaned against the wall across from me. “What did you say to her?”

“What could I say without soundin’ like an ass**le? The only thing I know about Joey is that he likes women and doesn’t want to be tied down.”

“Sounds familiar.”

I shot her a dirty look. “Maybe I’m ready to settle down.”

Peyton shook her head and started laughing at my comment. “I’d like to see that happen. Now that you have a kid on the way, it’s probably good you want to change.”

“About that.” I wanted to tell my sister the truth. She was always around when I needed someone on my side, but she also didn’t know how to keep her mouth shut. I couldn’t risk her going right to Parker about it. “I don’t think Ashley and I will ever have anything between us. That one night we were together was a mistake. We don’t even get along, especially since the Ford thing.”

Peyton changed the subject without me asking her to. “Are you going to go interrupt Dad?”

“Hell yes, I am. He’s got no right to get in my business. He thinks because I work for him that he still has reign over what I do with my life. I’m so f**kin’ tired of it.”

“He’s just worried about you. You’re the last person we thought would be havin’ a kid.”

Apparently the whole world thought I was nothing more than a f**k-up. I was getting sick of everyone’s opinions. Just because I didn’t live by their standards didn’t mean I wasn’t happy with my life. If they only knew that their precious Parker had fathered the kid, they wouldn’t be saying shit.

“I better get a shower. Thanks for the info.”

I closed the bathroom door before she could say anything else. After the Lacey drama this morning, the hot water felt good falling down on my body. I wished that I was able to wash away all of the stress that I’d been putting on myself, but more was surely going to show up and take it’s place. I couldn’t catch a break to save my life.

Even with a dark cloud hanging over my head, I knew I needed to move forward. There was a baby involved, so nothing in my life was going to come before that issue. I was going to have to face both my father and Ashley’s. By the end of the day they’d know that I was serious about being a parent, even if it was temporary as a favor to my brother.

Lacey

“Why in the hell would you call Shayne? Are you crazy?”

I shrugged and refused to look at a very pissed, Sky. She had her hands on the edge of the bed as she scolded me.

“Lace, you need to talk to me. What is going on in that head of yours?”

I put a pillow over my face. “I don’t know. One minute I feel terrible for sleeping with Joey and then next I want to knock on his door and do it all over again.”

“What happened between the two of you? I’ve never seen you act like this. Is it Shayne or Joey that’s getting you so worked up?”

I removed the pillow and finally looked at Sky. “It doesn’t matter. Neither of them are any good for me, you said it yourself. They both lie and cheat, so either way I’m screwed.”

She sat down on the edge of the bed. “There’s nice guys out there. If you wouldn’t have been so determined to have Shayne, you’d probably have met a few by now.”

“I thought he’d grown up and wanted to be with me. He acted like it every time we were together. How could I have known he was messing around on me?”

Knowing she wasn’t going to give up driving me insane, I got up and grabbed my things. I kissed her on the cheek. “I love you, Sky, but I need to get home and get some rest. I’ve got class in the morning and need to pass or my dad’s going to skin me alive. I still have to finish an assignment.”

We said our goodbyes and minutes later I was pulling out of the driveway, but not without noticing Joey had returned. Both his bike and his car were parked in the driveway and his light was on in his place. I wondered what he was doing, or if he’d already started coming on to someone new that would take my place. I wondered if I was just a simple game to him.