Risking Fate (Mitchell Family #4)(38)
Author: Jennifer Foor

You can’t lose me, if I’m not goin’ anywhere, okay?

I’m scared.

Please Ty, don’t make this any harder. Knowing you’re there and that you’re goin to have to touch her, it’s killin’ me. Get those papers and come home to me. Come home to us.

That’s the only place I want to be, Baby. I love our life.

Bye Ty.

She could barely talk and I wasn’t much better. After looking in the mirror, I decided to use the real tears as an advantage. I took a few deep breaths and grabbed the bag Conner had given me. I knocked on the door just once and Heather opened it. She saw the look on my face and I actually sensed genuine compassion. This plan may actually work.

“Ty? What’s going on? What happened to your face?”

“It’s Miranda. I defended you after our talk and she kicked me out. She said we’re done.”

She held the door opened and gestured for me to come in. “I’m sure she’ll get over it. You two seem to be attached at the hip. Besides, she is carrying your real children.”

Don’t clench your fists…

“You don’t understand. This isn’t the first time this happened. I’ve cheated before, so you claiming we had something, well it nailed my coffin. I tried to change, but I was no good at it.” I am lying…

Heather sat down beside me and I could tell she wanted to smile. I clenched my jaws and thought about hitting a girl again. I loathed her. She was a f**king evil person. “It’s okay to admit that you still haven’t found the one person to satisfy your every need. I mean, maybe you just aren’t looking hard enough.”

She traced my arm with her hand and I wanted to cringe. My phone vibrated again and I opened it up, hoping it was my wife, telling me to get out of dodge. Instead, it was her sticking to the plan. I wondered if she was having Conner send the messages, because it was just too hard for her to handle.

Packing my shit and moving back to KY. I will never forgive you.

My eyes burned and for once, I was happy about crying. I took the phone and showed Heather the messages. “I can’t even stop her. The whole family knows about this and they’ve pretty much disowned me. Even Van won’t speak to me.”

“So, are you here because you have no other place to go, or is it something else you want from me?”

Oh God! Concentrate. “Maybe both. I’m a little confused right now. A few weeks ago, I had the perfect life. Now everything has turned to shit.”

“Baby, I can think of a few ways to make you feel better.” She traced around my busted lip with her finger. “What happened here?”

“Brother in law came to get Miranda, punched me in the face as I was leaving.”

She got up and came back with a wet rag and some ointment. While Heather focused on my busted face, I tried to close my eyes and imagine myself anywhere but where I was. All I could picture was Miranda crying against Conner’s chest. I knew he was there and it made it a little better, but this bullshit plan was tearing her apart, I just knew it.

After a few minutes, and her purposely taking her time, she sat down the rag and ointment bottle. “So, I don’t really know what to say to you right now. I knew you’d come around sooner or later. I mean, I really missed you TY. I wanted to be the one you fell for.”

Oh shit. This was it. This was my moment to make her believe this was real. I needed to grow a set of new balls and get this shit done.

“The timing was wrong.” I should have grabbed her hand or something, but I leaned on my knees and covered my face when I talked. Smooth talking Ty had left the building. I was a sap. A happily married sap.

“I’m glad you’re here.”

This is it! Swallow your pride. “Me too. I missed hanging out with you. It was always a good time.” If I had a gun I would just shoot myself. I wanted to vomit. “So where’s your mom?”

“Working.” She slid down the couch and kneeled in front of me. Her hands slid up my thighs and then back down again. When she saw how I didn’t react, she pulled them away.

“Sorry, it’s just been a while and after the fighting I’m still f**ked up in the head. It’s not just Miranda, you know. I love my daughter. Even if I wasn’t with Miranda, I would still want that paternity test. I know my daughter will miss me and even if I have to visit her in Kentucky, I will know she is safe.” The mere thought of not seeing my daughter for even one day burned through my mind. More tears rushed down my face, imagining having to see her once a month or less than that. It was tremendously depressing.

Heather reached up and wiped my tears. “I have the papers, Ty. My brother gave them to me the day after the test, but I was just so mad at you. Then your wife made those comments and I just refused to help someone like her get what she wanted.”

“Those papers are for me though. I don’t want to share custody of my child with an evil lady. Miranda will always have her daughter. This was all for me.”

She stared at me, as if she were trying to see if I was lying. “Wait a minute.” She stood up and put her hand on her hips. “How do I know this isn’t some ploy? You’re a smart guy, Ty, and I know you love that little girl enough to break all the rules for her. How stupid do you think I am?”

No no! Fuck!

I took a few deep breaths and looked her dead in the eye. “One thing you’re not, is stupid. I really didn’t come here to trick you, Heather. How could I have known you still had the papers? Think about it? I came here because you were the first person I thought about. The first person I wanted to see.” My hand grazed her cheek and I had to swallow down the vomit that was fighting its way into my throat.

“Prove it!”

“What? What do you mean? Prove what?”

“If you are really here because you missed me, touch me. Kiss me Ty.”

Miranda…..

She was all I could see in my mind. I couldn’t cry like a baby, because it would show I was lying. I couldn’t talk my way out of it. I was stuck in this situation that I didn’t want to be in.

One kiss. It’s one f**king kiss, Dude. It means nothing. It’s for your daughter.

“Okay, come here.” My throat started burning and I knew it was only a matter of time before I lost it again. This idea was horrible. I hated myself for agreeing to it.

Heather leaned forward, waiting for me to reciprocate. I closed my eyes and let my head move forward. As soon as her lips pressed against mine, I felt her wet tongue sliding over my bottom lip. I pulled away and turned my body from hers. Instantly I realized what I had done. “Sorry! My lip is throbbing.”