Page 7 of No Mercy
His head turned toward the clock. How had he known where it was? “When do you go get him?”
“I don’t. A friend drops him off.” He was trying to decide if I was telling the truth or not. I could see it in his eyes as they narrowed on me. “He won’t be home for an hour.” The muscle was twitching in his jaw again, but at least he had released me and stepped back. I struggled to hold back the tears. “You can’t take him away from me!” I rushed in panic.
He scowled at me. “I just want to meet him, for starters. Haven’t decided anything beyond that.”
“Why? After all these years, why do you care now?” Surely he remembered what his last words to me had been.
“I’ve cared for seven fucking years,” he snarled, baring his teeth. “You didn’t waste any time in leaving.” I frowned, unsure of what he meant because I’d waited around for him for months. “I went for you, Allie. I went to your place, but you’d packed up and run away.” He reached deep in his pocket for something and pulled out a folded, slightly stained piece of paper. My heart dropped when I realized what it was. “Here, in case you forgot.” He threw the note in my face.
It fell to the floor and I bent to scoop it up. I didn’t need to read it. I’d written it. My eyes began to burn.
“Read it!”
I jumped at the sharpness of his demand, and slowly opened the note. It was hard focusing my teary gaze on the words, but I managed to see clearly enough to make them out.
“Rock, by the time you read this I will be gone and out of your life for good. Your reactions over the unexpected news of my pregnancy have convinced me that you don’t deserve me or our child. I will always love you but it’s over. Please leave me alone. Don’t try to find us as I plan to move on.”
By the time I was done tears were burning trails down my cheeks. I glanced up at Rock.“I was eighteen, Rock,” I said, as if that excused everything.
“And that was on me. I knew you were too young, too inexperienced when we met. You were an innocent virgin that I didn’t even try to resist. I wanted you too fucking bad.”
“You hurt me, Rock. When we were together my whole world revolved around you, so when you reacted so angrily about my pregnancy I didn’t know how to take it. You questioned being the father. You thought I’d gotten pregnant to trap you. You’re not without blame on how this went down. I thought I was doing you a favor by leaving.”
“If you’d just waited until shit calmed down we could have fucking worked it out,” he growled. “But no, you ran as soon as things got tough.”
“Not as soon, Rock, three months had gone by without any word from you. How was I supposed to know that shit was going to calm down?” I asked, wiping my cheeks. “Your last words to me as I left the club that day were ‘good riddance’.”
“Fuck.” He ran his hand through his hair. “None of that matters now. We’ve both moved on.” His words hurt, and I wondered what he meant. Had he found someone else? “I have to take a piss.” He pivoted toward the bathroom. Again, I wondered how he seemed to know where it was, but dismissed the thought as unimportant.
As soon as I heard the bathroom door close I ran to get my phone. There was no way I was going to let Rock meet Sam until we talked things out. I quickly dialed Becky’s number, holding my breath until she answered.
“Hey, I just picked up the boys,” she said before I could speak.
“Becky, I have to ask you for a big favor,” I rushed out, listening for Rock at the same time. “Is there any way you can keep Sam tonight?”
“Sure, honey. Is everything okay?” There was immediate concern in her voice.
“Yeah, it’s just, something came up that I have to take care of. It will be easier without Sam around.”
“Okay. Not a problem. Call me tomorrow when you’re ready for him to come home.”
“Thank you so much, you’re a life savor.” I could hear the bathroom door opening. I quickly ended the call and set my phone down. Rock was going to be furious when he found out what I’d done, but that was just too bad. I had Sam to think about.
“Who the fuck were you talking to?”
I jumped at Rock’s deep voice and spun around. I knew as soon as our eyes met that he could see the guilt on my face because I was a terrible liar, and I did feel guilty for keeping his son from him. But he had to know that he couldn’t just show up there and say, “Hi, Sam, I’m your dad.”
I decided to get right to the point. “Sam isn’t coming home tonight.” I waited for him to explode.
His eyes narrowed on me in a threatening way, and I could tell that he was holding back but was right on the cusp of losing it. I knew the signs well. Rock had an explosive temper when he let loose, when hereallylet loose, and that made him unpredictable and dangerous. While those traits had drawn me to him all those years ago, had even turned me on in ways I had never understood, we weren’t in the same place now. I didn’t quite trust him. Still, I would do anything to protect my son.
“You can’t expect to just ride in here and tell Sam that you’re his dad, Rock. We need to talk this over.”
“There’s nothing to discuss, Allie” he growled. “You’re not keeping my son from me. I suggest that you call whoever has him and get him home.”
I braced myself for a fight, hating the slight shiver that went through my body. “No.”
“Now!” He began to walk me backwards, and I felt my courage slowly deserting me. Our eyes remained locked, his with gritty determination and an almost glaring hate that cut me apart.