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I blow out a breath. “How long before we need to be at the lab?” I ask Mick, rubbing the back of my neck with worry.
“Forty-five minutes. Do you want me to text James and pick him up?”
“Yeah, ask him. But I fear it will be a no after this morning’s debacle.”
“Fuck, Marcus, what have you done now?” Xander asks in horror. “Is that why the boy looked like he's gonna kill someone? Starting with you.”
“He insulted Evie on a massive scale this morning,” Mick clarifies.
“Way to go, Mick. Grass me up, why don’t you.”
“Did you?” Xander demands, his hand on his hips.
“Yeah.”
“Did you apologise for being a dickhead?” he carries on.
“No,” Mick chimes in before I even have a chance to respond.
Xan whacks me round the back of the head. “You’ll lose them both if you don’t start to rein in your ego and temper.” He’s shouting now, and I don’t think I’ve seen Xander this riled up in years.
“It’s not my fault, Xan.” I’m shouting back my mantra, my go to defence mechanism. Hoping to drown out the voice that knows it was not just their fault at all. “They fucking wind me up. Look at my face. Jude again. My body is Jonno’s handy work. And if I’ve got any hair left on my head, it’s no thanks to Jackson.”
“You don’t like the fact they call you on your shit, Marcus. You never did. You’ve had years of people yes sir no sir three bags full sir’ing you. Get your ego and pack it away when it comes to your son. Otherwise, he’ll tell you to fuck off. And you’ll be back in the shit heap you’ve lived in for the past few years.”
“I’ve got a fucking amazing life, Xander. What the fuck are you talking about?” But I know, I know exactly what he’s talking about. My glossy magazine cover life. All gloss no fucking substance. Fantastic
“Yeah, well why haven’t you looked happy living it for the past ten years?”
How dare he throw that in my fucking face. He knows how we live, he lives it, the twat.
“Fuck you, Xander. Let’s go, Mick. Get this over with. Maybe it’ll be a ‘No’ and turns out she is a fucking liar. Just like the rest of ‘em after all.”
Chapter
Nine
Evie
My heart is breaking, the tears continually well into my eyes, as I’m trying to distract myself with making food.
My son is sitting in my office, staring into space, and all the light has gone out of his eyes.
He’s not spoken for a couple of hours, and I’ve been in twice. With the food! He doesn’t know which way to turn, and it’s Kellen with his ridiculous behaviour that’s put us here. I know he’s waiting to join some call or other, with them all. I’ve said I won’t go on it. It’s pointless to me. I don’t want to be involved in their relationship.
I look across at Jonno, relaxed on a kitchen chair, reading.
“I’m not putting up with this, Jonno. I’m not going to sit here and watch my son tear himself in two because Kellen’s ego has its own ego.”
“I’m not sure what you can do about that, Evie. He’s not changed, to be fair to the man. In fact, I’d say years of demanding and getting what he wants and no one saying no has made him worse. He walked into the middle of a conversation, thought he heard something he didn’t like, and lost it. He doesn’t think before he fires off, he’s still the same in that. Especially where it concerns you.”
“Well he needs to learn, and quick. He has no claim to me. And I refuse to let him treat James like that.” I wipe the remnants of the tears from my eyes. This stops now. I sit in the chair crossing my arms. “Whatever’s gone on in his life, we need to sort things out. Because in all honesty, I don’t think things are going to be easier going forward. Especially not in the short term.”
Jonno suddenly sits up straight and touches his ear.
“You’re listening?” I hiss at him.
He wafts his hands at me to shut up, his eyes going wide when he looks at me. “Fuuuuck,” he says quietly. “Paternity test.”
