Page 100 of Damaged Prince
“How did we go from being strangers and a one-night stand, to being stepsiblings, to now being in a relationship with a baby?” she laughs, leaning her head against my shoulder.
“No clue. But I’m not complaining. My only regret was holding off for so long,” I say as we make our way out into the sunny spring air.
Laney places Benny in the stroller, strapping him in.
“You had good reasons,” she says, straightening up. “With everything you’ve been through, and wanting what was best for Benny, you did the right thing.”
“I should have known you weren’t like other girls.” I pull her into my arms, kissing the tip of her nose.
“And how would you have known that?” She laughs. “You knew nothing about me. Sometimes, you just have to see for yourself. And that's okay.”
“Well, I’ve seen. And I love what I see. So I’m keeping you,” I growl, nipping at her lips.
“Yeah?” she laughs softly. “Good, because I’m keeping you too.”
We continue down the sidewalk, our car parked down the street near the restaurant we had lunch at. When we turn the corner, we nearly run into someone.
“Sorry,” Laney is quick to apologise, her being the one pushing the stroller.
The moment my eyes lock on the person standing before us, everything inside me fills with dread, my blood running cold. No. No fucking way this bitch is here.
“Stacy,” Laney hisses. “What the fuck are you doing here?” Laney asks the same question I was about to.
Stacy crosses her arms, raising a brow. “Is that any way to speak in front of a baby?”
“Why the fuck aren’t you in jail?” I growl, taking a protective stance in front of Benny and Laney.
Stacy looks up at me with bullshit sad eyes. “I know you hate me, Logan, and I don’t blame you. What I did.” Her eyes grow glassy as she sniffs. “What I did was wrong. I made some bad decisions, but I’m not a bad person, Logan. I swear. I was sick. And I’m getting help. I’m getting better, better for me. Better for my son.”
“Don’t even fucking speak about him.” My nostrils flare. I’m not one to hit women, but fucking hell, my hands itch to wrap around her scrawny neck and wring it until the last bit of air leaves her lungs. “And that doesn’t answer my fucking question. Why aren’t you in fucking jail?”
She licks her lips nervously, trying to get a peek of my son around me.
“Don’t fucking look at him!” I snap.
Her eyes flick back up to mine. “He’s my son too!” she defends.
That makes me laugh. “Your son?” I shake my head. “Are you fucking stupid? You might have given birth to him, but he is not your son. You’ve never cared about him, he was just a pawn to fuck with me. He is my son. My heart. My fucking soul.” Emotion clogs my throat. “And you fucking hurt him. You have no idea how much I want to kill you, Stacy,” I hiss.
“Logan, don’t. Don’t give her anything she can use against you,” Laney says, grabbing my arm.
“Answer my fucking question, Stacy. Why the fuck aren’t you in jail?”
“I was never in jail,” she says.
“What?” I ask in a low growl.
“After pleading my case, the judge sent me to a rehab facility. He saw a mother who was under an addiction and who wanted to get better for her son. That's what I’ve been doing all thesemonths, getting clean. Trying to better my life. I made some mistakes, Logan, and I want to make things better. To show I’m not the bad person you believe I am.”
“No.” I shake my head. “No fucking way! You abandoned him to go get high. You were in the middle of a fucking gangbang for fuck sakes! You don’t need rehab, Stacy, you need to be locked up in a fucking psych ward, if anything.”
“Stop it.” Her tears spill over. “Stop talking to me like that. You don’t understand. You didn’t know the pain I was going through. Addiction is an illness. It’s not easy.”
“Don’t use that as a cop out for being a fucking shitty mom. You weren’t always high, but you’ve always been an evil, vindictive bitch,” I snap. “It’s not just what you did to Benny. You blackmailed Laney, threatened her. You tried to manipulate and control my life and the people in it for your own fucked up game. Even though I’ve made it known on many occasions, we were nothing and never would be.”
Stacy looks seconds away from losing her shit; her fake woe-is-me act is starting to crack.
Benny starts to cry, getting our attention. “Mamamamama,” Benny babbles in distress, the arguing scaring him, and I feel like an asshole.
