Page 4 of Redemption

They look confused as they walk up the driveway, and TK looks at his son. “Why did I get a text from Klaire that VP and I should get our asses here right away?”

“Because she thinks the three of you can gang up on me and convince me something I know in my heart to be true isn’t,” Lex says.

His eyes look up at his sister’s room and see the curtains flutter. Meddling brat. But this might actually work in his favor. Maybe they can help talk reason into her thick skull.

“And what’s that?” VP asks, taking a step towards his daughter, his hazel eyes filled with suspicion.

Her arms cross over her chest, and she steps back and away from his touch. Looking at the ground, the toe of her converse shoe kicks the sidewalk, and her words feel like a kick in the nuts. “That my marriage is over.”

“What?” TK asks and looks at his son. “What the hell’s going on?”

“It’s been over for quite some time, but it’s finally broken beyond repair. A decision had to be made, and I made it.”

Colt shakes his head. “Lex, this is why we need to talk. What you think happened, or what you think has been happening, isn’t true! That is not my baby!”

VP holds his hand up. “Wait, hold it. What baby?”

“I need to go,” she says and wipes at her eyes. “I told you, Colt, I can’t do this. Not right now. I’ve been holding myself together because I’ve had two kids who depend on me, but I’m about thirty minutes from breaking.”

“Where are you staying?”

“I’m not telling you.”

VP blocks her path. “Then tell us.”

Her chin lifts in defiance, but her bottom lip quivers. “I’m not telling any of you.”

Colt grabs her wrist as she walks by, and she whips around, tearing her arm from his grasp with such vigor it startles him. “I need to know where you are to make sure you’re safe. To make sure my kids are safe.”

A dry laugh comes from her, and she shakes her head. “Well, the kids are with you this weekend, so my location has nothing to do with that.”

“I need to know you’re safe, too. We’ve got shit going on with the club.”

“And I’m not part of the club anymore.”

His father gapes at her. “Excuse me?”

“I’m done with the club. It’s done nothing but let me down, and targeting me would be pointless. No one’s cared for about a year, so they’d be stupid to think you’d care now.”

“Lex, wait,” VP says. “We care-”

“As for you,” she says and looks at Colt, “don’t give me that bullshit about me being safe. I could’ve been out with those kids until two in the morning with the creepy guy down the street for months, and you wouldn’t have known. Not when you all but moved to Black Valley with a girl who’s been telling me for months she’s going to take my man. She doesn’t have to take him. I’ve given up, and she can have you.”

“I never fucked her!”

Taking a deep breath, she still refuses to look him in the eyes. “The fact you think that’s what broke us makes it so much worse. It’s not the only reason. It’s the final reason. We’ve been broken for so long now that I can’t remember the last time we were happy. When we were really together as a family.”

Her words catch him off-guard. “I’m not unhappy.”

“That’s because up until yesterday, you got the best of both worlds. But I’m not sure if it’s a comfort or makes it worse that I was the only one miserable. I haven’t been happy in so long, I don’t even know when I can say the last time truly was. But you don’t care. My husband doesn’t even look at me when he comes home. Assuming he comes home at all.”

“Lex-”

“There’s no communication. You don’t answer my calls unless I text you first that Noah wants to talk to you. It’s the only way to get you to answer, which I think speaks volumes of where our relationship stands.”

“Lex, just take a breath,” TK says and stares at Colt. “My son’s clearly made mistakes, but you two are made for each other. And I promise you, whatever this woman said isn’t true.”

“This isn’t about her,” she says. “This is about me. This is about us! We haven’t been us for almost a year, and he doesn’t care. He just… he stopped caring.”

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