Misguided Truths: Part Two (Misjudged #4) (38 page)

Thank God
. “This one right here.”

“Honey, I don’t see any in there. All that’s in there is a couple of—” I see Alexis grimace, and know
that I need to do something
fast.

“Wait, no. Sorry, she must’ve been moving things around again to try and trick me. She’s always doing crazy shit like that. Must be a woman thing.” I start looking through all the cupboards until I eventually find them in the one overhead and by the refrigerator.
That was close
. “Here you go.” I place them down on the counter and take a step back.

“Dustpan?”

“Right.” I give her a smile, and go to check each of the lower cupboards. Nothing.
Where the fuck would she keep that kinda stuff?

“Coffee?”

“Sure, thanks.” I say over my shoulder.

“No, where do you keep it?”

“Huh.” I shrug my shoulders, and think that it’s about time we set them straight. What’s the point in lying to them? They’re gonna find out eventually anyways. I clear my throat and stand back up straight. “Honestly?” She narrows her eyes on me and I can already tell that—
Knock! Knock!

My attention is drawn over to the back entrance door, and I see a woman standing on the other side, waving over at Alexis. She steps out from her father’s embrace and goes to open it up, “Hi! Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you had guests.”

“No, no. It’s okay. What can I do for you Mrs. Harrington?”

“Well, I was going through my attic room this morning and I found a few of Christopher’s old baby things. Now, I know you’re not sure what you’re having yet, pink or blue, but I thought that these might be of some use to you.”

“Oh, wow. That’s really kind of you,” Alexis says while accepting the huge bag of what looks to be clothes from her.

“It’s the least I can do. Besides, I can’t even imagine what it’s like for you, being all on your own with a baby on the way. Oh! How rude of me! I’m Mandy, and I live next door,” she steps inside and offers her hand out to me.
Shit.

“I’m sorry. I think I must have misheard you,” her father steps forward, and I see the look of confusion flittering across his entire face.
Busted.

“Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it. It just must be such a struggle trying to get organized for single parenthood. I know I wouldn’t have been able to cope bringing up a little one on my own.”

That woman right there. Mrs. Harrington is it? Yeah. I’m not so sure I like her all that much, “Alexis?”
Here we go
. “Brandon?” Yeah, Alexis has closed her eyes, choosing not to look directly at him. It’s understandable, I mean, she can’t lie to save her fucking life. Her eyes give it away and she knows it. “Could one of you please explain to me what the hell is going on here?”

***

For some reason, I’m feeling a little on edge now. But, that could be because we’ve, as Paul calls it, ‘retired’ to the living room to discuss this.
Right
. Oh, and maybe, just maybe, it has something to do with the way he’s pacing the floor in front of the both of us, me sitting on one couch, with Alexis on the one opposite to me. I feel like I’m seven years old again, and I’m in trouble for staying out past my curfew.

“So, let me just make sure that I understand this,” he pauses right in front of us
, and starts pointing his finger between the two of us. “You two haven’t been together since when?”

“A couple of weeks
after Brandon was discharged from the hospital,” Alexis answers him in a quiet voice, and I notice her fiddling with her hands in her lap.

Diane is sitting right beside Alexis
, and I watch as she sits forward, bringing her eyes over to me, “But you both came to visit us in Salem way after that.”

“Yeah,
” I scratch my forehead and rest myself against the back of the couch. “Yeah, we did.”

“Why? What happened? You were both so—” He’s waving his right hand around in front of him
self now, like he’s trying to find the right words. There aren’t any. Yes, we were happy, if that’s the words he’s looking for. Well, we were right up until I accused her of having someone else’s baby. His baby, no-fucking-less.

I watch Alexis shake her head
, and then I see her eyes land over on me for a brief second, “It doesn’t matter what happened, dad. We just …” Why is she protecting me? It was me who screwed us up, not her. Why is she so adamant to protect me? I can handle myself. He’s her father, not mine.

“It was my fault,” I admit
, and notice him narrow his eyes and furrow his brow right over on me.

“Did he hurt you?” H
e keeps his glare on me, but he’s obviously aiming his question over to Alexis. Hurt her? Yeah. I hurt her, and I’m gonna regret what I did to her, what I did to
us
, right up until the day I die.

“Physically? No.”
Like that’s even an option
. Never would I lay a finger on her, but it’s obvious to me that that’s what he meant. I grind my jaw from the fact that he would assume I’m the type of guy to do something like that.

I see Alexis sit forward
, and then turn my attention back over on Paul and watch as he heads over to the door, “Dad, where are you going?”

“Where do you think I’m going? I’m going outside to call and book a room for me and Diane.” He’s looking at her like she’s stupid or something for even asking h
im that, like it should be obvious where he’s going and what he’s doing.

“But I thought you were heading back to Salem tonight?”

Oh, and here comes the narrowed eyes and death glare right back over on me,
“That was before I realized I’d be leaving my daughter on her own.”
Shit.
He doesn’t even know the reason behind us breaking up, and I sure as hell don't wanna be around when he eventually finds out.

“I’ve been on my own for a lit
tle while now.” She tells him, and from the tone of her voice I can tell that she’s upset.

“Yes, but those other times were nothing like today. I’m not leaving you on your own after what you’ve had to go through.” Does he really think that I was planning on leaving her on her own tonight
? Well, I can tell you this much, I wasn’t. Even if she’d insisted that I go home, I wouldn’t have. I was ready to tell her that myself before he offered us both a ride home.

“Dad.” S
he says, and rests her face in her hands. She looks and sounds exhausted. I don’t blame her. He exhausts me, too.

I
rest my hands on the edge of the couch before pushing myself up to stand. “I’m er … I think I’m gonna take off,”

“Yes, that’s right!
Run away from your responsibilities!” I snap my head around and take a step toward him.

“What the fuck did you just say?” Was that disrespectful? Well at this very moment I don’t give a shit whether he’s Alexis’ father, or the fucking President of the United States of America. Nobody’s gonna get away with accusing me of that.
Nobody.

I’m right up in his face now, and we’re having a pretty severe stare off.
“Dad!” Alexis stands up and tries to stand between the two of us.

“You dragged my daughter into your mess. You got her pregnant. We find out that her mother, my wife, was murdered because of the things you used to get up to when you were growing up. I think your job here is done young man!” I take a step back when his words hit me.
Damn.
He was on my side before, but now he’s just showing his true fucking colors. I’m never gonna be good enough for his daughter.
Never.
There’s no way in hell that I’m gonna let him believe that I’m abandoning the two of them.

“You wanna know the truth? Tell them Alexis. Tell them that it’s you that won’t give us another try. Tell him that I didn’t want to drag you into any of this. I tried to keep the hell away, but I couldn’t. You wouldn’t let me and … I didn’t want to. I still don’t want to. I wanna be here. I wanna take care of you. I wanna
be a good father to our baby!” The anger in my voice startles the three of them, and I throw my hands in the air through frustration, “I’m the bad guy for wanting to look after the two most important people in my life. There. Are you fucking happy now?

“Leave.” Alexis spits out. She’s not looking at me. She’s not looking at him. She’s staring directly at the wall in front of her.
Great. Just fucking great.

“Oh, I’m going.” I say, and grab my jacket from off of the arm of the couch.

When I go to walk by her, she grabs my arm, “Not you,” I pause and look right at her. Wait. She wasn’t telling me to leave just then? “Dad. I want you to leave.” Her voice is flat, and when I glance over my shoulder, I see the look of mortification spreading across his features. She’s asking her father to leave?

“Oh, this is absurd!” H
is voice is short, and he’s starting to pace the length of the room again.

I watch Alexis
reach for Diane’s purse, and she passes it over to her before she turns back to face her father, “Call me when you make it back home so I know that you got back safely.”

“Alexis?” I try and reason with her. Alright, so I’m not so happy that her father is just as judgmental as around ninety-nine percent of the population in this world, but I know how much her father means to her. She adores him, and I don’t want
her to regret her decision later.

“No. He had no right speaking to you like that. I made the choice. I wanted you and I went after you. I got you, and then I lost you. And you know what else? There isn’t ever going to be a day that goes by that I won’t regret my decision on this.” Tears are brimming in her eyes, but I can see that she’s tr
ying her hardest to keep them locked inside.

Her father heads back over
, and lifts her chin with his hand until she’s looking directly at him, “Why did you feel the need to lie to me?”

“Because I didn’t want you to be ash
amed of me.” She whispers, and closes her eyes, tears now streaming down her face.

“Ashamed?”
Exactly
. She’s hasn’t done anything in her life that she needs to be ashamed of.

“Yeah, ashamed. Look everybody, my only daughter is pregnant at th
e age of nineteen and guess what? She’s on her own because she couldn’t even manage to keep her boyfriend happy. It got so bad that he ended up in bed with another woman!”
And there it is.

What she just said has winded me to the point that I don’t think I’ve ever felt pain like this. I thought we were making progress, but what I did
to her is always gonna be in the back of her mind.
Always.

“Well
, I’m not happy—”

“Maybe she didn’t wanna mention anything because today has been hard enough to deal with already,” I interrupt them because I don’t think I can stay here for much longer. Not after that. “I’m gonna head home, I’ll um … I’ll see myself out.”

“Brandon, I’m sorry. Please? Don’t leave yet,” She pleads as I walk by her, and she tries to place her hand on my shoulder, but I shrug her off of me and only turn back around when I make it to the door.

“Your father’s right. I’ve done enough already. I guess I just didn’t wanna accept that what we had together is really over. I’ve tried, Alexis. I’ve really tried to make you see that it’s only you that I want, and I’ve done everything I can to try and convince you to take me back. But, it doesn’t look as though you’re ever gonna forgive me. I ... I’m so over this, Alexis,”
Shit
. And now I think that I’m the one who’s gonna fucking cry from what I’m about to say to her. She’s watching me, waiting for me to say something else. Well, here it is. I shrug my shoulders, and say the two words I never thought I’d say to her again. “I’m done.”

I step out into the dark night, and head
toward the sidewalk while calling myself a cab to take me back to the apartment. I thought we were finally getting back on track. I thought we were on the same page. But, it’s never gonna happen. She’s never gonna forgive me, and she’s not gonna ever let me forget what happened or what I did to her. Things were going great. But, now I realize that we’re never gonna be together again.
Shit
. I don’t know what else I can possibly do to prove to her that it’s only her I want. I feel like someone’s just stabbed me right in the goddamn chest with the largest fucking knife imaginable.

What the hell am I supposed to do without her?

“Brandon?” I take a deep breath, and close my eyes before turning around. “Honey, can I speak to you for a moment?” She’s approaching me with caution, but there’s really no need. I don’t think I’ve got any more fight left in me.

“What do you need?” I ask Diane, and wait for her to walk through the gate of Alexis’ home and onto the sidewalk.

“Just a few minutes.” She answers. I sit down on the pavement and lean against the wall, raising my knees up to my chest before wrapping my arms around them. She comes to sit next to me, but I keep my focus straight ahead.

“I just called for
a cab and it’s gonna be here in a few.”