dog next door into a barking meltdown.
Before I can even answer it, the back door opens, and I turn to see a flustered, angry Justin. “Justin, what the fuck?” I snap.
He slams the door behind him, his face red and eyes glazed. He’s clearly drunk. “Go home and sleep it off, or stay here—”
“I’m not fucking staying here! In the house you’ve probably fucked my girl in!” he yells.
Frowning, I try to restrain my anger, but he’s getting on my last nerve. “She is not your girl. If you came to argue, you can leave. I’ll call you a taxi. If you came to talk like men, then take a seat.” I give him his options, my arms crossed.
He grinds his teeth and wrenches out a chair before falling into it. I stay standing, not liking the look in his eyes. I really don’t want to have to break my relationship with him—or worse, call the police—but I will protect my angel. Maybe without her here to enrage or distract him, I can get through to him and make him see the truth.
Sighing, I look at him as he stares at the table. “I know you’re angry. You have every right to be. I need you to know we did nothing while you were together. We both tried to resist the spark between us, but she needed comfort and one thing led to another. We are both adults, Justin, and you didn’t love her, but I do. You need to move on from this, or you will lose me.”
He snorts bitterly and starts to laugh before lifting his head to glare at me. There’s no sign of my son left in that malicious face. “I didn’t come here to be friendly or hear your excuses.”
“Then why did you come?” I ask, dropping my arms and stepping towards him. “To fight again? You need to grow up, Justin. You cheated and broke up with her. She is nothing to you anyway, and she makes me happy, can’t you see that? After all these years, I finally found that, and you want to break it like a child? Because you’re jealous? Because something you threw away like trash has found happiness, and now you decide you want her back?”
He tries to interrupt, but I narrow my eyes in warning.
“Grow up and fast. Maybe I’ve spoiled you too much, but you don’t threaten, harass, and break into a woman’s house. You’re lucky she convinced me not to call the police. And you don’t come into my house unannounced,” I snarl, winding myself up as I step towards him. He gets to his feet, facing off with me. “I have loved you through all of your mistakes, always supported you, and tried to teach you right from wrong, but I have clearly failed. You have turned into a terrible man, and I’m disappointed you are my child.”
I know it’s too much, too far, when he flinches. For a moment, I see the little boy in his eyes, whose dad is his hero, who looks up to me, loves me, and is always fighting for my pride in him. And I crushed him. I wince and rub my eyes. “I’m tired, I shouldn’t have—”
“Shut the fuck up!” he yells. “Fuck you, and fuck your whore! I don’t care what you think of me. You’re nothing but a pervert fucking some cheap, quick tail.” He grins at me as I narrow my eyes. “You think she won’t leave you? That she won’t move on to someone younger and more exciting? She has the attention span of a fucking fish, and once she grows bored with your dick like she did me, she will be gone, and you will have ruined everything over one shit pussy.”
“Leave now, before I throw you out,” I growl, my fists clenching and body shaking in anger. How dare he talk about my girl like that? How dare he accuse me of being a pervert, of trying to tarnish the fucking angel that is Lexi?
In this very moment, I hate my son and what he has become.
He is my biggest mistake.
“Now,” I demand. “And you’re wrong, Lexi and I are in love. Get over it. She won’t get tired of me or leave because she loves me and my fucking cock. Just because you couldn’t satisfy her doesn’t mean I can’t,” I snap, letting out the rest of my rant. If he doesn’t get out of my face in the next second,