Finally (Neighbor from Hell #12) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,91

be sick.

“She doesn’t remember that though. The only thing that she remembers in the generic tale that social services told her, that her mother abandoned her on her grandfather’s front step. What they never told her was what her mother got sick of having to deal with a small child and tried to get rid of her,” Ben said, shrugging it off.

“What happened to her mother?” Devin found himself asking because he honestly wasn’t sure that he would be able to handle hearing what her mother did to her.

“No fucking clue and it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that Charlie deserves better than to be treated as an afterthought,” Ben said, getting back to the matter at hand.

“I don’t treat her like an afterthought,” Devin bit out.

“No? Then what would you call the way that you’re treating her? You didn’t think that she had the right to know that she was never going to have a child of her own? Are you fucking kidding me? This is Charlie we’re talking about here. Do you have any fucking idea what she’s gone through? Do you have any idea what it means to belong to someone? What it would mean to Charlie to have a child? To be a part of someone like that? Because I’m going to tell you right now, that if you had any fucking idea what that would mean to her then you never would have fucked around with her head,” Ben said, shaking his head in disgust.

“I love her,” Devin said hollowly even as Ben’s words hit and when they did…

He’d fucked up.

“She deserves to be happy,” Ben said as Devin’s phone rang.

Biting back a curse, Devin answered his phone only to shove it back in his pocket less than a minute later and move his ass.

“What’s wrong?” T.J. yelled after him.

“Something happened to Dustin at school,” Devin said, rushing into his office and noticed that Charlie still hadn’t come in as he grabbed his keys and ran for the door.

He was in his truck a minute later and five minutes after that he was throwing his truck in park and racing inside the school. Before the front door had a chance to close behind him, he heard it.

“I want my mommy!” came the hysterical scream that had him frowning as he made his way to the front desk, because that sounded like Dustin only…

He’d never heard his son scream like that before.

“I want my mommy!” came the scream again, drawing his attention to the right only to find Dustin sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, one of his hands over his ears and his eyes squeezed shut tightly as he continued to scream, “I want my mommy!” while Abbi sat next to him, crying as she held onto his other hand.

“Oh, thank god, you’re here,” Mrs. Haskins said, looking relieved when she spotted him.

“What happened?” Devin asked, walking around the front desk and headed towards his children.

“We don’t know. The children were making Mother’s Day gifts and their teacher was trying to do something nice for them. She brought in something special for them to make for you and he got upset,” she explained, wringing her hands together as Dustin continued to scream.

“I-I want my mommy!” Dustin got out around a sob.

“That’s because they have a mother,” Devin said, feeling his heart break for his children as he knelt down in front of them.

When Abbi saw him, she released her brother’s hand and threw herself in Devin’s arms. He wrapped one arm around her as he reached for his son, but Dustin wasn’t having it.

“I just want my mommy,” Dustin said as his small body trembled. “I have a mommy. Tell them that I have a mommy…please!”

Swallowing hard, Devin said, “You have a mommy.”

“I just want my m-mommy,” Dustin said, crying as someone reached past him and-

“I’m right here,” Charlie said, pulling Dustin into her arms.

“Mommy,” Dustin mumbled, crying harder as his small arms wrapped around her and held on tight.

“Shhh, I’m right here,” Charlie said as she carefully stood up with Dustin in her arms. “Everything’s going to be okay,” she promised Dustin as Devin stood up, adjusting Abbi in his arms as he watched Charlie walk away for the second time that day and realized just how badly he’d fucked everything up.

He also realized that he needed to do something about it.

Chapter 42

“I need fluffiness in my life, mommy,” Abbi said, making Charlie’s lips twitch despite the