Obsession (A Bad Boy's Secret Baby)(16)

Mal was different. He promised he'd never leave me.

But he's broken his promises in the past... I covered my face with my hands. I shouldn't have had sex with him. What if that was all he wanted and now he would disappear again, just like last time? That would destroy me all over again!

I wanted to scream, but my phone did it for me. It was a text from Brendan saying we needed to talk. How did he find out that Mal was back already? Brendan had a way of treating me like I was still a little girl so I had no interest in talking to him about Mal.

That was going to be hard because we both lived in the same house we'd grown up in. It was a little weird now that Brendan was married, but Dad left it to both of us in his will. So it was just as much mine as his and I couldn't afford my own place right now.

I glanced over at my alarm clock. I couldn't lay in bed and torture myself anymore. Not because I didn't want to, but because I had to go to work. I forced myself out of bed, took a shower and got dressed.

I was looking forward to work. Everything was so much simpler with my kids. There was no room for adult stress during our adventures. Today I was taking them to go see Star Wars and I was just as excited as they were to see it.

On days like today they were the only reason I got out of bed at all.

“Shit!” I was just opening the front door when I realized that I didn't have my car. It was still at the church. Mal had dropped me off at home this morning because I was still too drunk to drive, even if my car wasn't all messed up.

“You need a lift to your car?” Brendan turned a corner rubbing sleep from his eyes. He was looking worse for wear and probably suffering from a fierce hangover. It was just before noon and it didn't look like Mariela had even gotten up yet.

“Probably not. The damn thing crapped out on me yesterday on the way to the reception,” I sighed. So much for avoiding Brendan. “You look like hell, Brendan. Go back to bed. I can have a friend pick me up.”

“Nah, I gotta swing by the station to fill out some paperwork anyways.” Brendan was already dressed and ready to go, he was just running at about quarter speed.

“You sure? It's not a big deal.” Even as I said it I knew there was no talking him out of it. In his mind, his baby sister needed saving again...

“It's fine, the church is on the way, we'll see if we can bring it back to life one more time. Coffee's on you, by the way”

“Alright,” I said, texting Children's Hope to let them know I was running late.

Brendan loaded up his pickup truck and we left. I knew what he wanted to talk about but it had been a long time since we discussed Dad, Mal or what happened. Every time he broached the subject I diverted him.

Everyone else had picked up their car which left Juan Carlos all alone in the middle of the lot. My poor red Jetta looked abandoned when we pulled up.

“You have your key, right?” Brendan pulled his toolbox out of the bed.

I checked my pockets, but came up empty. My head lulled in defeat, I wanted to cry. My head was all over the place this morning, of course I forgot my key.

“Seriously?” Brendan leaned on the hood and shook his head. The spare! I reached my hand under the frame, opened the lock box and grabbed my spare. Brendan just shook his head again. “Alright, open her up. Let's see what's up.”

I unlocked the door and popped the hood. Out of habit, I slid the key into the ignition and turned it over. Juan Carlos started right up. I was shocked.

“You said there was something wrong with this right?” Brendan asked, checking the fluids and connections.

“There was yesterday.”

“From the way you described it I thought it was a spark plug issue, but these are new. It looks like you just had them changed.”

Only I knew for a fact that I didn't. Cars didn't magically repair themselves. There was grease on the back of Mal's hand last night. I racked my brain trying to remember what he said. He was doing maintenance work on a friend's car.

Did he mean my car? Had he fixed my car while I was at the wedding?

“Looks like you don't need to take it out back and shoot it today.” Brendan closed my hood and loaded up his tools.

“Thanks anyways, Brendan.” I clasped my seat belt over me and was about to make a speedy get away.

“Hold up.” He reached through my open window and turned my car off. That pit in my stomach expanded tenfold. “We still need to talk. I know you saw him last night.”

“So?” I should've been more insulted about Brendan prying in my personal life, but to be honest, it was too soon to tell if Mal was back for good or not.

“C'mon, Kait. You're smarter than that.” Brendan hung his head. “What would Dad say?”

“He'd probably say not to guilt trip me,” I said coldly. Brendan could be so mean sometimes when he was trying to get his point across. “Mal's not his mother.”