Rewritten (Unwritten Book 2)

by Lauren Runow

  “Allison!” Nichole runs over to give me a hug. “Damn you two. You’ve only been home for an hour. You waste no time,” she laughs.

  “Hey, sis. Yay, I’m glad you’re here!” We hug once I’m fully dressed.

  Nichole laughs patting my hair down, “Here, let’s fix this, Dad’s out in the living room waiting for you.”

  I look up surprised, “He is…?” I walk to a mirror to fix my hair. “Ugh, is Mom here, too?”

  Nichole grabs me by the back of my shoulders looking at me through the mirror, “Yes, Allison, she is.”

  “No!” I back up. “Nichole, you don’t know what happened but I don’t want to see her.”

  Nichole steps closer, reaching to hold my hand. “Allison, I do know. Everything. You need to come out here. There is something else.”

  “What? What else could there possibly be?”

  Nichole grips my hand tighter, pulling me out to the living room, “Come on.”

  I reluctantly follow, trying to get my hand out of Nichole’s grip.

  As we walk out the door, I see my dad first, which makes me smile. My dad and I have always been so close. “Daddy!” I wrap my arms around him.

  “It’s so good to see you, Allie. I can’t wait to hear all about your trip.”

  “It was great, Daddy. You’ll be so proud of me.”

  “I always have been. My little girl.” He puts his hand on my face, giving me that smile that any dad gives when he’s proud of his daughter, which makes me even more proud of my accomplishments.

  And I am, his little girl. He will always be my Daddy, too. No matter how old I get. Nichole started calling him by his first name, Kevin, years ago. I never understood why but I never will. He’ll always be Daddy to me.

  I look over and see my mom sitting quietly in the corner and can’t help but close my eyes in disgust. “I don’t know why you’re here. I told you, I don’t want anything to do with you.”

  She stands up, “But Allison, I love you. I’m your mother.”

  Dad steps in, trying to ease the tension, “Diane, let me handle this.” He put his hand up, motioning for her to sit back down. “Allison, why don’t we have a seat?”

  Charlie motions for us all to move into the living room. He sits down with his arm around me, kissing my cheek as I snuggle up next to him.

  “Dad, I’m sorry but you don’t know what she did. You need to understand, I love Charlie and what she did is unforgivable. And now we’re in this mess with Jacquelyn. It’s all her fault.”

  He sighs deeply, “Allison baby, I do know. I know everything, as does your sister. There is something else that we need to tell you though.”

  I look at Charlie with a scared look on my face. “What is it Charlie? Have you decided to keep the baby?”

  Charlie puts his hand on my knee, “No, Allison, please, just let your dad speak.”

  I look to my dad who takes a deep breath before speaking. “Allison, now you know the truth. Your mother and I have run a high-end escort service for many years now. I hope you understand why we never wanted to tell you or your sister.”

  Nichole laughs.

  “But there’s more. You see, your mother and I have always had a different outlook on sex,” he pauses and looks to my mom who puts her head down. “God, this is harder than I thought it would be,” he clears his throat. “Your mother and I love each other the same today as we did when we first met.” He looks to Charlie smiling, “I hope you and Charlie have found the same love.”

  Charlie smiles, looking at me, “I know we have.”

  I smile back, giving him a sweet kiss.

  My dad continues, “So, though we never cheated on each other, we would bring other people into our lives, um… into… our bedroom…”

  My eyes open widely, “Daddy.”

  He flushes red, and I know he’s embarrassed to be having this conversation with me and I’m just as embarrassed for him. Why would he ever tell me this?

  “So, I’m telling you this because I hope it will help with the situation you both are in now.”

  “I don’t get it,” I look at Charlie. “What is he talking about?”

  Charlie looks at my dad who continues, “Allison, we brought, who we thought was, your mom’s best friend into our bedroom. Her name was Robin.”

  “Dad, I know you had an affair with her.”

  “No, honey, I told you. I never cheated on your mother.” He takes a deep breath, “Condoms were very new back then and we thought they were 100% effective. Turns out she poked holes in the condom to purposely get pregnant.”

  “What? Are you kidding me? So you didn’t have an affair? Wait, are you trying to tell me I have a sister or brother out there somewhere?”

  My mom starts to cry. Charlie holds me tighter giving my dad a nod.

  “No, Allison, you see, Robin died during child birth.”

  “Ok, so the baby died. Dad, how does this help us?”

  “No, Allison,” he grabs my hands. “You were the baby.”

  What? What did he just say? I’m stunned. My mouth drops open and I’m literally speechless.

  Charlie holds me tighter, and I think I feel him kissing my shoulder but I’m not sure. Everything around me is a blur as I take in what was just said.

  “So… so…” I look to my mom. Wait, no, she’s not my mom, she’s just Diane now. “She’s not my mother?”

  Diane jumps up, “Yes, Allison. I am, I am your mother. I have loved you since the second I saw you and I knew you were the best thing that ever happened to me. To us. I may not have given birth to you but you are my daughter, in every other sense of the word.” Tears run down her face as she tries to convince me but I just look away.

  “Wait,” I turn to Charlie, “when did you find out? How did you not tell me?” I jump up, running into Charlie’s bedroom.

  I have to get out of this room. I feel the walls closing in on me, and a panic attack starting to take me over.

  Charlie grabs my arm to stop me but I pull away and slam the door behind me. Falling on the end of Charlie’s bed, I start to cry into my hands.

  There’s a knock at the door and I see Nichole peek in before opening it further and sitting down next to me, putting her arm around my shoulder, “Allison, I know this is a lot to take in. I can’t even imagine what is going through your head right now. But you need to know that Mom really does love you and has always treated you like her own daughter.”

  I cry even harder, not able to speak.

  “You know this took a lot for them to tell us and they did it for a reason. Allison, Mom knows how much you love Charlie, and she wants you to know that it is possible for you to love this child as your own. She has proven that to you your entire life. Yes, Mom and Dad have made some bad choices in their lives but you can’t deny that they raised us the best they could and gave us both an amazing, loving upbringing. To be honest, I’m sad I didn’t find out earlier the whole truth.”

  I look to Nichole, questioning her why she wishes she new earlier.

  “I found out about your birth mom years ago and Mom lead me to believe that Dad had an affair. That’s why I told you he did and that’s why I’ve never trusted men.”

  I stop her, “Wait, so you knew? How could you not tell me?”

  “Allison, I’m sorry. I found out when you were still so young and the more I thought about it, the more I thought it really didn’t matter. Mom was always amazing to us and she really was your mom.”

  “Until now.”

  Nichole sighs, “Yes, Allison. I’m not going to defend her on that. I agree. She fucked up. She fucked up big. But she’s sorry. She’s truly sorry. You have to talk to her.”

  I put my head in my hands, crying again.

  Charlie knocks and enters the room. “Allison, baby. I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to hear it from me over the phone. That’s why we planned to tell you as soon as we could, in person.”

  I look over to him, “I know, I’m sorry. I just didn’t, I m
ean…”

  Charlie walks over, wrapping his arm around me, “It’s ok. You don’t have to explain yourself. Please, just don’t be mad at me.”

  “I’m not,” I kiss him softly, “I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” he whispers as he touches his forehead to mine. “Can you come out to the living room? Both of your parents are going a little crazy right now.”

  I let out a sharp laugh, “Yeah…”

  We walk hand-in-hand back into the living room. Both of my parents are sitting next to each other, consoling one another. Dad jumps up to hug me, “Oh, Allie, please don’t be upset with us. Please know that you were the best thing that ever happened to us. You and your sister. We never wanted you to feel like you weren’t wanted or different than Nichole. I hope you will understand that someday.”

  I hug him tightly, “Ok, Daddy. I love you guys.” Then look to my mom, or Diane, I don’t know what I’m going to call her yet. I take a deep breath, all I do know is I should say something. “I’m still very upset with you. But thank you. Thank you for treating me like your daughter.”

  “But you are. You are my daughter.” She walks toward me like she’s going to hug me.

  I step back, holding up my hands. “Just stay there. Just because I thanked you doesn’t mean I forgive you.”

  She puts her head down. I know she’s ashamed but I still don’t care. I thanked her. She’s lucky she got that.

  Dad wraps his arms around me again, kissing my head. “We love you, Allie. Please know that. We will leave you guys alone. I’m sure you’re tired.”

  He reaches his arm out to my mom who picks up her purse and walks toward the door with her head down.

  Charlie grabs her arm, “Thank you, Diane.”

  She looks up giving him a small smile, “No, Charlie, thank you.”

  Nichole grabs her purse, “Ok, I guess I’ll head out, too.”

  “No, Nichole, stay. I miss my sister,” I say grabbing her arm.

  Nichole looks at Charlie, questioning the idea of her staying.

  “Please stay. I’d love to get to know you better. Now that you know the truth maybe you’ll stop thinking I’m a douchebag,” Charlie laughs.

  Nichole smirks, “Hey, I never thought that. I knew there was something though. And look, I was right,” she says proudly. “See, I’m a better judge of people than you think.” Nichole looks at me laughing, trying to lighten the mood.

  I can’t help but laugh as I wipe the rest of my tears away.

  “Here, I’ll cook us dinner,” Charlie says as he walks into his kitchen.

  “Shut up. You cook?” Nichole asks.

  “Yes, he’s a great cook actually,” I say proudly, walking up to him, kissing him on the cheek. “Thank you, baby.”

  Charlie leans over giving me a deeper, more passionate kiss.

  Nichole clears her throat, “Ok you guys. I’m still here. Hello…?”

  We both laugh. “Sorry Nic. Here, I’ll open some wine,” I reply.

  Charlie heads to the kitchen to start dinner while I tell Nichole all about our time in Paris. I tell her about the photo shoots, my birthday surprise, Charlie’s modeling with us taking photos together and about my opportunity to be lead photographer during a fashion show.

  While Charlie’s cooking his text message goes off with a text from a friend of his. He shows it to me with a smirk on his face.

  What’s up bro? Is your girl still gone? I want to go out to find some ass and I thought you talking all sweet about your girl would make me look good. Ha!

  Charlie laughs at his friend’s smart-ass comment, then looks up to Nichole and back to me, tilting his head, questioning if he should invite him over.

  I answer his unasked question, “Maybe. Who is he?”

  “Paul. Remember the guy from the gym the first time I took you? He’s a good friend of mine who lives in this building, too.”

  I look to Nichole, raising my eyebrows at her, “With the tattoos…? Oh yeah, he can join us.”

  “Excuse me,” Charlie laughs.

  “Hey, I’m only human. I noticed how hot he was,” I walk up to him standing at the stove. “He’s got nothing on you though, babe.” I kiss the back of his neck, pulling his hips back into me. He turns to give me a sweet kiss on the lips.

  “Ok, what are you guys talking about? Who’s Paul?”

  “A friend of mine. He’s on his way down. You’ll like him,” Charlie responds.

  Nichole rolls her eyes, “Oh jeez. If I knew I was going to be set up I never would have stayed.”

  “Come on Nichole, everything in our life was just thrown up in the air and scattered around. Maybe you need this.” I say giving her a knowing smile.

  “Um, hello, I haven’t even seen the guy. Slow your roll, girl,” she replies turning around to grab her purse to apply a little lip gloss and I know she’s excited from the prospect of a tattooed bad boy coming over.

  Sitting in my apartment alone was getting old and I had an urge to find me some ass tonight. Ok, I lied. I always have the urge to find me some ass. I thought I would I text Charlie to see if he wanted come along. Charlie’s my bro. It sucks, but I can’t hang out with my old crew from back in the day because they just want money or something from me. Even though I’m successful as fuck, I don’t want to hang out with the suit type of guys that I work with either. It’s just not me. Only during the business day can I pull that shit off. At night I go back to who I truly am at heart.

  You can take the boy out of the hood, even clean him up, but the hood will always be a part of him.

  Charlie’s like me. I like to say we are both reformed ghetto. We’re both successful at what we do, living the wealthy bachelor dream but deep down, we’re cocky sons of bitches who still can’t believe we’ve hit it big. It’s nice to share that with my boy. Even though I work for my wealth, he just gets to fuck. Lucky bastard.

  I didn’t feel like putting forth too much effort and girls always love to hear when a guy is in love so I know hanging out with him tonight will get me in the door with some chicks more easily. Otherwise when two single guys go out, chicks seem to know they only have one mission. Ass.

  It takes a minute but he texts back.

  She got back an hour or so ago. But her sister is here… come on over. I’m making dinner.

  Is she hot?

  I plead the fifth.

  I’m there.

  I look down, checking out my outfit. I had plans of changing if we were going out but my dark jeans and grey buttoned up long sleeve shirt from work today might just work.

  It’s Friday so I dressed down more than usual for work. If I roll up my sleeves to show off the tattoos that cover my arms it will make it look that much more casual.

  Perfect. This no effort night is getting easier and easier. I hop in the elevator and head to Charlie’s.

  Charlie opens the door, “What’s up, bro! Come on in.”

  “Thanks man. I brought some beer,” I hold up the six-pack of Sierra Nevada I brought.

  “Cool. You remember Allison, and this is her sister, Nichole,” Charlie introduces them. “Girls, this is Paul.”

  I walk up to Allison shaking her hand, “Nice to see you again.” Then walk to Nichole, holding out my hand, “Hey, I’m Paul. Nichole is it?”

  I can’t help but look her up and down. Holy fuck she is sexy as hell.

  Nichole rolls her eyes while she reaches out to shake my hand.

  “Ah, a feisty one,” I lean in and can’t help myself as I smack her ass. “Nice outfit though.” I smirk looking down at her high-waisted, short, torn denim shorts that I know if she even just slightly bent over her ass would be hanging out. Put that together with her short black boots, white crop top with a plaid long sleeve shirt left open and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I felt my dick twitch just from the sight.

  I know her type though. She’s looking casual, like she isn’t trying to be sexy but she’s knows she’s a hot piece of ass.

  She s
miles at my compliment, “I guess you don’t look so bad yourself.”

  “Ah, there we go,” I laugh before turning back into the kitchen to talk to Charlie. “So what cha’ cookin?”

  “Chicken fettuccine alfredo with salad and garlic bread.”

  “Damn bro, you cook? You’ve been holding out on me all this time?”

  Charlie laughs, “How come everyone is so shocked to learn that I cook?”

  Allison butts in, “I think it’s cute.”

  “Cute? I’ll give you cute?” he turns to kiss her, picking her so she can wrap her legs around him.

  I look at Nichole, lifting my eyebrows up suggestively. Nichole laughs, shaking her head no.

  I shrug thinking, not yet at least. For now I hand her a beer. “You want a beer?”

  “Yes, please,” she answers and I can tell she’s annoyed by Charlie and Allison’s display of affection. I feel her pain, too. That shit can be annoying when you’re hanging out with couples.

  Dinner is served and we all sit around Charlie’s small table.

  Nichole takes a bite proclaiming, “Damn, Charlie. This is good. You made this from scratch?”

  “Of course I did. No cans or jarred sauce here,” he says proudly.

  Nichole looks to Allison, “No wonder you fell in love so fast. Please don’t tell me he fucks good, too. I may hate you.”

  Allison chokes on her food, shocked at what just came out of her sister’s mouth but I’m not. I knew just by her feistiness that she’s one to talk like that. I’m just glad my assumption was right.

  Allison finally clears her throat and yells at her sister, “Nichole!”

  Charlie laughs out loud. “Yeah!” he yells to Nichole then looks at Allison, “Tell her what I did a few hours ago,” he lifts one eyebrow provocatively.

  Allison hits his arm as she turns bright red, “Oh my God you guys.”

  I sit back laughing, taking all the different personalities in before saying, “Hell yeah,” and clinking my drink with Charlie’s.