Stolen Tyme

by S. L. Ziegler

  “Okay.” Dancing sounds like the perfect thing I need to ground myself before meeting him.

  “I don’t know what shit went down with you and him, but I know X enough to know he will want this child.”

  “Pops, this is where we won’t agree.”

  His face morphs from concern to anger again. “What did that fucker do to you?”

  “Nothing. We’re just on two different paths. Listen, I’m going to text Ms. Lucy to see if I can get the studio. I’ll let you know when I plan to be home.”

  “Remember, meet on solid ground for both of you. Not his place, for the love of God, not his place.”

  “Why? I’m already knocked up.”

  “Fuck, Omi…you really want this guy to be killed.”

  “No, just stating the obvious.”

  Totally obvious. The situation couldn’t be any worse at a random spot or at X’s house when I tell him.

  “If I were you, I would shut the fuck up then. I will gut a baby daddy and not think twice.”

  I stare at my father. I know he isn’t lying about burying him by the slight movement of his brow peaking.

  “Bye, Pops.”

  “Bye, Omi. And by the way, you’re going to be a kickass mother. Don’t doubt that through all this mess.”

  “Thanks.”

  Lock nods, and while staring at my stomach, a slow smile forms on his lips. “And that thing better call me something cooler than Granddad.”

  I place a palm on my still flat stomach, feeling for the first time since I received the news that I can make this work. Even if it’s by myself. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  This baby is calling him “Granddad” if I have to bribe it daily.

  The towel around my neck is drenched in sweat, and I didn’t even dance. I did one spin and lost my lunch on the floor. In all the research I did from the doctor to the airport, the whole time on the plane, and in the Uber on the way to X’s, it said morning sickness usually comes at six weeks. I thought I had another two weeks before that happened. Guess even the internet likes to play me.

  “Omi! Is that you?”

  My heart drops to the floor. I take a deep breath before turning around.

  “Hey, Charlie.”

  Her blond hair waves to the front as she runs up and envelops me in a hug. A tiny piece of me heals and breaks at the same time. I want this to last forever. I miss her. As much as I miss Xavier. It hurts. This will make leaving that much harder.

  “I just came to get a book I forgot last night. Pops said you’re figuring stuff out. Adult problems. I’m almost one, but he wouldn’t tell me.”

  “Aw. Charlie. I need to tell you something. Why don’t we sit down?”

  “Okay.” She drags out the word as we both sit. Charlie knows something is up. She can read it in everything either of us does. I wish I could wash all these worries she has away. But I can’t.

  I take a moment gathering my spirit to talk to her. “Your father was right…I’ve been doing some thinking. Well, more like rearranging of my schedule. Life or something like that. Anyway.” I swallow hard, the disappoint already all over Charlie’s face. “I’m going to move to Las Vegas. But—”

  “You can’t leave!”

  “Oh, sweetie, I have to. I promise it was the most difficult decision of my life. You have to understand that. But what I want to make sure you know, is no matter what is going on with your father and me, I love you—so very much. And there will always be a place for you in my heart. Never. Never forget it.”

  I wish I could tell her to call me whenever she needs me. I wish I could tell her I will always be the shoulder she can cry on. But that’s not what X wants for his child. And that’s something I will respect. This here is what I will give her: tomorrow I will leave, and it will be up to Xavier if Charlie will know her sibling.

  She has tears falling from her face. “I love you, too, Omi. I want you to know that I told my dad everything. That it was only a joke, that I knew that and I took it too far. I just wish there was something I could do, but everything just blew up. It’s all me. I took my punishment. A month with nothing but dance—and I only get to do this because of the exercise. I should have learned from it.”

  “Charlie, did you learn from it?” I ask. Because I did. Life is about learning lessons, and strive each day to become a better person. Some days are harder than others, but each morning is a new one.

  “I did. It was so stupid. All I thought about was how to get out of trouble and that wasn’t right to blame you.”

  I want her to learn from her mistakes. And it seems like she did. If I’m the reason for that happening, then that’s a knife I would gladly fall on.

  “Oh, baby.” I take her in my arms, just one last time, with the corners of my eyes burning. I know this isn’t what I wanted for her. To say goodbye to someone else in her young life.

  “I need to get outside; Mom is waiting for me. I just needed my book I left in my locker. Can’t tell you enough how sorry I am.”

  “Goodbye, Charlie.”

  “Bye, Omi.” Her voice is smaller than I have ever heard as she walks out of the room and out of my life.

  I knew she would never intentionally put the wedge between us. I refuse to beat her up any more—Charlie will do it to herself for the both of us.

  The cold of the wall sends reality through my head. I hate this. I should have stayed away. If I knew it meant hurting her, I never would have come back home.

  Chapter 22

  Xavier

  I know you don’t want to talk to me, and I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. Could you meet me at the park where your group is around six?

  Naomi

  My heart roars to life as I stare at the text for the fifth time. She signed her name like I could forget her number. Never can.

  I’m here. In the parking lot where she told me to meet her. Naomi sits off in the distance on the very bench she was when I saw her six months ago. The darkness from the sunset already covering the park. But the one lone light here shines on her from above like she’s a damn angel. She was my angel. Would be if I could put her first. But I can’t.

  Not where Charlie is concerned. After the lies that continuously flew out of my daughter’s mouth, something she has never done before, it proved she needs me to be one hundred percent there for her.

  Naomi’s alone. Waiting for me. With a blanket wrapped around her, staring off into the distance of the lake. She doesn’t know I’m here. And I know she’s thinking I didn’t come. I’m late. I didn’t know I was going to show up ‘til I was already supposed to be here.

  There’s nothing else she could say to me to make everything okay.

  I hop out of my truck, and with each step closer, my stomach starts to wring itself in knots, somewhat nervous to be this close to her. Last time I was, I let things fly that weren’t the truth about the person Naomi is. She deserves an apology from me, but that doesn’t change what happened to us.

  As a couple.

  Clearing my throat, inches away from her, I say, “Naomi?”

  It comes out a question, but I know it’s her.

  She throws her head my way, tears washing down her face. I was right, she didn’t think I was coming.

  My heart breaks at where we are now, side by side, and I can’t comfort her. It will only confuse her. Me. Fuck, both of us. I drew the line in the sand, and that’s where it needs to stay.

  Doesn’t mean a bite of regret doesn’t pinch my heart seeing tears I know I caused.

  Naomi sits up straight, wiping away the wetness from her cheeks. It doesn’t matter, though; I knew they were there.

  “Hey, Xavier.” A flash of pain crosses her face as she speaks.

  “Hey.”

  “Do you want to sit down?” she asks as she moves to the side of the wooden bench.

  “Yes, thank you.”

  I’m careful, too careful not to touch her. We are acting as strangers in the night, not the lovers we were only a
month ago. We have to stay inside the lines I’ve created. For my sake.

  Naomi glances through the strands of her hair. “So…thank you for coming. I have two things to tell you, then you’re free to go…”

  I wait for her to finish, only she doesn’t. Naomi stalls, her shoulders rising high.

  “I want you to know I saw Charlie earlier today. I didn’t leave the door open for communication with us. However, I did tell her I will always love her. I hope you understand that I didn’t come to her—she was at the studio to get a book or something. I didn’t contact her, and I won’t. I’ll respect the boundaries you gave me.”

  “Thank you for telling me.”

  “Also. I went to the doctor yesterday about my follow-up from the…you know…the seizure.”

  Oh dear God. No. Something is wrong with her.

  “Yes,” stumbles out of my mouth.

  “They had to do bloodwork and they ran all kinds of tests. Tests I didn’t even know they ran. And everything came back normal except for one thing. I’m…well, there’s no easy way to tell you this.” Naomi’s eyes clear as she continues. “I’m pregnant.”

  Whoosh.

  Echo.

  Pregnant.

  “What?”

  “I’m pregnant. Four weeks.”

  Four weeks.

  I count back in my head. It happened the night before the fight.

  It’s mine.

  “And I wanted to tell you it’s yours. I’m not asking for anything from you. I know you don’t want to have a child, but you deserved to know.”

  I stare at her for a few moments and watch her blink several times. “I thought you were on birth control.”

  Fuck, how did this happen? I glance down at her belly, somehow looking for a true sign she has a human being growing inside her. But it’s flat like it was before. This can’t be happening. Not now. This wasn’t what I wanted. A baby in my life is the opposite of what I wanted.

  “I was.”

  My whole body becomes a rock as I process everything.

  “Then how did this happen? If I knew that was a possibility, I would have put a condom on.”

  As soon as the words leave my mouth, I regret them. I went there with her. I said something I didn’t mean again because of the possibility of a freak out. Possibility. I freaked out. Just now. On Naomi. The one person who always sees the good in me when others only see bad.

  Fuck. Me.

  I open my mouth to say sorry, but Naomi doesn’t give me the chance.

  “Wow. Thanks for that new stab to the heart. You are really good at those hurtful words, you know. Since the very beginning, you’ve said shit you think you can take back. Just in case you wanted to know, words don’t work that way. Figured you would know that since you’re so fucking old. Just for your information, I don’t know how it happened. I took the pills religiously. It does happen, and it did happen—to me. I’m not asking for anything from you. Just figured you should know.” Naomi stands up, all visions of the sadness gone, replaced with anger as she points at me, her finger shaking.

  A look of distrust for me passes over her eyes—one I’ve never seen in them before.

  “I’m not asking for a fucking thing from you. Not one thing. I don’t need it, nor do I want it. But you deserved to know that you will have another child. No matter if you will be in the child’s life or not. So fuck off and goodbye.”

  She storms off before I can think of anything to say. The stark reality of my decisions—of my words—slams into me. I loved her for so long. I gave up others because she was always in my heart. But I still can’t seem to bring myself to go after her. Even when that’s what everything in me is screaming at me to do. The truth is, I have no clue.

  I’m upside down in what should be the most important thing.

  I want to get high as a fucking kite.

  It’s been a long-ass time since the urge to snort a line has come to the forefront of my mind. But tonight I want to. I returned home to the garage, got my bike, and drove ‘til the urge quieted down.

  Pulling up to my house, I spot the truck. Lock’s. And something sparks inside me. She was waiting on me to return. I can make this right between us. It’s not too late to make this right. I don’t know how, but I can. I’ll show her once and for all that my words are just reactions.

  I set my helmet on the back of my bike and turn around. Blocked by a body. A body a lot bigger than Naomi’s. The body of a man, a man that was once my best friend. Lock. Is here. Staring down at me, his whole body ripples with anger. An icy expression is written all over his face.

  “Hello, Xavier.” His blank stare chills my bones.

  “Hello, Locklan.”

  He covers his fist with his other hand, cracking his knuckles before twisting his neck. “Now that we have those formalities out of the way, I hear you made my daughter cry…again.”

  “Lock, I love you man, but it’s none of your business.” I move to step away from him, only he grips my shirt and pushes me against the side of my own house.

  “That is where you are fucking dead wrong. She is my damn business. Everything that affects her, affects me. I warned you that if you hurt her again I would end you.”

  I struggle against his hold, but nothing helps. No matter what workout Reed had given me, I can’t get the advantage against someone a hundred pounds heavier.

  “I see the wheels turning in your head, and I don’t want your fucking words anymore. They mean shit to me. Like you. You’re shit. I wanted the damn action of you being a better person. But you are no better than the junkie you were when you showed up to Naomi’s ninth birthday. Today it ends. All of it.” He squeezes tighter on my neck. “The sad part about this whole fucking thing is, when Naomi told me she was pregnant, I swear I thought you would actually step up to the plate. But again, you proved to be the fucking asshole I always knew you were. You are fucking dead to me now. You hear it? Dead. To. Me.”

  I flinch from the harshness in his words. The truth in them. I should have stepped up, made sure Naomi was taken care of the minute the news fell out of her mouth.

  The tattoos on his fist come into my line of vision before I feel the punch. Lock pounds me to the ground, landing four solid hits on my face, the blood from my lip already seeping into my mouth. The pain hasn’t entered me yet. All I can think about is once again, I let my thoughts of my past failures bring my future down. If I survive this, I will make everything straight again. No more pretending to myself that I’m glad she’s no longer within my hold.

  I roll to my side as Lock drops hold of my collar, my head bouncing on the dirt beneath me. He bends down, growling in my ear. “This is it. I won’t kill the father of my grandchild, no matter how much you fucking deserve it. You stay the fuck away from her ‘til you get your fucking shit straight in that junkie head of yours. I won’t have you touching my blood and fucking up their early life with that fucking poison you surround yourself with,” Lock snarls out.

  He seals the truth in his words with a swift kick in the stomach with the tip of his boot.

  Things become cloudy, but I hear Lock’s dead voice. He has to be talking on the phone. “Reed, you may want to come and get your friend. He may need some stitches.”

  I try to open my eyes, but all I see is the deep crimson of blood coming down. Taking a deep breath, the cold ground underneath me, I pass out. I’m a fucking mess, and even with all the pain on the outside, it can’t hold a fucking candle to the slap in the face reality brings. The only person I want to clean me up is a million miles away, and one who should probably stay that far away.

  Everything I touch turns to shit.

  I slowly wake up, peeking out through a slit between my lids, and let out a sigh when I realize I’m still in my house. Thank God. A hospital is the last place I want to be right now.

  “Hads, babe. I don’t know if he would want to go to the hospital. Can’t you just stitch him up now?”

  “Reed, I haven’t stitched someone i
n years. Years. Not to mention, the antibiotics he’ll need. I’m not going to get sued by him because he decided to get his ass kicked by Lock.”

  Jesus Christ, they are talking about me like I’m not fucking here. And I hate it. Only I can’t talk right now to tell them how much it fucking irritates me.

  “Come on, babe, you didn’t worry about getting sued when you stitched me up.” Reed’s voice is twelve times higher than when he talks to anyone else. It makes me sick to my stomach the way they love each other.

  Makes me feel empty and washed up.

  I’m fucking jealous.

  “I knew you wouldn’t do anything—you wanted back in my pants. And to be honest, I think he deserved the beatdown.”

  I groan.

  “He’s awake. Let him decide what he wants to do.”

  I feel the presence in front of me before I hear his voice. “Hey, dude, what do you want?”

  “No hospital,” I say, the words rough against my throat.

  “Will you sue me?” Hadley’s voice floats through the room.

  “No.”

  “You promise?”

  I nod, the pain from the ass-kicking lingering in every place Lock hit.

  “I want your words.” Hadley’s annoyance is heavy in her voice. I wonder if Naomi told them what I did.

  “I promise I won’t sue you.”

  “Good. I guess. I’m not stitching, though. I’m going to use liquid stitch instead.” She has a slight humor to her voice.

  She lifts up my head, the smell of antiseptic fills my nose as she dabs something cold on the cut on my cheek.

  I jump up, my eyes pop open.

  Holy shit.

  It burns.

  Bad.

  “Oh, my fault. I think I forgot to tell you that stinging may happen when I apply it.” An evil smile forms on her lips.