I’m sitting in my truck with the guys when I told them about my plan to confront Sky’s parents. They decided they needed to be there in case I lost my shit. So here I am two hours away while my woman is none the wiser. I left her with the girls at the cafe, all of them in planning mode with the wedding. Rhylie had a stack of bridal magazines with her so I know she won’t be wondering why I’m not at work or at least I’m hoping she doesn’t find out. I want her to have whatever she wants and not have to worry about anything with this wedding. At least this way, if she does change her mind about finding out how they are doing, I’ll have a clear picture of what’s going on. And by the look of this place, I’d say not so good. The roof looks like it’s one strong wind from being blown off and the grass is so long it doesn’t look like it’s been cut in years. I’m sure the last time was done by Skylar which just makes my blood boil. The way they treated her should never have happened. She’s mine now to take care of and even if they decided to change their ways, I wouldn’t trust them with her. All they saw was someone to buy them their booze. No child should have to live the way she did. She went into detail one night of all that happened while living here. To say I wanted to come down here and beat the shit out of her father was the understatement of the year. I’m still feeling the itch to beat his ass. I would give anything to have my parents back. The kind of love they showed is what all children should feel. They would have loved Skylar and would have doted on her as if she was their own. She’s that pure and radiates happiness wherever she goes. She no longer carries the weight of the world on her shoulders. She doesn’t see her worth or how beautiful she is. But I’ll make damn sure she hears it every day for the rest of our lives. Looking out the window again, I just shake my head knowing this isn’t going to go well.
“Fuck man, she lived here? It’s a fucking dump.” Mason spits out. I scrub my hands down my face, trying to get into the right head-space for this shit.
“You gonna tell her that you came here to confront them?” Victor asks. I know he tried to find anything he could on them but nothing came back. Zero work history in years, so fuck knows how they are supporting themselves.
“Naw, I don’t think I am. Just by the state of this place, I don’t see a point in hurting her more. I’m just going to confront them and tell them what pieces of shit they are for treating her that way. Let’s get this shit over with.” We all jump out, slamming our doors loud, hoping they hear us coming. Lucas steps up beside me.
“You're sure you're going to be okay? I’m sure you can get away with kicking his ass but I don’t think Sky would appreciate it if we let you get arrested.” He says with a smile. No, she sure wouldn’t. I think all the girls would kick my ass for that.
“As much as I want to beat his ass, I won’t do that to her.”
“We’ve got your back brother. You do what you have to.”
Turning around, they all nod their heads. I’m happy knowing I have my brothers at my back to pull me back if I don’t like what they have to say. Blowing out a rough breath, I walk up the cracked walkway, if you can even call it that at this point and pound my fist on the door. The whole house rattled with it. Jesus this is worse than I thought. I can hear yelling on the other side. Hearing the lock being turned and the sight that’s on the other side looks like something on death's door and reeks to high heaven of alcohol. Fuck what do they do? Bathe in that shit? She’s so drunk she has to hold onto the door to keep herself upright.
“You're not our delivery boy.” She slurs and walks away yelling for Tom to get the damn door. Tom stumbles to the door much like Sky’s mom Sharron did.
“What do you want?”
“Are you Skylar’s father?”
“Who?” Jesus this is just fucking sad.
“Skylar, your daughter, you piece of shit,” I growl out.
“She don’t live here no more. Ungrateful brat took off and left us to fend for ourselves. After we gave her life and a roof over her head. The least she could have done was take care of her parents.”
That’s all he gets out before I lose it and wrap my hand around his throat giving him a squeeze so he knows I mean business. I can feel the guys moving closer in case I do more and they have to pull me back. “Listen here you sad sack of shit. You ever talk about my Sky like that again and they won’t be able to find your body. I should beat your ass for the way you treated her as if she was some sort of slave here instead of loving her like she deserves. I’m just here to tell you she’s mine now and won’t be coming back to this hell hole, so do us all a favor and forget you even had a daughter. I’ll be taking care of her from now on. She has a real family now and she doesn’t need anything from you. Not that you ever did anything for her to begin with.” With that, I push him and he lands on his ass, stunned into silence. I walk away knowing I’ll never see those people again and neither will Sky. If she ever asks, I’ll tell her what happened but I’ll make damned sure she never feels alone again or even thinks of these people. Getting into the truck, we all slam our doors and just sit here taking everything in that happened. Victor is the one to break the silence.
“You okay man? I thought for sure we were gonna have to get you off him. I was getting ready to step in before you let him go.”
Starting the truck up, I want to get away from this place as fast as I can. “Ya, I’m good. As much as I wanted to do more, they aren't worth it. She's better off without them and I'll continue to show her that for the rest of her life.”
“Agreed brother. So I hear congratulations are in order, you finally asked her to marry you.” Lucas says.
“Fuck ya, I did. I had to tie her ass to me so she never leaves. I only gave her less than a month to plan something, so I’m sure that’s what the girls are doing today at work. Rhylie had a stack of bridal magazines with her when I dropped Sky off.” They all laugh knowing exactly how Ry can be.
“Ya, she still grumbles that she didn't get to plan Faith and Manson's wedding. So I'm really hoping you don't elope because man I've gotta tell you, I can't do any more tears. These pregnancy hormones are no joke. The other day a commercial came on and she just started crying out of nowhere. It then set Duke off and he wouldn't stop barking until Rhylie stopped crying.” Lucas shivers as if he's reliving it again. Laughing at him, I ask,
“It can't be that bad.”
“No, you just don't understand. I told Faith how beautiful she looked in a dress she had on and she lost her shit on me thinking I was calling her fat. I'm with Lucas here, it’s not fucking easy man. Just wait and see. Once Skylar gets pregnant, then you won't be laughing.”
“Honestly I can’t fucking wait for that to happen. So Vic, what happened with you and Isabella? I heard you guys both took Katya to the zoo.” Lucas turns down the radio so we can all hear him. I mean I get it we all sound like a bunch of gossiping women right now but he deserves to be happy and if that's with Isabella, then why not.
“You guys are worse than the girls. To answer your question you nosey fuckers, Katya fell in love with her from the start. Isabella is a natural with her, made her feel special, so I know everything is going to work out.”
Yup, I knew it and judging by the guys’ smiles, they know exactly what he didn't say. It's not only Katya that fell in love that day. We are ten minutes out from reaching the cafe and I can't wait till I can see Skylar again. I don't like being away from her for very long. I know it might sound crazy and stalkerish but she calms my soul and after confronting her parents, I just need to hold her in my arms to make sure she's okay. Pulling into the parking lot, I shut the engine off and turned to the guys wanting to make sure we are on the same page. “So we all agree none of this shit happened today. If they ask, we had wedding shit to do. Speaking of that, will you guys stand with me when I get married?”
“Brother you don't even have to ask, you know we have your back always,” Lucas says and the others nod in agreement. Getting out, we head for the door. “What the fuck?” Victor growls out. It has us tensing as he all but rips the door to the cafe off. When we get inside, we see a sleeping Katya wrapped up in Isabella’s arms. I can see them whisper to each other not wanting to wake Katya and whatever she says to him has him loosening his posture. Sky walks over to me and I wrap her up in a hug, breathing in her scent.
“Not that I’m not happy to see you but what are you guys doing here? I thought you were working?”
“Ya, I had wedding stuff to do and the guys tagged along. Why is Katya here? Shouldn't she be in school?” She doesn't question me further which gives me some relief. I don't want to lie to her but I know she's better off not knowing.
“Oh, the school called saying she wasn't feeling very well and since they couldn't get a hold of Victor, they called Isabella since he put her down as the next emergency contact. So she brought her here.”
“Makes sense. So did you guys plan the wedding of your dreams?”
