“We knew it might happen,” I said, taking an opportunity to curl up on my toes to kiss him.
He kissed me back but his face was heavy with a thunderous glare. “If he comes near you and Frankie, I’ll fucking kill him.”
“He won’t. He’d be stupid to.”
“And?”
“He’s not that much of an idiot, Sam. He knows he’s already in a lot of trouble, I don’t think he’d give himself anymore.”
“Well whatever, there’s no way I’m going to the pool now. I’m staying here. I’ll sleep on the sofa, I don’t mind.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re not letting that little boy down. Plus, aren’t you supposed to be going out with Elijah and your mates tonight? I heard you organizing it earlier with Elijah when we dropped Frankie off.”
“That definitely isn’t happening.” He started to pull his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll do the swimming lesson, but I’ll be back here by eight at the latest.”
As much as I wanted him to come back, I also didn’t want to stop him having a life, or more to the point, start rushing things. Okay we had a child together, but that didn’t mean we should fall into him staying over or being here all the time.
I put my hand on his phone and pushed it down. “No, Sam. Go out tonight. We’ll be fine and if I hear even the slightest noise I’ll call you and the police straight away. There’s new locks on the door, and on the side gate, so he can’t get into the back garden, so I swear to you we will be okay. Plus, I’m pretty tired after a really intense orgasm some guy gave me down at the lake, so I’m going to go to bed early.”
That brought a grin to his face and he kissed me hard, pulling away as soon as we heard Frankie clattering down the stairs.
“Hey, Dad,” he cried. “Will you play Fifa with me?”
Sam looked at me and when I nodded, he turned back to Frankie. “Yep, come on then, let me show you how good I am.”
With a quick squeeze of my bum he left me staring after him and hoping that we got it right this time, because it wasn’t just Frankie’s heart that was invested.
* * *
I was slightly disappointed in the fact that Sam hadn’t called me or Frankie before his night out, but figured he was busy with the swimming lesson and then getting ready.
I still went to bed feeling a little disgruntled though, particularly after what we’d done at the lake. Grumpily I’d stomped up the stairs, checked in on Frankie and then slipped into bed and immediately chastised myself for being such a girl. I’d managed to get on with my life when he’d abandoned me after getting me pregnant, so I was damn sure I could survive one night without a text message.
When my phone started to ring, pulling me from a deep sleep, my heart jumped because my first thought was it was Sam. He was probably home and had drunk dialled me. When I picked up my phone though it said it was Amy calling.
“H-hello,” I stammered, my heart pounding in my chest.
“Maisie, I’m so sorry to call you this late, but I thought you should know-.”
“Oh my God, is it Sam?” I cried over the top of her, knowing there would be only one reason why she’d call me at one in the morning.
Amy drew in a breath on the other end of the phone. “He didn’t turn up to go out with Elijah and their friends, so they just thought he was running late, but when he still wasn’t there after a couple of hours and they couldn’t get hold of him, Elijah was worried. He was going to get a taxi over to Sam’s apartment, but got a call from his mum and dad saying a local patrol car had seen the lights on in the leisure centre and the door was open so went to investigate. They found Sam in the changing rooms.”
With each word my skin got colder and colder as fear crept over me. “Is he...?”
“He’s in intensive care at the moment,” Amy continued, her voice breaking. “He hit his head and has only drifted in and out of consciousness.”
Tears crawled down my cheeks and my stomach turned over and over as I thought about Sam being hurt and us possibly losing him before we’d even had a chance of a future together – as a family.
“Can I see him, can we…”
I let out a painful sob unable to speak any further.
“Y-yes.” Amy stuttered, evidently in as much pain as I was. “Elijah and his parents are with him, but of course. That’s why I called you, Yvetta thought you might want to go.”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” I rushed out breathily as I scrambled out of bed. Then a thought struck me. “Frankie,” I gasped. “What do I do about him? My parents are away and my sister will probably only just be on her way home from some club, I have no one to have him.”
“Why don’t you drop him here?” Amy offered.
