Picking Up The Pieces [Final Part Of Falling For Mr.Parker]

Six -

Tom's POV -

Max's words hit me hard. I wasn't going to lie and say that they didn't.

I didn't want Steph thinking that I didn't love her and neither did I want her to think that she wasn't wanted by me. When I found out about her, I was the happiest person alive and I couldn't wait to finally meet her.

Then I went and screwed all of that up. I went to prison, simply because I fell in love with the wrong person, and then turned to alcohol when I found out I had lost everything to Nathan. He was better for her and I knew that as well as the next person, but I didn't want to let her go.

She was my wife and, no matter how many times I fucked up, she was still there for me. Only, this time, I don't think she was going to be there and I don't think she was going to want me in her life anymore.

If that's what she did, then I probably wouldn't even argue with her. I would take what she said to me and I would leave, I would walk out and never look back again. I would be there for my kids, but I would go back to being a miserable single person.

I took a deep breath before I walked out of the kitchen, seeing that Steph was beating Max again. He was clearly letting her win, but she hadn't noticed that, so she was allowed her moment in the spotlight.

"Daddy. Do you want to play with us?" Steph asked as she turned to see that I was stood behind the both of them.

"I've got a different idea," I replied with a smile.

"What?"

"We go and see mummy, then I'll take you to the park and when we come back home, we'll make our own fort and camp out in the living room. How does that sound?" I asked. I wasn't even sure where the idea came from, but I remember when I first walked back into her life, she built a fort in her bedroom and told me I wasn't allowed anywhere near her. The fort was her protection and, when she was in there, I wasn't drinking and I wasn't on the brink of death.

Hearing that from your five year daughter hurts. Not even in a way that you can simply forget that she said it, it hurt in a way that it's always going to be in the back of my mind.

"Can we watch Shrek in our fort?" Steph grinned excitedly.

"We can watch whatever you want to watch," I smiled at her again.

"Shrek. It looks a bit like daddy, doesn't he Max?" she grinned. It was impossible not to love her because she was just so cute, she could insult you and you would give her a hug for saying what she did.

"I think daddy looks more like donkey," Max laughed as he high fived Steph.

"I take offence to that," I said, crossing my arms against my chest as I turned my back, pretending that I was in a bad mood and that I really had been offended by their comments.

"Aw. Daddy. We love you really. Right Max?" Steph proclaimed innocently, her arms wrapping around my leg and I looked down to see that she was smiling at me. I couldn't believe I had been stupid enough to leave all of this behind, that I hadn't been there to see her grow up.

I was a shit excuse for a father. I didn't deserve kids, just like I didn't deserve Rachel as a wife. I had got far more than I had ever deserved with my family and now I was at risk of losing all of that again.

And for what? A drunken night with a jealous slut. She knew I was married and that I had kids, but she still took advantage of me while I was drunk and I was stupid enough to actually fall for her tricks.

"Yeah. We do love daddy," Max sighed, his attention now on me as I bent down to pick my little girl up from the floor. I rest her on my hip as she put her arms around my neck and placed a sloppy kiss on my cheek, the sound of her giggling brought a huge grin to my face.

"I love you too sweetheart. I love you so much and I will always be there for you. Daddy isn't going anywhere and that's a promise," I said as I realised just how right Max actually was. I didn't want to miss anymore of Steph's life and I didn't want her to have nightmares about losing me.

She was six. She should have been thinking about what sort of castle she wanted to live in, not whether or not her daddy was going to live to see the next day.

"Why don't you go upstairs and get yourself ready. Yeah?" Max said and Steph nodded only too happily at his words. I put her down on the floor, putting a quick kiss on the top of her head, watching as she disappeared out of the room and ran up the stairs.

"I've really fucked up this time. Why do I screw everything up?" I sighed as I fell onto the sofa with tears in my eyes.

"You don't know that until you speak to her," Max replied.

"She isn't going to forgive me this time. Six months, I didn't even make it to a year. Six fucking months was all it took," I muttered, still managing to hold back the tears which were on the brink of falling. I had never cried in front of someone before and I didn't intend on doing it now, especially not when my daughter was upstairs.

"Nathan and I should never have left you. We also should have listened to you when you said that you'd had enough to drink," Max paused for a moment before continuing on, "if Rachel says anything, then I'll tell her what happened that night."

"I still slept with Lauren and she had the best time ruining my relationship for me."

"What's the last thing you actually remember happening?" Max asked out of nowhere.

"I was sitting at the table, Nathan had just gone to get another round of shots, but when he came back he had a woman hanging off his arm. Nathan then disappeared, leaving me with her and she kept playing with the shots, she, wait, she put something in the shot and gave it to me," I replied, parts of the night suddenly coming back to me now that Max had mentioned it.

Nathan had a girl hanging from his arm and there was something about her which was so familiar. I wish I could remember what she looked like, then I would be able to speak to her about what happened that night.

"Tom, I don't want to say this since I don't have the evidence, but I think someone may have been spiking your drinks that night," Max said out of the blue. "I mean, it would explain why you were so much worse than Nathan and I. And why you don't remember anything from that night."

"But, who would do something like that?"

There was a moment of silence between the two of us as we tried to think of someone who would be out to ruin me on purpose. Someone who would do absolutely anything to make sure I lost everything and, like a lightening bolt, it hit the both of us.

"Lauren."