Substitute Child (Ross Lynch)

Chapter 3

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"What the hell are you doing here?" Ross demanded, venom dripping from his voice. 

I immediately jumped out of bed and hurried over to the front door, my heart pounding in my chest. There he stood, his hands in his pockets and his hair fallen over his eyes. He looked exactly the same from the last time I saw him, besides the new piercing on his lip. 

"What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice even.

Seeing him made me want to punch and scream, but I needed to stay calm. I was not going to let him break me and get the satisfaction of seeing me have a breakdown. 

"You've been ignoring my texts." Was his answer. 

Ross' head snapped and he narrowed his eyes at me. "He texted you?" 

"I ignored them for a reason." I told my ex, ignoring Ross. "I don't care that you want to talk to me, and I don't care about you. I stopped caring about you the moment you cheated on me, so get the hell out of my apartment before I call the cops." I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at Ben. My anger was bubbling up, and I was going to explode if he didn't leave. 

"Skylar, I just want to talk. Please." He pleaded. 

"What in the world do you want to talk about?" I demanded. "We have nothing to discuss." 

He shifted uncomfortably on the balls of his feet. "I wanted to talk about our kid." 

I felt Ross stiffen from beside me, and I gently placed my hand on his lower back. Why the hell would he want to talk about Olivia? He didn't give a shit about her when I told him I was pregnant, and he even asked if I had an abortion. He could rot in hell for all I care. 

"Listen here, Ben." I hissed, jabbing my finger in his chest. "The moment you kicked me to the curb when I told you I was pregnant was the moment you lost all rights to be a father. So do yourself a favor and go the hell away." I slammed the door in his face, my jaw clenched and my body tense.

Olivia let out a cry, and I sighed, realizing I had woken her up. "I'll get her." Ross murmured quietly, hurrying into Olivia's bedroom. He returned a few seconds later with our little girl bundled up in his arms, her crying subsided. He wordlessly handed me Olivia, and she rested her head on my shoulder.

The silence in the room was uncomfortable, but I knew Ross was furious at me. I hadn't told him about the texts, and he had to find out from my cheating ex. I didn't want Ross finding out like this, but I had hoped that Ben would stop texting me if I just ignored him.

I was wrong.

I glanced at Ross to see him watching me, his jaw clenched and his hands curled into fists. Yeah, he was definitely pissed.

"I'm sorry." I told him, my voice on the verge of cracking. I could feel tears begin to pool in my eyes, but I didn't allow them to fall. 

He scoffed. "Sorry? Sky, you should've told me he was contacting you!" 

Olivia let out a whimper, and I gently swayed back and forth, bringing my hand up to rub her back.

"I didn't want you finding out because it wasn't important." I told him. "He's not part of my life anymore, and I don't care what he has to say. I hoped that if I ignored his texts, he would stop. Obviously that wasn't the case."

"Yeah, no shit." He muttered, running a hand through his hair. "Dammit, if I see him again, I might just punch him."  

I frowned, the guilt of what this was doing to Ross eating me alive. He went from happy to stressed in a matter of minutes. Ben ruined it by coming over and I helped by not telling him he contacted me.