Ara's POV
I exchange a panicked glance with Cole and he nods his head. He grabs my hand and we run out into the hall together. We come to the front lobby area and find Lucy, Will, the kids and the woman I presume to be Lucy's mother. The kids look petrified.
Emily's got her stubby arms wrapped around Will's legs and Steven is hugging Lucy's legs. Paul is standing behind them, holding on to Lucy's hand.
"Just give me the kids and I will be out of your hair forever, you can stay here with you rich boy for all I care," The woman says, coldly. My heart freezes at her words. I refuse to even call her Lucy's mom in mind - to me she's now the bitch.
Grandma and Grandpa rush over. Like me, Grandma takes in the children's frightened frames.
"No, you can't take them," Lucy says.
"Excuse me!" The bitch shrilly screams.
Grandma calls out to the kids, "Emily, Paul, Steven, why don't you come with me, huh? I made cookies and Chef made the most delicious hot chocolate with special Mexican chocolate, does that sound good?"
Emily and the boys run over to Grandma. Grandma picks Emily up and holds on to Steven's hand.
"Who are your? Where are you taking them? Why are you, just let me take them home," The bitch demands.
Grandma goes all mama bear on her, she snaps "they do not need to hear this. They are safe with me, that is all that matters."
Grandma guides the kids away and I'm thankful they don't have to witness any of this.
"Lucy, just give me my kids and I'll e out of your hair forever," the bitch says.
This roils me and I can't hold my tongue any longer. I step forward and Cole keeps his hand on my arm, giving me strength and support.
"Lucy is also your child," I state, "she-"
"Who are you to be talking?" the bitch cuts me off.
I glare at her with everything I have and cause her to stand paralyzed in her tracks, bitter anger seeps into my tone, "I. was. not. finished. Lucy and the kids deserve so much better than you. You up and disappear for a week, leaving Lucy to figure out how to raise your kids. That is incredibly unfair to her, but Lucy is brilliant, and she rose to the occasion and the kids are safe and healthy, no thanks to you."
The bitch bitterly laughs," what, so you lot want custody of the kids? What court will grant custody of three kids to a group of ragtag teenagers who are going to leave to attend prissy colleges all across the country in two years?"
Cole steps up beside me, "I am almost 18, and I am not going to college, I can take legal custody of them."
There are several parts of that sentence that I want to dissect with him, but now is not the time nor place.
"No court is going to take three kids away from their mother," the bitch laughs again, clearly not getting it.
"No, you're wrong. You have four kids. And we have proof that you are an incapable mother. We have the note you left Lucy, previous notes, and all of here will testify against you, you're not going to win," Will adds.
"Hell, I'll adopt the kids. However much I hate you, I adore your kids. I also have the best team of lawyers that can find evidence of every single thing you have ever done wrong," Grandpa speaks up.
"Who are you?" The bitch asks in surprise.
Grandpa gives an annoyed sigh, "Royce Jenson, yes the Royce Jenson, rock star legend extraordinaire, I'm the grandpa to a bunch of kids running around here, and I am serious about taking your kids from you, you are done bitch."
The bitch gapes at Grandpa and then turns to Lucy with a soft, pleading face.
"Lucy, Baby, I'm your mom. You're not going to let them do this to me, are you?" The bitch implores.
Lucy coldly stares at the bitch, "you blame me every day for dad's death when it wasn't my fault. It was that idiotic drunk driver. You dishonor dad's memory every single day, he would be ashamed of you.
"You were once my mother, but now your just some heartless bitch who reeks. Seriously, you should just leave and check yourself into rehab before you cause serious damage."
I feel so proud of Lucy for standing up to the bitch. That happiness is short lived when the bitch raises her hand and slaps Lucy so hard that she goes toppling down to the ground.
I'm about to charge at her when Cole picks me up, my legs flailing in the air.
"Let me at her, just two seconds, Babe, I got this, just let me get a few good ones in, let me at her!" I ask Cole as I reach out towards the bitch. All I want to do is rip her into tiny pieces, is that too much to ask for?
"Calm down, baby," Cole's soft voice soothes me. He turns his head and shouts," Marcus!"
I jump in surprise as my bodyguards go barreling down the hall towards the bitch. With everything that's happened today, I totally forgot my bodyguards exist.
Cole allows my feet to rest back on the floor and I immediately make my way to Lucy. She and an angry welt on her face, clearly depicting the bitch's hand.
Lucy trembles and shakes and tears start to pour down her face. Will helps her up and incases her in his arms. I glance at him and notice that he is near tears himself. It must be hard, seeing the person you love being treated terribly.
"Can I let you go? Are you going to run screaming like a maniac and attack her?" Cole asks, softly in my ear so only I can hear. I sigh and shake my head
"I'm cool, Lu needs me," I whisper back to him. He nods, kisses the back of my head gently and let's me go. I walk towards Lucy and place my hand gently on her back.
"Lu?" I say her name, knowing words cannot express what I feel towards her. She turns around and gives me a meek smile. She holds her hand out to me, still clinging on to Will.
"Thank you, for standing up for me," Lucy says.
"You would have done the same for me," I point out. She laughs, nods her head and wipes away a tear.
"Thanks, anyway," she thanks.
"Anytime," I respond. I glance at Will who looks like he is about to lose it,I hold my arms open to her," come here, Lu."
She lets go of Will and hugs me fiercely. Will nods his head and backs up. He leans against the wall for support. I glance at Carter and gesture with my head at him. He nods his head and walks over. I glance at Cole and he nods his head and walks to him.
"Let's go see the kids, huh?" I ask Lucy. She nods her head and leans on me. I wrap my arm around her shoulder as I guide her to the kitchen.
I glance over my shoulder and see Will has completely fallen apart. My heart goes out to him.
Before we round the counter, Lucy stops walking. She raises her hand up to her face, wipes her tears away, straightens her clothes and confidently steps into the kitchen.
I watch her comfort and reassure the kids and admire how amazing she is. She is so incredibly beautiful and strong. It suddenly hits me, she is Jason. She rose above to take care of her siblings when they needed her. She's their Jason.
Cole's POV
Ara walks over to comfort Lucy and I glance at Will. He looks like he's really losing it. I catch Ara's eye and she nods her head over at Will. I nod my head and walk over to him.
I watch Ara take Lucy away and Carter talks to Will.
"It's okay, man, she's okay, the horrible woman is gone," Carter reassures her, "she can't hurt her anymore."
Will turns around and crumples to the ground, his back against the wall with his face in his hands. He looks up and is a mess. His nose is running and his eyes are red as tears fall down his face.
Carter and I sit down on either side of him, leaning against the wall as well.
"None of this should have happened, if she had only told me, I could have- " Will trails off.
"Don't. Don't waste your time on what could have happened, you'll go mad. Focus on what happened. Yes she was hurt, yes it was bad, but she is safe and healthy and okay now," I cut him off.
"If she had told me-"Will persists and I snort.
"Please, Lucy's strong, it's not in her character to run to someone else to solve her problems. She is brave and independent, like Ara for that matter," I comment.
Will nods his head and mulls this over, "oh yeah, congrats on getting with Ara, by the way."
"Thanks," I nervously glance at Carter. His eyes meet mine.
"Don't hurt her," he command. I nod my head.
"I could never hurt her. I could never do better than her, you know her, she's amazing," I honestly reply, needing him to know how much I mean every word.
"I'm trusting you," Carter says and I nod my head.
"Thank you," I thank and lean back against the wall in relief.
When Will calms back down, all he wants is to see Lucy so we head to the kitchen.
I spot Ara and shamelessly admire her. She's mine and I'm hers. The thought sends happy goosebumps up and down my arms.
She looks up at me and smiles. She walks over and leans against my arm.
In comfortable silence, we watch Lucy and Will interact with the kids. I can totally see them in ten years with kids of their own.
"Hey, I wanna talk to you about something you said earlier," Ara says beside me. I glance at her confused.
"Okay...?" I reply, unsure what she's talking about.
"Not here, let's go, oh wait,"she twirls around and actually skips over to the table. I smile at how adorable she is.
She scoops up a handful of cookies and saunter back over. She loops her arm through mine and leads me out of the kitchen. I wonder what she wants to talk about.
Unedited and ok, so wattpad kept deleting this chapter and every time I rewrote it, it looks different. I don't save my story anywhere else but I probz should!
Anyways, that was super annoying!
Thanks for reading and the support, it's fantastic!!!
Also did anyone see the music video for Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran and obsess over how cute it is? I totally did.
Love you all, hope to update soon, thanks for the patience and understanding.
Happy readings!
xx M