More Than My Hometown

Bandaid On A Bullethole

Kaydence's POV

"Where to start huh?" I asked shaking my head ruefully. "Hell Brantley, I don't even know where to start. There has been shit left and right coming at us pretty much since our relationship started."

"How about I start with I know nothing happened with you and Morgan," he said so quietly I almost didn't hear him. Even though I knew that drinking was the last thing the pair of us needed to be doing, I still tipped the whiskey bottle up again taking a long sip feeling the burn because we apparently were starting with the big leagues it seemed. I blinked back the tears not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry. I wanted him to put himself in my shoes stepping off that plane from L.A. and turning my phone on for it to immediately go haywire.

Frantically calling my husband, the man who was supposed to have my back in everything, who wouldn't even answer. Running into my house yelling for him because I knew that if I could just talk to him, he would know it was complete bullshit. But instead, I found an empty closet and house. He and our son both gone without a word. Tears slipped down my cheeks as I thought about collapsing in the middle of the closet floor ignoring my ringing phone while I clung to the one shirt he left behind. I'd been a hysterical mess when Chase found me later after Brittany sent him over. "Kay... I should..."

"Should have believed me when I desperately tried to tell you not a damn thing happened," I snapped glaring at him watching his shoulders grow rigid while I wiped at my face. I waved a hand back and forth between us. "You have always chosen to believe the worst out of me instead of bringing out the best in me! I was on my knees begging you to believe me when I made it to Georgia the next day! But your stubborn ass mind was made up! I've heard since the day he was born that Brax and I were your whole world! But you threw us both away to bury your ass in a bottle!"

"You try being me!" he yelled back shaking his head yanking the bottle from me taking a long pull. Oh, yea that was going to help let me tell ya. He grimaced against the burn then narrowed his eyes at my frown holding a finger up. "Don't fucking start. I get those messages of hey look at what your wife is up to while you're at home with the kid basically. Do you remember the huge fight we had before you left going to L.A.? How disconnected we'd been for a while? Hell KiKi, we couldn't even agree on a place to live!"

"How could I fucking forget," I snarled taking the bottle from him for another sip then sitting it between us poking my lip out like a petulant child. If he was thinking halfway clearly a smack would be placed across my ass. "You'd pretty much gotten to where you wouldn't even touch me. It was like other than to remind me of your schedule and spend time with our son I didn't exist."

"Like you made any moves either!" Brantley growled back clenching his fists opening a beer shaking his head bitterly while he downed it. An evil smile spread across his lips before he chuckled throwing the can behind him. "But I am sure Chase is taking care of scratching any itch you have now, isn't he. Gurantfuckingtee he can't make you scream his name like I did!"

"Go to hell Brantley Keith!" I screeched jumping to my feet starting the pace the porch. I stumbled almost face planting until a hand grabbed my elbow. I shook Brantley off whirling around to glare at him putting a finger in his face. "Admit it. You stayed with me just to save face! Hell, we agree to go ahead and get married when we did because I'd found out I was pregnant with Brax! It stayed this big ass setup to you! That is why you started pushing away from me."

"That is such fucking bullshit Kaydence Leigh and you know it!" he yelled towering over me his eyes glittering dangerously in the twilight. He could growl and snarl all he wanted it didn't change a fucking thing. "Do you think that little of me, Kay?"

"Well do you blame me!" I snapped back feeling tears well in my eyes. "We were forced into dating each other to help our careers. We got married because I was pregnant then things started going downhill. We have crashed and burned in the past so why should this be any different. And for your fucking information I haven't slept with Chase! I have sadly despite all that is going on in our lives, been faithful to you!"

Brantley's POV

I stood there looking down at Kaydence in shock at the words she'd said. Was too stupid and stubborn to realize she'd been harboring all these feelings through our entire marriage. Won't lie, made me feel a little cocky that she hadn't slept with Chase. But right now, that was the least of my worries. Reaching my hand out I caught her chin between my thumb and pointer finger making Kaydence look up at me hearing a whimper in the quiet air as a tear slipped down her cheek. She was breaking my heart more than it already was and she didn't have the first clue.

"Do you think I married you because you were pregnant?" I asked her gently. She tried to pull away from me, but I tightened my grip. Lord help we probably both needed more whiskey for this conversation. "Kay, I wouldn't have cared if we were married or not when Braxton got here. I thought you understood that. I mean when you took the test and realized you were pregnant, we talked about going ahead because of thinking about managing our schedules, a baby, and planning a wedding was going to be too much stress. Especially on you. But that was not why I married you baby."

"Well your actions since sure have proven otherwise," she hissed yanking her head back. I sighed rubbing a hand over my face. Here we go. Those walls one Kaydence Leigh Williams Gilbert were famous for when it came to me were now back up. I growled reaching over to grab the bottle of whiskey taking a long pull leaning against the column of the porch. "Did you ever even love me?"

"Fuck you KiKi," I snarled turning my head to glare at her feeling my temper start to rage out of control. I kicked the empty beer can sending it flying out into the yard. "I can't believe you even asked me that! Of course, I fucking loved you! I still do so much it hurts!"

"So instead of telling me that, you what," she yelled shaking her fist at me. "You don't even try and talk to me! You push me so far away that I have tried to move on with another man. Our divorce will be final before we know it and not once....not fucking once have you tried to fight for me!"

"Why?" I roared back throwing the bottle of whiskey against the side of the house hearing it shatter as I stalked forward grabbing Kaydence by her arms hearing her gasp. I shook her slightly. "Why would I fight when it guts me to see the disappointment in your face at what I've become. Why would I want to drag you down Kay?" She started to sob looking up at me as a tear slipped down my cheek. "I rather see you happy than to tear you down darlin. It's all that I seem to be good at baby. I'd told you long ago I was no good for you. That tangling with me would get you burned." At that moment I wished I could take all the pain both of us were feeling away. At that rate I was going, she was better off without me. Kaydence bit her bottom lip looking up at me with teary stormy eyes. "Fuck it."

I tunneled my hands in her hair knowing I was pulling the silky strands from her braid and I slammed my lips down on her feeling her body tremble. Instead of fighting me, she kissed me back. Parting those soft lips to let my tongue tangle with hers. I felt the fire between us that was still there searing through my blood. Never breaking the kiss, I trailed my hands down Kaydence's body gripping the edge of her tank top fisting my hands in the soft material walking both of us backward until her back hit the side of the house with a whimper. God, I had missed her. Missed this.

Craved it more than I did whiskey some days but had been too afraid to reach for it. Heard a moan cut through the still night air as I deepened the kiss demanding all she would give me. The bite of nails along my shoulders and back spurning me on as I rocked my hips against Kay's. I blazed a heated path of open mouth kisses down her soft neck burying my face in the swell of her breasts threatening to spill out of where her tank top slipped covering them. A nip on the curve of one breast sent a whimper escaping from her throat. The sweet sound music to my ears. I blindly reached my hand out for the door to open it taking my lips off of her body. Unfortunately, that was enough to break the spell.

"Stop," Kaydence whisper shaking her head. She took the fingers that were buried into my t-shirt pushing me back as a sob bubbled up her throat. "I can't do this Brantley! It would be like putting a bandaid on a bullethole. I want the man I married back. The one who made me fall in love with him even when I was too scared to. Who held my hair back every time was sick during my pregnancy with our son. Who would call to sing us both to sleep the nights he wasn't with us. The one who had my back through everything life would throw at us. And right now....you aren't that man. I want my husband back and he is long gone because he chose the bottle over me in the end."

She turned running through the house slamming the door as my knees buckled giving out and I knew right then that the next time I faced her, it would be over a stack of papers ending our marriage for good.