The Bad Boy And His Baby

Chapter 14

"Um hi. What can I help you with?" I'm pretty sure this woman is Bronwyn's mom. I feel super intimidated under her gaze and I look away from her piercing brown eyes. She clicks her tongue and pushes past me into the apartment.

I'm shocked that she just walked in without me inviting her in. How does she even know where Bronwyn lives? Bronwyn told me she hasn't spoken to her mom in a while. "Bronwyn!" She exclaims, scrunching her face up as she looks around.

"Um, Bronwyn is busy. Maybe you could leave a message or-" She turns around and glares at me. I brush my hair down and mentally kick myself for not showering and putting on proper clothes this morning.

"Mom? What the fuck?" Bronwyn emerges out of her room wearing baggy ripped jeans, a white crop top and an open plaid shirt over it. Her makeup is only half done and I can see how surprised she is at her mom's arrival. "What are you doing here?" I walk past her mom and into my room before closing the door. I don't want to intrude on whatever they're going to be talking about.

It doesn't matter though because I can still hear what they're talking about. "I see you're still living in this dump." Her mom scoffs. "How did you find me?" Asks Bronwyn. "You think you can hide from me? I knew you'd try to live as far away from me as possible. Not to mention the fact that you have absolutely no money, I knew you wouldn't be able to afford a nice place. It was quite easy to track you down."

Woah. No way did her mom just say that. Bronwyn never told me she had a bad relationship with her mom. I didn't even know she was hiding from her.

"You found me, now get out. I have somewhere to be." Her mom laughs. "That's funny. I was talking about you to your grandmother the other day. Told her how you don't have a job and what what, so we made an arrangement. Pack your bags because tomorrow I'm taking you to live with her on her farm."

"No fucking way."

"Language! You will not talk to me like that!" Scolds her mom. "Listen mom, I'm nineteen years old for fucks sake. I don't need you to do anything for me and I thought I made that clear when I wrote you off. You say you don't care about me yet you still go out of your way to get me a job and make me do something with my life." Bronwyn scoffs. It's silent for a few seconds and I find myself holding my breath.

"This is why your father left us! Because he knew what a fuck up you'd turn out to be!" There's loud footsteps before I hear the door open and slam shut.

I don't know whether I should go out to check on Bronwyn or not. I decide to because any mother that says something like that to her child must definitely shake you up. I open the door and find her slumped on the floor.

"You okay?" I ask as I move slowly toward her. I hope she's not crying. I've never seen Bronwyn cry in all my years of knowing her. She just isn't the type to cry. "Yeah, I'm fine. My mom's a real bitch. I didn't know she'd come here, I'm sorry." She flips her braids over her shoulder.

"No, don't apologize. It's alright. I didn't mean to eavesdrop." She shakes her head. "It's fine."

"What... what happened to your dad?" You'd think I'd have learnt my lesson after what happened with Ji but I have to ask. Bronwyn is my only friend and I'd like to know more of her.

"He left my mom for another woman after he found out she was pregnant with me." I gasp. "I'm so sorry Bronwyn. But it's not your fault at all." I tell her, putting my arm around her shoulder to comfort her. "I found out that he got the other woman pregnant too. And then he just vanished. I've never seen him in my entire life and I used to keep looking for him, scratching though my mom's photo albums to at least get a glimpse of him."

"I know how you feel. I never saw my dad either." She looks at me, studies my face.

I never knew we were similar in that way. I never thought to ask her about her parents. She just looked like she had her whole life in order that I didn't think she'd be going through anything bad. "Will you go to your grandma's?"

"No way. Don't get me wrong, I love her, I really do. She's my dad's mom and she has treated me so nicely ever since I met her. She's even nice to my mom but if I live with her, I'll have to help her around on her farm and that's not what I want."

"What do you want then?"

"I don't know." I can relate to her so much. I also don't know what I want right now. Everyone just seems to know what they want to do as soon as they leave high school but what about me? Why don't I know what I want to do?

Bronwyn's phone rings from her room. "That must be Tobias." She stands up. "I'll finish my makeup in his car. I can't stand to be in here right now. I'll see you later, yeah?" I nod. "Sure." She walks to her room and answers her phone before grabbing her makeup bag.

I go to the kitchen and look through the fridge, seeing what I can make for lunch.

"You should order something for you." She says as she walks past me while spraying on her perfume. "I can't. I need to save money." She stops and puts her hand on my arm. "Forget about the money Quinn. You're stressing over it so much that you're hardly doing anything fun in your life. I promise to get a job soon and help support but for now, treat yourself to some takeout. You deserve it." She blows me a kiss before she walks out the door.

I really wanna listen to her. She's right, I need to stop stressing and treat myself but I just can't. My salary at Golden Ray just about covers the rent for this place. Then I need the rest of the money to buy groceries. I close the fridge door and put the kettle on instead. A nice cup of coffee should ease some of the tension I have right now.

There's a knock on the door and I suspect it might be Bronwyn. Maybe she forgot something.

I open the door and my heart drops. "Hey pretty princess." I grip the door handle as he eyes me.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, voice barely above a whisper. "I came to visit you." He looks over my shoulder and into the apartment. "Nice place you got here. Looks like you're doing well after so long. How about we have a little chat hm?"

I can't believe my eyes. I thought he'd forgotten about me. And of course Bronwyn isn't here now. "I'm actually busy, maybe another time." He pushes past me, his shoulder knocking into mine. "You know I don't like waiting so we'll talk now."

My heart sinks. He wasn't supposed to show up. How does he even know where I live?

"You making coffee? I'll have two teaspoons of coffee. No sugar." He says, taking a seat on the couch.

I close the door and move to the counter to take out two cups. I just hope he leaves soon. I don't have time for this. I notice he has a tattoo on his cheek. A small dragon. I remember how much he loves dragons. Always spoke about getting one and telling me facts of dragons. His hair is dyed orange and it's much shorter now since the last time I saw him.

After the kettle boils I make the coffee and give him his cup. I'm tempted to throw the boiling water on him so he can get out.

I hold my cup and stand near the TV. "What do you want?" I ask. "Come sit down. I won't bite." He says and I hate that we only have one couch even though it's a three seater. "I'm not going anywhere near you. Not after last time." His eyes darken and I know I've said the wrong thing.

The door is unlocked, if he comes at me I can throw my cup at him and run out.

My heart is beating real fast and I wish I hadn't left my phone in my room. "I just came to talk. No need to be so uptight."

"About what?" I'm trying not to show how panicked I'm feeling. "It's been a while since we last saw each other. What you been up to?"

I stay silent. No way am I going to tell him about my life. He doesn't deserve to know. He doesn't deserve to know anything about me.

"Look, I said I'm busy, so can you please make this fast and leave?" I ask. His eyes narrow and my pulse races again. "You can't run away from me forever princess." He stands up and I'm literally frozen in my place. I can't move and I can't speak as he moves closer to me, setting his cup down on the counter.

I turn away and he leans into me and brushes my cheek with his finger. I feel his breath on my face and I want to throw up. He steps away and I feel like I can finally breathe. "This isn't over." He says before he walks out.