5 years ago, James left for the first Tour with his band. He was 21 years old and as far as we he was concerned he had his whole life ahead of him. He had his family, his friends, his band and his girl..
That was until he got a call that nobody ever...
"Do not yell at my mum!" A small yet powerful voice said right before I was shoved back down into my seat "Harrison, stop it" Riley said reaching for the little boy pulling him towards her allowing me to refocus looking over at the pair of them I looked down at the little boy and my breath hitched There was no denying anything from one look at him
He had my dark hair, my fathers skin tone, my eyes and my mothers nose..
"Riley?" I said looking over at her while she looked at me a lot more caution "Harrison where is Daniel and Tanya?" Riley asked crouching down to look at Harrison "I needed the toilet. They are waiting outside, we were going to go to the park" He said before turning to glare at me
"Go back with them okay? We'll talk later when we get home" She said but Harrison's eyes stayed on me "It's okay baby" She said pushing his hair out of his face "But he was yelling Mum. What if-" He started before Riley took a hold of both of his hands
"We're okay, I'm okay, you're okay." She said reminding him "Go with Daniel, I won't be much longer okay?" She asked and Harrison nodded agreeing He took one more look at me before shaking his head turning back to Riley, tightly hugging her waist before rushing off
There was a moment of silence between Riley and I. I wasn't surprised that neither of us knew what to say at this point She wasn't wrong a moment ago when she told me there was a lot more that I didn't know
"You might as well come back with me. He'll have questions later" She sighed grabbing her bag in the process
Part of me was still in shock over what had just happened. Harrison, the boy that I was so concerned was Riley's boyfriend was in fact my son? I hadn't had confirmation from Riley that he was mine but it was a no brainer from looking at him
If she dares to think that I'll be leaving now, she had another thing coming to her..
--
We got to Riley's flat 5 minutes later. As soon as she opened the door, we were greeted with baby things dotted everywhere for her little girl. Some of what I'll assume are Harrison's toys placed on or around the toy box alongside an open colouring book on the floor This wasn't just a place they lived, this was well and truly their home..
"Do you want a drink of anything?" Riley asked hanging up her jacket before beginning to pick up some of the things in the room "No no, I'm uh okay" I said stuttering slightly
"He's mine isn't he Ri" I said making her stop instantly. She looked at me from over her shoulder before sighing standing up tall and nodding
"Yes James, Harrison is your son" She said, my eyes searched her voice for an if or a but. There wasn't one "Why, why didn't you tell me?" I asked "James, I didn't have a choice but to leave.. If I had the choice do you not think I would have stayed. I would have called you and told you everything but the choice was never mine, it wasn't yours. It was out of our hands" She warned but I couldn't believe that
"What happened Riley?" I asked taking a step towards her, I thought for certain she would move back and withdraw from me but she didn't She didn't move back but she also didn't move closer to me She stayed frozen like she was battling herself right now
"Did someone hurt you?" I whispered hoping the answer wouldn't be the latter. That it wouldn't be the case but the moment her breath hitched, I knew it was "Who are you running from?" I asked but I knew as soon as I said it that I was not about to be given the answer no matter how much I wanted it
"Was it your idea to do this whole playing dead part?" I asked but Riley shook her head "I had no idea what you were talking about when you first mentioned that. I didn't know everyone thought I was dead I swear" She whispered looking at me with the same innocent eyes almost begging me to believe her
"I just figured out whatever excuse he came up with was enough for you all and my entire family to hate me" She said bowing her head I tilted my head letting those words replay in my head
He. She said he..
"Who was it Riley?" I asked but she shook her head "I can't James. I'm sorry" She said as she instantly pushed a tear off of her cheek "They had your life planned out for you James. You're entire family have had their live planned out from the moment you took your first breath and I didn't fall into that bracket. He made that evident" She warned me taking a seat on sofa allowing me to sit next to her
"If I hadn't left when I did James, things were going to get worse fast. He told me that I had to or you would lose everything, he told I would be leaving one way or another and I should at least do it on my terms. He'd already hit me once, I didn't want him to do it again I certainly didn't want him coming after you or Piper" She explained
"The night I left, I ended up in hospital because my stomach felt like it was going to burst and then I started bleeding" Riley said looking over at me "That's how I found out about Harrison. I thought I was losing him and you were the only person I wanted to call but you were the one person I wasn't allowed to call" She whispered looking down
"I don't think if I had lost him I would be here. I think the guilt of that would have killed me" She said before looking over at the coffee table where some photo's sat
"he's a lot like you, you know" She smiled picking up a photo frame off of the middle of the table handing to me
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"He's the spitting image of you and I'm convinced he's the only reason I've managed to go on with life. He's protective just like you" She started making me chuckle "Yeah, I got that vibe from him" I answered making her smile "You should see how he is with Sienna. It reminds me so much of you and Piper" She said before handing me another photo
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"He always asks about you. In fact the night you came to the hospital he asked about you the following evening" She whispered, her fingers brushing against the photos lightly
"I know you want things to go back to how they were James but they can't. I can't let something happen to them" She said looking at me, he eyes brimming with tears "Ri" I whispered brushing them both away "I have to protect them" She whispered before allowing me to pull her against my chest
I don't know what is going on but I couldn't agree with Riley more right now..
