Fight For Her (Devil's Right Hand MC #2)

Chapter 28

I really should be studying but I got overwhelmed and decided to write a chapter hahaha. Hope y'all enjoy the product of my procrastination!

Driver's POV

I have never liked change, I hazard to guess that no one does. When everything in life is perfect, and you have everything you could ever want, why in the hell would you want to change that? Why in the hell would anyone want to throw a wrench in their happiness? I don't think anyone ever wants change, I think we are thrown into it, like a tornado that swallows us up, spins us around, and spits us out wherever it sees fit.

Today starts a big change for my entire family. A change no one wanted. A change that is sure to fuck up our perfectly happy life.

After the hearing last week, Larry was triumphant as he declared his victory, but none of us saw this as a victory. My child having court-ordered visitation with the person who hurt the woman I love is not a victory, it's a tragedy. Brenna tried to hold it together, but as soon as we got to the parking garage, she lost it. I have never seen her cry like that before, and it broke something inside of me because I couldn't fix it. My family is about to go through hell and I can't fix any of it because no matter how much I wish I was, I'm not Hazel's real father.

"What are you doing up so early?" Brenna asks as I walk into our kitchen. She is still dressed in the tank top and pajama shorts she wore to bed but the bags under her eyes tell me she didn't sleep a wink.

"Same as you," I mumble as I walk over to the coffee pot and pour myself a cup. It's only 5:30 in the morning, but both of us are wide awake.

Silence hangs in the air as both of us sip our coffee, neither of us knowing what to say. This isn't something parents are prepared for. There aren't any instruction manuals on co-parenting with your girlfriend's abusive ex who doesn't really care about his kid, because trust me, I checked.

"Are you okay?" she whispers as she stares at her coffee mug, finally breaking the silence.

"I'm fine," I reply even though it's a lie. I am everything but fine. However, my feelings are irrelevant, the only things that matter are Brenna and Hazel.

"Liar," she responds as she finally looks up to meet my gaze.

"Well, are you okay?" I question, flipping the situation back to her, back to what really matters.

"I had a dream last night that she went into anaphylaxis again and Joey didn't know what to do. I've sent him a very detailed list of allergies and YouTube videos on how to give an Epi-Pen, but I don't trust him to care enough to do it."

"I mean, Karen will be there, right? Is she at least a little more competent?"

"Yeah," she sighs, but that tells me she is less than confident in Karen's abilities.

"Remember what Larry said though, since he can't contact you outside of the app, he is probably just going to get bored and stop scheduling visits anyway," I try to encourage.

"Karen would never let that happen," she scoffs.

"Well, Joey has to be at the drop-offs with Karen. Grace was told to only hand her over if both parties were present."

"I just wish for once someone would consider how this affects Hazel!" she says as she slams her mug onto the counter. A few days ago, we sat Hazel down and explained the situation to her. I have done a lot of hard things in my life, but that was the single hardest thing I have ever had to do. She had so many questions and her brows would furrow together after we gave an answer as if it only confused her more. Hell, this entire situation confuses me, how can we expect a four-year-old to understand it?