Forever Yours

Forty-Five

Adrianna's POV

"Seriously, dude?" my eyes widen when I see Juan emerge out to the backyard. Fuck. I knew I should've told everyone to stop their shit talking before Juan heard.

Joel stands, as do I. "Hey." he says nonchalantly. "Get out."

"Joel." I shake my head. "Stop."

Juan holds out a hand to me. "No, let him talk. Seriously? You're calling me an asshole?" he repeats his question, this time his voice sounding like a threat.

"Yes." Joel responds, unfazed. "You are. You left my sister and my nephew. To me, you're the asshole here. You should've packed up all your shit when you left the first time." he steps a foot closer towards Juan.

Eduardo stands, making his way over to them. "Joel, ya." he says. "Just let him go."

"You're nobody to be kicking me out of my own damn house." Juan snaps back, not backing down, also taking a step towards Joel.

No. I shake my head. There's no way they'd fight each other. They're like brothers to one another. No way.

"Juan, maybe you should just go." Eduardo suggests.

Juan scoffs, and I immediately know what's to come. "You have the least right out of any body to come in here telling me to leave." he's getting mad, I can see it. Should I back him up? I don't know what to do. "You weren't even apart of your daughters life for years! Who the hell are you to tell me to leave?"

"But who's here now?" Eduardo asks, losing his sense of control. Juan is mad, he wants to rile a fight out of anyone right now, and Eduardo is gonna let him win. "Who's with his family now? Me. You're the one who's abandoning your family now."

Juan shoves him hard, and thank God Eduardo doesn't react. "Stop it!" I shout, making my way between them. "Juan, I'm sorry, okay? Let's just not do this right now." I shake my head, looking up at him. "We have company." I say awkwardly.

Juan's gaze shifts over to Laila who's seated quietly a few feet from us. "Hey." he gives her a nod of acknowledgement and then looks back down to me. "Here." he passes Santos monitor back to me.

"I'll walk you out." I say quietly, taking him by the arm so he has no room to try and keep fighting.

He scoffs once we've reached the front door. "'Family'. You said they were my family too once we got married. And they're talking about me like that? All of them?" he asks, looking down at me, shaking his head.

"They know I'm hurt." I say. "They're mad."

He rolls his eyes. "And you don't think I'm hurt?"

"It doesn't seem like it." I whisper, knots forming in my throat.

"I'm so fucking mad. And hurt. This kills me." he's practically shouting, his voice wavering. "But no matter how hurt or mad I might be, I'd never let anybody talk about you that way. Ever.  To your face and especially not behind your back." I look down, embarrassed. "It's fucked up."

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Let's work things out. I love you. The words are on the tip of my tongue. Ready to spill, and before I can get them out, he's walking past me.