Bad Intentions ↠ h.s.

Chapter Ten

I balance Hannah on my hip, trying to help Noah get his gloves untangled from each other. God, who buys gloves with strings? I mean, I get that it keeps you from losing them, but it's really inconvenient to have them attached like this. "Is Daddy here yet?" Noah whines, becoming annoyingly impatient with me.

I shake my head. "Not yet, kiddo," I try the nickname, immediately wincing at it. Yeah, never say that again. Kiddo sounds creepy.

"Why is he so slow? I wanna see Mommy!" the little boy grumbles, pushing me away from him and throwing the gloves to the floor.

Hannah makes a gurgling noise, her teeny-tiny baby hands reaching up and yanking at my curls. I shake my head, "I know you do, Noah. You're daddy will be here any second now and-"

Before I can finish, there's a knock at the door. I sigh in relief, carrying Hannah across the room with Noah trailing behind me. I yank the door open, allowing the little boy to fling himself into his father's arms. "Daddy! I missed you!" Noah's voice murmurs into his dad's legs.

"Hey, bud," my friend sighs, reaching down to pull his son up. There was visible wear on his face; grey circles under his eyes, stress lines, no color in his eyes... he looked like hell to be quite honest.

"How're you doing?" I ask, swaying my hips to keep Hannah calm.

"Honestly," he sighs, glancing at the flower pot nearby the door on the front porch of our house. "I'm fricking lost."

He masks his curse words with similar yet changeable sayings so Noah doesn't catch on to what he's saying.

"With what?" I question, shifting my arms so he's able to take his daughter from my arms, along with the duffel bag. "Is she okay?"

He's silent for a minute, trying to regain himself I suppose. "I guess she was pregnant."

"Again?" I say, but quickly try to compare the way I said it in a gravel expression."That's great!"

"Was..." He repeats quietly as I come to realization, as he bites his lower lip. "She had a m-miscarriage... and there was blood...it was everywhere."

Oh my god... My lips part midway, a gasp getting stuck in my throat. I cannot even try imagine what he's going through.

I can't help but to go towards him, giving him a large bear hug, while trying to not hurt the small child in his hands.

His reaction is so sudden as he lets the tears stream down his face, not giving a care if anyone else was looking at him. It startles me a bit, Liam being the "tough guy" he is. I don't think I've ever seen Liam cry... except maybe the days his children were born.

"I'm so sorry," I say sympathetically, watching him break down in hoarse sobs and crumbled emotions.

"I have to go," he says gently, pulling away and wiping his face. "I'm dropping the kids off at my mum's and heading back to see Avery."

"Good luck," I say gently, grabbing his shoulder. "Know that I'll always be here for you, whenever."

I tug my tongue in between my teeth, as he turns and begins to buckle Noah and Hannah in their car seats, before giving me a quick wave as he pulls out of the driveway.

---

"Shit," I mutter, nearly hitting my head on the frame of the bedroom door, being careful not to drop my phone. "Sorry."

"You okay?" Ashley questions through the other side of the cellphone line.

"Yeah," I sigh, picking up a black t-shirt off of the floor and sliding it over my head, my wet hair falling in front of my face messily. "So you're just going to leave?"