What He Needs

Chapter 26

.:Author's Note:.

Unedited, please excuse any mistakes.

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Winston's POV:

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Jonathan's angry voice sounded from his kitchen frightening me and his twins. April and Alyssa glanced at me worriedly before getting out of their father's bed. I followed them to the kitchen, reaching just in time to see Jonathan's fist connected harshly with a nearby wall. The painful groan he released was to be expected.

"Baby, are you okay?" I questioned nervously as he cradled his fist to his chest.

"Do I look okay?!" He snapped, making me step back in shock. April and Alyssa also seemed surprised at their dad's tone of voice used towards me because they gasped loudly. Immediately, my boyfriend realized what he had done, and regret took over his livid features. "Shit! I'm so sorry, sweetness. That was completely misdirected anger on my part; I swear."

I didn't respond. Instead, I sent the girls back to his room so that they didn't have to witness any more of his misdirected anger. Once they were out of sight, I went to the bathroom for the first aid kit before returning to the kitchen and taking a seat on one of the stools.

Jonathan followed suit. Wordlessly, he held out his bleeding fist to me as I took out alcohol pads and a few small bandages from the kit. I then began cleaning his wounds. He hissed from the burning sensation.

"Winston, I honestly didn't mean to do that." He spoke after a few seconds.

"I know." I replied, glancing at his apologetic face quickly before returning to the task at hand. "It's okay."

"No, it's not. As upset as I am, I had no right to snap at you like I did."

"Really, it just surprised me, Jonathan. I'm not hurt by it." I told him truthfully. Just so that he believed me, I put the bandages on his knuckles after I was done cleaning the cuts, and then gave his hand a kiss. "See? No harm done – to me anyway."

"You are a Godsend." He teased, making me laugh. However, quickly I sobered up.

"I assume that was Amanda whom called and annoyed you."

"You assume correctly." Jonathan grumbled. He sighed deeply, and I watched as his eyebrows pinched together in frustration. "She says I'm to expect a subpoena in the mail soon; she's either going to fight for visitation rights or partial custody of the girls. I'm not sure yet. I guess I'll know when I get the letter."

"Can she even do that? I mean, don't you have all the rights – both physical and legal? Plus, she voluntarily signed over all of her rights to Miranda who then signed them to you!"

"I honestly don't know what the fuck she can do. Other than getting the girls' birth certificates changed so that they had my last name instead of Amanda's, I've never been in a legal battle. This is so different from then too. Amanda and I are both the birth parents, and I've heard that birth parents do have some rights. So, if the judge really wanted to, he or she could give Amanda everything she wants."

"That's such bullshit!"

"I know. Honestly, all I can do now is get in touch with a lawyer and see what we can do. I made a promise to Miranda before she passed – that I wouldn't allow our girls to grow up with a loveless image of a mother – and I intend to keep it."

Silence fell between us before Jonathan excused himself from the kitchen to take care of some of the matter.

I chose to return to his room with his girls who were scaredly looking at the door when I stepped in. Shocking me straight down to the core, they burst into tears before rushing over to me and hugging my legs.