Wrecking the Homewrecker (BOOK 2) EDITING

16

Adora

My feelings toward the people I was forced to surround myself with were changing- slowly, but surely.

I refused to mention that person's name, though.

I realized that I'd been an absolute ungrateful bitch towards Santiago King.

And sitting next to John Lift made me realize it.

Santiago was an open book for anyone who'd known him for a decent amount of time. He was easy to read, and John Lift read him.

John knew a lot more than most people did, and I'd only known him for about a week.

John was good to vent to. He didn't feel like a boss. He felt like a therapist, almost, just not as pushy.

"You know, Santiago King sold his soul to get you this job."

I grinned at the sentence flashing through my mind. Thinking of Santiago King selling his soul for anything was basically non-existent, and a dream.

So why would he do it for me?

"Hey, Adora?"

I was pulled out of my thoughts, my eyes snapping over to John.

"Yeah?"

"Give me another word for delicious."

"Delectable," I said.

His eyebrows shot up. "I'm glad I started hiring."

I smiled and looked down at my tablet.

"What are you working on?" He asked, an eyebrow cocked up at me.

I jutted my bottom lip out. "Oh, nothing. Just a little poem that I've literally been working on for months."

"Well, what's it about?" He asked.

I pursed my lips together. I was embarrassed in the slightest, so I just grinned. "I- uh, it's supposed to be a love poem but I really don't know where it's going now."

He folded his hands together in front of his middle. "Just haven't had the inspiration?"

I shook my head. "Well, it's not that-"

I cut myself off when I realized that's exactly what it was.

He just smiled. "Maybe you're not surrounding yourself with the right kind of love to document in a poem."

I pursed my lips together and darted my eyes back down to my tablet. "I don't think that's the reason."

I felt John's eyes still on me.

"I just think I'm going through writer's block," I said, looking back up at him.

He nodded. "Understandable. Writer's block sucks, I know."

I just smiled at him. "So what about you?"

"What about me?" He asked.

"What about your love life?" I asked, leaning back in my chair.

He threw his head back with a laugh. "Love life? What's that?"

"No, be serious."

He leaned back in his chair, his eyebrows furrowed together. "I keep my relationships to a minimum."

"Why is that?" I asked.

"I feel less inspired to write when I'm in a relationship. I feel like I don't need to express my feelings on some paper and be done with it. I'd rather express my lonely feelings than my not-so-lonely feelings. Does that make sense?"

I smiled. "I bet it would make sense to someone that's on your level."

"And plus," he said, "I've never been huge on commitments."

"And why is that?"

"I've seen what commitments do to people," he said, "I'm just not in the market for that."

I nodded. "Yeah, they suck."

He smiled at me. "So when's the wedding?"

I looked down at my ring. "Uh, whenever he gets a chance, I guess."

"Inconsistent schedules," he said, "yeah, those aren't fun."

"Yeah," I said, "I can't really plan the wedding, since I have no clue when it's going to be."

"But you know you're marrying him, so why is that such a big thing?"

I felt my lips slightly part. I wasn't really sure how to respond to that.

"I really don't know," I said, "I guess the validation seems kind of nice."

He shot me a warm smile. "I hope everything works out for you."

"Yeah, me too," I said, biting down on my bottom lip as he began working again.

~*~

Santiago

I stepped out of my car, pulling off my sunglasses. I opened the doors to the school, walking inside.

The woman standing beside the door just looked at me, a blank expression on her face.

"I'm-"

"M-Mr. King," she stumbled out, "yeah, I know. You can go on through," she said.

I walked through the revolving doors and inside the office, flexing my jaw muscle.

"Can I help you?" The lady at the desk asked, never making eye contact with me.

"Yeah," I said, "you actually can."

She quickly looked up from her computer screen, her lips parted up at me. "Oh, hi, Mr. King," she said, shooting me a warm smile.

"Where are they?" I asked.

"They're in the nurse's office. I'll, uh, I'll ring through and tell her you're here."

I nodded, watching as she cautiously stood up. She knocked the phone off of the desk as she did so, an embarrassed look on her face.

"You got it?" I asked, my arms folded over my chest.

She just looked at me. "Y-yeah. I'll be right back. You can sit, if you'd like."

She walked into the other room, making me chuckle. I plopped down in one of the uncomfortable chairs by the door, flexing my jaw muscle.

I felt my phone buzz and I pulled it out.

[From: Alessandra]
Have you gotten them yet?

[To: Alessandra]
No. They're coming out of the nurse's office right now, we'll be to your place as soon as we can

I shoved my phone back in my pocket and stood up as the door opened. One of my eyebrows shot up at the sight before me.

"Dad! We got into our first fight!" Freddy yelled, smiling up at me.

The nurse smiled down at them. "I think they're fine. Josiah's a little more banged up, but I think they're good."

I grabbed their shoulders, leading them out of the office.

"My eye hurts," Josiah complained.

"I know it does."

I led them out of the school and to my car. Freddy fought over the front seat, and Josiah wasn't in the mood, anyways, so Freddy hopped in the passenger seat.

Before I started the car, I turned to face them.

"What was it about?"

Josiah shook his head. "Just boy things."

"Like what?"

"I said just boy things, dad," he said.

"And I said, like what?"

Freddy was even being quiet now.

"You two seriously aren't going to tell me?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowed over at them.

"It seriously wasn't anything serious, dad," Freddy said, "just a few bullies, that's all."

I sighed, sticking the key in the ignition. "Your mother is going to bombard you with questions, so mentally prepare yourselves."

"We seriously have to go over to her house? You know she's going to flip out on us."

"I know," I said, "and I wouldn't have to flip out on you if you'd tell me what happened."

"I told you what happened, dad," Freddy snapped, "so stop asking."

I looked over at him, an eyebrow cocked up. "Lose the attitude."

He flexed his jaw muscle, letting out an angry sigh as he leaned his head against the window.

I looked in the rear view to find Josiah asleep, making me tap his leg. "Hey, wake up."

"Dad, I'm tired."

"I am too," I said, "but I'm not asleep."

"And you also didn't just get beaten up."

"Hey, you don't know that!" I exclaimed, "I could've just come from a fight."

Josiah smiled and looked out of the window.

"But we're Kings, remember? We always leave more bruises on the other guy."

Freddy just looked over at me. "Yeah, we did. Oh, he had a broken arm. I think we might be suspended?"

"If you were suspended, she would've told me."

"Well I don't think we should go to school tomorrow," Josiah said, "just to, you know-"

"No," I said, "we don't back down from fights. Got it, kiddos?"

Freddy sighed. "I'm just not trying to get another black eye."

I sighed and looked over at them.

Why were they growing up so fast?

~*~

Santiago

"Do you have a concussion?" Alessandra asked, brushing Josiah's hair away from his head.

"Mom," he groaned out, "stop, seriously, I'm fine."

"No you're not!" She exclaimed, "look at you two!"

Mateo walked in the living room with two ice packs. "Hey, you guys are beating me! I didn't get in my first fight until I was thirteen."

I looked up at him from the couch, my elbows still braced on my thighs.

"And it was your dad who beat me up," he said.

I laughed and leaned back on the couch.

"This isn't funny," Alessandra said, "they're pitiful."

"Mom, we're fine," Freddy said, "it was just a misunderstanding."

"I'll go," Mateo whispered, grabbing Rose from Alessandra's arms.

"Tell me what happened," Alessandra said, "and I'm not taking that as an answer."

Josiah sighed and looked down. "People are always calling us names, and telling us that we're spoiled brats, and we get everything handed to us, and they always make fun of us because we're rich, or something."

I looked over at them.

Freddy nodded. "Yeah, what he said."

"And it gets old," Josiah said, "and dad told us to always stand up for ourselves."

Alessandra shot me an annoyed look.

"You could've had it handled a different way, guys," Alessandra said, "I'm sure if you would've gone to the counselor, they would've said something to them-"

"But that's the thing, mom," Freddy said, "even the teachers don't like us. My math teacher pulled me to the front of the class the other day and made fun of my watch, because it was expensive."

"Well they're jealous," she said, making me stand up and shake my head. I walked into the kitchen, flexing my jaw muscle as I braced my palms on the counter.

Alessandra walked in and leaned against the fridge.

"I'm the reason they're getting hurt, Sandra," I said.

"That's not true."

"Yes, it is," I said, turning around to face her, "and I can't do anything about it."

"Santiago, that's the thing about kids, they get jealous of other kids-"

"Not to the point of beating them up, Alessandra," I said, "if the boys can't just have a normal life," I trailed off, sighing.

"They do have a normal life," she said, "we always said that no matter where things went, we never wanted them to feel like they were set apart from other kids."

"But they are," I said, "they're different, and that's what I want them to be. I don't want them to be so different that they get in physical fights, though."

She folded her arms over her chest. "They're Kings, they've got it."

I looked at them from over my shoulder, sighing. "Yeah, I hope so."

"Don't send them to school tomorrow," she said.

"No," I said, shaking my head, "then when they don't show up, the bullies will go even harder. I don't want that, I don't want them to back down from a fight."

"Santiago," she said, "they didn't back down from a fight. If they would've backed down, they would've come in here without tens of bruises and blood all over them."

"I'm not giving those kids the satisfaction they want. That's what they want, you know? They want them to not show up at school so they can prove that they're weak. They're not weak."

"S-"

"No," I said, "I didn't raise weak kids. We didn't raise weak kids. They're going to school, deal with it, Alessandra."

She sighed and looked up at me. "If they come in here even more bruised up tomorrow-"

"They won't."

She shook her head. "Whatever, Santiago."

And with that, she walked away from me.

~*~

hi guys!! how did we like this *pretty much* chapter based around Santiago?? I really liked writing about Papi, made me all warm and fuzzy inside

also how do we feel ab our little guys getting into their first fight :'(

I was a lil sad ngl, our babies are grown up!!

ok ok ok. the one shot contest is almost done w . I'm so sorry guys it's taking so long! when it is done, the winners will first be posted on my twitter so make sure to go follow it!

^also I run crazy polls and post a lot of random updates about my life on there!!

ok. I love u guys ❤️