Making a Difference ~Book 2 of The Difference Series~ [BWWM] (Major Editing)

「Four」

This chapter is dedicated to weirdkid99

Guilt still flowed over me as I sat at the table across from Kitty. She nonchalantly drank her cup of coffee. I looked down at my phone that I laid down near my milkshake. "Will you stop staring at your phone, Louise," Kitty said. I looked up to see her placing the cup on her table. She had a stern look on her face.

I took a deep breath as I somewhat ignored her. Chad hadn't texted me back after the few texts I had sent in the car on the way to the ice cream and coffee house. I reached over to grab my phone off the table to give him a ring, but Kitty had beat me to it. "Hey!," I hissed.

Kitty shoved my phone into her jacket pocket. "I'll hold onto this until later."

I huffed feeling like I was being treated like a child. "I just want to apologize. I don't want to lose another friend because of my own selfishness. I'm pretty sure we can work this out to where we are both happy."

Kitty took a deep breath. "This is what the doctor was talking about. You need to not stress out for yours and your baby's health. You're just feeling guilt because you think you could have saved your friendship with Ace and your relationship with Rider."

I played with the straw in my milkshake. I had barely taken a drink from it since we got there. Kitty had bought it for me in hopes to get my mind off how Chad and I had ended things. "If I hadn't had suggested a friends with benefits for my own selfish reason with Ace, we would still be friends with Ace. As for Rider, I didn't want a relationship with him. I just think if I had talked with him we could have avoided everything. I know it's not my fault I was raped or that Ace cheated. I just think I could have done something to avoid it."

"Louise." A few moments passed before I realized she was waiting for me to look at her. So, I did. She gave me a small smile in return. "You deserve better than those losers."

Kitty wasn't my best friend for nothing. She always did er best to make me feel better and never left my side when things got tough. I returned her smile. "I know. Trust me, I learned there's a difference between someone who wants you and someone who would do anything to keep you when I lost Nikita. I just think things could have gone differently if I had done something different." My smile quickly faded as my eyes dropped again.

"Hey, things happen for a reason. You lost Nikita, but your gaining a reward for getting her out of a bad situation with her mother." I had honestly never thought about it that way. "Now, stop thinking about that stuff and drink your milkshake before you stress yourself out."

I grinned. "Yes, mother," I joked as I put the straw into my mouth and drank the milkshake.

"Louise, is that you?" I looked up and there stood a man with a little blonde girl. I squinted my eyes as I let the straw drop out of my lips. It took me a second, but the man's identity came back.

"Oh hey." I said with a smile.

"Who's your good looking friend?" Kitty asked flirting without even a second thought.

Ben and I chuckled as his daughter just looked between us. Probably not understanding what was so funny. "This is my friend, Ben Mason, and his daughter, Sophia. He helped me obtain a lawyer when I was fighting for Nikita. Ben this Kitty."

Kitty smile grew a bit bigger as she held her hand out to him which he quickly grabbed. "Any friend of Louise is a friend of mine," she said before pulling her hand free to entwine it with her other. She laid her chin on them as her elbows rested on the table. "Are you single?"

"Kitty," I hissed narrowing my eyes at her. Sometimes she didn't think straight when her woman parts did took charge and did the talking for her.

"I'm sorry, Louise. I can't pretend that he isn't cute," she admitted without taking her eyes off him.

I sighed sometimes wondering how we were able to contain our friendship because we were so different. I turned my attention back to Ben. "I'm sorry. We are being rude. Would you like to take a seat?"

"Sure, but only for a bit," he said taking a seat. Ben pulled out his wallet and pulled out some cash before giving it to his daughter. "Here Sophia. Go play on some of the games in the arcade while I talk to Louise and Kitty." Her eyes lit up as she took the money from her father. She bobbed her head as she ran to the back medium room that kids loved to play.

"What are you doing back in town?" I asked. It had been a while since I had heard from him so it was a surprise I had even ran into him. "I thought you went back home. Not that I'm not happy to see you."

"I come back on a regular basis so Sophia can visit her step-sister. She lives with my wife," he explained.

The situation sounded weird so I wanted to know more. "And why aren't you living with your wife here or why isn't she living with you up there?"

Ben sighed keeping quiet for a few seconds before answering. "The truth is, our marriage was doomed before the ink was wet on the paper. She seemed so into the idea having more kids. That is until one day, I was doing laundry a week after we were married and I found a reminder receipt for a follow-up to check up on the tubal ligation she had done. Turns out, when I asked her about it, she had gotten it done a week before we got married when she found out I wanted more kids. She hadn't told me because she didn't want me to break off our wedding."

I rubbed his back gently. "I'm sorry. Why not get a divorce?"

Ben's eyes dropped to his hands that were placed on the table. "We have our differences, but she is like my friend. We get along despite that. We agreed to have an open marriage to save what we have left. I somewhat find what is missing in other women." I just looked at him lost for words trying not to judge him. It just explained why I was better off alone then in a relationship. "Anyway, I was headed back to my hotel when I ran into my little brother and spent a little time here before I ran you."

As I listened I realized I didn't really know much about my friend. "Seems like it's just a reunion for you today," I joked smiling. My intentions were to try to lighten the mood. We had went into a dark place and I wanted to bring him out of it.

It had worked too. Ben looked up at me as he grinned. "Funny. You want to meet him? He should still be here." I nodded not wanting to be rude. He had met my friend so why couldn't I meet his brother. He looked around the shop before pointing to a stranger leaning against the bar and, what seemed like, flirting with some woman. "There he is. Hey Leo!" Ben called out. So these brothers seemed to be smooth with the ladies. He was the type of guy I tried to avoid. Although, I tried to keep an open mind. He was part of my friend's family and so he was already somewhat my friend. That is until he turned around.

I silently cursed to myself as I realized Leo Mason, the little brother of my friend, Ben, was the father of my child. Just my luck.