Rounds

Chapter 8

                                Aidan jumped off the bus and ran to Brian's house, his heart was pumping out of his chest and the sweat was numb, he rushes up the steps of the apartment and knocked on the door loudly, Brian answers the door, "Damn boy, you bouta punch through my door," Aidan rushes past Brian, "Hey Aidan, how are you today," "I'm fine, what did you find out about my son," "We can get to that, but I have a couple of questions. Aidan quickly grabs a chair and sits beside Linda, "How often does your baby momma do that to you?" "Well, ever sense the break up, it started, she would always let me hold him and talk to him, the bond that me and my son have is unbreakable," Aidan says, Linda was taking down notes, "And then after y'all broke up she was basically teasing you?" "Yeah, it was like she wanted to see me broken and hurt," "Has she tried to keep you away from your son before the break up?" "Her parents have, they said that I wasn't good enough to be around him," "And what happened with you and her parents relationship?" "Um, they never liked me, not even when I was in high school and I would never know why," Linda was still writing down notes and the things that Aidan said, "What was the whole scene about in our last meeting?"

                                 Aidan thought about it for a second, he didn't want to repeat what happened, Linda already saw half of it, "Well, Ivy pulled up and came in the Café', leaving my son in the car by himself, so I went out there and saw his face, we were arguing, going back and forth and when they were leaving, my son was crying, it was like he didn't want me to leave," "What did she say in the argument," "Things like I will never see him again, I'm a horrible father to my son, things that she knew that would destroy my thinking," Linda was sitting there and listening, she was pondering and trying to imagine how it went down. "So she was basically, teasing the fact that you can't touch your son or see your son?" "Yeah, trying to make me feel bad," "Is she holding you against your will?" "No," Aidan said bluntly, "Are you behind on child support," "No, because while we were dating I was giving her money, when I had a job," Linda paused, "Is she blackmailing you?" Aidan didn't want to think it, but it was true, "Yes, she is actually," "Why exactly?"

                                  "She wants us to be a family again, but everything that she's doing, I don't like. She took things too far and that made me not want to be with her, I'd rather raise my son on my own than to have her around to ruin stuff for me and him like she is." Aidan put his head down a the thought of his son, "What's your son's name?" "I don't even know, she won't let me know the baby's name and every time I find out the name, she would change it," "Right, Right," Linda says in a very salty way," Aidan's heart sunk into his stomach, "So all you wanted to do was raise your kid on your own right?" "Yeah, and if it's met to be, he'll have another mom that's not Ivy," "Go on," Linda says leaning forward, "Well, when I get my son back and I'll get the winning money to take care of him, I want to find a real wife and a real woman who's willing to be a mother to him," "And when it gets to that point, what about Ivy?" "She's going to move on, just like she did with her other boyfriends that she got pregnant with," Linda looked at Aidan surprised, then she looked at Brian, he did nothing but nod his head. "Wow, so you're not the only baby father she has?" "No ma'am, she's done the same thing to the rest of her baby fathers before me, tried to take them away and get her revenge on them for not being with her."

                                Linda couldn't believe what she was hearing, she realized that this selfish, self-centered woman was using the children she birthed just to have a man in her life, "Well, that help's your case a lot too, also I need to show you some information that my team found on Ivy," Linda said with a smile, she takes the papers out of her briefcase and hands them to Aidan, "It's her child record," she says surly, "She doesn't take care of any the kids she's had so far, including your son," "How do you know that?" "Linda points to the paper, "She's 40 thousand dollars over her child care, child care service for diapers, food for the baby, things like that," Aidan grew angry, he didn't even know what was really going on, "So are you telling me she hasn't been taking care of my son the right way?" "Yes sir, so now you have a bigger chance to get your son back," Aidan wasn't happy about they way his son is being treated, but he was happy to finally give his son the life he never had. "Okay, now what's the next step?" Aidan asked concerned, "I'm going to call her lawyers and set up the court date, I'll let you know what goes on after."

                                 Linda packed up her briefcase and headed to the door, "That would be all to discuss today," "Alright, when is the next meeting?" "When I call her lawyers to set up the court date," Linda said, walking out the door, "Okay, I'll see you next time, "Linda smiled and walked away from the apartment door. Aidan closes the door and makes his way to the couch, "So, how do you feel after hearing that?" Brian asked, "I feel pretty good, now that I can win, I don't have a worry in the world," "Yeah, well don't be too sure," "Why not?" Aidan asks uncomfortably, "Lawyers always switch up when things are just starting to turn good for their clients," "All of them do that?" "Some of them do." Aidan was having second thoughts about this, he didn't now who to trust, Linda was sure that he would win the case, but Brian was another story, he didn't know weather he was being fooled by Linda or Brian. "Nah, I don't think that bro, I think she's doing her job right," Brian scoffs at him, "Yeah, you can be right, she does have proof and evidence," Aidan spirits was lifted again, "Yeah, I trust her that she'll help me get my son back," Brian smiled at him.

                                    Aidan left Brian's apartment, it was almost dark and had to find somewhere safe to go, he grabs his phone out of his pocket and calls Jay. "Hello," "Hey, are you home?" "Yeah, I was home all day, I didn't feel like opening the bar up today," Aidan laughs, "Okay, we'll I'm on my way to you," "Sounds like a plan, maybe you can tell me how the meeting went today," "Will do," they both hang up the phone and Aidan makes his way to the bus stop. On the way to the bus stop it was suspiciously quiet, it seemed like everyone was inside their houses because of the wind outside, Aidan couldn't hear anything accept for the wind in his ear. Suddenly, two guys came up behind Aidan and greeted him like they weren't strangers to each other "Wassup man," the dude says holding his hand out, "Who are you?" "You left my cousin?" "Who's your cousin, Aidan says. the guy punches Aidan right in the stomach, Aidan groans, "You know who the fuck I'm talking about," "No I don't, "Yes you do, fool!" the guy yelled in Aidan's ear. "You know damn well who my little cousin is, she just had yo baby!" "Ivy," Aidan thought, the two dudes continue to beat him up.

                                 Aidan was on the ground in pain, groaning for them to leave him alone, the two dudes walked away in laughter, "Ha! Pussy," the man screamed, laughing at Aidan's pain. Just then the bus came, Aidan was still on the ground, but he pushed himself to get back up again, he couldn't feel anything but the cuts and bruises on his body. His eye was black and his lip was bleeding, the bus driver stopped to make sure everything was okay and helped Aidan on the bus, "Thanks man," Aidan groans, "No problem, you need me to take you to a hospital or something?" the bus driver says concerned about Aidan's health, "No thanks," he groans again, "Just take me up south where the library is," "Okay, no problem."

                                 Aidan was limping on the way to Jay's house, he didn't know what to expect or to think when Jay seen him and his messed up face, she wasn't going to like it. Honestly, Aidan wanted to go back to those guys and give them what they asked for, but he was too slow and they were too far away. When he was jumped he didn't really see them coming, he wasn't expecting them to go about and do what they did. Aidan almost didn't want to go to Jay's house because of how he looked, he wanted to stay on the streets like the monster that everyone calls him, but he went anyway because he needed comfort.