Chapter Four

1.4K 49 18
                                    

Chapter Four

Christian was drunk as he slammed into the home he shared with Stefani.

"Where are you, you whore?! He screamed, falling against the banister which led up the stairs.

"Cooper!" he yelled again as he began climbing on very unsteady feet.

///////////////

Stefani stirred when she heard a voice. Her eyes opened when she heard feet in the hallway outside her bedroom. She immediately shook Bradley awake. He sat up and heard the shuffling in the hallway as well.

"Stay here," he told her as he quickly pulled on his jeans.

"Come on out, Gaga!" they heard. "I know you're here with Cooper, you little bitch!"

"Christian," she whispered. "Bradley, please..."

He turned to her, his facial expression as stern as his voice. "Stay here. Call 911."

He walked carefully to the bedroom door and quickly looked out in the hallway. He saw Christian leaning against the wall; just a few feet from the master bedroom. He could tell the older man was drunk; very drunk. He could see his bloodshot eyes from the five feet between them. He was about to step into the hallway to confront Christian when he felt Stefani wrap her arms around him from behind.

"Don't go," she whispered. "You could get..."

He turned and pushed her back into the bedroom. "It's fine, baby. He's drunk off his ass and I've got a couple inches and at least fifteen pounds on that jackass."

"He's drunk, Bradley," she told him. "When he's drunk, he...he gets a little..."

"A little what?" he asked suspiciously.

Her eyes fell from his and she suddenly found the floor very interesting. A finger beneath her chin lifted her head.

"Has he hurt you?" he asked her softly. "When he's drunk...or not, has he...?"

She nodded slightly, tears pooling in her eyes and falling down her cheeks. In that moment, Bradley felt his heart break. He pulled her into his arms and cradled her small frame against his.

He dropped a kiss atop her head. "I'm so sorry, honey. I'm sorry he hurt you."

Before she could respond, the bedroom door flung open and Christian was there standing in the doorway, swaying unsteadily on his fee.t

Bradley pushed Stefani behind him. "What the fuck are you doing here, Carino?"

Christian snickered as he fell against the door. "Wha'm I doin here? I live 'ere."

"No, you don't!" Stefani suddenly yelled at him as she stepped up next to Bradley. "Get the fuck out, Chris! Go, now!"

"I'm not goin an'where," he stuttered.

Bradley moved forward a step when Christian reached behind him and quickly Bradley and Stefani were face to face with a 9mm handgun.

///////////////

Irina was not surprised when she walked in just after midnight and found the house she shared with her boyfriend dark and quiet. For a moment she wondered if he was merely asleep. She peaked into Lea's room and saw the little girl sound asleep in her crib. She was only halfway to the master bedroom when she heard a cough from the guest room.

She turned around and saw Gloria standing in the hallway behind her.

"He's not here is he?" she asked her boyfriend's mother.

"He needed to go out earlier and asked me to come watch Lea until you got home," Gloria told her as both women headed back towards the family room.

Irina sat down on the couch and tucked her legs up under her. "He's gone to her."

Gloria didn't really know what to say. "Irina, I..."

The pretty Russian held up her hand. "It's...I know he's with...with Stefani. Whenever he's not here, he's with her. He's been..."

Gloria felt horrible for her son's girlfriend. She knew what Irina was about to say and she wished with all her being that Bradley had just come clean and told the woman himself that he'd fallen in love with someone else.

"He's been sleeping with her for...I guess since they started filming," Irina confided. "I...I didn't want to believe it at first. I didn't believe it at first. I knew they were close. They'd formed a bond even before filming started. They went to dinner together, grocery shopping. I thought nothing of it, but then..."

Gloria sat down next to the woman she once thought would become her daughter-in-law. She took Irina's hand in hers and encouraged her to continue.

"But...then I noticed the way he would lean into her when they spoke," she said as tears gathered in her dark eyes. "The way he guided her into a room. The way he...he held her hand in his. I knew I was watching as my...my boyfriend falls in love with...with another woman."

"Why do you think he's...?" she trailed off, unable to ask the question to which she already had the answer.

Irina laughed sarcastically, the tears still flowing. "I...I know he is, Gloria. He...calls out her name in his sleep. He's not very careful with his phone. I've...I saw a few of the texts between them."

Gloria felt badly for Irina. She liked the girl and she adored her granddaughter, but she also had to weigh that against her want of her son's happiness.

"Perhaps you can...work things out," she offered.

Irina wiped at her tears again. She just shook her head and headed up the stairs to her bedroom.

Gloria pulled out her cell phone and dialed Bradley's number. Her son needed to come home and deal with his domestic situation. She loved her boy, but she wasn't going to let him continue to string along two women.

He had to make a choice.

///////////////

The shrill ring of Bradley's cell phone startled Christian.

A shot rang out.


(Bradga; RPF) Affair of the HeartWhere stories live. Discover now