I Get A Kick Out of You

Chapter 26

Cassie was zoning in on the fact that Ethan's tie wouldn't go into a knot properly. She couldn't figure out why and it certainly wasn't because of her. She's better at this than Joel is! She just couldn't get the knot to adjust properly.

She was so focused on it that she didn't notice the dazed look in Ethan's eyes.

"Ah-ha!" She triumphantly cheered. "Now don't tug at it. I know you do that when you're nervous." He didn't say anything, just nodded. It was now that Cassie noticed his eyes. "Hey," she quietly said, "what's wrong? You nervous?"

He nodded, then sighed. "What...what if they want me to be with dad?" She looked up at him and said, "Honey, you're going to be with your dad no matter what. He just didn't like the fact that I wanted you more than him, so we have to go to court to get it settled. The judge is going to ask who you want to spend more time with and you tell them the truth. Don't tell them what you think your dad or I want to hear. Okay?"

He nodded and took a deep breath to calm himself. "Hey," she continued, "it's going to be fine. If you get nervous, just look at me. You know I'd never let anything bad happen to you, right?" He smiled a little and nodded. "Good. Now, let's get our butt's moving or we're going to be late!"

It took about fifteen minutes to get to the courthouse. When they walked in, the first thing they saw was Joel speaking with his lawyers. He had multiple because he was so afraid of losing custody over Ethan. When he looked over and saw them, he gave her a small smile. She simply rolled her eyes and looked away.

A moment later, she felt a hand on her back. She turned and saw Ben smiling down at her. She looked him over and found his work attire to be more than attractive. He was wearing a deep black suit with a dark red tie and it made his blue eyes seem even bluer. His hair was cut shorter than the last time she saw him and it made him look much younger. It was so hard not to drool.

"Morning," he said with a smile. "You ready for this?" Clearing her throat, she nodded and croaked out, "Yeah, yeah—yes. Yes, sorry, you just...you got a haircut." He gave her a sly smile. "Yes, I did," he said. "You got new lipstick."

She gently put her fingers to her lips with a smile. "I did," she said in amazement. "How did you know?" He simply shrugged, then gave her a wink. He then knelt down to Ethan. "Hey, bud," he gently greeted, "how're you doing? Nervous?"

He nodded. Ben adjusted where Ethan had tugged his tie down, then said, "Well, there's no need to be. I'll be the one asking questions when your dad's lawyer is done. I promise, it's going to be easy. Just tell the truth, okay? You're not in trouble and you won't be in trouble for anything you tell us."

That seemed to calm him a bit, but Cassie could still see his mind reeling. This angered her and she got even more heated when she found Joel staring at her. Without saying anything, she started to march over to him. Ben and Ethan curiously watched.

"Why can't you just accept the terms?" She asked as she stopped in front of Joel. "You're putting your son through a lot by him just being here. He's going through enough already, Joel!" Joel's lawyer was about to say something, but Joel stopped him.

"Cass," he said, "I don't want to do this. But seeing my kid only on the weekends? That's not going to happen." She scoffed, "Why? You're only home on the weekends! You work late because you're fucking random girls, remember?"

Joel shushed her and tried putting his hand to her mouth, but she quickly swatted it away. "You don't think about your son, Joel, only yourself. This just proves it." She quickly walked back to Ethan and Ben. "I want him three weeks out of the month," she told Ben.

His eyes widened. "Wha...um, Cass, that's nearly full custody." She quirked an eyebrow as she told him, "I know. I want it to happen." He tried to see if there was any doubt or second thoughts in her eyes, but saw that she was completely serious.

"Erm...yeah, yeah alright," he nervously told her. "Just, um...okay. I'm going to have to tell the judge, then reconvene with Joel and his lawyers. After that, I'm going to produce an argument as to why you should have him and I just need...well, more as to why you should."

She scoffed, "More? More, what? He has a sex addiction! He brings women into his home, into my home, that could possibly endanger my son! He's a drunk, he's neglectful...what more do you need?" Ben looked down at Ethan, who looked scared from all of this.

"I need Ethan's testimony," he told her. "If he can confirm that Joel is as bad as you say he is, which I only have to say that because I'm your lawyer, then Ethan's testimony will help greatly. I just need your permission since he's underage."

Cassie looked at Ethan, then knelt down to his height. "What do you want, sweetie? I'll leave this entirely up to you." He looked at her with his big blue eyes and said, "I want to stay with you, mom."

"And you're not just saying that because that's what she wants, right?" Ben carefully asked as he knelt next to Cassie. Ethan quickly shook his head. "Good," Ben said. "Well, then...it looks like we have a bit of a fight to get through."