No Strings Attached

Chap. 5: Thanks For Sticking Up For Me

"Avriana someone's at the door for you," my cousin Alex say, standing in the doorway. I look up at him and nod.

    "Can you watch her for a minute?" I ask him. He nods and walks over to my bed, sitting down in front of Mya. She squeals delighted and he gives her a smile, picking her up from the bed. I smile at the picture and walk downstairs to answer the door, coming face to face with Mya's father Josh. "What do you want?' I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.

    "To see my daughter," he says, causing me to roll my eyes.

    "It's my weekend with her Josh, you'll see her next weekend," I tell him, moving back to shut the door in his face. He quickly shoves his foot in the way, stopping it from shutting completely. Groaning irritatedly, I open the door and glare at him.

    "Then you come with us, we'll be like one happy family," he says with a smirk. I roll my eyes in disgust and he grabs my wrist. "Don't be like that, you used to love the idea of being with me and being the mother of my children remember?" he asks.

    "Yeah, I remember, I also remember finding you in bed with my ex best friend. You remember that? I was about four months along, just got home from shopping and there you were, in my bed, fucking my best friend-" I say, but am rudely cut off.

    "You make it sound worse than it was," he says, rolling his eyes. I look at him like he was insane.

    "You slept with my best friend Josh, how much worse could that get?" I ask. he sighs and runs his fingers through his hair.

    "I don't know, could've gotten her pregnant too, then left you for her," he says. "You should be glad I didn't, at least with her I had more respect and domination. Hell I'm sure with her she wouldn't have cared if she was pregnant or not, she would've still given me sex. Who cares if it harms the baby, the damn mistake was apart of you so I'm sure it's already going to be fucked up," he snaps, glaring at me. I jerk my wrist from his grip, tears building in my eyes as my hand meets his face, fist closed. He stumbles back and stares at me in disbelief.

    "Avriana this idiot was in your room," Alex t, dragging a smirking Vincent beside him. I look over at Vincent, tears running down my face. Vincent's smirk drops and he moves to my side.

    "What the fuck did you do to her?" he questions Josh, his eyes hard and fists clenched. Mya let's out a high pitched wail and Alex immediately hands her over to me, his eyes fixed in a glare on Josh as well. I kiss the side of her head and try to calm her down, her tears beginning to soak through my t-shirt.

    "Nothing she didn't deserve," he bites out, glaring at Mya and I. I can tell Vincent's two seconds away from punching him in the face and so can Josh, with Vincent being nearly 5 inches taller than Josh, he towers over him a little, but Josh doesn't seem to notice as he taunts him. "Right Avriana, just discussing some personal thoughts?"

    "Stay the fuck away from me Josh, I mean it," I tell him in a hushed tone. His eyes harden and he glares at me.

    "That's not going to happen Avriana and you know it, whether you like it or not we created that bitch of a daughter together and that means I have rights to her too," he says lowly. Vincent clenches his fists and his jaw flexes.

    "I suggest you leave now before your mouth becomes best friends with my fist," he say through clenched teeth. Josh's eyes flicker to him and a sick smile makes its way to his face.

    "Is that a threat?" he asks, mocking him. Vincent's fist begins to rise and I place my hand on his, causing him to snap his attention my way.

    "Don't Vincent, he's not worth. He's just pissed I won't sleep with him, forget him okay," I plead. Vincent hesitates before nodding and leaving Alex to handle Josh.

    "Walk away bitch, just walk away," Josh says loud enough for Vincent to hear. I shut my eyes as Vincent freezes, his back tensing up. I start to count to ten to see what Vincent would do, but within three seconds, he made a decision, and that was to tackle Josh of the porch. Opening my eyes, I walk outside where Vincent and Josh are currently in the lawn punching one another in the face, colorful words being exchanged. As Vincent gets the upper hand and sits on top of Josh, showering punches in his face. Josh brings his left hand up and manages to catch Vincent off guard with a punch to the temple. Vincent rolls off of him holding his head and I know he's going to have a major headache later.Josh manages to get Vincent in a choke hold, his fists repeatedly making contact with Vincents face, but not for long seeing as Vincent elbowed him in the abdomen. Josh drops him and he turns, slamming his hand right into Josh's nose. Blood pours form the area and Josh falls back, cupping his face. Deciding it was time to intervene, I walk over to Vincent and grab his hand, lacing our fingers. He looks down at me, his face bruised and busted. He's breathing is heavy and I look over at Josh.

    "Like I said Josh, stay the fuck away from me," I tell him. Turning, I walk back towards the porch, tugging Vincent in behind me. He follows willingly and Alex shuts the door behind us, his eyes on our laced fingers.

    "Only known each other for a week and you're already best friends I see," he comments. I roll my eyes and Vincent ignores him, following me upstairs to my room. I lay Mya down in her crib, her eyes shut as she sleeps and walk to my room. Vincent sits down in my office chair and I go to the bathroom, grabbing the first aid kit. Stepping back over to Vincent, I tilt his face up and open the first aid kit, cleaning up his wounds and placing bandages over them. My fingers skim over his bruised cheek and he flinches back. My eyes move to his and I give him a concerned look.

    "Does that hurt?" I ask. He doesn't say anything, so I take it as a yes and move on. Lifting his hands, I clean his split knuckles and place smaller band-aids over them. He stays perfectly still, his eyes glued on me as I aid his wounds. "Thank you...for sticking up for me," I whisper softly, my eyes meeting his gaze.