The Princess and The Game's Rebel (Book 2)

Breaking Point

|Stephanie's POV|

I watched as Zach left the house, completely disregarding what I just told him to do. Jamie and Izzy stood there staring. Izzy was first to speak.

"Mom, do you want me to..."

I held up my hand. I could handle this just fine without any interference.

"No, it's fine. You two can head upstairs. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," they replied.

They each gave me a hug as they headed upstairs. At least someone was listening to me tonight. Now time to go deal with my hothead of a son.

I think back to finding out about Zach. Was I upset? Not at all. Paul's life before me was his life before me, as was mine. It's not as if he knew about Zach because he would've been involved in his life from the very start. I wish we would've been with him in his early years. I love Izzy as my own and my feelings for Zach are no different.

His routine in Florida is completely different than what we have in place here. He had more freedom with his mother. For the most part, he's been able to talk himself out of a lot when it comes to Paul and I. I know my husband and I know he feels guilty for not being in Zach's life. Still, he can't let his teenage son walk all over him and think rules don't apply. He's about to be in for a rude awakening because I'm fed up.

I walked outside and at first I didn't see him. I then heard music coming from the side of the house. There he was, sitting by a tree, eyes closed.

"Zach," I said, getting his attention.

He opened his eyes and looked towards me. He didn't say anything. I made my way over to him and stood in front of him. I am in no mood to sit out here, in the dark.

"It's late and it's dark. Get up and come back inside."

"I don't feel like it."

"Zachary, I didn't ask what you felt like doing. I told you to get up and come in the house."

"Ma, just leave me alone."

I stood there for a few seconds and he still didn't budge.

"Okay, have it your way."

I moved closer to him, picked up his phone with one hand and grabbed him by his ear with the other. He immediately started whining.

"Ma, ma! Ouch! Okay, okay!"

"Nope, you had your chance to go inside on your own free will. Now we're doing it my way."

I dragged him by his ear and drug him back to the house. Paul was coming down the stairs as we came back inside. I watched as his eyes darkened. Nothing pissed Paul off more than someone making me upset.

"What's going on?" he asked.

I watched as he looked at his watch. Before he said something about the time, I held up my hand.

"Zachary is having a listening issue tonight and is being a tad bit disrespectful for my liking. He just needs a one on one reminder of who I am."

Paul didn't say anything. I finally let Zach's ear go. He sighed in relief and started rubbing it.

"Let's try this again. I was going to talk to you in the living room, but you can actually go to the office. We'll be right there."

"Okay, okay. I'm going."

He still had that attitude. I could hear it in his voice. I went to grab his ear again and in return, he tried to side step me. I just grabbed the other one.