Breathing

Chapter 42:

"I can't believe you are getting married." Kiera said, grabbing my hand for the hundredth time today to look at my ring. I looked up at Aiden, who was nervously fidgeting when she looked back excitedly at him.

"Where is your better half anyway?" Aiden asked, reaching into the basket of chips before dipping it into the salsa on his plate. He took a big bite and chips flew from his mouth as he talked.

"He had to finish up at the studio. He should be here any minute." I said, following Aiden's lead and dug into the basket for a handful to load onto my plate. I was so glad Aiden had decided on a Mexican restaurant for our double date night; I was tired of pizza.

On cue, Kiera and Aiden looked up and I saw Ezra out of the corner of my eye. He smiled and leaned down to kiss me before sliding into the booth next to me. He wrapped his arm around me.

"Sorry I'm late." He apologized. "The producer was a lunatic. I had to record 100 takes before he put together something the resembled music." Ezra reached over to my plate. He wasn't shy about shoving his mouth full of my chips. "What did I miss?"

"Wedding talk." Aiden said, rolling his eyes. Ezra laughed, almost choking.

"Has she talked you into wearing a dress yet?" He asked Aiden.

"Not happening." Aiden said, returning the smile. It was a little unconventional, but Aiden agreed to be the Man of Honor for our wedding. JD was going to be Ezra's best man. If someone would have told me three months ago when Ezra walked back into my life that we would be here now, I would have died laughing and asked which padded cell they wanted to live in.

"So, have you heard from the psycho bitch lately?" Kiera asked, dipping her chip in Aiden's salsa.

Jenna didn't go down without a fight. Ezra had to get a new number and even then, she always seemed to track him down. She showed up to his work one night and tried to throw herself at him. He called the cops on her when she wouldn't leave. She found out where we were living and keyed the word slut into my car. I even saw her one day when I took Jessa to the park. I think the last one was a coincidence because she was with some guys and looked like she was trying to score. Sex or drugs, maybe both. I couldn't tell the difference.

When she saw me, she walked right up to me and started spewing her hate right in front of Jessa. I had to shield the little girl's ears from the nasty words she was saying. She looked down at my hand over Jessa's ears and saw the ring shining on my finger.

"He's fucking marrying you?" Jenna spat in disbelief. Her bloodshot eyes were wide. She smelled like she hadn't showered in weeks. The once stunning woman looked like she had aged twenty years under the weight of her addiction. She had spiraled and I wondered what step was below rock bottom. That was where she was right now.

"Give it to me." She said and reached out to try to rip the ring off my hand. She caught Jessa's hair in the process, which threw her to the ground. I saw red and tackled her junkie ass to the ground and started punching her in the face. I only stopped when I realized my little girl was still on the ground crying for me.

I grabbed Jessa up and saw she had a cut on her face from the fall. There were dirt and rocks covering the wound. It took everything I had not to strangle Jenna as she laid on the ground bleeding. She had hurt my little girl. One of the park attendants rushed over to us and had called the cops. Jenna ran before they got there, but I still filed a police report.

Ezra wanted to go after her when he found out she hurt Jessa. I had to hold him down for hours while he was shaking in anger. Angry Ezra was terrifying. He would have killed her if she crossed his path after that day.

I was able to get a restraining order filed. We had enough threats and vandalism to have a rock-solid case. Once we added the pictures of Jessa's cut face, the judge signed it without hesitation. Jenna was legally supposed to stay out of our lives and if she came around us again, she would be arrested.

"No, she's been MIA since the restraining order." I told Kiera.

"Do you think she will stop?" Aiden asked, concerned.

"I'm not sure." Ezra said, triggered by the conversation. He took his hand and placed it in mine for comfort. I squeezed it tightly to let him know I was here for him. "She's unpredictable when she's sober. She is even worse when she is using."

"I can't believe you almost married her." Kiera jumped in. Poor Kiera didn't have a lot of tact. Ezra has spent enough time with her to know this, so he didn't seem too caught off guard by her statement.

"I was fresh out of rehab when we got together. I was still missing Riley and was trying to move on. Jenna was nice to me at the time. I was looking for something to fill the void Riley left and never could. Jenna and I would have never made it. I love this beautiful woman sitting next to me too much to have ever let her go." Ezra kissed my shoulder and I lifted my hand to rub his cheek.

"You're getting really soft in your old age. Time to start practicing the big hair band power ballads." Aiden said, laughing through sips of his iced tea.

"Bite your tongue. I can still kick your ass." Ezra said, throwing a chip at him and hit him right between the eyes.

"Be careful old man. You might break a hip." Aiden threw a sugar packet at him.

The boys were having a full-fledged food fight at the table. Kiera and I gave up trying to stop them a few seconds in.

The waiter came over to take our orders and looked appalled when he saw the chips and various packets of sauce and sugar all over the table. The boys apologized and began picking up the mess before the waiter took our order.

I was glad we had decided to get out of the house tonight. It was nice having some adult company instead of sitting home eating popcorn and watching cartoons. Well, immature adult company was better than nothing.