After: I'm Not Leaving Without Ashley
Nick
I have broken down exactly three doors in my lifetime.
The first was on tour with the Backstreet Boys in 1999, on a bus somewhere in Nebraska while playing football with AJ, which Kevin had told us repeatedly not to do on the buses. AJ threw the ball and I was going long and I tripped over a Nintendo controller I'd left laying on the floor and I smashed backwards through the bathroom door and ended up flat on my back in the bathroom, the door in splinters from my fat ass having crashed through it.
The second door was the door to my attic in 2002, when I'd gone up there to get my weed, which I stashed in a hole in a rafter, and I'd managed to lock myself up there. I'd spent about fifteen minutes trying to jimmy the lock with a coat hanger before I let out a battle cry like I was Mel Gibson in Bravehart and charged at it from the top of the stairs. I managed to not only break the door, but also sprained my ankle as I missed the last couple steps and more fell through the door than anything else.
The third door was Ashley's apartment door.
I charged through the broken pieces of the door, seized Chris by the back of his neck and slammed him into the wall so hard the wind was knocked out of him. Ashley was crouched in the corner, I could hear her crying. I punched the wall beside Chris's head. "Get your fucking hands off of her," I bellowed. I have never been so charged with anger and adrenaline as I was at that moment.
Chris blinked my spittle out of his eyes and tried to catch his breath. He clearly had not been expecting my arrival. His eye twitched.
I stepped back and turned to Ashley. She had a bloody nose, her lip was swollen, and there were dark spots on her arm that would develop into bruises. "Holy shit," I whispered. I knelt beside her, "Are you okay?"
She looked up at me, there was some blood in her mouth, discoloring her lower teeth, her eyes were slightly unfoucused, she sobbed, "I made a mistake," she cried.
I heard Chris behind me, moving, and I turned just as he sprang towards me, trying to catch me off guard. But instead, I blocked him, deflected him, and his own speed worked in my advantage. He fell to the side. I stood quickly, pulling him up by the coller of his shirt, and I shouted, "You piece of god damn shit!" I pushed him into the wall by the kitchen, his head hit a shelf and like twelve little Precious Moments figurines hit the floor, their heads rolling in various directions. Their bodies crunched under our feet. "I fucking gave her away to you and you break her?!" I slammed him again, his head again hitting the shelf. "You fucking coward!!! You were supposed to take care of her!"
Chris struggled out of my grasp, spun so he was facing me a few feet away, panting. He glowered at me. "This is not any of your fucking business. This is between me and my wife."
"She's not your wife anymore," I snarled.
"Leave," he growled.
I shook my head, "I'm not leaving without Ashley."
Chris charged at me.
Ashley
My stomach hurt. I let out a gasp, but I don't think either of the boys heard me. Things were breaking all over the apartment, they were like two bulls in a China shop. Things were crashing all around.
"Nick!" I yelled.
He didn't hear me.
My eyes were blurry. I couldn't quite tell where they were. They were just thumping noisy giants to me from where I lay. I spit out the blood in my mouth and clutched my stomach. "Oh Jesus," I groaned. "Nick! Chris!" One of them had to respond. I reached for the table top, my hands shaking. I pulled myself to my feet unsteadily. "Nick!" I screamed.
He dropped his fists.
Nick was suddenly at my side, Chris was spitting and puffing across the room. Nick wrappd his arms around me, holding me up. "What's the matter? I'm here, right here."
As he asked the words, my water broke.
All over his feet.
I looked up at him.
"I think I'm having the baby," I said.
Story Notes:
This is the third story in the Nick & Dogface series, featuring LAUNCH and LANDING.
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