“Excuse me?” AJ asked, not sure if he had heard her correctly.

 “You heard me, I didn’t stutter.”

 “You bitch!” Leigh yelled.

 Michelle turned to face her. “I feel the same way about you.” Turning back to AJ, she poked her finger into his chest.

 “I hate you, I hate your fucking friends and my son is not yours.” She started laughing insanely. “In fact, I don’t know who the hell the father is!”

 “But we slept together! He’s mine!” AJ insisted.

 “No we didn’t you idiot! You passed out two minutes after I put you on the couch. I just hung around until Nicky here showed up so I could make my point. The truth is I wouldn’t have even wasted any more time on you if it wasn’t for that kid.”

 Everyone was stunned. They knew Michelle was a complete loser but no one thought that she would sink that low.

 The doorbell rang breaking the silence.

 “And now I won’t have to waste one more second.” Michelle said, staggering to the door. “Pack my son up now!”

 AJ stood rooted in his spot on the floor. His heart was breaking into a million pieces and he couldn’t even move. This little boy that he had loved for more than a year wasn’t his. It was like some cruel joke was being played on him and he could only hope Michelle was coming back down the hall to tell him that she was just playing some sick joke.

 “Get my son now!” Michelle yelled, coming back down. Claudia was following behind her and not looking up to meet any of their faces.

 “Please don’t do this Michelle.” Denise pleaded as she came downstairs. She had heard the whole conversation from Ryan’s room. “Please don’t take Ryan.”

 Michelle turned to face her. “Ya know what? I’m not gonna miss you either. Saint Denise who thinks she’s such a good parent. I can’t stand being around you. Go get my son!”

 “Let him stay Michelle.” Howie implored, trying to reason with her. “Why don’t you go with Claudia and come back tomorrow? We can figure this out then.”

 “No fucking way! He’s my kid and he’s coming with me!”

 Michelle dragged Claudia passed Denise and upstairs. They came back down a few minutes later with a bag and the baby.

 “Please don’t do this Michelle. I’m begging you. Whatever you want, I’ll do it.” AJ said practically down on his knees. At that moment, he would go to hell and back and promise whatever he needed to in order to keep his son.

 “No. Get out of my way.”

 “No, he’s my son and I’m not letting you leave.” AJ yelled starting to get angry.

 “Yes, I am and you can’t do anything about it. He’s not your son and if you don’t get out of my way, I’ll call the cops.”

 “You’re drunk off your ass!” Nick yelled. “You think they’re going to let you leave with a kid?”

 “Claudia is leaving with us and she’s perfectly sober.” Michelle replied. She put her finger to her mouth and tapped her nail against her lip. “In fact, that cute one that works this neighborhood could actually be one of the candidates for dad!”

 Everyone in the room was ready to kill Michelle. She was pure evil. Anyone who could put someone through this amount of pain and then take pleasure from it was just sick.

 “So call the cops AJ. Your name’s not even on the birth certificate. How’re you going to prove that Ryan’s yours?”

 AJ stood there still not comprehending what was going on. He wanted to refuse to let her leave but what was he going to do when she called the police. Claudia was the one leaving with Ryan and he didn’t have a leg to stand on if Michelle told them he wasn’t the father.

 “Let’s go.” Michelle said pulling Claudia towards the door.

 AJ wanted to reach out and grab her but she pulled out her phone and started dialing 911. “Don’t even think about it AJ!”

 They all watched as Michelle and Claudia left with Ryan. No one knew what to do. They started arguing about whether or not to call the police themselves or to have someone follow them back to Claudia’s. Nick finally turned to AJ to ask him what he wanted when he noticed that AJ was no longer there.

“Where the hell did he go?” Howie asked. A door suddenly slamming from downstairs answered his question.