Confrontation Ch. 03

She looked up at her wall clock, it was already 10:00pm. She had put Jonas to sleep two hours ago and had gone through her nightly ritual. She thought of going to sleep already, it didn't seem like he would be coming anyways.

With that thought in mind she made her way to her bedroom.

She had barely gotten there when the roar of an engine reached her ears. She paused in her footsteps as she listened on; the sound of the engine died down and then there was the sound of a car door opening and shutting.

She retreated to the living room when she heard the sharp knock. She stopped, suddenly feeling that fear that had plagued her since last night wash over her again. She considered going into her bedroom and ignoring the knock. She would have to wait a few more days for the coming confrontation, but it would be worth it if he would be a little calmer in the end, right now, letting him in still seemed dangerous.

The knock came again, this time harder.

Her mind was made up.

She did a 180 to return to her room, lock up her door and hide under her duvet until he was gone.

As though he had read her mind, she barely turned round when a harder knock came , this time with a voice to go with it, "Open the door Rhea, I know you're awake, your lights are on...I can even hear you breathing. You know we need to talk so just open up."

She knew the part about him hearing her breathing was a lie, but it still sounded true. She ran to the door and unlocked it, better to get it over with once and for all.

With a deep breath she opened the door and looked up at his imposing size. He wasn't frowning as hard as she imagined he would be, but he was frowning hard enough to make her shudder. He was glaring at her like he was daring her to shut the door in his face or refuse him entry in some way.

All she did was step out of the way and open the door wider, he stepped in without speaking.

"You'll need to keep your voice down, Jonas is asleep." She said quietly.

"Of course, I wouldn't want to have my son threatening me with a pole again, now would I?" he asked sarcastically.

She was silent to that, what could she say?

Seeing that she wasn't going to pick up from where he left, he chose to be more direct in his words, "You couldn't even call?"

She looked away under the intense scrutiny of his stare. In all honesty, when she made the decision not to call him she had been acting solely based on her emotions, not her head or not what was right for their son, it was selfish. But somehow within those five years, she had managed to convince herself that she had made the right decision. Coming back home had brought on the full weight of a little friend called 'doubt', suddenly her perfect decision didn't seem so perfect, and the thought of repercussions got her nervous.

He continued, at this point he didn't care if she replied or not, he was determined to make her feel as guilty as he felt cheated and deprived, "how much does it cost to make one phone call in Kansas or even send a text? How hard was it to tell me you were pregnant or that you had put to bed or that he had taken his first steps, spoken his first words, you should've fucking called on his first day of school, how hard was that Rhea?" he asked, his voice just a notch higher, but not loud enough to awaken Jonas.

"I didn't mean to not tell you" she finally spoke.

"What did you mean? Cos it looks to me like you could've gone on until he was twenty-one before you even introduced us. Now I have my son looking at me like I'm some kind of criminal..." he trailed off and shook his head as he stood akimbo.

Rhea waited for whatever else he had to say, in her head she was thankful he wasn't screaming at her- then again, that could just be because he didn't want to interrupt Jonas' sleep, not because he was considering her even slightly.

"Is that his name? Jonas?"

She surely didn't expect that question, which caused her to look up into his face. She noted how ruggedly handsome he looked tonight, with his hair a bit shaggy like he had taken off his Stetson in a hurry. She was suddenly more aware of little facts like she had no underwear on and he could probably see her nipples poking through the fabric of her shirt, then there was that really annoying throbbing....

"Yes."

He nodded, "Does he like comic books?"

Another unexpected question. Who was she to complain? This was going much better than she had imagined.

"Just Star Wars and Batman."

Mitch laughed. It was the first genuine laugh she had ever heard from him, not one of those cocky things he did, and it sounded good; it was deep and rich.

"Oh, so he's a nerd." Mitch commented. He thought how hilarious it would be for a total jock like him to father a nerd, or even a dork.

She smiled, "He's not a nerd, he just likes science and technology."

Mitch nodded, he didn't quite agree with her as far as Jonas being a nerd went, he might not be fully into it, but there were traits. He personally had nothing against intelligence, but he was a believer of equality too, there was no reason why Jonas couldn't be a little of a nerd and a jock- he definitely would make a very handsome nerd even if he said so himself.

"Jonas." He repeated to his own hearing, Rhea might have made a ton of bad decisions concerning their son, but he did like the name Jonas- he couldn't help but wonder if she was inspired by the boy band, but that was a question for another night.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He said and then turned to leave

It took a while for Rhea to register his words because she had been too caught up in wondering why he was leaving so peacefully, but when it registered, she corrected him, "Not tomorrow Mitch, we're going out."

Mitchell stopped, going out? How long had they been here and they were already going out? He thought it didn't mean much, probably just a get-together with Lynn and her family, her daughter was close to Jonas' age.

"Say hi to Lynn for me then."

"It's not with Lynn." She didn't even know why she was telling him.

When he turned around, his eyes rid of the happy gleam they had had only minutes ago, she truly wished she had just let him go home believing they were going out with Lynn.

"Who's it with then?" the warning bells were already going off in his head, he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but with Rhea he couldn't help but think there was a man involved. He knew it really shouldn't be his problem, it's not like he and Rhea were dating or anything, but he chose to make everything concerning her his problem, she was the mother of his child and anything that involved her surely involved Jonas.

She shook her head, "No one you know." She thought that should be enough to drop the subject- how wrong she was.

"Tell me then." He insisted as he stepped away from the door, his own way of telling her his interest had been piqued. Her hesitance to tell him who she had plans with confirmed his suspicion that the person in question was male, just the thought that she would be going on what could possibly be a date with some horny dude irked him to no end, did she not understand that she had 'Property of Montgomery' stamped on her?

"Mitchell..."

"Cancel it."

She stared at him as if he had lost his mind. Well he must have if he thought she would just cancel on Jared because he had a problem with it, the sooner he learned she didn't belong to him, the better they would get along, Jonas or not.

"Who do you...?"

"Cancel it!" he said firmly, with a glare that threatened her of grave consequences if she dared to defy him, "And that's not up for discussion." He replied with finality. He walked out and banged the door shut before she could come up with a reply.

Rhea stared at the door for a few extra minutes, totally speechless as she wondered what had just happened. It was only when she heard the revving of the engine and the sound of the car driving off that she was knocked out of her trance.

She rushed to the door, locked up and huffed her way to her bedroom. She wasn't missing out on a good time for nobody, especially not that egotistic, tyrannical jerk.

*****

He knew he shouldn't be doing this. It was wrong on many levels, he had never even thought of doing something this crazy.

He was the dude everyone liked, he didn't need to be doing this kind of shit, this was for psychopathic losers, he was anything but a psychopathic loser. Stalking had never been something he considered doing, yet here he was doing just that. He tried to convince himself that what he was doing was right. That he was trying to protect Rhea and his son just in case she was going on a date with some insane dude.

All he ended up convincing himself about was that he was the crazy dude Rhea and Jonas needed protection from.

He hadn't been able to get a view of the 'date' in question because he had only gotten to her house when they were getting into the SUV, and he hadn't been close enough to see much anyway.

They had been driving for twenty minutes when he finally realized where they were headed, there was an amusement park somewhere around here. He hadn't been there in two years, and after seeing his ex-fiancée giving the dude that manned the candy shop head in the restroom there, it wasn't a place he was eager to see again- well, he didn't have a choice did he? He definitely wasn't turning around.

They finally got to the park, he made sure he didn't park close enough to be seen, but he wasn't so far away he wouldn't get a clear look at them.

He watched Jonas jump out of the car ecstatically, a baseball cap on his head, and couldn't help the pang of jealousy that overwhelmed him. He should be the one taking his son to an amusement park, not some random dude Rhea thought would make a good fuck- not great, just good.

Seeing that smile light up Jonas' face brought a lean smile to his features and made him resolve to do something, anything to bring a smile that bright if not brighter to his son's face, the frown he currently got would just not do.

It made him even more eager to see who this man was, he doubted the kid would be grinning that wide because a stranger was taking him to the amusement park, he had to have known the man beyond today.

Rhea got out next and took Jonas' hand, he felt his breath hitch in his throat. She was...STUNNING. He wasn't even aware of the small growl he let out when he realized Rhea was dressed so sexily for some other dude. He had never seen her look this feminine, there was nothing overtly sexual about her outfit; it was a light blue sundress; the bodice hugged her generous breasts exposing just a little, teasing bit of cleavage, it was cinched at the waist, accentuating the smallness of her waist, the skirt was flared and about three to four inches above her knees showing off those long, beautiful legs he always had wrapped around his waist in his many dreams and fantasies.

Her hair fell to her shoulders in soft ringlets that framed her pretty face, her make-up was light and she had on a pair of sunshades. It wasn't an odd outfit considering the occasion and the time, she could have been wearing an old maid's outfit and he would still feel the demented urge to strangle whichever bastard had HIS woman and HIS child.

As the door to the driver's side opened, he grabbed on to his steering wheel, determined to resist the urge to run over and punch this guy square in his jaw. He wouldn't make a scene here, nothing was worth another 'X' in Jonas' bad book.

He saw the first jean-clad booted foot, a full body followed, but there was no face yet, just a full head of brown hair- the guy was quite tall too, he didn't think he was as tall as he was, but he seemed to be close.

He waited a few more seconds, and then the face came into full view. If he had gripped the steering wheel any tighter, he knew he would have ripped off its leather, but he just couldn't come to terms with what he was seeing. Even with the sunglasses on he would recognize that face from anywhere.

At first he thought his mind was playing tricks on him, so he rubbed his eyes, on opening it, it was still the same person, but how...where...when?

And then the entire conversation came to him, and he highlighted the important words he should've thought harder about after Rhea told him she would be going out today..

Ex-employee...came over to find her place...first date...

Green eyes turned jade, oh hell the fuck no he didn't!

His initial decision to not create a scene long forgotten, Mitch found himself flinging the car door open, getting out, closing it with a loud slam and moving towards the excited party of three with a determination he hadn't felt in years.

He was just a few meters away when Jared turned toward him and gave a genuine smile. He was momentarily disconcerted, not because he didn't expect the smile, after all Jared was probably unaware of the history he and Rhea shared, or the present they were sharing...or the future they would share. Was it really a smart decision to present a sword to your opponent when he had a flower?

For the first time in three days, Mitch decided that anger and violence were probably not the smart pieces to move in this situation.

His anger briefly placed in the backburner, he returned Jared's smile, "Hey 'red, didn't know you would be here." He began once he got to where they stood, he shook Jared.

"Neither did I, what are you here for?" Jared asked, he wasn't exactly thrilled that Mitch would meet Rhea now, but there really was nothing he could do about the situation.

Mitch smiled, "Oh just here to relax and have some fun." He sighed as he glanced around the vicinity, his eyes briefly falling on Rhea and Jonas, he winked at them inconspicuously.

Rhea just stood there staring; she was totally mortified. What the hell was he doing here? Anger didn't even come because she was confused as to how Mitch knew they were here, or how he even knew Jared, how the hell did she end up going out with someone Mitch was apparently friends with? The guy stayed in Kansas for heaven's sake! How did Mitch get to be friends with him? She had a bad feeling the day wouldn't be as good as she had anticipated it after all.

"Oh, hey Rhea." Mitch said like he was just aware of her presence, with a cheery smile that creeped her out.

Jared looked from Rhea to Mitch and back, "You two know each other?" he asked.

'Know each other? We've got a child together!' Mitch thought, "Just old friends, her house isn't far from mine." He replied.

Mitch noted how uncomfortable everyone suddenly looked- well, everyone but Jonas, the kid still seemed suspicious of him. He couldn't help his grin- it was going to be one helluva day if he had anything to say about it.