get a nice place, a nice car to drive and you’re no longer saddled with a life you never wanted in the first place. You can stay out as late as ya want every night and fuck whoever you want to and don’t even have to worry about PTA meetings and fuckin’ kids you never wanted in in the first place. Boo motherfuckin’ hoo. I’m not gonna feel sorry for you.”
Brianna was calm for a moment as she finished her cigarette and extinguished it in the ashtray before she suddenly ran towards Cillian, and began to attack him.
“You arsehole. You fookin’ no good, can’t-keep-it-in-your-pants prick! You fookin’ ruined me life and I fookin’ hate youse for what ya did! I wish we’d never met, Cillian Cox. I wish I’d never laid eyes on youse!”
“Back the fuck up, woman. You don’t wanna see my bad side so you best get control of that temper before I do somethin’ we’ll both regret. The kids will be up soon and I said I would take them to school. Sleep that shit off—whatever the fuck drug is pumpin’ through your system and get a hold of yourself. It’s over. The. Motherfucking. End. Get that through your thick skull, you stupid mick bitch, and if you ever put your hands on me like that again, I will knock you the fuck out, so help me God.”
She slumped to the floor and continued to sob as both Declan and Caitlin ran down the stairs. Cillian looked at the clock and realized it was time to take them to school.
Declan, a mixture of both parents with his good looking features, gray eyes and brown hair looked from his mother to his father and back again. “Dad, is Mom okay?”
“Your mother is gonna be fine, son. She’s just a bit upset and had too much to drink last night, that’s all.”
“Okay.” His son walked towards the kitchen as Caitlin approached Brianna and knelt down.
“Mommy, are you going to be okay?”
His wife embraced their daughter and stroked her dark auburn hair. “Mommy’s gonna be fine but…guess what? You and your brother get to stay with Grandma and Grandpa for a while. Won’t that be fun?”
“Not really. We have to hang out at the Clubhouse with all the other kids and some of their parents are really messed up. They get lousy grades in school and they call Declan and I names because we do our schoolwork.” Caitlin’s hazel-green eyes turned toward Cillian. “Daddy, do we have to go to the Clubhouse?”
“Baby, that’s where I’m gonna be stayin’ for a while so I’ll make sure none of those little bastards talk down to your or Declan.”
His daughter abandoned her mother and walked over to him. “Why are you staying at the Clubhouse, Daddy? Did you and Mommy have another fight?”
“No—actually, yes, we did but…Mommy is gonna go away for a while but she will come back to see you and Declan. She’s picking you up from school so you can say goodbye to her then, okay?”
Caitlin nodded her head, her creamy skin so much like Brianna’s but her complexion was healthy and she glowed with the abundance of youth.
“Okay.”
“Who wants to ride in Daddy’s Ford F-15o?”
“I do!” Declan yelled from the kitchen.
“So do I, Daddy!” Caitlin exclaimed.
He smiled at his daughter and ruffled her hair before both kids followed him to the garage and they all got in his 2014 Ford F-150.
Cillian knew in his heart that sometimes, the hardest issues to overcome were the ones a person never saw coming. He knew he had to end it with Brianna but he wished to God it hadn’t been so fucking hard and he didn’t feel so confused about it.
Twelve years and some change was a long time to spend with anyone, let alone someone you could marginally stand most of the time and other times, felt sorry for, but he couldn’t go back.
This time, Brianna would have to learn how to stand on her own two feet.
Cillian arrived at the Clubhouse shortly after he dropped
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