Chapter 54

MELISSA'S POV
"Don't fucking stand there and stare at me! I asked you a question, Who was that man that just brought you back home?!" It was way too early in the morning for anyone to be drunk but Ken always found a way to do things people wouldn't intentionally do.
Fear was hastily making it's way into my system as I struggled to respond, "He just came to drop the kids off cause Mel asked him to" I tried to get him to understand but the alcohol was setting in too far, I wasn't getting true.
Ken waved his hand in front of my face and i braced myself before the slap connected, it felt like my lip had been torn from the force of the slap and when I felt it, I realized it actually had.
"Do you think you can lie to me?! What the hell do you take me for, Melissa?!" He was screaming at this point, my eyes darted towards the door, the kids could probably hear him shouting and prayed they were asleep.
I made yet another attempt to pacify him, "There's nothing going on between us, nothing at all. Please believe me, Ken!" I yelled as I withdrew from him slowly. My lip had been cut from the slap and it was stinging so badly, I needed to calm him down.
I walked slightly to the side of the bed and screamed as I stepped on a piece or even more, I wasn't sure, of broken glass. A quick glance to the floor, I realized he had broken the lamp on the bed stand and my dressing table mirror was shattered all over the table and of course, the floor.
Ken started yelling again, "Where did you go to with that man, Melissa?!" He shouted as he made attempts to cross the bed to where I was. Unlike me, he was wearing shoes but he wasn't careful like I wasn't either.
With blood dripping from the cut underneath my foot where the glass I had cut, I ran from the other side of the bed and made my way straight to the door. I saw the kids standing outside as soon as I emerged from the room and I ran towards them screaming,
"Get your brother, Stacey! Let's go!" My daughter didn't wait for me to repeat the command, she grabbed her brother's hand and dashed down the hall. Ken had been out of control before but this was off the charts, I had two thoughts in my mind as I raced down the hall after my kids.
Firstly, I had to get them out of the house before he hurt them again and secondly, I wouldn't be begging my husband to not beat my head off after he had beaten my children if I hadn't gone out with Daniel Fletcher.
STACEY'S POV
The car ride out of the school was both uncomfortable and trying. Uncomfortable, cause I had to sit with Frankie after I had done what I did. Trying, cause I had to stop Maddie from asking Frankie if he was the blue eyes kid I was in love with. Love? I wouldn't call it love but Maddie most definitely would.
I couldn't wrap my head around why mum had asked Aunt Amber to pick us up and why we had ended up with Daniel Fletcher. There are some times, Adults would bring up strange topics or just start talking about the most random stuff and wouldn't even give two thoughts about who was listening in on their conversation, Daniel Fletcher was one of those topics and Jay Harley was mostly one of those random stuffs.
It would have been crazy if I didn't know a thing or two about the two people I just mentioned, so there you have it, I had some information about Daniel Fletcher that the rest of the kids didn't have. For starters, he had a huge crush on mum, I'm using had here cause I don't know if he still had it.
"How's your mum, Stace?" Speak of the devil. I pulled myself out if my head and tried to focus on our driver/ my mum's admirer. Before I could answer, Maddie did,
"She's alright, Mr Fletcher. How are you?" She asked with the brightest smile I had seen that day. He couldn't possibly see her from the front right? Oh, mirrors. Smart girl.
Daniel chuckled, "Thanks Maddie, I'm alright too" he answered and went back to driving. Maddie shot me a look and I giggled, we might have another admirer on our hands.
The house was eerily quiet as Daniel parked in front of it, the car was too. We had driven to the Swift's house and dropped the triplets off first, according to Daniel, it was better for him since his house was on the way to ours. It was an obvious strategy but I didn't say anything, mum needed a new breath of air.
"Hi, Mrs Duke" Daniel greeted with a smile on his face and I wondered how a man could be so beautiful. Jay Harley was the same too, had beautiful blue eyes and a smile that was way too similar to the triplet's.
I saw a myriad of feelings flood Mum's face as she walked out of the house, it was obvious she wasn't expecting him but she didn't exactly look mad about it. In all honesty, she looked glad to see him and I won't lie, I was confused. In all their gossips, Mum had always acted like she would kill Daniel Fletcher if he appeared in front of her. Then why was she smiling so much? Was there something I was missing?
The door of my room creaked open slowly and I turned on the light knowing it would only be mum,
"How was your date, Mama?" I asked hurriedly getting off the bed. I was way too excited to hear about the date she had had with the infamous Daniel Fletcher. But why was she quiet? Why haven't seen turned on the light yet?
"Melissa isn't in this house?" My heart stopped. It wasn't mum.