Love In The Fast Lane Part 27

"Nathan Wolfe?" Brielle's traitorous heart thundered in her chest.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Tell him to go and drive himself as fast as he can, off a cliff."

"Yes, ma'am." She almost thought she saw the straight-laced guard smirk.

She closed the door and heard a small scuffle outside. A few minutes later his mustang roared to life and his wheels spun as he hurdled down the road. Maybe he actually was going to drive off a cliff she could only hope.

The rest of the day continued very much the same. Paparazzi pretending to be pizza delivery or door-to-door sales people, all in an attempt to get a photo of Brielle or Noah. The phone didn't stop ringing either. Nate called at least six times, every time Emma telling him to shove off in a creatively different way.

When Brielle got to work the next morning, the drama was starting to wind down thankfully. Noah was a little calmer but remained quiet, possibly a.s.sessing the situation in his five-year-old brain. It broke her heart that he was going through this but he had to hurt before he could mend. There wasn't anything she could do to make an easy fix for him.

Lucky for Brielle, her day turned out to be very busy, giving her little time to think about the maelstrom that was currently her life. At midday she needed a breather and popped out to the coffee shop across the street. She was just about to open the door to the deli when she heard a voice behind her.

"Brielle, wait."

She turned to look into Nate's hard green eyes.

"What do you want?"

"Why are you avoiding me?"

"Can you only guess why?" she retorted coldly.

"I didn't do this."

"Then who did?"

"I don't know!" he ran his fingers through his already mussed up hair. "I didn't lie to you Brielle."

"Then how does the whole world know our dirty laundry, Nathan? You used me like a common tramp!" she hissed. "And how could you put Noah in a position like this? Did you stop for one second to think about your child?"

"I keep trying to talk to you and Noah but your d.a.m.n guard dog won't let me through.

"Good, because we don't want you around."

"I want to see Noah."

"I speak for both of us."

"Why are you doing this Bree?"

"YOU did this Nathan! You planned this from the beginning. You told me you didn't know about Noah six years ago and now you and Mena!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't act dumb. I spoke to her six years ago and she said you weren't interested in being a father and now you want to file for full custody! Seriously? What the f.u.c.k?"

Nate looked like she'd slapped him. "I didn't know about Noah."

"I don't believe anything you say anymore, Nate. I will see you in court on Friday. Till then, talk to my lawyer and leave me the h.e.l.l alone!"

When the judge ruled, Nate felt like he was nailing his son in a coffin. Brielle was granted custody, which Nate fully supported. He never wanted to take that away from Brielle. She'd taken care of their son for five years on her own and she'd done a great job of it. She'd also graciously opened her home for Nate to get to know Noah, no questions asked. So, why the f.u.c.k did she think that he wanted to pull Noah away from her?

Nate was still stunned. How had everything turned to s.h.i.+t in an instant? Brielle's words swirled around his head. What did Mena have to do with any of this? What the f.u.c.k was going on? Any why was he the only one in the G.o.d d.a.m.n dark?

He'd dialed Mena's cell number repeatedly but it went straight to voicemail each time. He'd gone to see her at her office but she was always in meetings. He needed answers.

The media made him out to be the one who was wronged by Brielle but he felt like a cretin. How the h.e.l.l was he supposed to fix this when he didn't even know how it got broke?

The judge had awarded Nate visitation with Noah and he'd scheduled the first session for the following week as it coincided with the school mid-term break. Brielle was not pleased, not at all. Gone was the free-spirited minx that he'd shared his bed with, had wanted to maybe share his life with, instead she was hostile and cold and looked ready to cut off his nuts and feed them to him on barbed wire.

On his way out of the courtroom, he saw Brielle standing with Emma and Noah. He walked toward them but the two women closed ranks around Noah and walked him out of the courthouse. The little boy turned around to glance at Nate, his green eyes flat and forlorn. Something foreign inside of him stirred and cracked at the pain behind the boy's eyes.

The media outside was crazy, blinding him with camera flashes and hitting him in the face with the microphones. When he eventually got into his car, he drove straight to Mena's office. Today he would not take no for an answer. He would camp outside her building if he had to.

He barged into her building and bypa.s.sed the receptionist who was hot on his heels.

"Mr. Wolfe! You can't go in there without an appointment."

"Well pencil me in sweetheart 'cause I'm here now."

He threw open Mena's door with a flair.

"Nate," she jumped. "What a surprise!"

He closed the door behind him, purposely shutting the mousey receptionist out.

"What brings you here today?" She walked around the desk to lean against it.

"You know d.a.m.n well why I'm here," his blood was boiling. "I watched the statement that you issued this week, without my consent!"

"It was a necessary evil, Nate. I'm here to protect your image, your reputation and that's exactly what I was doing. I was doing damage control."

"By telling the press that I was filing for full custody? That I didn't know about my child? That Brielle kept this from me on purpose?"

"Nathan," she touched his arm and he recoiled. She looked as though he'd burned her. "I was stating what was the inevitable. You did not in fact know about your child until a few months ago so why are you acting like I did you a disservice?"

"I trusted you for years, Mena. I trusted you with managing my career and my life and you f.u.c.ked me over."

"Nate, you're over reacting."

"Am I? Did you tell Brielle Woods six years ago that I was not interested in being a father?"

Her face fell in shock and guilt. "Nate, you get women calling me every day claiming to carry your unborn child. I-"

"You made a life-changing decision for me Mena. One I did not ask you to make. Because of you I missed Noah's birth. I missed his first tooth. I missed his first step. f.u.c.k! I missed his first five years of his life! You can't give that back to me!"

"Nate, you always said you never wanted to have kids. You said your father was a p.i.s.s poor example, that you didn't have anyone to teach you better."

"Well, it turns out that that changed. I was a G.o.d d.a.m.n decent father up until this s.h.i.+t hit the fan and I f.u.c.ked my child over."

"Nate, I did it for you. I thought it was the best decision for you."

"And you were wrong. What other amazing decisions have you made without my knowledge? Do I have a Russian wife that you paid off or silenced?"

"Nate, I'm sorry, I didn't think-"

"Yeah, you didn't think. You crossed a line and I can't go back. You're fired."

"Nate, you can't!"

"I can, I just did." He turned on his heel, anger still flaring. "Stay away from me and my family. I never want to see you again."

Brielle was so glad that Noah had a school field trip for the weekend. The school planned for them to stay on an animal farm a few hours' drive away so that they could learn about animals and their care. The timing was perfect because Noah had been so withdrawn after the recent mess and this retreat was just what he needed. She still could not believe the judge had granted Nate visitation. Why could n.o.body else see him for the lying creep that she did? She kicked herself every second for even allowing him into Noah's life. How could she have been so foolish? She had been so smitten with his good looks and his charm, to both her and Noah, and she had been in a spin until he dropped her flat on her face.

She sighed out loud, the pain still fresh in her heart. She needed to pick up the pieces and move on now. There was no room for the one person pity party she was currently throwing. She had to just put on her big girl panties and get on with it.

Against her better judgement, she'd allowed Nate into their lives. She had no one else to blame but herself.

Emma had gone back home that morning and Brielle suddenly felt very lonely. She poured herself a gla.s.s of wine and sat herself on Noah's swing in the backyard. The paparazzi were thankfully AWOL leaving her with the peace of the night. She took a long gulp and thought back to when she'd met Nate, how she was so unfazed by his celebrity and how he'd seemed like just a regular guy. She remembered him telling her he never wanted children and yet he had become a good father to Noah, teaching him things in one weekend that she probably never would have gotten around to teaching him in years. The anger was pa.s.sing and now the disappointment was settling in. That was a harder emotion for her to swallow.

She could be angry and fiery and want to bring down the gates of h.e.l.l, but the disappointment came from a place of hope and expectation and it was not a feeling she handled well. She guessed that Nate would still be a good father to Noah; the public scrutiny was not against their son, it was against her. And that's where her disappointment stemmed from. She hadn't realized it till that moment but she had been holding out hope that they could one day be a real family. They got along so well as a couple and as a unit, she'd hoped that her dream could one day be fulfilled. To be a more stable ent.i.ty for their son. She wasn't getting any younger and raising a child as a single parent was difficult at best. She'd just hoped that she, too, could find a man that would hold her hand through the lonely nights and be her shoulder when she needed him.

She took another long gulp, feeling her skin warm up. If she couldn't have a man, then she would have wine.

Lucky for her she had never been the type of female to burst out the waterworks at every down-trodden moment. Life had dealt her a hard hand early on in life and she didn't sit around, messing up her mascara over a few hard knocks. She'd cried the day she was orphaned and she'd cried the day her son was born. Both significant moments of change in her life. Not a day before, after or in between. She was sad right now, but she would not cry.

Life was not over.

CHAPTER 19.

WHEN NOAH CAME HOME THE next day he looked in better spirits. The solitude of the farm and the simplicity of the animals had almost healed his little soul.

"Mom, there was a pig there and he had the biggest snout I've ever seen."

"How many snouts have you seen before that one?"

"Well," he thought a moment. "None, but you know what I mean. And there was a pony, Momma. He had a swishy tail that looked like Aunt Emma's hair at the beach."

Brielle smiled. "Don't ever let her hear you say that."

She watched his jade eyes gleam with excitement as he continued his story of the farm animals, recounting the moo of the cows and the quack of the ducks. His stories continued well into the evening during dinner and bath time. When Brielle called lights out, he rolled over and was out like a light in minutes.

The next morning Noah was particularly difficult to get out of bed. Brielle was already dressed and ready to get to work, but Noah refused to budge. She figured it was a combination of his exhaustive recollection of his trip the previous night and the knowledge that he was on school break that kept him firmly planted in bed.

"Come on, kiddo," she prompted the sleepy child. "Your dad's going to be here any minute."

The thought of Nate put a sour taste in her mouth.

"Everything hurts," he groaned and rolled over.

"Well that's what you get for rolling in the dirt and chasing the cows and pigs."

He managed a small smile as Brielle prompted him out of bed.

He was just brus.h.i.+ng his hair when Nate pulled up with a roar in his mustang. That d.a.m.n car was a beast. Her palms started to sweat and she chided her body for its betrayal.

"Hi," she greeted cooly when she answered the door, her gaze not quite meeting his.

"Hi," he repeated.

Noah walked toward the front door, still in a sleepy haze, yawning widely.

"He's had an eventful weekend," she explained to Nate. "So, expect some fatigue."

He nodded his acknowledgement, his expression sombre.

"You be a good boy now, Sweetheart," she kissed his head and walked out the door with them. "Call me later, ok Lovebug?"

Noah nodded and hugged Brielle before getting into Nate's car.

Her heart squeezed at the sight of Nate taking Noah away from her. She knew it was a court agreement but the picture did not sit well with her nonetheless. She knew that Noah was exhausted from the weekend but the sad, distant look on his face hurt her, too.

Tonight would be another lonely night without her child. Another night for the Brielle Woods pity party for one. Another night with her red wine and the night breeze. Another night she would not be looking forward to.

Not at all.

Not one bit.

Nate was once again battling to accommodate Noah's new emotional s.h.i.+ft. The child looked pale and withdrawn and he could only imagine what was going through his five-year-old brain. He'd brought him to the penthouse the night before and he'd played some Xbox with Nate before nibbling on his dinner and cras.h.i.+ng for an early night.

When he'd woken up that morning, he'd crawled out of bed with half an eye open and had slogged through the rest of the day, not wanting to engage in any of the activities that Nate had suggested.

"What's wrong buddy?" he prompted the sullen child, taking in his mottled skin and sunken eyes. "You missing home? Do you want to go back?" He remembered the last time Noah had slept over and what a disaster that had turned out to be. He desperately hoped that this would not be a repeat episode. He couldn't handle the feeling of failure at having to take him back to Brielle.

He shook his head no.

"Are you upset about all the news reports?"

His expression looked confused as though he didn't know what was to be upset about it. He shook his head again.