Forever & Always

21. Problems

It's been 2 days since we came back from holidays now. Me Keira and Kara are currently sat on Keira's sofa watching a movie. Kara is asleep and she's cuddled up to Keira. I can see Keira start to move and I ask her "what are you doing"
"I'm just going to put her to bed" she says as she lift up Kara and walks upstairs. Keira has been a bit distant the past 2 days and I won't know why. I've asked her several times what's wrong but she just keeps saying she's fine. When she went upstairs she left her phone on the sofa and it's blowing up. Message after message after message. I'm a bit suspicious but I choose to trust her and not look. She comes back down and sits back down but at the other side of the sofa. "Your phone was blowing up" I say pointing at it
"Was it" she says as she picks it up and opens it.
She spends the rest of the evening messaging someone and I'm becoming a bit angry because I feel like she hiding something from me. When I look over at her she looks very stressed.
"What's wrong kei" I ask softly and when she look up she has tears brimming her eyes.
"Nothing I'm fine" she said as she goes to get up off the sofa but I grab her hand and I stand up and bring her into a hug and she just breaks down.
I don't say anything for a minute I just try and comfort her until she stop crying. She pulls away and wipes her eyes after a minute.
"What is it" I ask as we sit back on the sofa and I put my hand around her. "It's Adam" she says softly
"Who" I ask confused. "Adam" she says again
"I don't know who that is kei" I say softly
"It's kara's dad" she says almost in a whisper.
"Oh, what has he done" I ask rubbing circles in her back. "Nothing yet" she says sobbing.
"What is it kei please just tell me I'm worried about you" I ask pleading with her
"He wants to see her" she says still crying
"Do you want him to see her" I ask trying to make the situation better. She pulls away from me and looks at me like I've just committed a crime.
"Are you fucking joking me Leah, why the fuck would you ask me that. Obviously I don't want him to see her he's a fucking rapist why would I want a rapist around my child" she shouts as she gets up off the couch. "Kei relax, what are you talking about" I ask very confused as I walk over to her and put my hand on her shoulder. "Don't fucking touch me Leah" she says as she pushes my hand and walks upstairs. I just walk back into the sitting room because I know that she probably wants space. I sit down and put my head in my hands trying to figure out what just happened.
A few minutes pass and I hear footsteps on the stairs so I walk out again hoping it's Keira, and it is but she has Kara with her and a bag. "What are you doing" I ask her in shock. "I'm leaving"
"What, Keira please, what did I do, did I say something, please can we just talk about it" I ask walking over to her but she steps back so I stop.
"It's just for the night, I just need to think about a few things" she says softly. "Ok, if that's what you need" I say softly trying to reassure her. I watch as she walks out the front door and gets in the car and drives away. In that very moment it's like watching my life drive away and I can't do anything about it.
I end up sitting in the sofa for the night worrying about kei. I text her a number of times but she just ignored them all so I decide to text Steph.

Leah
Steph can you ask kei to reply to my message, im really worried about her.

Steph
She's fine Leah go to bed and get some rest.

I don't even reply I just sigh in frustration.
I don't get any sleep because I end up sitting in the sofa all night watching tv. When the sun starts creeping in through the curtains I realise that it's the next day so I get up and drive over to Steph's.

Keira's pov
I run up the stairs and into my bedroom. I grab whatever clothes I can and shove them into a bag. I then go into kara's room and do the same before picking her up out of her bed. "Where are we going mummy" she says still half asleep.
"It's ok darling go back to sleep" I say as I kiss her head and then carry her downstairs.
"What are you doing" Leah asks me as she walks towards me "What are you doing" she ask me
"I'm leaving" I say coldly
"What, Keira please, what did I do, did I say something, please can we just talk about it" She ask walking over to me but I step back so she stops.
"It's just for the night, I just need to think about a few things" I says
"Ok, if that's what you need" she softly.
I walk out to the car and put Kara in the back seat and then get in and drive away. To be honest I'm in no state to drive, I can barely see my eyes are so full of tears. When I get to Steph house I pull into the drive and just sit there for a minute. I then get out and grab Kara and then bag and nock on the door. It's pretty late and I just hope she answers.
Next thing the door swings open and Steph is standing there in her pyjamas.
"Kiera, what are you doing" she asks confused
"Sorry Steph I just can't stay at home tonight" I say as I break down yet again
"Come in" she says as she opens the door for us to walk in. When I get to the living room she takes Kara out of my hand and puts her to bed in the spare room. She then comes back into the living room and sits next to me. She puts her arm around me and just lets me cry into her chest. "What is it kei" she asks once I've stopped crying.
"It's Adam, he wants to see Kara"
"Ok, what have you said to him" Steph asks remaining calm for my benefit.
"I told him that I don't want that and I wasn't going to let it happen and then he started threatening me tell me he was going to come to the England matches this summer and he was going to take her while she went with me" I say as I fall apart in Steph's arms.
"Was this in person kei"
"No over text" I say through cries. Steph just lets me cry for a few more minutes and when I've calmed down she asks "why can't you stay at home kei"
"It's a long story" I say dodging the question
"Stop avoiding it Keira Fae Walsh and tell me" she says sternly
"It's just, he was texting me and Leah saw my phone blowing up and then she got worried and asked me what was going on so I told her that Adam wanted to see Keira and then she asked if I wanted it to happen and I kind of lashed out at her" I say with my head hung low.
"What did you say to her Keira"
"I just started shouting, I said that he was a rapist and why would I want a rapist around my child and then she tried to ask me what I meant by it but I just left" I say ashamed
"Like why would she ask something like that Steph" I say angry
"Keira she has no idea what went on, you chose to hide it from her so how in gods name do you expect her to understand what's going on now, she didn't know what you were talking about and she was probably just trying to comfort you and then you just left her with her hands hanging" she says a bit mad
"You can't be mad at her Keira because you've put yourself in this situation, I know that what happened with Adam was not your fault at all but this situation with Leah is"
"I know" I say ashamed realising what I've done
"You have to tell her kei, otherwise yous won't resolve this" she says in a concerning tone. I don't even reply I just sit there looking at the ground with tears in my eyes. "Ok that enough for one night you need some rest before you do anything else, com on" she says as she grabs my hand and walks me to the spare room "where's Kara" I ask her
"She's fine she's in the other spare room kei, you need some rest without your child kicking you all night ok come on lie down" she says walking me over to the bed, I get in under the covers and look at her.
"If you need me please call me" she says seriously
"I will" I say softly as she walks out of the room and shuts the door. I roll over and do my best to go to sleep but it doesn't happen, I'm awake for the whole night. At some point I roll over and grab my phone to see the time. It's 8:45, just then I hear the door open and Kara come in. "Hi mummy" she says as she jumps on the bed. "Morning darling" I say as I kiss the top of her head. We talk and cuddle for a while until I hear a nock. "Come in" I say and Steph walk in. "Morning"
"Morning"
"How are you feeling" she ask softly
"Better" I say rubbing my eyes
"We'll Leah's downstairs" she says and I look at her wide eyed. When Kara hears this she gets up and runs down the stairs screaming Leah's name.
"Ok tell her I'll be down in a minute"
"Ok" she says softly before she closes the door again.
I get up and put on a hoodie before walking down the stairs. I see Steph standing in the living room so I walk in and then I see Leah sitting in the couch smiling at Kara who's sitting on the floor in front of her. When she sees me she stands up awkwardly not saying anything. "Ok Kara come on let's get some breakfast" Steph says leaving the room with Kara.
I sit down in the sofa and Leah sits on the opposite one. It was silent for a minute before she spoke
"Kei I don't know what happened but if I said something or did something thaen I'm really......"
I cut her off by saying
"Stop......., you didn't do anything" i have my head hung low and I'm looking at the ground
"So what happened kei, I'm really worried about you" she says in a concerned tone
"I'm sorry" is all I can say before I break down. She gets up and then sits next to me. She pulls me close to her and puts a protective arm around me. She gives me a second to calm down.
"Kei if you don't talk to me then we can't fix it, we have to talk to each other"
"It's Adam, like I told you last night he wants to see Kara but I can't let that happen Lee, and I won't let it happen"
"Kei is ok if you don't want that to happen, he has no right to see her" she says reassuring me
"It's not just because I don't want it to happen tho" I say rising my head but refusing to look at her so I just look straight ahead. "Remember when I told you that we were on a team night out and I was chatting to him and then I remember waking up in his bed" I ask and she yeah. "We'll that's not the full story" I say before I go silent for a minute.
"Keira I'm not here to judge you, I'm here to support you and love you no matter what happens ok, so you can talk to and tell me anything" I still stay silent ignoring her
"please Kei I'm really worried about you and I just want to help" she pleads
"I woke up the next morning covered in bruises"
There's silence for a few seconds
"I had them on my wrists and all down my sides and along my back, and he did that" I say as I break down again. She just hold me while I let it all out.
"It's ok, you don't have to tell me anymore"
We just sit there like that for ages.
"I'm really sorry for lashing out at you last night" I say looking up at her.
"It's ok I understand why it happened but don't worry about it now ok let's just focus on you and Kara getting some rest" she says as we both stand up
"Can we go home" I ask her and she nods and bring me into a hug.
We gather all of mine and kara's stuff and we head back to my house. When we get in Kara is knackered so she goes for a nap and me and Leah just cuddle on the sofa.

3rd persons pov
That's not the only reason that Keira walked out that night tho, she's had a lot on her plate recently that she hasn't told Leah or anyone else about. Not only had Adam been texting her but so has Lucy. Keira has done her best to avoid the messages, but Lucy is becoming persistent and won't leave her alone. Keira doesn't want to tell anyone because she feels like she's just creating problems for people and that's the main reason why she won't talk to Leah, she's afraid of losing her again, she's afraid that if she drags her into her problems that shell go down a dark road again but this time she'll lose her for good......

A.N
Sorry I know this is a short chapter and I haven't proof read it so sorry for any mistakes but I didn't really know where to end it because I have some drama coming up in the next few chapters but it might take a while to upload because Im having a bit of writers block so just bare with me 👍🏻