Bet My Heart [Book 2]

54| Disappointed

TW: Talk of abuse

A/N: we will not shame Nick for being hard on Demi when he's protecting his children.

*Nick's POV*

There's nothing quite like a toddlers birthday to really dampen your day.

We planned to just spend the day with Greyson, give him sweets and his gift.. really make today all about him.. but none of that went to plan.

It started in the morning, and it really set the tone for the day.

Greyson and Demi got in a huge fight this morning over who knows what, which got Greyson a spanking for whatever he mouthed off at Demi, and sent to his room. Demi cried on the couch for about an hour whilst I hung out with Lennox, constantly asking if she wanted to be consoled or left alone.

With Lennox crawling now, Buddy has become her favorite thing.

She squeals and screams anytime the poor dog comes into the room, crawling over to him and tugging at his tail which makes him run away, and then she cries.

By 9am, Lennox was in a mood because Buddy wanted nothing to do with her, Demi was pissed off, stomping around the house and Greyson wouldn't leave his bedroom.

I made him birthday pancakes, and they sat cold on the table for over an hour before he made any sign of coming downstairs.

"Can you just apologize to him so we can move on? It's his birthday for god sake" I pleaded to Demi and she shook her head, passing me and grabbing Buddy's leashing.

"I'm going on a walk. I'll be back later. I have my phone" She grumbled, slamming the front door.

I sighed, picking up Lennox to put her in her pack and play before knocking on Greyson's door.

"Grey? Can we talk?"

"I no talk to mommy!" He yelled and I twisted the doorknob, letting myself into his room. "Why do you not want to talk to mommy?" I asked, sitting down on the rug next to him, watching him stack a few Legos.

"Mommy broken! Mommy go back to doctors!"

"Why do you think Mommy needs to go to the doctors?" I asked softly, knowing Demi and Grey haven't always clashed, even when he was a baby.

"Mommy's mean!"

"Why do you think Mommy is mean? Will you tell me what she did?" I asked and he shook his head, clearly still very upset at what had happened hours previous.

I stayed quiet, not knowing how to approach this.

I know I consider him my own child, and he calls me daddy... but I still haven't handled parenting. I normally let things slide, not wanting the young child to hate me.

Demi is a lot more hard core for parenting.

She really wanted to get it right, but Greyson was such a tender soul, that sometimes I questioned if it was doing more harm than good.

Demi was never one to spank him.

She hated using her hands in violence because it reminded her of what happened to her, so it was quite baffling to watch her use her hand in anger.

"Do you want to be left alone for a while? We can maybe go to the park later?" I offered and he nodded, staying quiet.

It was weird to see Greyson maturing. He definitely had his own feelings now, and he was a lot more vocal about them.

I spent the rest of that morning with Lennox, enjoying my time with her before I had to go back on tour for a little bit.

When Demi walked back inside, her face was bright red and puffy and Buddy was panting pretty hard.