new romantics - taylor swift and travis kelce

so long london - part 2

-Taylors Pov-

But I hear the front door open and my heart drops for a second. It could be Tom, Joe's other brother, or one of the neighbors that mostly have free access to come in. but deep inside I know who it is.

I was promised he wouldn't be here, but here he is. The footsteps come closer and around the corner, Joe comes into view. The one person I didn't want to see, I didn't want to run into, is standing right in front of me. I was promised he wasn't in town, but they lied to me. they put me In this situation when I thought I could trust them.

"there you are. Heard you were in town" he smiles like he usually does, like nothing has happened.

"Thea come here" I motion for my daughter and tuck her under my arm. "we are leaving" I announce. I want to get out of here as soon as possible. Nothing, not a single bone in my body, wants to get into anything with Joe. it was a mistake to come here, I was foolish. I was set up.

"don't leave Taylor" Liz begs but I shake my head. "You set me up, you promised he wouldn't be here" I accuse her, and I can see the guilt written all over her face. She knew exactly what she was doing.

I take Thea's hand and head for the door, but Joe grips my arm when I go to pass him. "let me go" I snap at him but try to keep a leveled head for Thea's sake. She doesn't need to see me break or go into a rage like I want to. I want to scream and cry at the same time. he is the last person I want to be stuck in a room with, and his hand against my skin burns.

"not before we talk. You're avoiding me" he says as a matter of fact. He isn't wrong, I am actively avoiding him, but that's beside the point. This is an ambush.

"Mommy I wanna go," Thea says in a small voice next to me, not like the usual cheerful Thea I know. She sounds little, small. She doesn't want to be anywhere near her father, just like me. After everything he put her through, I don't blame her one bit.

"don't you want to stay here with Daddy for a while? It's been so long since I've seen you. mommy is keeping you away from me" Joe says to Thea who shrinks against my side as he moves closer to her.

"no, I wanna go to the plane. Fly Back to Travis and his doggies" she says, and I know that's going to cause Joe to burst.

"you are really bringing MY daughter around another man? Are you that desperate Taylor? really. That's shitty even for you" Joe scoffs and I bite my tongue. I know better than to play into him. He is trying to get a reaction out of me, and I won't let him. Whenever I react, he gets a sick satisfaction out of further bringing me down. It's not worth it and I'm not going to fall for it.

I try to step around him again, to get the fuck out of here. but he steps in my way "I said you're not leaving" he snaps, and I try not to panic. I feel the walls shrinking in and suffocating me. it's like the usually big living room gets smaller and smaller with each passing second.

"Joe, let us go. This isn't the time nor place to do this" I try to calmly say. My only goal right now is to get the fuck out that door. I don't even want to bother to wait for my car to come around. I don't want to take the time to call my security to get it. I want to get the fuck away from this house, from this neighborhood asap.

"When is the time and place then Taylor? because you're fucking avoiding me. playing house with that other man and leaving me in the dust. Are you really that desperate for dick? Really?" his words get nastier by the second and I can smell the alcohol on his breath the more he talks. He is drunk. Of course, he is. It's not like I'm not used to him drinking, sadly I am, but I also know that being around him when he drinks is a bad idea. Nothing good comes out of it.

I take a look behind me and see all eyes are on us, no one is trying to help us, even though I can see Patrick is uncomfortable. At least one person might see this as wrong. They all know Joe doesn't have custody, but I guess he never told his family the full extent of why we broke up. I mean, why would he? It would just paint him in a bad light, and he can't have that. Of course, he wouldn't tell them shit.