Passion

Chapter 21

Tomas

The past couple of weeks have been good, I have been clean going on 7 months, and today is the day we scheduled to do the paternity test. Bentley was hyped up on sugar and wouldn't stay still. I placed him on my lap as they swabbed my mouth and his mouth. Amanda refused that Bentley did it, but the doctor had him swabbed regardless of her agreement. As we were walking out, she started complaining "You know it's sick how you don't believe he's your son now that Casey said something. She probably hopes he isn't so she can have you back." I turned to her "Actually she's hoping the opposite, but you know her so well right?" I picked Bentley up "I'm taking him tonight; you need to get over Casey being around him because she is part of my life again and you have no say in who is in my life." I opened my back door and put him in his car seat, she crossed her arms "I don't want Casey around him. He's my son and I don't want you playing house with your girlfriend."

I shut the door "As of right now, he is both of our son unless the results show otherwise. So no, you don't decide who he's around unless you have something to tell me." She tried opening the door avoiding my comment. I locked the truck with my keys "Don't touch my truck. You need to grow up. Let me find out the game you're playing." I walked to the driver's side and unlocked just my door, I left back to my dad's house. I pulled into the driveway and called Casey "Hey." I got Bentley out of the truck and we went inside. My dad grabbed him and picked him up "I missed you, buddy." I sat down on the couch "We took the test; Amanda threw a fit though. I think you might be right." She sounded agitated "I'm not surprised. I wouldn't put it past her or Kylie." I chuckled "I grabbed him and took him so he's here with me. She's driving me nuts. She fought us on the testing." She faked a laugh "I'll let you go then. We'll talk later." I exhaled "Wait. I want to talk to you about something. Are you available tonight?"

She paused for a second, then giggled "Why?" I bit my lip "I just want to talk to you, I was thinking we could take Bentley to the mesa." She sounded uncomfortable "Didn't Amanda say she didn't want him around me?" I rolled my eyes "Screw her. Let's do it. I really want you to meet him." She sat quietly and then said, "I don't feel like fighting her again besides I can't tonight." I understood where she came from but Amanda wouldn't find out "She won't find out, come on for old time sake." She chuckled "I'll text you when I decide, bye." She hung up before I could beg anymore. Bentley came into the living room and handed me his toy truck "What's this?" He smiled at me and said "Daddy." I laughed "It's a truck, can you say truck?" He grabbed it from me and rolled it on my leg, the thought of him not being mine hit me and it would suck that the relationship I had with him would end. Amanda would never allow me to see him again after the news came out. I pushed away the negative thoughts and asked him "Want to go see Daddy's truck?" He looked up at me and nodded his head with a big smile.

I picked him up and we went out to my truck, he touched the tire as I opened it. I put him in the driver's seat; he grabbed the steering wheel and tried turning it. My phone buzzed in my pocket, it was Casey "Can't tonight. Sorry." I picked him up from the driver's seat and walked to the back door. I put him in his car seat "We're going to play at the arcade." We arrived at the arcade, we played the games, and won a ton of tickets. He picked out a ball for his prize, as we were walking out of the building Amanda called me "What?" She was angry "When are you bringing him back?" I sighed "I'll bring him now; geez you need to stop flipping out on me. He was nowhere near Casey." She hung up on me.

I drove to her house, dropped him off, and headed over to Casey's. I stood in her bedroom doorway, she was sitting in her window looking up. She turned around when I cleared my throat "Where's Bentley?" I walked into her room "Amanda demanded him back so I took him, we went to the arcade and played some games." I sat in the window across from her "I just watched movies then I got bored." I got a better look at her "Are you crying?" She looked at me and faked a laugh "No. I keep yawning." She gave me a faint smile before looking out the window "When do the results come back?" I knew she was upset about something, she was good at hiding her feelings. In the past, she never passed up the chance to hang out with me. I looked out the window "1-2 days." She looked at me surprised "I thought it'd be weeks." I shrugged "Guy said tomorrow or Friday."

She looked back out the window with tears on the verge of falling "What's wrong?" She began crying then faked another laugh "High school hasn't been as fun as my mom said it would be. I ask myself what happened? It's constantly who's popular, and who's not. It's been hurtful and fighting... I lost..." I looked at her with a frown "I'm sorry, I ruined everything." She didn't look at me, she kept staring up at the night sky, her mom came in "Hi Tomas, I didn't know you were here." I looked back at her "Hi Sharon, I just stopped by for a bit." Casey got up from the window and went down the hall to the staircase; Sharon asked "Is everything okay?" I nodded my head "Yeah. I think so." Casey came back in with a glass of water, she sat on her bed. She unpaused her movie and began watching it; her mom left and I asked "What are you watching?" She began crying again, I got up and sat beside her "Let it out. Don't hold it in anymore."

She looked at me "I hope he isn't. I want things back the way they were and I don't want them to change. I want you to love me and only me." The wall that was built for the past year is finally breaking, I agreed with her. I love Bentley but as he ages, he starts looking less and less like either of us. I pulled her into my arms and held her "No matter what, we have each other. If he is my son, then Amanda will have to get over that we are together." She sat up and looked at me "I love you, but I can't keep feeling like I'm competing with her and you saying you're with her when we fight. It hurts a lot and pushes me away." She had a point, I had to work on that. I know it's the one thing that hurts her, I don't mean to it's just in the heat of the moment it slips.