Jailbird

~Part 2: Chapter 25~

Zedlin

I underestimated how much I'd suffer without being with my family.

My kid was defenseless with a sensitive mother who didn't understand boundaries and safety even if she had invented it.

I was gonna lose it thinking of ways that Mason could continue to manipulate her. He was sneaky like that and he always had been.

I could tolerate it when he was locked away in that mental institution, but now that he was free and I was the one locked away — it made me super tense.

Would he try and steal my role as a father to my child? Would Sienna even see his true intentions before the damage was done?

The shít made me crazy to even think about. I couldn't wait to see him, because I was gonna beat his asś on sight — again.

As for Sienna, she drove me mad with how naive she was. She couldn't see that the ignorant fùck just wanted to weasel his way back into her life.

And I'd bet all of my good snacks that he would try his best to give step dad vibes while I was gone.

The question after that would be was Sienna gonna be respectful of my boundaries that I set?

Only time would tell.

I circled the punching bag in the corner of Brad's room and imagined Mason. My fist shot out and jabbed the bag, causing the ceiling tile it hung from to creak slightly.

"Zed, come on — I told you you've been knocking it lose. Relax, it's not whoever you're imagining it to be," Brad said, shaking his head while he scribbled in that dàmn notebook.

"Let's cut to the chase. Sienna's abusive ex came over unannounced to visit my son and she let him. Then he asked her for a paternity test," I muttered, catching the swinging punching bag and stilling it.

Brad raised an eyebrow, "And that upset you?"

"Yeah, Brad and the sky is fùcking blue! This is obvious shít!"

"We're you nice to Sienna when she told you about it? You know she's sensitive, Zed..."

I sucked in a big breath and finally wandered over to the couch to sit down.

"No. I was rude. She needs to understand that Nathaniel's safety comes before anything else. Doesn't matter if he wants to be her friend. That's my child and his enemies are my enemies and he has to be protected. I can't take any chances with him. It's also been proven time and time again that Sienna's big asś heart gets her into a lot of trouble."

Brad slowly nodded his head, "I understand that Zedlin and I agree to an extent. Baby Nate has to come first, but are you aware that Sienna just became a new mother overnight? She's not gonna have it all figured out and she's gonna need your help. Tell me something that you said to her that was rude."

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling, "Uh, I told her she was stupid as fùck for letting him come into the house."

"Now, even if you meant that, there was more gentle ways to say that. You could've just told her that you didn't think it was smart that she let him in and that next time, she should be more careful. How does that sound?"

"It sounds lengthier than what I already said," I smirked.

Brad glared at me and scribbled in his notebook, "Why do we always have to step so far backwards, Zedlin? You have to learn how to talk to people. Not everyone can take it straight like you give it. You have to be considerate of people's feelings. There's still a way for you to tell someone you think they're stupid, without actually saying it and hurting their feelings even worse."