“Jake, he’s not….” I trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

Jake turned back to look at me, his face hard. “Yeah. Go next door,” he instructed.

I looked at Liam for help. He was looking at Jake; he had the same hard expression on his face. “Liam, tell him this is stupid!” I whispered, with tears falling down my face. Liam didn’t look at me; Jake and him were locked in some sort of silent exchange with their eyes. I jumped off of the sofa and grabbed the phone planning on calling him back to cancel it. I couldn’t let him come here, not with those two looking like that.

Jake pulled the phone out of my hands. “He’s not going to stop harassing you, Ambs. He wants to see you. He’s also really angry that Ruby’s left him. He knows that I helped them; a neighbour saw my car in the drive. He’s seriously pissed at me, so I just need to tell him to back the f**k off,” he said, pulling me into a hug.

I shook my head, that wasn’t what he was planning at all, they weren’t going to tell him anything, Jake and Liam were going to beat him senseless and show him to back the f**k off.

“Please don’t, you’ll get in trouble. Please?” I whispered. My insides were squirming with dread.

“Not if he starts something first,” Jake replied, fighting a smile.

Chapter 21

~ Liam ~

Crap, this was bad. The first thing that shot through my brain was that I needed to keep Jake under control. Sure, I wanted to kill that as**ole as much as he did, but we seriously needed to be careful. If we literally jumped him as soon as he walked in, we’d be liable, and I’d promised his mom I wouldn’t let him do that. I wouldn’t let Jake go to jail for that asshole, Angel needed her big brother, especially now with the baby coming. The second thing that sprung to mind was that I needed to get my girl and my baby the hell out of here, now.

“Angel, let’s go, I’ll take you to mine,” I stated, grabbing her hand and pulling her away from Jake.

She wrenched her hand out of mine and glared at me. “I’m not going anywhere! I won’t let you do this, either of you. You can’t beat the crap out of him, you’ll get in trouble. You’re being freaking stupid!” she shouted. Tears rolled down her face as she spoke.

“Angel, you need to leave, now,” I ordered. She wasn’t staying here near that man, no way, because if he even looked at her the wrong way I wouldn’t be able to restrain myself, let alone keeping Jake under control.

She shook her head fiercely. She always had been stubborn, usually I loved that about her - but not right now I didn’t. Fine, if she wants it that way then screw it. I grabbed her, wrapping her in my arms, lifting her bridal style. “Liam, don’t you dare!” she shouted, her face getting red with anger as she struggled to get down. I shook my head, I’d deal with her anger later, she wouldn’t stay mad at me for long and a night of the silent treatment would be totally worth it, just so I knew she was completely safe. She started sobbing and wrapped her arms around my neck as I carried her out of the house. Damn it, she was killing me! I hated to see her cry.

I kissed the side of her head. “Shh, everything’s going to be fine, I promise. I just need to you safe so I can concentrate on keeping Jake calm, OK?” I said honestly.

We reached my house and I opened the door quickly, heading over to the sofa. I sat down and held her on my lap, rocking her gently. “Please don’t get in trouble, Liam, please,” she begged, hugging me tighter.

“I won’t. I need to go next door now. You stay here; don’t come over until I come to get you. You understand? Can you do that for me?” I asked desperately.

She sniffed and pulled away without looking at me. “Just go then,” she snapped angrily, moving off of my lap to sit on the sofa. She really didn’t like this at all.

I groaned, hating her angry expression.

“I love you, Angel. I just need you and our baby safe,” I explained as I kissed her cheek, rubbing my hand over her flat stomach. I fought the urge to smile thinking of my baby growing inside her, that lucky little baby gets to be closer to her than anyone for the next eight months. She nodded and closed her eyes; silent tears were still falling down her face.

I stood up and turned to leave. “Liam?” she called just as I got to the door. I turned back, hoping for a smile. “I love you too. If you get sent to jail for murder then I’ll wait for you,” she stated with no emotion in her voice at all. It wasn’t a joke; she really thought I was going to jail.

I didn’t answer, I just left. There was no answer for that. She was seriously annoyed with me and I would have a lot to make up for after this. I’d never done anything that she didn’t want before and I hated doing it now.

I ran back to Jake’s. He was pacing in the lounge, looking murderously angry. “Jake, you need to listen to me,” I said, grabbing his shoulder and making him face me.

“I know, I know. I can’t do anything unless he starts anything. I just want to talk to him and tell him to get the f**k out of our lives, but if he comes near me, I swear….” He gritted his teeth. He didn’t need to finish the sentence, I already knew what he would do and it wouldn’t be painless either.

After about ten minutes a car pulled up outside. I grabbed Jake’s arm as he jumped up from the sofa. “Calm the f**k down, Jake. Understand?” I ordered. He nodded and I headed to the door. I opened it and the as**ole stood there looking at me angrily. My hands were itching to choke the life out of him. I hadn't seen him since we threw him out of the door followed by all of his stuff, three years ago, but he looked exactly the same as I remembered.

“Liam James, you’ve grown a bit, huh?” he stated, sneering as he looked me over.

“Stephen Walker, you stopped molesting young girls?” I countered, my hand squeezing the door handle so tightly that my fingers were hurting.

He glared at me and pushed past into the house. “Where the f**k are Jake and Amber?” he asked angrily.

“I’m here. And Amber’s out,” Jake said calmly. Maybe he was going to be calm after all.

“You little shit! You always were f**king trouble! Where the f**k is my wife and son? And I’m taking Amber with me too,” Stephen shouted, heading towards the hallway at the back. I could feel my anger rising every time he said my Angel’s name. I took a couple of deep breaths; I needed to be the strong one.

Jake started to laugh. “Yeah, OK,” he said sarcastically. I think he was trying to goad his father into starting something. I think he was planning on letting him get a couple of hits in first so he could say it was self-defence.

“Where are they?” Stephen practically screamed. He always did have a bad temper.

“I’m telling you now, old man, that if you ever come near my sister again, I’ll kill you,” Jake growled. “Do you understand me? You need to leave town. Now. There’s nothing left here for you now. Ruby doesn’t want you either, no one wants you,” he spat.

He smiled slightly as Stephen stepped closer to him with his fists clenched. “This is all your f**king fault! You and Amber had to open your filthy mouths and tell Johnny about what happened. You’ve ruined everything for me, everything, you worthless piece of shit. I should have f**king pushed your mother down the stairs or something when she told me she was pregnant with you,” Stephen shouted angrily.

Damn it, he was an asshole!

Jake grabbed him and slammed him against the wall, knocking his breath out of him.

Crap! I grabbed Jake just as he was about to punch him and pulled him away. “Not like this! Jake, not like this,” I shouted, trying to restrain him.

“Let me go! I’m gonna f**king kill him. Liam, let me go!” Jake screamed, trying to throw me off of him.

“Jake, calm down!” I heard Amber say.

My blood went cold at the sound of her voice. What the hell was she doing here? We all turned to see her standing in the doorway. I let go of Jake quickly and went to go to her, but that as**ole was between me and her. He grabbed her wrist. She flinched and tried to pull her arm out of his hold.

“You! You f**king ruined everything!” he screamed at her.

“Let her go, now!” I growled through my gritted teeth, barely able to contain my anger. I could hear my heart beat drumming in my ears; I was so angry that my hands were shaking. I was going to kill him in three seconds if he didn’t let her go.

He turned to look at me, hate clear across his face. “Fuck you! She’s my daughter,” he shouted, yanking her roughly closer to him. She turned and tried to push him away. His face turned hard. I lunged forward at the same time he slapped her hard across the face.

I grabbed his shirt and punched him full in the face, enjoying the satisfying crack his nose made as my fist connected with it. I pulled back my arm and punched him again and again, ignoring the pain each blow caused in my hand. After the fourth or fifth punch his body was going a little limp so I shoved him against the wall so I didn’t have to hold him up, and punched him over and over. I put all of my hate into it, all the anger and hurt and helplessness that I’d ever felt when I would watch my girl cry herself to sleep. I would never let this man hurt her again. He slumped to the floor, wrapping his arms around his head, but I didn’t stop, I couldn’t stop. So I started kicking him instead.

Suddenly, Jake grabbed me from behind and slammed me face first into the wall. What the hell is he doing?

“No! I’m not done! Get the hell off me. Jake, get off!” I shouted, trying desperately to get him off of me so I could kill the man that made my Angel’s life a misery. I shoved myself away from the wall trying to get free.

“Amber’s hurt, Liam,” Jake said, shoving me back against the wall again, his arm across the back of my neck.

“Just get off me. Let me finish it!” I cried, still struggling against his hold.

“LIAM, AMBER’S HURT!” Jake shouted.

Wait, what did he say? Amber? Oh my God.