One Night Stand With My Husband’s Brother

Mackenzie had barely gotten out of the house when she felt her phone vibrate in her bag. She had been lost in thoughts, slightly regretting ever hitting Selene. But the woman had it coming.

She frowned as she stepped out of the door, her left hand scrummaging the bag for her phone.

When she finally found it, she stared at the Caller ID and saw her father’s name displayed on the screen.

“Pops”

Mackenzie sighed. She thought of ignoring the call, but she knew it would make her dear old father worry. She clicked the “accept” icon, and pressed the phone speaker to her right ear.

“Hello, pops.” She greeted. Her voice trembled, but she fought as hard as she could to keep still.

“Kenzie, dear! Is everything alright? You sound very stressed.”

She looked ahead and saw the Axford company vehicle Nora had sent. She started to walk eagerly towards it.

“I’m doing fine, pops” She pulled the door open and climbed into the black of the car.

“How’s mum?”

“Doing just great, everyone over here is doing very well, and it makes me happy. Are you by any chance free to talk, Kenzie?”

Mackenzie narrowed her eyes on nothing in particular. She could tell from the tone of her father’s voice, that there was something bothering him.

“Uhhh,” She looked around the car.

“Yeah, sure.”

He asked her if she was alright again, and Mackenzie laughed and rolled her eyes this time. She assured him that everything was fine, and said she was just stressed from work.

Lies.

“Calista and Cameron, how are they?”

More questions.

“Just great, pops. You asked if I was free to talk…”

“Yes, yes. You see, the thing is Mrs. Weston called me some days ago, and she sounded pretty serious. The matter isn’t one she would joke with.”

Mackenzie’s jaw hardened. She did not know what it was, but she had a feeling it wasn’t very good.

“What did she say?”

“That she had met with the children’s father. Calista and Cameron’s father is there with them, in Greensville.”

Mackenzie heaved a loud sigh. She caressed her head with her fingers, trying to calm her mind.

Of course Mrs Weston had met Chase!

“What are you going to do about that, Mackenzie? If the father is right there with them, why don’t they know about him yet? I know that Jeffery is not the father, but is the man that bad? Are the children in danger?”

Mackenzie thought back to Chase’s kind, yet straight face. No. He was not a bad man, not at all.

“No, pops. But…”

“Then what is going on, Mackenzie? Please, let the children know about their father. If you won’t let them meet him, at least let them know who he is. I’m begging you, Kenzie. They need to know.”

“I know, pops. I know, okay? I was…I was thinking of coming back to North Dakota.” She finally said it out loud. What scared her the most was the fact that she meant every word.

There was a small pause after her outburst. Her father continued to speak shortly after.

“What’s going on, Kenzie?”

“I’m tired, pops. I am tired of fighting, tired of running. I just…I just want to keep them safe.” Tears began to well up in her eyes. She fought to blink them back in, but their force was more powerful.

“I’ve wanted to tell their father about them, but there’s just been a lot going on, pops. And I need to protect my kids. If they are revealed to the world now, they could be in grave danger, the world’s perception of them would not be a pleasant one. They are innocent, and they shouldn’t suffer for their mother’s sins.”

When she could no longer hold the tears in, she buried her face in her right palm and allowed her tears flow freely.

The driver parked at the side of the road, and got down from the car, giving her the space she needed.

“Oh! Darling Kenzie. You really do not have any reason to cry, my love. Listen, you can come back home for sometine if you need to rest. But do not come back home if your intention is to run away. A fight you run from today, you would live to fight another day. I understand how you feel, okay Kenzie?”

She nodded like he could see her, and he continued.

“I just need you to spend more time with the kids. I really hope your new job isn’t taking you away from them. The reason I couldn’t get a job in the city was because I needed to take care of you, fill the gap of both a mother and a father. It’s okay if you don’t want them to know their father now, but you have to make sure you’re never away from them for so long. They need you, Kenzie.”

Soon, the driver returned to the car. He looked at Mackenzie, and she nodded, giving him a silent go-ahead.

He asked about Charlotte and Felicity, and Mackenzie answered all his questions with a small smile. Her father had always had his way of making her feel better.

“Watch out for your friends, Kenzie. And never forget to appreciate the people around you, and the things you have, before you lose them.”

She thought about Chase in that moment.

Mackenzie replayed their last meeting in her head, the hurt in his eyes which he desperately tried to hide.

Once they arrived at the hospital, Mackenzie got down from the car and squeezed the hand of the bag. Nora had sent her a text few seconds ago. Chase’s father’s ward was situated on the VVIP ward on the 60th floor.

She wasted no time in getting into the elevator. Mackenzie watched the numbers as it increased. Her phone vibrated in her hand, and she raised it to her eyes.

There was a message from Charlotte on the screen. She clicked on the message and found it was a picture of Calista.

Her baby was in pink sweatshirt and matching joggers, cuddling her new puppy. Mackenzie felt her heart summersault in her chest.

The elevator doors parted open, and she started to walk towards Richard Axford’s room. Her eyes were glued on the picture of her daughter, until she arrived at the door.

Mackenzie stood in front of it, and tore her eyes away from her phone. It had been a while since she met Richard Axford, and she was not exactly sure what she would say to him.

How awkward would their meeting be?

She was ready to smile at him. He was a good man, but her coming to Greenville and working with his son, Chase, was still very suspicious. She had to do her job either way.

She knocked on the door, and pushed it open slowly. Mackenzie walked into the room, preparing her polite, yet charming smile.

The smile dwindled immediately she stared at the man seated on the bed in front of her.

It wasn’t Richard Axford. Richard Axford could never make her heart race in the way that it did. Richard Axford could never make her throat run dry, or her eyes wide at the sight of his right arm in a cast!

The bag slipped from Mackenzie’s hand, despite how hard she had clutched it. She moved – with a speed that shocked her – to stand beside Chase Axford.

With wide eyes laced with worry, Mackenzie looked over him.

In a skyblue hoodie, and black joggers, he was a far cry from his everyday corporate aura. Yet, there was something deliciously messy about how his dark silky strands of hair were scattered all over his head, some falling to his eyes.

It didn’t take a suit to make her want to drop to her knees. The thought of him alone, was more than enough.

She didn’t mind the cold blue eyes that stared back at her.

“What happened to you?” She cried out, her eyes dancing all over his handsome frame.

“I thought you were only here to see your father…what…how did this happen?”

She reached for the cast, but he moved away from her. It was a silent order, she could not touch him.

Mackenzie understood. She dropped her hands to her sides, clenching her fist.

Chase could not deny the fact that he was taken aback. How did she go from lying to his face to caring about him?

He turned to the nurse on his left and gestured for her to leave the room. She bowed in courtesy and walked away, before Chase returned his gaze to Mackenzie. He looked over her with one swift glance.

Chase didn’t care that she looked so beautiful in her suit pants, it didn’t make up for the fact that she didn’t trust him.

“What happened to you, Chase? Did you fall? Did you trip? Say something, I…”

“Hold your horses, Mackenzie. I am okay.” He cut in, and turned away from her.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.