One Night Stand With My Husband’s Brother

Mackenzie sprang up to her feet immediately, ignoring her wobbling knees and the dire urge in the pit of her stomach to puke. Her mind was racing fast – too fast for her own good, and there was nothing she could do stop it.

She paced about the tiny living room, tapping her trembling fingers against her hips continuously.

“What am I going to do?” She cried.

“What should I do?” She turned to look at Felicity. Her friend stood at the distal end of the room, saying nothing. Felicity’s round eyes held a lot of sympathy, but that was the last thing Mackenzie needed.

She was on the verge of losing her daughter, her entire life was slowly falling apart.

“Breathe,” Mackenzie advised herself, sucking in a deep breath.

She stood still, closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh.

“My kids need me right now. I can’t…I can’t afford to mess things up.”

“Mackenzie,” Felicity walked to her and placed both hands on her shoulders. Mackenzie chuckled dryly, forcing herself to swallow the lump in her throat.

“What are you going to do, Kenzie?” Felicity asked, her curious eyes danced all over her best friend’s face.

“Should I call Chase?”

Mackenzie shook her head, and pulled away from Felicity’s hold. She buried her head between her palms, resisting the urge to scream until the walls around her tore down to pieces.

“Calista could be in serious danger. I need…I need to play along.”

“Mackenzie-”

“I have a feeling I know who is doing this, Felicity. I have to play along.” Slowly, her tears escaped her eyelids and rushed down her cheeks.

“I don’t have a choice. I can’t gamble with my daughter’s life, I can’t.”

She turned her back to Felicity, clutching the sides of her apron firmly with both hands.

“But I have to call Chase too, I have to let him know. If I don’t trust him this time around, he would never forgive me.” Mackenzie spoke through ragged breaths.

Her heart pounded against the muscular walls of her chest with every step she took. There were a million possibilities in her head, a million things that could be happening to Calista right now and there was nothing she could do to save her.

No, at least not yet. But she would think of something. Mackenzie was determined to never go down without a fight, no matter how bloody it got.

She turned sharply towards Felicity. The speed of her spin had surprised even her friend.

Mackenzie’s eyes widened, an idea had flashed through her mind with the speed of lightning. She was certain it would help.

“Felicity, there’s a phonebooth across the road. Do you…do you have a quarter?”

Felicity reached for her pocket and dipped her hands into it, when she pulled out empty hands, she looked towards the door of her room. Mackenzie, panting, anticipated her response.

“Yes, I do. I’m sure it’s on my dressing table somewhere. I could go…” before Felicity could complete the rest of her statement, Mackenzie was pushing through her room door.

“How many minutes do I have left?!” Mackenzie screamed over her shoulder while in Felicity’s room. Felicity glanced at the her wristwatch and squinted her brows.

“About fifty six minutes!”

Mackenzie’s shoulders fell.

“My God.” She continued to search Felicity’s drawer for the coins.

“Don’t think too much about it. You’ll make it, don’t worry.”

Mackenzie pulled the first drawer open, and the shimmering silver coin was the first thing she set her eyes on. She grabbed hold of it immediately, rose up to her feet, and turned around. She took hold of Felicity’s right hand and placed the coin into her palm.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

“Please, get to the phone booth,” Mackenzie started to speak. Her words were beginning to fail her, her head was spinning but she was trying so hard to keep it together.

“Tell him I need his men. Tell him Calista is in trouble, and I…I…”

“Don’t worry, Mackenzie.” Felicity replied, holding her friend’s shivering hands in a bid to reassure her.

“I know what to tell Chase, alright? Just do what you have to do. Start packing, okay? Right now.”

“Yes, yes.” Mackenzie agreed with a nod of her head. She rushed out of Felicity’s room and into her own. She pulled open her wardrobe filled with her clothes and the children’s clothes.

Confusion coursed through her muscles and heightened her fear.

“Where am I supposed to start from?” She muttered underneath her breath, her lips quivered as she cried.

“Fuck it!” She spat out, and reached for an empty bag at the top of the wardrobe.

What did she need to pack for? She was only playing along. There was no way on earth she was leaving the city without telling Chase, or without her children.

She took whatever clothing she laid eyes on and threw it into the travel bag. She did not bother to rid the clothes of the hangers they rested on. Once the box was full, she zipped it and stood it up. A slight glance at her frenzied image in the mirror made her see how horrible she looked with her smeared mascara and dusty apron, but Mackenzie didn’t care.

She stomped out of the room, pulling her travel box.

The children’s daycare was normally a walkable distance, but there was nothing normal about her situation.

She flagged down a taxi as quick as she could and jumped into the car in a rush.

“Hudson daycare, quick!” She called out, tapping on the driver’s seat impatiently. The man glanced at her from the rearview mirror. He must have heard the news and understood she was a mother, because he drove as fast as he could until they arrived at the gates of the daycare.

Mackenzie hopped down from the taxi as quickly as she had thrown herself in, even more.

She looked around, lost in a crowd of crying children and frantic parents. The taxi drove away, leaving her fixated at the spot, confused and scared.

Where would she begin to search from?

Without another thought, she stormed into the crowd, running about, with reckless abandon, while screaming her son’s name at the top of her lungs with tears in her eyes.

“Cameron! Cameron?!”

She came to a quick halt when she finally found him.

Mackenzie let out a relieved sigh. Hot tears rushed down her cheek. An odd mix of happiness and fear rippled through her bones simultaneously, and she ran to him.

“Mummy!” He cried out on seeing her, jumping to his feet and rushing down the stairs.

He was wrapped in his blue coat, seated on the stairs that led to the administrative building. In his right hand, he held his blue bag pack, and in his left…

Mackenzie’s breath hitched in a sharp gasp. She paused on her tracks immediately. Her hands flew to her mouth, she pressed her palm against her lips as she cried.

Calista’s glasses, cracked.

Calista was without her glasses, how would she see?!

“Calista can’t see without her glasses, she’ll be so scared.” Mackenzie said to herself, walking briskly towards her son with her heart threatening to burst out of her chest.

Merely inches away from Cameron, she saw her son’s legs leave the ground as a masculine hand picked him up from his waistline.

Mackenzie’s eyes widened. She prepared herself to scream and throw herself at the stranger. They had already taken one child from her, she wasn’t going to lose another today.

However, when she raised her eyes to look at the owner of the rough fingers, she found Chase’s dark eyes staring back at her.

Mackenzie’s feet shook with the relief that flooded her in that instant. She picked up her pace once more and ran into Chase’s arms.

He spread his right hand open, while holding Cameron in the left. Mackenzie crashed her face against his chest and threw her arms around his waist. She sobbed into his shirt as she tapped her son’s back gently.

“I’m so sorry Chase. I’m so sorry.” She mumbled. She felt his chest harden, before he put his left arm around her.

“Daddy, mummy.” When Cameron started to cry, Mackenzie pulled away from Chase to wipe her son’s tears off his eyes.

“I couldn’t find Cally, mummy. She left her glasses, and someone stepped on her glasses. I was holding her hand, I was…someone dragged her mummy…and we were running, but she left, and the smoke…I can’t…she’s gone…Cally, mummy!”

“Oh, my baby!” Mackenzie bursted out in tears, wrapping her arms around Cameron.

“She was screaming my name, mummy. She was calling out to me. But I couldn’t…I couldn’t hear her, mummy. I couldn’t help her.”

Chase frowned. He could barely contain the anger that burned in his eyes. He swore – oh! He swore that if he set his eyes or hands in whoever was responsible for this, he would never let the soul live to tell the story.

“It’s alright, my boy.” He tapped Cameron’s back as Mackenzie held wiped his tears from his cheeks.

“We are going to bring Calista back, okay? She’ll be fine, don’t you worry. Cally would want you to be strong, okay?”

Cameron sniffed in his tears and the mucus in his nose that accompanied it.

Mackenzie glanced at Chase. She was grateful, so grateful to have him by her side. He always made everything easier, made her stronger. She was right to trust him.

She looked back at Cameron. Chase had placed him on the ground, and she pulled her son into her arms and placed kisses all over his face.

“Don’t you worry, okay? Mummy and daddy are here now. And nothing, absolutely nothing wrong would happen. You trust us, right?”

“Yes mummy. I do,” he started crying again, and Mackenzie locked him in a tight embrace. She was never going to let him go, never.

She felt Chase’s hand on her right shoulder. It was in that moment Mackenzie’s eyes opened.

Don’t call Chase. Don’t try to play smart.

Her eyes widened as she sprang up to her feet immediately.

“Oh my God!” She cried out.

“What?!” Chase put his hands around her immediately, his dark eyes searching hers for the cause of her worry, but Mackenzie softly pushed him away.

“You shouldn’t be here, Chase! Calista is going to be in danger!” She turned her back to him and searched for her travel box while reaching for Cameron’s hand.

“I should…I should go.”

Chase saw red. He caught hold of her right wrist and spun her around, so that she was facing him. He caught both her cheeks in his palms, causing her to look up at him. Her teary eyes stared at his, almost hopeless. Bile rose from his stomach to his throat. His rage was spreading to every part of him like a poisonous snake’s venom, tampering with his calm nature and sense of reasoning.

Chase Axford was far from calm. Someone had dared to mess with his family, and by God! He would not rest until he put an end to theirs.