Best Friends to Lovers

Chapter 10

The next day, Maddison and I went to a restaurant to eat lunch. Deacon was at the restaurant, having lunch. He spotted us and motioned for us to join him. Once we both settle down in the booth, Deacon says, "Melinda, you look like you're ready to pop,"

"No, not yet. These beans need to cook long before they decide to pop out," I say, chuckling. "Anyway, how are things going at the office? Are you missing me yet?"

"We were missing you after the first week, Melinda. So what is going on with your asshole ex-boyfriend?."

"The police are still looking for him. They found a body that had been beaten so severely they couldn't identify it without DNA. The cops think it is Tanner. So right now, they are waiting on DNA."

I hope it is him. He deserves it for f*****g around with all these different women. Maybe he messed with a married one and the husband got a hold of him. Too bad I never ran into him. I would have kicked his ass for the hell of it. He should know better. He is no man at all. Just a little boy living in a grown body, 

"Okay, Deacon, I understand. Let's not talk about him anymore. He is a waste of breath."

"You can say that again. So, let's talk about the girls taking over for me when I go on leave. They are good at their jobs when they are focused. But, if they get distracted, they will mess up. The good thing is I will only be gone for six to eight weeks. So, indeed you keep them there for a month after I get back to help fix things they screwed up.' Maddison says, smiling.

"You think there is a chance I will fire them before you come back, don't you?' Deason says, smirking.

"No, I don't. I know that those women are going to mess up. As I said, they make mistakes when they aren't focused. They may need you to check in on them." Maddison says.

"Alright, I understand," Deacon says, then looks toward the door. His expression changes, "What the f**k is he doing here? I guess he isn't dead,"

I look over to the door then send Hayden a text.

Melinda: Hey baby, Tanner is at the 

Diner, please get here quick,

I am so nervous my hands are shaking and I feel sick. Why is Tanner here? Doesn't he know that the police have a warrant out for his arrest?

Hayden: On the way, be there in a few

minutes.

 Once Tanner is sitting at a booth, he looks around. He makes eye contact with me and stands up. I look away from him and look at Deacon, "I texted Hayden; he is on his way," 

"Good," Deacon whispers, not taking his eyes off of Tanner. When Tanner reaches our table, "Tanner, what do you want?"

"I want to say hi to my girlfriend," 

"She isn't your girlfriend anymore, hasn't been for months. So, again I ask you what are you doing here? Stop playing games. I am not in the mood for them,"

"Fine. I was worried about Mel; she hadn't been at her house for quite a while. I was concerned about her. She has never stayed gone for this long," Tanner says, looking at me, then adds, "Why haven't you been home?"

"That is done of your business, Tanner. I don't have to tell you anything," I say with a smile.

"You are still my woman, so it is my business," Tanner yelled. 

"Deacon, please take care of him. We don't need the stress right now. It isn't good for our babies," Maddison says just as Hayden walks in the door.

"Hey hubby, Maddison hear was just asking Deacon to take care of Tanner because he was stressing the two of us out and stress isn't healthy for our babies,"

"What did you just call him? Did you call him hubby? What the f**k does Maddison mean by your babies?" Tanner all but yells.

"Since you must know, McDonald, Mel and I got married a few months ago, so she calls me hubby and she is carrying my babies,"

"Why in the hell would you go and marry a woman who is a dead lay? I am sure you have had better," Tanner says.

"Tanner, you sorry excuse for a man, I can tell you that Melinda is far from being a dead lay. I think you are the one that is no good in the sack. After all, you were her teacher." Hayden says as Tanner's face turns, the shade of a tomato. "Otherwise, Malinda would have had orgasms with you. She, however, never did," Hayden smirks.

"Who in the f**k do you think you are?" Tanner screams.

"Let's take this conversation outside, shall we?" Deacon says with a smile. 

"Yes, please do," I say, getting ready to stand up,

"Kitten let me help you," Hayden says. Coming over to me and assisting me to a standing position,

"My god Mel you have gotten fat. That was the reason I knocked the last one out of you," Tanner says, staring at me in disgust.

Now I know I should say or do anything to stress the babies out, but Tanner just crossed the line. "f**k you, Tanner. I am pregnant with twins. That is two babies. I was pregnant with your child and you killed it. You mother f*****g sons of a b***h, you don't deserve to breathe the same air I am breathing," I yelled, punching him in where ever my fist lands.

"Kitten, calm down. He just sealed his fate. Mason put a wire on me before I came in. Speaking of which, here he comes." Hayden says, wrapping his arms around me, resting his hands on my baby bump. 

Mason walks up to Tanner, "Tanner McDonald, you are under arrest for attempted murder, murder, and assault…" Mason says as he cuffs Tanner, walks to the front of the dinner and exits with Tanner begging and pleading to be let go.

"Hello Hayden, It has been a while. I am glad to see that you are taking care of these two. They have always been a hand full, so I could only imagine what they are like now," Deacon says with a wink.

"Hey, Deacon. It sure has. They aren't that bad, though. Brenden and I are just happy that our ladies are happy," Hayden says, pecking my lips, "Not to mention this woman is making me a dad. I can't wait to meet our little ones."

"When did you find out that Tanner caused her to miscarry," Deacon asked Hayden.

"The day we found out she was pregnant. None of us knew what Mel was going through behind closed doors. I never thought Tanner was that type of person. It just goes to show you some people are one way in public and another way behind closed doors." Hayden says, shaking his head. "If I had known what type of man he was, I would have approached her and told her how I felt years ago."

"Babe, don't blame yourself. It's my fault that I locked my best friends out of that part of my life. I didn't want you all to see how weak of a person I had become. Of course, it didn't help that Tanner threatened me every chance he could, but that part of my life is over now and I don't have to hide it. I hate thinking about it. I knew he didn't want kids." I say, wiping away a few tears.

"Why don't we get you home, kitten. You look like you're about to fall over from exhaustion," Hayden says, wiping the tears from my cheeks.

"I just want all of this Tanner s**t to go away. I want to enjoy this pregnancy without thinking about what he will do next. The guy isn't just going to give up. He will make my life hell until he is unable to." I say with tears falling from my eyes like a river.

"Baby doll, I won't allow him to hurt you or our children. With the charges he has, he will more than likely go to prison,"

"I know that, but what about those women he has screwed around with. One of them is going to go crazy," I said, then Mason walked up to us. 

"Melinda, We have his confession on audio. That plus the video we have will be a big help. I wanted to let you know that if you need anything, give me a call,"

"I will, Mason. Will he be able to bail out? I am scared he will do something stupid and come for me."

"That is why we will be requesting that he is held without bail. As of right now, I can't promise that he won't get out. But if he gets out, I will call you. I also wanted to warn you about my sister. 

"Tanner told her that he broke up with you a couple of years ago and you won't leave him alone. I tried to tell her the truth about him, but she won't listen. She wants to meet up with you and Hayden to get some answers. I told her that you were pregnant and shouldn't be stressed out. If it is okay with you two, I would love to sit down with the two of you and her, then play the audio we got today for her. Maybe show her the video you got of him at your home. I want her to meet you so you can tell her what you have gone through with this man over that last three and a half years,"

"I will meet with her. I have documents proving that   Tanner and I were a couple up until I caught him in bed with another woman. Plus, he can be seen on video a couple of months ago with that same woman at Vine and Canter's restaurant; if your sister starts to stress me out, I will leave." I say.

"Alright, I will set the meeting up for Dinner time today here at the diner. That way, Tanner doesn't have time to call her and feed her lies. I need to get back to the office and book Tanner. See you after a bit," Mason says, shaking Hayden's hand.

"Maddison, what's wrong? You are unusually quiet," I asked.

"I have been trying to learn to keep my mouth shut if I have nothing nice to say." She smiles.

"Well, I could have used your quick wit dealing with Tanner. That man gets under my skin,"

"You handled him well, Melinda," Deacon says, then adds, "But Hayden was going to take care of him. You didn't have to say or do anything."

'That may be true, but he brought up the miscarriage and I flipped out. He has no right to mention that. I lost a child because of his egotistical abusive ass," I say, feeling my hatred of Tanner rise to the surface once again.

"Calm down, Kitten. The babies need you to be calm." Hayden says, wrapping me up in his arms and kissing my forehead.

'Deacon, it was good to see you; hopefully, we won't have to deal with an asshole the next time we run into each other," I say, then head to the door. "I want to go home and take a nap. Come on, Maddison,"

Maddison and I head back home. Once we enter my house, Maddison bends over like she is in pain. It freaks me out. I send a group text to Brenden and Hayden. Let them know that they need to hurry home; something was wrong with Maddison. Then, I turn my attention back to Maddison. "Are you okay? What is wrong and don't tell me it is nothing?" I say.

"Mel. I think I am having contractions. They keep getting worse. I was going to message Brenden, but then the contraction hit."

"I messaged him and Hayden. They should be here, so..." I was saying when the door flew open.

"Maddison, baby, what is wrong?" Brenden says as his eyes land on her.

"I think she is in labor. You take her to the hospital. Hayden and I will let the dogs out and be there as soon as possible. Go on; you don't have time to stand there in shock. It's too early for her to come,' I say, pushing him.

Brenden, seeming to snap out of his shock, picks Maddison up and heads out of the house to his car. Hayden pulls in, parks the car, and runs over to me, "Kitten, what is going on? What is wrong with Maddison?" 

"I think she is in labor. I knew she was acting off at the dinner; she walked into the house and bent over like she was in pain when we got back here. So I messaged you and Brenden. I told them we would let the dogs out and head to the hospital to find out what is going on." So I say as I go back to the house and let Rex out.

We let Rex out to do his business and then head to Maddison's and Brenden's and let their pup out. Once she finished doing what she had to do, we headed to the hospital. I was so worried about Maddison that I couldn't think straight as we pulled into the hospital parking lot. I exhale a breath. "Hayden, I hope she and the baby are okay. It's too soon for the baby to come," I say, looking over at him.

"Baby doll, don't stress. Our little ones in your tummy need you to be calm," Hayden says, then gets out of the car and comes over to open my door. He helps me out and wraps me in his arms, "I love you, baby. I know you are worried about our friends, so let's go see how things are going,"

Walking into the hospital, we went to the receptionist's desk and gave the lady Maddison's name.

"She is in the maternity ward. Follow the signs and you will see it," the lady says without looking at us. But, of course, with me being pregnant, we knew how to get to the maternity ward. 

"I am going to message Brenden and let him know we are heading toward the ward,"

"Alright," I say. 

We see Brenden leaning against a wall rubbing his hands over his face as we round the corner. We walk up to him and I pull him into a hug. "How is she doing? Were they able to stop the contractions?" I asked.

"They gave her a shot and the contraction has slowed down. They are going to give her another in a couple of hours. The baby is fine. They did say that if she doesn't have the baby right now, she will be on bed rest for the next four weeks." Brenden says, then chuckles "she is going to go crazy,"

"Well, if she is on bed rest, she and I will hang out and talk about how we are going to cope being moms," I say, then add, "I am going to go see how Maddison is," I say.