Broken Ties (The Ties Book 2)

5: Confession

~ May 22 ~

Mateo

Papi significantly improved over the last six days. The oxygen and fluid medication worked wonders. He’s not coughing as much and he’s walking pretty well. The doctor still recommends he be on oxygen for a while and prescribes additional fluid medication. The hospital pharmacy has everything we need by the time the nurses come with the discharge papers.

The nurse tries to show Ava how to do the oxygen, but she’s having a hard time understanding. The nurse explains everything to me instead. I step out to the nurses’ station and ask for information about an in-home care plan. After we get Papi home, I’ll try to explain everything to Ava again. If she still has trouble understanding, I’ll get an in-home care aide set up to help her out with Papi.

Isabella texts me on her way to work this morning. Although I’ve enjoyed time with Papi and Ava, I’m ready to get back to my jewel. I’ve missed her and the kids so much. Isabella told me she and Maya have small conversations now. Ironically, when she teaches her new words, Maya never tells her no. I guess Maya knows she has me wrapped around her little finger. I hope Isabella is having a girl. Maya is my little princess, but I want one I helped create. My greatest wish is being a girl dad.

When we get to my old home, memories flow through my mind. I lived here for twenty-five years. Even though Papi remarried Rachel, he still has family pictures with my mom, Selena. I lost her at five to gang violence in Puerto Rico. Unable to bear the heartache, Papi moved to San Diego, met Rachel, and they had Ava.

Rachel was a cool stepmom and very good to me. She loved me like her own. Rachel died of breast cancer when Ava was eleven years old. Ava was too young, so Rachel left the company to Papi. Years later, I was spiraling from the loss of Lisa and my baby, so he gave the company to me, which led me to my Isabella. Life sure has a funny way of working out.

Ava and I help Papi to his bedroom. I go over how the oxygen works one last time and have Ava try to demonstrate the process to me. She has a hard time, so I tell her not to worry about it.

“Mateo,” Papi clears his throat and grabs my hand, “given my health situation and this collapsing ordeal, I’m retiring from the board of directors. Now I’ll have a daughter–in–law and grandchild soon, and I want to enjoy my family. I’m having a retirement party on Tuesday, August 11.”

“Can you change the date,” I ask him.

“I’m afraid not. When you and Ava left the other day, I scheduled everything. It’s set in stone.”

August 11 is Benny’s birthday. He has summer camp that day and Isabella and I planned a small party for him after he gets home. I hate to leave him on his birthday, but I also want to be here at the retirement party. This is a major life change for Papi and I want to be here to support him.

“Alright, Papi. I’ll be here,” I promise.

“Are you bringing Isabella and the children,” he asks me.

“No. August 11 is Benny’s birthday and we have a party planned for him. However, I’ll still be here to celebrate with you. I’ll have plenty of birthdays to spend with Benny.”

“Great,” Papi beams and leans back on the bed.

“After we have lunch, I’m heading back to San Francisco.” The doorbell rings and it’s probably the delivery person with the food I ordered for lunch. Ava and I go to get the food and she looks worried. “You okay, nena?”

“I’m fine, Teo,” she responds.

Calling me Teo again causes me to chide sternly, “Ava, don’t lie to me.”

“No, I’m not okay! This is a lot to absorb! I don’t know if I can do this. I just hope daddy’ll be okay.”

“Ava, it’ll be fine. I’ll get an aide to come help you out. If you have problems, I’m just a phone call and FaceTime away.”

“Okay. You’re right,” she exhales and smiles. “I love you, Teo. You’re the best big brother!”

I kiss her forehead as she hugs me. Papi and Rachel always spoiled Ava, but deep down she’s very caring and has a good heart.

“Now let’s go eat,” I exclaim.

After lunch, I give Papi a handshake and a hug and promise to keep a check on him. I’ll have to call him more and make sure he’s good. Now that I’m finished in San Diego, I catch an Uber to the airport so I can fly home.

~ Two Hours Later ~

I get home around 4:30, park my car in the garage, and head upstairs. Isabella will be home in an hour. She’s had Andres and Maya with her all week. I can’t wait to see my babies. I jump in the shower and sit on the bed and wait for my family. About an hour later, I hear Andres and Isabella laughing. I walk downstairs to meet them and Maya sees me first.

“Daddy,” Maya exclaims when I smile at her.

Isabella and Andres turn their attention to me while I continue walking toward them.

“Matty,” Isabella greets. “Honey, why didn’t you tell me you were home?”

I stare at Isabella because she’s almost unrecognizable. She dyed her hair while I was gone and damn if she isn’t even more beautiful.

“Mami, when did you dye your hair? You look so damn good, I almost didn’t know who you were,” I chortle.

“Oh, stop it! It’s just some color. I did it last week. It was a surprise for you, but you left to go to San Diego. You like it,” she asks and twirls her finger in her hair.

“Mami, I love it!” I pull her close to kiss her. I completely forget Andres and Maya are here with us.

“Well, now that you’re back, Mateo, I’m gonna go claim my woman,” Andres interjects. “It’s good to see you, bro.”

“Bye, tio Dre,” Maya shouts, waving wildly when Andres turns to leave.

“Hey,” Andres excitedly laughs. “You finally called me tio Dre! Yes! I’ll see you later, baby girl.”

Andres leaves and we go upstairs. I take Maya and put her in her playpen before meeting Isabella in the bedroom. I meant exactly what I said when I told her she can do whatever she pleases with me. It’s unbelievable how amazing she looks sitting on the bedroom sofa.

“Wow Isa. You look so good,” I admire.

“Matty sweetheart, we need to talk.” She looks troubled.

I walk towards her and ask, “Mami, what’s wrong?”

“Mateo, I have a confession to make,” she gulps.

I raise my eyebrows in curiosity at her, and her eyes swell with water. I sit down beside her, caress her arm. “What is it?”

“You wanna know why I was really upset the night you left for San Diego?”

“So, it wasn’t about getting married in a maternity dress, huh?”

“I mean, that’s still true, but no, it wasn’t.”

“What was it, Isa?”

She deeply exhales. “Daniel showed up at the hospital. He was there on my birthday and left some tulips, but he came back last Thursday and he showed up Friday too.”

“What?!”

“The only reason I wanted to do the visit was to observe Daniel’s behavior and see if he’d reveal his intentions, but he pissed me off,” she continues confessing.

I can’t believe this! For the first time in our relationship, I’m genuinely mad at her. I walk away from her.

“Isabella, why are you just now telling me this?! Mami, you shouldn’t’ve been goin’ to work and you shouldn’t’ve done that visit!”

“Things seemed so serious with your father, and I… I didn’t want you to worry,” she stammers. “I know you would’ve been so concerned about me and I didn’t wanna add extra stress to you.”

“Isabella, I don’t care about that! You should’ve told me!”

She follows me to the door and cries. I’m more than sure I raised my voice at her in my anger. “Baby, please don’t be mad,” she implores. “Andres did a good job of protecting me.” She grabs my hand and pulls me to her. I’m still upset she didn’t tell me.

“Isabella, you lied to me! You should’ve just told me the truth!”

“Matty, I’m sorry. I will never do this again,” she swears. She caresses my face and remorsefully looks me in the eyes. “Honey, I wanted to tell you so bad, but I knew you’d be worried.”

“Yes, I would’ve,” I acknowledge and softly chuckle. “I probably would’ve caught a flight back.”

“I know, and I didn’t want you to do that. That’s why I didn’t tell you.”

She continues caressing my face. She runs her fingers through my beard and kisses me. I want to be mad at her, but I can’t fight my love and desire for her. She lied to me because she knew I would’ve left Papi for her. I understand her reasoning, so I pull her close and our eyes meet.

“Mami, it’s okay,” I sigh. “I forgive you. Just tell me the truth next time. Please.”

“I will. I truly am sorry.”

She leads me back to the sofa, pushes me back, and I land in the middle. She climbs on top of me, seductively tugging and sucking on my bottom lip. Her dry humps make me so hard. I caress every inch of her torso, but I take my time on her belly. She’s carrying my child in there. I gently knead her breasts as she continues teasing me.

“Isa, show me how sorry you are,” I demand alluringly.

She stands up and takes off her clothes. Her hair and body turn me on like crazy. She unzips my pants, pulls them down to my ankles, and whips my d**k out my boxers.

“First, I’m gonna make that d**k nice and wet so when I ride you, it’ll be so wet you’ll think you took ecstasy,” she alluringly speaks.

Damn. All my angry feelings are gone. I nod my head at her. She gets on her knees, swallows my d**k, and slowly teases me with her tongue. I slightly thrust myself against her face. When she deep throats me and swirls her tongue on my d**k head, my toes curl. She keeps doing it and it feels so f*****g good.

“s**t mami, you’re gonna make me c*m,” I moan breathlessly.

She moans back at me and increases her speed. Spit drips down my d**k shaft and on top of my balls. I can’t handle it. She’s sucking me so good I’m whimpering. The pleasure is almost unbearable. I’m making sounds I didn’t know I could make.

“s**t,” I moan. “Don’t stop, baby. Swallow this d**k, mami. It’s all yours.”

She looks up at me, and her seductive look makes me unable to contain myself. She’s sucking the very soul out of me. Have I died and gone to Heaven? I face f**k her and feel myself about to c*m. She laughs and moans because she knows I'm close, too. I release, but she keeps going. She keeps sucking and it’s driving me crazy. My d**k gets back hard.

“Damn, mami,” I grunt. “You really do feel bad, huh?”

She nods her head and continues sucking me. After I get fully erect again, she puts her curly hair in a bun and climbs on top of me. Her spit covers my d**k and her p***y is dripping wet. When she sits on my d**k, making me go balls deep, I can barely take it. She kisses me and stares into my eyes before saying, “Papi, I’m sorry for not telling you. Can you forgive me, Matty?”

“Isa, you keep this up and I’ll forget all about it,” I joke with a wink and ass smack.

She grinds on me. I grab her hips and she makes a circular motion, making my d**k pulsate for her. I grind with her and her moans get louder while our bodies move in sync.

She arches her back and bounces. She intertwines her hands behind my neck and intensely rides me. As her moans become louder, I bury my face between her breasts, licking her. I rub her back and she continues bouncing on me. Our erotic moans fill the room. I suck on her n*****s and take control by grabbing her hips and bouncing her on me hard. She screams my name in pleasure.

“Matty, baby. Yes! Don’t stop. Please don’t,” she moans.

Her legs shake and so does mine. We release together. I hold her close to me and I kiss her. That was amazing! If this is how make-up s*x will go, maybe she should make me mad more often. While she’s still sitting in my lap, I continue tracing my fingers all over her body while gently kissing her.

She dismounts me and sits beside me on the sofa. I place my hand on her stomach and smile. Realizing I’ve missed her so much, I give her a few seductive kisses and tug on her bottom lip. Now we need to figure out what to do about Daniel showing up at the hospital.

“Did Daniel show up this week,” I ask her.

“I don’t think so. I never saw him, but he left a note with Alyssa when he came last Friday.”

“You said you wanted to do the visit to study Daniel. What did you find out during the visit? Did he reveal how he found our house?”

“No. He told me he went to the hospital, but he didn’t mention coming to the house or being at the gate. Matty, he gave me stalker vibes. Dre seems to think he’s gonna stalk me.”

He definitely is acting like a stalker if he’s showing up at her job and here. How did he find us? Did he follow her home one night? No, that can’t be possible because she’d know if someone was following her, and she’d recognize Daniel’s Discovery. I don’t want her to keep working if Daniel is making pop-up visits at the hospital, but I don’t want to be like Daniel and try to control her, either. I ask what she wants to do about this situation.

“I wanna keep working,” she says and pauses, “but I’m worried about Daniel showing up. Andres told me he’d still go with me to the hospital if I felt unsafe.”

“Have you noticed his Discovery in the parking garage at the hospital before?”

“There are so many cars. I wouldn’t know if it was there.”

“Mami, I think I should get a security team for you.”

“Absolutely not,” she objects. “I’m not some high-profile celebrity. I don’t need a security team or a bodyguard following me around at work. Dre hanging out with me at work is bad enough.”

“I can accept that. We know Daniel’s terrified of Andres. We have two options. You can quit, which I know you don’t want to do, or I take you to work and pick you up.”

“What if I have to go somewhere or have to do something after I get off?”

“I’ll take you to work and if you need anything, just call me. Let’s let your Porsche sit in the garage for a while. He’s probably looking for your car, anyway. We need to switch up your routine. I want- no, I need to keep my babies safe.”

“What will you do while I’m at work? Benny will be out of school next month.”

“Benny has summer camp coming up, right? After dropping him off, I can have Maya with me while you’re at work like I usually do,” I suggest, and she takes a few moments to think about it.

“I guess we can do that,” she says. “I really enjoy working with those children, and I know they love having me as their nurse.”

“It’s probably because of all the sweet treats you take them,” I laugh.

“Probably,” she chuckles. “What do you want for dinner? I was thinking of making some arroz con pollo. Benny should be here any moment and I can get started on it now.”

“That sounds good, mami. I’ve missed you, the kids, and your food.”

We fix our clothes and head to the kitchen. Benny’s little league coach drops him off around 6:45. He’s so happy to see me. He hugs me tightly. Now that Papi will be okay for a while, I can focus on my little family here.