His Father, My Revenge

My Sisters’ Seat

Hailey

***

Stacia, my pregnant sister is seated on the couch comfortably.

“Don’t stop on my account.” She says smirking as she c***s her head

I slide out of Chris’s arms, suddenly overaware of how bare my dress feels. My heels click awkwardly against the floor as I step forward.

“Stacia? What are you doing here?” I ask her, trying to keep my voice even, like this isn’t the weirdest thing ever

“I could ask you the same thing,” she says, folding her arms across her round belly. “But I guess I already know.”

“What are you saying? Why are you speaking in riddles? “ I force a laugh even though there is nothing funny about Stacia barging into my boyfriends’ house and ruining the mood.

I turn around to Chris for support but he says nothing. Just stands behind me, still as stone.

“I thought you were having dinner with Christian,” I try again, looking back at Stacia..

“Yeah, turns out he had better things to do,” she says, not looking the least bit embarrassed or upset. Instead, her eyes slide to Chris.

A weird chill runs through me. Something weird was happening, in my head or in this room, but something was definitely off.

“Well, what does that mean?”

“Okay…” I want to ask her why she is at Chris’ house instead of her boyfriend's Apartment, but the hurt from my heels and a sudden drowsiness I feel do not let me wait for her answer.

“Just hold on id be right back,” I quickly run to Chris’ bedroom, to wash my face, and hopefully the dizziness.

I barely drank, Was the drink that strong?

as I walk out, I hear whispers coming from the living room that make me pause

“It worked.” A low male voice. Chris?

“Told you it would,” another familiar voice giggles. Too familiar

My feet freeze in the hallway.

“All I had to do was say she turned me on. It was too easy.”

“Now I’ll f**k her, get the video, then send her away tomorrow.”

“Finally! I’ve missed you so much baby, Moments away from you are so hard, The baby misses you too Christian,” Stacia says softly.

A kiss sound.

I peek into the room to find the man Stacia is kissing, it's Chris, my boyfriend. There's no other person in the room.

Chris, Christian. Oh My God!

My chest constricts with pain. Please God wake me up from this nightmare.

Id be damned if my Chris was the same with Stacia’s boyfriend Chris. This has to be a joke.

“What the f**k?” When both their attention turns towards me, I realize I said that out loud.

“Stacia, what is going on here” I feel like a fool for asking, because they were just holding each other. But I ask for clarity

“Oops, drama time, ask your boyfriend “ Stacia says with a bright smile, like she was talking about the weather as she goes to the seat she was perched on before we came into the house.

My eyes snap from Stacia’s to Chris’s face. He’s frozen, his expression a mixture of panic and something I can't quite read. guilt? Resignation?

He does not deny it. He just stares at Stacia, then flickers a glance at me, a look that confirms everything and nothing all at once.

“Are you Stacia's Christian?” I walk slowly towards him, as if it determined the answer I would get.

A deafening silence followed, for seconds that stretched like eternity

It's as though we are all shocked at my reaction. I should be crying right? Not asking questions. The answer is literally written in permanent marker across me.

“He is Christian, my baby daddy and boyfriend. You know, I’m surprised you never figured it out, but then you’ve always been so naive, or do I say foolish? Tsk, answer her baby, I already feel stressed” she said, looking atChris, her voice laced with saccharine sweetness

“Say something Chris, I know that’s not true,” my voice now a whisper, as treacherous tears stand in my eyes.

He sighs, like I’m the one being difficult. “Come on, Hailey. You’re making this harder than it needs to be. She’s right. And I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”

His words shatter something inside me.

“Chris…” My lips barely move. “Was any of it real?”

Stacia rubs her belly, unbothered.

“I always thought you were the smart one,” she says in a sickly sweet voice. “But maybe your teachers were as dumb as you are, handing out all those honors. You couldn’t even figure out who your sister was sleeping with?”

Tears blur my vision.

“You never even met my baby daddy. Didn’t you think that was strange?” she sneers. “Christian has never been happy with you. And you couldn’t tell?”

“It’s okay, Stace. I think she gets it now,” Chris says, walking over to sit beside her like they’re on a freaking picnic.

‘Stace?’ The nicknames weren’t just for me after all

So the nicknames weren’t just for me.

“You told me you loved me,” I whisper. “Was that a lie too? Did you ever mean it? What was the point? why make a video? Why humiliate me like this?”

Tears spill freely now. I don’t bother to wipe them.

Chris stands and walks toward me slowly, voice colder than I’ve ever heard it.

“You’re so naive, Hailey. Love? That’s just a word. I said it because it got me what I wanted. And you made it easy.”

He laughs, and it’s so cruel it makes my stomach turn.

“Did you really think I was playing celibate for a year? With you? I was waiting for the right moment. And tonight, it worked. You’re just a needy little prude pretending to be pure.”

I gasp, I physically gasp, as if his words strike me in the ribs.

“Your sister just wanted the video,” he adds with a smirk, “so you never forget you’re not better than her.”

The room spins as each word hits a different part of me.

Chris keeps going, like he hasn’t destroyed enough already.

“Stacia’s everything I want. She’s sexy. She goes after what she wants. You? You pretend. You hide. I don’t need soft. I need real, I need a lady who is not afraid to do new things, you'd rather shrink in your comfort zone and that's pathetic.”

He turns his back on me.

“Now if you don’t mind, I’ve been apart from my girlfriend all week.”

He walks over to her and Kisses her, Like I’m not standing here with my heart in my hand, like he wasn't kissing me barely fifteen minutes ago.

It felt like I was watching a sin play out, a beautiful sin. My heart knows this is happening, but my body refuses to accept it.

And then, they start walking hand in hand toward the bedroom. The one I shared with Chris.

The one I was ready to give myself to him in.

As they pass, Stacia gives me a look I’ll never forget.

“Aww, Hailey, don’t let Dad see that face,” she coos. “Smile. It’s not that deep. It's Family before boys, right?”

That’s when I realize the tears have been pouring. I don’t even try to stop them.

“Yeah?” I whisper. “But you put boys before family. Before me. You knew I loved him.”

“He was never yours to begin with. It's better that I took him than someone from the outside does right? That way he remains in the family,” she says all this, her grin not falling once.

“Bye girl,” she says, sashaying out of the living room with Chris.

My boyfriend

Hand in hand, they walk inside, taking a piece of me with them when Something inside me snaps.

Before I can stop myself, I’m charging at my pregnant sister, fists first, heart last.