The man calmly took a puff on his cigarette. He exhaled the smoke causing the tension in the atmosphere to rise. It was his way of playing.

"Justin came back," he said after a few seconds.
"I swear I didn't know anything," the tattooed man quickly replied.
A wry chuckle left the brunette man's lips causing his wrinkles to crease to the point where they were terrifying. "Let's not be assholes. You knew it. I knew it. He knew it. We all knew this was going to happen."
"Seriously. I had no idea."
The first man tossed his cigarette to the ground and started a mini-walk around his victim. "Let's stop playing games, Jeremy. We're grown men. We can work this out with no beating around the bush."
The black-haired man sighed. "Please leave Justin out of this. I'll give you all the money you want, I promise, but leave him out of this."
"You should know by now that this isn't about money, it's about principles," he smiled.

***
Justin picked up his makeshift bed and walked into the bathroom. Once he put the latch on, he began his morning stretches. His back was killing him.

He had thought about buying a new bed, but the apartment was so small there was no room for it. He was considering proposing Anne a move, but he didn't know how well the girl would take it.

The money he had saved up over a year of working while studying in London was coming to an end. Or close to it. He had to do a lot of things in those two weeks that consumed both his money and his time. And none of those resources were eternal.

Ryan had helped find him a job, but he had to travel two hours every day to where the blond lived for it, which wasn't very feasible. Besides, he didn't want to leave the girl and her son behind. He needed to be close to them to protect them and 4 hours a day of traveling would end up exhausting him to the point where he would rather stay over at the blond's house.

He brushed his teeth as he listened to the girl head to the kitchen talking to the little one about heating milk and feeding him before leaving. He smiled.

Maybe and just maybe he had been pretending to drop Jason off at daycare for the last few days while she went to her waitress job.

If Anne found out she'd kill him, but, hey, he had been 1 year away from his little boy. He even missed his birthday. He had to make up for it and make up the time somehow. He knew better than anyone what it meant to not have a real father by your side and he didn't want that for his son.

"Justin, I have to go now," he heard the girl saying on the other side of the door as her footsteps made their way to the bedroom.

He sighed. He had to tell her. The interview Ryan had arranged for him was in a few hours.

He rinsed his mouth, washed his face and went out. The girl was already back in the living room.

"Please tell Nina to keep an eye on Jason today. He was a little fussy in the night," she spoke as she arranged her son's things inside his diaper bag.
"Anne, I need to tell you something."
"Can't it wait until I get off work? I'll be late," she replied without looking at him.
He took a seat next to her and held her hands between his. "No. It must be now."
The girl looked down at their joined hands and then looked up. It had to be serious. "It's okay."
"Ryan got an interview for me."
He has to go, she thought. "Oh."
"I must travel to Barrie today."
He'd leave again. "So... do you need me to take Jason to daycare today? Because I can stop by before work..."
"No, An," he sighed. "You know I've never wanted to be a father like mine. I don't want to be absent in Jason's life."
"I can understand that. And I know Jason will understand too. It's not your fault. You can see him on the weekends and..."
"Anne, I want you and Jason to move in with me."
"What?" she pulled her hands away from the brunette's grip.
"I need the job, but I'm not planning on sacrificing the time I have with both of you like that. Please, just think about it for a moment. Stratford hasn't given us anything good these past few years. There's nothing I can give Jason here. Let's go to Barrie, An, let's start over," he took her hands in his once more.

The girl felt her throat close up and soon her air would start running out. She pulled her hands away and stood up.

"I'll take Jason to daycare," she got up and headed to the room where the little boy slept.

Justin closed his eyes. He had to go to Barrie for the interview. He would convince the girl one way or another after that. They needed to get out of Stratford. John would get to them any minute.

***
"Hi, Nina!" the girl greeted as she walked into the nursery. "Jason was a little restless last night, could you keep an eye on him? I really hope it's not a cold like last time."
"Anne, what are you doing here?" the redhead asked puzzled.
"Justin has a job interview today, so I had to bring Jason."
"No, no. I mean... Wait, he didn't tell you?"
She frowned. "Tell me what?"

"Your man came in 2 weeks ago, paid the month's fee and said they wouldn't need our service anymore, that he would take care of Jason from now on."
"What?"
"I didn't believe him at first, but he even said that Charlie kept giving you trouble with the apartment and that you would most likely move somewhere else. And well," she scratched her neck apologetically "I asked Charlie and he said it was true and that he wanted to get you out of there as soon as possible..... I'm so sorry, Anne, I should have asked you personally, but Charlie is my husband and..."
"Don't worry, Nina, it's not your fault," she cut her off as she slung Jason's diaper bag back over her shoulder.
"Do you need me to watch Jason today? I'll do it no problem. You don't need to pay me."
"No, don't worry. I'll just take him back to his father."

She stormed out of the place in a rage.

Not my man, she thought.

She took her phone out of her pocket and texted the manager of the small restaurant where she worked saying she would be late. The woman was a single mother too, so she tried to be sympathetic to her. She would explain everything later.

Fine. If he wants to take care of him, he'll take care of him. Let's see if he makes it to his interview with a baby in his arms.