"I'm sorry," Alsie says again.

We're all waiting in the precinct for Charles to get released. I can't even look at Alsie right now. I know none of the guys will ever say it, but they all are blaming Alsie for this. Charlotte has been arrested for assault and thankfully Selena doesn't want to press charges. If she did I don't think I could look at Alsie the same anymore. Hell, it's proving to be difficult looking at her now. Why wouldn't she just come clean and tell me what the hell was going on? Dragging Charles into this wasn't a great idea. But then again this isn't just entire Alise fault. I should have been a little more forthcoming about the whole situation. Alsie is someone who got caught up in this shitshow.

"I'm—"

"Don't say it again." Chase sighs. I watch as he runs his fingers through his hair once again. I know this is taking a toll on him. He makes eye contact with me and I know what he is asking without him saying it. He wants Alsie gone.

"Alsie, can you call Cassie to see if she can come to get you. I think we're going to be here for a while. You should rest." I clear my throat looking at her.

"I'm okay. I can wait here until Charlotte is released."

"No, you can't. Charlotte is behind bars because of you." Austin says. He doesn't look up from his phone as he types away. "It's for the best if you do leave."

"Austin, relax I got this," I tell him. "And have you thought that maybe Charles is behind bars because of herself? After all, she put her hands on Selena not the other way around."

"Do you though? If you did little Ali wouldn't be behind bars right now. I get she is having your child, but Charles—"

"Charles needs to take a shower." Our heads snap to the sound of her voice. "Why do you all look so angry? I'm okay. How are you feeling—"

Chase engulfs Charles in his arms.

"I guess I should get going," Alsie says not looking at anyone in particular. Without another word, she leaves the precinct and I follow behind her. I still don't trust Selena to just give up so easily on pursuing me and hurting Alsie. Yet, I know after her encounter with Charles, Selena will definitely be leaving us alone for quite some time now.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Oh, so you finally decide to ask me that." She looks at me. "Yes, I'm fine, but I can see where I'm not wanted."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your friends, they don't like me I can see that clearly now. I get what I did was wrong, but how was I supposed to know Charlotte was going to go all MMA fighter? For crying out loud she is a grown-ass woman. Much older than myself, yet I kept my composure. I can see why most of you don't have wives. Charlotte will always come first and the hell with everyone else."

"You know at first I thought the guys were going to be like that, but nope—they're quite the opposite. You see they don't even care about me anymore." I look over my shoulder to see Charles walking out the precinct; she doesn't look one bit annoyed with what Alsie said. What Charles says is true though. We're still overprotective of her and each other, but not like how we were in college. "I'm sorry you feel that way. If you want me to disappear for a while so you two can really get to know each other, I will. I understand how difficult this all might be, especially with you being pregnant."

"Oh no...that's not...Charlotte—"

"What happened tonight was no one's fault, but my own. I let Selena get the best of me. I don't want any of the guys or you thinking otherwise." I turn around to get a good look at Charles. "Darren, I will see you around."

Chase walks out catching the end of the conversation. "And where are you going?" he asks Charles.

"Just giving Darren and Alsie space," she walks over to him. "I thought I was doing great taking a step back when the guys showed interested in other women." She thinks she says it only to Chase, but I heard it too.

I open my mouth to say something, but the rest of the guys come out and I know it's best not to indulge in the conversation any longer. I look back to Alsie and the look of guilt shines bright in her eyes. "Hey don't worry about it." I try to brush it off. "Charles, isn't bothered by what you said, trust me. Let me take you home."

"Wait," Charles says. "Since everyone is out here--I would like to say something. We need to clear the air." she looks around at all of the guys and me. "What happened tonight is not Alise's fault and I would like it if you guys showed her some respect. It wasn't her fault for what took place tonight. So kindly direct all that anger and animosity towards me not her." Charles states. She looks over at Alsie. "I'm truly sorry about tonight. My behavior was unacceptable and something like that will never happen again. I'm not as violent as it may look."

"Yeah okay." Everett scoffs.

"If you need anything at all, don't hesitate to call me." Charles hugs Alsie, then heads back to Chase. Everyone says their goodbyes and I look over at Alsie asking her if she is ready to go. Alsie doesn't seem to be in a talking mood anymore and that's fine by me. I just want her to relax and rest, anything stressful could cause harm to our child and that's not okay.

****

We enter the house and Alsie heads straight down the hallway to the bedroom. I gave her a second before following after her. I walk into the bedroom as she strips out of her clothes. Alsie grabs her robe walking into the bathroom, without saying a word to me. Apart of me wants to follow her inside, but I know better not to do that. If she wanted me to come inside with her, she would have told me or at least given me a signal.

Taking a change of clothes out of the closet I go to the guest bathroom to clean up. I needed a release. Mind as well just knock it out while I'm showering. I doubt Alsie would even let me touch her tonight, or for some time at that. She probably is pissed off with me about everything that happened tonight. Hell, I'm pissed off with her for just meeting with Selena and not telling me about it. I would love to talk about it tonight, but I doubt that's something she would like to get into at the moment.

"Hey, Darren, how long will you be in there?" Alsie knocks on the bathroom door.

"Ugh give me about five more minutes," I answer, rinsing the shampoo out my hair. "Is everything okay?" I call out.

"Yeah," she pauses. "You've just been in the shower for almost an hour now. I was just checking in on you. Well, have a goodnight."

"Uh, yeah...have a goodnight." I honestly don't know what is going on. Is she mad? At me? "Hey, Alsie?"

"Yeah?"

"If you don't mind waiting up, I should be out in a few. I would like to talk—"

"Can it wait until tomorrow? I'm pretty sleepy." She cuts me off.

"Yeah...yeah okay. I'm just going to crash in the guest bedroom tonight." I say stepping out of the shower. If she doesn't want to talk to me, I will give her space. Crashing in the guest room should help us. Whatever she is dealing with emotion-wise, I hope me trying to give her space will help. It would always work when I was with Selena. Giving her space always did the trick and by the next day, she and I were back to normal.

"That's fine. Night." I hear the room door slam.

Guess I won't be sleeping in the guest room tonight. Alsie wants my attention.