Page 59 of Xavier

Greyson flashed me a grin. “Hell yeah, count me in.”

CHAPTER 23

Xavier

Pullinginto the driveway to Kate’s house, I killed the ignition and let the car rattle to a cool with Dexter and me still sitting inside of the cab. Both of us had barely talked the entire trip back to California, outside of the occasional check-ins after getting through TSA and then on and off the plane.

While there was a lot left unsaid between us, I was sure we both agreed that the exhaustion from this impromptu trip had won out over that entirely. Dexter wasn’t exactly surprised when I woke him up early this morning with both of our bags packed and an outfit laid out for him.

Nor was he taken aback when Gage met us at the door to bid us a soft, heartfelt goodbye that left tears in my eyes when we climbed into the rental car and jetted off for the airport.

Yesterday seemed like an entire lifetime ago compared to now. Idling in Kate’s driveway had somehow taken me off autopilot, slowly pulling me back into my consciousness and reality. Thegravity of ‘now what’weighed on me more than I’d really anticipated.

There were no rule books that came with dealing with situations like this one. No proper protocol was discussed in Parenting 101 when you first met your baby in the hospital and all of the nurses and doctors came around to congratulate you on your new bundle of joy.

Why could this world be so dark and cruel and why were those that perpetrated against the laws of nature allowed to still walk freely among us with seemingly no consequences?

I was so lost, so goddamn angry.

“Just tell me one thing, Dex…” My voice was soft as I spoke. “And I won’t ask you anything else about this until you’re ready to talk.”

His face was obscured by his hood pulled up over his head, intentionally left like that throughout our entire journey home save for the one time TSA had asked him to pull it down to confirm his identity.

When he slowly turned away from looking out the windshield, his eyes were glazed over from lack of sleep and the rough ride we’d had coming home from being crammed back in economy.

“Does mom know?” I asked.

His lips thinned into a small frown. My heart sank at the way his gaze moved away from mine, his eyes downcast into his lap where he fiddled with his hands.

“A little.”

That’s all I needed to know.

I reached over to put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze and a silent ‘thank you’ for being honest with me.

None of this was easy to talk about at all, and what little info he’d given me so far was enough to paint the picture he was trying to tell me without actually having to relive the trauma of recounting the entire situation.

I appreciated anything at this point.

But now I had an even bigger problem—my ex-wife and her not informing me about this. If she found out recently, that was one thing, but there was a deep twisting in my gut telling me otherwise.

Kate wasn’t one to bring me in on anything when it came to Dexter without humiliating me first into begging on my hands and knees for the damn crumbs she decided to bless me with whenever she felt like it.

I didn’t want to be bitter toward her, not when deep down in my heart, I knew that whatever Kate’s choices were, they were made in good faith to keep Dexter safe even when I didn’t agree with them.

But this was so much different.

This was not her putting him into a private Catholic school against my wishes, or forcing him into some sports club when he obviously wanted to get onto the debate team. This wasn’t her bringing him to church every Sunday to sit in some goddamn pew for two hours while praying to a God that I was pretty sure our kid didn’t even believe in.

The second she found out about any of this, she should’ve been showing up on my doorstep demanding to talk to me. Because that’s sure as fuck what I was about to do right now.

Climbing out of the car, I let the door slam shut behind me and grabbed the handle of the one behind me to fish Dexter’s bag out. He got out after me a moment later, slowly sliding off of his seat until his feet finally hit the pavement.

His body was hunched in on itself while he grabbed onto one of the strings coming down from his hoodie. Coming around the other side of my car, I watched him hover next to his door for a long moment, staring at the front door that was still closed and the light above it still on from the night before.

“I’ll let them know you’re tired so they leave you alone to sleep,” I said, trying to offer him what I hoped was a reassuring smile.

His frown only deepened, though, his body still unmoving.

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