Page 25 of Irons

“Screw you, Robert!” She started to cry.

“I can only take so much, Paula. We need to make some decisions tonight! Either become a mother to our son so I can work and know he’s taken care of or go out and get a damn job so I can take care of him! I’m either at work or on the road with you and I can’t keep going this way. Our son can’t keep going this way!” I heard a huge thud so he may have hit something.

“You are such a selfish prick! Travis is safe with our family and friends, while Bobby is out there somewhere being abused and is scared. He needs us more than anyone else, but you’re too concerned with your job, and that slut you’ve been fucking, to care about anything or anyone else! You should be following every lead with me, going on every interview, and working the tip line just like I do!”

“What part of me working do you not understand? Who do you think pays for all those flights and hotels? Who is paying the house payment? Who is sending my brother and my parents money to care for our son? We don’t even know him! Jesus, he’s what, ten years old now and he’s never played a sport because you forget to take him while I’m at work? Hell, the school says he’s not allowed to play because you keep him out of school toomuch. His attendance is crap, and his grades are even worse. That’s not his fault, it’s ours. Something has to give, Paula.”

“Fine, I will sign over custody to your family. Is that what you want? Because obviously I can’t be the mother he needs! I have a son that’s thirteen now and God knows what they’ve done to him. I have a son that’s safe and one that’s not. I have to fight for the one that’s not!” She screamed back. “You are available at night after work and don’t do the same things you’re yelling at me to do! You’re not here because you’re with that fucking side piece!”

“Bobby is dead!” My dad’s voice bellowed through the house. “He’s dead, Paula! He’s fucking dead.” My dad’s voice broke, and he was suddenly crying. “We failed one son, we can’t keep failing the other. Please, just let it go. I’m not saying you have to stop, I'm just saying you’re needed here, so just step it back some.”

“I hate you!” My mother screamed. “Get out of my house! Don't ever come back here!”

“Your house?” Dad whimpered.

I heard something crash, it sounded like glass. “Get out!” My mother’s scream pierced my ears.

I heard my dad’s footsteps then his keys made noise before the front door slammed shut. I went to my room and laid on my bed. I was nothing but a problem for them. I cried myself to sleep and I wasn’t sure how long I was sleeping before I heard voices. I rose from my bed and walked into the hall and the voices were coming from my mom and dad’s bedroom. Except whoever was in there wasn’t my dad. I went back to my bedroom and looked out the window to see a car I didn’t know in the driveway. It had a spotlight above the mirror on the driver’s side and I knew that kind of car. My Uncle’s friends had them.It was a cop that was in my mom’s bedroom. My legs worked faster than my brain when I ran from the house. I knew how to get to Uncle Tony’s, but it was far away. I didn’t care and knew my mom wouldn’t have noticed I was gone. I ran and ran until suddenly there were red and blue lights flashing behind me.

I kept running until the car pulled in front of me, blocking the sidewalk.

“Travis, what the hell are you doing out here?” Clint stepped out of his cruiser.

I was out of breath, and couldn’t answer.

“Jesus Travis, does Robert or Paula know you left?”

I shook my head as I tried to catch my breath. “They…are mad…at me…again. She…has that cop…over in…her room” I could barely speak as I tried to breathe.

“Fucking hell.” Clint let out a breath. “Come on, get in the car. Wrenly is at home with my mom. You can stay there tonight. Tony is on a ride and won’t be back for a few days. I’ll call your dad and let him know.”

I got into the police car, and he strapped me in before driving to his house. I heard him call my dad then he said something over the radio. When we got to his house, it was quiet. Grandma Patty, who was Clint’s mom and always treated me so nice, led me to the kitchen while Clint went next door and got me some clothes from Uncle Tony’s house. Grandma Patty gave me some milk and cookies and sat at the table with me. I felt weird, like I was a problem for them too. When I was done with my cookies, Grandma Patty made a bed for me on the sofa while I put on a pair of shorts and t-shirt. It felt nice when she made me lay down, then pushed my hair back and kissed my forehead.

“Good night my sweet boy.”

I listened as she walked upstairs then the tears escaped my eyes. Why was I ever born? If they didn’t have me, my mom and dad would love each other and Bobby. He wouldn’t be gone, and my mom and dad would be happier.

I felt a hand on my arm and opened my eyes. The moon lit the room just right to show me a big pair of blue eyes and long blond hair. She was like a tiny little angel, and she laid down next to me, pulled my arms around her and then covered us back up. “I love you and you’re my very best friend. Don’t be sad anymore, okay?”

I shut my eyes, and a tear fell into her hair. Not because I was sad, but because she was always there, even when I least expected her. Somehow when she was close, everything seemed like it was going to be okay. She was my only real happiness, and she always made me feel like I had a home. That little angel was the most important person in the world to me.

Present Day

I was startled awake when the lights came on and it was announced that we were landing. I was between a good place and a bad one in that dream. Shit, there I was, almost ten years old and holding the sweetest girl as I fell asleep that night. It might have been a dream, but it was real and happened quite often. That was why as we grew older Wrenly wasn’t allowed to be alone with me that often. It was because of the connection we had as kids and Clint was smart enough to know it wouldn’t have always stayed so innocent. We were twelve when we were told no more sleepovers. I didn’t understand, and Tony made it even more confusing when he had the big talk with me. Of course, I knew some things about girls bodies, I knew they didn’t have a dick or balls, but he just confused me even more. I could almost laugh about it now. I remember he was fine telling me how thewhole sex act worked and showed me a condom, but it was when he told me about a girl’s body and what it did every month that was funny. I already knew Wrenly had something happening, but I sure as hell didn’t need to hear about the bloody nasty mess. I remembered him pacing and talking about tampons and pregnancy tests, and then he told me Wrenly got her period and that meant she could get pregnant if I touched her. I had no desire to touch a girls private parts, and it was totally gross. It was probably the most disturbing conversation I ever had with my uncle. All he had to tell me was that we were getting too old for sleepovers, but of course he put us both through the hell of talking about girls private parts. He was nervous talking about it and he was even grossed out. It made no sense to me at the time, because even then I knew he was a player with women. Hell, he had a new girl around him all the time. He always tried to keep that part of his life separate from me. It wasn’t like he had sleepovers when I was there, but I surprised him a few times by showing up at the wrong time. I was lucky to have a man like my Uncle Tony, but he looked way too much like my dad for me to know that kind of shit. They were identical twins, and yeah I could tell them apart, but it was still weird for me when I saw the women leaving in the morning.

The good thing about first class travel, was the fact that I got to walk off that plane before the huge number of people that sat behind me. I had been in Sydney for four days total, and was more than ready to go home. It was a long flight, and I had been on that plane for almost a whole day. When I walked out of the airport after dealing with customs, I was expecting to see Magnus, but instead I saw Melissa waiting for me. I paused and looked around, then looked at her again.

“Are you going to get your ass in the damn car or will you be walking?” She opened the gate in the back and motioned for me to bring my suitcase over.

“Where’s Magnus?” I asked as I threw my suitcase in the back of her SUV then went up to sit in the passenger seat.

She opened the driver’s side door and started climbing up into her seat. “Creed had to take off with the boys for California. Magnus is with Morgan because I wasn’t staying another night with that psychotic bitch.”

That explained why I hadn’t heard from Creed. “Is it his mom?”

She put her seatbelt on. “Yeah, she isn’t doing that great.”

I never rode with Melissa before, and it was a bit scary. She could barely see over the steering wheel, but at least the extenders on the SUV made it so she could reach the pedals.

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