Page 71 of Higher Notes

“I hope that bad man goes to jail,” Nolan shook his head. “Gabe looks sad.”

That he was. “That bad man will go to jail for a very long time.” I gave them a popsicle and sat them at the table. “I’ll be right back with your coloring books. Stay here for me, okay?”

“’Kay, Jase.”

“Can you get my princess one? I want to make Gabe a happy prince picture.”

“You got it.”

I don’t think I’d ever run so fast in my life. Not only did I want the twins set up and occupied but I wanted Gabe back in my line of sight.

“Make then do something, Wyatt. Is that blood? Wyatt, is that blood?”

Sikes and I zoomed in on the cameras and Gabe’s terrified face was like a shot to the fucking heart. But thank fuck it wasn’t his blood.

“Sikes, that’s Paul’s blood.” Not good. Fuck all knows what it was contaminated with. “They need to move and get him away from Gabe.” I knew why no one had fired off a shot yet. Paul’s erratic movements made it hard to get a clear one.

As soon as Sikes moved his arm off Mom, she made a break for it and took off out the front door.

“Mom, no!”

I yelled at the same time Sikes yelled, “Dana, no!”

But there was no stopping her.

“There you are, fucking bitch.” Paul made a grave mistake when he saw her. His hand slipped from Gabe and Gabe took off right for Sikes. Mom was hell bent on confronting Paul. “’Bout time you showed up. Now, where’s my money?”

The next few seconds felt like hours as they unfolded in slow motion. Mom wound up her fist and clocked him right in the face. Paul stumbled back and spit out blood. The cops and guards had their guns on him as Snipe and Fizzbo tackled him to the ground.

“Assault! Assault!” Paul screamed. “I’ll sue you for everything!”

“What assault?” Snipe asked Sikes.

“I didn’t see any assault,” Sikes said, handing Gabe over to Mom. “I didn’t see anything but your dumbass running into a tree.”

“I didn’t run into a tree.”

“Do you want to?” Sikes growled.

“No-no,” Paul stuttered.

“Don’t you ever come near my family again,” Mom told him.

“He won’t,” Fizzbo said as they lifted his ass off the ground. “He’s got a nice shiny jail cell in King County with his name on it. Reservation’s already confirmed.”

One of the cops handcuffed him as he read him his rights.

“You can’t arrest me. I haven’t done anything wrong. That’s my son, I just took him to spend some time with him.”

“Let’s go over the charges, shall we?” Fizzbo raised his hand and ticked them off one by one. “Kidnapping, unlawful detainment, extortion, assault with a deadly weapon, endangering a minor.”

“Not to mention the outstanding open drug and assault charges already pending against him,” the cop said as he loaded Paul into the back of the police cruiser. “You are going away for a long time.”

The police insisted the paramedics come and check Gabe out for any injuries and took pictures of the bumps and bruises Gabe had. Once that was over, Gabe took a shower while we fixed him something to eat. Fuck, that was by far the most terrifying thing that had ever happened to us and that was saying something considering how long we lived in shitsville.

“Gabey,” I hugged him for the millionth time. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, stop babying me.” His protest fell on deaf ears when he whispered, “I love you, Jase.”

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