Page 41 of Freak Camp
Roger held up a hand, cutting Jake off.If only that worked as well with Leon.“They’re monsters, kid.You know that every single freak in this camp did something or was a threat in some way.That’s why they’re here.”
“Tobias didn’t do anything!”Jake’s voice rose, but he caught it, glancing at the guards, and then glaring back at Roger.“He didn’t do anything,” he hissed.“He got dropped here before fucking kindergarten and he doesn’t remember anything.How can he be a monster?”
“He says he doesn’t remember anything,” Roger said.“That doesn’t mean nothing happened.Werewolves—”
“Tobias’s not a werewolf, not a vamp, not a psychic or a witch or any damn thing that they can pin a label on.He’s just Tobias, and sure, he’s here, but that doesn’t mean—”
“Jake.”Roger was surprised that just saying the kid’s name shut him up.Maybe he was channeling Leon.Chilling thought.“He’shere.”
Jake looked away.“That doesn’t mean everything.Papers get fucked up all the time, otherwise I wouldn’t have spent weeks as Jackie, getting detention for not showing up in Home Ec the whole time we were in Buffalo.”
Roger eyed the sullen teenager in front of him and the silent hopeless boy standing just out of earshot.He could almost believe that Jake knew what he was talking about.Then again, he was barely fourteen.
But hell, Leon had abandoned his son to CPS, and Roger had made his share of mistakes.They were well over Jake’s age.Roger just hoped that this wouldn’t be another one of his.
“Hell,” he said at last.“I’m going to Special Research.Do you want to come with me?”Not that Roger wanted Jake anywhere near that place.The longer Jake went without being exposed to that part of hunter life, the better.He felt relieved when Jake shook his head, even though Roger could feel the bitterness rolling off of him.
“Jake.”The boy looked up.Damn, that kid was as stubborn as his father, but Roger was pretty sure that his heart was in a healthier place.“I know that you’re going to hang around with that kid, probably give him the candy in your bag, right?”
Jake’s face closed down, stubborn and angry.“Maybe, sir.”
No maybe about it, Roger didn’t say out loud.The kid didn’t need to know that Roger could read him like a book, and he was no frickin’ medieval Japanese either.“Watch yourself, Jake.Be careful.”
Jake relaxed slightly.Roger wondered if that was something that Leon said before he left, before he showed Jake that he trusted him.“I always am, sir.”He sounded confident, but a touch resentful.Recent experience had taught him that being careful wasn’t always enough.
Roger wished he could explain to Jake that Leon wasn’t angry at him, but at himself, and that Hawthorne had never been good at channeling his personal self-loathing and rage onto the people and objects that deserved it, but he didn’t think that Jake could understand.Jake had never been responsible for anyone but himself—and maybe sometimes for his father.He’d never known the furious, deep-rooted love that Leon had for him even when Leon was doing a piss-poor job of showing it.
Instead Roger said, “You do good, kid.”With one more glance at Tobias, he walked away.
***
Jake breathed a sighof relief when Roger moved away.He had felt the argument growing, had known that he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from defending Toby, and Roger might’ve been forced to grab him by the scruff of the neck and drag his ass out of camp—which wouldn’t have helped Toby—and then they would have fought.Jake thought sometimes that it would be nice to fight with someone about Toby.He still hadn’t been able to get to that point with Dad.He couldn’t shake his certainty that his dad knew best, his dad knew how to keep him alive, and Jake should never question him.
Of course, there was the fact that Dad wasn’t talking to him, was so fucking ashamed of how Jake had behaved with the whole CPS thing that he had left and probably wouldn’t be back for a long time.
But now Roger was heading toward Special Research, and there was nothing to stop Jake from turning to Toby.
Tobias watched the hunter leaving, expression tense, his gaze darting to Jake and the guards around the yard.
The nervous energy between them reminded Jake of when he and Dad weren’t talking.Except at least he and Toby were in the conspiracy together.
They both waited until Roger had disappeared around a corner, and then they simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.Tobias started, but Jake laughed.It was good, damn good, to be around someone else who wasn’t an adult, someone who also eased up when he was finally left alone.
“Hey, Toby.”
Tobias gave him a nervous smile, and Jake couldn’t hold back his own.He wished that Toby would look as happy as he did when he had first seen Jake, but he figured that was too much to hope for.He rarely got to see Toby excited.There was only so much emotion that someone could have in a prison, Jake knew that now.No surprise that Tobias had been there so long that he couldn’t manage anger anymore.Well, Jake might be able to stay angry for both of them.
“C’mere.”Jake jerked his head, and Toby followed him to the side of a building.Jake turned his back to block the guards’ view of Toby, and no one could even see their lips moving.He didn’t know if any of the guards were lip readers, but he would take no chances.
“I got something to tell you.”
Tobias blinked rapidly and ducked his head.“What—what is it?Your dad ...”
Jake waved him off.“No, this isn’t about Dad.This is ...”This is me realizing that you shouldn’t be here, that no one as good as you should ever get locked up like I was.“Something completely different.”
“Okay,” Tobias whispered.He wasn’t looking up.His hands were folded tightly together as though bracing himself for the blow.
Jake wanted Toby to look at him.He wanted Toby to believe him.No one else did, but of all the people in his life, Toby was the one that Jake most wanted to trust him.
