Page 117 of True Honey
It went through the usual speech and I clicked one to accept the call and charges, “What?”
“You haven’t been answering my calls,” Charles said from the other end of the static filled call.
“Honestly after what you said to Arlo I don’t give a shit what you have to say, Dad.” I led with honesty. If my testimony was as good as the prosecution believed it was, nothing I said now mattered. He was screwed.
“Just like your mother, always so touchy.” Charles clicked.
“What do you want?” I emphasized every word, sick of his games, sick of his stalling.
“At least one of my sons cares how I’m doing in here,” he sneered and I stopped dead in my tracks outside the building.
“What did you say to him?” I barked.
“Oh now he’s listening,” Charles sneered, “good. If you think I didn’t know what you were doing, sneaking around, building a case against me with the enemy. You’re just as stupid as your mother too and you didn’t learn anything. You cannot keep me here, Silas. I didn’t do a damn thing wrong, all I did was fuck another woman. Infidelity is not a crime.”
“On top of extortion, bribery, fraud, tax evasion.” I added tightly, my heart pounding in my chest. What had he said to Josh, and why had Josh gone there without telling me.Fuck. Everything was falling apart and we had come so far to keep it together.
“I’m not involved in any of that,” Charles denied, just like he had been for the last four months.
“What did you say to Josh?” I demanded.
“We had a good father and son talk,” Charles snipped, but I could tell he was trying to get under my skin with every word. “Joshua doesn’t blame me for anything, said his mother's vices were her own and that he wanted a chance toget to know his father. Told him I was ready to repent, to be the father he always needed.”
“Hah!” I pulled the phone away from my ear, laughing wildly. “You dumb shit,” I snapped, “what did you promise him?”
Charles went silent.
“Mm,” I hummed, “did you tell him that you have money stashed away, that you’d take care of him. Make up for all those years of leaving him in that fucking drug den with his abusive mother to be raped?” I growled through the phone, getting dirty looks from the people around me moving about their days. “You think that after all of that abuse, being sold around for drugs becauseyouweren’t man enough to own up to your adultery, he was on your side? Are you fucking dense?” I scoffed, running a hand through my hair.
It felt amazing to blow up on him finally, so close to the finish line I’d done everything properly down to the very last second. Nothing would save him now. I hoped he rotted in that concrete box.
“He went there because the prosecution needed you to confess about more hidden offshore accounts and you, being the stupidest man in Harbor. Played right into their hands.” I smiled widely, knowing he’d screwed himself royally. “It’s almost poetic that you signed your own death warrant because you couldn’t get over yourself!”
The silence was glorious.
“Yeah, Dad, you were so busy thinking you’d won this fight, that you were too smart to ever lose it. But guess what? You hurt the two most important people in my life, and I may have gotten a lot from Mom but I learned how to lie, cheat and screw fromyouand I used every single one of those things to make sure the only repenting you’ll ever do is in an eight by eight cell.”
“Son,” he huffed.
“Ah, nope.” I stopped him, my jaw grinding together at the sound of him calling me that. “It’s Doctor Shore to you from here on out, and I’m not your fucking son.” I didn’t even give him the chance to respond before I hung up and dialed Josh’s number.
“Are you okay?” I asked the second the call connected.
“What?” He sounded confused, “I’m walking into practice.”
“Why did you go to see him?” I asked and heard him sigh.
“Because they needed me to do it and I’m not a baby, I’m fine,” he said.
“You shouldn’t have had to do that, he’s a piece of shit—”
“I know, and everything he says is bullshit. Silas, listen… going there meant keeping him behind bars and you’ve done enough for all of us the last couple months to make sure that happened. You’re allowed to let people take care of you, it was literally the least I could do.” Josh’s voice resonated through the phone, full of conviction. “I had a meeting with Riona right after, got it out. I swear I’m okay.”
He said it and I actually believed him. Thank God for Riona.
“Did he call you?” was the next question out of his mouth.
“Yeah, to brag that you were his new favorite…” I sighed. “No more visits.”
