Page 52 of Jockstraps & Newspapers
"Well…what does she like?What's romantic to her?"
Elliot wasn't sure.That's the thing, his idea of romance and hers were completely different.And he was at a loss for ideas.His mother rattled off some ideas, a walk in the park, after the game, a grand gesture of affection, etc.None of them stuck for him as they ate together.
"I dunno, Ma, I think I gotta find something uniquely…" he trailed off as his phone buzzed.He ripped it out of his back pocket and immediately burned to an embarrassed crisp."Dang!I forgot to…what?"
Him and his mother leaned over his phone to find a text from Cassie and a picture of her ruined car.His eyebrows furrowed on his brow.Who in King's Fall would bash her car in?Before he had a moment to process what was happening, the back door flew open.His mother jumped up in her seat, Elliot collecting their empty bowls in time to have Jessie shoved onto the table by his father.Elliot nearly smashed the bowls onto the kitchen counter to see what was going on."Jessie!"
"Honey, he's been stabbed!"Titan Bonesaw rushed to kick the back door shut.
"What happened?"Lailee Bonesaw barked at her husband, rushing to her son's side."Who did this?"
"He had a brother," Jessie laughed weekly before his eyes rolled back in his head.
Elliot looked at his father with fear in his big eyes."What happened?"
"No, no you need to go!"His father took a hold of Elliot, wheeling him away from the kitchen table and toward the front hallway."Get in your car and leave, now."
"What!I'm not leaving!"Elliot stomped his hooves down, stopping his father in his tracks."Why did Jessie get stabbed?"
"You don't want to know, and your nosey, journalist girlfriend can't find out."His father shooed him with a flick of his hands.
"Dad!Will you just tell me what happened to Jessie?"Elliot pushed his father back into the kitchen, crossing the floor to lean over Jessie.The wound was jagged.Whoever stabbed him meant it with all the anger in their heart.They'd twisted the knife too.Clearly stopped before they could whip up Jessie's insides.Their mother was bawling her eyes out as she cast spell after spell, stitching Jessie back together.
Titan snatched Elliot by the shoulder, jabbing a finger in his son's face."You're the one who didn't want to be a part of the family business, you don't get to come and go when you want."
"Are you being serious right now, Pops?Jessie got stabbed and you want to make this about why I didn't want to work at the shop?Look at Jessie!That's why I didn't want to work for you!He could have died!"
Titan sneered, shoving Elliot backward."You're a coward."
"Titan!"Lailee snapped, whirling around to face her husband.
"I'm.A.Coward?"Elliot roared, tossing his father backward with a flat, palmed shove."You're the one who gave in to this life!You should have never asked Jessie to fill in your shoes!You won't admit that your life choices made it impossible for us.We're not your employees, dad!I'm your son!And you shouldn't want me to follow in your footsteps, you should want me to exceed your life's work.Be a better man than you ever were.And if you gave two shits about me or Jessie or Rex, you'd never ask us to work for you."
"I did thisfor you!" Titan stomped his hooves, rattling the pans dangling over their heads with his roar.
"And now Jessie's paying for it."
"Get out of my house!"Titan jabbed a finger at the front door."Don't you dare come back.You're not my son, if you can't even understand what I've done for you, you ungrateful little punk!"
Elliot deflated, his heart cracked in two.Flashes back to the night before training returned.His father pacing, huffing and puffing, demanding Elliot explain himself.I shouldn't have to.His mother sobbing, begging him to apologize.Elliot glanced at his mother, arms drenched up to her elbows in blood.His brother laid out on the tabletop, eyes closed and chest barely rising.Stay, fight with him.But Elliot couldn't.Not when none of them fought for him.They never had…it was always dad's dream, always dad's work.The shop, the cars, the money, all of it was to fulfill his needs, not Elliot's.
"Fine, guess you only have two sons…one, if Jessie doesn't make it because your career got him killed," Elliot whispered, cut off by the sound of his phone ringing, he held up the phone to his father."Look who it is, my nosey, journalist girlfriend."
Titan lunged for it, but Elliot danced out of his grip and answered the phone, "Cassie—"
"Elliot!There's so much blood here.What happened?Rex is freaking out and Nikolai won't tell me what's going on.Are you alright, please tell me you're alright."
"Yeah, I'll explain when I get there.Just…just stay there."Elliot hung up before she could ask him more.This was not a phone call conversation…and it was time he fessed up, completely.
Titan grabbed him by the shoulder, "You tell her anything, and it's over."
"She's not going to ruin your business," Elliot tossed his father's hand off his shoulder."For once could you be concerned that to regular people, a bunch of blood on the floor isn't normal?"
"I'm not talking about me, boy."Titan tossed him toward the hallway leading toward the door."If she writes that tell all and I'm in there…a lot of people are going to talk.It's not just your reputation, but mine…and some of my enemies won't like a journalist speaking the truth.This is more than a little scandal talk of some rich boy slapping people’s asses, Elliot.I've got real enemies who will kill to keep themselves in the shadows.If she digs into this, into you, it's not just your kneecaps they'll come for."
Elliot stared at Titan as he stepped back toward the table.The two adults focused their gazes on Jessie and left him to wander out into the night.His body was separate from his mind.He floated toward his truck, his father's words crashing down around him.It wasn't his career on the line anymore.Titan had a point, if Cassie wrote about his childhood, if she even told a single soul, his father's enemies would come for her.The reason the Bonesaws lived, the reason Elliot got a free pass, is because he didn't bring up the past.Ever.But Cassie was about the truth.Stubborn as they come, resilient, she wouldn't so much as blink in the direction of fear.Elliot threw the truck in reverse and left.It didn't escape him that his mother didn't come out to stop him.The front window blinds didn't even move.No one was watching to see him go.And so, he left to go pick up his girlfriend.Once again leaving his parents behind to clean up their own bloody mess.
Chapter twenty-four
