Page 3 of Walker

The fire inside me seeks revenge for what they did to my mother. I sit here and wait for the sun to come up, wanting the day to start; nights are the worst for me.

I throw my beer bottle in the trash, grab my keys off the wall and drive down the road to my mother’s house.

She’s waiting for me on her porch. “Hi baby, come give your momma a hug.” I smile and lift her off the ground, hugging her.

“Put my woman down, son.” I look over my mom’s shoulder to my stepdad, Kerry.

She laughs and pats my shoulder so I put her down. “Mom, do you mind if I talk to Kerry alone for a minute?” She tightens her robe around her giving me a look that says she is on to me.

Kerry walks up to her and leads her in the house, and I turn my head away when he pats her on the ass. Gross. She shuts the door behind her.

“Kerry, I’m moving to Texas to live near Tristan. The guys who harmed mom are getting out of jail next month. I wish you would move with me.” We have served together for years in the SEALs.

His face reddens at the mention of them. He looks inside the house toward mom who is gliding through the kitchen with a smile on her face. “I don’t want her to know about this.”

I lean against the railing on the porch. “I don’t want her to know either. Maybe it’s time we all fucking start over, leave this place. You’re both retired.”

He looks out into their yard and then back at mom who is plating our food. “I think it’s a good idea, I will talk her into it. She doesn’t get to be touched by this shit; I won’t let it.” He walks into the house at that.

I won’t let it either.

* * *

Summer

I pull the pillow over my head at the sound of someone rummaging around in my kitchen.

I crack one eyeball open and look at the clock on the nightstand next to me groaning at the sight of the seven am flashing back at me.

A head pops in my bedroom door. “Wake your ass up, baby girl, we are going fishing.” One of my dads in the kitchen is laughing, while the other looks like he is ready to drag me out of bed.

I groan and smack my hand on the bed beside me. “Fine,” I hiss, walking into my closet to get dressed.

I forgot that we go fishing together once every other week. I grab a hoodie, throwing it over my head and both of them are in my kitchen packing food.

Yes, both dads; I have two dads and a mom. “Well, if it isn’t the sleepyhead.” My dad, Everett, walks over giving me a big hug. I smile hugging him back then I walk to my other dad, Theo, giving him a hug.

“I hear the fish are biting like crazy today,” Everett tells me.

No matter how much I don’t want to get up and go fishing at the crack of dawn, I would never pass up the opportunity to spend time with them and mom.

I have been blessed with such amazing parents.

“That’s great, I’m not cleaning them though.” I point to the both of them and fill up a cup of coffee hoping to wake me up.

They both chuckle at me, Theo ruffles my hair. “Baby, you have never cleaned the fish in your life.”

I hide my smile in my cup of coffee, shrugging my shoulders. “We have your breakfast in the truck.” I shuffle behind them and slip on a pair of boots by the door.

I continue to stagger behind them, my eyes barely open, chugging my coffee. I slip in the back of the truck and lay my head on the window, going back to sleep until we reach the lake.

“We’ve been taking her fishing since she was a baby and to this day, she has been doing this same thing,” Dad says and I smile against the window; I do love my dads.

My mind wanders back to the memory of them and Mom yelling for me in the stands when I played soccer and I completely sucked at it.

I was bullied as a kid because I had two dads and a mom; the horrible thing was it wasn’t from the kids in my school. No, it was the parents and the teachers which immediately stopped the second I told my dads.

“I heard that you had a rough time at the prison on your last visit.” I can see my dad Theo staring at me through the rearview mirror.

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