by Onley James
How did Stanton know about that? “We didn’t take her to the ATF. We haven’t even spoken to the ATF. How do you even know about that?”
“I get paid to know these things,” the older man said vaguely. “Luckily for you, it seems you have all kinds of powerful friends. I didn’t think the Edgeworth family had any clout left after what Montgomery pulled, but they clearly still know some pretty powerful people. Your friend’s grandmother plays bridge with the District Attorney’s Aunt Margo.”
Calder cut his eyes to Robby who shrugged as if he had no idea what any of this meant.
Calder squeezed Robby’s hand. “Bottom line it for us. Are they charging him or not?”
“Not. The DA suddenly doesn’t think there’s enough to charge Robby. Honestly, I don’t think there was ever really a chance, but they didn’t want to look like they were giving special favors to a celebrity. Appearances and all that. LA County does have a reputation.”
Robby clapped a hand over his mouth, collapsing back onto the bed and kicking his feet. Calder smiled. It was a relief to see Robby excited about something. How long had it been since the boy had looked genuinely happy?
“Thank you so much,” Calder said.
“Thank me by paying my bill.”
Then he was gone. As soon as the man disconnected, Robby rocketed to his feet, jumping up and down on the mattress in his blue boxer briefs with the red stars. Calder leaned back, putting himself in danger just to enjoy the view of an elated Robby. He’d missed the laughing, giggling, smiling boy he had seen in news articles and magazine spreads. Suddenly, Robby was standing over him. Calder caught him behind the knees, yanking until he collapsed, straddling Calder’s torso. Robby caught his hands, leaning down to kiss Calder deeply.
“Did you hear that?” Robby asked, knowing full well Calder did. “It’s over. It’s all over. Finally.”
Calder didn’t want to burst his bubble but it wasn’t entirely over. They still had no idea who the man was who broke into Robby’s apartment. They still had no idea why he was there and whether somebody else might come after him later. They still didn’t know if his father was involved. Was Robby safe? Would he ever be truly safe?
Before he could get into it, his own phone began to vibrate on the dresser. He reached back behind him, floundering blindly until he managed to snag it and bring it to his face. Linc. “What’s up, brother? I hear we have you to thank for our early morning call from Robby’s lawyer.”
Linc snorted. “Not me. Wyatt. That boy cannot help but meddle and his grandmother is no better. There’s nothing Violet likes better than throwing her weight around and proving she can still provoke fear in us mere mortals. I’m surprised it honestly took this long for them to drop the charges. But that’s not why I’m calling.”
A trickle of unease crept along Calder’s spine, and he must have frowned because Robby’s smile faded and he caught his bottom lip between his teeth, biting down hard enough to leave indentations in his lip. “So, why are you calling?” Calder forced himself to ask.
“Is Robby there with you?”
“Yeah,” Calder said.
Linc sighed. “Put me on speaker phone.”
Calder could feel his good mood fading by the moment. He did what Linc asked, putting the phone on speaker. “Go ahead.”
“I spoke with my contact at the ATF. They’ve apparently had the farm under surveillance since they fled Kentucky, but they haven’t been able to move on them because they don’t have enough to execute a warrant.”
Calder frowned. “What does this have to do with us?”
“They want Robby’s sister. They need Rebecca to sign an affidavit. They’ll probably need her to testify if this goes to trial.”
“Against Samuel?” Robby asked, voice quivering just slightly at the man’s name. “No. No way. He’ll kill her.”
“It’s not that simple, kid,” Linc said. “Your sister is married to Samuel. She’s on legal documents. The farm property is in her name. If she doesn’t agree to help out and give an affidavit she could be named as a co-conspirator for any crimes committed by the farm. They are throwing her a lifeline.”
Goddammit. He was really done with all this drama. He was getting too old for this shit. “So, she gives a sworn affidavit, they execute a warrant, and then she gets immunity?”
Linc grunted. “I mean, you’ll need an attorney to nail down all those details, but that seems to be the gist of where they were going with this. Again, Rebecca needs a lawyer. She shouldn’t say a word without one. We’ve got time. There’s no rush. They are playing the long game with this. They can’t risk him slipping through their fingers. Talk to your sister. Make sure she knows she has the upper hand.”
“Yeah, okay. Tell Wyatt thanks for us.”
There was a rustling and then Wyatt’s voice appeared against the speaker, mumbling a sleepy, “Welcome.”
Linc disconnected, and once more, it was just Calder and Robby. He hugged Calder close, head dropping to his shoulder. “I’m so tired of all of this. I just want to leave LA and never come back. I don’t want to hear another word about cults or churches or cheese knives or paparazzi. Can we just run away?”
“Sure. Where should we go?” Calder asked.
Robby sighed. “I don’t even know. Somewhere with lots of land for animals…and babies?”
Calder’s pulse skipped, his heart racing. “Babies? You’re so young.”
“I’ve always known what I wanted,” Robby said. “Do you? Want kids, I mean? Is that wrong to ask?”
Calder felt like his brain had stalled. Did he want kids? Some part of him had, yes. Always. But another part of him chilled at the thought of what a baby meant.
Robby leaned back, cupping Calder’s hand. “I’m sorry I asked. It’s way too early for that conversation, especially with all you’re going through with Megan and… I’m…I’m sorry.”
Calder shook his head. “I want to have kids. I want to have kids with you. Our kids. But some part of my brain tells me that we’re just bringing another potential victim into the world. I don’t think I could bear to lose somebody I loved that much ever again. I—fuck—yes. Yes. I do. I’m just scared.”
Robby dropped his head, looking at Calder through long, dark lashes. “I’m scared too. Of everything. But I’m less scared when I’m with you.”
Calder leaned his forehead against Robby’s. “I’m less scared with you too, angel.”
They just sat there for a long while, not speaking, just holding each other. When Cas came and sprung up onto the bed, Robby finally said, “I should probably call Rebecca, huh?”
“Yeah, that would probably be a good idea. Invite her over here to talk. Tell her to watch her six.”
Robby frowned. “What?”
Calder chuckled. “Her back. Tell her to watch her back and make sure she’s not followed.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“I’m going to go make breakfast. I’ll make enough for all of us.”
He stood, dumping Robby on the bed before leaning down and giving him a quick almost chaste kiss on the mouth. In the kitchen, he worked on autopilot, preparing breakfast while his brain tried to sort through a million complicated emotions. He mourned Megan. He did. He mourned for the sister he never got to have and the life she never got to live. The life they both could have had with parents who were both checked in and madly in love. He ached for the husband Megan never met and the kids they might have had. It wasn’t one single man who had deprived Calder’s family of the life they should’ve had, but one man’s name always came back again and again. Elizer. That fucking monster had an entire network of broken people constantly recruiting young girls and boys, feeding them drugs and lies and pain to service a network of other soulless monsters. Monsters that couldn’t be beaten, couldn’t be satiated, stealing the innocence from victim after victim until they were just shells of people or until they were dead.
Calder flinched as a hand touched his shoulder, rounding on Robby
before stopping abruptly. “Sorry, angel. I was just deep in thought.”
“Thought about what?” Robby asked, hopping up onto the counter beside Calder, looking at him with enough empathy to make his throat tight.
“Megan. All the others just like her.”
Robby stole a grape off the counter. “Like Jennifer?”
Calder nodded, moving to stand between Robby’s knees, dropping his head to Robby’s chest. He wrapped his arms around Calder.
“Go get her.”
Calder jerked his head up. “What?”
“Jennifer. You can’t help the others right this second, but you can go get Jennifer’s ashes. You can get her, and we’ll find some place really beautiful to put her. Okay?”
“I don’t know, angel. There’s too much going on here right now.”
Robby gently shook Calder’s shoulders. “No. Stop procrastinating. Go get her today. She doesn’t deserve to spend her afterlife in a cardboard box. That’s not fair. You keep putting it off, but you’ll feel better once she’s here, with us.”
“I can’t leave you here alone.”
“Why? The man who came after me is dead. Are you never going to leave me alone for the rest of our lives? That’s going to get awkward, real quick. I’m here in an actual safehouse. I’m sure this place has every bell and whistle. There’s really no safer place than here. Besides, I’ll have Rebecca to keep me company.”
Calder sighed. He really did owe it to Jennifer to go get her, but he hated the idea of leaving Robby alone. Maybe he could ask Linc to just have one of the probie agents just do a driveby every hour or so. The funeral home was an hour outside of LA. He could be back in less than three hours.
Calder lifted his head, pressing his lips to Robby’s. “Alright, angel. I’ll go get Jennifer. But if anything—and I mean anything—happens, you call my cell phone immediately and I’ll send help.”
Robby nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
“Promise me,” Calder insisted. “I need to hear you say it.”
“Okay, yeah, I promise. I will call you if the sky is falling.”
Calder nodded. Robby was right. He couldn’t spend every minute with him forever no matter how much the idea appealed to him, but there was just this feeling Calder couldn’t shake. He couldn’t quite put a finger on it but it made him want to keep a death grip on Robby.
Rebecca arrived about an hour after Robby called. Breakfast was a mix of rapid-fire bursts of meaningless chatting, followed by awkward bouts of silence. Robby didn’t know what to say to a sister he’d barely known even though they’d spent years living in a small cabin where they practically slept on top of each other. Part of him still wasn’t sure he could trust Rebecca. He didn’t think she was out to hurt him, but he wasn’t comfortable sharing too many private things with her either.
Calder was uneasy also, but Robby thought it had more to do with having to leave Robby behind to pick up Jennifer’s remains than it did with being uncomfortable in Rebecca’s presence. Calder always seemed at home no matter who surrounded him, especially women. Robby made a face at the thought before trying to shake it away. Calder had chosen him, had said he loved him, wanted children with him. He couldn’t hold Calder’s past over his head if they were going to have a life together. Robby’s heart stuttered in his chest as the magnitude of the idea settled under his ribcage. Calder wanted a life together…with Robby. Holy shit.
He covered his mouth with his hand to cover his stupid grin but Calder caught him. His brows knitted together as he gave Robby a half smile. “What’s on your mind, angel?”
Robby shook his head. “Nothing. You should probably get going so you can get back.”
Rebecca looked between them, confused. “You’re leavin’?”
Robby nodded. “Only for a few hours. He has to run a quick errand. We’ll be fine here alone.”
Rebecca shrugged. “Oh, I ain’t worried about that. I can take care of myself; you too, if needed.”
Calder smiled. “Good, then I’ll leave you in charge of keeping your little brother safe until I return.”
It took a good ten minutes of goodbyes before Calder truly left. Once he was gone, a strange emptiness filled Robby. Being without Calder felt unnatural. They’d spent so much time together over the past month that it was like missing a limb.
“You really love him, huh?” Rebecca asked.
Once more, Robby tried to hide his smile. “Yeah. I really do. I know that’s probably not really okay with—”
“Don’t you dare even finish that sentence, Obidiah Joseph. I know I was some insufferable nitwit when I was in high school but I’m way more cultured now.”
Robby’s mouth dropped open. “Really?”
She dropped her voice low like there was somebody else who might hear them. “Yeah, when my dirtbag husband decided he needed to take a child bride, he essentially turned me into the help, which meant I got to go into town and pick up supplies. He was so absorbed in his plottin’ and struttin’ around like some king that he didn’t even notice that I’d stay gone for hours… Or maybe he just didn’t care, you know? So, I started goin’ to the library and I met somebody there. A librarian. His name is Beau, and he showed me all kinds of things.”
She blushed but then squared her shoulders like she was reminding herself of something. Robby raised his brows. “Oh, yeah. Like what?” he asked, letting his accent sneak back into the last word as he leaned forward.
“Nothin’ dirty. Samuel may not take our vows seriously but I have to. At least until I can divorce the son of a bitch. But Beau taught me all kinds of things. How to use the internet, how to order a copy of my birth certificate. How to open my own bank account. I know so much about the world now, Obi. I didn’t know there was so much out there. Like I love the java chip frappuccino from Starbucks and the show Riverdale and K-pop and—did you know that people can just dye their hair like any ol’ color? Like green and pink, and I even saw one girl whose hair was blue,” she finished in a rush.
Robby smiled. He’d forgotten what it was like his first six months in LA, when he was still trying to learn about secular life. It had seemed like some hedonistic playground. Every single thing had fascinated him and scared him. Most of it still scared him.
“This must all seem ridiculous to you. Like, you’re a big star now and live in a fancy house, and you’re on tv so you must know big celebrities and go to rich people parties. I bet the farm seems so silly to you.”
Robby was shaking his head before she’d even finished. “Believe me. I’m not that kind of celebrity. Honestly, sometimes I miss the farm in Kentucky.” At her horrified look, he explained, “Not the child labor or the beatings but the big family dinners, the always having kids to play with, never feeling alone. I loved reading the bible stories and feeling like there was something bigger. I just wish Samuel and Father had really, truly listened to the message.”
“Well, maybe you should teach it to them?”
Robby laughed. “Who? Father and Samuel? I’m thinking they’re too far gone. Besides, nobody really ever listened to me.”
Rebecca frowned. “Not them. Others. And you’re wrong, Obi. Samuel and Father were so hard on you because people did listen to you. You made the congregation question the message. They couldn’t have that. They needed everybody to keep bein’ afraid or their whole charade fell apart.”
Robby bit his bottom lip. Was that true? It couldn’t be. Rebecca was just trying to be nice. He shook the thought away. “What do you wanna do ‘til Calder comes home?”
“Um, can we watch your show? I’ve never seen it.”
Robby wrinkled his nose. “Really? That’s what you wanna do? It’s really dumb. It’s a kid’s show.”
“Stop that. You’re my brother, and I’m super proud of you. You got out. You escaped and got to live the life you wanted. I want to see your work.”
“I’ve never actually watched it,” Robby confessed.
“You’ve never watched your own show?”
He could already feel his face flushing. “I can’t. I tried once, but I was too embarrassed.”
“Well, we’re goin’ to watch it, and you don’t get to be embarrassed,” she told him, her tone leaving no room for argument.
That’s the Rebecca he remembered. “Okay, fine.”
It took two whole episodes for Robby to stop hiding his face behind a couch cushion. Rebecca genuinely seemed to enjoy the show.
She kept saying, “I’m so proud of you.”
Robby even started to believe it. He had missed this. It was strange to miss something he’d never really had. He and Rebecca had never even gotten along. She was always so caught up in impressing Samuel, a task that was much easier for any too young girl to accomplish as far as Robby was concerned. But she had been a child too, just like him, even though she’d seemed so grown up to him. So wise. So…smug. It all seemed like forever ago. He needed to learn to just let it go somehow. He had so many siblings, but she might be the only one he’d ever see again.
A strange heaviness settled over Robby a split second before the phone started to ring from somewhere inside Rebecca’s backpack-like purse. He wasn’t alone. Rebecca frowned before jumping to her feet to dig for her phone. She stabbed at the answer button. “Ezra? What’s wrong?”
Who was Ezra? Awareness crept along his spine as he tried to place why the name seemed so familiar. But it didn’t matter anyway. The caller wasn’t Ezra, it seemed.
“Dinah? How did you get this number? Where’s Ezra? What… Calm down. Stop cryin’. I can’t understand what you’re sayin’. Samuel did what? What? No. That’s crazy. You can’t be serious? No. Don’t do anythin’. I’m comin’ home. If he tries to do this before I get there, take the children to the tunnel. Ezra knows where it is. I’ll find you.”
Rebecca picked up her bag, making for the door, a blind panic sending her spinning in circles and crying in frustration as she tried to dig for something in her bag.
Robby reached out and grabbed his sister by the shoulder, shaking her enough to get her attention. “Rebecca, stop. Stop. What is happening?”