by Brandon Witt
When Bobby might have offered more on the topic, Collin came running into the house, chasing after Davey. Tommy could tell by the way they carried themselves and held their arms over their stomachs they were hiding something, trying to sneak it in.
“Freeze!” he shouted.
Both kids skidded to a stop.
They had been moving too fast at first for Tommy to see the bulge under Collin’s T-shirt. It wiggled. Collin looked like something out of a horror movie, as if an alien was about to pop out of his stomach.
“What gives?” Tommy had already guessed, but he wanted to give them a chance to explain.
Collin took a deep breath and then yelped. Tommy could tell Bobby was trying not to laugh as Collin winced and lifted his shirt. A small cat was plastered to Collin’s chest, claws digging into his skin. “Can we keep him, Tommy?”
Davey pulled a bag of kitten chow out from under his jacket then and said quickly, “We’ll take care of him, and he won’t be any trouble.”
As Collin tried to detach the animal, the cat started hissing and growling, squirming in his grip.
Tommy jumped back when the cat spat at him. “Jesus, where’d you find that thing?”
Davey answered excitedly, “Down at that old abandoned house on Mimosa. There’s, like, I don’t know, twenty of ’em down there.”
Tommy reached for the cat when it looked like it might claw Collin’s eyes out. “Gimme that,” he said, trying to take it from his brother. The cat hissed more, scratching and biting at Tommy. “It’s a wild animal, for fuck’s sake. You can’t raise it to be a pet. Christ. What’re they called?” He glanced at Bobby, who wasn’t even trying to hide his amusement any longer.
“Feral,” Bobby answered, laughing. “You should go get those scratches cleaned up, Collin, and keep an eye out for infection or any red lines branching off from them.”
Tommy was still fighting with the cat as he tried to get to the door. “Yeah, we know the drill.”
When he tossed the cat into the yard, it took off like a bat out of hell, scrambling up the fence and darting across the street so fast it was a blur. Tommy’s hands were bleeding. He leveled a condemning glare at Collin. “You’re lucky that thing didn’t get to the twins.” He didn’t bother with more of a lecture because Collin and Davey looked like they realized how bad that would have been. “Go get cleaned up.” He let out another curse when he looked at his own injuries and started for the kitchen, but the phone rang and he stopped to answer it.
Colleen was on the other end of the line, sounding upset. “Tommy?” She was sniffling.
Dread socked Tommy in the stomach when he answered her, “What’s wrong?”
Bobby set Zoe down and stood up, walking over to Tommy.
“Nothing….” She sounded like she was still trying to understand what was wrong exactly. “I mean, I don’t know. I’m down at the police station. Some guys jumped me and Wyatt on our way back from the park and—”
“Police station? What happened, Col?” Tommy wanted to curse or kick something, but he forced himself to stay calm.
She sounded like she was about to lose it. “I don’t know. I mean, they jumped us, and they were trying to roll Wyatt, and I took my bat and went after them, and….”
He had to swallow his panic as he wondered what else had happened. “Are you okay?”
“I think so, but can you come get me?” She sounded just like she had when she was eight and got caught shoplifting at the corner store. The owner hadn’t called the cops, but Colleen had been terrified, and Tommy was the only one home when she called.
Tommy held in his sigh, saying tightly, “Just hang in there, Col. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Do you need bail money? Did they arrest you?”
“I don’t think so. They said they just wanted to take my statement, but they’re asking where Pop is, and….”
“Okay, just relax. I’ll be there soon, all right?”
She was crying when she hung up.
Tommy put the phone down and growled, “Jesus. My fucking life.”
He started to run his hand through his hair and remembered it was bleeding. He kicked the door to the kitchen open, and Bobby followed him. Tommy was muttering to himself as he washed his hands in the sink, talking about being a magnet for trouble. “See?” He turned to Bobby as he dried his hands. “One shitty scenario after another.”
He didn’t add that this was what Bobby had to look forward to if he stuck around. He didn’t tell Bobby he should get out while the getting was good, but he thought it. Then he noticed Bobby had his cell phone pressed to his ear, his finger in the other so he could hear.
Bobby furrowed his brow as he spoke. “Right, Colleen O’Shea, she was just brought in.” He was silent for a minute and then nodded his head before giving little affirmative sounds into the phone. “Okay. Anyone pressing charges?” Tommy’s stomach lurched, wondering what exactly had gone down. “Typical. Some asshole tries to rob some little girl and her boyfriend and then calls foul when they fight back.” He laughed at whatever the person on the other end said before he spoke again, “Thanks, Sue. I owe ya one. Yeah, her parents are out of town right now, but her older brother is in charge. He’ll be there in a few to pick her up.”
When Bobby slid his phone back into his pocket, Tommy looked at him expectantly. “Well?”
“Nothing to worry about, Tom.” Bobby reached for him, his hands warm and strong on Tommy’s shoulders. “She and Wyatt were jumped on their way back from playing some ball. She’s okay, they didn’t hurt her, but it shook her up.”
Tommy let out a deep breath. “I bet. They got the guys that did it down in lockup?” he asked as Bobby pulled him closer.
“Only one.” Bobby laughed as he added, “The other two are in the hospital. Colleen busted them up pretty good.”
He couldn’t help but grin. “Good. The little bastards.” The swell of pride for his sister died suddenly. “She in any trouble for it?”
“Probably not. It looks pretty clear that it was self-defense, but they had to run her in too and take her statement, since the guys that tried to roll them said they were just minding their own business and she attacked them. There were witnesses that saw it go down and backed her up, and she didn’t put anyone in ICU or anything, so I think she’ll be fine.”
Tommy was angry again. He knew his sister, knew she’d never hurt anyone—unprovoked at least. And the idea of Wyatt going after three men with a baseball bat, or anything else, was ridiculous. “Thanks for checking on her.”
“No problem.” Bobby pulled Tommy in and kissed him. When he drew back, he said, “Get on down there, I’ll stay with the kids until you get back.”
Tommy didn’t thank him again. His mind was flooded with all the things he still had to do before his shift started. “Gotta get the kids fed, and Christ, I should probably call in and see if someone can swap with me at the pub.” He let out a sharp curse. “I don’t even know if we got enough gas to make it down to the station and back.” Tommy started digging for his keys.
“Take mine.” Bobby held out his keys. “Just get going, Colleen needs you there.”
“Right, thanks.” Tommy was a little taken aback. For some reason sex and flirting and cleaning the kitchen together didn’t seem nearly as serious and boyfriend-like as Bobby letting him use his beloved car.
Collin and Davey ran into the kitchen at that moment, ready to show they had cleaned up the scratches. Tommy told them, “Collin, you stay here and help Bobby out with the twins. I gotta go get Colleen. Davey, you go find Mike and get Carrie home. She’s down the street at what’s-her-name’s house. I want everyone here while I’m gone.”
Well trained and used to taking orders without asking when Tommy looked serious, Davey darted out the back door, and Collin went into the living room where the babies were playing.
Tommy didn’t like leaving the kids in anyone else’s hands, but he didn’t have much of a choice. His mood was as dark and heavy as thunderclo
uds, and a headache twitched at his temples. He got in Bobby’s car and tried not to speed on his way to the police station.
“YOU OKAY, Col?” Tommy had his arm wrapped around his sister as he walked her out to the car. She was still crying, despite the reassurances from everyone they talked to that she hadn’t done anything wrong. The witnesses backed up her story, and eventually the guy they had in lockup came clean about it all. It was self-defense, plain and simple. Even the cop who hauled her in had told her there was no such thing as excessive force when outnumbered like she had been.
She nodded her head against his shoulder. “Wyatt’s mom came to get him. I think I freaked him out.”
“He’ll get over it. If he’d been knifed or beaten up by those guys, it would’ve freaked him out more.”
Colleen seemed to agree, but she didn’t say anything else for a long minute. Tommy wondered if she was waiting until they were out of earshot of the people coming and going as they headed for the parking lot. He was right. As soon as they were alone, Colleen stopped and threw her arms around Tommy’s shoulders. “They touched me,” she whispered. It was a simple statement, but Tommy knew exactly what she meant and could only guess what that must have been like for her. “They came outta nowhere and one of ’em jumped on Wyatt and was punching him and digging through his pockets, and the other two….”
Tommy couldn’t help shushing her, holding her like she was a little girl, like she was Carrie or Zoe. “You wanna talk about it?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.” Her voice sounded muffled against his shoulder, and he ran his hand through her hair, wanting to soothe away the hurt and make her feel safe again. “What good does talking about it do?” she asked as she pulled back enough to see his face.
Tommy didn’t have much of an answer for her. “Maybe it’s better than keeping it to yourself?”
Her eyes were swollen and shimmering, nose running all over him when he hugged her again. Colleen’s exhale shuddered out of her before she continued. “They just…. They grabbed me, and I think at first they were just checking my pockets, ya know?” Tommy nodded, holding her tight as she went on. “Then they started to feel me up, and I just… lost it.” She paused, taking another shaky breath. “When it happened before, I was so young, ya know? I didn’t know how to stop it or what the guy was doing or anything. I just knew it made me feel gross. But this time… I knew what they were gonna do if they got the chance, and then… I just didn’t think anymore. I barely even remember it.”
“You did good,” he whispered, wishing he’d been there, wishing he could get five minutes alone with the guys.
When she pulled back, her chin was quivering, putting him in mind of her when she was a baby. She said softly, “Thanks, Tommy.”
What could he say to that? Tommy nodded and steered her over to Bobby’s car, hitting the button twice to unlock both doors. “Wanna run away to Mexico?” He was hoping to get a smile from her. “It’s got a full tank of gas and I’m willing to bet he’s got some cash stashed in there.”
Her laugh was more wounded than cheerful. “Canada’s closer.”
“Too cold. I want a warm beach and margaritas.”
DESPITE THE jokes about running away from home, Tommy drove carefully back to the house and parked Bobby’s car out front, making sure to lock it and set the alarm before he and Colleen started up the walkway.
The closer they got to the front door, the more obvious it became that something wasn’t right. A riot of noise greeted them and the windows were shaking as things slammed around in the house. He could hear Max and Zoe crying from somewhere inside.
“Jesus, I’m gone one hour…,” Tommy grumbled as he went up the stairs. Colleen trailed behind him, looking ready for whatever awaited them.
When they got the door open, the house looked like a tornado had hit it. Furniture was tipped over, one of the curtains was down, books and toys were strewn from one side of the house to the other. When he saw Bobby standing in the middle of the living room with his arms crossed over his chest and a look of barely restrained anger on his face, Tommy knew without asking what had happened. No way had his kids done this. “Where is she now?”
Bobby looked at him and nodded his head toward the kitchen door. A loud bang sounded on the other side. To Bobby’s credit, he didn’t even flinch. “Kitchen,” he said flatly. “I usually have a gun on me when I have to deal with people like this.”
Tommy almost laughed. “Where’s the kids?”
“I sent them upstairs and haven’t let her go up there.”
Tommy could tell he was trying to remain calm, but it looked like Bobby was about to lose his cool any second.
“I thought about getting them all out of here, but I didn’t wanna leave Cheryl here unattended, and I didn’t want you coming back and finding me and the kids gone.”
Tommy nodded in understanding, thankful Bobby knew better than to take off with the kids without warning. Just as he was about to say so, he heard a loud shriek from the kitchen and then Cheryl yelled, “Goddamn it, Tommy! Where did you put it?”
He knew exactly what she was talking about as soon as she said it. The last time Cheryl and Cal had made an appearance, Tommy found a small baggie of what looked like meth. He didn’t bother to investigate it further. He flushed it down the toilet as soon as they’d left.
Growling as he started to stalk toward the kitchen, Tommy paused when he heard Bobby say, “Colleen, go get three of the kids and put them in my car, pack up the rest in yours. We’re going out.”
She was already starting up the stairs to gather the kids. Tommy turned to Bobby and said, “Gotta hit the gas station first, we’re on fumes.” He pulled out his wallet and passed Bobby a twenty and the keys to Bobby’s car. “Give the cash to Colleen for some gas. I’ll catch up with you guys in a bit.” He added, “Lemme know where you’re headed.”
Cheryl was still making all kinds of noise from the other side of the door. Pots and pans were falling to the ground—or being thrown against walls, Tommy wasn’t sure.
“I’m taking them to dinner.” Bobby worked his jaw again, looking like he was waiting for Tommy’s argument.
“We can’t afford that.”
“I can. That psychopath in there decided to look for her stash in the spaghetti sauce me and Carrie made. The kids need to eat, Tom.”
Tommy swore under his breath, rubbing his fingertips over his forehead, trying to chase away his headache. “It’s not like this is anything new to them, Bobby. Getting away from it for one night isn’t gonna change their lives.”
“Probably not, but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna sit around and listen to that while they’re upstairs crying and hungry.”
“Nobody asked you to!” Tommy roared.
He was so goddamn tired of his life, so tired of all the people who stumbled in and fucked it up for him when they were managing. Total strangers, Cal, Cheryl, and now Bobby. He knew it was unfair, knew Bobby was more help than Tommy liked to admit, but Jesus. The last thing he needed was to be standing there listening to Cheryl tear the house apart while he argued with someone about what was right and wrong for the kids and where their next meal was coming from. He fed them. He kept them safe. Having someone swoop in—yes, swoop—and tell him they’d handle things for him pissed Tommy off. He didn’t need help from anyone.
Bobby stared at him for a long minute, stone-faced and unyielding. “Nobody said you did.” His voice was just loud enough to be heard over the cacophony coming from the kitchen. “God forbid you should ever ask someone for anything, Tom.”
Too much noise, too much to deal with, and too many goddamn catastrophes for one day made Tommy irritable. “You’re fucking right I didn’t ask for anything! I didn’t ask for this,” he yelled, waving his arms around the destroyed living room. “I didn’t ask for that,” Tommy punctuated his comment with a finger pointed at the kitchen door. “And I didn’t ask for you.”
That last comment was too far, not even
entirely true, and he knew it, but he couldn’t take it back either. He was still fuming and not ready to back down yet. Instead he stepped closer to Bobby, nearly in his face, and hissed, “I don’t ask for anything for a reason.”
Bobby didn’t pull back. Colleen trudged down the stairs with Zoe in her arms and the rest of the kids in tow. Bobby tossed her the keys to his car and then looked at Tommy again. “There comes a point, Tom, where martyrdom for its own sake is ill-advised.” He did step back then, but only to take Max from Carrie as they made it to the bottom of the stairs. With the baby calming down, Bobby looked at Tommy again. “When you’re ready to un-nail yourself from that cross you carry around, let me know.”
IT TOOK Tommy less than a minute to pull himself together and realize the noise in the kitchen had stopped. He needed to talk to Bobby, probably apologize for what he’d said, but as usual, there wasn’t time for any of that. There was never time for anything he needed or wanted, and this day, as shitty as it was, had been good for one thing. It illustrated for Bobby exactly what Tommy meant when he said he couldn’t. He couldn’t run off with Bobby for a night. He couldn’t take his eyes off his family for one second. And he couldn’t give in and let someone else take care of things even for one hour. He’d tried that, hadn’t he? And look at the ruin waiting for him when he got home. “Martyr, my ass,” he muttered as he kicked the kitchen door open.