When the Cameras Stop Rolling...

by Connie Cox

  “You’re right. Aaron might be doing steroids. All the signs are there. I’m sorry.” The words weren’t as hard to say as he’d thought they might be. But then he had to swallow hard to get the rest of it out. “I need your help.”

  He hung up, waiting for the world to crash around him, for his father to tell him how weak he was and to be a man, for his mother to dissolve into hysterical tears, for him to feel two inches tall.

  And none of that happened.

  Instead, his phone rang.

  Eva.

  “Of course I’ll help.” She took an audible breath. “I need your help, too.”

  * * *

  He’d picked up Eva as soon as his shift was over. Now, as the sun came up, Mark sat outside the substance-abuse clinic, waiting as she fought her internal battles.

  He would wait forever for her. Now that they were “back together” he could breathe again.

  He had almost lost her. Almost lost himself.

  Because he’d refused to let her in.

  Now he finally understood what Tiffany had been saying all those years.

  Tiffany had wanted him to let her see inside him, to connect, even to share his burdens.

  But he hadn’t let her. His father had never let his mother. Men shouldered the load. Women rode on their backs.

  Because if a woman ever stood on her own two feet, she could realize she could walk away.

  It’s what his mother had finally done.

  It’s what Tiffany had finally done.

  It’s what the O’Donnell men practically forced their women to do.

  He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

  Beside him, Eva did her own thinking. Alone, when she could be leaning on him. But he wouldn’t rush her. He would be there for her when she was ready for him.

  “Eva, how can I help?”

  Eva twisted her non-existent ring on her finger. Her face was pale, her eyes shadowed. She drew in a ragged breath then let it out again in a burst.

  “I haven’t been back to the clinic since—since that day. I need to tell you about it. I need you to help me face my fears.”

  “Do you know how much I care for you? How much I...” Mark looked away then back again. “I would do anything for you, Eva.”

  “I do more than care for you, Mark.” She opened the car door and slid out to stand on the sidewalk.

  More than cared for him. Could that mean she loved him?

  When Mark could think well enough to open his own car door, he joined her as fast as he could.

  Before he could say anything, she grabbed his hand. “It started here.”

  “We had a gang member in with his girlfriend. She’d gotten into something hallucinogenic and we were trying to get her inside the building. I was talking to her, trying to bring her back to enough reality to get her to sit in a wheelchair. She thought it was an electric chair and kept screaming that she didn’t want to die like her daddy had.”

  Mark put his arm around her waist and she leaned into him.

  “Then another car pulled up. Three boys climbed out. Their colors showed they were with a rival gang.” Her eyes were unfocused as she pulled him along the sidewalk toward the front door. “Apparently, one of them had been the one to sell her the drugs. He thought she had ratted him out to the police. But she was too incoherent to say her own name correctly, much less anyone else’s.”

  Eva’s shoulders slumped under the massive pain she carried. Mark wanted to take that load from her, carry it himself for her if he had to. Anything to keep her from hurting. But all he could do was be there for her.

  “And then what happened?” he asked, to pull her back to the present.

  “I was talking to them.” She turned to him. The look in her eyes begged him to listen, to understand. “I’m trained to do that, you know?”

  Mark nodded, giving her the validation she seemed to need so badly.

  She studied him for three heartbeats before she blinked and released him from her gaze.

  “They were about to leave. I’d convinced them to go.”

  Eva pulled him toward the clinic, stopping two feet from the door. “Someone had called the police, of course. This was Chuck’s beat, so he was the first on the scene.”

  “I told him to back off. I told him I was handling it.” Rage fought with grief on Eva’s face. “Half a dozen squad cars came screaming round the corner, spooking all of us.”

  “The leader pointed his cellphone at me, yelling that I’d set him up. So Chuck challenged the leader, drawing attention away from me. Someone yelled something about a gun.”

  “And there were guns. Gang members, police, everybody had guns.”

  Her voice broke. “They shot Chuck.”

  She started crying hysterically as she sank to the concrete and Mark sank with her. He held her as she fell apart, shaking, sobbing, railing at the world.

  Through her crying she told him about the other members being shot down by the police, about the girl breaking free and running into the line of fire, about her guilt and grief and loss.

  And about her anger. If Chuck had only trusted her, he would be alive now.

  Trust.

  So easy to say. So hard to do.

  Finally, she cried herself out. Meekly, she let Mark lead her back to the car.

  Mark didn’t know what he’d have done in Chuck’s place. Most likely the same thing Chuck had done, he thought.

  * * *

  Mark drove her home and walked her to the door.

  “Come in. Stay.”

  He would never tell her no. He didn’t think he could even if he had wanted to.

  Gently, she rubbed the circles under his eyes. “You need to sleep.”

  Mark understood what Eva was doing. She was in her caretaker role. It was her identity and she needed to exert it.

  He caught her hand and kissed her fingertips. “Only if you hold me.”

  She smiled through her tear stains. “I can do that.”

  She led him into her bedroom and unbuttoned his shirt.

  In his ear, she whispered, “Take them off,” while she ran her finger inside the waistband of his jeans.

  He obliged, kicking off his socks and shoes and reaching into his wallet for protection while she peeled off her own clothes.

  “Would you like to lie down?” Eva waved her hand to indicate the bed.

  “Okay.” He lay back while she took the lead. Mark had always taken the lead, never given up control. But this was all for Eva and whatever she wanted he would give to her.

  She moved his arms up above his head so he was stretched across her bed. Starting at his wrists, inch by inch, she ran her fingers over him until every nerve ending cried out for release.

  Mark clenched and unclenched his fists, wanting to touch, wanting to feel Eva’s smooth skin. But this was her game and today she made the rules.

  Minutes, hours, days. The world spun around them as they became the center of the solar system.

  “So strong. So mine,” Eva said.

  “So yours,” Mark confirmed.

  He reached out to her, ran a finger across her nipple and watched her shudder. The satisfaction that he could affect her so deeply sat well within his core.

  Then she straddled him.

  He ran his hands down her back, feeling the shape of her curves under his palms.

  And together they proved to the universe how much they were right for each other.

  * * *

  Eva dozed, waking to stroke the outline of a biceps or to entangle ankles, then drift off to sleep again. Sleeping naked next to Mark was the most comfortable she’d ever been in her own skin.

  When a cellphone rang, Eva thought it might be the television stat
ion. She’d called and left a message after she’d spoken to Mark, saying she would meet them onsite that afternoon since they were all caught up with studio work.

  But it wasn’t her phone. It was Mark’s.

  At first he didn’t take the call. But the phone rang repeatedly, the caller obviously not content to leave a message.

  Eva watched his expression turn from concerned to disbelieving to resigned.

  “Those are the consequences, Aaron. I stand by your coaches’ decision. I’ll pick you up after school.”

  When he hung up the phone, he explained to Eva, “Aaron was bragging to some friends about being arrested again. His coach kicked him off the football team. He’s too prideful to ride the bus. No other senior does. I should probably make him. Humility would do him good. But I want to talk to him so I’ve got to pick him up.” He grabbed his jeans and shirt and headed to the bathroom.

  Eva joined him, washing his back and wishing she could do more. “Next time,” she promised him.

  “Next time. I like the sound of that.”

  Eva hesitated. Take risks. “Would you like me to come with you?”

  At first Mark looked like he would brush her off. But then the tension eased a fraction around his eyes as he said, “Yes. Absolutely. I can definitely use your skills.”

  Before they even arrived at the school, one of the coaches was already calling back. Aaron was in the football locker room, holding the water boy hostage.

  Of course, they were calling the police.

  Mark edged up his speed and made it to the high school in record time. They even beat the squad cars.

  Once at the high school Mark and Eva went directly to the locker room.

  Inside, in the back behind the rows and rows of lockers, Aaron had the boy in a head lock.

  “Aaron, I’m coming in.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’m bringing Dr. Veracruz with me.”

  Aaron stayed silent.

  Eva called back to him. “I can help, Aaron. Give me a chance.”

  Barely audibly, he answered, “Okay.”

  As Mark listened to the caller, Eva watched. Once they cleared the lockers, Aaron stopped them ten yards from him. “Don’t come any closer.”

  He tightened his grip on the boy, making his hostage squirm.

  Mark was about to charge the two of them until Eva put a restraining hand on his arm. “We won’t come any closer until you feel okay about it, Aaron. Loosen your hold a little, okay?”

  He must have because the boy stopped wiggling and began gulping in air.

  “I really messed up this time, didn’t I, Uncle Mark?”

  What should he say? Mark looked to Eva.

  Eva read his look and stepped forward. “Hi, Aaron.”

  “Hey, Doc.”

  “Why don’t you let go of the kid? He’s not looking too happy there.”

  “If I do, what will happen to me?”

  “Not as much as if you don’t let him go.” Eva took a cautious step forward. When Mark would have followed her, she held up her hand. “Why don’t you hang back, Uncle Mark, and give Aaron some space?”

  Giving Aaron space was very important. He didn’t need to feel trapped, especially with that young boy under his control like that. He was irrational. No one could predict what he might do.

  Mark took a step back. “Sure. Whatever you need, Aaron.”

  “What I need is to play football. And I need Sharona back from that place her parents made her go to.”

  Eva took the conversation away from such an inflammatory topic. “You’re not feeling so great, are you, Aaron? Feeling a bit anxious? Maybe a little ungrounded?”

  She nodded, encouraging Aaron to nod back.

  “Maybe a little,” he agreed.

  She could feel the tension roll off Mark at her back. If she could, so could Aaron. Yet he was the most stable person in Aaron’s life. She had to keep them separate but visible. If she could get to Aaron, maybe he would respond to human touch. If he was anything like his uncle, she knew he’d had too little of it in his life and would respond well to it.

  Eva took another step forward. “We can help you.”

  He shook his head. “Nobody can help me.” His voice was anguished, tortured.

  “I can.” She gave him a grin she wasn’t feeling. “I’ve got connections.”

  “What kind of connections?”

  “I know a place where you can get your head together. You can be safe and everyone around you can be safe.”

  Aaron gave her a suspicious glare. “Where’s that? Jail?”

  “You need help, Aaron. You’ve been taking steroids, haven’t you?”

  “Yeah, but they’re not like drugs. They just make you bigger.”

  “They also mess with your head.”

  “I don’t want to stop.”

  Eva nodded. “I understand. We can talk about that when you let the boy go.”

  Aaron tightened his hold on the boy, wringing a squeal from him as his face turned red.

  Outside, she heard the wail of sirens.

  For a second her past came back to her. Chuck. The girl. The gangs.

  But then she blinked and saw only reality, two very scared boys. One of them could cause great harm if not handled well.

  With the sirens closing in, Eva needed to do something fast or this could end very badly. “Trade him for me.”

  Before anyone could protest, she made quick strides to Aaron and put her hand on the thick arm that could too easily strangle the boy. With the other hand she rubbed his back in slow, soothing, circular motions.

  He didn’t pull away. Instead, he leaned into her ministrations. Through Aaron’s shirt she could feel the tension in his back.

  “Let him go, please.” She didn’t dare look at Mark.

  But Aaron was staring at him. “What am I going to do, Uncle Mark?”

  “Aaron—” Mark’s tone was menacing “—let the boy go.”

  Eva sent Mark a warning look. “Uncle Mark is going to back off now. He’s going to run outside and tell everyone you and I are coming out. Right, Mark?”

  Mark sent her a fierce frown. When he hesitated an ugly fear started to coil low in her stomach.

  “Please, Mark. Trust me.”

  He gave a single nod and made a quick exit.

  “Now, Aaron, while it’s just the three of us, let’s make it only the two of us. Easier all round, okay?” She gave his arm a pat. “You can put your arm around me if you’d like. But I promise, even if you don’t, I won’t leave you here alone.”

  When Aaron hesitated, she went with her instinct and hugged him. “I’m so sorry your mom’s not here for you. But I’ll take care of you. I’m very good at taking care of teenagers.”

  “You promise?”

  How many broken promises had Aaron been fed in his life? Yet he still held hope.

  Which gave her hope for him.

  “I promise, Aaron.”

  “Uncle Mark trusts you.” His eyes darted to where Mark had been standing.

  “Yes, he does.” She kept up her slow, methodical backrub, feeling the tension ease the slightest bit.

  “Okay, then.”

  Aaron loosened his grip on the boy, who ran as fast as he could out of the locker room.

  Eva caught Aaron’s hand in hers. “That’s a good start. Now we can make some progress.”

  “How? How can we make progress? I saw the police cars through that window.”

  Eva didn’t need to feel the tightness in Aaron’s back to know they’d just taken a step backwards in this situation. She heard it in the cracking of his voice and saw it in the wildness of his eyes.

  “I hadn’t seen the window, Aaron. There are s
everal police cars out there, aren’t there?” Blue and red light flashed from the bar lights on the tops of the cars. Another element to alarm the unstable teen. How was she going to get them both out of there unharmed? “Let’s come up with a plan, so the police won’t be worried about us. We want to stay calm to keep them calm, okay?”

  “Okay.” Aaron’s shirt became drenched in sweat as his central nervous system went crazy. He punched himself in the head, a blow that would have dazed an average-sized kid. “I can’t think of any plan.”

  Eva gave him another hug, trying to keep him settled. “It’s okay. I have a plan. Ready to hear it?”

  This time Aaron shrugged free. “Tell me.” His tone was turning belligerent as he was beginning to despair.

  She moved her hand to his arm, the lightest of touches with no hint of restraint. “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to hold your hand and walk in front of you. Stay close to me. When we get outside they’re going to want you to drop to the ground. Do that immediately, okay? I’ll stay right next to you.”

  “Then what?”

  “Then they’ll cuff you. I’ll tell them you need medical attention. They’ll put you into a squad car and take you to the hospital. Your uncle and I will be right behind the squad car and will follow you in. I’ll talk to a couple of doctors I know and then we’ll start getting you better, okay?”

  “Okay.” Now he sounded like a meek little child.

  Eva caught Aaron’s hand. “Let’s do it.”

  Obediently, he followed behind her, staying so close she could feel his body heat against her back.

  Mark stood just outside the door, where he had obviously been listening. How had he managed to make it back with all the police outside? She would ask him later.

  And there would be a later for all of them.

  She gave him a tight smile. “Good! You’re back!”

  “I’m sorry, Uncle Mark. About everything. If this doesn’t work out, tell Momma I love her, okay?”

  Eva cut him off to keep him focused. “We’ll talk about that later. Right now, Uncle Mark is going to walk right behind us. Stay very, very close to Aaron, Mark. Put your hands on Aaron’s shoulders.”

  “Will do.”

  “Now, Aaron, put your hands on my arms.” Those massive hands would be too close to her throat if he put them on her shoulders. The police wouldn’t like that.