Every Glance (Every Life #3)

by Tasha Ivey

  Carter smirks. “It’s for the best.”

  I lunge forward, stopping myself inches from his face. The sickening stench of alcohol on his breath makes my stomach turn. “What did you threaten her with, asshole? What did you say? Did you seriously tell her you’re going to take Simon away from her if she continues to see me? Is that it?”

  “What I tell my wife is none of your business,” Carter spits out and pokes me in the chest. “But what I told her wasn’t a threat. I don’t make empty threats. Just ask her.”

  I clamp my hand around his fist before he can poke my chest again. “I don’t make empty threats either. So listen carefully to what I’m about to say. You’re going to leave her and Simon alone. You’re going to go home to your fiancé. You’re also going to butt the hell out of Devyn’s life. You divorced her, so you lost every right you had. And if she allows you to spend some time with Simon, you’re going to treat him like a son and not use him for your own agendas. And if I hear that you’ve not followed every single thing I just said, I’m going to show you exactly how I keep a promise. Because I promise that I will kick your ass if you try any of this shit again.”

  Carter pushes me back and barely stands to his feet. Thank God I’m finally bigger than he is, or this would be awkward. “I assure you, Fairy Boy, that I’m not even a little bit worried about you. I’ve shed your blood before, and I’d love to do it again, so I suggest you don’t threaten me again. I know a lot of people that could really make your life a living hell. What do you do these days? You a mechanic or something? Wait…let me guess. You sell women’s shoes? A kindergarten teacher?” He cackles at his own attempt at a jab at me.

  I pull out my wallet and hold my hospital ID up to him. “Dr. Dalton Hoover at your service. You want to try to get me fired? Go ahead and try. Because I don’t think your words hold much stock in this town. You’re nothing but a bully and everybody knows it. You bully your ex-wife, the people you work with, and for God’s sake, you bully your own son. You bullied me once, too, but that won’t happen anymore. I promise you that. Not to me or Devyn and Simon. It stops today.”

  He steps forward and tries to bump my chest with his, but his little pot belly hits me first, which completely negates his attempt at intimidating me. “You think you’re going to stop me, Fairy Boy? You tried before and you ended up with a broken nose and busted lip.”

  “Carter, no. Stop this!” Devyn cries out and tries to push her way between us, but he easily shoves her back into the wall.

  “I remember.” I widen my chest and look down at him. Damn, this feels good. “And I also remember what I said about touching her again. You really like to pick on those who are weaker than you. Why don’t you pick on someone your own size? Please. I dare you to try.”

  He narrows his eyes. “You dare me, huh?”

  Carter raises an arm and bunches a fist, readying to swing it at me. But his drunkenness slows his movements, allowing me plenty of time to move out of the trajectory. He swings with the other fist but doesn’t even come close to connecting. I didn’t even have to move for that one.

  “Come on, Carter. You can do better than that.” I taunt.

  “Dalton, stop it.” Devyn pleas, approaching us carefully. “Just go home. I’m fine.”

  “You’re telling me to stop and go home? Are you kidding me?”

  I’m looking at her when another fist is launched at me, and this time, it connects with my jaw. There’s not a lot of fire behind the punch, but when you’re not expecting it, it’s that much worse. My first instinct is to swing, so knowing how much alcohol the man has in his stomach, that’s the first thing I go for. He doubles over and coughs and sputters, immediately looking a little green.

  “Dalton!” Devyn yells. “You’re going to hurt him.”

  “You think that pansy ass is capable of hurting me?” Carter grumbles through clenched teeth. “You should be worried about him.”

  He straightens and lunges at me again, but I push him back. Over and over. Even fully extended, his arms can’t reach me. He’s already getting winded.

  “That’s enough, Carter,” I say, pushing him back again. “Why don’t you let me drive you home, so you can sleep this off?”

  He leans against the wall and pants for a second before straightening again, taking two steps to stand right in front of me. “Why would you offer to drive me home?” He jerks his head toward Devyn. “So you can be the hero to my mistake of a son? So you can screw my whore of a wife again? Obviously, she’ll spread her legs for anybody.”

  That it. That’s all it takes for me to lose my cool. That’s all it takes for Carter to end up in the floor with blood gushing out of his nose and crying like a toddler.

  Devyn runs into the kitchen to grab a towel, and I realize at that point that she’s never going to be out from under his thumb. He just called her a whore and her son a mistake, and she’s getting a towel to clean up his busted nose. Maybe I’m a little pissed off about all of it right now, but I’m beginning to think she enjoys this. She must.

  Deciding to cut my losses, I turn my back on all of the bullshit and walk out the door just in time to see Simon getting in his aunt’s car, but he gets back out as soon as he sees me.

  “Is everything okay with my mom?” he calls out.

  I jog across the street and approach him. “She’s fine, buddy. But I still want you to go with your aunt for a while. At least until your dad leaves.”

  “Okay, Dalton.” He sighs and gets back into the car with a scowl on his face. Simon is a pretty perceptive kid, so he knows everything isn’t okay.

  I shut his door and turn to Aiden. “Thanks for coming to get him.”

  She nods. “Tell me the truth. How bad is it?”

  “Well, long story short, I went inside because I heard glass breaking. I think Carter threw a glass. Turns out he’s pissed off because he had us followed in Orange Beach and didn’t care too much for the pictures his goon sent back. Devyn is pretty shook up, but I couldn’t get her to leave with me. Carter is drunk and took a couple of swings at me, but I didn’t fight back until he called your sister a whore and Simon a mistake. So needless to say, he’s lying in the floor, bleeding. Apparently, though, Devyn believes his threats about getting custody of Simon, because she told me she didn’t want to see me anymore. That’s pretty much it.”

  Aiden walks around the corner of her car. She looks a lot more like Devyn than Kyler does, and her gentle personality is a lot like Devyn’s, too. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, Dalton, but she’s been trying to get away from him for a long time. She’s just scared to death of losing any more time with Simon. He’s everything to her. And I know she really likes you. She called me last night after she left the Ferris wheel and told me everything. I’ve never heard her so happy. Don’t give up on her yet. She needs you, and so does Simon.”

  I look back at the house, wondering what’s going on in there now. At least it’s quiet, I guess. But that may not be a good thing either. “Please get Simon out of here before something else happens.” I reach into my back pocket for my wallet and pull out a card. “Here’s my number in case Simon needs something or if you need him to stay with me at all. Thanks for coming to get him.”

  “Of course.” She stares at me for a moment and sighs. “I’ll call you later to let you know if he goes home or if I hear from Devyn.”

  “Yeah, thanks.” I turn on my heel and walk over to get in my car. Simon keeps peeking over the seat at me as I follow Aiden’s car out of the subdivision. Just as we’re about to turn separate ways, he waves but his usual bright smile isn’t behind it. He’s solemn and expressionless. I feel bad for the kid, but there’s only so much I can do.

  Trying to push it all from my mind, I get back home, start my laundry again, and make myself a quick dinner. No matter how hard I try to forget about it, I keep checking my phone to make sure I haven’t missed Aiden’s call.

  And it doesn’t come until I’m already in bed—not that I could slee
p if I wanted to.

  “Hey, Dalton. Sorry to call so late. Were you still up?” Aiden sounds half-asleep herself.

  “I’m in bed, but I’m not asleep yet. Did Simon just now leave?”

  “No, he crashed a couple hours ago, so he’s in my bed sleeping peacefully. And so is Devyn.”

  “Why?” I ask, feeling my blood boil at the thought that Carter did something else to scare her. “What did he do now?”

  “Nothing other than pass out.” She snickers. “Drunk bastard. Devyn just left him there to sleep it off and she came over here. I just wanted you to know that they’re here with me and safe.”

  I scrub a hand over my face. “Thanks.”

  Safe, she says.

  But for how long?

  I HALF EXPECTED to hear from Devyn yesterday, but because it was Monday, I guess she was busy with work. That didn’t stop me from thinking about her all day long, as much as I really didn’t want to. Even though I tried to busy myself with a few last minute wedding details, I’d find myself staring into space and trying to come up with a way to make it all work out.

  Nothing works, though. I end up shooting down every idea that I get, knowing that Devyn would do the same.

  Today isn’t much better, though. I don’t really have anything to do other than pick up some groceries, and because I’ll be gone most of the week, shopping won’t take me more than fifteen minutes. Being on vacation kinda sucks. I don’t know what to do with all of this time.

  Deciding to go ahead and get my shopping over with, I jump in the car and opt to take the scenic route to the supermarket, adding at least twenty minutes onto the trip. But before I can even make it a mile down the highway, my phone rings. I would normally ignore it until I get stopped somewhere, but the high-pitched beeping ringtone tells me it’s the clinic calling.

  “Dalton, where are you right now?” Ella asks. Her voice is low and clipped.

  “Headed to the supermarket. Why? Need me to come in?” Going into work today would be a godsend. It’s only Tuesday, and I’m already about to lose my mind.

  “Well, yeah, but not for the reason you think. There’s someone here to see you, and you definitely want to come down here. Now.”

  Shit. There’s really no telling who it is either. Kyler, Devyn, Carter…the list goes on and on. “Wanna tell me who’s so important?”

  “It’s your little friend, Simon,” she whispers. “He’s pretty upset and made me promise to call you instead of his mom. He’s here all by himself.”

  I whip into the first driveway and turn around. “Tell him I’m on my way. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

  After I hang up the phone, my first instinct is to call Devyn to see what the hell is going on, but because Simon obviously skipped school to come see me, there must be something pretty important on his mind. I need to, at least, give him a chance to talk first. Then, if he’s feeling better, I can take him back to school and no one will be the wiser. I just can’t imagine what would cause him to show up at the clinic like that.

  By some act of divine mercy, I make it to the clinic without being pulled over, and I skid into my parking space, barely coming to a stop before slamming the car into park and jumping out.

  “Where is he?” I ask Ella as soon as I shove through the front door, causing the bell over it to clank against the wall. The waiting room is full of people, and they all turn to gawk at the lunatic that just burst into the room.

  That’d be me.

  “He’s in your office,” she explains calmly. “He’s okay, but you’re going to freak him out if you go in there all wild-eyed like that.”

  “You’re right. Sorry.” I take a deep breath and blow it out slowly. “I just can’t imagine what brought him here. Thanks for calling me, El.”

  I turn down the hallway and pause at my closed office door to take another breath. “Simon?” I say as I knock. “I’m coming in.”

  He raises his head from my desk as soon as I enter. His cheeks are wet, and his eyes are red and puffy. As soon as his eyes meet mine, his chin quivers and he bursts into tears. He isn’t just crying. The poor kid is sobbing and is barely able to catch his breath.

  I dart across the room and scoop him up out of my chair, so I can sit in it and cuddle him in my lap. He clings to me as he cries, and I hold him tightly, rubbing my hand down his back to try and soothe him. It takes nearly twenty minutes for the crying to stop, but I never let go, and I never try to stop him.

  If I ever cried, my dad would threaten to give me something to cry about if I didn’t stop, regardless of the reason I was upset. Just once, it would’ve been nice for him to hug me and find out what was wrong. I always swore that I would do that if I ever had kids. For now, it looks like Simon is as close as I’ll ever get.

  “You want to talk about what’s wrong?” I ask. His cries have gone silent now, and I can only feel an occasional shudder when he tries to take a deep breath.

  “Everything,” he whimpers.

  “What do you mean, buddy? You’re going to have to be a little more specific if you want me to be able to help you.”

  He shakes his head. “You can’t help me. Nobody can.”

  “Let me try. Tell me what’s going on. Is it your mom and dad?”

  Simon’s breath catches in his throat before he speaks. “Just Dad. He made me stay at his house last night, and I heard him tell Blair that he’s going to come get me from school early today, even though Mom is supposed to pick me up. He wants to take me from her and not let her have me again. He wants to take me out of town, so my mom can’t find me. So when our class went to lunch, I snuck out. I have to hide, so he can’t take me away.”

  “I’ll do everything I can to keep that from happening, okay?” I tilt his head up to look at me. What the hell? “Simon, what happened to your face? Did your dad do that?” I rub my thumb along a tender, red scrape on his chin and a swollen split on his bottom lip.

  He shakes his head. “It happened at school before I left. A kid shoved me into the bike rack because I was in the way. I’m always in everybody’s way.”

  “No, you’re not.” I ruffle his hair. “Come on. Let’s go hang out at my house. I’ll call your mom to let her know where you are, so she won’t worry, okay?”

  “Do we really have to? She’s going to be mad.”

  I laugh, picking him up and standing him in the floor. “Yeah, we have to. But she won’t be mad, I promise. I’ll explain everything to her.”

  “Okay,” he says, hanging his head.

  “What’s going on?” Ella catches me by the elbow and whispers in my ear as we walk by the nurse’s station. “I called a friend of mine that works in the school’s office to let them know that we have him here, so they don’t send out a search party.”

  “Thanks. He’s having a pretty rough day. I’ll tell you later.” I look down at Simon, who is enthralled in a set of x-rays on Ella’s desk.

  “And he came here…to find you. Quite telling, don’t you think?”

  I shrug. “It tells me that the clinic is only three blocks from the school. Coming to me is more convenient.”

  “I don’t think soooo,” she sings.

  “Let’s go, buddy, before Mrs. Ella gets weird.” Winking at her, I put a hand on Simon’s shoulder, and we turn to walk away.

  On the way home, I stop by a burger joint to grab the both of us some lunch. Seeing that I never made it to the grocery store, I know for sure that I don’t have anything Simon would like to eat. I get him settled on the rug with his food and some cartoons, and I retreat to my bedroom to call Devyn. He was right earlier. She will be mad, but I’m hoping she’ll understand his reasoning. How could she be angry with him for not wanting to be taken by his dad?

  The phone rings four times before she answers. “Hey, uh, I really can’t talk right now. I’m busy, and now isn’t the time to discuss anything that happened Sunday.”

  “Although I’d love to talk to you about all of that, this call isn’t about me and
you. It’s about Simon. He’s here with me.”

  She gasps, and I can hear her heels clicking on the floor. “What do you mean? Why exactly are you at his school?”

  “I’m at home, and he’s here with me. But before you start freaking out on me, let me explain.”

  I tell her exactly what happened from the time I got Ella’s call to what Simon said about his dad to coming to my house. Needless to say, she’s pissed, but not at Simon.

  “That bastard!” She yells. Judging by the birds chirping in the background, she’s outside now, which is probably for the best considering the obscenities that have been pouring out of her for the last few minutes. “I can’t believe he’d do that. Wait, no. I definitely can. But what’s to stop him from trying it again?”

  “Devyn,” I begin, trying to keep my tone soft. “You have to do something. You have to end this now. Simon was in hysterics when I got to the clinic today. He’s breaking under all the pressure, and he can’t take any more.”

  “I know. And I will. Is he okay there with you for a little while? I need to make an appointment with my lawyer to see what I can do.”

  Well, thank God. “Yeah, we’re just fine. Take your time.”

  “Thanks, Dalton. I’ll be over there to get him as soon as I’m done.”

  Simon has already devoured his burger and half his fries by the time I come back into the living room. The poor kid looks absolutely drained, not that I can blame him. He’s shouldered a lot over the last couple of years, it seems, and it’s all coming to a head right now. I can’t imagine what that’s like for such a young kid.

  I sit on the couch to eat my burger, and the entire time, he keeps looking back at me. I can’t figure out the expression on his face, either. It’s almost as if he’s just making sure I’m still here or something.

  Just as I’m finishing my lunch, he looks back again.

  “Do you need anything, Simon?”

  He twists his mouth slightly to one side before answering. “Well, I was wondering if I can sit with you.”