Demitrius (Erikson Brothers #4)

Chapter 1

Mandy was waiting to have her stitches taken out when a young woman came into the room looking like she was going to pop her kid at any moment. It took her a few seconds only, though, to not care for the woman. She was demanding and privileged acting.

“You need to get up out of that chair, young man. I’ve always sat there, and it’s the most comfortable one in the room.” Then she snapped her fingers at him. “Hello, pregnant woman here. Don’t make me get pissy with you about a stupid chair.”

“Then sit someplace else. I was here first.” She huffed at the man, then tried to sit in the chair anyway, shoving the man to the side until he got up or she sat directly on him. What Ms. Privileged didn’t count on was his being bigger than her. “What the hell are you doing? Are you insane? I’m sitting here.”

“I’m pregnant. Or are you too stupid to know that?” The man looked her up and down and said that she was stupid as well. “Do you have any idea who I am? I’m going to have my husband arrest you when you’re out on the streets. You’ll have so many fines that you’ll never see your paycheck. Is that what you want?”

“I’m a cop too. And I do know who you’re married to. Donny isn’t even the father of this kid, and you both know it. Now be a good little girl and find yourself another seat, and leave me to my own.”

Ms. Privileged huffed again. But instead of moving to another seat, she simply stood in front of the man while he seemed to be ignoring her. It was funny how stubborn she was. He was as well, but at least he was justified in his stubbornness.

When her name was called, she was slightly disappointed that she’d not get to see what happened when one of their names was called back. Would she feel triumphant and sit in the chair, or would she be called back first, and it was all for nothing on her part? Oh well, she’d take entertainment when she could get it.

“These look really good, but I’m going to take my time pulling them out. It’s a large cut, and I don’t want you to have it leave a big scar for you.” She thanked Misty, Doctor Keller’s nurse. “The doc is going to want to see you in a couple of weeks just to make sure that you’re healing all right.”

She wished that Locke could have taken them out since he’d been the one who had put them in. But he’d been working in the emergency department for the last month since he’d become a doctor and hadn’t had time to work her in. Nor did he have the sort of equipment at home to work on her. He told her that he’d be more prepared next time. She hoped there wouldn’t be a next time.

Trying to ignore her skin being pulled while the stitches were being pulled out, she thought of the list that Zander, Locke’s brother, had given her if she wanted to try and adopt her nephews. They’d found another relative to take them in, but she couldn’t get past the background check that the county had done on her.

Her name was Georgie Jameson, the same as the boys, but she had an arrest record that was about a mile long. After Georgie’s brother, Samuel, had killed their mother in a drunken rage, they didn’t want the same thing to happen to the boys. It was bad enough that they’d seen her killed by him; making them go to the same sort of person wouldn’t be right on any level.

“Mandy? Are you all right?” She said she was just thinking. “You really zoned out there on me. I was worried that you were really hurting.”

“No, not at all. You did a good job.” At least she hoped so. While the scar was ugly and still very pink looking, it was better than the open, gaping wound that she’d had there a month ago. Samuel had cut her with a knife while she was trying her best to keep the two little boys safe. They’d come to mean the world to her. “What do I have to do to take care of it? I know that someone mentioned that I’m to keep it out of the sun.”

“Yes, I’ll give you some instructions for wound care before you leave. Now all you have to do is see the Doc and you’ll be free to go.” Sounded good to her. Maybe she’d get to see the end of the fight in the lobby. “You have a good day, Mandy, and be careful.”

She and the boys had been living with August and his wife, Jack, since the night that their mother had been killed. Her sister had married Samuel about ten years ago and had had Teddy first. Then, a couple of years later, Martin had come along. Besty had been a good mom, but she always thought that she should have left Samuel after the first time she’d been beaten bad enough to end up in the hospital, about a week after they were married. But then she’d not have Teddy and Martin, and Besty always told her that was worth it all.

Walking back to the house she was staying at, she decided to find out if there were any places to rent yet. She’d been going by the real estate office daily for the past three weeks, and they’d had nothing. Nothing that she could afford anyway.

Now, with her first check coming in, surprised at how much it was, she thought that finding a place for the three of them was going to be much easier. Plus, it was on the list of things that she had to do that Zander had given her to make it so she could adopt the boys when it went to court. She needed to establish someplace where they could live on their own.

The list wasn’t all that long, but it was things that she was having trouble thinking anyone would care about. What did it matter if she ate out often without the boys? Or that she didn’t have reliable daycare for them when she went to work. Mostly she took them with her, and it hadn’t been an issue. But she’d do each and every thing on the list just to be able to take care of the three of them in one place.

“I do have a place. I was hoping you’d come by today.” The woman, Izzy was her name, grabbed her coat and keys, and said that she’d take her by there now. “He’s a good person to rent from. I think you know him, Demitruis Erikson. He’s one of the Erikson men who live around here. It’s a three-bedroom and has two baths. You’ll love it.”

As they drove to the place, she tried her best not to get her hopes too high for it. While it sounded perfect, there could be a plethora of things wrong with it that would get her into trouble with the county. They’d have to inspect it as well, she thought she’d read.

“It’s in a good neighborhood, too. Not far from his restaurant either.” Mandy told Izzy that she’d not met this brother as he’d been working on getting his place opened. “He does work hard. They all do, for that matter. And they all take care of each other, too.”

Mandy knew that as well. They took care of strangers who showed up on their doorsteps like they were family as well. She knew that to be true firsthand. As they were pulling into the drive of the house, all she could think about was how beautiful it looked with all the trees. She could almost see her raking up leaves and the boys jumping in them. The fenced-in back yard was an added bonus, too.

Mandy toured the house three times before she got around to asking what the rent was. She had to have her tell her four times the amount, as it just seemed too low for her to be right. Then she mentioned that the other services for the house, such as water, sewage, and cable, were included. The man must be certifiable if he was letting it go for this low.

“I’ll take it.”

After handing her the visa that she’d just gotten the other day, Izzy said she’d call it in. Then she remembered the county, and it was then that Izzy told her that the house had only been just inspected for her, and she was all right. It occurred to her that someone was setting this up for her, but she didn’t voice that. If the Eriksons were helping her, she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. They were more than likely tired of her hanging around their homes while not being related to them in any way.

Signing the paperwork once they were in the office again, she was almost too excited to tell the boys what she’d done. Then something else occurred to her. She had not one stick of furniture nor anything personal to put in the place. She almost wanted to sob right then. What a fool she’d been.

Walking home, trying not to be too upset about the blunder that she’d made. She decided that she was going to ask for the help that had been given to her by each of the family members that she’d met. They all told her to come to them when she needed something, and she was going to do it. All she needed was enough money to get herself some kitchen supplies and two beds for the boys. She could sleep on the floor until she got herself something else, she decided.

Then her list of things that she needed got longer with each step that she took. Towels. Food. They’d need to have a shower curtain as well as bathing supplies. Once she was in the house again, she burst into tears when Jack had asked her what was wrong.

It all came tumbling out. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I know what I was thinking about that Demitrius was helping me fund the place, and I’d not even met him. Now I’ve signed the lease agreement, and I don’t have anything to make it work.” She listed only a few things that she’d thought of on her way home. “Not to mention, how the heck am I supposed to be able to care for the boys when I can’t even care for myself?”

“Are you finished whining?” She told Jack that she’d not been whining by stating facts. “Whining. We’ll help you. We’re all rooting for you to—why are you shaking your head? I said we’d help you. I didn’t ask you if you wanted us to help you. Now, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go and measure rooms, you and I, and then the others will meet. Stop shaking your head, no. You’ll get a headache, and that won’t bode well when you tell Teddy and Martin you have a place for them.”

“It’s going to be a lot of money. And even making the kind of money that I am now, it’ll be forever before I can pay you back.” Jack put her hands on her hips and tapped her toe. “You might scare the rest of them with that look, but I’ve stared down a man holding a gun to my forehead. You don’t come back from that quickly.”

“He really did that?” She nodded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’re going to help you out. Really, it’s what we do. And someday you can do the same thing when someone comes to you needing help.”

“If someone comes to me for help, I’m going to have to refer them to you guys, I don’t have a pot to piss in right now.” She waved her off, pulling out her cell phone. Before she could object, even if she thought that she could have, they were on their way to the house with the boys and armed with tape measures and notepads. These people were beyond pushy, she realized.

The house seemed warmer now that she was going to be living in it. The boys, especially Martin, were excited that he’d still have his own room. He loved his brother, but he snored, he told them. Teddy was excited to have his own back yard, something that he’d asked for when she’d told them they were going to be all living together. The other two women showed up about the time they had finished measuring each room and writing down the colors of the walls, most of them creamy white, so that they knew what to work with. She didn’t know what that meant; she only needed supplies and a couple of beds for the kids.

“I don’t need that right now.” It had become her litany for things put in her cart while they were out. It didn’t matter if she didn’t need it right away; she would eventually, and they were going to buy it. She was also making sure that she thanked them for all the stuff in the carts, not one or two carts so far, but three. “I can get that with my next paycheck” was something else that went unheard…or ignored, she didn’t know which. But they did a good job of finding her the best deals. A mental running total was making her sick with anxiety.

“You look pinched.” Thanking Martin for pointing that out, he cocked his little head at her and she waited for what he’d say next. “You need something to eat, I bet. I’m starving and I already ate my stash.”

She’d noticed that the whole family did that. Even the little ones had something to munch on when they went out. Locke usually had two or three granola bars or a couple of apples. He forever had a bottle of water on him, the same as his brothers. She did wonder what sort of childhood they’d had that would make them so afraid of being hungry.

“You know that’s a wonderful idea.” Shipley—her last name, she assumed that everyone called her by winked at her. “I’m hungry too, and I handed over my last cookie to Alex. All right, we’ll pay for this and go get some lunch. I didn’t realize how late it was.”

“It’s only two in the afternoon. How about we get something and take it to my place now, and I can get this stuff put away while the boys eat something.” She told her that they’d not filled her pantry yet. “I didn’t know that I had a pantry. And I’m sure you know it.”

“You’re very stubborn, aren’t you?” She just stared at her open mouthed. “Close your mouth, deary, the men are coming. They’ll get this sorted out, and we can all dine together.”

After getting kisses from their spouses, she stood there thinking that she was going to put up a fuss about them buying groceries too. But when Teddy took her hand, telling her in a very loud whisper that he wanted to eat breakfast in his own house tomorrow, she couldn’t turn him down. As it was right now, she was in debt to the family for thousands of dollars, and she really didn’t have anything in the cupboards.

Lunch was fun. She finally got to meet Demitrius, Demi, as everyone called him, and the boys were having a good time with the other children at the table. August had five kids, and he and Jack seemed to be pros at keeping them entertained and happy. The others pitched in when they were needed, and she loved it all.

“I’m glad you like the house.” She told Demi that she was looking forward to living there with the boys. “They’ll have fun too. There are a lot of kids on that street who are about the same age as them. I think there are a lot of people your age there as well.”

“You make it sound like I’m old. I’m only twenty-five.” He turned pink, and she felt stupid for embarrassing him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. My mouth gets ahead of my mind at times. Forgive me.”

“Nothing to forgive you for. I thought it was funny, too. And I’m only twenty-seven. So not too far off. You should come to the restaurant when you have time. Dinner will be on me.”

Her mind, never in a good place, imagined Demi spread out on a table with food all over him for her to eat. Now she was the one embarrassed and told him that she’d love that. Thankfully, Martin drew his attention away from her, and she had a moment to rethink where her mind had gone.

~*~

Demi enjoyed the time with his family. Had he been open today, he would have entertained them in his place. The Crockery Pot wasn’t open on Mondays or on Tuesday afternoon. It gave the people who worked for him time to do their own personal things without having to miss work. Besides, as busy as he’d been since opening, he didn’t think that having a couple of days closed was going to break him.

The woman, Mandy, was nice. She embarrassed easily, and he thought that was adorable. He had no desire to leap into a relationship like his brothers had. He might take her out or something, get to know her, and decide that she wasn’t for him. Or if she was for him, he’d take his time and get to know not just her but the boys she was trying to adopt as well. He didn’t know anything about their circumstances and was happy to keep it that way for the time being.

“I didn’t say I wanted to date you.” He looked at Mandy, wondering if she read minds or something. “You mumble when you’re thinking. I have my life just the way I want it too, so back off and we’ll both be great.”

“I’m sorry.” She turned away from him and while it pissed him off a little he knew that it was no less than he deserved. “I’m truly sorry that I thought those things. If you knew how my brothers seemed to just fall in love with their wives, you’d understand where I’m coming from.”

“I don’t, nor do I care. It’s none of my business.” She looked at him again. “Look. You just keep to your side of the street, and I’ll do the same for mine. And if you think to make me leave the house now that I’ve said I have no desire to date you, then you’ll be in for a rude awakening. I’ll sue you for breach of contract. I’ve signed the lease and have paid my deposit. There’ll be no raising my rent either. It’s in the contract for one year.”

“I never said that I’d do that.” He was getting angrier by the moment and had to try to reign in his temper or make a scene. “Look, I was thinking things to myself. It’s not my fault that you listened in when it was none of your business. I don’t want to have anything to do with you either. You’re not nice.”

She turned fully away from him, showing him her back. Before he could reach up and pull her around, he looked at his family. Jack was staring at him like she dared him to do it. What? Well, he wasn’t sure, but he wasn’t to touch Mandy.

Demi finished his meal in silence. He’d speak when asked something, but nothing more than that. His anger and temper, never right on the edge like they were right now, were making him ill with it. As soon as the check came, he grabbed it from the waitress and said he was leaving.

No one said anything to him. There were no begging him to stay. He felt his anger grow more when he was able to walk away without a word from anyone, especially Mandy. He did feel bad as he was paying, realizing that he’d been rude to the staff, but he’d make it up in the tip. He didn’t know what was bothering him so much about her hearing what he’d been mumbling about, but he wanted to go home and beat on his heavy bag for a few hours. Or days. He was just in the kind of mood that would have gotten him in trouble when he’d been younger, much like his father’s temper.

That cooled him off right away. He never wanted to be compared to that bastard. Not even by himself. Stretching his neck several times so that when someone slapped him on the back, he nearly snarled at them to leave him alone. He was glad that he’d not when he noticed that it was his brother Knox.

“What’s up?” He asked him what he was talking about. “You nearly bit that woman’s head off earlier than the two of you were like strangers all of the sudden. So again, what’s up?”

“It’s my fault.” He realized that it was too. All his fault. “I said some things under my breath and she heard me.”

“You were mumbling.” He asked him how he knew that. “You talk out loud when you’re stressed out. It comes out like you’re mumbling, but it’s really you just talking low. I think that Zander does it too. So how bad was it? She’s mad at you, and I’m assuming you said something not so nice about her.”

“I don’t want to fall in love with her right away.” Knox just eyed him. “Well, everyone else has, and I don’t want to even date her for fear that we’ll be something to each other. I have enough going on in my life that I don’t need another complication like a woman with two kids to mess with.”

“Wow, you really did a number on her then.” He laughed, but it sounded like he was angry too. “I don’t blame her for being pissed off. You? You said some pretty harsh things, even under your breath, about a near stranger, if you said all that. Christ, man. What’s wrong with you having some fun by going out? And it’s doubtful to me that you’re going to find yourself anyone if you have an attitude like that.”

When his brother left him standing there, he could see him sitting by Mandy. She didn’t warm up to him right away, but she was speaking to him. Going out the door, feeling the need to break something, he got into his car and had to take in several deep breaths and let them out slowly before he thought he could take a chance and drive. Christ, he thought, this was a royal fuck up and he didn’t have anyone to blame but himself.

By the time he was home, he had four messages and two missed calls. All from his family. He’d gone there to help with packing things in trucks, then taking them to Mandy’s home, but he thought for sure that it would go better if he wasn’t there at all. He knew that being around Mandy right now would cause a lot of trouble. None that he was looking for, that’s for sure.

He ended up in his basement with his exercise equipment, pounding on the bag for about ten minutes, when his phone rang again. He’d told them all that he’d been feeling off and didn’t want to help out, but apparently that wasn’t an excuse enough to keep them from calling him. He answered the phone on about the fifth ring and barked his name into the phone.

“What did you do?” He asked Shipley what she meant. “You’ve hurt Mandy. She’s not saying anything, but in the words of Teddy, you looked about as pinched as Mandy did when we got back to her place to put things away. So again, what did you do to her?”

“Nothing. What did she say I did?” She told him that she wasn’t saying anything either. “Good. At least she knows when to shut up.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew his mistake. But there was no taking it back now, and he listened to Shipley beat him up with words while he took it. When she seemed to be winding down, he asked her if she was about finished, he had shit to do.

“You bastard.” He hurt knowing that he’d hurt her too. “So, are you going to start drinking soon? I’m told that all the fucking bastards—your father included, do that.” When she hung up the phone on him, he did the only thing that he could think of, which was to throw his phone across the room and hit the wall. It was shattered even as it dropped to pieces onto the floor.

“Now I need a phone.” Getting on the treadmill, he was going about as fast as he could make it without killing himself when someone knocked on his door. Not answering it made him feel like he’d live a bit longer, especially if it was August, Jack’s husband and his brother. Zoning out on the treadmill, he was nearly startled off it when his brother knocked hard on the glass door that led out into the back yard from the basement doors. Christ, would no one leave him in peace?

“I’m not in the mood.” He tried blocking the door so that his brother would get the hint and leave him alone. Fat lot of good it did him as he just shoved him out of the way and came in anyway. “I didn’t hang up on your wife; she did me.”

“I know that, dumbass. She sent me over here to see if you were all right. I didn’t know what was going on any more than she did until I talked to Knox. He’s worried about you, too. Said you were flying off the handle for no reason. Just because you don’t want to date Mandy or something like that.”

“I don’t, not that it’s any of your business.” He said it wasn’t but that he’d hurt Mandy. “Then she should have been minding her own business and not listening to me. I apparently mumble when I’m thinking, and she heard things that were private.”

Even to his own ears, that sounded lame. Grabbing a towel, suddenly realizing how sweaty he was, he asked his brother if he was going to leave soon. All he did was sit down on one of the many chairs that he’d gotten at garage sales for cheap.

“You want to talk about it?” He told him no, not at all. “I think you do. Before you break something else down here.”

“What are you talking about?” he nodded toward the heavy bag that was spilling sand onto the floor even as he stood there. “I did that a week ago.”

“Sure you did. And it’s just now leaking out. Anything else you broke a week ago that you want to talk about?” Demi sat down in the other chair that matched the ugly one that his brother was sitting in. “I’ve never seen you this pissed off before. Knox mentioned that you had a bit of beer on your breath. Are you drinking too?”

“I had half a can of beer left over from cooking hot dogs for the restaurant, and I spit it out when I tasted it. I won’t drink any more than any of the rest of us will. And Jack said I was acting like our father. I’m not that mean.”

August didn’t say anything, but he did stare at him. Leaning back in his own seat, he wondered where all this anger was coming from. He wasn’t really stressed out, not as much as he could have been. Looking at his brother, he was surprised when he snored. Christ, he’d fallen asleep in seconds. He felt his temper flare about that, too.

But instead of acting on it, like smacking his brother around until he woke up, Demi decided to take a shower. As he was getting under the hot spray, he realized how much he was telling his crew how sorry he was too. And just last week he’d made one of them cry. Something was wrong with him, and he didn’t know what to do about it.

Getting out, he was marginally better but not perfectly calm. Going into the outer area where August was, he found him on his cell phone. Getting dressed in something comfy, he opted for a pair of shorts that had seen better days as well as some socks that he thought were clean. August was getting off his cell when he was pulling on his shirt over his head.

“That was Locke. He said to tell you to behave yourself. I told him that I think you were from now on.” He pointed out that he wasn’t five. “Then don’t act like it. If you don’t want to be treated as a child, then act like you’re an adult.”

“I’m trying. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” He looked at his brother when he stood up. “I’ve been snapping at people for two weeks now. I think that if I make one more person cry, then I’m going to be out of staff. I just can’t seem to get my shit together enough to keep out of the doghouse. I feel like shit all the time nowadays.”

“Have you been to the doctor? I mean, you must know that this isn’t you?” He said that he’d not been, but he didn’t think he was ill. “Well, something is wrong. You’re going to have to apologize to Mandy and the rest of the family for the stunts you pulled today. It would be better all the way around if you were to tell them that you’re working on what’s wrong. I, myself, think that you’re working too hard. How many hours a week are you spending at the restaurant?”

“Sometimes as much as twenty hours a day.” August asked him if he was serious. “Yeah, I just realized that when I was in the shower. I’m there nearly all the time. I even have a cot there.”

“You’re going to go there with me now. Call your employees and tell them that you’re giving them a week off with pay. Then you’re going to come home with me and cuddle the kids. They’ll do wonders for your anger. Then, after a week if you’re better, I’ll think about allowing you—don’t you dare tell me no, Demitrius Alan Erickson. This is some serious business you’re messing with. Either do it or I will. I don’t want to lose you to some kind of heart issues.” He knew his brother was right, but it didn’t make him feel any better. He agreed to follow his brother into the place and close it down. It was only for a week. He’d be able to do that, Demi was sure.

However, the closer he got to the restaurant, the more he was regretting taking his brother up on his offer. There was just too much riding on him making a good showing of his first place.