Chapter Four. #2
Dante began shuffling towards her for comfort, and she gazed down in disdain. “You’ll get no sympathy from me. This serves you right. You harmed your sister, and now it’s come back on you twice over. I’m disgusted and disappointed in you. You learned nothing last week.”
“Mrs Ames says there’s an entire saltshaker worth of salt missing. That’s what Dante put into the salted caramel,” Scout announced, carrying a glass of milk. “If Eddie’s heading to boarding school, Timmy and I wanna go too. We don’t want to live with Dante.”
Dante reached up, grabbed the milk, and gulped it down. “I’m your future president!” He rasped.
“No, you’re not. Ice and Shutout are. I’d never join Rage MC if you held a position of power,” Scout retorted.
“Dad, I’ll apply to Hellfire. I won’t join Calamity’s chapter because Dante would be the National President. That’s unacceptable,” Timmy added, glaring down at Dante.
Dante still clutched his throat, and I hoped it hurt as much as mine did.
“Yet again you used food as a weapon. So, here’s your punishment for today.
You have thirty dollars to buy a week’s worth of food.
It has to last you all week, Dante. Aaron will take you shopping and let you pick groceries, and he’ll pay, but all you have is thirty bucks,” Fanatic said, straightening.
While I no doubt remained bright red, I could breathe easier, although my throat burned. The pain was awful; it was like having tonsillitis again. What was Fanatic doing?
Mama Phoe nodded at Micah. “Good idea. I fed six of us on that. Let’s see how this little bastard manages. Meanwhile, there’s no breakfast for you as you ruined Eddie’s. If you continue this route, and military school doesn’t work, you’ll be in a children’s home!”
Mama Phoe’s words landed like a nuclear bomb. She never said anything she didn’t mean, and Dante stared in horror even while he fought to breathe like me. “Get out of my sight!” she snapped.
Dante struggled to his feet, shoulders slumped. There was no comfort from anyone. What he’d done was beyond cruel.
“You’ll never be my sister,” Dante hissed, his voice sounding scratchy and cracked.
“And that’s something I’m eternally grateful for!” I retorted.
Sophie
“We’ll be fine,” I promised the kids, holding back tears. Mark’s parents had died, and we were once again faced with homelessness. Mark had reached out to his brother, but the asshole had told us we’d made our bed. How the hell had Mark been at fault for his accident?
“Mom, I don’t want to go,” Donny sobbed as he held on tightly. How did I explain to my four-year-old child what was happening? Donny was so confused.
Lisa, our six-year-old, stood to one side; she understood better than Donny, while Ryan, at seven, was angry and hurt.
“Honey, we don’t own the house; it was rented, and the landlord won’t let us stay,” I replied.
We’d been evicted, and because our credit was in the toilet, the fucker wouldn’t let us rent it.
We were living out of a bag each and heading to a homeless shelter for families.
This had to be our lowest point. The only thing worse was handing over the children to child services to ensure they were cared for.
But our lawyer was working to avoid that, and we had a family support officer.
Fingers crossed they didn’t try to tear our babies away from us.
We’d never recover from that. Big corporations had so much to answer for.
Fanatic
“Promise me you won’t feed Dante.”
Mrs Ames smiled. “That’s easy to agree to. Dante’s had the devil in him lately. If he doesn’t learn now, he’ll be an awful human being.”
“Not disagreeing. I get that Dad wanted to give us everything, but Dante hasn’t experienced the hardships most of us have. Mom did spoil us, but also kept a balance. Dante never had that,” I said.
“Drake loves you,” Mrs Ames replied firmly.
“Oh God, we know that. He’s been a great dad, but where Dante is concerned, he’s weak,” I stated.
“Everyone has a fault somewhere. Dante is Drake’s.” Mrs Ames laughed. The kitchen door opened, and Aaron entered, looking amused, with Dante in tow.
“These are mine,” Dante said and emptied a bag of shit on the worktop. It was all sweets and snacks, no food whatsoever. Oh boy, just as I’d guessed. Dante wasn’t taking this seriously and thought he’d treat himself.
“That’s what you bought? To feed yourself for the week?” I asked, bemused.
Dante stuck his nose in the air. “It’s nothing to do with you.”
“Fine. See you for lunch,” I retorted and sent Willow a message explaining everything. She agreed to eat here for now. This would be fun.
“Hey, save some for me!” Dante yelled as sandwiches disappeared as the locusts descended. He made a grab for some, and I smacked his hand and moved the plate aside.
“Nope. Not for you. You bought your food, eat some of that!” I ordered.
“That’s all snacks and candy. I need real stuff,” Dante retorted.
“Shame. You had thirty dollars and purchased crap. That has to last you a week,” I replied.
Dante stared before beginning to laugh. “Good one. You had me going then.”
“Did I? Why do you think I was joking? I meant it. Thirty bucks to feed yourself for a week. Mama Phoe used to feed six of us on that. Why can’t you?”
“Fuck off, Fanatic, you can’t expect me not to eat!” Dante yelled.
Eyes weighed heavily on me, and I knew Dad was watching.
“Dad! You can’t let me starve!” Dad stepped forward, and I held a hand up.
“This is my punishment, Dad; you’ve got no right to interfere,” I warned. Dad paused and then nodded.
“Dante, you bought your food and didn’t think we were serious. Now you know we are. I wonder how long those snacks will sustain you,” I said to Dante.
“You can’t do this!” Dante shrieked and smashed his fist on the table.
“Yes, we can. Motion sensor cameras have been installed, covering the kitchen completely. If you steal food, I shall call the police and have you arrested. And believe me, I will,” I hissed, leaning into him. Dante flinched and tried to figure out a way around this.
“Fanatic.” Mum spoke softly behind me. “Let Dante do what I did.”
Hope flared in Dante. “Yeah, Mom won’t let me go hungry!”
“Won’t I?” Mum asked as I moved aside. “For several years, Dante, I ate out of bins to stave off starvation. My thirty dollars went on my children, buying basic foods to keep them alive and fed. I’m going to give thirty bucks to Eddie, and she’ll go out and buy food for you.
“Now, depending on how spiteful Eddie’s feeling, she could buy shit like you, and you won’t have a solid meal. Or Eddie might show pity and buy meals. It’s up to her. Meanwhile, all scraps will be put on a plate for you to eat. That would save you the indignity of diving down a trash can.”
It was harsh, and I doubted myself. Was I going too far? Short of beating Dante, I’d no idea what else to do. Giving this stuff away hadn’t worked. A week with Drake at the clubhouse hadn’t. Dante had seriously hurt Eddie this time. How did we get through to him? This was beyond drastic.
“But they’ve been eaten by everyone else.”
“At least you’ll be aware, Dante, of several things. One, the food is bacteria-free; two, you know where it comes from; three, those eating it don’t have infectious diseases. That’s far more than I had when I dumpster dived.”
“I don’t believe this,” Dante screamed.
“Get used to your new existence. You should have learned from your father. You didn’t. Welcome to fuckin’ reality, Dante. Be grateful you’ll have clean scraps to eat. Push me, and I’ll make sure you do dumpster dive!”
I looked across at Mum and nodded. Dad was torn but agreed, too.
“You’re also going to work at a food bank for a month. That will teach you the real meaning of hunger,” I added and leaned on his shoulder, forcing him back into his chair. Dante would learn one way or another.