Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
DELPHI
I take over where Kruger left off and continue cleaning up the kid.
“Theo,” he speaks up, making me jump. “My name is Theo.”
I offer him a shaky smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Theo.”
He swallows as I pull my hands away. “I’m sorry about your babies. You’d be a good mom. Seems unfair that I got a shit one when I’d have loved one like you.”
“Do not make me cry.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he jokes.
“Hey, Theo?”
“Yeah?”
“Who hurt you?”
He grits his teeth. “My stepfather.”
“This happen a lot?” I hear Kruger ask from behind me.
“Yeah. I try to stay out of his way, but since he lost his job, it’s harder.”
Kruger reaches out his hand, and it takes me a second to realize it’s for me. I reach for it and let him help me up before he places his hands on my hips and maneuvers me aside.
“You hurt anywhere else?” Kruger asks him.
Theo looks from me to Kruger before getting up with a wince. Slowly, he eases his T-shirt up to reveal ribs that are black and blue. I cover my mouth with a gasp.
He moves to drop the T-shirt, but Kruger stops him. “I need to check them, okay? I need to touch you, though. You okay with that?”
My heart both soars and sinks at that. One, because of the respect Kruger is showing him, but the reasons he might be asking swirl around in my head. Kruger eyes me. “Can you head to the kitchen and see if we have any ice in the freezer?”
I nod and hurry to do what he asks. And we’re in luck.
I find a couple of rows of filled ice cube trays.
I grab a clean kitchen towel and tip the ice into one and head back, slowing my steps when I hear Kruger asking him the question I’m not sure I want to know the answer to.
This is why he asked me to grab ice. Theo might be more comfortable with me in theory, but sometimes you don’t want comfort.
Comfort makes you break. Clinical is easier to deal with.
Nothing but cold, hard facts where emotions aren’t needed.
“Did he touch you in any other way, kid?”
“No. I don’t think he’s into boys. Though if I had a sister, I wouldn’t leave him alone with her for a second. He’s definitely that kind of guy. I’m just the wrong sex.”
“What about his friends?”
“He doesn’t have any friends. He’s an asshole. He’s a drunk and an addict.”
“That doesn’t mean you won’t be useful to him if he comes up short one month. He might not be into boys, but there’ll be plenty of sick fucks out there who are, and they’ll happily take you as payment.”
“You think I don’t know that? He already has my mom hooking on the side to feed their habits.
That’s how I ended up like this. One of her clients was wailing on her.
I tried to pull him off just as Josh came home.
He did this and let the client join in because apparently he paid for the privilege of fucking my mom unconscious.
And I’d messed everything up.” His voice cracks, so I take that moment to walk in.
“I think if these were going to be an issue, you’d be dead already. Not much you can do for busted ribs. I can wrap them, but sometimes that does more harm than good. You’ve gotta take it easy, though.”
“That’s why I came here. I knew it was empty. I didn’t know where else to go and didn’t like my chances on the streets. In this condition, I’d make an easy target.”
“You don’t have anywhere else you can go?” Kruger asks, taking the ice from me and placing it on the worst part of his ribs. Theo hisses but takes over holding it.
“If I did, I wouldn’t be here.”
“You hungry, Theo?”
He looks over at me, his face flushed, and I wonder if it’s from embarrassment and his home situation or from the condition of his body.
“Um…”
“I’ll get a prospect to bring over some food,” Kruger offers.
“Anything you don’t like?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “I’ll eat anything.”
“So what happens now? You gonna patch me up, feed me, and send me back?”
“I’m gonna feed you, and you’re going to tell me about your mom and stepdad so I can do some digging. You’ve been here since you broke in, right?”
His face flushes, but he nods.
“How the fuck did I miss you? I looked up here. Closet?”
“Um…I waited for you to disable the alarm.”
Kruger blinks, then laughs. “You followed me in?”
Theo swallows and nods. “I figured you’d search the place and then give it the all clear and assume kids broke the window.”
“Which I did.”
“I didn’t want to get close to the window because I figured you’d have someone looking at the cameras pointing that way once you realized they were off.”
“You turn them off?”
He shakes his head. “I noticed the lights didn’t blink on them like they did on the others.
The ones on the back entrance don’t work either, but I wasn’t sure if the alarm was wired to the apartment like the shop was.
Anyway, I followed you in and hid downstairs, waiting for you to check the place out.
I heard you on the phone tell someone you were coming back, so I hid upstairs and waited for you to finish, worried you’d decide to crash here for the night. ”
“Lucky for you, I had Delphi at home, or I might have.”
“I’ll pay for the window. I just have to get a job. I got fired from the last one when my mom turned up wasted.”
Kruger waves him off. “We’ll work it out later. Let me figure out the food first. Anything you want in particular?” Kruger looks at me.
“I’m easy, but if you have a prospect coming, a hoodie would be great.”
He winks at me and heads for the door, but I can see the strain around his eyes.
“He didn’t know about Samuel?”
I shake my head at Theo’s question, knowing the only way this kid will trust me is if I’m honest with him. “I used to be married to his friend. He died, but not before doing some really bad things to some good people, and for a while, they blamed me too.”
“People are idiots.”
I smirk because that’s something I say often enough myself. “I know.”
“People think I’m a loser because of who my mom and stepdad are. They’ve already decided exactly who I am, which is hilarious because I’m still trying to figure that part out myself.”
“I’ll let you in on a secret, kiddo, I’m still trying to figure that shit out, and I’m thirty.”
He grins before wincing when his lip pulls. He looks toward the door. “Any idea which way this is gonna go? I recognize the patch on his back. I know he’s a Raven Soul. I just don’t know if that’s a good thing for me or not.”
“Depends. You have any ill intent toward any of them?”
“My stepdad wanted to prospect for them a few years ago, but they said no. He didn’t have what it took. I figure if they could tell that even back then, when he hid it better, then they must be smart at least.”
“They are. Doesn’t mean they don’t mess up and make dumb choices sometimes. But then we all do that, don’t we?”
“I guess.”
I lean closer to him. “Maybe don’t mention the gun. I‘ll keep hold of it for now. You got ammo?”
“In my backpack.”
“I’ll want that too. Where did you get it?”
“My stepdad’s. It’s registered to him, but I know he won’t report it missing any more than he’ll report me gone because that would mean talking to the cops.”
“What about your mom?”
“She’ll only notice me missing when she runs out of food or realizes there is nobody around to redirect Josh’s anger.”
“I outta knock some sense into the woman.”
“She’s not worth it.” He sighs, his shoulders dropping.
“Maybe not, but you are.”
Once food arrives, along with a Raven Souls hoodie, which I roll my eyes at, we all move to the sofas to eat. I figure that has to be more comfortable than sitting at the table, given Theo’s ribs.
None of us speaks as we eat our burgers. I keep my eyes on Theo, who digs in with gusto, telling me that it’s been far too long since he’s eaten real food.
Once we’re all done, I clean up the mess and head back to the sofa as Kruger starts grilling him for information.
“Josh Milton?” Why do I know that name?
“You said he wanted to be a prospect, right? But the Ravens said no. Maybe that’s what it is.”
“He wanted to prospect for Ravens?”
Theo nods as Kruger pulls out his cellphone. “G must have done some digging on him. He digs shit on everyone. Hell, he even has a file on the fucking mailman.”
While he fires off a text, I hand Theo a bottle of water. “Do you need any painkillers? I’ve got some in the truck.”
“I got some over-the-counter stuff. I don’t want to take anything stronger. Living with addicts makes it really hard to take anything that might become addictive.”
“I get that. Your mom…was she…did she take drugs when she was pregnant with you?”
“No. From what my nana said before she died, my mom slipped and fell when I was about three. She was carrying me and unable to put her hands down to save herself. She hit the curb funny, broke her pelvis, and fractured her hip. That’s how it started.
She was on oxy and she got addicted. Found a doctor who would write her a script for it if she slept with him.
But after a couple of years, his wife found out and the doctor got fired.
After that, she moved on to other shit—coke, molly, h.
Every day I come home, I expect to find her dead.
She met Josh at an AA meeting. Can you believe that?
They met at the meeting, then went to score together afterward. ”
He rubs his jaw, looking far more tired than a kid his age should ever look.
“Nana said she used to be a good mom, used to think I was her whole world, and then her world shrank down to the size of a metal spoon. I don’t remember her loving me.
I only know the version that blames me for everything. ”
“It’s always easier to blame someone else than look in the mirror. Trust me, kid, I’m speaking from experience,” Kruger adds, his eyes moving to mine. Something tells me we’re not just talking about Theo anymore.
“Some people change, some don’t, some fuck up over and over again before it sticks. We’re humans. None of us is infallible, but none of us is blameless either, especially when it comes to our own downfall.”
“You think she can change?” Theo asks Kruger.
Kruger’s eyes leave mine before locking on Theo’s—a kid who, despite everything, still loves his mom.
“No. Maybe before your stepdad got his claws in her. But now. I’m not sure if she did get clean, she’d be able to live with what she allowed to happen while she was under the influence. That’s the fucking kicker.”
“So what the hell am I supposed to do? Wait for her to die, and fight off rapists, hoping to become of age before I’m thrown in the system, which isn’t built for teenage boys with baggage like mine?”
“I mean, Ravens are always looking for prospects. Wouldn’t that be the ultimate fuck you to your stepdad—flying high where he failed?”
“That’s still years away.” He sighs, his fingers twitching. But I can see the excitement in his eyes, and it makes me feel a little sick. I lock it down, though. That’s my issue with the club, not his.
“How old are you, Theo? And don’t lie.”
“Fifteen.”
“Jesus, this is gonna bite me in the ass, I just fucking know it,” Kruger mutters, making us both look at him.
“Give me a couple of days to figure something out. I’ll have a prospect come stock the fridge and hang out with you for a bit.
Con can bring the PlayStation or something.
We’ll figure it out, but I can’t do anything without talking to my president. ”
“You think he’ll help me?”
“I think he’ll have to, or Delphi will likely kidnap you and do a runner. And I don’t want to be chasing you guys across the fucking country.”
I grin and shrug when Theo looks at me. What can I say? Kruger knows me too well.