Chapter 23 #2
Clementine grumbled, throwing him and Taylor a filthy look before turning towards the stairs. Papa chuckled, patting them on their shoulders. “You boys are going to be the death of me and Maman.” With that he shook his head and plodded towards the kitchen.
They kicked off their trainers, eyes sliding to one another as the kids’ voices and Papa’s laughter drifted in from the kitchen. Taylor’s Adam’s apple bobbed, his eyes dropping to Johnny’s bandaged arm.
“Hey,” Johnny said, pressing a thumb under Taylor’s chin. “Eyes up here.”
“Is this weird?” Taylor mumbled. “In the pack house, I mean. Will the kids find it weird?”
Johnny pressed his fingertips to Taylor’s sternum, feeling the rapid beat of his heart.
“Probably. We need to be careful, break it to them gradually. I think…” He slid a hand around Taylor’s neck, running his thumb over his mating gland.
“I think we should act normal for now. Speak to Maman about how to handle it. It might freak them out.”
Taylor dropped his head, stepping closer. “What is normal, JP? I can’t look at you? Can’t touch you? I can’t even fucking think straight anymore.”
Grinning, Johnny patted Taylor’s cheek. “You can do those things, just a normal amount.”
Taylor pushed out his lip and pouted, and if that one look didn’t make Johnny want to kiss his entire face. “Stop it,” he whispered, smiling as he ran his fingers along Taylor’s bottom lip. “We’ll figure it out.”
There was a creak on the stairs, making them slide away from one another like a pair of opposing magnets. Johnny licked his top lip. “Act natural.”
Taylor pretended to line the kids’ shoes up, huffing as he shoved them onto the shoe rack. “You act natural.”
Breakfast was about as enjoyable as a hostage negotiation because every time William opened his mouth, one of the girls snarled.
Every time someone tried to ask him a question, they launched blueberries over the table.
By the time the plates were being loaded into the dishwasher, Johnny had a pile of fruit in his lap and a very concerned looking Marty clutching his T-shirt.
“They’re gonna kill him,” Marty whispered, rubbing his face along Johnny’s bicep. “I wanna show him the basketball hoop but I don’t think they’ll let me.”
Johnny hummed, dropping his head to his brother’s ear. “I’ll see if Tay can take them into the woods for a bit. But… are you okay with all of this, frérot?”
He gestured to where William and Taylor stood at the sink. Taylor was wearing Maman’s pink marigolds whilst William dried up with a Minions tea towel. Shrugging, Marty wheedled his way under Johnny’s arm until he was sitting on his lap. “It’ll be nice having another boy around, I guess.”
Johnny sighed, resting his cheek on Marty’s head. “I don’t think he’ll be here for long. His social worker’s coming later.”
“What’s a social worker?”
Johnny smiled, kissing his brother’s hair. “Something you’ll never need to worry about.”
Marty’s gaze shifted to Johnny’s bandage as he drummed his fingers across the white gauze. “Can I sign your cast? Teddy at school broke his wrist and everyone wrote on it.”
Johnny winced, trying not to show how much his arm ached. “Sorry, it’s not a cast, just a bandage. It’s probably coming off after my check-up.”
“Aw! What did you do, anyway? Mama said you fell but I bet you were fighting off bad guys.”
Johnny hugged him tight. “Maybe I fell fighting off bad guys. Tripped over my cape.” His eyes flicked to Taylor, not missing the way his shoulders tensed. “Anyway,” he continued, smiling back at Marty, “if I remember correctly, you’re still yet to beat my score on the hoop.”
Chatter moved to how shocking Marty’s aim was when the girls finally reappeared in the kitchen.
They were dressed in what could only be described as ‘battle gear.’ Clementine’s braids were pulled into a severe ponytail, and she’d smudged kohl around her eyes.
Gabriella had scraped her afro up at the sides so it was piled on top of her head like a mohawk.
Both had chains swinging from ripped denim shorts, making them look like they were in an emo biker gang.
Johnny pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh. “Wow, how intimidating,” he said, shooting Taylor a sideways glance.
“You may as well take it all off again,” Taylor said, squeezing the suds out of the dish sponge. “We’re going for a run, Just the three of us.”
Gabriella gave William a filthy look. “No, we’re not. We’re staying here.”
“Are you?” Johnny replied, sliding Marty off his lap and walking over to the sink. He hooked a finger under one of Taylor’s Marigold’s, pulling it off and dropping it into the water. Bubbles rose to the surface, and he smirked as he watched the glove fill up. Maman was going to kill him for that.
“If that’s the case I guess you’d better grab a mop, because according to the chore chart you still need to wash the floor.”
Taylor snorted and Marty squealed just as Johnny pulled the glove from the sink and launched it at his sisters. They screamed, throwing up their hands a fraction too late as it bounced off Gabriella’s head and into Clementine’s face.
William slapped a hand over his mouth, backing into the corner of the kitchen.
“What was that for?” Clementine cried, pulling off her glasses.
Gabriella only snarled as she frantically tried to pile her hair back up.
“It was a lesson in kindness,” Johnny said, planting his hands on his hips. “Now get changed because you’re going for a run.”
Maman was not impressed by the mess in the kitchen, and she made Johnny clean up, despite his bandaged arm.
Afterwards, he got roped in to keep score over William and Marty’s hoop shooting contest. Not that he minded lounging on the patio whilst sipping iced tea, but the sun was already hotter than Satan’s arsehole, and the humidity was through the roof.
“It’s seven to ten,” he said, a bead of sweat rolling down his temple as he tapped a pencil across the top of one of Gabriella’s old sketch pads. “Although I’m not convinced that last one counted, seeing as it bounced off Chop’s head.”
The pig in question had somehow escaped out of its pen and had made a beeline for Papa’s sunflowers. Johnny had just got comfortable again in their tatty old deckchair when he heard the doorbell ring.
Ah.
Shit.
He’d almost forgotten Kat was coming over, and Taylor was still out with the girls.
Johnny rose from the chair, trying to keep his expression even as William shot him a worried look. “I’ll be right back,” he said, scratching the back of his head with the corner of the notepad as he made his way into the house.
Maman was there, tea tray in hand after uncharacteristically deciding to take the morning off. Gripping the door handle, his heart sank when he saw not only Kat, but a woman with straggly waist-length hair and a face covered in scabs.
William gasped from the back door.
“Mum!” he cried, throwing himself across the living room and into the woman’s arms. “Mum! Oh, Mum, I’ve missed you, I’ve missed—” William’s words turned into muffled sobs as he clung to Janine Manders like a life raft.
Kat gave Johnny a sorry look as she shuffled inside. “Afternoon,” she said, giving Maman a quiet nod and following her into the kitchen. Johnny hovered in the living room, awkwardly watching as William and his mother embraced in the doorway.
“Er… come in,” he said, opening the door wider until they both shuffled in. Janine looked up at him nervously as they passed.
Maman poured everyone tea before sidling alongside Johnny in the corner of the kitchen. “Do you want us to give you some privacy?” she said softly, giving Janine a sympathetic smile as she, William and Kat sat around the table.
Kat shook her head. “It’s okay, we’ve already spoken about what’s going to happen, haven’t we, Mrs Manders?”
William looked up at his mum with wide, hopeful eyes, whereas Johnny’s only narrowed. “What have you gotten yourself into?” he said, jaw tightening as he stared down at Maman.
Maman rubbed the back of her neck, before giving him a tight smile. “Nothing you wouldn’t have agreed to yourself in five years’ time.”
“Mama… for the love of God,” he sighed, pressing the heel of his palm against his eye.
“Will,” Kat began, clearing her throat and drawing out a thin stack of papers from her bag. “As you know, your mum hasn’t been in a good place recently, isn’t that right, Mrs Manders?”
Janine dropped her head and began picking at a scab on her arm.
She looked gaunt, like a ghost living inside a hollowed-out husk.
Not that he could blame her after putting up with someone like Aden fucking Manders for so many years, but it looked like her drug use had gotten a lot worse.
Her hands were already shaking, jaw ticking, and Johnny reckoned that in about thirty minutes she was going to be fucking rattling.
“I-I-I-I-I-I—th-that’s right,” she managed, gripping William’s hand. “N-not good, Willy. N-not good.” Her jaw was working overtime as she tried to keep a grip on her own voice.
“But you’ve come to get me, right?” William said, wrapping his arms around her thin body. “It’ll be okay now we’re together, won’t it, Mum? Dad’s away and you’ll come home, won’t you?”
Johnny winced as he watched Janine drop her head again and pick more aggressively at the scabs. “W-Wills… I-it’s not—”
Kat clicked the top of her pen. “Your mum needs help, William.”
Janine’s chin wobbled, then her whole body, and pretty soon the whole stool began to rock. “Y-yes.”
William let out a long, relieved breath. “I can help you, can’t I, silly? Like I always do.”
Maman’s fingers tightened around Johnny’s arm, and he could see that her chin was beginning to quiver too.
Rubbing her hands together, Kat blew into the space between her fingers; a nervous tick Johnny had seen her do a dozen times before.
Oh God, here it comes.
“William, you can’t live with your mum at the moment.”