Chapter 3
CHAPTER
THREE
LOOT
Standing in the middle of my ex’s apartment—or whatever the fuck she is—makes me want to throw shit and burn the house to the fucking ground. I might just do that after today. I haven’t decided yet.
“And when did she leave?” I demand, trying not to sound too pissed off so that I don’t scare my son.
Cade clears his throat. It surprises me. It’s such a man-type sound that comes from his throat. Tipping my chin down slightly, I look down into his eyes and snap my brows together as I look at him, waiting for him to answer me.
There is a moment of silence.
Then he clears his throat again, wasting time or trying to buy some time as he thinks of how to answer me. I watch as he shifts from foot to foot, and I say nothing. My gaze stays focused on him, waiting for the answer.
“Two weeks ago.”
His words rock me to my fucking core.
He knows better than to be alone for that long without calling me.
Hell, a day is too fucking long. I start to tell him that, but he continues, so I snap my lips shut and listen to him.
I don’t just listen. I absorb every fucking word he has to say because I cannot believe what he’s actually telling me.
“And you didn’t call me?” I ask.
He shrugs a shoulder. His gaze flicks from mine to the floor. He becomes very interested in his shoes. It should upset me, and it does, but not in the way most people would think.
It pisses me off because I never want him to think he can’t look me in the eyes when he talks to me. He’s embarrassed, but not for himself. He’s embarrassed by his mother. And that pisses me off for a completely different reason. That bitch should never fucking embarrass our son.
She’s worthless, and I fucking hate her all over again. As if I didn’t hate her enough, she had to go ahead and give me even more reason to. If nothing else, Destinee loves to give me even more reasons to think she’s a bigger piece of shit.
I didn’t think it was possible. I was pretty much resigned to believe that Destinee was the biggest piece of shit to walk the earth, but she’s outdone herself this time. Sliding my tongue along my bottom lip, I think about what to do next.
I don’t know.
And that’s the fucker of it. Because I’ve tried to stay out of the courts, knowing that Destinee looks a hell of a lot better than me on paper, even if she’s not. Because Destinee is a piece of shit.
“I thought she would be back. I went next door when I ran out of food.”
I bristle at his words. Anger flows through my veins. I cannot believe that this shit is real, that this is actually fucking happening. Destinee walked away and didn’t look back. She’s been gone for weeks, and my own kid didn’t call me until he ran out of food.
“How have you been getting to school?” I try to keep from growling.
He presses his lips together in a thin line, then shifts his eyes from mine to his feet before he slowly lifts them back to meet my own. In the silence, something passes between us, but I have no idea what it is.
All I know is that Cade is my son and he’s hurting.
Destinee is the one who hurt him, which means she’s the fucking problem.
“The bus comes to the house,” he murmurs.
“We’re done with this shit,” I growl.
I do the one thing that I know in any other circumstance I would avoid like the fucking plague.
I call the police.
I tell the dispatcher the issue and wait for her response.
When she tells me that they’ll be here soon, I look around, my gaze finding the kitchen, and decide that I’m not going in there to inspect the space. It’s just going to piss me off even more.
I’ll order something to eat while we wait for the cops to show up. “Cade,” I call out.
He lifts his head almost instantly. He seems to be standing at attention as he waits for whatever I’m going to say next. I don’t like that. My son and I are easy. We have a chill relationship with one another, and this, this is not chill. Not in the fucking slightest.
“Pizza or burgers?” I ask.
He swallows, then his eyes search mine, watering almost instantly. “Cade,” I call out softly. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
Reaching out, I wrap my arms around him, bringing his little body against mine. He buries his face against my chest, and I feel him trembling, wondering just how the fuck this bitch could walk away from him.
How anyone could look at Cade and decide that he wasn’t worth everything. I would kill for him. I would fight for him. I would burn the goddamn world down for him. And this bitch just walked away.
“I promise, Cade. It’s all going to be okay.”
I’m not sure it’s a promise I can keep, but I’m going to die trying.
“Pizza, please,” he murmurs.
Pizza it is.
Fuck me, but I would buy him pizza every day of his life if I could. And hell, maybe I will. He deserves it. The mother I gave him, the life I’ve allowed him to live—he deserves so much fucking more. A pizza is the least I can do.