Chapter 26 Blake
BLAKE
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I whispered as we walked out to the truck.
“I can hear you guys,” Wesley muttered.
Parker looked over his shoulder, then back to me. “It’s the only way to keep him out of juvie.”
“Just send me there. It’s not like it fucking matters,” Wesley grumbled, getting into the back of the truck.
I didn’t like the idea of him going to juvie, but I also wasn’t so sure about him working with John Callahan when he had an obvious hatred for anyone in the Parker family.
Climbing into the truck, I turned in my seat and glared at the kid now living under my roof.
“Look, we’re trying to help you, and if you have to go work at The General Store, then that’s what you’ll do.
I don’t think you realize the kind of people you’d meet in juvie.
It would make your current life look like you were living with royalty. ”
“Whatever,” he muttered, rolling his eyes at me.
Grabbing his headphones, he slipped them over his ears and tuned me out. As I turned back in my seat, I wondered if he had purchased those headphones or stolen them. Somehow, I didn’t picture his parents buying them for him.
“How are we gonna keep this kid out of trouble?” I hissed. “It’s like he wants to piss everyone off.”
“Because he does,” Parker retorted. His eyes flicked in the rearview mirror at Wesley. “His parents didn’t give a shit. So, he’s testing his boundaries. Seeing what he can get away with.”
I was beginning to have serious doubts about taking him home, and it had only been one day. I wanted to help the kid, but what did I really know about children? I was pregnant for the first time, and I didn’t even know how I was going to handle a baby.
How was I going to deal with an emotionally deficient teenager?
“Look, he’s got the job, and maybe that’ll help with his attitude.”
“Sure, keep thinking that,” Wesley snorted from the backseat.
Clearly, he was paying attention more than we thought. Spinning in my seat, I faced my new ward. “Listen, there is so much more that you could do with your life. The path that you’re on right now? You’re gonna end up in jail for the rest of your life. Is that really what you want?”
“Is this where you hold my hand, and we all sing Kumbaya?”
Man, the attitude of this kid…and how did he even know the song Kumbaya. Wasn’t that something you learned in Girl Scouts?
“I suppose living in an eight-by-eight cell is preferable to having a little freedom. Trust me, jail is not all it’s cracked up to be.”
“And you would know so much about it?” he scoffed.
“Well, yeah. I worked for the FBI,” I snapped.
His eyes lit slightly at that. “The FBI. Seriously?”
“Yeah. Really. And it was my job to put away criminals.”
“So, you know all about what the sentences are for crimes and shit.”
“Yeah, I do. Which is why I’m telling you that if you don’t change your attitude, there’s not a single judge in the world who would keep your ass out of jail.”
“Whatever. You’re former FBI. You can take care of it.”
I sat there, stunned by his flippant attitude. “That’s what you got from this?”
“You have connections. I’m not worried about it,” he shrugged.
“Those connections won’t mean a damn thing if you don’t shape up.”
The kid actually laughed at me. “You saved me from dear old Mom and Dad. You won’t let me end up in jail.”
I was gonna reach into the back seat and strangle this kid. Seriously, I had only known him a few days and I was already looking at doing hard time because of him.
“Maybe you won’t end up in jail, but you’ll sure as shit end up in the military if you don’t shape the fuck up,” Parker snapped.
“You can’t make me join the military.”
“No, but I can enroll you in boot camp for kids,” Parker threatened. “With your attitude, your drill sergeant will have a field day with you.”
“I’ll run away.”
“And end up where?” I asked. “Seriously, you have no one other than us trying to help you. Your parents don’t give a shit, kid.
They gave up on you a long time ago. No one else in town is trying to help you, and with all the trouble you’ve been causing, I doubt anyone will step forward to take a chance on you. We’re all you’ve got, kid.”
“Blake—” Parker cut in, but I wasn’t done yet.
“We’re trying to give you a chance, to show you that people won’t let you down if you give them a shot.
But the more you push, the quicker you’re gonna find out just how cold and lonely it is on the outside.
And if you lose us, if you keep pushing us, that’s it.
No one else is coming. No one’s going to save your ass, and you’re gonna end up with the shittiest cellmate in the world.
And let me tell you, the things that happen in prison would make your skin crawl.
So make a fucking decision. Either you’re gonna listen to us and help yourself out, or you can end up in a cell with some guy named Bubba who will make you his bitch. ”
The bored expression on his face didn’t change in the slightest, but there was a hint of fear in his eyes.
Maybe I had gone too far, pushed too hard.
But I didn’t know any other way. I took a chance on this kid, and if I failed him, I wasn’t sure what kind of mother that would make me to my own kid.
He didn’t acknowledge me in any way. His eyes drifted to the window and he put his headphones back over his ears, effectively shutting me out.
“Well, that went well,” I muttered.
“You might have laid it on a little thick.”
Maybe, but I didn’t know another way to handle a situation like this. Growing up without a mother hadn’t exactly given me a soft touch.
“What the hell?” Parker murmured as we pulled down Jeff’s driveway to where our house should have been.
Getting out, Parker marched around the front of the truck and stared at the empty space where our house had been just this morning.
“Hey, guys!” Jeff grinned as he walked out of the house.
Parker scowled at him, his hand pointed at the empty lot. “Where the fuck is my house?”
“Wes! Let’s go!” I shouted, though it really wasn’t necessary in this tiny house. Hell, if I took two steps out of the room, I would be just a few feet from the loft.
I couldn’t wait to have our house back. This tiny house was cute, but way too small for three of us, which became increasingly clear with every day that passed.
It had been a month since our chat in the car. Every day, Wes scowled at me, refusing to say more than two words. He constantly had those headphones on, effectively shutting out the world. But I didn’t say a damn thing because things were better.
Not that he was speaking to me or even acknowledging my presence most days, but he was going to work and school. Parker had forced him to sit down and do his homework, which was half-assed at best, but it was progress.
So, yeah, I was still on the outside where this kid was concerned, but at least he wasn’t in juvie.
Grabbing my boots, I slid them on my feet, groaning when I bent over and my jeans dug just a little too tightly into my growing stomach.
I wasn’t that far along, but my appetite didn’t know that.
I was pretty much eating everything in sight.
My hunger knew no bounds, and even after I was stuffed, Parker would walk through the door with something even more tantalizing.
I was going to be the size of a house.
Parker knocked on the doorframe, grinning at me as I struggled to tie my boots. “Problems?”
“Yes, you keep bringing me food.”
“Because you’re pregnant and you should enjoy this.”
“I won’t enjoy this if I’m too fat to fit in all my clothes.”
“Baby, you could never be too fat.”
Sitting up, I fought the dizziness washing over me and shot him my most sarcastic smile. “You won’t be saying that when I’m too fat for you to fit your dick inside me, even as monstrous as it is.”
“Baby, if you think it’s big on the outside, you should see the other half.”
Grimacing, I stood up, trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about. “You’re saying you have more of that monster than what’s showing?”
Chuckling, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around my waist. “Half my dick is inside my body. Didn’t you know that?”
“No!” I said, smacking his chest as he playfully tugged me closer. “Does it just come and go as it pleases?”
“No, it’s just there.”
“Yeah, just there, waiting to come out for a sneak attack and tear me up!”
“Ew!” Wes yelled from behind Parker, spinning and face-planting right into a closet door. “What the fuck?”
“You okay there, kid?” Parker laughed.
Holding his face, Wes headed for the door. “I was fine until I walked in on that conversation,” he tossed over his shoulder.
“God, we probably traumatized him for life,” I sighed.
“Not for life. Just until he learns how to use his dick.”
Smacking his arm, I turned him around and shoved him toward the door. “If we’re going to get to your parents on time, we need to leave now.”
“My parents can wait. I could always go for a pre-dinner show.”
“One, we have a kid with us. Two, I’m wearing pants that are literally digging into my waist, leaving tight red lines.
There is nothing sexy about that. And three, there is food waiting for me, and if you get in my way, I will literally stab you in the stomach to get to whatever delicious concoction your mother made for me. ”
“Baby, did you think that maybe you should change into something more…stretchy?”
No, I did not think of that because that would be admitting that I could no longer fit in my clothes, and even though I knew this was a natural part of being pregnant, I didn’t want to admit I had gained so much weight so quickly.
“I’ll be fine for the night. Let’s just go. I’m starving.”
“Me, too, baby,” he winked. “Me, too.”