Chapter 34
Before I can fling the door to the flower shop open, Chase’s small hand on my arm stops me in my tracks. I quickly turn, giving him my full attention before I bust into this goddamn store and raise hell.
“What’s up, kid?”
“I c-can’t t-talk to them,” Chase whispers, looking down at his shoes.
“I’m the one doing the talking. You stand behind me. That’s your job, okay?”
Chase jumps when we both hear glass shattering inside. I can only assume—hope—it’s just a vase.
“Behind me, got it?” I confirm.
Chase nods in answer.
I whip the door open and enter, Chase close by on my heels.
My eyes search the room, clocking every bit of movement.
Hunter stands on the counter, a large green vase raised in his right hand.
Mary Jane stands with horror-stricken eyes in the doorway leading to their back room, and Ron is attempting to walk over the broken glass of a different vase towards Hunter with his hands raised in surrender.
“Hunter, please put the vase down. Let’s have a conversation,” Ron tries to calmly coax Hunter down from his spiral.
“Oh, I’ll put it down alright. On your fucking head,” Hunter snaps, raising the vase just a little higher.
“Hold on a sec, Hunter,” I call.
Ron’s eyes dart to mine when he notices my presence.
“Long time, no talk, Mr. Stiles.”
“This doesn’t concern you,” Daisy’s father responds.
“Seeing as I’m the only thing standing between you and a head full of glass, I’d say it might concern me.
Just a little.” I pinch my fingers together, mocking Ronald Stiles’s current predicament.
If it wasn’t at the expense of three people I care deeply about, this would be a hell of a lot more fun to mess with him.
“You’ve done enough!” Mary Jane yells.
“Did you know?” Hunter asks. And even though he hasn’t turned to look at me, I know who the question is directed at.
“Yeah,” I confirm, and Hunter finally turns his head in my direction.
“Believe me, Hunter. I’d love to see what damage you could do right now.
And I’d think they’d deserve it. But you don’t deserve to live with the consequences of the aftermath.
Daisy wouldn’t want that for either of you boys.
Everything she’s ever done is to protect you. Don’t let it be for nothing.”
“So what?” Hunter scoffs. “I’m just supposed to pretend my parents aren’t monsters? Everything was a lie! My whole life! They protected him!” His hands start to shake along with his voice.
I chance a step towards him, wanting to find a way to calm him down to get us all out of this with as few issues as possible.
“I don’t have the answers.” I let myself go tunnel vision, blocking everyone else in the room out when I focus on Hunter. “Don’t let them win. Daisy never has.”
My hand reaches up, and when I have a good grip, I pull the vase from Hunter’s grasp. The room remains silent. I bend over, gently placing the vase on the ground and then hold my hand back up for Hunter to take.
“You can get down now. I’m here. It’s okay.”
“Don’t speak to my son like you know anything about him,” Mary Jane spits.
I ignore her. I repeat to myself over and over again that letting this escalate further would help no one. If Daisy were here, she’d know exactly what to do. I’m trying to channel that sureness.
Hunter glances at his mother, and then accepts my hand to jump down. He sprints over to Chase, and I gather my thoughts to get us the fuck out of here.
“Listen…” I sigh.
“Leave.” Mr. Stiles cuts me off.
“Planning on it, Ron,” I say, wagging a finger at him.
“What about us?” Hunter asks. I turn and see him with an arm around his brother’s shoulders.
“You’re coming home with me.” I point to the two of them. I don’t miss the wave of relief that washes over the twins.
“Like hell they are,” Mrs. Stiles seethes. As expected.
“My patience is running thin, Mary Jane. The only reason I haven’t lost my goddamn mind on the both of you is because of those boys. I’m just as sick and angry as they are. More, actually. I hate you. You disgust me. You don’t deserve to be parents.”
“And you do?” Mary Jane laughs. “You think we don’t know? She didn’t tell us, of course. Because why would she even need to? It was obvious you’d be her downfall from the start.”
“You know, I don’t know what I deserve. But I’m gonna work every fucking day to earn what I have. What I’ve been given. I’ll love my baby, just like I love Daisy, just like I love these boys. And it’ll always be more than anything you could have ever offered.”
“You can’t just take them.” Mary Jane steps towards her sons with a slight panic in her voice, and they take a step back towards the front door. “They’re children.”
A kidnapping case probably wouldn’t look good when I have a baby on the way, and I don’t trust these motherfuckers to not pull some shit. But I can’t leave Hunter and Chase. I just can’t.
“Call their grandmother,” I offer. “I’ll wait.”
Ron’s head whips to Mary Jane’s with wide eyes. He slowly shakes his head.
“We don’t want to go to Grandma’s,” Hunter says. “We want to go to Gus’s.”
“I’m offering you the chance to make the right choice, for fucking once. Take it, and maybe sort out your shit.” I continue to stare at two of the worst people on the planet.
“Chase?” Mary Jane calls with a shaky voice.
Just when I think Chase will ignore her, his voice is heard clear as day through the flower shop.
“No.”
Mr. and Mrs. Stiles gasp. Hunter breathes a not-so-subtle “What the fuck?”
I look at Chase with nothing but absolute pride in my eyes and then direct my attention back to the losers in front of me.
“They know the truth now. I can’t mediate this, though.
This situation probably—actually, definitely—requires professional help.
And I’m not convinced you’d be willing to do that.
I need Hunter and Chase safe. I know they’re safe with me.
I’ve never asked you for anything, and I can’t imagine a day where I’d need to do it again, but right now, I’m asking you to let them come home with me. ”
“We’re going either way,” Hunter adds.
I raise a brow at him. He mouths an apology while Ron and Mary Jane discuss their options in hushed tones.
It feels like hours pass, even though I know it’s only been maybe three minutes tops when Ron blows through the back door, leaving Mary Jane standing there with tears in her eyes.
It’s a sad sight. Not enough for me to feel bad though. “So, we’re good?”
Mary Jane tries to reach out to her sons, and they again back away even further. “Chase…you…you spoke.” She’s clearly still in shock.
Hunter angles his body in front of his brother.
“You don’t get to talk to him. To either of us. Daisy, too.”
Mary Jane nods. There’s a battle raging inside of her. I don’t know what the outcome will be. It’s most likely too little, too late. But she’ll figure that out either way on her own.
“Be good, boys.” She follows in her husband’s footsteps out through the back, just as she has for years now.
It’s not until we hear the sound of a car starting and driving away that any of us makes a move. Shocker to no one, it’s Hunter who breaks the silence.
“Since when can you talk?” Hunter looks to Chase, completely taken aback by this new development.
“Y-you wouldn’t g-get it.” Chase shrugs.
The hurt that flashes across Hunter’s face is hard to miss, but he tries to suppress it anyway.
“Well, okay. But could you maybe try to explain it to me?”
I clap a hand on each of their shoulders. “Plenty of time for that, but not right now. Let’s go get you some of your stuff packed, and we’ll drop it off at my place before heading to Beth’s.”
“Why are we going to Beth’s?” Hunter asks.
“She knows a thing or two about taking misfits like you in.” I ruffle the black hair that matches Daisy’s on the top of his head. “Let’s get a move on.”
“I had a whole scolding speech planned for you, you know,” Beth says over her steaming cup of tea. She’s sitting at the table I have tucked against the wall of windows that overlooks the backyard. The last person to occupy that spot was Daisy, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss that view.
“By all means, you’re more than welcome to still dish it out.” I chuckle, leaning against the counter after finishing the dishes.
Hunter and Chase are finally passed out in the spare room upstairs. Tomorrow I have to finagle another bed in there and maybe another dresser. It’ll all come together, I’m sure.
“No sense in doing that when you turn your shit around and save the day all on your own. I’m proud of you, my boy. I’m so fucking proud.”
“I don’t think I’m deserving of that yet,” I admit. “If you haven’t noticed, I have two of the three Stiles in my care. I’m missing arguably the most important one.”
“Baby steps, Gus. Besides, you’ve never truly lost her. She’ll be back.”
“She might not be,” I argue.
“For you and those boys? Always. It’s not really up for debate.”
“Have you…talked to her? Is she okay?” I ask hesitantly.
Beth sighs and places her tea cup on the table. “Oh, August. You asked me this once before, and it broke my heart the same way it is now.”
My mind pulls the memory from the back of my brain against my will.
The tightness of the handcuffs are pinching the skin of my wrists raw and the air of this little room is so fucking stuffy I feel like I’m choking.
I fucked up big time, and I’m pretty sure there’s no one coming to save me.
Not that I’d deserve it.
I’m sure Beth is throwing my shit out on her front lawn right this very moment, happy to have a reason to be rid of me. I’m sure Daisy is thanking every star in the sky she didn’t seek me out tonight, looking for romance when all I can offer is destruction.
I’m not sorry though. I’ll never be sorry.
They can lock me up for life, take away every good thing I ever had, and I’d still never apologize for beating that piece of shit up. Matter of fact, I don’t care if he even pulls through.