Finally (Neighbor from Hell #12) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,90
make a Mother’s Day gift for my mommy!” he yelled, knowing that he was going to be in trouble, but he didn’t care.
He had a mommy and he was going to make her a Mother’s Day gift.
“Dustin, maybe we should-”
“I have a mommy!”
“Shhh, it’s okay,” Mrs. Greer said as she reached for him.
“I have a mommy!” he screamed as he placed his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, terrified that she was going to tell him that he didn’t have a mother one more time.
Chapter 41
“I don’t want to fucking talk about it,” Devin said as soon as T.J. opened his mouth.
“Fair enough,” his best friend said as Devin grabbed a board and-
“Fuck!” he roared as he threw the board across the room, slamming it into the wall as he clenched his hands into fists, struggling against the urge to put his fist through the wall.
“So…are we still not talking about it?” T.J. murmured, looking thoughtful as Devin grabbed onto the edge of his workbench and slowly exhaled.
“Leave me the fuck alone,” Devin said, glaring down at the scarred surface as he tried to get the image of Charlie’s smile dying when she realized that they were never going to have children out of his head.
He should have told her sooner. He should have made sure that she knew what he wanted before he-
“Hey, asshole,” came the greeting that had him turning around and-
Slamming back against his workbench when Ben decked him. Before he realized what was happening, Ben swung again, knocking him on his ass.
“What the hell is your problem?” T.J. yelled, grabbing hold of Ben and trying to drag him back, but the man who normally wore a carefree smile wasn’t done yet.
He grabbed Devin by the shirt, dragged him to his feet, and-
“Son of a bitch!” Ben snapped when Devin returned the favor and decked him, splitting his lip.
“You only get one,” Devin said, wiping the blood off his chin.
“And if you ever make her cry again, I will fucking kill you, do you hear me?” Ben said, getting in his face.
“You have no idea what happened, so I suggest that you get out of my face right now,” Devin bit out.
“I never should have let you near her,” Ben said evenly, but he didn’t move.
“No, you shouldn’t have,” Devin said, because at least they could agree on one thing, he thought as he shoved Ben out of his way and headed for the door, more than fucking done with this day when Ben’s next words stopped him.
“She doesn’t cry anymore, does she?”
“What?” Devin asked as he slowly turned around.
“She doesn’t cry in her sleep anymore, does she?” Ben repeated, wiping the blood of his chin.
“No, she doesn’t,” he found himself saying as he tried to remember the last time that the kids came running into his bedroom because Charlie was crying in her sleep and wouldn’t stop.
“It’s because she feels safe,” Ben said, helping himself to a rag off the bench to wipe the blood off his hand. “It took us a while to figure out, but we realized that Charlie only cried in her sleep when she thought something bad was going to happen. When her grandfather had another heart attack and had to stop visiting, she cried for months, terrified that something was going to happen to him. The same thing happened whenever social services came by and told her that they were still looking for a nice family that would take her away from us.”
“She did the same thing when Grandma Bea started getting sick. She was terrified of losing her. I used to have to sneak into her room at night and hold her because nothing else worked. She’d cry until even that was too much and then she’d simply lay in my arms trembling. She’s terrified of losing the people that she loves and do you know why?”
Grinding his jaw, Devin shook his head once, not sure that he wanted to hear this.
“Do you know what happened to her mother?” Ben asked, tossing the rag in the trash as Devin stood there feeling sick to his stomach.
“She doesn’t know,” Devin said.
“She doesn’t remember, which is for the best.” Ben said, sighing heavily as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“What happened to her mother?” Devin asked.
“She tried to kill Charlie,” Ben said, shaking his head in disgust as all the air in Devin’s lungs left him in a rush.
“Holy shit…” T.J. said, looking like he was going to