Revealing Annie - Freya Barker Page 0,69
Momma needs you to look after her, honey, like you used to. Do you think you can get some money off your…”
“Not another fucking word, Chanel,” Kyle suddenly barks. “Not a word, and not a goddamn penny. How dare you put that on my son? He’s fourteen years old and you put responsibility for your fucked-up choices on his shoulders?”
“You mean my son, you’ve barely known him a couple of weeks!” I hear her screech before Kyle snatches up the phone and takes it off speaker.
I quickly move to Bryce’s side, putting an arm around the frozen kid.
“Listen, and listen carefully.” Kyle’s eyes are on his son as he carefully enunciates his words. “Didn’t take more than the first glimpse of his eyes to know with every fiber of my being, I’d fucking move heaven and earth for my son. And if that means protecting him from his mother, so be it. You’re a parent, goddammit, you’re supposed to be the one looking after him, not the other way around.”
His eyes, burning with intensity, haven’t wavered from Bryce’s face, and I feel the boy’s body start to shake.
“Try me,” he says in a deathly calm voice. “Call me again when you get yourself clean and I’ll be willing talk, but you threaten me and you’ll find out the lengths to which I’ll go for the sake of my child.”
Bryce slips out of my hold and runs up the stairs, even as his father ends the call. A door slams upstairs and Kyle makes a move to go after him, but I hold him back.
“First a cool head,” I insist. “And let’s give him a minute to process. That was a lot for him to take.”
He rubs both hands over his head, and I don’t have the heart to tell him he’s leaving blobs of dough behind.
“She’s not to be believed,” he growls.
“I know. I feel murderous myself, and I’m not even his parent.”
“Fourteen years of that and I wasn’t even aware he existed.” His voice cracks and I slip my arms around his waist.
“He had a grandmother who made him monkey bread,” I offer. “And in the past few minutes you’ve given him the kind of parent he deserves. It’ll be enough.”
I feel him shake his head against my hair.
“I don’t know.”
I squeeze him and tilt my head back.
“I do.”
Sumo
“Let me go up and talk to him.”
I take in a deep breath and let her steady presence calm the rage I feel.
“Yeah,” I agree. It’s probably better to let her offer that same calm assurance to Bryce before I talk to him.
“In the meantime,” she continues, her blue eyes holding mine. “You should make some phone calls. Find out what it takes to keep your son here.”
“Yeah,” I repeat, but this time with a lump in my throat.
She comes up on her toes and I bend my head to meet her lips. She steps back with a warm smile and then turns to go see about Bryce.
After hearing his mother spew what I’m sure was drug-induced garbage, I’m beyond grateful my son has a good woman who cares about his welfare.
Fuck, I’m in love with her.
I let that sink in for a minute before I turn my attention to my phone. Time to call my captain for some advice.
“Better have a good reason for disrupting my Sunday, Sumo,” he answers after the third ring.
“I need a good lawyer.”
My announcement is met with prolonged silence before he finally responds.
“Your son,” he concludes.
“Got it in one. She’s not getting her hands on him again.”
I tell him what I know and describe the conversation I had with Chanel just now, feeling bolstered by Cap’s sounds of disbelief.
“She did what?”
“She threatened to call the police on me with claims of child molestation if I didn’t send her money,” I repeat. “Not even the slightest concern about how Bryce was doing, but I bet she was worried about her next fix.”
“Got a pen?”
I walk to the whiteboard on the fridge and grab the marker.
“Set.”
He gives me a name and a number.
“That’s my sister-in-law. She’s a goddamn pain in my ass but a killer family lawyer.”
“Good. That’s exactly what I need. I’ll give her a call tomorrow. Thanks, Cap.”
“Call her now. The woman doesn’t have a life; she’ll probably be at her office anyway. You still coming back to work tomorrow?”
I hesitate, wondering if I perhaps should take another few days to weather this crisis, but decide against it. The sooner we get into some kind