Revealing Annie - Freya Barker Page 0,93
okay? Did she hurt you?”
He reaches for my face but I don’t give him a chance and wrap my arms around him, one of his loosely curves around my back.
“You’re a good kid, Bryce,” I mumble in his shirt.
“I caught Dad at the firehouse. He’s on his way.”
“Seriously good,” I emphasize.
We stand like that for a few minutes until we hear the squeal of tires outside and then a car door slam.
“Dad’s here.”
Sumo
I was about to start dinner for the crew when my phone rings.
“Dad, Mom’s here, she’s outside yelling at Annie. Should I call 911?”
Fucking hell. I knew things had been too easy.
“I’ll call. Stay put, Bryce, I’m on my way.”
“Trouble?” Cap, who’s helping me prep, wants to know.
“His mother’s at my fucking door, facing off with Annie.”
“Go. I’ll call it in.”
When I pull into my driveway, I see a woman I barely recognize banging on the closed door.
“Hey!” I yell out as I jog up the path. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
She swings around and I’m shocked at the destruction years of drug use has left on her once-pretty face. Her pupils are no more than pinpoints, her eyelids heavy and drooping. If I had my guess she’s pumped full of heroin. Jesus.
“I’m picking up my son. That bitch tells me I can’t have him.”
In self-preservation I shove my hands in my pockets, or else I might be tempted to use them on her.
“The woman you’re talking about is my soon-to-be wife, and she lives here, but what the fuck are you doing here, Chanel? I thought I made it clear to you last time not to bother contacting me until you got your ass clean, and I can tell from a distance you’re doped up on something. Heroin, am I right?”
She tries to avoid my eyes as her bottom lip starts to wobble.
“I need help. I have nothing.” Her pitiful whimper should have an effect on me, but it doesn’t. I feel nothing but contempt.
“Wrong. You had everything and you squandered it. For what, Chanel? A quick fix?”
Behind me I hear a vehicle pull up to the curb. A quick glance shows Jay VanDyken getting out.
“You don’t understand,” she whines, but when she catches sight of Jay’s cruiser her tears magically disappear and her mouths draws in a thin line. “You have no right to him,” she hisses at me.
“Everything okay here?” Jay asks, coming up the path.
“He’s taken my son!” she yells, pointing a dramatic finger in my direction.
“Is that a fact?” Is VanDyken’s dry response, just as the door opens and Annie walks out, an envelope in hand.
“It’s not, actually. This is an order granting Kyle custody of his son,” Annie states calmly, holding up the envelope.
I get a glimpse of a red mark on the side of her face.
“Babe, what happened to your cheek?”
“It’s not a big deal,” she says, but I notice Chanel quickly avert her eyes.
I walk up to Annie and lift her chin. There’s swelling that is already starting to push on the corner of her eye.
“Right. Did you ask her to leave?” I ask Annie gently, and she gives me a barely-there nod. Tucking her under my arm I turn to Jay. “I want to file a complaint for trespassing and assault.”
“You can’t do that!” Chanel screams when Jay steps up to her, getting out his handcuffs. I expect Annie to protest, but she’s looking at the other woman with pity in her eyes.
“Chanel, swear to God, you brought this on yourself. For Bryce’s sake, please, get your shit sorted,” I tell her before steering Annie inside.
“Sumo?” Jay calls out, as I’m about to close the door on the mess outside.
“Yeah?”
“Take some pictures of her face, will you? Someone will be by later to get your statements.”
I give him a thumbs-up; shut the door, and turn to find Bryce two feet away, tears in his eyes. Oh fuck. I just had his mother arrested.
“Bryce, I had no choice.”
“I know,” he mumbles, walking straight into my arms.
I hold him tight, glancing over his shoulder at Annie. The soft smile she sends me melts any lingering anger away like snow for the sun.
Reluctantly I let Bryce go.
“She didn’t even recognize her,” he points out.
“What?”
He turns his tear-streaked face to me. “Mom, she didn’t even recognize Annie. She watched that show for as long as I can remember. She was messed up, wasn’t she?”
“Yeah, Son. She was.”
It kills me to see the hurt in his face, but he’s already seen