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“What if he’d found you? He’s not even four. He shouldn’t have to see that shit. They could take him away…”
“No one is taking my baby away from me. I told you, I fell. It was silly of me. Shaun said—”
“You think I want to hear about the jerk who did this to you? You think I like finding my mom trashed out of her face and bleeding out on her pillow?” Her face paled, but I couldn’t stop. “You need help. If you can’t do it for yourself, then do it for your child. He deserves better.”
“Evan, I…” Her voice quivered. “I’m trying. I am.”
“Try harder.” I walked away, leaving her standing there next to the pot of boiling spaghetti. We’d had this conversation too many times over the past couple of years, but it was always the same. She’d promise to change, but then fall into her old habits before the week was over. It didn’t help that the only family she had to turn to were rotten to the core.
Inside my room, I leaned my head back against the door, giving myself two minutes before life resumed. It hadn’t always been this way. Before Eli was born, things were normal for the most part. Mom adored my father, and he treated her right. Sure, they had their disagreements like any couple—mainly about Mom’s family—but we did regular things together. The year Eli was born, I turned fourteen. I gained a brother and lost my father. He hadn’t wanted Mom to keep the baby and made that obvious during the entire pregnancy. And, for a while, I resented the life growing inside her because he was ruining everything. But the day they brought Eli home and placed him in my arms, none of it mattered. Not the constant arguments or the nights I spent listening to Mom cry through my bedroom door. Because Eli was an innocent baby, and he deserved better.
When Dad finally left, I felt he’d did us all a favor. I’d thought we could move on with our lives, just the three of us. But it didn’t happen that way, and by the time Eli turned one, Mom was barely functioning.
The slamming of the front door pulled me from my thoughts, and a familiar voice filled the house. “Mom, Ev, I’m home.”
My door handle rattled, and I turned to open it. “Did you have fun?”
“I missed you.” Eli threw his arms around my waist and squeezed.
I ruffled his hair and said, “I missed you too, bud.”
“Mom said we’re going to Auntie Elaina’s.”
My blood turned cold. “She did, huh?”
“Will you come, pretty please?”
Mom appeared in the doorway and met my eyes. “I thought you could drive us.”
Of course, she did.
“Fine,” I ground out, the word almost choking me.
Eli cheered and disappeared out of the room in search of his backpack, and Mom stepped closer. “Would it really hurt you to make a little more effort with them? After everything they do for us.”
I smashed my lips together to avoid saying something I would regret. She only saw a free meal ticket and the parties.
And while they might have been her family, they sure as shit weren’t mine.
* * *
“Ellen, what the hell happened?” Elaina held my mother by her shoulders, inspecting her face. “Darryl, get out here and look at this.”
“Oh, stop, it’s nothing. I’m fine.”
“It doesn’t look like nothing.” Elaina shot me a look over Mom’s shoulder, and I glared back. What the fuck did she want me to say? She knew how much Mom liked to go out with guys who enjoyed knocking around the women on their arm as much as they enjoyed a drink.
“Mommy fell down,” Eli added. “She’s always falling down like me. We’re so clumsys.”
“Ellen, that’s—”
“Keep it down, woman.” Darryl stomped into the hallway, his wifebeater dirtied with grease. “Kids,” he addressed Eli and me and then leaned over his wife’s shoulder to get a better look at my mom’s face. “Jesus, Ellen, who do I need to beat the shit out of now?”
“Come on, buddy.” I tugged on Eli’s hand. He didn’t need to be around this. “Let’s go find Rocky.”
Eli ran off in the direction of the yard, the most likely hideout for their Rottweiler, and I followed. Darryl’s house was a big two-story on a corner plot with a six-foot fence around the perimeter. It made our one-story house look like a small apartment. But what it made up for in size, it lacked in condition. The spare room had been turned into an extension of the automotive shop Darryl ran out of his double garage, and it wasn’t unusual to find a trail of motor oil in the kitchen. Outside was no better. Half of the large yard was full of chopped up motors and engine parts while the other half was the dog’s territory. It was there I found Eli throwing the ball for an eager Rocky.
The dog was huge and had a bark that would make most grown men piss themselves, but he was great with Eli. Patient and careful, he was more than happy to play fetch or follow Eli around while he explored the unruly patch of grass at the back of the yard.
