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Ethan's reactions, coupled with his line of questions, all added up to the sort of trouble that had Jakob immediately looking around the diner, intent on flagging down their waitress. He was relieved to find her behind the counter by the diner's big coffee machine; even more relieved when she spotted him, setting down the coffeepot in her hands and hurrying over.
"Okay," Ethan said to the mysterious 'Alex' on the other end of the call, his deep voice worried — but resolute. "I could be there in about ten, maybe fifteen minutes. Can you hide that long? Alright — now this is important, so play attention. When I hang up, you're going to call me right back, yeah? I won't pick up, it's gonna go to voicemail. Need you to leave a message with your full name, birthdate, today's date, and everything you just told me, exactly the way you just said it. Then you gotta say you want me to act as your proxy — that bit's key, alright? Okay. Yeah, just hold on and I'll be right there, alright?"
Jakob handed Ruby far too many bills as Ethan turned to him, apology and determination warring equally on his face. "I've got — I've got to go, I'll uh — "
"You'll tell me which car out there is yours and fill me in on the way," Jakob said in an easy but firm voice, as if he was talking to a spooked horse.
Reaching for his cane, Jakob got unsteadily to his feet. He felt a hand at his elbow, supporting him for just the moment it took Jakob to find his balance before dropping away. Ethan remained a solid presence — not coddling or invasive, merely staying by Jakob's side as they hurried through the diner and out the door.
They headed out into the crowded parking lot as the winter wind pulled at their hair and clothing.
"The green hatchback there," Ethan answered, pointing, "but um, you don't have to — "
"Let's go then," Jakob said, already heading in that direction at speed; hoping to put a stop to whatever cop-out Ethan was trying to give him to sit on the sidelines before the other man even got started.
Ethan jogged after him to catch up.
If he didn't want Jakob coming along, experience told Jakob he would just say. But if Ethan needed help…
Ethan wasn't always likely to ask for it. Didn't always realize hecouldask for it. A holdover from his childhood that — well. Of course, it was possible he had changed by now after all this time, but…
If Ethan needed help, Jakob would be there. Just like he used to be.
Just like he should have been, all these years.
Simple as that.
"Sounded serious," Jakob said, both explanation and question woven into his words.
"He's one of my students," Ethan explained over the thump of Jakob shutting the car's passenger door. "He shouldn't evenhavemy number, but he admitted he snuck it off my phone just in case… Well, this is the case, I suppose."
Jakob wedged his cane in between his knee and the door as he hunted for the seatbelt. He smiled to hear the clunking sound of Ethan shifting the car into gear, the memory of teaching Ethan how to drive Frank's old manual farm truck flitting across his mind.
"He's… he's smart," Ethan said, once he had pulled them out of the diner's parking lot and onto the frontage road. "Too smart for his own good sometimes. School's got apolicy against collectible game stuff after a bunch of the kids would get in fights about it, and gamble away their lunch money. Trading cards, gaming miniatures — that kind of thing. You remember."
"Hmm," Jakob hummed in agreement, thoughts of when they used to spend their own high school lunch hours playing coming back easily to him.
"Anyway, I caught him with a bunch of these figures," Ethan continued as he took the on-ramp onto the freeway. "Was selling them to some of the other kids. Turns out he paints them — It's actually really good work too. Got the principal to give him special permission as long as he keeps it to my art class and he stopped trying to peddle them to the other students on school property."
"Sounds talented," Jakob hazarded; still not sure how this tied in with Ethan weaving through downtown traffic like they were playing a racing game, only this side of the speed limit as he drove around an electric car going too slow for his liking.
"That's an understatement. Kid's good — really good. Plus, there's apparently a decent market for them online. If he could just…" Ethan sighed, sounding somewhere between frustrated and angry. "If his abusive asshole of a father could just… somehow leave the picture. Or failing that, at least leave Alex alone for a few more months until he graduates and moves off to university. He’s going to play for San Morado, has a full ride and everything, just like we did back in the day. He’ll be living fancy-free if he can just get out from under his father’s thumb."
"Can't you call the cops?"
Ethan barked out a laugh, a dark ugly sound that held nothing of humor in it. "Any other kid? Sure. But in Alex's case, it won't work — his dadisa cop. Might even make it worse, honestly."
Ethan sighed, rubbing the back of his neck in a gesture so familiar it gave Jakob a serious feeling of déjà vu. He was suddenly confronted with a strange feeling rushing throughout his body, as if he had been time-warped back into the past, back…before.
As if hehadn'tup and ruined everything back then. As if it had never even happened at all.
God, how he wanted that; the rush of raw emotion that surged inside him at the very thought so strong it nearly overwhelmed him.
Jakob blinked, struggling to rein himself in, to stay in control; trying to focus his attention on what Ethan was saying, on the problem at hand. Trying not to let his thoughts run wild, keep the sudden stampede of emotions from running roughshod over him. He knew once they had got the bit in their teeth, there would be no stopping 'em; they would run hard, losing him in a wilderness filled with old memories and past regrets.
Jakob couldn't afford that kind of distraction right now. He needed to stick to the trail if they were to see this thing through.
"This has apparently been going on for years," Ethan said unhappily as they passed around a sports car. "Sends him to school with massive bruises every other week. Pretty sure the bastard broke Alex's arm last summer. He comes in the first day back with a big cast and a story about a skateboard accident, but couldn't even tell me what trick he'd supposedly been trying out. I've reported it through school channels, but… it never goes anywhere. The last time I made a report, there was a solid three weeks I had the honor of a police vehicle sitting outside my house each morning when I left for school, just watching me."
