Beyond Broken(93)

Maddie turned him so he was facing her. His skin was hot beneath her fingertips, muscles bunched. "Promise me you'll be right behind us."

His eyes were dark, but some of his anger lessened at her words. "I won't be a minute."

Peter tugged at her arm, eyeing his father, who had zeroed in on him. "Come on, Maddie, let's go."

"You stay right there, you little shit. I'm not finished with you," his father yelled, stumbling when he tried to come after Peter. Caleb pushed him back, harder than was necessary, and the older man fell to the floor, dazed and groaning.

With a backwards glance at Caleb, Maddie let Peter take her out of the house and back to their car. She wouldn't leave until Caleb walked out, but she couldn't see them from where she'd parked the car. She nibbled at her fingernails nervously, counting down the minutes.

"He'll be okay," Peter quietly comforted.

"I hope so," Maddie whispered, on the verge of tears.





* * *





Caleb wondered how the hell he'd found himself in this situation. When he came home early from work, looking forward to a quiet evening of relaxing, he knew something was wrong when the house was empty and when he spotted a note on the kitchen counter from Maddie. 

For the rest of his life, he'd never forget the raw panic that had clawed at his throat when he read that note. If anything had happened to her … he didn't know what he'd do.

A strange mixture of disgust and pity overwhelmed him as he stared down at Peter's father. The man looked like he hadn't bathed in days and his bloodshot eyes told Caleb that he'd probably been drinking for just as long.

Instead of his quiet evening, he was now facing down Peter's drunken father, in a shitty house that reminded him of his mother's. All it was missing were the tracks of white powder on the coffee table and a stream of strange men.

"Get up," Caleb ordered.

"Just get outta my house, fucker!"

"Not until we come to an understanding," he grated. When the man didn't climb to his feet, Caleb reached down and hauled him up by his t-shirt, shoving him against the wall.

"Where's Peter's birth certificate?" Caleb asked. He didn't know why Maddie and Peter had come here looking for it, but he knew it had to be for good reason. So he wouldn't leave here without it.

"I'm not telling you anything. Get out before I call the police!"

"Maybe you should call them," Caleb said. "Maybe then I can tell them how you've been beating the shit out of your son for years. I'm sure they'd love to know that."

Even drunk off his ass, the older man knew that calling the police would mean trouble.

"Now, I'll ask you one more fucking time. Where is his birth certificate?"

"In the bathroom," the man mumbled.

Caleb didn't know why it would be in there but he said, "Go get it."

Peter's father got pissed at the order. It was like a light switch going off in his head and it made Caleb more alert. "This is my fucking house. I'll do whatever the fuck I want!"

Caleb wasn't prepared for the punch that came his way, but thankfully, the older man was uncoordinated and missed. It didn't stop Caleb from letting his own fist fly into his face, breaking the man's nose in the process. His knuckles hurt like a bitch afterwards, but the pain alleviated some of the tension that had been building up.

"What the fuck, man?" Peter's father roared, voice nasally, clutching his nose as blood streamed out.

"Go get the birth certificate," Caleb hissed. "Don't make me ask again."

The threat was clear and as the older man stumbled towards a door leading off the hallway, Caleb followed to make sure he didn't try anything stupid. Next to the most disgusting toilet he'd ever seen, there was a brown box and Caleb retrieved it before Peter's father could get blood on anything. He rifled through the papers until he located the birth certificate and he folded it into his back pocket before returning to the living room.

"Are you happy now?" the older man asked. "Get out and don't come back!"

Caleb faced the man. "If you ever lay a hand on Peter again or come after him, I will make sure you're locked up so fucking fast that it'll make your head spin. Do you understand me?"

"He's my son! I'll do what I want with him."

"You're no father. You don't give a shit about him. That's why you don't even know where the fuck he's been for the past couple months!"

"He always comes back. He doesn't stay away for long."



       
         
       
        

Rage made Caleb's vision swim, but he tried to calm himself down. Eyes narrowed, he reached into his back pocket and drew out his wallet, locating a blank check he kept in there for emergencies. He knew people like Peter's father. Hell, his own mother had been exactly like him, living for the next bottle or high. Caleb didn't care if this man drank himself to death, just as long as he stayed away from Peter.