Revved (Axle Alley Vipers)(33)
Now he wouldn’t have to push her away. She’d take one look at where he came from, see the toxic crap that ran through his veins, and run in the other direction.
It took ten minutes to reach his mother’s place, a three-bedroom condo on a quiet street. He’d bought it for her a few years ago. He’d wanted to put her in an apartment, one with decent security, but she’d hated the idea. She wanted a garden, and this place had a small patch of grass down the side where she grew vegetables. She loved that damn garden. Spent hours in the thing.
His father was currently stumbling through it, tearing it up, coming around from the back, banging on the windows as he went, screaming his mother’s name on the way to the front door.
They’d arrived before the cops, and he knew his old man well enough to know if he didn’t do something to stop him, he’d smash a window or kick the door clean off its hinges.
He turned to Rusty. “Stay here.”
She stared at him, eyes wide—shock, horror, pity, all there on her beautiful expressive face. “Do you want me to call the police again?”
He shook his head. “They’ll be here soon.”
Climbing out of the car, he approached the man who had made his life a living hell for as far back as he could remember. “What’re you doing here, old man?”
His father swung around, face red with anger and whiskey. As soon as he saw Reid, a sneer twisted his lips. “Nobody asked you to stick your fucking nose into this, boy. She’s my wife, and you have no right keeping her from me.”
Reid stared him down. “She’s not your wife anymore, remember? You need to leave, now.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do, you little piece of shit. I’ll see my wife whenever the fuck I like.” Then he stumbled up the steps and proceeded to bang the hell out of the front door. “Let me in, Carol. Bitch, you’ll be fucking sorry if you don’t.”
The curtain slid open, and her ashen face peered out, even with the lights out, he could see the tears streaking down her cheeks, the way she shook. He’d seen his mother cry more than he’d ever seen her smile, had heard more of her sobs than he had her laughter, and it was all because of this asshole.
Striding forward, he gripped his father’s shirt and yanked him away from the door. The bastard spun and clocked the side of his jaw. For a drunk he was quick, always had been. He went for a second shot, but Reid ducked out of the way. The momentum had his father stumbling to the side, and Reid managed to twist his arm up his back, kick his legs out from under him, and shove him to the ground.
“I’ll fucking kill you, Carol,” his father screamed. “I’ll make you bleed, bitch.”
Reid slammed his fist into his prone father’s kidney to shut him up. He deserved it, that and a whole lot more. “Shut the hell up.”
His mother had made friends in this neighborhood. This would humiliate her, take her back to a time when she’d had no one, had been too afraid to make friends. Her life had revolved around this bastard, avoiding his fists, hiding the truth from everyone around them.
His father grunted and sucked in a sharp breath. “Y-you always were a mama’s boy, weren’t you, you fucking waste of space.”
Reid ignored the insults, had heard them all before, had heard them since before he was old enough to understand what they meant.
“Son,” his father rasped. “Come on, let me up, son.”
He knew what came next. The pleading, the bargaining. “Just keep your mouth shut till the cops get here.”
“I just need some cash, and then I’ll go away. I won’t come back, you hear me? I’m just down on my luck is all. I just need a little to tide me over. Come on, boy. Help your old man out?”
“I’m gonna tell you the same thing I tell you every time you come groveling. I will never give you a damn cent. Ever. I owe you nothing.”
As always, this sent the bastard off all over again. Reid pinned him down, while he continued to yell insults and threats.
“The police are here.”
He twisted his head at the sound of Rusty’s voice. He hadn’t even seen her get out of the car. “I told you to stay put.”
She flinched at the rough edge to his voice, the way he snapped at her, but his control was shot. He’d dealt with this asshole one too many times, and the last thing he wanted or needed was an audience. An audience with big green eyes filled with goddamn pity.
Two officers came over and cuffed his father, dragging him toward a patrol car. Reid followed to give them his statement, while the second officer went and spoke to his mother. When they finally finished and he’d watched them drive away, he went looking for Rusty.