Page 56 of Trick or Treat

Keegan dropped the backpack at Trick’s feet and followed Reagan upstairs to do as instructed.

“What the fuck is wrong with her? Why the hell would she leave her kids at home alone for God’s sake?” Owen’s teeth were clenched and his voice quiet, not wanting the kids to hear him. He ran a hand through his hair and looked at Trick.

“I wish I could tell you, but I have no clue. Thanks for taking my kids so I can deal with this.”

“You never have to thank me for that. I love those kids like they’re my own.” Owen squeezed Trick’s shoulder, causing him to have to swallow around the lump in his throat. Owen wasn’t lying when he said he loved his kids like they were his own and Trick was so grateful for that.

Once the kids were back downstairs, he had to switch Reagan’s shoes to the correct feet and then he zipped up her coat. He pulled her hood up and tied it under her chin. He checked out Keegan and saw that he was ready and waiting with his backpack in hand. He picked up Reagan and followed Keegan out to Owen’s truck. He didn’t have a car seat to give his brother to use, so he secured Reagan in as best he could and prayed for an uneventful drive.

He kissed each of his kids one more time, thanked Owen again and waved as they backed out of the drive.

After he went inside, he took pictures of the messy living room with his phone, then moved on to take some of the disaster in the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and cabinets and was pissed to find them all mostly empty. There was a half a gallon of milk in the refrigerator, three bottles of wine, some American cheese slices and a mostly empty jar of grape jelly. In the cabinets he found a box of cereal, a half loaf of bread that was molding, a few cans of soup and some microwaveable mac-n-cheese. What the fuck was she feeding his kids?

On his way to the living room he turned out lights as he went. Completely dark, except for the light coming through the curtains from the streetlights, he took a seat on the couch and settled in to wait.

“Fuck!” He couldn’t believe she snuck out of the house after she thought they were asleep. He punched the couch over and over several times then leaned forward so that his elbows were on his knees and his face in his hands. He didn’t know how much longer he could live like this. Never knowing if she was taking care of their kids. Never knowing if she was keeping them safe. Never knowing if she was fucking feeding them.

After what felt like forever, he leaned back on the couch and settled in for however long it was going to take for her to get her lousy ass home. His phone dinged. It was a text from Owen telling him the kids were down and they were doing good. He thanked his brother again and resumed his vigil, staring out the windows. There was no doubt in his mind that she wouldn’t be home before 2:00 in the morning.

What the fuck was wrong with her? If she didn’t want to be a mom anymore, why didn’t she just give him the kids? If she’d ever get her ass home, he planned to ask her that very question. It seemed simple to him. If she wanted to live her life as if she were a single woman with no kids, then fucking turn them over to him.

He wasn’t stupid. He knew, for her, it all came down to money. If she didn’t have custody of the kids, she wouldn’t get child support and he wouldn’t be paying for the house or all the other things he’d been paying for the last several years.

Around 2:30 he watched headlights pull into the driveway, then listened to the garage door go up, then back down. He headed toward the kitchen, standing behind the door, and waited for Michelle to come inside. From his side of the door he heard a trashcan get knocked over and her mumbled “shit.” The doorknob twisted and then swung open, Michelle tripping inside. She had her back to him as she dropped her purse on the counter.

Moving swiftly, he grabbed her by the throat and slammed her back up against the door. She started to scream and swat at his hands until he pulled her forward then slammed her back against the door again. “Shut the fuck up!” he shouted in her face. His eyes scanned her face, looking for the woman he once knew. Sadly, she wasn’t here anymore and hadn’t been in a very long time. Instead, he saw her makeup smeared under her eyes, her hair was a mess and her clothes were crooked, like she’d been fucked in the back of a car or something. She smelled like smoke and her eyes were glassy.

“Trick?” She blinked her eyes rapidly a few times, as if she couldn’t focus. “What the hell are you doing in my house?”

“That’s where you’re wrong. You live here because I allow it. My name is on the deed and I make the payments. It only becomes yours when you get a job and make the payments yourself,” he growled in her face.

“You need to let me go or I’m going to scream and wake the kids up. How’s that gonna look when they find their daddy pushing their mom around?” By her smug grin she thought she had him.

He moved so that their noses were almost touching. “The kids aren’t here.”

“What?” Finally, he got a true reaction out of her. She was scared about her kids. “What do you mean they aren’t here?”

“Do you really care? Because from where I’m standing I don’t think you do. Why else would you leave them alone and asleep in their beds? What if some stranger had broken into the house? What if they’d hurt or killed our kids? What if someone had taken them? Kids disappear all over the country, never to be seen again. Ever heard of human trafficking? What if when you came home, instead of me being here, some stranger beat the shit out of you, raped you and left you for dead? What if they did the same thing to our kids, Michelle?!” He roared the last then pushed away from her, not trusting himself not to hit her. He’d never hit a woman before, but damn if he didn’t want to right now.

Her face paled and tears formed in her eyes. “Yeah, I can see you might finally be getting it. This better be the last time you ever leave my kids alone. It better not fucking happen again. If you want to go out so badly, call me and I’ll take the kids. I don’t mind having them.”

She wiped at her tears, which were leaving black streaks down her cheeks. “So are the kids really not here?” she asked quietly.

“No. Owen took them home so I could deal with your drunk ass.” He turned his back on her and took a couple of steps away, running his hand through his hair. He turned back around and said, “I don’t understand. If you don’t want to be a mom, why don’t you just give them to me? You would have all the time in the world to go party or fuck or whatever it is you’re doing instead of keeping our kids safe.”

“Patty said I wouldn’t get child support if you had them.” She wiped her runny nose on the back of her hand. Attractive.

“Fucking Patty? So that’s it? I’m paying for the two of you to go out whoring around?” He shook his head in disgust. “Fucking figures. You know every time you’ve listened to your sister, you’ve ended up in some kind of trouble either I or your parents have had to get you out of. No more, Michelle. You get in trouble again and you’re on your own.”

“Fuck you!” Michelle was rallying and raring to fight. That was Trick’s cue to leave. He couldn’t deal with her when she was like this.

“How dare you call me a whore and how dare you insult my sister!” she yelled at his back as he walked toward the front door. “And how dare you call me a drunk!” She jabbed her finger in his chest when he stopped and turned.

“Really? Did you even notice my bike parked at the curb in front of the house?”

Her head jerked back and she seemed to be thinking about it.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” He opened the door and paused halfway out. “When I bring them back tomorrow you better not have been drinking or I’m taking them home with me. And fucking clean this place up. It stinks.”

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