Page 36 of Paradise

“Not fondly.”

“Because you’ve been lying to him about me,” Jack bit out. “I want to see him. Ain’t leavin’ here until I do, Jonah.”

Jonah glanced at his lawyer. The sergeant shrugged. “It’s your call. It won’t set any sort of precedent; you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Jonah. Please.”

The incongruity of the word coming out of Jack’s mouth was like a punch in the gut to Garrett, but it seemed to pacify Jonah. He sighed. “Fine. Wait here.” He left the room, and the lawyers began talking again, and Jack seemed to feel Garrett staring at him, and he stared back. After a moment, he sneered.

“You hardly even look like a man.”

“Mind your words, Mr. Vendam,” Bowman warned.

“He like you for your pretty face or for your money?”

“Be quiet,” Jack’s own lawyer warned. Garrett was hardly bothered by Jack lashing out at him; honestly, it made him feel better when the guy was being the enormous dick Garrett knew him to be, not someone worthy of Jonah’s consideration. He didn’t say anything, just kept staring, and Jack shifted uncomfortably and finally looked away.

Jonah and Cody came in a minute later. Cody was leaning into Jonah’s side, and he didn’t look happy to be there. Jack’s face immediately changed, though, becoming soft and smiling. “Hey, Cody,” he said.

“Hi,” Cody mumbled, glancing over at the lawyers, then at Garrett.

“Can you come over here for a minute? I just want to talk to you a little.”

“I don’t think so,” Cody said even though he moved with Jonah as Jonah came back to the couch. Jack reached out an entreating hand to him.

“Just for a minute? You don’t have to sit with me; we can just talk.”

Cody looked down at his feet and mumbled, “No.”

“Cody,” Jack said, sounding a little exasperated now. “I’m not gonna hurt you. I just want to get a better look at you. Come here.” His hand closed the last few inches between them and clasped around Cody’s wrist. Cody reflexively pulled back with a sound of discontent, and Garrett saw pure red.

That waswrong. Jack’s hand on Cody was wrong, and so Garrett had to remove his hand. He had to keep Jack from touching Cody.

In one smooth, fast move, Garrett reached over and grabbed Jack’s ring and pinkie fingers, the ones that allowed him to make a fist and close his hand, and broke them. He didn’t even hear Jack’s howl or the gasps of surprise and dismay. He reset his leverage, then broke Jack’s wrist, twisting it sharply to the right with a crack and bringing Jack down in a sprawling mess over the table. Then he broke Jack’s elbow against his knee, just to be sure he couldn’t use the arm. He thought about moving on to his shoulder, but then he heard the whimper. Not Jack’s, he didn’t care about that, but Cody’s.

Garrett looked over at Cody and saw his eyes were wide with alarm, and his lips were trembling. He looked scared. Scared ofGarrett, and that was wrong, that was even worse-than-Jack wrong. Garrett dropped Jack’s arm just as Jonah’s hands turned him around. They gripped him too tightly, bruising.

“What the hell?” Jonah demanded. His anxious eyes searched Garrett’s face, and Garrett felt the judgmental weight of them. “What’s wrong with you, Garrett?” That was a good question, an angry question. Everything was wrong with him, apparently.

“Clearly this is an unsafe environment for the child!” Jack’s lawyer shouted as she helped Jack sit up. “We’ll be filing criminal assault charges in addition to—”

“No.” It was the hammer voice, Miles’s voice. He was at the doorway, had probably come running when he heard Jack scream. He was staring straight at Garrett. “My son needsserious medical attention, and your client needs a doctor. One is already on the way. You are staying here because this discussion is far from over. Garrett.” He moved in close, pushed Jonah’s clenching, painful hands out of the way, and cupped Garrett’s face with his own hands. “Son, when’s the last time you took your medication?”

“What?” Garrett’s mind was fuzzy with shock, the reality of what he’d just done slowly seeping in. Oh … oh, no. “What?”

“Your medication.” Miles’ voice was soothing and cool, talking him down like he had during the Year of Togetherness, learning to live again after being institutionalized. “When did you last take it?”

“Weeks ago.”

“Oh, Gare.” His father pulled him close and brought their foreheads together. “We need to get you to the infirmary. We’re going to go now, all right?”

“What’s happenin’?” Jonah didn’t sound angry anymore, just confused, but Garrett still couldn’t bring himself to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ll tell you later.” Miles gently pulled Garrett through the crowd of people now in the room, away from Jonah and Cody, away from Jack and his pit bull, away from Wyl and Robbie and Claudia, who were looking at him with wide eyes. He kept his gaze on his father, the only one holding him together right then.

They moved slowly, Miles stepping backward the whole way to the infirmary, keeping Garrett’s eyes occupied. If he looked away, he would die, splintered into a thousand pieces. He was sure of it.

“Come on, son.” Garrett followed the eyes and the voice and the gentle hands until he was laid back on a spongy bed. Miles put restraints on his wrists and ankles, looking apologetic, but Garrett didn’t mind. You couldn’t let a crazy person just go running around unshackled. A hologram leapt into the air andsaid things and made Miles look like he was in pain. Garrett had to do something to make it better.

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