The Jaded: Reclaim Me Part 18

"Sure," I tell her distractedly, still looking inside the box without touching anything. I barely register her and Levi leaving the room.

I reach my hand out and see that it's shaking. Sitting on top is a framed photo of Mac and me at Jaxon's lake. We're both sitting on a blanket that Mac set out for us. It was the beginning of winter, so it was cool outside. Mac is sitting behind me with me between his legs. A bright red blanket is surrounding us both. He has his head on my shoulder, and we're both looking out at the lake. There's serenity on both our faces, like we're both sitting in the best spot on Earth; no other place would have been more perfect. Anna had taken the picture without us knowing, and it became my favorite. It stayed on my nightstand until the night of my eighteenth birthday.

That night, when I came home, I took the picture and all the rest of the contents of the box and tossed it in the trash. Mama must have seen me do it and decided to save everything.

I set the picture frame beside me on the couch and pull out a few more pictures. There's one of Jaxon, Anna, Nick, Andrew, Mac, and me. A pang hits my chest at seeing Anna again. My mom took this one. I remember that day because that was the day that Andrew tried putting his arm around Jaxon, and he kept shrugging it off. We all laughed at Andrew's attempts and that was when Mom took the picture. We all look cheerful and carefree.

There are ticket stubs of every movie that Mac and I went to. It sounds so childish now, but I kept anything and everything that had to do with Mac. I even have a lock of his hair that his mom gave me, which sounds somewhat creepy now.

In the bottom of the box, I pull out a silver chain that has a locket on it. I pull it open and tears blur my vision at the tiny picture of a baby Mac on one side and a baby me on the other side. Mac gave it to me on my seventeenth birthday.

I carefully place everything back in the box and get up to go into the kitchen. Mom and Levi are at the kitchen table eating their lunch. When my mom sees my eyes, she gets up and comes to me for a hug. I hold her tight.

"I threw all that stuff away," I whisper in her ear.

"I know you did, Sweetie. I saw you do it. I went out behind you, and got it all out. I knew one day that you would want it back."

I never would have thought at the time that she would be right. I wanted nothing that would remind me of Mac. I am so grateful that she went behind me though. Those things were so precious to me and to have them back makes my chest hurt.

We pull back, and I give her a watery 'thank you'.

"I've heard you and Mac have been spending time with each other and figured now was the time to give you back that box. I know there was animosity between you both for a long time. I hope that whatever happened is over. You changed so much when you broke up, and even more so when your father left. I see some of the old Mia peeking through, and I hope that it's Mac that's pulling you through. It hurt so much to watch you withdraw into yourself like that."

"I'm so sorry, Mama. I didn't realize that you were hurting too." It seems like so many people were affected by my and Mac's break up. I had no idea; I was too absorbed in my own pain that I didn't see the people around me hurting too.

"Don't apologize, Mia. I understand you were grieving at the loss of something so special. Everyone handles pain in his or her own way. As much as I hated to see it, you chose to handle it the best way you could, by ignoring it and pushing people away. I wish I would have pushed to get you to talk to me, but I didn't want to cause you more pain."

"Oh, Mama," I rest my head on her shoulder while she rubs her hands up and down my back.

After a few minutes, I stand back up, and she smiles at me. "Now, are you hungry?"

I wipe my tears away and smile back, "I'm starving."

She turns to walk off, but I stop her with a hand on her arm. When she's facing me again, I tell her quietly, "Thank you for keeping everything."

"You're very welcome, Sweetie. I knew one day you would want it back." She puts her arm around my waist. "Let's go eat."

Chapter Nineteen.

Mac Her sense of humor...

I push the end b.u.t.ton on my phone for the sixth time, becoming more and more p.i.s.sed each time I get Tessa's voicemail. I've been trying to call her for the past several hours. I've called her cell phone, her house phone, and her work number. I've left her three different voicemails and left multiple text messages telling her she needs to call me. I've heard nothing from her.

I grip my phone tightly and hear the plastic electronic creak a little. I loosen my grip. What I want to do it is throw it across the room and shatter it against the wall. I drop the phone on the coffee table before I follow through with the urge.

She knows better than to keep me hanging like this. It was always a mutual agreement that if one calls the other we would call them back as soon as possible, just in case it involved T. What p.i.s.ses me off even more is that her job said she didn't show up today for work. Tessa may be unpredictable most of the time, but one thing she's always been religious about is working.

Something doesn't feel right. The more I think on it, the more I worry that Tessa did in fact have something to do with the s.h.i.t that's been going on with Mia. I've already ruled out Shady. The day after I found Mia's tire was slashed, I paid a visit to Dax. He said that Shady had been at his house for several hours and they were together the entire time. If I didn't know Dax so well I would think he was covering for his friend, but I do know him and trust his word.

The sound of my phone vibrating on the coffee table has me s.n.a.t.c.hing it up and looking at the screen, thinking it's Tessa calling me back. It's not. Instead it's T. It's not who I want it to be, but I always enjoy hearing from my boy.

"Hey, T, what's up kid?" I get up off the couch and walk into the kitchen to grab a bottled water.

"Have you heard from Mom?" he asks. The tone of his voice has me straightening from the fridge.

"No, I haven't. I've been trying to call her for the past several hours. Why, what's going on?"

"I don't know. I'm at my Taekwondo cla.s.s, and I guess she forgot to pick me up," he mumbles into the phone.

I look at the clock on the microwave. s.h.i.t! His cla.s.s ended over an hour ago. She should have been there by now.

"Have you tried calling her?" I ask him while I walk over and grab my keys. I'm walking out the door to my truck when he answers.

"Yeah, but she's not answering. I left a message, but she hasn't called back yet." I can tell he's starting to worry.

"Alright, T, listen to me. Is there someone still at the gym?"

"Yeah, but the last cla.s.s ends soon."

"I want you to go back inside and wait. I'm on my way there now to pick you up, okay?" I confirm this by revving the engine of my truck and peeling out of the driveway.

"Okay, Dad. Do you think something happened to Mom?" he asks with a tremble in his voice. He tries so hard to act tough, but at the end of the day he's still an eleven year old boy.

"No, T. I don't know what's going on, but we'll figure it out. Go inside and wait for me. I'll be there soon."

We hang up after he promises to stay inside. I don't worry about his instructor closing the gym and leaving T by himself outside. I don't know the guy well, but from the start of T's lessons, he said he always waits for the last student to be picked up.

The closer I get to T, the more p.i.s.sed I become. What the f.u.c.k does Tessa think she's doing just leaving T like that? When I took T home the other day, I sat down with Tessa and asked her what was going on that caused her to be gone from the house so much. Of course, she avoided answering and became defensive. I, in return, told her that s.h.i.t needed to change. That I wasn't going to put up with her neglecting T like she was. I told her that if s.h.i.t didn't change, then I was taking her to court to get full custody of him. She became tearful and promised that it wouldn't happen again. I regret now not questioning her further on her recent unknown actions. What the f.u.c.k does she have going on that's so important that she forgets to pick up our son? Doesn't matter now anyway, because I'm done. She obviously doesn't want the responsibility anymore. That's absolutely fine with me. I should have taken T away sooner. The only reason I didn't was because she was a fairly decent mother, and I know kids need their mother. Her decency at being a mother has gone down the drain lately. I'm looking forward to having T with me on a more permanent basis.

I pull up to the curb of the gym twenty minutes later and see T sitting inside on one of the many chairs. Before I can get out, he spots me and gets up to come outside. I wave to the instructor to let him know I'm picking T up. T climbs inside the truck but doesn't say anything. Before I put the truck back into gear, I look over to him. His expression shows both anger and worry.

"You alright, T?"

He shrugs and answers without looking at me. "I guess so."

"Have things been better with your mom?" I don't want to worry him, but I need to know if things changed once I spoke with her. I'm finding it very strange that not long after I find out from T that his mom was leaving him alone so much that she pulls this stunt, especially since she very adamantly told me that things would be different. When I talked to T a week ago, he seemed fine. When I asked him about how things were going with his mom, he said she had gotten better. Again, something just doesn't feel right.

Looking out the window, instead of at me, he says, "Yeah, Mom's been great."

There's something he's not telling me, and it's starting to p.i.s.s me off. I'm not mad at him. I'm mad because there's clearly something going on, and I have no f.u.c.king clue what it is. He's hiding something, and I need to find out what it is.

"Look at me, Son," I tell him firmly.

He pulls his eyes to me reluctantly. It's plain to see he doesn't want to face me.

"I need you to talk to me, T. If there's something going on that I need to know about, you need to tell me. I can't fix what I don't know."

"There's nothing to tell, Dad. I'm just worried because Mom forgot about me." He's lying. I can see it in the way his eyes flicker away from mine. I'm going to let it go for now, because whatever the problem is, it obviously involves his mother. I don't know why he won't tell me, but I'll get it out of him later.

"Okay, I'll let it go for now, but you and I are going to talk later. We're going to your mom's to get you some clothes. You're going to stay with me while we find out what's going on. Maybe your mom will be at home when we get there."

I put the truck in drive and make the ten-minute drive to Tessa's. Her car isn't in the driveway when we pull up. The garage door is up, and the car isn't in there either. T pulls his house keys out of his gym bag when we walk up to the door. When we walk inside, I look around. Everything looks pretty much the same as it did the last time I was here. I know it's futile, but I still call out Tessa's name. As expected, there's no answer in return.

I turn to T, who's putting his bag down in the foyer closet. "Go grab your stuff. Get enough clothes for several days."

He mumbles something unintelligible before walking off down the hallway. I follow behind him and walk into Tessa's room. And when I say gone, I mean she plans on being gone for a while. There are clothes thrown all over the bedroom. All her dresser drawers are pulled out, and it looks like she grabbed handfuls of the contents out, leaving a few pieces behind. Apparently, she plans on being gone for a while.

I walk to her closet with my hands balled into fists and see many of the hangers empty. There are a couple suitcases lined up underneath the clothes still hanging up, but there's an empty s.p.a.ce where another smaller suitcase should be.

I leave the closet, go to the connecting bathroom, and see a mess in there as well. She left in a hurry. I look for her makeup kit, and don't find it. If I know anything about Tessa, it's that she goes absolutely nowhere without her makeup. If she took that, then that means she plans on staying gone for a while.

My belief of her involvement in Mia's tire being slashed and her almost being raped becomes stronger. She must know that the man her attacked Mia had been caught and is worried that we'll find out she was linked. She obviously has someone helping her because the guy we pulled off Mia said it was a man that gave it to him. I've never wanted to hit a woman more than I do right now. Not only because of her possible involvement with Mia but also because of what she's putting T through.

Speaking of T, I wonder if he suspects anything and that's why he's being so evasive. I would think that he would come to me with something like this, but there's no telling what his mom has told him to keep him quiet.

I walk back out of Tessa's room and close the door quietly behind me. I don't want to tell him yet that his mother is gone until I find out more answers.

T walks out a few minutes later with his duffle bag thrown over his shoulder. He looks much older than his eleven years right now. The expression on his face and the slump to his shoulders solidifies my belief that he knows more than he's telling me, and I'm even more determined to find out what's going on. The stress I see on his face is more than any kid his age should have.

"Come on kid, let's get out of here. We'll stop by Maggie's on the way home for dinner." As I hoped, at the mention of Maggie's and the chance he'll see Nitra, he perks up a bit.

Three hours later, we're at home. T is in the shower while I'm on my laptop at the kitchen table. I'm so p.i.s.sed that my hands are shaking, and I want to put my hands around Tessa's throat. After accessing the program that the sheriff office uses to track banking accounts, I find that Tessa withdrew two grand from her account the day before Mia was given the Rohypnol. She also took out another five grand yesterday. This is all circ.u.mstantial, but I no longer have any doubt that it was Tessa that paid the guy to give Mia the drug and then rape her. I'm not positive, but I think she also must have slashed Mia's tire, or got someone to do it for her. I just don't know what the point was to slash her tire.

I pick up my phone and give Mia a call. She picks up on the third ring.

"Hey, Sheriff."

The sound of her voice calling me 'Sheriff' makes my c.o.c.k twitch in my jeans. I want to hear her moan again.

"Hey, Pix, can you come over tonight? I have some information." I'd prefer to tell her face-to-face that I think my ex-wife is the person that tried getting her raped. It's not something that anyone would want to hear over the phone.

It takes her a minute to respond to my question. I hear noises in the background, and I know she's at Jaxon's. I didn't even think that she could be at work. My only concern was letting her know about what I found out so she would keep her guard up.

"Yeah, but it won't be until late. I don't get off until midnight. Is that okay?"

"That's fine. It won't take long for me to tell you what I need to. I have T here, so call me when you get close and I'll wait for you on the porch."

"Okay." She pauses before she adds, "Is everything alright?"

Not wanting to get into it over the phone, I tell her I'm fine and that we'll talk about it later when she's here. I can tell she doesn't believe me, but doesn't push.

"I'll see you in a few hours, Pix. Be safe and make sure someone walks you to your car when you leave."

I need to give her a little bit of a warning so she knows to watch her back.

"I will, but you're really starting to worry me. Is it something I need to know about right now?"

I can hear the uncertainty in her voice, and I try to lessen it by telling her, "Nothing you need to worry about right now. I just want to be cautious."

"Alright, I'll see you in a few hours."

"Okay, Pix. Bye."

"Bye, Sheriff."

Not having any answers is killing me. I hate not knowing what to expect next. Is Tessa done s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g with Mia? If she's not, what does she have planned next? The cop in me says she's not done. We don't normally get cases like this in Jaded, but I hear word of other cases in nearby big towns all the time. Some end good and some not so good. If Tessa is willing to go so far as paying someone to rape Mia, which is a felony, then I wouldn't put it past her to go even farther. I just don't know how far she's willing to go.

T walks out of the bathroom and pulls me from the turmoil going through my head.

"Hey, T, how you doing, bud?"

"I'm fine, Dad. Can you stop asking that?" Irritation laces his voice.

"No, I can't. I'm your dad, and I worry about you. There's something going on with you, and you won't tell me what it is. Until you do, and I know you're okay, you're going to have to get used to me bugging you. Got it? And don't roll your eyes at me. That s.h.i.t stops now," I tell him before he can do just that. It's a struggle, but he manages to keep his eyes on mine, instead of rolling them.

"Whatever. I'm going to bed." He turns to leave but turns back when I call his name.

"I love you, Son."

"Love you, too," he mutters before going to his room.

I sigh and rake my fingers through my hair. Tomorrow's agenda is to sit down with T to discuss what's bothering him and to find out if he knows anything more about his mother. I never would have thought that my own son could be involved with something so f.u.c.ked up as this. I feel my blood starting to heat at the thought of Tessa involving him. When I get my hands on her...

I get up from the table and go grab a beer. Loafer follows me cautiously. She senses that I'm not in the best of moods. I'd never hurt my dog, but she's never liked being around when there's tension in the air. I guess that stems from the abuse she endured when she was a pup.

I twist off the cap and take a healthy swig. There's not much more I can do at the moment. I need to talk to Mia first and then T tomorrow. I would talk to him tonight, but I want him to have a good night's rest before I grill him. I'm not looking forward to it, but I know it needs to be done. I just hope my a.s.sumption is wrong, and he knows nothing.

Chapter Twenty.

Mia Her a.s.s...

"Whoa, hey, what's your hurry there, Mia?" Andrew says, as he watches me rushing around doing last minute finishing touches behind the bar. The last customer of the night didn't want to leave, so now I'm running late getting to Mac's. I've already texted him to let him know that I was going to be late.