Real World, page 28
Jakob came out of the studio as they walked up, face lit up like it was Christmas. “Dad? Dad, it’s you?”
“It is. What’s up, man?”
“Dixon found us a picker who knows Braille.”
“Huh?” Jakob read just fine.
“Braille music. So I can really do this. Really learn this. Do you know how cool this is?” Jakob was shaking like he had when he’d learned to ride a bike without training wheels, reaching for Weldon like he hadn’t in years.
“That rocks, man!” Weldon had no idea why this was so cool, but he didn’t care. Jakob was excited, so he was pleased, and he hugged his boy hard.
Dixon came out, hand on the porch railing. “Mick’s going to come in once a month for a three-hour lesson. Mondays. Can y’all swing that?”
Oh God. Another thing? “Of course we can. How much?”
“I’m paying him anyway. I’ll be happy with someone to help.” Dixon shook his head, the expression a little bemused. “Jakob’s so much better than I am at picking up new stuff. I’ll need his brain to learn this.”
Weldon didn’t think anyone could have said anything to make Jakob happier. The kid was beaming, vibrating.
“Dan pays me a little every week to be his virtual assistant too, so I can pay if he charges for an extra student,” Jakob said.
“We’ll work it out.” He’d do anything for that look on one of his kids’ faces, especially Jakob, who’d been so down about the Boyd thing.
Audie came out with two big glasses of iced tea, and Weldon sucked his down, the sweat making his shirt stick to his back. Lord, it was hot.
“Go pack up your guitar, kiddo,” Audie told Jakob. “Dixon and I need to clean up for a date.”
“Yes, sir.” Jakob headed back to the studio, and Weldon chuckled at them.
“A Tuesday night date, y’all? Fancy!”
“Mom and Dad have the kiddos at Chuck E. Cheese.”
“Wow. I hate that place.” Weldon winked.
“Any sane adult hates that place,” Audie said. “Which is why Dixon’s dad loves it.”
“It’s like some weird social experiment to him. Go figure. We get to go have a margarita and nachos.” Dix sounded tickled pink.
“Well, thanks for putting such a huge smile on Jakob’s face.”
“You’ll like Mick. He’s from Dublin, and he plays the dobro like an angel.”
Audie cackled. “He’s an evil little fucker that is too pretty for his own good.”
“You do like the Irish look,” Dix said, a tiny smile playing on his lips.
“I do.”
“Is he another redhead?” Weldon could wax poetic about the copper curls on Dan’s ridged belly.
“Black as midnight, but the same curly thing and the green eyes.”
“Yum.”
Jakob wandered out, guitar case in hand. “Yum? Are we getting food?”
“There’s swiss steak at the house. I’ll make mashed potatoes and green beans.”
“Corn?” Jakob asked, hopefully.
“Sure, bud. I’m easy.” Corn. Beans. Carrots. It was a vegetable, and he was ready to take a shower.
“Excellent.” Jakob loaded his guitar and Pepper in the truck easily enough. “Thanks again, Mr. Dix.”
“See you next week, man. Keep up the good work.”
“Thanks for the drink, Audie. Holler about that buggy for Emma, yeah?”
“I will.” Audie took his glass and waved him off. “Y’all have a good one.”
The big truck was gone as they loaded up and headed home, and Weldon checked his phone, a picture of Maddie shooting the ball waiting for him. “How was Jennifer today? Did y’all manage any classes together?”
“We’re not…. She’s dating Greg. He’s a jerk.”
“Oh.” Damn. “Sorry, man.”
“Eh, it’s okay. I have lots of girls I could go with.”
Modesty, thy name was Jakob Weldon. Teenagers. That was how they survived those years, though. Healthy ego combined with rampaging hormones.
Weldon stopped out by the Lowe’s in Hutto to get some gas and to run in and grab some windshield washer fluid. The bugs had been fierce this summer. “Back in two shakes, son.”
“You got it.”
He ran in, grabbed the bottle of washer fluid, two Cokes, and a couple of Snickers bars to sneak to Dan after supper. “I need ten on pump….”
Weldon craned his neck to see which pump he was parked at, and that dually was there, parked right beside, and he could hear Pepper losing her ever-loving shit. “Hold up. My kid’s in the truck.”
“You need me to call the….”
He didn’t wait to listen to what the guy asked. He knew who it was. Weldon dropped everything and ran for it, waving his arms and shouting, because two could work the element of surprise. “Hey! That’s my kid! Don’t you touch him!”
“Dad! Dad, help! You fucker!” He heard someone’s fist making contact, and Boyd had better pray it was Jakob that connected.
Weldon didn’t waste more air on shouting. He put his head down and charged like a linebacker going in to sack the quarterback. He hit Boyd with his shoulder right in the breadbasket, spinning the big jerk away from his truck.
“Shut the door, Jakob!”
Pepper came jumping out, lip curled, her teeth bared.
Weldon kept hitting, one blow after another, just hammering the motherfucker.
“Dad! Dad, come on. Someone is gonna call the cops. Pepper!”
Right. Boyd was down, arms over his face, so Weldon spun and stuffed Pepper back in the truck. Fuck someone calling the cops. If Boyd so much as moved, he would call on his way home.
The fucker would be lucky if Weldon didn’t run him down.
He delivered one last kick to Boyd. “Leave my son alone, fucker.”
“He’s my son.”
“Never.” But that was why he wasn’t waiting around for the cops, right? Because what if someone looked at Boyd and told him to get a DNA sample, try for custody, screwed up Jakob’s life?
Weldon climbed up in the truck. He’d get gas tomorrow.
“You okay?” he asked Jakob brusquely, starting the engine. He roared out of the lot, only fishtailing a tiny bit.
“He wanted me to come with him! He wanted me to get in his truck! What an asshole. He won’t leave me alone. Why won’t he leave me alone?”
It was all he could do not to point out that this was why you didn’t fucking lie to your father, but that wouldn’t help. Right? Right.
“He’s an asshole. We’ll figure it. Once we get home.” Mel and Maddie and Kenzie were there, all by themselves. Nausea hit him hard, but he pushed it back. Boyd had to pass him to get there before he did, damn it. Mel could take care of herself. It was fine.
“I swear, Dad. I swear, he keeps texting and stuff, and I say no. Every time, I say no.”
The steering wheel was going to bend under the weight of his rage. “I’ll fix it, son.”
Jakob turned those blind eyes toward him. “I’m sorry. I am. I thought he would be wonderful.”
“Well, not everyone can be me, you know.” Come on, kid. Lighten up.
Jakob chuckled. “Yeah. I know. You rock.”
“I do. I am the best.” He sighed softly. “It’ll be okay, Jakob. I promise.”
About the time the words left his mouth, headlights flashed in his rearview, coming out of nowhere. Fuck. Fuck.
“Jakob,” he snapped.
“Dad?”
He yelled for his boy to hold on about the time the dually rammed them, sending his old work truck right into the bar ditch, the world going black.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
THE PHONE buzzed, and Dan jumped, then grabbed it up off the dash and frowned when he saw Jakob’s name.
“Hello?”
“Dan-Dan? We…. You gotta help. You gotta help us.”
“Jakob? What is it?” Cold dread lodged in Dan’s chest, and he glanced in the rearview at Emma and Caleb. Both pretty disinterested so far.
“Boyd. He tried to take me, and then he hit the truck. He broke the truck, and we wrecked.”
“Where’s Weldon? Is Boyd still there? Where are you?” He shot the questions off in quick succession, needing answers so he could form a plan.
“Dad’s trying to fix the truck. He says….” Jakob hiccupped, then took a deep breath. “Dad says go home. The girls are there with Granny Mel. Dad is calling them. Dad says we can take care of ourselves until the police get here to help.”
“Do you know where you are, son?”
“We were heading home from the gas station.”
“Do you know which one?” Dan had to stay calm, because Jakob was losing it. “The one by the Lowe’s on 79?”
“It sounded like it.”
“Okay. I’ll be right there.”
“Dad wants you to get to the house. This is all my fault.”
“Now, Jakob, I need you to keep your shit together. Is Pepper okay?” Jakob needed to focus on something.
“Uh-huh. She’s scared, shaking. I don’t feel any blood, though.”
“Good man. Make sure you keep her with you in case you need her.”
“He’s ahead of us. It’s a big truck.”
“He has a diesel, right?” He’d keep Jakob talking and believe it when Jakob said Weldon was okay.
“Yeah. Yeah, stinky. Tall.” Jakob’s voice dropped. “I’m so sorry.”
Not as sorry as that motherfucker Boyd was fixin’ to be. This was Dan’s family; these were his kids, and he wasn’t going to put up with this shit one more second.
“Let me talk to your dad, son.”
“Dad! Dan wants to talk to you!”
It took a second, and then Weldon’s voice sounded, gravelly and raw and burning with a fury unlike any he’d ever heard before. “He’s heading toward the house. I called Mel. She’s got the girls at the house.”
“Is she armed?”
“Aren’t we all?” Weldon snapped. “The truck’s totaled, man, and I can’t drive it. I need you to get your ass to the house and take care of the kids. The police are coming, and I’ve called to have them head out there too. They’re gonna call a fucking ambulance on my happy ass when they see me. Half my cheek needs gluing shut.”
“But y’all….” They were sitting ducks on the road.
“Shit. Jakob will hear that piece of shit diesel coming from a mile away now that he’s listening, and I have my .22 in the gun rack. He shows up here, it’ll be the last thing the motherfucker ever does.” He heard Weldon spit. “Now, go get my girls. Right now.”
“I’m on it.”
Dan turned off 79 and gunned it, which caught Emma’s attention, her eyes huge in her tiny face. “Dan-Dan?”
“Just hang on, kiddo. Okay? We’re good.”
“You sure? Is Jakob okay?” So smart, his girl.
“Uh-huh. I need you to talk with Caleb, okay?”
“Sure. No problem.” She poked Caleb hard enough to make him jerk. “Did you like the football?”
“Yeah. I like kicking.”
Dan nodded. “I bet you’re good at it.”
Time to go get his girls. He keyed his phone again, dialing Dix.
“Bubba, hey. What’s up?” Dixon’s voice calmed him, just like always. Please God, let that never change.
“Are y’all home? Is Audie with you?” Dan glanced in the rearview, where Em was watching him like a fucking hawk. He arched an eyebrow at her, and she dipped her chin, going back to talking to her baby brother at rapid-fire speed. Attagirl.
“We were just heading out for supper. What’s wrong? Audie, something’s wrong with Dan. I’m putting you on speaker.”
“That Boyd guy. He tried to snatch Jakob at a gas station, then ran Weldon off the road about a mile and a half past where you turn off 79 to get to the house. I have to get to the house with the kids. Weldon is waiting for the cops, but he’s going to need stitches, and I don’t know if Jakob’s really okay. Or Pepper.”
“Okay. You want us with him or you?” Dixon’s sure voice was what he needed to hear. He’d counted on his big brother’s steady presence since the day he was born. He was grateful as fuck to have it now.
“Go to Weldon. He needs y’all.”
“We’re on it,” Audie said. “You call us right away if the situation changes.”
“Roger. Out.” He looked back in the rearview. “Come on, cowkids, let’s ride.”
He wasn’t going to fucking let anyone hurt his babies.
“Dan-Dan….”
“I got this, Caleb. Okay? Everything’s gonna be fine.” He eased back on the road, needing to make sure Mel was okay. She had to be.
“Is Daddy okay?”
“Your dad is a stud, I swear.”
“A stud?” Caleb asked, and Emma made the save.
“He’s like a superhero. He is so cool.”
Caleb sniffled. “For reals?”
“Totally.”
Good girl, Em. Good deal. Caleb was so into superheroes right now. That was the perfect tack to take.
Dan turned off at their lane. The gate was down, hanging from one fucking hinge. Goddamn, the bastard had rammed it.
“Hang on!” Dan called to the kids. He was going in as if his F-150 was a tank and he was storming the house. “When we get to the house, we’ll go in the back door. Emma, I need you to hold Caleb’s hand very tight. Got it? Say, ‘Yes, sir!’”
“Yes, sir!” They spoke as one.
“Okay, Caleb. You and me, fast as we can together.” Emma had to be so scared, but she was holding together, so well.
He was so proud of his little soldier. Emma was a fucking trooper. Dan would run them in, keeping himself between the yard and the kids, making him the target.
He parked, and Emma didn’t hesitate, she tugged Caleb out and grabbed the little boy’s hand. “Now, Caleb. Now. Now. Dan-Dan said. Now.”
Mel was standing at the door, Weldon’s .32 in her hand. “Come on, kiddos. Now. Come watch cartoons. You want this, Dan? Is Abe okay? I haven’t talked to him.”
“I do. Weldon is with Jakob waiting for the police. Take them all to the master. The gate is down. I’m going on foot to find the son of a bitch.”
“Be careful, honey. We need you.”
He knew that. He also knew that his calling in life was to serve and protect—whether it was his country or this group of kids—and he was going to deal with this shit. Boyd was going down.
Dan checked the pistol quickly before heading out. With the new grade on the road, he’d seen where Boyd had pulled off to circle around, and he would go the opposite direction, keeping to the cover of the outbuildings.
He ducked and listened, thankful as hell that he had a full moon to light the way. No footsteps sounded, but he heard the dogs barking like fiends. The most telling sound, though, was Barney, the donkey. He was going apeshit.
Bingo. Barney and the zebra had moved to the little paddock behind the tractor barn so Emma’s new Percheron had room to settle in.
He almost felt sorry for Boyd. That donkey was evil incarnate, and the llama thought the kids were his flock. They would protect themselves, violently if necessary. Hell, the zebra was far from domesticated.
Dan moved low and slow, keeping his head down but his eyes up. He needed the upper hand.
He heard a bray, a grunt, and a wild flurry of hooves. Then he hit the lights for the pasture and saw Boyd standing there wearing nothing but a pair of trashed-out shorts, hands over his belly. Funny, tore up like that, he looked a hell of a lot less like their oldest son.
That made it way easier to go rough on him.
Dan pointed the pistol and cocked it. “Stop right there, buddy.”
“I’m here for my son.”
High as a kite and paranoid and a fucking looney, more like. This fuck was never coming near Jakob or anyone else again.
Dan advanced, knowing the police would be on their way. He just needed to make his point before hog-tying this piece of shit. “I want you to listen to me, man, and listen close, because I will only say this once. I was in an elite military unit for years, and I picked my fucking teeth with the bones of smarter assholes than you. I know where you live. I know where to find you. I will hunt you down and make you wish you were never born, twice.”
Boyd began to back up, but he was gonna end up with his back against the donkey fence. Dan followed, smiling.
“You will not be the first man I’ve killed in my career, but you might be the first I will enjoy tearing up. I’d stay still, if I were you.”
“Fuck you! That’s my son!”
When Boyd fetched up against the fence, Dan rushed him, moving too damned quick for that drugged brain to even register in time. He slammed his arm across Boyd’s chest, then pressed the barrel of the pistol to Boyd’s forehead. “No. You fail to understand. I’ll use small words. Jakob is Weldon’s son. And mine. And if you ever show up here again, no one will find your body.” He stared into Boyd’s eyes, making sure the fucker saw his determination.
The sound of water hitting the ground made his eyes roll. God save him from assholes who started trouble and pissed themselves when Dan decided to stop it.
“I think you get my point. Give me your fucking hands.” He took one hand and spun Boyd around, slamming it up between his shoulder blades. “The other. Now.”
He grabbed Boyd’s hands and walked him closer to the house, where he chucked the pistol under the porch. Why explain when you didn’t have to? He could see the lights now, hear the sirens. Dan stopped next to the porch rail, then held Boyd in place with one hand so he could strip off his belt and tie up the man’s hands.
“Do yourself a favor, asshole, forget this place, forget that boy. He’s sixteen. You got nothing. No. Chance.” At the final two words, he tugged his belt up, making Boyd cry out.
What a giant fucker. The donkey should have been the scary one….
The police showed up, three cars, and it didn’t take more than Mel telling them that one, this wasn’t Boyd’s kid and two, the fucker had tried to abduct a blind kid, before Boyd was in the back of a cop car and Dan was on the phone to his brother.
“Where are Weldon and Jakob?”
“We’re at the ER. Audie stayed until they towed the truck. He’s on his way here now. Weldon got stitches and a few chest X-rays, but Jakob’s fine. How are the rest of the kids?”
