Risks had consequences.
I drove out to his place and swapped out the vehicles without going up to the house. It was dark, which left me to assume that everyone was still asleep – and they should be. It was the ass-crack of dawn. I should have been asleep somewhere, too, but I couldn't have stayed with Val and not told her the truth, not after the night we had. She had been so willing to give me ownership of her beautiful body, and more so, of her heart. She didn't fuck, she made love. A tendril of pain ripped through me, stealing the air from my lungs as I got on my bike and pulled on my helmet.
I'd never been the type of guy to let anyone push me around, yet my hands were tied and my head was in a fucking noose. David Scott had far more power than any man I'd ever met.
"Figures." I started the bike and headed home, driving fast in hopes of bleeding out some of my angst before I made it there. My mother didn't need any of my attitude, and I sure as hell didn't want to unload any of my mess onto her. She had plenty of her own problems.
The ride home didn't last nearly long enough, and I was still a little antsy by the time I got there.
My mother's beat-up car was sitting on the side of the house when I drove up, which at least offered a little bit of comfort. Maybe I had the wrong idea in keeping everything from her. She was reasonable and had more sense than I could ever hope to. Talking everything through might help me find a way to get out from under Val's dad and yet still get to keep her in my life.
I chained the bike up and walked into the darkness of the house, feeling my way around for a light, but the lamp wasn't where it should have been.
"What the fuck?" I kicked something and moved down to find the lamp on the ground in pieces. My heart leapt into my throat, and I jumped up, running down the hall blindly. "Mom? Mom? Where are you?"
I flipped on the hall light and went room to room, screaming for my mother. My heart was beating a million miles an hour as I jogged back into the living room with no answers, and not finding her anywhere.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and called her number, but the damn thing was in the kitchen. Something had happened. I was sure of it.
"Ms. Crumms." I opened the back door and jogged down the stairs as I headed over to our next door neighbor’s house. The little old lady never missed a thing. If something happened to my mother, she'd know it.
I banged on the door, trying to calm myself a little so I didn't scare her.
She opened the door and lifted her eyebrow. "Well, dang, Tate. You trying to raise the dead, boy?"
"No, ma'am. I'm looking for my mother. I was out last night and her car is here, but it-"
"That crazy bastard she was dating came back." Ms. Crumms shook her head in disgust.
Sickness washed over me. Not again. Not while I was out.
"And, the cops showed up, too. I guess they had a tracker on him, and he didn't understand what that meant. He beat your poor momma up pretty good, but she's going to be okay now, I think." She reached out and touched my arm. "Come inside and warm up. You're trembling."
"No, thank you, though." Rage pumped through me at not only over my own indiscretions to spend the night away from home, but more so because of Val's father staying true to his word. I turned as Ms. Crumms said something, but I didn't catch it. I lifted my hand and waved as I jogged back toward the house, mumbling my thank you.
David Scott knew that I was with Val, and he wanted to make his point. And, he had.
"This is all my goddamn fault." I jogged up to the house and locked all the doors. I assumed my mother was back at St. Mark's hospital. There was no reason to call when I could be there in fifteen minutes.
The torrent of emotions that raced through me was numbing by the time I reached the hospital. I felt murderous toward Mr. Scott, and yet he had warned me. I had made the decision to disobey him and in that one selfish moment thought that I could dance with the devil and win. That I was something special.
I needed to let Val go. It was the only choice I really had. Time to own up to it.
*
The nurse that showed me to my mother's room was nicer than she had to be, but I was grateful. I was close to losing it, and it wasn't just about all the shit that had happened with Val and her dad, but my worrying over my mother's mental state. I'd finally gotten her past being afraid of her own shadow and now this...three times in the last few weeks.
"Mom?" I walked into the room to find her in a reclined position in the bed, watching the snow fall outside of her window.
"Tate. Hey." She looked over at me and extended her hand. Her lips were busted up pretty bad, as was her eye. She had a few stitches, which was nothing new, and yet my stomach sickened over it. Tears burned my eyes as I moved toward her and pulled her into a careful hug.
"I'm so sorry," I mumbled against her shoulder. "Please forgive me."
"Baby, you're being silly. This was Daniel's fault. He's a bastard, and it's my fault for loving him as much as I did. I shouldn't have ever let him in the house. Not back then, and not today." She tightened her frail arms around me. "The cops said that there will be no more bail for him. He's not getting out again, no matter what."
I nodded, unsure that I trusted myself to speak without bursting into tears, which wouldn't help anyone. I held her against me for a second longer before moving back and wiping at my eyes.
"This is my fault. I should have been there." I glanced behind me and grabbed a chair to pull up beside her bed.