“He’s not here, and he’s not coming here. So stop looking for him. If it were completely up to me, you’d never see him again.” Green smiled evilly. “I’m working on that.”
Ruxs’ mom tugged at the collar of her orange jumpsuit, scratching her neck roughly. The skin looked like it was rubbed raw. She was detoxing. Her mouth looked dry, and her eyes couldn’t settle on one thing for longer than two seconds. “Who do you think you are?”
“Shut the fuck up and listen,” Green barked at her, making her jump a foot in the air. Her mouth dropped open in surprise, her eyes as wide as saucers. “I’m here to make a deal with you. You’re going to take it and you’re going to like it.”
She gasped, tugged at her collar again as if she was grasping a set of pearls. “You can’t talk to me like that. Armin wouldn’t let you do this to me. Tell him I want to see —”
“Mark! His name is Mark! Say it!” Green stood over her, yelling in her face. The guard burst back through the door, looking angrily at him.
“Everything is fine,” Green said through clenched teeth, sitting back in his chair.
Once the guard left he took a deep breath and began again. “Ms. Ruxsberg. I’ve talked with the DA, he’s willing to drop the assault on an officer charge – which is a felony – and just charge you with one count of possession. But all that can go away at my word.” He watched her fidget in her seat, scratching at the marred skin again.
“What’s the catch?” She smirked. “There’s always a catch.”
“Of course there’s a goddamn catch. First thing is you pleading guilty to the possession charge. Instead of prison you go to a rehab facility in Albany for eighteen months. It’s not a voluntary rehab, you will do the entire year and a half. Second, you do not contact Mark until you’ve served your full eighteen months and you are completely sober. I will put a restraining order in place. If you contact him by phone, in person, by email, by text, by fuckin’ carrier pigeon, your ass goes back to jail to serve your remaining time, plus additional time for violating the order.”
She opened her mouth like she was going to speak but he cut her off fast. “Don’t you dare open your damn mouth, I’m not done. Not only will you do your rehab and drug counseling, but you must also do parenting education as well. If you refuse to cooperate or participate in either of these, you’ll come back to serve your sentence in jail. If it were up to me, I’d let you rot in this place for all the hurt you’ve put Mark through, and I wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep. So don’t fuckin’ test me. Last thing.” Green stood towering over her, his face a contorted, angry mask. “If you ever think of hurting Mark again, if you ever utter one word to him that hurts his feelings. I will come after you with everything I’ve got, and believe me lady; I’ve got one helluva goddamn army. I’ll make sure the DA charges you with any and everything we can think of. And I won’t stop until you’ve been severely fucked by the long dick of the law.”
“Who do you think you are?” she snarled back at him.
“I’m the man that loves your son. So you have to ask yourself. How dangerous does that really make me?”
She eyed him warily. Her shoulders slumped and her face twitched whether from the lack of drugs or from anger he couldn’t tell; either way, he didn’t care. “Do we have a deal or not? Say yes, and you’ll be on your way to getting better, like Mark wants. You say no, and you take your chances with the DA and a jury. So what will it be? You’ve got five seconds to decide.”
She looked up at him, her eyes narrowing like she wanted to rip his head off. Good. He wanted her to be angry, to be upset, to hurt. He needed her to feel just a fraction of what she gave Ruxs last night.
“Fine. Okay, I’ll do the rehab.”
Green got up and went to the door. “The DA will be by tomorrow. Sign the plea agreement papers and the restraining order. I don’t want to hear from you until you’re squeaky clean and ready to be mom of the year to your son. I’m talkin’ June fuckin’ Cleaver. He’s too good for anything less.” Green walked out the door, proud of what he’d done and prouder of what he hadn’t done, which was choke the life out of her like he’d longed too.
“Your shot bud,” Ruxs said leaning against his pool cue. He and Curtis were playing pool and waiting on Green. He was anxious to know what had happened with his mom. After all she’d done, he couldn’t turn his love for her off as easily as she cut hers for him. He heard the balls click together, bringing his attention back to the table. “Good shot.”