The power, p.9
The Power, page 9
“I shit you not. The guy’s always got a new car because he keeps giving them to people. He just signs the title now and leaves it in the glovebox for whoever ends up with the car.
“Anyway, Adrian gives her the car, and he walks back over to the guy that needs a coat. He starts digging through the pile to find one that’s the right size while talking to the guy about a men’s rehab that could help him put a life back together, that living on the street never ends well.”
Hennessy took a drink of his shake before continuing.
“You know how many of the people he’s helped have visited his house?” Hennessy held up his hand in a circle. “Zero. So, I dug deep on Wednesday. You can be offended. But you’re still gonna answer me. Why’d you run? Where’d you go?”
Lucy took a deep breath and blew it out. Closing her eyes for a minute, she slouched back in the chair.
“This is you and me talking. No one else gets to know through me,” Hennessy said.
She looked at him with raised eyebrows.
He nodded at her.
“One of the boys didn’t respect boundaries. Linda had an aunt she thought would help us. It didn’t work out. She…Linda started collecting boyfriends that would take care of her. That wasn’t a solution for me, just more of why I ran in the first place.
“I was homeless for a while, panhandling and doing small jobs that I could find, avoiding people as much as possible. No shelters. No homeless camps. I didn’t want to be found. Linda would help when she could.
“The weather turned cold. A little old Polish lady found me trying to huddle in her alley to keep warm. Said she could hear my teeth chattering in the wind three blocks away. She let me stay with her. I cleaned. Shopped. Took care of her. She was dying of cancer. Her kids didn’t spend much time with her. She died two months before I turned eighteen. By that time, no one was looking for me.”
“No prostitution? Drugs? I ain’t judging, and neither would Adrian. If there’s history, proof, I need to dig for it now, before it’s in circulation.”
“No. No drugs. No selling. That would have been more of what I ran from.”
“You resurfaced. Got a job. A place to live. GED. Community college. Linda lived with you off and on. She got pregnant. You had a falling out. She calls one day, and what? What was the story when she dropped the kid off?”
“She thought I was trying to steal her boyfriend. His family was well off, her ticket home, she said. He made a pass at me. I declined; she took it badly. Didn’t want to talk to me for a while. When she called, she said she was in trouble and needed to leave Henry somewhere safe for a day or two. I told her to come to stay, too. She said no.
“I called the cops four days later. Took what money I had and hired a lawyer. Got guardianship of Ree.”
“Where did John come in?”
“Wow. You were thorough,” Lucy said as she took a drink of shake.
Hennessy nodded.
“I was tending bar. Two years ago, a little more. He was a regular. Not much of a drinker but liked being out and about. He was nice. Interested in me. Interested in Ree. A kind ear when Ree was diagnosed when all this started.
“I’d known him for most of a year before he asked me out. Dinner seemed innocent enough, and it was. The next day, he buzzed my apartment. I was surprised he knew where I lived but wasn’t really alarmed. When I opened the apartment door, David was standing with him. I couldn’t close the door fast enough. The guy that lived next door was a cop. He heard me fighting, yelling for help. Came running in his fucking underwear. He was dead asleep.
“They weren’t armed when they came into the apartment. They got off on a plea. John had never been in trouble before; David had no record as an adult. The cop next door helped me file for restraining orders.
“Over the next few months, I would see David or John following me. Following Ree. I made reports. No one seemed to care.
“About that time, Medicaid wrote Henry off as a lost cause. Everything I had and more went into treatments that didn’t work. The state gave us rent assistance. We moved to that horrible apartment. On the upside, they couldn’t stalk me there. They stood out worse than I did.”
“Have you seen either of them in the last couple of months?” Hennessy asked.
“I thought I saw John last month in a hospital parking lot, but then he was gone. Do you know how they’re related? I’m not sure what the connection is between them,” Lucy said.
“They were foster brothers when they were younger. Does Ree know you’re not his biological aunt? Does Adrian?”
“No. And it doesn’t matter.”
“Pfft. You’re telling me that? Fuck you too, Lou. All right. You sure there’s no dirt to dig?” Hennessy asked.
“I’d tell if there was.”
“Has he seen the scars?” Hennessy asked.
“Adrian? No.”
“Don’t let the scars take him by surprise. Have this talk with him.”
“This whole thing confuses the fuck out of me, Hennessy. What do you think he wants from me? Someone to play house with?”
Hennessy snorted. “I think he wants you and Henry to be safe and well. That’s all. You’re not the type of woman he gets involved with. He ain’t looking for anything.”
“People aren’t this nice,” Lucy disagreed.
“These people are.” Hennessy shrugged. “Always have been to me, at least. Took me a while to get used to it, too. Your cynicism irritates the fuck out of Adrian, and it’s hard to irritate him. Might want to tone that down a bit. When I saw him this morning, he was as close to truly angry as I’ve ever seen. I don’t want to see any closer.”
Hennessy’s cell phone started ringing to Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me with Your Best Shot.”
“The fuck,” he muttered before answering. “Yeah, boss. Wrapping up. Maybe an hour.” And then he hung up. “We’re putting a security system on the house. You’re getting a panic button—”
“Hennessy, you can’t do that. This isn’t my house. I don’t want to bother—”
“Lou, he told me to do it. Ree told him about the bad people this morning. He called me before they were even in the door of the hospital,” Hennessy said gently.
“Oh.”
“It was a five-year-old’s perspective, which he interpreted to mean that there were a pair of guys stalking you. Not wrong, but not really a complete picture. He’s super pissed off at me, by the way. It’d be good if you had this talk with him.”
“Why’s he mad at you? It’s my bullshit.”
“Because I knew and didn’t tell him. It ain’t his business until you make it his business. But you should make it his business. He wants to help.”
“I’m not sleeping with him, Hennessy. I’m not dating him. He doesn’t need to deal with my bullshit,” Lucy said, looking at her sandwich.
“I know this is a novel concept—completely foreign to you. But I’m going to throw it out there for consideration. I think he’s trying to be a friend. Now, a friend is a person that cares about your wellbeing and is involved in your bullshit. Typically, they aren’t paid or—”
“For fuck’s sake, shut it, Hennessy,” Lucy said with a small smile.
“That’s better. Now say cheese for the picture!”
“Aunt Lucy! Lookit what I got!” Ree yelled as he charged into the house.
“Hi, baby! I missed you. Were you good today? What you’d get?” Lucy asked.
“I was good. Uncle Sam came, and we played Go Fish, and then I had bloodwork. And then Grandma Darla came to say hi, and then Uncle Ethan brought me this!” He was waving a tablet around.
“Wow, Henry. You seem to have acquired a lot of family today,” Lucy said, giving Adrian side-eye.
“That was not my doing. That was Sam’s doing,” Adrian clarified. “Also, watching Sam play Go Fish was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.”
“Smart man rule number three: Never bet against Uncle Sam,” Henry said, entirely serious.
“Really?” Lucy asked Adrian.
“Words to live by,” Adrian replied with a grin. “I see Hennessy was here.”
“Uh, yeah. About that—” Lucy started.
“Nope. It’s done. Did he tell you there are also people watching the house?” Adrian asked.
“Like spying?” Lucy’s eyebrows hiked up.
“Ha! That’s what I said, too. No, a security detail. Apparently, they’ve been watching since Tuesday. He told you he’s looking for them?” Adrian asked.
“Looking for who?”
“What exactly did Hennessey tell you? Because it doesn’t seem like he told you anything. They’re looking for the guys. You have the panic button?”
Another nod. “I’m sorry—”
“Lucy, the only part that makes me mad is that you didn’t say anything. The rest of it is inconsequential.”
“What’s the matter? Adrian, you’re not mad at us, are you?” Henry asked.
“No, I’m not mad at you! Everything’s fine.” Adrian smiled at Ree. “Can I show you some things, Henry?”
After a tour of security panels and teaching Ree the code, Adrian showed him the sensors on the windows and the cameras outside. Then Adrian asked Lucy to hit the panic button.
At her doubtful look, he said, “Hennessy suggested it so he wouldn’t be scared if they came in the house at some point.”
She flipped the clasp on the bracelet and hit the button. In less than a minute, there was a loud banging on both doors as the two teams let themselves in.
“Wow,” Lucy said.
“Aunt Lucy, they have guns. Maybe they’ll shoot the bad people!” Henry yelled, excited.
After a round of introductions, the teams went back to work.
“No more worrying about the bad people, okay?” Adrian said.
“That was so cool!”
“What are you making? It smells lemony,” Adrian asked while setting the table.
“Is lemony okay? Do you not like citrus?”
“Lucy, I will literally eat any type of food you put in front of me besides live bugs and Brussel sprouts,” he said, looking at his phone with a smile.
“You’ll eat dead bugs?”
“I have eaten dead bugs, yes. They’re crunchy.” Adrian looked up to find her staring at him with a perplexed expression. “What?”
“Why in the world did you eat bugs? Was it a dare?”
“Ah. Where is a better question. Where in the world did I eat bugs? I spent six months in Uganda before I took over leadership of the Foundation. Bugs, grasshoppers, in particular, are a common dietary element. Definitely not something I crave, don’t get me wrong. But that tells you exactly how nasty Brussel sprouts are to me.” Adrian grinned at her. “Why are you smirking at me?”
She laughed. “I didn’t mean to be smirking at you. But there have been times that I have been starving. I’ve eaten food out of dumpsters. I don’t think I could knowingly swallow a bug, dead or alive, if my life depended on it.”
Adrian’s expression changed to something unrecognizable for a few seconds then shifted back to curiosity. “You didn’t answer me. What are you cooking?”
“Chicken Vesuvio. Impractical for Chicago in June, but it sounded good.”
“Are there potatoes involved in this?” Adrian asked.
“There are,” she confirmed.
“Did you make a lot of it?”
“I did. I learned after the eggs. It’s a giant roaster full of chicken and potatoes. We’ll be eating leftovers for a week.”
Adrian smiled. He wasn’t smiling at her. Wasn’t looking at her. But the smile was definitely for her.
“The bruising really bothers you, doesn’t it?” she asked before she thought better of it.
“What do you mean? You’re healing well. It’s deep bruising and a broken nose. It’s going to take a while to get better,” he said, looking at his phone again.
She chewed on her lip and then remembered her lip was torn.
Should I ask? Do I want to go there? I want to know why, but it’ll be awkward, Lucy thought.
Adrian lifted his eyebrows, still focused on his phone. “I can almost hear your mind spinning.”
“Ha, the hamster is off the wheel right now. I’m on my own.” She laughed. “You don’t look at me. Make eye contact. Unless you’re startled into it, or you’re upset, you look at anything else but me. I assumed the bruising makes you uncomfortable—”
“The bruising makes me angry,” he interrupted. “Not uncomfortable. Angry. I should have pushed harder for you to stay here. You brought back like five bags of clothes and two pictures. Will and Hennessy could have gotten that stuff.
“In retrospect, I should have given that woman the money on Saturday night before I sent her scurrying away. She would have had no reason to bother you.”
An alarm went off on his phone. “Hey, Ree. Did you finish your juice box? Thirsty?” he called into the living room.
“You have an alarm on your phone for his fluid intake?” Lucy asked.
“Don’t judge. I get distracted.”
“I’m not judging,” she said. “I’m wondering why I didn’t think of that.”
Adrian was laughing as he walked toward the living room.
Ree was asleep, sitting up on the couch, tablet in his lap.
Poor kid. No nap today, Adrian thought.
The juice box was empty. Adrian took the tablet out of his lap and shifted him to laying down so he wouldn’t hurt his neck. It was just about six o’clock.
“He’s zonked out in there,” Adrian said quietly as he walked back into the kitchen. “He didn’t nap today. Do you want to wake him up for dinner? He had mac and cheese for lunch. My mom fed him cake and ice cream. Ethan brought him chicken nuggets and french fries. He ate all of it.”
“Dinner will be done in about ten minutes. He might wake up on his own,” Lucy said, subdued.
“What?”
Lucy shrugged. “It’s like with the books. I couldn’t do this for him. Stuff him full of food and keep him busy and happy and stress-free. The only thing I could do for him was watch him die. Hennessy told me earlier that you and your family were the best people on the planet, and I’m starting to agree.”
“You know that’s a load of shit, right? Not the Hennessy thing, but the other stuff. Well, probably the Hennessy thing too, but that’s not the point. You’ve kept him alive and in fighting shape. He’s smart, relatively healthy, amazingly well behaved. And if you hadn’t been at the hospital arguing with that woman in the billing department, fighting for him, we wouldn’t be here now,” he said.
Adrian chanced a quick glance at her; there were tears on her cheeks. He pulled her close for a hug. She fit against him well, the top of her head just a little bit higher than his chin. As her arms wrapped around him, she started crying in earnest. Heaving sobs shook her body against him.
“Lucy, it’s okay. Everything’s going to work out. You’ll see,” he muttered to her. “Don’t do this to yourself.”
“I’m getting your doctor clothes weepy,” she said to his shoulder.
He chuckled. Her arms stayed around him as she turned her head to rest in the crook of his neck.
“It’s been a bizarre week,” she muttered.
They both chuckled at that. As their bodies shifted together with the laugh, a different type of energy rose in Adrian.
Turn your head. Take her mouth. Take her body. She is ours, the energy said, clear as day. The command was clear in Adrian’s brain. Unmistakable.
His face turned to meet hers, both sets of lips parted, a scant inch between them, anticipating the contact.
If Adrian hadn’t had a lifetime of controlling the angry energy, it would have won.
Holy fuck. What the fuck was that? What the fuck is wrong with me now?
In an effort of raw willpower over the impulse, Adrian’s arms dropped from Lucy as he stepped back. “Speaking of doctor clothes, I’m going to go change. I’ll be back in a minute. You’re okay, right?” He didn’t wait for an answer before he briskly walked away.
They talked about cars over dinner. As Lucy was loading the dishwasher, Adrian moved Ree to his bed.
Once the living room was free of sleeping children, Adrian said he was going downstairs for a while. He didn’t come back upstairs before she went to bed at eleven.
We’re really screwing up his routine. We’ll get out of the way soon enough. I wonder what’s in the basement, Lucy thought. Then, It’s really not my business.
After one a.m., Adrian’s muscles gave out. He fell backward off the treadmill, into the cement basement wall, knocking himself unconscious for a minute. When he came to, he had trouble making his body stand.
He had fed that new energy all the rage he could find in himself. He cycled it all in and then beat it out of his body. It didn’t help. That other energy was still welled in the pit of his stomach, waiting, completely unchanged.
The rage had never spoken to him before. Never in words. Impulse. Reaction. Never words. He had no idea what this new thing was.
He wouldn’t think about it now. Too tired. And hungry. So hungry. He’d eaten an entire box of energy bars. He needed more. There were leftovers in the fridge. Just as soon as he could climb the stairs.
Lucy woke to the sound of rustling in the kitchen shortly before two a.m.
What the hell?
The alarm hadn’t gone off. There were no alerts on her phone. She’d have an alert if a security alarm had been triggered.
Did Ree finally wake up, looking for a snack?
She headed toward the kitchen to help him, only to find a sweaty, shirtless Adrian standing in the kitchen eating cold chicken and potatoes out of the storage bowl.
