Chapter One-Hundred-Ninety-One
When Cole managed to get away from the Detective that grabbed him he ran the entire way back to his motel that he shares with Max. He ignored all of the aghast looks he was receiving, as he carelessly bumped into passerby’s, not caring how panic-stricken he looks. When he finally got back to the motel, he threw open the door and rushed inside and he shut it behind him, leaned his back up against it and he looked at Max who had quickly sat upright in his bed and looked at his partner with a raised eyebrow.
“What the hell happened to you?”
“Nothing…nothing at all. I went for a jog to release stress. I’m going to go take a shower…” Cole answered between short intakes of breath as he tried to breathe properly. He then walked to the bathroom and Max narrowed his eyes at him.
“You were at the Littrell House weren’t you.” Cole didn’t admit to or deny Max’s question, he just grabbed up a towel and walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. Max groaned and leaned over and reached for the remote and he turned on the television. He knows that if Cole had done anything stupid it would be broadcasted on live television eventually. Once the TV was on he turned it to the news to see they were giving a report on the weather. Max heaved a sigh of relief. Weather talk is a good thing to talk about. As long as Cole’s face wasn’t all over the news he was good. He knows he did something though…he has never seen Cole look so frightened before. He glanced over at his cell phone on the nightstand and wondered to himself whether or not he should inform Sean about Cole’s abnormal behavior. After thinking about it for a couple of moments he reached over and grabbed his phone and he got out of bed and walked out of the motel room not even bothering to put some pants on over his boxers and he shut the door behind him.
~*~*~*~*~
“Max…what’s up? You can’t have information about Aaron and his twin already, I just talked to you.” Sean spoke the moment he turned his phone on and placed it to his ear. He glanced at Trevor who was watching him with a raised eyebrow.
“No, but I have information about Cole that I think you should know about.” Sean narrowed his eyes and Trevor walked over to the other house phone, quietly picked up, and put it to his ear so he could listen in.
“What did the asshole do now?”
“I think he may have gone to the Littrell’s house when he got off the phone with you earlier…and I think he may have done something very stupid because he looks terrified and he ran all the way back here. He was out of breath when he walked in.” Sean let out a low growl and he looked at Trevor who gave him a ‘hold your temper’ kind of look.
“It’s kind of interesting that you with snitch on your friend like that,” Trevor spoke up suddenly.
“He’s no friend of mine. You both know we don’t get a long what so ever and are driving each other nuts out here. Plus I am not about to cover up for his ass and get myself killed right a long with him.”
“Smart move. I like you. I think we’ll keep you around for awhile longer.” Sean replied.
“Awhile longer, sir?” Max asked in the politest tone that he could muster though both men on the other end could hear how intimidated he sounds. Sean smirked. He likes it when people fear him.
“That’s quite a compliment coming from Sean, just take it and be grateful” Trevor replied while rolling his eyes some at his best friend.
“Anyway, we’ve gotta go. We’ll be up there first thing tomorrow morning. Do not tell Cole we’re coming,” Sean replied and Trevor raised his eyebrow.
“Okay I won’t,” Max promised and both Trevor and Sean hung up their phones. As soon as they did Trevor looked at Sean.
“Once you kill him we’re going to have a hard time finding a replacement partner for Max,” he reminded.
“No we won’t. I already know who.”
“Well do you mind including me on the plan at all?”
“Conner.”
“Conner?!”
“Yes Conner.”
“But he is thirteen years old! He couldn’t possibly…”
“That’s exactly the point, and yes he is too ready.” Trevor suddenly caught onto Sean’s plan.
“The Carter Boy…” Sean nodded.
“Mhm. Conner is going to befriend Aaron.”
“But he is a kid Sean, are you sure you can work with a kid? You have too much of a temper and kids can be testy.”
“I worked with Kori didn’t I?”
“And look how great that turned out.”
“Do NOT doubt me Trevor, please. I’ve been doubted way too much today and I am already on edge!”
“I’m not. But we all know you don’t think before you act I am just doing what I’ve always done…back you up. I’m on your side Sean you can calm down.”
“I really think Conner would be a good plan. If he befriended Aaron it would be a whole lot easier for us to get closer to Ashley. He would be right there listening to all of their plans and everything – and it would be easier to turn Aaron away from Nick too.”
“Okay, but there is always the problem where Kori or Ashley might recognize him.”
“Neither of them know him.”
“But Ashley has a trust problem now, no thanks to us. What if she senses he’s trouble?”
“We’ll think about it if we come across that problem. Everybody will just think it’s because she was raped and that it will just take time for her to get used to him.”
“Nick trusts her instincts though. He was the only one who believed she was right about me.”
“Like I said…we’ll address that problem if we come across it. But I’m using Conner.” Trevor nodded.
“All right…you’re the boss. I’ll go call him,” He surrendered and he walked away from Sean.
~*~*~*~*~*~
When Kevin and Howie arrived at the Richardson Household they walked inside and were surprised to see each kid sitting in their own little corner doing their own little thing very quietly. Kevin and Howie both wore identical confused faces as they looked at Q and Ann who were sitting on the couch talking quietly but had stopped once the door opened. Ann was holding Laila whom was half-asleep but at the sound of the door opening she opened her eyes and asked in a quiet hopeful voice ‘J?’ she turned and saw Kevin and Howie there. Howie! That’s close enough in Laila’s eyes.
“’OWIE!” she exclaimed happily, and she slid from Ann’s lap and went running. Howie chuckled and knelt down and he opened his arms just on time for the baby to come running into them.
“Hi munchkin…we’ve gotta teach you, your H’s otherwise someone is going to think you’re hurt.” Laila snuggled into him and he kissed her forehead softly before standing up with her.
“What’s going on?” Kevin asked curiously as he looked around at the kids and noticed two were missing out of the crew.
“They all broke out into a huge fight in the middle of my living room,” Ann replied, half amused at the situation.
“Yeah, so I stuck each and every one of their naughty butts in time out,” Q added.
“And they’ve been in time out for how long?” Howie asked curiously as his eyes landed on Ryan looking none to pleased with the boy.
“They aren’t really in time out anymore, it’s more like quiet time in your own little space. I gave them something to do until you all came back. They’ve been there for twenty minutes.”
“And where are Ellie and Josh?” Kevin questioned. “Surely they were involved in the fight too. They always are…”
“Actually, no, they weren’t…” Kevin raised his eyebrow as did Howie and they looked at Q as if he is on something.
“They weren’t?” Howie double checked, making sure he heard him right.
“Nope. The fight was about Ellie, but she ran upstairs crying and instead of joining Dakota, Sarah, and Spencer in beating up Ryan for being a brat Josh ran upstairs after her. I knew he would take care of it, so I decided to leave him to it.”
“What did Ryan say or do now?” Howie asked, his eyes never leaving the boy who is lying in his corner reading his book and pretending not to hear Howie.
"He said Ellie should've stayed with her father when caught, so everybody here would have less grief. Basically, that everything's that's been happening is all her fault. No matter what anyone says, and that she gets special treatment and the rest of them don't."
“Ryan David Sawyer,” Howie lectured keeping a very firm tone. “Bring me that book. You don’t get it back until our trip home.”
“BUT I am almost finished with it! I want to finish it!”
“I don’t care you should have thought about that before you said such lies to Ellie!”
“But –“
“NOW.”
“NO! This book means everything to me, I WON’T hand it over!”
“You’ll hand it over to me or I will take it from you and keep it much longer then I said I would.” Ryan’s eyes filled with tears and he got up and walked over to Howie who held his hand out for the book. Ryan handed it over and looked away from him with resentment.
“Until you start being nice to Ellie and the other kids I will keep taking things from you. It’s simple as that Ryan.”
“WHY does she always get what she wants?” Ryan practically yelled.
“None of these kids get special treatment. They all get punished when they do wrong. Ellie gets put in time out everytime she misbehaves.”
“But you’ve never taken her toys away from her before! Like you have with me!”
“Yes I have,” Kevin replied calmly. “I took all of her toys away and made her sit in her room by herself without friends for an entire day.”
“What about that Raphael doll? She kicked the machine and she still got it!”
“That wasn’t me, that was the man at the bowling ally. He put me in a very bad position.”
“She is still a spoiled brat,” Ryan insisted in an undertone.
“I will admit I spoil her but you get pretty spoiled too and act like a brat so you’re preaching the choir kid.”
“And let me tell you something else Ryan,” Howie spoke up again. “At least you had a good father who loved you with all his heart but what about Ellie who didn’t? How would you like it if you were in her shoes? Did you know her father used to beat her and lock her in a closet and never once gave her any hugs or told her he loved her? Or left her a nice library in his will? How would you like it if the tables were turned and your father was that way? Wouldn’t you want a little love and attention and to be spoiled sometimes too?”
“Ellie sure needed lots of it,” Dakota spoke up suddenly.
“That’s right, she did,” Kevin agreed as he wrapped his arms around Dakota and pulled her into a hug.
“She didnts have any toys when she first came to the orphanage. She didnts think kids were supposeds to have any.”
“She would barely ever let me put her down the first couple of days too, she was quiet and afraid. She had nightmares every night and hid in the closet where she felt the safest because that was the only place her father wouldn’t hurt her at.” Kevin explained in a sad tone. “She still does that sometimes when I yell at her for doing something wrong and it makes me feel really bad because she’s afraid I’m going to beat her like he did.”
“You’ve never had to go through that Ryan, have you?” Howie asked while kneeling down beside the nine-year-old and wrapping an arm around him despite his stubborn attempts to push him away. “You’ve always had someone to love you buddy...always. Your mom may be going through a lot but you know deep down inside, she loves you. But Ellie has never experienced that until she walked into our lives. So forgive us for showering her with hugs and kisses every chance we get and sometimes spoiling her with brand new toys…or that we sometimes appear to be blind about the small things she does. She deserves it. Just like you deserve to be loved on and stuff because you’re grieving over your father. You both have equal amount of problems and we’re dealing with it the best way we know how. So why don’t you give her…and us a little break here?”
“Kay…” Ryan replied softly and he rubbed at his eyes.
“If you go upstairs and apologize to Ellie…and mean it with your heart I will consider giving this book back to you later tonight…because we’re fair people and tend to give kids a chance to fix their mistakes.”
“Why not right now?” Ryan asked eagerly.
“Don’t push it kid. You need to give me time to see that you’ve turned your behavior around…for good and that its not just an act to get your book back. Got it?” Ryan nodded quietly and Kevin stood up with Dakota rested on his right hip.
“Come on Ryan…lets go find her shall we?” and he led the way up the stairs. Howie following behind them with Ryan’s book tucked safely under his arm. When they got upstairs Kevin had a feeling he would find her in his room in his closet. Why he got the feeling, he does not know. Maybe its just because he knows his Ellie inside and out and where she would hide by now. He went in there and he opened up his closet and sure enough, there was Josh sitting in the back corner leaning against the wall with Ellie lying in his lap and he is playing with her hair idly.
“Kevy!” Elenore exclaimed, as she is happy to see that he really didn’t leave her forever after all. Kevin gave her a sad smile.
“Hi baby…come on out of there…you’re safe,” he reassured. Elenore gave him a skeptical look at first but then she felt Josh’s hand squeeze hers and suddenly felt that everything really was all right. She sat up and reached for Kevin and he bent down and scooped her up into his arms before carrying her out of the closet and Josh got up and followed. He kissed her forehead softly and knelt down before placing her on her feet so she is standing in front of him. “I love you very much Ellie and nothing that happened to Jackie is your fault. Okay?”
“You promise?” Elenore asked while sniffling somewhat.
“I promise.”
“But it was my daddy who hurted her…”
“That’s right, it was him who hurt her but that doesn’t mean its your fault.”
“But he’s my daddy…an’ he wants me…”
“You’re not responsible for your father’s actions. He is a bad boy who never got put in time out by his daddy. You’re a good girl who gets put in time out for her bad behavior. You will not turn out just like him…so stop worrying okay?” Kevin reassured gently.
“How do you knows?”
“Because I am your Kevy and I know you. That’s how I know,” he told her while smiling some and he playfully poked her in the nose. “Silly.”
“You’re my Kevy?” Elenore asked softly and he rested his forehead against hers and gazed into her eyes.
“Forever and ever babe. I’m not going anywhere,” he reassured and he bent down and rubbed his nose over hers affectionately. She smiled some and he wiped her tears away. “I have someone here who would like to apologize,” he added and he pulled back a little and looked at Ryan causing Elenore to do the same. She snuggled into Kevin and looked at Ryan with hurt in her eyes. Josh suddenly took Elenore’s hand into his and squeezed it and he glared at Ryan. Ryan ignored Josh’s looks and kept his gaze on Elenore.
“I’m sorry…” Ryan apologized for the very first time since the two of them had known each other. “For stepping on your hand…and for saying all of those things I said,” he added and to Josh’s surprise he could hear the sincerity in his voice. Kevin looked down at Elenore then and he rubbed his hand over her back gently.
“Kay…” she replied softly and to everybody’s surprise Ryan stepped forward, wrapped his arms around Elenore and hugged her.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
Enjoy =)
