Page 34 of Erotic Behavior (Observant Behaviors)
“What happened?”
“She went after William and I… I just lost it.I pushed her away, and she was so drunk she fell.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“I called an ambulance.They are on their way.I think she broke something.”
“It’s okay, Ashlee.I’ll be right there.”
I hung up and looked over at Raven.I couldn’t leave her, but my sister needed me.I guess today would be the first of many tests.If she took one look at the mess my family was and decided to leave me I couldn’t blame her, but there was no way I’d leave her alone when she was this upset about Talia.
“Come on.You’re going to need to come with me.”
Silence
Raven
Becketthadn’tsaidaword since we got in the car.I had no idea who the Ashlee was that called his phone, but the entire thing caused a huge shift in his behavior.So much so that I put my worries for Talia on the back burner until I could figure out what was going on with Beckett.He didn’t tell me where we were going, but as we pulled up a long private drive that ended with a house the size of a small castle, I realized I was way out of my league once more.There was an ambulance in the driveway with the backdoors open and the lights on.
I sat in the car and waited for Beckett to come around and open my door.My nerves were shot.Between everything with Talia and now pulling up to someone named Ashlee’s home with no idea what was going on, I was an emotional wreck.Beckett opened my door and leaned down, reaching across me to unbuckle my seatbelt.When he helped me out of the car, he paused and looked down at me.
“I didn’t want to leave you, but I realize now this is something I should have shared with you sooner.I don’t want anything you see today to scare you, but I need you with me for this.Do you think you will be okay?”
“Beckett, what is this all about?”
He looked back at the house and all he said was, “My mother.”
When he reached for my hand, I held his and wrapped my other arm around him as we made our way up the oversized stairs that took us to the front door.He opened it and walked in with me tucked into his side.The first thing that caught my eye was an older woman laying on a stretcher near the entryway as the paramedics worked on her.She was angrily pushing one of them away and yelling at anyone who got too close.Beckett just shook his head and walked past her, even after she saw him, and started calling out for him.
“Beckett, my boy!Come, tell these men to leave me alone,” she went on as we walked past her, “Where are you going?Beckett!”
Her yells made me jump, and he wrapped an arm around me as we walked down a long hallway until we reached a child’s room.He walked straight in and scooped up the small boy who was playing with some toys on the floor.His face lit up when he saw Beckett, and he wrapped his tiny arms around his neck.I looked over at the gorgeous woman who was playing with him.She had tanned skin and long blonde hair that shone under the light of the chandelier in the center of the room.But when she looked up at us, the sadness on her face was unmistakable.She had what appeared to be the start of a black eye and seemed to favor her left side as she went to stand.
“Are you okay, big guy?”Beckett’s voice pulled my attention back to him and the small child.
An ache in my chest radiated through my body, and my mind started reeling at all the possibilities.Beckett said this was about his mother, who must have been the woman with the paramedics, but who were these people?Was Ashlee someone from his past?He looked at this boy as if the world revolved around him and the jealousy that spiked in me was frightening.The same day I told him I wasn’t pregnant, I’m brought here to meet his son.This couldn’t be happening.
Beckett shifted the boy to his hip, and I watched as the blonde approached him and he pulled her in for a hug.I felt like an outsider, and I didn’t belong here.The little boy reached for his mother and Beckett passed him over to her as if he had done so a million times before.Then when his hand came up to push the hair out of her face and look at her bruised eye, I couldn’t take it any longer.I knew deep in my heart there was a lot about Beckett Haynes that I didn’t know, but I thought I knew enough about the man he was to know that he wasn’t a bad person.Making me stand here and watch this whole thing made me question everything I thought I knew about him.Maybe he wasn’t the good man I had told myself he was.
I turned from the room as he spoke to her quietly.The ringing in my ears drowned out any words that were being said.I ran back down the hallway we had walked up and found the living room empty.I didn’t know where I was going, but I knew I couldn’t stay here.Beckett had an entire life I knew nothing about, a wife, a child.Maybe it was an ex-wife, but despite that, how could he not have told me about all this?I opened the front door and ran down the steps, ignoring the screams of the woman that was being loaded into the ambulance, and I ran down the grassy hill on the side of the house.I could see a tree line not far off and headed in that direction.Running was a chickenshit way to deal with all of this, but at the moment it was the only thing I could think to do.I needed space, somewhere away from Beckett where I could get my thoughts about me.
As I crossed the tree line and stepped under the covering of the tall oaks, I saw a pathway cut into the brush and made my way over to it.I followed it for some time until I came to a clearing in the woods.There was an old playset there with a bench that had seen better days, but it would work for what I needed.I sat down and leaned over, covering my face as the tears of heartbreak consumed me.Not only had I lost Talia, but the man I had fallen head over heels for really was too good to be true.The silence that surrounded me was my only comfort and I needed it more than I was willing to admit.
Running Away
Beckett
Iwastooconsumedby what my sister had told me to realize Raven was gone.When I passed William back to her and saw the swelling in her face and how she was holding her side in pain, the fury of what my mother had done consumed me in a way it hadn’t before.Her taking her anger out on me when I was younger was one thing, but the thought that she had gone after my nephew burned a new level of hatred into my heart.
“Beckett, she’s gone,” Ashlee said as she looked past me and into the hallway.
I turned to find the place Raven was standing empty, as if she had never been there to begin with, and my heart dropped into my stomach.I immediately knew something was very wrong.Raven wouldn’t just run on me.Not unless something had seriously bothered her.We were growing closer every day, and she continually told me how I was the only person she had.Which meant I fucked something up, and I had a feeling I knew what it was.
“Are you okay?I’m going to make sure they left with mom and find Raven.”
“Yeah, of course.Go get her.”
I gave William a quick kiss on the forehead and headed out into the main part of the house.My hopes of finding her standing in the foyer or even in the car threatening to leave were quickly dismissed as I took in the quiet house.The paramedics had left, and that was best for all of us.Deep inside me, I took a deep breath, knowing if what they had suspected was true, my mother would be gone for a while.A broken hip would require surgery and rehab, which would buy some time for me to convince Ashlee she needed to leave.I stood in the driveway and tried Raven’s cell phone.It rang twice, and she sent me to voicemail.I flipped through my phone and found the app to locate her.I clicked the option to find Raven, thankful that we had turned that feature on when we added her to my plan.I heard a faint beeping noise coming from the woods, and headed in the direction the phone indicated, until suddenly it stopped.She’d turned it off, but at least I knew where she was now.The woods near the house were my old stomping grounds.It was the one place I could hide away when my mother was on a rampage, and the place I spent time in even after my father died, when I needed a break from her but couldn’t bring myself to leave her here alone.