Beyond Broken (The Bay Boys #3) (38 page)

Just as she reached the front porch, Peter pulled out his key and opened the creaking door.
 
His eyes were wide and panicked, so Maddie tried to be calm for his sake, although it didn’t stop her heart from trying to beat its way out of her chest.
 
During the drive, all she’d been doing was second guessing herself.
 
It wasn’t because she was scared of what might happen if Peter’s dad caught them, but how
Caleb
would react when he found out.
 
Every time she talked herself out of going, every time she told herself that they were being stupid and reckless, she would remember the longing in Peter’s voice.

All he wanted was one little thing.
 
He was a great kid and, as far as she was concerned, he was a part of their odd little family.
 
She wanted to give him whatever he wanted because he deserved it.
 
If he wanted his birth certificate, then he’d get it.

Maddie would just have to deal with Caleb later.
 
She couldn’t keep something like this from him.

The two of them crept inside the dark house.
 
The smell hit Maddie first.
 
The air was stale and sour and the unmistakeable smell of rum lingered.
 
It didn’t take much for Maddie to become nauseous these days.
 
She’d read that morning sickness was only supposed to last sixteen weeks—which was almost exactly how far along she was—but Maddie had a sneaking suspicion that she’d be one of those lucky women who got to enjoy that stage for longer.

Her face must’ve paled because Peter whispered, a little embarrassed, “You should go wait outside.”

Maddie shook her head, trying to ignore the smell and just focus on what they came there to do.
 
“No, I’m okay.
 
Let’s hurry.”

A quick peek into the living room showed Peter’s father—a middle-aged man dressed in a stained navy blue t-shirt and beer gut hanging over his jeans—sleeping, the television playing a history documentary of the Prohibition era of all things.

Maddie watched Peter as he looked in on his father.
 
It must be hard to see a parent in that state and it saddened Maddie that he seemed almost unfazed.
 
How often had he seen his father in this state?
 
Maddie couldn’t even imagine growing up in a home like this.
 
She’d lived a charmed childhood, with a family who’d loved her and provided for her.
 
It broke her heart that Peter had lived like this most of his life, that
Caleb
had grown up in an even uglier situation.

And now, looking at Peter’s father, Maddie could finally understand what Caleb had been afraid of when he first wanted them to move in together.
 
He didn’t know what a healthy family was like.
 
He’d never experienced it, even living with his uncle because of his sick bitch of an aunt.
 
Maddie knew that Caleb wanted his child to never
ever
go through what he had.
 
That was why he worked so hard, why he didn’t want him and Maddie living apart, why he bought a nice house in a good neighborhood, why he took in Peter.

It was hard for Maddie to
not
fall a little more in love with him because of it.

Swallowing down her tears, she realized that Peter was already making his way down a darkened hallway, so she followed after him, cringing at every sound they made.
 
Peter turned into a bedroom and they rummaged through the closet, looking for the box that contained his birth certificate.
 
As the minutes ticked by, Maddie grew more and more nervous.

“It’s not here,” Peter whispered.
 
“It’s not here.
 
I know it was in a brown box, I’ve seen it.
 
He must’ve moved it.”

“Do you know where he’d—,” Maddie started to ask but then jumped, her heart jolting, when she heard a loud, repetitive banging, followed by a muffled, angry voice.

“Someone’s at the front door,” Peter said, wide eyes turning on her.
 
He looked around the bedroom, his eyes landing on the window.
 
“We can get out through there and go around the back.”

Maddie heard a loud groan from the living room.
 
Heavy footsteps made their way to the front door.
 
The door creaked as it opened and then…Caleb’s voice.

Peter and Maddie looked at each other at the same time with the same wide-eyed expression.

Oh crap.

“Where the fuck are they?” Caleb seethed, his voice tight.
 
“I swear, if you laid one fucking hand on them—”

“Who the hell are you?” Peter’s father slurred.
 
“Get the fuck outta my house!”

There was a loud banging sound and Maddie and Peter both rushed out of the bedroom and back into the living room.
 
They saw Peter’s dad thrown up against the wall, a seriously pissed off Caleb cornering him.

“Caleb, don’t!” Maddie exclaimed, rushing towards them.
 
“We’re here.
 
We’re fine.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Peter’s dad shouted when his bleary eyes turned on her.

When Caleb whipped around, there was no mistaking the relief on his features when he spotted her.
 
But it quickly morphed into rage as he backed away from Peter’s dad and walked towards them.

“Can you tell me,” he started, his voice deceptively quiet, “why the fuck I come home to a note saying you both have come here and why the fuck you thought it was okay?”

Double crap
.

Caleb was perhaps the most pissed off she’d ever seen him.
 
That
was saying something, because Maddie liked to think that she’d seen him in all the stages of being pissed off.
 
The man had a short temper, that was for sure.

She cleared her throat, her eyes darting to the large figure of Peter’s dad, who seemed disoriented and confused.
 
“We came to get Peter’s birth certificate.”

Caleb was three seconds away from losing it.
 
And Maddie knew that the shit hit the fan when his eyes focused on Peter, who was lingering in the doorway and looking terrified.
 
Caleb saw the red swelling on his jawline, which would turn into a bruise in the coming days, and he whirled back around to face Peter’s father.

“Did you hit him?” Caleb asked quietly.

“What the hell are—”

“
Did you hit him
?” Caleb asked, his words clipped in ice and rage.
 
The older man’s face paled and even Maddie found herself backing away a couple steps.

By the way things were going, if Maddie didn’t stop this, she’d be bailing Caleb out of jail tonight.
 
And that was one way she didn’t want to spend her evening.
 
Even from behind, Maddie saw the way his shoulders tensed, his fists clenching and unclenching.

“Caleb,” she murmured, placing a hand on his shoulder.
 
“Let’s just go.
 
Please
.”

“Go to your car and drive home,” he grated.
 
“
Both
of you.”

“Caleb,
please.
 
Don’t do this.
 
Come home with us.”

“I’m not doing anything,” he said.
 
“Now, go.”

Maddie turned him so he was facing her.
 
His skin was hot beneath her fingertips, muscles bunched.
 
“Promise me you’ll be right behind us.”

His eyes were dark, but some of his anger lessened at her words.
 
“I won’t be a minute.”

Peter tugged at her arm, eyeing his father, who had zeroed in on him.
 
“Come on, Maddie, let’s go.”

“You stay right there, you little shit.
 
I’m not finished with you,” his father yelled, stumbling when he tried to come after Peter.
 
Caleb pushed him back, harder than was necessary, and the older man fell to the floor, dazed and groaning.

With a backwards glance at Caleb, Maddie let Peter take her out of the house and back to their car.
 
She wouldn’t leave until Caleb walked out, but she couldn’t see them from where she’d parked the car.
 
She nibbled at her fingernails nervously, counting down the minutes.

“He’ll be okay,” Peter quietly comforted.

“I hope so,” Maddie whispered, on the verge of tears.

*
   
*
   
*

Caleb wondered how the hell he’d found himself in this situation.
 
When he came home early from work, looking forward to a quiet evening of relaxing, he knew something was wrong when the house was empty and when he spotted a note on the kitchen counter from Maddie.

For the rest of his life, he’d never forget the raw panic that had clawed at his throat when he read that note.
 
If anything had happened to her…he didn’t know what he’d do.

A strange mixture of disgust and pity overwhelmed him as he stared down at Peter’s father.
 
The man looked like he hadn’t bathed in days and his bloodshot eyes told Caleb that he’d probably been drinking for just as long.

Instead of his quiet evening, he was now facing down Peter’s drunken father, in a shitty house that reminded him of his mother’s.
 
All it was missing were the tracks of white powder on the coffee table and a stream of strange men.

“Get up,” Caleb ordered.

“Just get outta my house, fucker!”

“Not until we come to an understanding,” he grated.
 
When the man didn’t climb to his feet, Caleb reached down and hauled him up by his t-shirt, shoving him against the wall.

“Where’s Peter’s birth certificate?” Caleb asked.
 
He didn’t know why Maddie and Peter had come here looking for it, but he knew it had to be for good reason.
 
So he wouldn’t leave here without it.

“I’m not telling you anything.
 
Get out before I call the police!”

“Maybe you should call them,” Caleb said.
 
“Maybe then I can tell them how you’ve been beating the shit out of your son for years.
 
I’m sure they’d love to know that.”

Even drunk off his ass, the older man knew that calling the police would mean trouble.

“Now, I’ll ask you one more fucking time.
 
Where is his birth certificate?”

“In the bathroom,” the man mumbled.

Caleb didn’t know why it would be in there but he said, “Go get it.”

Peter’s father got pissed at the order.
 
It was like a light switch going off in his head and it made Caleb more alert.
 
“This is
my
fucking house.
 
I’ll do whatever the fuck I want!”

Caleb wasn’t prepared for the punch that came his way, but thankfully, the older man was uncoordinated and missed.
 
It didn’t stop Caleb from letting his own fist fly into his face, breaking the man’s nose in the process.
 
His knuckles hurt like a bitch afterwards, but the pain alleviated some of the tension that had been building up.

“What the fuck, man?” Peter’s father roared, voice nasally, clutching his nose as blood streamed out.

“
Go get the birth certificate
,” Caleb hissed.
 
“Don’t make me ask again.”

The threat was clear and as the older man stumbled towards a door leading off the hallway, Caleb followed to make sure he didn’t try anything stupid.
 
Next to the most disgusting toilet he’d ever seen, there was a brown box and Caleb retrieved it before Peter’s father could get blood on anything.
 
He rifled through the papers until he located the birth certificate and he folded it into his back pocket before returning to the living room.

“Are you happy now?” the older man asked.
 
“Get out and don’t come back!”

Caleb faced the man.
 
“If you
ever
lay a hand on Peter again or come after him, I will make sure you’re locked up so fucking fast that it’ll make your head spin.
 
Do you understand me?”

“He’s
my
son!
 
I’ll do what I want with him.”

“You’re no father.
 
You don’t give a shit about him.
 
That’s why you don’t even know where the fuck he’s been for the past couple months!”

“He always comes back.
 
He doesn’t stay away for long.”

Rage made Caleb’s vision swim, but he tried to calm himself down.
 
Eyes narrowed, he reached into his back pocket and drew out his wallet, locating a blank check he kept in there for emergencies.
 
He knew people like Peter’s father.
 
Hell, his own mother had been exactly like him, living for the next bottle or high.
 
Caleb didn’t care if this man drank himself to death, just as long as he stayed away from Peter.

He wrote out a check for $10,000 and slapped it down on the coffee table.
 
When Peter’s father saw the amount, his eyes bulged out of his head and his grubby hands snatched it up, pocketing it quickly.
 
It made Caleb sick.

“That will keep you drunk off your ass until Peter is eighteen.
 
Do whatever the fuck you want with it, but don’t you dare bother him again.”

Caleb didn’t care that his name and old address was listed on the check.
 
Peter’s father could find him again if he wanted to, a thought that he almost welcomed.
 
But Caleb knew he wouldn’t ever see this man again.
 
Peter wouldn’t either, not unless he wanted to.
 
This ‘father’ would choose money over his own child and it sickened him.