Hated (16 page)

Chapter 22

Antonio Caine

Boston 11:48 pm Friday May 18
th
2029

Her mothers surprisingly didn’t chew us out for being out late, or for me breaking their daughter’s heart, or for them getting attacked by Hayley and Darcy. God I still feel really bad for that. But could I have stopped it from happening, I don’t know. If I had tried to stop Hayley and Darcy things could’ve turned out a lot worse I suppose. They could’ve been killed.

I sighed and took a sip of my hot chocolate. It was really good. Man, Betty is an amazing cook. I mean I saw the cupboards when she opened them and they were almost bare. But she had found some things and made this wonderful hot chocolate that wasn’t really hot chocolate.

We all sat in the dining room and chatted about our day and about work. I didn’t really talk much and they didn’t mind when I did say something. This felt like a real family. I haven’t felt like this since my mother died back on New Years Eve when I was younger. I had promised myself to not get close to anyone, but since I met Stephanie I don’t mind that much.

Once we had finished our hot chocolates, Stephanie went with her mothers to their room to talk and I
went with Kevin to practise downstairs. I practised my fighting skills on the makeshift punching bag and with Kevin. By the way Kevin was still a little sore from being shot at a little while back. After a little bit I had to go to the bathroom, I swear the hot chocolate just goes right through me. Kevin told me where it was and I left to go find it.

As I was walking around trying to find the bathroom, I heard voices coming from one of the rooms.
I didn’t want to eavesdrop but than I heard my name and paused for a second. The voices were hushed but I could make out a few words if I got close enough to the door.

“…
you’ve got protection right?” I think it was Jean that had said that. But what were they talking about that they would need protection?

“What, you mean condoms?” I was pretty sure that was Stephanie’s voice.
I backed away from the door slowly. Condoms?!?! Uh oh, I really shouldn’t be listening to this kind of conversation. I quickly walked away and found the bathroom at the end of the hall. I quickly went to the bathroom, than rushed back to the basement so I wouldn’t accidently hear something I shouldn’t. Well, anymore than I already had.

I trained for a little while longer with Kevin before Stephanie came down to join us.
We only did a little more before we were all really tired. As we walked down the hall I found out that we were all going to be sleeping in the same bedroom. Kevin walked into the room first and flopped on to the bed that was on the left side of the room, and Stephanie sat down on the other bed. She looked up at me from where she sat.

“You know you really shouldn’t eavesdrop on other peoples conversations, you may hea
r something that you don’t like,” Stephanie commented as she pulled her knees up to her chest. She smiled but didn’t take her eyes off of me. How did she know that I was outside the door? She saw my surprised expression and laughed.

“Yeah, we knew you were outside the door,” Stephanie replied to my expression. “It’s an odd instinct that we’ve learned how to do over the years.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I was confused and not sure what she meant by “instinct”. She saw my expression and rescued me.

“Everyone has their own distinct set of foot steps and the sounds of them are very dist
inct also,” Stephanie explained smiling as this little tidbit of information settled into my brain. “So as soon as you learn what that person ‘sounds’ like you can tell when they are getting closer to you or further away.”

I flushed and turned my head away so that she couldn’t see the utter embarrassment on my face. I’ve never been this embarrassed since I walked in on my dad punishing a maid when I
was too young to understand what it meant. The door opened a crack and Tornado padded into the room. He came over and sat down at Stephanie’s feet wagging his tail. Stephanie reached down, picked Tornado up and placed him on the bed beside her.

I watched Tornado as he
clambered his way on to Stephanie’s lap. Then curled up in a ball on her lap, yawned and went to sleep. I smirked at the little fuzz ball asleep on Stephanie’s lap. But I wanted to lie down beside her and talk a little bit longer. I picked up Tornado and laid him down on a pillow at the head of the bed. Tornado had awoken when I had picked him up, but as soon as I put him down on the pillows he curled up and went back to sleep.

Stephanie was going to protest me moving Tornado
but she had kept her mouth shut and waited to see what I was going to do. At least I think that’s what she was doing. She might’ve been considering how to knock me to the floor without hurting the puppy in the process. However Stephanie relaxed when I put the puppy down on the pillows.

I sat down beside Stephanie
and stretched out onto the bed. I patted the length of bed beside me and watched her reaction. I could tell that she was on the fence about it. So I waited for her to make the decision, I wasn’t going to force her into anything she didn’t want to do. Kevin snored lightly into the otherwise silent room.

Stephanie cautiously crawled up to the top of the bed and
laid down on her side, facing me. I turned so that I was on my side too, facing her. We just stared at each other waiting to see who would make the first move. Just above Stephanie’s head Tornado yawn and stretched before curling up into a ball again.

“Stephanie, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell about the whole Mafia thing first but I was just waiting for the right time to tell you because I-I…” I was rambling I know but I had to try to say what I needed to say or it would haunt me the rest of my life. “I really like you and I don’t know if you feel the same or if…” Stephanie put a finger to my lips and I stopped talking.

“I really like you too,” Stephanie replied smiling just a little bit. “And yes the Mafia thing threw me for a curve, but I guess I was just hurt that you would hide that from me. Well the marriage thing also infuriated me, but it wasn’t you I was mad at. I guess I was just mad at myself for letting it go this far, Hayley I mean.”

I nodded and listened.
She talked about all the stuff that has happened in her life, the good and the bad. I talked a little bit too. I talked about my mom, my time in the Mafia and about Darcy, but mostly about my mom. When I was done Stephanie asked the one thing I had thought she was going to ask a while ago but apparently she had wanted to wait.

“What did you do to Hayley that made her steer clear of me and my family?” Stephanie asked then added. “Not that I don’t like it but I’m curious.”

“Its not something I’m proud of doing and it’s not something I would like to talk about,” I murmured looking down at the blanket.

“Oh,” Stephanie replied, it sounded like she kind of figured it out. “I see.”

I heard Stephanie move around on the bed and the weight changed so that it was further away. She cursed under her breath and the weight came closer again.

“W
e should really be going to sleep,” Stephanie said and without changing her clothes she went under the blankets. I followed suit and turned so that I was facing the wall of the room. I just didn’t want to make her feel any more uncomfortable than she already felt. Stephanie flicked the light off and then we were in total darkness. But I couldn’t sleep at least not until I felt Stephanie’s back against my own. Then I relaxed and fell into the darkness of sleep.

I woke up in the morning to a strange sound. It was still dark out so it was probably fairly early in the morning.
I heard the sound again and then a scream. I looked around the room but no one was in the room. I grabbed for my gun in the back of my pants, and rushed out of the bedroom and to the front door of the house. Someone had set up stadium lights in the yard, but what for?

I saw figures move in the yard and
then I heard another scream. Oh god no, not now, not them! I pulled open the door as fast as I could and fired at the first person that I could see, which, thank god, was someone I didn’t know. I looked around quickly to gain my bearings on what was going on.

I saw a couple people that I knew and as I looked closer I saw my father, Darcy, Devin and Markus.
There was also a bunch of people I didn’t know. I looked at the feet of the groups of people and saw Stephanie, Kevin, Anthony, Andrew, Jean and Betty. Each was surrounded by their own group of people. Everyone was looking at me, well everyone but Stephanie who hadn’t even lifted her head off the ground or moved at all.

I felt the anger build to an extent that I’ve never felt before.
I saw my hand start to shake before I had completely registered what was happening. I felt a cold chill go up my spine, this was absolutely unforgivable. All of a sudden I felt really calm, and I don’t normally feel like this unless I’m trying to scare the crap out of people. I could tell it was working by the expressions on everyone’s faces.

“What are you doing here?” I asked in a cold clipped tone as I stared directly at my father. My father, David I guess I should call him now, took an involuntary step back, before he realized what he was doing. I could see that he was not happy about giving up the high ground to me.

“We came here to find you, since you didn’t come home last,” David replied trying to smile but it looked so false that I almost walked over and punched him. “We’d thought that they had kidnapped you, and it turns out to be true.”

What was David trying to pull? What was he trying to prove?
I saw the men start to move again but I knew how to stop it. I started to laugh and even to my own ears it sounded dark and menacing. I could tell without even looking that everyone had stopped moving again.

I looked straight at David and smiled. He gulped but tried to act unaffected.

“So what if they did?” I asked I knew I was walking on thin ice now. “What do you care you’re not my father.”

It was David’s turn to laugh but his sounded shaky and nervous.
“What are you talking about? You are my son…Oh dear, they must‘ve brainwashed you. Gentlemen…”

“You lay another hand on any of them and you won’t make it out of here alive,” I
said clearing my face of any expression. That got everyone’s attention. I don’t normally make the threats I usually just carry them out as David’s little puppet. But I had a mind of my own no matter what anyone else thought and I didn’t do everything David has ever told me to do.

I stepped further away from the house and a couple of the guys took some steps back while others looked frozen where they were.
I could see Markus shaking his head but his open mouth was quirked up to one side. I kind of wanted to smile back but I was afraid that it would give him away.

Markus and I were kind of like
brothers, we trusted each other with secrets and stuff that we weren’t supposed to know about. One thing that Markus told me that I just remember is that he likes a girl but he has similar parent problems to what I have.

He hasn’t gotten up the balls to tell his parents that they are getting married soon. But he had the balls to tell his girlfriend that he was in the Mafia. The guy was gutsy when it came down to it.
I don’t think even Markus’s sister knows about his girlfriend and I hope that Hayley never finds out for the girl’s sake, also for Markus’s peace of mind. I had never seen him so at peace and happy any other time than when he’s with his girlfriend.

I’ve even met her once myself. She’s really sweet and I can tell that she really loves Markus.
But she can be very independent at times, kind of like Stephanie. I think that they would like each other if they ever did meet. Oh man I’m so off track, back to the task at hand.

The rest of the guys were backing away from their person that they were beating earlier. Jean, Betty, Kevin, Anthony and Andrew were all slowly moving in on Stephanie who still hadn’t moved.
Kevin nodded in my direction and went to help his mother’s with Stephanie. Every single one of them was bloody and had a limp of some sort. The twins looked lost so I motioned for them to come to me. I knelt down and let them cling to me so that they could cry in some kind of privacy.

“Oh well isn’t this touching?” David commented contemptuously. I still had an ace up my sleeve and I was considering whether or not to use it.
I could tell that their mothers were trying their best but it looks like Steph may need a real doctor in order to make it out of this one.

“Devin, come forward,” my voice seemed to echo in the silence. David was about to protest when I caught Darcy’s eye and motioned to her that I knew her dirty little secret. She whispered something to David and he stopped protesting bu
t he wasn’t very happy about it, and neither was Darcy.

Devin stepped out from the mass of people and came forward. I nodded towards Stephanie and he nodded to me.
Devin walked over to Stephanie and helped her mothers and Kevin out while I comforted the twins. I was still watching everyone waiting for one person to make the wrong move, to give me some reason to shoot them. But no one moved or stepped out of line.

Devin was saying a couple of things to Jean, Betty and Kevin before he got up and rejoined the ranks.
Stephanie was starting to move and make some noise. Anthony and Andrew went over to her to check on her. I stood up and stared down every person in that mass of people.