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The Repairman Part II

The Repairman

Part II

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

“Why are you doing this to me?” Zoe asked hollowly as she stood there, telling herself that this wasn’t happening, but she knew better.

“I’m not paying someone a fortune to do something that I could do for free,” Trevor said as he finished pulling the refrigerator that was going to need a miracle to fix, away from the wall with a satisfied sigh that told her that this wasn’t going to end well.

“I really think that we should call someone,” Zoe said, wondering why he was doing this to her when they both knew that he had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

He was great with engines, an amazing carpenter, and she had to admit that he was great with plumbing, but appliances? He was the reason why she always made sure that she bought the extended warranty on all the appliances that they bought for their rental properties. She would have done the same for the refrigerator that was probably going to end up costing them a small fortune to replace, but she hadn’t been with Trevor with he picked it out.

“It’s a simple fix,” Trevor said, making her swallow hard when he repeated the four words that never ended well.

Before Zoe could beg him to reconsider doing this, Mikey was walking into the house with a satisfied sigh, a plate of what appeared to be homemade macaroni and cheese with ham, two large biscuits, and a large glass of chocolate milk in the other hand. “Don’t mind me,” she murmured as she walked over to the kitchen table, sat down so that she was facing them, and then, with another satisfied sigh and a murmured, “I really didn’t want to miss this,” gestured for Trevor to proceed.

“Sebastian’s at the library,” Trevor said, momentarily forgetting about the refrigerator as he plucked the fork out of Mikey’s hand and helped himself to a bite of macaroni and cheese, giving Zoe hope that he would be distracted long enough so that she could call a repairman only to hand the fork back to Mikey and returning to making her life a living hell.

“His loss,” Mikey said with a solemn nod as she dug into her food.

“Mikey, maybe you should-” Zoe started to say only to frown when Jonathan rushed into the room and dropped down in the chair next to Mikey with a relieved sigh and a murmured, “Thank god. I thought I’d missed this,” as he helped himself to a biscuit.

“I don’t think he’s started yet,” Mikey said as they both sat there, watching Trevor with hopeful looks only to end up gesturing for him to get on with it when her husband stood there, frowning in confusion.

“What are you doing?” Trevor asked, making Zoe shake her head because this was just sad.

“Nothing,” Mikey murmured, blinking innocently as Zoe was forced to pinch the bridge of her nose when she felt a migraine starting.

“They’re waiting to see how you how you manage to blow the fridge up,” she said, wondering why they had to go through this every time that someone mentioned calling a repairman.

“Like you did with my mom’s microwave,” Mikey said encouragingly.

“And with the vacuum,” Jonathan added.

“And the Aunt Haley’s dishwasher.”

“And Uncle Jared’s freezer.”

“And-”

“First of all,” Trevor said, cutting them off as Zoe dropped her hand away with a sigh, “the dishwasher didn’t blow up, it caught on fire. Secondly, they were all defective.”

Nodding in agreement, Mikey murmured, “Of course, they were,” as she grabbed a biscuit off her plate and once again gestured for him to get on with it.

“They were,” Trevor bit out only to narrow his eyes when Jonathan said, “And I’m sure that this one will be too.”

“Someone should probably grab the fire extinguisher,” Mikey murmured a minute later, worrying her bottom lip as she stood up and-

“Already grabbed it,” Zoe said hollowly as she gestured to the fire extinguisher by her feet.

“I can fix this,” Trevor bit out.

 “Of course, you can,” Mikey said, nodding as she sat down and after a slight hesitation, pulled her phone out of her pocket with a murmured, “Sebastian will never forgive me if I don’t record this.”

“I wouldn’t,” Jonathan said with a sad of his head as he helped himself to Mikey’s food while Trevor stood there, glaring at them.

“You know what? Call a repairman,” Trevor bit out, finally saying the words that she’d waited fifteen years to hear.

“What? No! Come on, don’t be that way!”

“We still believe in you!” Jonathan said as Zoe sighed in relief for the first time since this whole thing started.

 

 

 

Copyright © 2021 

The Repairman: Part I

Dear Reader,

I apologize for missing last week’s Chronicle. Kale is still making me work hard and I thought I finally had it and was going to finish his book.

I was wrong.

We are at 117,000 words and still going. I will be crying later, but I am aiming to end this week and god, do I need to end this week. Nine months, people…nine long months, lol. I thought the Anger Management books made me work for it, but they have nothing on Kale. 

Happy 4th of July! 

And I hope everyone is staying safe and having fun tonight. 

 

 

The Repairman

Part I

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

 

“Nooooo! Oh, God! This isn’t happening!” came the screams of agony that had tore Zoe out of sound sleep and had her jumping up and-

“Crap!” she muttered when her legs got tangled in the sheets and she stumbled over her feet and landed on the floor with a pained grunt.

“What the hell is happening?” Trevor asked, sitting up with a groan as he rubbed his hands down his face and-

“Why is this happening! WHY?” came the hysterical scream that had Trevor cursing as he shoved the covers out of the way and heading for the door as Zoe dragged herself back to her feet and stumbled after him as a thousand different things went through her mind, all of them scaring the hell out of her and had her moving faster, terrified that one of her babies was hurt.

She raced downstairs, through the living room, into the kitchen and…and…

“What’s going on?” Zoe found herself asking, admittedly out of breath, as she watched in confusion as Jonathan, who she was going to throttle for scaring the hell out of her, hugged the Tupperware container with the lasagna that Kasey sent over earlier.

“Why?” he asked, sobbing hysterically as he hugged the container against his chest as he blindly reached over and grabbed the deli meat only to fall over onto his side. “Why?”

Zoe opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when she saw it. A large puddle in front of the refrigerator. “What happened?” she asked, quickly making her way over to the refrigerator, pausing only long enough to step over her son who was now sobbing into the pudding cups and opened the fridge only to groan when the smell hit her.

For a moment, she stood there, praying that the light would come on, only it never did. God, she didn’t need this, not now, Zoe thought as she let the fridge door close and-

“Why did this have to happen?” Jonathan whispered hoarsely.

“Dead?” Trevor asked, picking her up and setting her aside so that he could check the refrigerator that had barely made it two years.

“Yes,” she mumbled, sighing heavily as she stepped out of the way.

“What’s going on?” Mathew asked as he walked into the room, rubbing his eyes only to drop his hands away and shake his head, licking his lips as he mumbled, “No, this can’t be happening.”

“Get ice!” Jonathan yelled, grabbing the ice cream only to rethink that decision when the move caused the melted ice cream to leak onto the floor.

Nodding, Mathew rushed over to the refrigerator, jumped over his brother and ripped the freezer drawer open only to release a whimper as his legs gave out and dropped him to the floor with a weakly mumbled, “This isn’t happening.”

“Boys, it’s just food,” Zoe said, pinching the bridge of her nose as she focused her attention on the refrigerator only to shake her head in disbelief when she found her husband pressing his forehead against the refrigerator door, his hand pressed against the door as he released a shuddering sigh.

“Just food?” Jonathan demanded in outrage as he shoved all the food that he’d taken out of the refrigerator and stacked on the floor and sat up. “Just food? That was Aunt Kasey’s lasagna! Do you know how many layers she puts in that, woman? Ten! Ten layers of cheese and meat deliciousness!”

“I’m sure that she has more and would be more than happy to give you some…in the…morning…” Zoe said, her words trailing off as she watched the boys shove each other out of the way as they rushed towards the door, shoving and slapping each other as they went until Jonathan was forced to grab his brother by the back of his pajama pants and-

“Ow!” Mathew gasped, forced to release his hold on the front door to shove his brother’s hands away, giving Jonathan the advantage.

With a chuckle, Jonathan shoved his little brother out of the way and ran out the door, leaving Zoe standing there, shaking her head in disbelief as she watched Mathew hobble out the door after his brother. “Where did we go wrong with them?” she asked, still shaking her head in disbelief as she looked back at her husband and-

Found him racing out the door after the boys.

Sighing heavily, Zoe grabbed a trash bag from underneath the kitchen sink and resigned herself to cleaning up this mess. As she grabbed the container of lasagna, she sent up a silent prayer that the refrigerator was still under warranty only to find herself frowning as she watched Jessica walk into the kitchen and-

Sighed heavily as she watched her baby girl turn right back around and race out of the room with a choked sob and a mumbled, “Not the lasagna,” while Zoe knelt there, wondering why her family didn’t get this upset when she had to throw out the lasagna that she made.

To be continued…

©Rerum Carta Industries, Inc. 2021. All Rights Reserved. 

 

Copyright © 2021 

A Father’s Day Chronicle

A Father’s Day Chronicle

by

R.L. Mathewson

“What are you doing?” came the question that had Mikey wondering why he was being so difficult about this as she finished yanking the covers away, grabbed Sebastian’s hand and-

Really didn’t appreciate the long-suffering sigh that followed since she was doing this for his own good. When he didn’t move fast enough, she grabbed his other hand, gave his hand a pull and-

“What are we doing?” Jonathan asked, jumping out of bed with a smile that drew Mikey’s attention as she adjusted her backpack over her shoulder.

She looked from Jonathan’s eager smile to Sebastian’s resigned expression and-

“Wait. What are you doing?” Sebastian asked when she released his hand, grabbed Jonathan’s hand, and headed towards their closed bedroom door.

“Interviewing for a new best friend,” Mikey mumbled absently as she pressed her ear against the door and listened.

“He couldn’t handle you,” Sebastian said, sounding bored as he dropped back down on his bed with a heavy sigh as she stood there, waiting for the right moment to make her move.

“What are we doing?” came the soft whisper that had her reaching back and slapping her hand on Jonathan’s face.

“Shhhh, not while I’m being devious,” Mikey whispered back, dropping her hand away and-

“Why are you entwining our fingers?” Mikey asked, unable to help but frown as she looked down at their hands.

“Making this easier for you,” Jonathan said with a sympathetic smile, nodding as he reached up and playfully tapped her nose. “It’s okay.”

Blinking, Mikey asked, “Do you want me to hurt you?”

“Love hurts,” Jonathan murmured only to wince and immediately release her hand when she was forced to reach over and pinch the back of his hand.

“So did that,” she said as she slapped her hand back against his face and shoved him away before returning her attention back to the door and-

Damn it!

-was forced to shove Jonathan out of the way, grab hold of the closet door, flung it open, dove inside, and yanked the door shut behind her. Once she was there, Mikey was forced to blindly navigate her way through old gym bags, sneakers, and other things that she didn’t want to think about and pulled everything within reach over herself and once she felt that she was well-hidden, she held her breath and waited.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have to wait long before the closet door opened and she found herself looking up at Uncle Trevor. For several long moments, he simply stood there with his arms folded over his bare chest as he waited for her to give herself up. Since she was determined to see this thing to the end, Mikey kept her mouth shut and stayed perfectly still as she waited for him to give up and walk away so that she could do what she came here to do.

“Mikey,” was all he said as he reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Yes?” she asked, blinking innocently up at him as she tried for a hopeful smile that he didn’t have any chance of seeing with Jonathan’s old school tie covering her mouth.

“Why are you in my sons’ closet at two in the morning?” Uncle Trevor asked as he leaned back against the wall.

“I think the more important question is, what are you doing up at two in the morning, sir,” Mikey said, slapping away Jonathan’s old gym shorts as she sat up to glare accusingly at the man that should be in bed.

“Well,” Uncle Trevor said, sighing as he shifted to get more comfortable, “I was sleeping in my bed when I heard the unmistakable sounds of a certain pain in the ass breaking into my sons’ room.”

Nodding, she said, “That’s what I heard too, which is why I came here to make sure that they wouldn’t be led astray.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you,” Uncle Trevor drawled.

Nodding, she said, “I try.”

When he gestured for her to come out of the closet, Mikey tightened her hold around her backpack and shook her head. Sighing heavily, he gestured again, but…

“I’m going to need you to close that door and pretend that you didn’t see me here,” Mikey said, gesturing for him to go ahead and close the door as she laid back down, grabbed a handful of questionable gym clothes and pulled them back over herself.

There was a heavy sigh and then-

“I thought we had an understanding!”

“We did,” Uncle Trevor said as he threw her over his shoulder and headed for the door.

“Then explain why you’re carrying me downstairs,” Mikey said, biting back a sigh as she resigned herself to breaking back into Sebastian’s room as soon as Uncle Trevor dropped her off back at her house.

“After you explain what you’re doing here,” he said, adjusting her over his shoulder as he headed for the front door.

“I don’t believe that it would be in my best interest to do that,” Mikey mumbled absently, trying to figure out how she was going to be able to pull this off with him awake.

“Do your parents know that you’re here?” Uncle Trevor asked as she worried her bottom lip, trying to think of something to-

“I have to use the bathroom!” she blurted out when he unlocked the front door.

There was a heavy sigh and then, he asked, “Can you hold it until you get home?

“I mean, if you’re willing to take the risk since you’re the one carrying me, I guess,” Mikey said, shrugging it off before adding, “I should probably mention that I consumed a lot of water tonight.”

There was a sigh, and then, he was putting her down on her feet and gesturing for her to get on with it. Hugging her bag tightly against her chest, Mikey turned around and quicky made her way down the hallway and once she reached the bathroom door, she kept going until she reached the kitchen. Once she was there, she rushed over to the kitchen counter and glanced over her shoulder to make sure that he hadn’t followed her before shifting her attention back to her bag.

She quickly opened her bag, grabbed the small box that she’d wrapped, the large Tupperware container that she’d filled with cupcakes, brownies, and cookies that her mother baked yesterday, the card, and-

“What’s this?” Uncle Trevor asked, sending her a curious look as he reached past her and picked up the Tupperware container filled to the brim with baked goods.

“Nothing,” Mike said, blinking up at him as she reached over and plucked the Tupperware container away from him and placed it back on the counter next to the gift that she was hoping that he hadn’t seen.

“How come that nothing has my name on it?” Uncle Trevor asked, picking up the card that had taken her an hour to pick out.

“It came like that,” she said, nodding solemnly.

“I see,” he murmured, placing the card back on the counter and picked up the small box. “And this?”

“Was there when I got here?” Mikey said when he continued standing there, absently turning the box over in his hands and-

“I got you something for Father’s Day,” she grumbled, her shoulders slumped as she gestured for him to open it.

“You got me something?” Uncle Trevor asked, sounding surprised.

“I saw it online a few months ago and I thought of you. I was going to wait until Christmas to give it to you, but I didn’t want to wait that long,” Mikey said, gesturing for him to open it, excited to see if he liked it.

Throwing her a curious look, Uncle Trevor tore the wrapping paper off and…frowned when he saw the earpiece and Apple gift card with a post-It note taped to it. When he only continued staring at it, she decided that some clarification was in order here. Sighing, she climbed onto the kitchen counter, sat down and plucked the box out of his hands.

“I found this really cool app that I thought you would like. It was developed for people with dyslexia. It reads everything from text messages, emails, documents, and websites for you so that you don’t have to wait for someone to read them for you anymore. You just tap the text that you want read and it will read it for you, which is where the earpiece comes in. It will also follow voice commands so that you can send text messages, send emails, and even search online without having to worry about spelling. The app works on your phone, iPad, and on the computer,” Mikey said, smiling as she explained it to him only to feel that smile slowly disappear when she realized that he was staring at her.

When he still didn’t say anything after a few minutes, she swallowed hard and mumbled, “If you don’t like it, I can take it back. I wasn’t sure that you would like it, so I brought baked goods just in case,” as she gestured helplessly to the Tupperware container.

“You got this for me?” Uncle Trevor asked, looking down at the box as he reached over and took it from her.

Shrugging, she said, “I thought you’d like it.”

Smiling, Uncle Trevor leaned over and kissed her forehead as he said, “I love it.”

“Really?” Mikey asked, smiling hugely as she watched Uncle Trevor run his fingertips over the small box that held the earpiece.

Nodding, Uncle Trevor opened his mouth and-

“Wait! That’s from both of us!” Jonathan said, rushing into the kitchen and jumped onto counter next to her where he threw one arm around her and gestured with the other toward the gift with a satisfied sigh. “I knew you’d love it.”

Glaring at his son, Uncle Trevor reached over with one hand, flipped the cover off the container and helped himself to a cupcake, never taking his eyes off his son.

Nodding, Jonathan said, “I knew you’d like those too.”

“Why is your arm around me?” Mikey asked with a pointed look at the arm thrown over her shoulder.

Reaching over, Jonathan placed his hand over her mouth as he said, “Shhh, not while Daddy is overcome with emotions over the wonderful gift that we got him.”

Nodding, Mikey reached up and-

“Why are you so mean?” came the demand when Jonathan decided that it was in his best interest to drop his arm away and give her a little space.  

 

©Rerum Carta Industries, Inc. 2021. All Rights Reserved. 

Copyright © 2021 

And So It Begins… Part 21

And So It Begins…

Part 21

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

 

“Is this really necessary?” Mikey asked with a sad shake of her head as he considered gagging her too, but…

That just seemed like overkill at the moment, so instead, Trevor double-checked her binds to make sure that she couldn’t do any more damage. Once he was done, he stood up with a satisfied sigh and decided to find out what was in the refrigerator.

“Do you really think this is a good idea?” Mikey asked, shifting to get more comfortable in the kitchen chair that she was currently secured to only to give up with a sigh.

“He’ll never look for us here,” Trevor pointed out as he helped himself to the bowl of potato salad, leftover barbeque chicken, pasta salad, fruit salad, and a particularly delicious looking vanilla cake with what appeared to be extra buttercream frosting and handed it all off to Sebastian, who made quick work of laying it all out on the table and-

“What are you doing here, sweetie?” came the question that had Trevor looking over his shoulder to find his Aunt Megan walking into the kitchen.

“Those boys,” Mikey said, pausing to gesturing towards them with a nod, “have taken me to a secondary location.”

“I see,” Aunt Megan mumbled, smiling hugely when she spotted Mikey.

“She gave us no choice,” Sebastian pointed out as he grabbed plates from the cabinet.

“I was trying to save you, jerk face!’ Mikey snapped as she narrowed her eyes on her best friend.

“By selling us out?” Trevor asked, grabbing the pitcher of lemonade and a couple of cans of root beer for Mikey since it was her favorite.

“I am no longer speaking with you, sir,” Mikey said with a sniffle as she pointedly looked away from him.

“What did she do?” Aunt Megan asked, taking over making up plates for them.

“She told Uncle Jared where we were hiding with the hopes that she could talk some sense into him,” Trevor explained, grabbing cups.

“Oh…” Aunt Megan murmured with a pitying look for Mikey, who didn’t seem to appreciate it at all.

“I’m an excellent negotiator,” Mikey bit out evenly.

“Then explain why you’re tied to that chair,” Sebastian said, taking the plate overflowing with food from Aunt Megan and sat down next to Mikey.

“I don’t have to explain anything to my captors,” Mikey snapped, returning to glaring at Sebastian only to add, “I demand some of that potato salad, sir!”

“How much do you think Aunt Kasey will pay to get her back?” Sebastian asked as he scooped up some potato salad on his fork and ate it, earning another glare from his best friend as he grabbed the book that he’d left on the kitchen table the last time that he was here and took up where they left off.

“She offered me a hundred dollars to keep her,” Trevor said, chuckling when Mikey released an outraged gasp.

“She loves and adores me! I am her world!” Mikey said only to swing her glare back at Sebastian when his son absently reached over and patted her on the head as he continued reading.

“Doesn’t she have four other kids?” Sebastian asked, his lips twitching as Mikey sat there fuming.

She really was too damn adorable for words, Trevor thought as he accepted the plate of food that Aunt Megan made up for him and sat down on Mikey’s other side. When he scooped up some potato salad on his fork, Mikey hungrily licked her lips and-

Glared.

“I hate you both,” she mumbled, making them both chuckle as Aunt Megan joined them.

“So, what’s the plan?” she asked, sipping her lemonade.

“Hide out here since this is the last place that anyone would think of looking for us,” Trevor said as he devoured another bite of potato salad while Mikey looked on.

“That looks really good,” Mikey mumbled.

“It is,” Sebastian said as he made a show of devouring another bite of potato salad.

“You do realize that I’m not a Bradford, so this really isn’t torturing me,” she pointed out.

“Then why do you look like you’re about to kill me for a bite?” Sebastian absently asked as he turned the page.

“Because you both devoured every last slice of pizza before you threw me over your shoulder and kidnapped me again and now, I’m starving, jerk face!”

“Shouldn’t have betrayed us,” Sebastian drawled, looking bored.

“Betrayed you? He,” Mikey snapped, nodding towards Trevor, “sold me out for a cheap buffet!”

“This is true,” Sebastian murmured.

“You know what? I want a new best friend,” Mikey said with a firm nod.

“And I want a best friend that doesn’t root for the Red Sox,” Sebastian said, earning an outraged gasp.

“You said that didn’t matter!”

“I lied!”

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2021 

And So It Begins…Part 20

And So It Begins…

Part 20

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

“I’m starting to think that you’re paranoid,” came the announcement from behind him as Trevor pulled the curtain aside just enough so that he could take another look at the hotel parking lot and make sure that nothing had changed in the last five minutes.

“They’re out there,” Trevor said, debating asking the hotel to switch their room to help throw them off to buy himself a little more time to figure this out.

“This makes me so sad,” Mikey mumbled with a forlorn sigh as a black pickup truck parked in the back far corner caught his attention and-

He immediately dismissed it when he caught the Red Sox bumper sticker on the back bumper. Pathetic, Trevor thought with a sad shake of his head as he took in the rest of the parking lot. Where the hell were they? Trevor wondered, knowing that they should be here by now. They should-

Sighing heavily because this was just pathetic, Trevor said, “Don’t even think about it,” when he heard the telltale sounds of his son trying to climb onto Mikey’s bed.

“You’re just going to kick me off the bed anyway,” Sebastian pointed out as he dropped back down on their bed for the night.

“And when I do, you can sleep on the chair or in the tub,” Trevor drawled, doing one last sweep of the parking lot before he let the curtain fall back before he shifted his attention back to the room and-

“What are you doing?” he asked, watching as Mikey settled back on his side of the bed with a ball already rolling between her hands.

“Saving time,” Mikey said, settling in more comfortably next to her partner in crime.

“How’s that?” Trevor asked, walking over to the bed.

“This way you don’t disturb my beauty sleep later when you’re forced to throw him onto my bed when he won’t stop moving in his sleep,” Mikey explained only to sigh when Trevor picked her up and tossed her back on her bed.

“I believe that we already decided that he can sleep in a chair,” Trevor said, dropping down on the bed next to Sebastian.

“I feel loved,” Sebastian drawled, settling in more comfortably next to him with a book.

“I could have said that I’d make you sleep on the floor,” Trevor pointed out as he shifted his attention to the pile of junk food that he’d salvaged from the vending machine earlier.

“This is true,” Sebastian murmured absently as he reached over and plucked the chocolate bar that Trevor had settled on out of his hand.

Biting back a sigh, Trevor grabbed a small bag of chips three months past its expiration date and ripped it open, wondering if it was safe to call his wife yet. Probably not, he thought, glancing at the small alarm clock on the nightstand. He should-

Wonder who was knocking on their door at ten o’clock at night. Before he could move, Mikey was jumping off her bed, climbing onto his and crawling over him, kneeing him in his side in the process, and tearing a surprised grunt from him. Before he could stop her, she was jumping off his bed and racing across the room.

“Mikey!” Trevor said, panicking as he watched her open the hotel room and-

“Someone ordered a pizza?” came the greeting that had him frowning as he glanced over at Sebastian to find his son sighing heavily as he saved his place in his book, set it aside and got up to go see what his best friend was up to.

As soon as he reached the door, Mikey was shoving a stack of pizzas in his arms before piling several bags on top along with a six-pack of root beer, and once she was done, she-

Had Trevor sighing as he watched her pull his wallet out of her pocket and paid for the pizza. Once she’d handed the delivery guy a generous tip, she closed the hotel door with a satisfied sigh, tossed his wallet back to him, and somehow managed to search through the stack of pizzas without Sebastian dropping them. As soon as she had what she wanted, she carried the pizza over to her bed, settled back against the pillows, and helped herself to what looked like a slice of extra cheese pizza.

“When did you order pizza?” Trevor asked, tossing his wallet on the nightstand and helped himself to the stack of pizzas that Sebastian placed on the bed between them.

“During your third mental breakdown of the night,” Mikey said around a mouthful of pizza.

“Good call,” Trevor said, grabbing a slice of pepperoni pizza.

“I also called Uncle Jared and told him where we were,” Mikey announced right around the time someone else knocked on their door.

 

Copyright © 2021 

And So It Begins…Part 19

And So It Begins…

Part 19

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

“My mother wants to know when I’m allowed to go home,” Mikey said as Trevor dropped down on the other hotel bed.

“That depends if your father is still waiting for me,” Trevor said, dropping his head in his hands as Mikey relayed the message.

“They’re all waiting.”

Of course, they were, Trevor thought as he dropped his hands away only to reach over and grab the back of Sebastian’s shirt and pulled him back when he went to climb on the bed next to Mikey. “Think again,” Trevor said with a pointed look at the spot on the bed next to him.

There was a heavy sigh, and then, Sebastian was dropping down on the bed next to him as he pulled his iPad out of his sweatshirt and immediately lost himself in whatever book that had caught his attention since they were forced to flee from the restaurant. Trevor considered dropping them off at home, but he knew that they were waiting for him, leaving him with no other choice but to head to the nearest hotel and get a room for the night while he tried to figure out a way to fix this. He had over two dozen Bradfords out for blood and absolutely no idea how it came to this.

“So,” Mikey said, sighing heavily as she climbed off the bed that she’d claimed for the night and climbed onto the bed behind him so that she could sit next to the reason why they were on the run, “I was thinking.”

“About?” Trevor asked, sighing heavily as he glanced over his shoulder to find Mikey lounging on the bed behind him, absently rolling a baseball between her hands, looking thoughtful.

“How you’re going to make this up to us,” Mikey said, making his eyes narrow on the little traitor.

“Why exactly would I have to make this up to you?” Trevor asked, moving further onto the bed so that he could drop down on the bed between them with a groan as he buried his face in the pillow.

“Because you got me banned?” Mikey reminded him.

“Do you really care if you got banned from a buffet?” Trevor asked into the pillow.

“I just feel like I should have been given an opportunity to get myself banned,” Mikey said with a heartfelt sigh that had him glaring into his pillow.

“She really should have,” Sebastian murmured in agreement, which reminded Trevor…

“Whose idea was it to get Uncle Jared banned?” Trevor asked, really wishing that they’d chosen someone else to screw over knowing just how bad this was going to end.

Granted, it wouldn’t have ended well no matter which one of the men in their family had been screwed over, but Uncle Jared…

This really wasn’t going to end well.

“Should we give you our list of demands now or wait until after you’ve had a chance to finish panicking?”

“After,” Trevor grumbled into his pillow as he reached over and yanked the pillow free from behind Mikey’s back, ignoring her grumble as he pulled it over his head and decided that it was in his best interest to wait them out.

They’d get tired of waiting for him eventually, Trevor tried telling himself, but he knew better. He’d cost them access to unlimited food and they were going to make sure that he paid for it.

Copyright © 2021 

And So It Begins…Part 18

And So It Begins…

Part XVIII

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

“Okay, we need to move faster,” Trevor said, trying not to panic as he looked over his shoulder and-

Quickly shifted his attention back to the teenage girl that wasn’t moving fast enough and said, “We really need to go.”

“Do we, though?” Mikey asked, blinking innocently up at him as he risked another glance over his shoulder and found himself nodding frantically as he decided that they really needed to go now.

Decision made, he grabbed Mikey and threw her over his shoulder and-

“You got us banned!” came the shouted announcement from one of his cousins or uncles, he wasn’t really sure who at the moment who, as he quickly made his way to his truck, only pausing long enough to grab his son by the back of the shirt when he realized that Sebastian wasn’t moving, and dragged him towards his truck, praying that they made it in time.

“They seem upset for some reason,” Mikey murmured, sounding thoughtful as Trevor somehow resisted the urge to look over his shoulder and kept going.

“They really do,” Sebastian agreed with a solemn nod, not really sounding all that concerned that they had over thirty seriously pissed off Bradfords coming after them.

“Do you think it was something we said?” Mikey asked, sounding amused as Trevor opened his truck door and tossed her inside.

“Yes!” Trevor snapped as he grabbed his son and shoved him inside before jumping in and quickly locking his door.

“They definitely seem angry about something,” Mikey murmured absently as she opened his glove box and grabbed her baseball before setting to work rolling it between her hands with a satisfied sigh.

“This can’t be happening,” Trevor said, rubbing his hands slowly down his face as he told himself that this was just a simple misunderstanding, but he knew the moment that he saw Uncle Jared standing in front of his truck that this wasn’t going to end well.

Granted, he’d figured that out as soon as Uncle Jared realized that he’d been banned and decided to take them all down with him. One minute, Trevor had been sitting there, savoring the fact that he’d just outsmarted his son and the next…

“How did you think this was going to end?” Sebastian asked him as he pulled Mikey onto his lap.

“Not like this,” Trevor admitted as he glanced over his shoulder and found his truck completely surrounded by Bradfords.

Oh, this definitely wasn’t going to end well, Trevor thought, swallowing hard as he reached into his pocket only to realize that he’d dropped his phone somewhere between the rest of the customers screaming for mercy and realizing that every Bradford was glaring at him. When he saw Uncle Jared holding his phone, he felt his stomach drop.

“Do you have your phones?” Trevor asked, watching as Uncle Jared texted something with a smug smile that wasn’t exactly comforting at the moment.

“Uncle Jason confiscated mine to stop me from calling for help and putting an end to this deeply disturbing plan that seems to have backfired,” Mikey pointed out.

“Sebastian?” Trevor asked, sounding hopeful to his own ears.

“It fell out of my hands when I was forced to jump out of the way when the manager made the mistake of announcing that they weren’t bringing out any more food,” Sebastian said while Trevor watched as his uncles and cousins moved closer to the truck.

There was a knock at his window and for a moment, Trevor considered ignoring it, but…

Sighing heavily, he rolled down his window. “Do you remember what happened the last time that someone got us banned?” Uncle Jared drawled, not bothering to look up from whatever he was doing on Trevor’s phone.

“I thought we agreed never to talk about that again,” Trevor pointed out, really hoping that they’d be willing to forget that this ever happened.

Nodding, Uncle Jared murmured, “We did, but that was before you got us banned for nothing,” as he handed Trevor back his phone.

“Would it help if I said that I was sorry?” Trevor said, swallowing hard as he watched as his cousins and uncles stepped back and walked away.

“Probably not,” Uncle Jared said, shooting him a wink as he added, “See you tonight,” letting him know that there was no way in hell that he could go home.

At least, not tonight.

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