As always, let me know what you think :) and thanks for reading!
Disclaimer still counts
Chapter 25: Finesse
Angel rode back with Sofi, so Jerry sat up front with Bobby, which left plenty of room in the back seat, and for that Craig, who sat behind Jerry was thankful. They had only been driving for a few minutes, when Jack's hand shot up and smacked Craig in the left arm.
"Ouch!" Craig cried out. "What was that for?" He asked, though he was sure he knew.
"Why in the hell didn't you tell us about Mom and Mr. Bradford?" Jack asked in a loud voice. "We looked like real fucking idiots back there!"
"I tried; no one would listen to me." Craig couldn't keep the laugh out of his voice.
"You tried? When the hell did you try?" Jack cried out.
Jerry turned and looked at Craig. "We went to his office on Friday. You didn't think it would have been a good idea to let us know about his relationship with our mother then?"
Craig shrugged his shoulders.
"He thought it wasn't his place to tell us shit." Bobby spoke up, defending the youngest Mercer, which surprised Craig. "Admit it kid, you enjoyed watching us make fools out of ourselves." He glanced back at Craig who thought he could see a smile behind Bobby's eyes.
"Well, it was kind of funny." Craig muttered. "You smacked the man on his stomach." He laughed.
"A very nice man, it seems. He didn't deserve that." Jerry spoke up. "My God, he wanted to give you Mom's night things." He looked at Bobby, and after a few moments he started laughing. "The look on your face when you realized what the fuck he was trying to tell us, man, now that was classic."
Jack started laughing as well. "I don't know, Mom sure wouldn't have thought it was funny."
"Yeah she would have." Jerry spoke quickly. "I believe Bobby got all flushed out there man. His face turned red, and his eyes were so fucking wide…" Jerry laughed a little harder. "Mom would have loved that."
"Yeah, laugh it up Jerr'. I'm sure you got that sick feeling in your gut when you thought about our mother screwin' around with some guy." Bobby shook his head. "Damn, that don't even sound right."
"Well she was a woman Bobby. Don't you think she seen guys when we were younger? She went out on dates and shit." Jack pointed out.
"But she didn't hide it from us for us to find out later by snooping around." Bobby pointed out. "And none of them was serious. Hell, she'd date a guy for a few months and then…"
"And then we'd find a way to run 'em off." Jerry spoke quietly, cutting off Bobby's statement before it could be completed.
"We never ran any of them off. We just made it clear they were to treat her with all the fucking respect a real lady deserved. If they could give her that they didn't have a fucking thing to worry about. None of them assholes were worth shit, or they would have stuck around despite us."
"Did you even hear what the hell you just said?" Jerry asked and then shook his head. "Most of those men were okay." He commented. "They just weren't up to taking on four delinquents." He sighed. "This guy, now I bet he treated Mom with all kinds of respect. He even kept her night things." He laughed.
"He has a nice house too." Jack commented. "Why couldn't Mom have met up with him ten years ago? I could see myself growing up in that house."
Jerry turned and looked at Jack. "Yeah, right, us in that house as kids? It would have burned down in less than a week." He turned and gave Bobby a knowing look.
"Hey, one tree house and I never live it down. That's just fucking wrong." Bobby shook his head.
They were all quiet for a while. Craig rested back in the seat and let his eyes close. He was tired, and really shouldn't be. He'd napped for three hours that day. As they rode, he thought back to the events of the weekend. It had been a long weekend, but at the same a lot of things had happened in a short time, and his brothers weren't done yet. He was certain more was coming. He just couldn't imagine what.
When they returned to the house, there was no sign of Angel or Sofi, though her car was parked in the drive behind the house. Craig sat on the couch with Bobby, and watched as his brother flipped the stations on the television. Jerry stayed for a while, sitting in the chair next to the fireplace, watching the channels pass by. Jack went upstairs.
"Man, why don't you find a station and leave it there?" Jerry looked at Bobby.
"Hell, that's no fun. This way I get to watch everything." Bobby shot back.
Jerry looked at Craig. "You know, you have school tomorrow." He commented. "You should be getting ready for bed."
Craig looked at Jerry, and then up at Bobby, he hadn't thought about school for the past few days. It had been the furthest thing from his thoughts since his mother died, though he knew he would have to go back, he honestly wasn't sure he was ready to return the following day.
"He ain't going to school tomorrow." Bobby shook his head. "He has to be with one of us at all times, and it's not like we can go to school with him." He went back to flipping the stations.
"What?" Jerry laughed. "You can't keep him home another day. The school will be raising hell."
"He can go on Tuesday. He needs another day. I'll call in the morning and let them know." Bobby glanced down at Craig. "Sound okay?"
"I am going to be pretty far behind." Craig pointed out. "Maybe I should go." Not that he wanted to go, but Jerry did have a point. The school might very well cause a problem if he missed another day. He didn't know how many days out of school was considered normal if a parent died, but he'd missed all of the week before Thanksgiving. His mind tried to reason that Thursday and Friday there had been no school because of Thanksgiving so they didn't count, but he knew the school wouldn't reason that out the same way.
"No." Bobby shook his head. "I'm not ready for you to go to school yet."
"You aren't ready for him to go yet?" Jerry wasn't laughing that time. "Damn, Bobby, are you going to suffer through some sort of separation anxiety shit or what?"
"No, I'm not ready for him to go yet." Bobby looked at Jerry. "We're still looking into this shit, and I'm not so sure I want him separate from us, even if it is at school."
"Its school man, ain't nothin' gonna happen to him there." Jerry argued.
"I said he can go on Tuesday." Bobby looked down at Craig again. "We'll get Jerry to come over and help you get caught up on what you need to make up." He spoke casually.
"Oh really, you're gonna get Jerry to come over and help him get caught up?" Jerry looked amused by the statement. "You can help him get caught up."
"You're the fucking scholar in the family Jerr'. You wouldn't want me to help him really, now would you? You remember some of the papers I turned in when I was in school, don't you?" Bobby returned his attention to the television, as he came to a 'Simpsons' rerun. "Oh hell yeah, Bart's on." He set the remote control down on the couch next to him.
Craig looked at Jerry. "You really wouldn't do that to me, would you?" He asked Jerry.
Jerry smiled. "Hell no man, I couldn't do that to you." He shook his head.
Bobby laughed and looked at Jerry, then down at Craig. "It is getting late though; I guess you should go to bed and try to get back to a normal schedule with your sleeping."
Jerry stood. "Well, I'm getting out of here. Camille is gonna be wondering where I am. Call me tomorrow and let me know what the fuck is going on." He walked towards the front door.
"Yeah, we'll do that." Bobby picked up the remote and turned the television off as Jerry walked out. "Come on kid, let's get some sleep."
Once in the bed Craig fell asleep quickly, and the sleep was good for most of the night. The dreams started in the early morning hours. He could feel his mind being sucked into the replay of his father shooting his mother. The sounds seemed more intense than normal, and his father's face seemed much more vivid. Then the images morphed into Evelyn Mercer lying on the floor, and the blood flowed from her body like a river across the floor towards him. He turned to run, trying to get away from the smell of the blood, but the warm, sticky liquid was raging towards him, and when it caught up to him it seemed to penetrate his whole body, sucking the air out of him. The images of the store around him disappeared and he was surrounded by red, nothing but red. Then he started screaming for Bobby, calling for him to make it stop.
He heard Bobby's voice after what seemed forever; telling him it was okay, that he could wake up. Craig opened his eyes instantly, and found himself sitting in the bed, with Bobby's arm around him. Tears were flowing freely, he was drenched in sweat and he felt as if he couldn't breathe, but once his mind was able to focus, he sucked in air. Bobby was sitting next to him, with an arm around him, talking quietly, though Craig couldn't hear exactly what he was saying.
Craig leaned into Bobby and let himself cry. Bobby stopped talking and let him rest against his shoulder for a long while. His shirt was sticking to him from sweat, and he felt nauseous for a while, until his mind started to calm down.
"Do you need to go to the bathroom?" Bobby asked quietly after some time.
Craig shook his head. "No." He spoke with a shaky voice, and wished he could make himself calm down. "I'm sorry…" He started to say.
"Fuck, I told you before, don't be saying that." Bobby reminded. "Not for shit like this." Bobby yawned. "You want to change your clothes?"
Craig shook his head. "I can just take my shirt off." He reached up with his hands and wiped the tears away.
Bobby helped him out of his shirt, and waited until he'd laid back into the pillow before laying back himself. "Are you gonna be able to sleep?"
"Yeah," Craig muttered, though he wasn't certain at that moment he could actually fall asleep again. He didn't want Bobby to think he had to stay awake with him.
It took nearly an hour, but Craig was able to fall back into a restless sleep, finally. He could feel himself moving onto his side, and then onto his stomach several times. He felt Bobby's arm drop over him after a while, and he couldn't roll over any more, though he tried a few times. Bobby would hold him in place, and tell him to keep still. He finally fell back into a decent sleep, and woke on his own to the light of day filtering in though the window. He could hear the shower running, and when he rolled over he found Bobby was gone, and the door was wide open.
Craig got out of bed and rubbed his eyes to try to wake up. His bladder started aching as soon as he was on his feet. He wondered out into the hall, to the bathroom, assuming Bobby was in the shower. He found the door open, and Bobby sitting on the toilet.
Bobby looked up at him from the paper he was reading. "What the fuck are you doing out of bed?" He asked.
"I have to pee." Craig answered.
Bobby laughed. "Not yet you don't." He looked back at his paper. "Take a seat." He used his free hand to point to the bath tub without looking up again. "Watch it though, Jackie's in the shower."
Craig didn't question his brother; he walked over to the far end of the tub and sat on the edge. "What time is it?" He asked sleepily, still not quite awake.
"You see a clock in here?" Bobby glanced up at him. "You could have looked before you went roamin' around the house by yourself after you were told you don't go anywhere without one of us."
Craig looked at Bobby, and started to apologize, but stopped himself. "I'm not awake yet, I didn't think." He muttered.
"Yeah, I know." Bobby turned the page on the paper.
"Lay off him Bobby." Jack spoke from the shower.
"I'm his older brother; it's my fucking job to be an ass with him." Bobby spoke loud enough for Jack to hear. He looked up at the shower, "I didn't yell at him, did I?" He asked.
"Hey, Bobby," Angel called from the hallway.
"Yo," Bobby answered without looking up from his paper.
Angel walked into the restroom, and stopped at the door, trying to wave away the stench from Bobby's session on the toilet. "Hey man, I gotta ask you a question." He looked worried.
"What's up?" Bobby looked up.
"You know me and Sofi did a lot of making up last night." Angel sighed.
"You gave her that ring, huh?" Bobby looked amused.
Craig looked up at Angel, surprised by Bobby's words. Well, Bobby was right, it looked like they had indeed Angel to the other side, but obviously Bobby had known about the ring already.
"Yeah," Angel nodded his head. "But it seems like I gotta a little rust on the tool." He started pulling away his robe to reveal his 'tool'.
Craig turned away immediately. "Angel…" He stared at the sink, avoiding the view.
"Woe, woe, woe." Bobby waved Angel off with his paper. "Ask the cockologist in the shower, man." Bobby spoke quickly.
"How the hell should I know?" Jack asked from behind the shower curtain.
"You're the expert." Bobby glanced over at Craig, and then looked back to his paper.
Craig heard the shower curtain move, and moments later Jack spoke again. "Rug burn, you're gonna live."
Craig felt the shower curtain close behind him as Jack retreated back behind the curtain.
"Thank God, man. I thought my luck ran out." Angel sounded relieved.
Craig looked back, thankful to find Angel had closed his robe back. His bladder still ached and he really wished Bobby would hurry.
Angel started to walk out of the room, but stopped and turned back. "Hey listen, man. You know, Jerry ain't been straight up with us about that redevelopment project. Found out his dream's dead. Jerry got involved with some bad people. City got on him about fraud and whatnot. Cut his loans off, like, a month ago. Technically, Jerry's really broke." He spoke the words carefully.
Bobby looked at Angel like he hadn't heard a word the man had said, but then seemed to bring his self out of the surprised state he was in. "You think this had something to do with what happened to Mom?" He sounded confused.
"No, I'm saying that it's something that we should look into. I need y'all to go down and visit this city official named Douglas. He'll know who Jerry got mixed up with." Angel drew in a deep breath. "I'm gonna go check on some other shit."
"What are you talking about?" Bobby seemed to sit up a bit straighter. "Why don't you just tell me what you know Angel?"
"I know you need to stay your ass on that porcelain. This is gonna require a little finesse, and given your prior reputation as a hothead…" Angel spoke with a tone of authority that Craig rarely heard anyone use with Bobby.
"I wrote the fucking book on finesse!" Bobby spoke loud, waving the paper at Angel, speaking while Angel was still talking.
Craig heard the shower shut off and moved from the end of the tub so that Jack could get out past him and start drying off.
"You gonna be the first to fuck up." Angel finished what he was saying and turned to walk out of the room. "Yeah, whatever," He spoke as he walked down the hall.
"Wait for me to wipe my ass Angel!" Bobby yelled as he reached for the toilet paper. "I'm coming with you!" He pulled at the tissue, only to pull the last small piece from the cardboard roll.
Jack pulled a towel around him and turned towards the sink.
"Get me some fucking toilet paper Jack!" Bobby looked over at Jack.
"You are kidding, right?" Jack motioned to his towel.
"Craig, go get me some fucking toilet paper." Bobby spoke loud, and turned to the door, "Angel!"
"I'm not supposed to roam around the house alone." Craig couldn't resist saying it; though by the look on his brother's face he regretted it immediately. He stepped past Bobby quickly and went to the small closet in the hall to grab a clean roll of toilet paper and walked it back to Bobby. He heard Angel's door open and close while Bobby was still finishing up on the toilet. He turned and looked through the door to see Angel walking down the stairs quickly.
Bobby flushed the toilet, stood and pulled up his pants before he moved from the room quickly. "Angel!" He headed straight down the stairs.
"Thank God!" Craig stepped up to the toilet and pulled down his sweatpants to pee.
"You too?" Jack cried out. "Fuck, can't anyone have any privacy in this house?"
Craig did what he needed to, then put the toilet seat down and sat. "I'm not allowed to go anywhere by myself." He reminded Jack.
Jack just gave him a look that told him he was irritated. Bobby returned moments later. "Craig, get your clothes from your room and get a fucking shower." He told him. "Then you come downstairs and eat some breakfast."
Craig started to repeat that he was not allowed to go anywhere by himself, but Bobby crossed his arms in front of him. "I have to let you start doin' shit on your own; I can't keep you tied to my side forever. So I guess you're not on restriction any more, you're just fucking grounded. Now go."
Craig wasn't sure why he felt disappointment at Bobby's statement. He was certain he hadn't like the whole restriction thing that Bobby had come up with, he really hadn't. He wanted to be able to get up and walk from one room to another when he felt like it, and now Bobby was telling him that he could.
He walked out of the rest room and went to his room for his clothes. When he returned the bathroom was empty, and he felt an empty feeling in his gut. He didn't like being alone.