James

Later that night, Annabelle, Mark and Glenn decided that a group meeting was necessary to talk about what we were going to do about the little situation I was in. I didn't really want to have this meeting but apparently it was necessary. And once we got started, I realized that they weren't exactly wrong. That didn't make me want to have it anymore, but at least it didn't make it completely pointless.

"We're fucked," Annabelle proclaimed. She was playing with Cooper, who was completely oblivious to what we were talking about.

"We're not fucked," I said with a shake of my head. I ruffled Cooper's hair, which made him smile and crawl up on to my lap. "If Scotty did what he was supposed to do then we're cool. And if he didn't, only Mark is fucked. He was the one that did it after all."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Thank you James. That just makes me feel so loved."

"Well it was your fault," I pointed out defensively.

"Yeah well, even if the body doesn't get connected to Mark, we've got a big issue to deal with," Glenn pointed out. "Kelsey is dead. The cops know Matt's gone, even if they don't know what really happened to him. Jeff's only fourteen and it's only a matter of time before they call Child Protective Services and have him taken away. They're not going to let him just stay here under your supervision."

"Why not?" I asked. "I take good care of him!"

"Yeah but you're not a responsible adult."

I pouted. Being a responsible adult was way overrated.

"So what the hell are we going to do?" Annabelle asked. "There's got to be someone we know that can take custody of Jeff."

"Maybe Shannon or Evan's parents will do it," Mark said with a shrug.

"And if they don't?" I asked. I did not like facing the possibility of having Jeff slip away from me. It angered me greatly. "Then what are we going to do?"

"Then Glenn will talk Bearer into taking custody of him," Mark said with a shrug.

Glenn looked at Mark in surprise. "I will?"

"Yes you will. He won't do it if I ask him to. He hates me."

"And me," James added. "And Annabelle."

Glenn sighed. "Fine. I'll see what I can do."

Now I thought that settled the matter. But apparently Annabelle didn't. "But who says they'll even let Bearer have him?" she asked. She seemed determined to point out all the potential problems with any plan we made up. "He's not a relative or an official foster parent."

"Yeah but the bastard has a way of talking people into shit," I pointed out. "He talked Mark and Glenn's mom into sleeping with him, now didn't he?"

"Yeah," Mark said. "Now if that doesn't make him a miracle worker, I don't know what does."

Annabelle sighed. "Alright," she said in defeat. I hope you guys are right."

"Don't worry, we are," I assured her. I leaned over and kissed her cheek. "This is going to work out. I won't have it any other way."

She shook her head. "Things can't always go your way James. Life doesn't give a damn about what you want."

"It will if I force it to," I replied.

"Da?" Cooper said suddenly.

I looked at him. "What?"

He gave me a big kiss on the cheek. I smiled and hugged him tightly. "I love you too kiddo." I got up and began carrying him out of the room. "Come on, let's go check on Jeff."

Glenn said something as I left, but I ignored him. I just continued my search for Jeff and wound up finding him washing his face off in the bathroom. "Are you okay?" I asked.

He sighed and shut off the water and dried his face off with a towel before answering me. "Can you please not ask me that right now?"

I nodded. "Yeah sure."

"Thank you." He rubbed his eyes and walked past me so he could leave the room. I quickly followed him, not letting him out of my sight for a second. We ended up in my room, where he curled up into a little ball on my bed. He looked so sad and pathetic just laying there that I put Cooper down on the floor to play so I could lay down with him. "It's going to be alright," I told him.

He shook his head. "That's easy for you to say. You're not in my situation." He snuggled up to me, crying softly now. "I'm so fucking scared James. Aunt Kelsey is dead, I could be taken away from you against my will and I can't stop thinking that Matt is going to get me."

I sighed. I hated seeing him like this. "I'm not letting you go anywhere," I said firmly. "Nobody is taking you away from me. As for Matt, he is gone. He's not coming back."

Jeff looked up at me, suddenly angry. "How do you know?" he asked. "Huh? You don't know him the way I do! He's never going to leave me alone for good! He told me himself that he's never going to stop until the day he dies!"

"Yeah well he's dead so you don't have to worry about him anymore!" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Jeff's jaw dropped as soon as the words left my mouth. I groaned inwardly, knowing there was no way to take them back. "He's what?" he asked in disbelief.

I sighed, quickly thinking up of a lie to cover my own ass. "He's dead," I repeated. "I um…I found him lurking outside the house a week ago when you were sleeping. I tried to make him go peacefully but he refused….we ended up getting into a struggle and he ended up dead."

"How?" Jeff asked, his voice going up an octave higher than it normally was.

"I hit him in the back of the head with a rock," I replied, trying to sound remorseful. It wasn't really working out too well, but Jeff was getting too hysterical to truly notice. "I didn't meant to kill him…I just freaked out when he told me what he was going to do to you."

Jeff stared at me for the longest time, his jaw hanging opened wordlessly. Finally he closed his mouth and buried his face into my chest. There was a little bit more silence before he began to cry. At first it was all soft and quiet but then it got progressively louder and harder; eventually he was full on sobbing on me. I was startled as hell because I didn't know what the fuck there was to cry about. I decided not to question him though and instead chose to just hold him until he fell asleep in my arms.