Chapter 8

"So you just gonna let him get away with it?" Ray asked, taking a sip of his beer.

He was leaning against the wall of Jason's garage, watching -once again- his best friend work on that damned pile of junk Jason called a car.

Ray was pretty sure his friend was working on the exact same part of the car, he'd seen him do a million times before.

Probably even nothing wrong with it. Just adjusting instead of fidgeting.

"I can't do it Ray." Jason wiped his hands on a dirty rag, threw it down on the hood of the car and started to pace the room. Three steps, turn, three steps, turn, repeat.

"You gotta be a little more specific here, brother." A part of Ray was wondering why his best friend always dragged him out here to help fix the goddam car. They never did more than a minutes work before it turned into therapy session, with Ray playing the shrink.

Ray huffed to himself.

Should start charging him for this. Wonder how he'd react to that. Ray made a mental note to try it out someday, once everything had settled down a little. Gotten better. Cause it would get better again someday, no doubt in Ray's mind. They'd gotta hit rock bottom at some point, right? Ray sure hoped so. He also hoped that that bottom was nearing and fast, so that they could climb out sooner rather than later.

The dirty rag made impact with Ray's chest, pulling him out of his head.

"You even listening to me, over there?" Jason'd stopped pacing, when he'd realized he'd lost the attention of his 2IC.

"Yeah of course, Jace, always."

Jason narrowed his eyes, scanning the other man's features for any indication of untruthfulness. A starring contest ensued, Ray being the first to cave.

Sighing, he apologized, "Sorry, Jay, it's just Spenser. Can't stop thinking about him, lately." That was not a complete lie.

"Welcome to my life." The tone of his friend's voice was laced with sarcasm...and something else. Something Ray couldn't quite put his finger on. One thing was for sure though, the warmth and resigned fondness that usually hid in Jason's voice when he talked about the Kid, was gone. Complete and utterly gone and that alone was something that made chills run down Ray's spine.

"Remember when we argued about drafting that boy?" Jason asked, "How I said it was a bad idea, that he'd end up getting himself and probably somebody else killed? How you argued, said we would keep him on a short leash? Said we'd keep a close eye on him. Argued that Bravo was the best place for him, that I could teach him, make sure he got home in one piece. Remember?"

Ray sank the lump in his throat, unsure where this were going.

"Yea." He answered warily. "Your point?"

"My point is Ray I can't do this anymore." And Bravo One was back to pacing the room. "No matter what I do, no matter what I say, how hard I punish him, he keeps putting himself in danger. Won't stop up and just think for a second. I can't teach him, but when he's not listening, not when he ignores my orders. I just can't."

He sat down on the doorstep to the door leading into the house, hands rubbing his face in frustration.

"I can't do this Ray. I'm too old. Can't handle him. Can't handle any of this right now, not Bravo, not everyday task, hell I can't handle taking care of my children! There's just to much. I have no clue how she did it. How she made it all run around. I... I miss her Ray."

Ray's stomach dropped as his best friend looked up at him so much despair and pain in his eyes.

"I miss her so so much."

And that's when the dam broke and the tear gates opened.

Hi (waving) sorry I've been kinda MIA for a long while, life you know, it gets to ya sometimes. I've been stressed out, too tried to write, just been fighting to get out of bed in the morning.

However it shows out that I'm far too addicted to that notification I get when somebody leaves a review or kudos/favorite on one of my stories, so here I am again trying to get a fix.

Anyway though I owed you guys an update but I can't promise when the next will come (sad face)

Let me know if you liked the chapter or not and how you're doing.

Bye, see you next time (waving)

Love

- A lost girl.

P.s. to all those who's commented on previous stories or chapters who I haven't answered yet, thank you for your comment, I'm sorry I haven't answered you yet but I am making my way slowly (very very slowly) through the list and will get to you and hopefully soon. :)