The Underbosses Photographer (M/M)

06 - Chapter Six - Lukas Black's Point Of View.

I woke up around one feeling well-rested and less exhausted. I kept thinking back to the way Andrei said he wasn't sure why lovers weren't interested in him; I was mindlessly picking away at scrambled eggs just thinking about it. Surely his job was a factor in it, but it couldn't be the only reason, with the way he smashed my camera I figured he had some kind of temper or anger issues. I could really see everyone in that whole job line having anger or temper issues. Though it wasn't like I was going to go there and do that, more than once if the opportunity presented itself. The man was good-looking, maybe he was just shit in bed and that was the reason alone. I wouldn't know.

The house sounded quiet, far too quiet than it had ever been. I headed to the garage to check for mom's car and it was gone. She had probably gone out to get something from the store she was missing. She didn't have a cellphone so I couldn't call her and ask, but I wondered how long she had been gone already. Surely she would be home shortly.

Mom rarely went anywhere, but she was a good driver. I wasn't worried, just curious how long she had actually been gone already. I wished she would get out of the house more. I flicked on the Tv in the background and heard about the accident immediately. The newscaster was saying it was pretty bad and there were a few fatalities from the crash. I wondered why I hadn't been called in to assist with the scene. That left a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that only grew when they showed only a few cars of the accident. But I knew my mother's car and I had seen it. I didn't wait for them to show the cars again. In my jogging pants and my sweater, I ripped my keys from the dish on the counter where they sat and barely remembered to put shoes on as I left the house.

I hadn't even bothered to lock the door. It wasn't important. This was far more important.

I didn't head to the accident because I wouldn't have gotten through. My best spot for answers was right at work. Someone would know about my mom and would point me in the direction to go see her. As I pulled my truck into the spot I always parked, I didn't bother to shut my truck off. I could from my phone if I absolutely had to. But I only wanted to know where my mother was so I could see her. I didn't have my access pass so I punched in my code.

It was Miranda from the lab, who I worked with all the time that had alerted the supervisors on the desks I had walked in. He approached his face was masked and he looked mildly uncomfortable.

"Lukas, What are you doing here?"

"I work here, but also, I saw my mother's car on the news and I need to know what hospital she was taken to."

"Officer Smith, I'll handle this." I heard the Chief say as he looked at me with sympathy in his eyes that made me sick.

"Lukas, My office lets go."

I knew before He got the door closed, She wasn't in a hospital but rather on one of our cold tables.

"Lukas, your mother——"

"I've figured it out," I said, Struggling to breathe at that moment.

"You understand, you have to identify the body. You don't have to do it right at this second——"

"Just let me get it over with..."

I didn't need a fancy degree in mental health and such, to know that the only reason I was even able to move from his office and to the labs to see the body, was the shock. Once it wore off I would grieve like no other for my mother. Miranda pulled up the side of the sheet and only let me see my mother's hand. Her ring was enough proof for me to claim the body, but it wasn't enough for me.

"Uncover her. I need to see."

"Lukas, no. It's awful."

"Please, Don't treat me like I've never seen a dead body."

"Lukas this your mother, not just another——"

"Let him see the body as he had asked."

Miranda wouldn't pull back the sheet, she refused. Sucking in the stale air I took the corner and pulled the sheet down from her face and to her shoulders. Her face was pale, no longer blood, but covered in small wounds. I touched her cheek with my fingers; her skin was no longer warm, but chilly. I wanted to take her into my arms and beg her to wake up, but it was far too late for that.

"This is my mother."

Turning away from her body on the table I signed the paperwork and three days her body would be released to the funeral home for me to make arrangements for her to be laid to rest. The Chief took me back to the main desk.

"Lukas, Take some time off to mourn your mother. Make arrangements, We are all here, just a phone call away if you need anything."

My truck was still running when I got into it. I wanted somewhere I could scream to the heavens and not be heard. Blinking away tears, I drove to the lake. A place where you could hide bodies and no one would see unless that person was me apparently. I couldn't go home. Not right now. Parking my truck, it started to rain, it was like the heavens were also mourning the loss with me.

I was soaked by the time I got to the clearing, overseeing the lake. I just opened my mouth and screamed until I went horse. When screams would no longer come out, I knelt to the ground and pounded my fists into the mud. Tears streaked my cheeks, but they were lost in the rain as I was as close to the earth as I had ever been. I was cold and muddy but none of that mattered. I had lost my only other family member. Someone my world had literally revolved around since my first breath.

Grabbing at the mud under my fingers I sobbed out over and over again.

"Why, why did you have to take her, she was all I had."