What Lies Beneath

Twenty-Four

The guilt clouding my chest was too much to handle. All night, after Christian and I returned home, I tended to my mother's worries. I listened to her concerns about being an unfit parent, then I listened to her switch between ranting about me to lecturing me in less than ten minutes. And the night ended with her tear stained cheeks as I watched her fall asleep on the couch.

It was the least I could do to make sure she was okay. Between the ongoing custody battle, me making her life ten times harder, and her trying to maintain Junior, of course, she'd doubt her parenting skills. My chest clenched at the memory of last night. It was all my fault. I'd made a lot of sacrifices with Emerald's case. They were finally coming back to bite me in the ass.

"Tyler? Is that you? Oh, it really is! You're back!" Junior rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, staring at me as if he was seeing double. I bit my bottom lip, staring back at him. His frown already told me what he wanted to do. So, I opened my arms, letting him know it was okay for him to give me a hug. He immediately caught on and bolted into the living room in my arms.

"I'm back," I said, chuckling. It was no surprise he was eager to see me. He'd still been asleep by the time Christian dropped me back home last night.

"You're not going to leave again, are you? We missed you. Mom was worried sick about you too. I couldn't see her. But I heard her crying in her room last night." I winced. Sometimes Junior learning to open his mouth was both good and bad. The kid was brutally honest.

"I'm not going anywhere, Junior. Yesterday was just a misunderstanding."

He frowned. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes. Are you hungry? I can make you some food," I said, in hopes of changing the topic.

He tried to peek over my shoulder at the couch. "What about mom?"

"We should let her sleep. It's been a long night." I peered down at my watch which now read 10:40 AM. Damn, I'd gone almost a full twenty-four hours without sleep. I was tired as hell. My phone vibrated on cue too; a text from Christian, it showed.

Hey Tyler, I'm going to stop by later. As soon as I'm done at the station. I need to talk to you. Did you ever talk to your mom last night by the way?

I read it to myself in silence. If it hadn't been for Christian, I probably would have avoided my mother all night. I wasn't man enough to approach her on my own. In my defense, I wasn't even half of a man yet. I was just a boy trying to live up to the expectations of one.

I sent a text back to him, letting him know her and I had a long discussion. His next couple of texts were a simple okay and see you later.

"Aren't you coming?" Junior asked, half-way into the kitchen.

I smiled, walking towards him. "Sorry, I was texting Christian."

"Christian? Is he coming over again?"

"Yeah, he is," I answered. Junior said nothing after that. And he stayed like that as I began fixing him his breakfast for the morning.

* * *

Christian paced my room in slow, taunting steps. His eyes still hadn't met mine. He was deep in thought. I figured he was trying to go about how he was going to lay his interrogation on me. Every few minutes, I checked my watch. It was getting later and later. If he didn't speak up soon, I was going to. As if sensing my impatience, he stopped and turned, eyes picking me apart.

"I made arrangements to have the truck towed and dusted for fingerprints this morning. The results should be back by tomorrow. That truck was caught on two cameras heading back to the junkyard the day Emerald's body was dumped." Christian pressed the pads of his thumb together. Both of my eyebrows raised, urging him to finish. He caught on and nodded.