Broken

Chapter 23

Lyle Thompson dreaded going home at night, he couldn't stand the bitch he was married to, only married her because he had the misfortune of knocking her up. He hated children, never wanted him and now he had three, the younger two seemed to do okay for themselves, Raymond he was a joke.

Raymond was nothing but trouble from the time he was about ten, and now he was in deep. Aaron had filled him in on what his latest run in was all about, "so much for attorney client privilege" he said to himself you wave enough money in someone's face they'll talk.

He hadn't been in the house five minutes and Evelyn was already nagging him over something, he went to the bar and pulled out the cognac and poured a glass, "what are you shrieking about now Evelyn?" He asked as he rubbed his temple

"It's Raymond, I think he's in serious trouble" she said she could tell by her husband's demeanor that he this drink wasn't his first nor last drink of the evening. "What are you going to do to help him?

"Jesus Christ, Evelyn he's a big boy" he said as he poured another drinking "I'm tired of bailing his good for nothing ass out, it's time he faces the music" he said as he slammed the door closed.

Evelyn couldn't believe it, "Lyle, I won't turn my back on him" she was a horrible mother when Raymond was younger, she allowed Lyle to abuse them and her, she felt like she needed to save him now. "You're an asshole, you know" regretting it the minute she saw the anger in Lyle's eyes.

He took the bottle of cognac and hurled it at the wall, the decanter shattering "you bitch" he said as he grabbed her neck and pinned her against the wall "look at this" he said as he waved his hand around the room "this house, the clothes, the cars" he said "you have all of that because of me, I gave it to you and I sure as shit can take it from you" he said as he slapped her across the face, "see what you made me do?" He wiped his hands on his slacks "you better clean this up before I come back downstairs" he said as stepped over her "quit crying, you are even uglier when you cry"

Evelyn waited until he left the room, she quickly grabbed the broom and dust pan sweeping up the mess he made, "never again Lyle never again" she had been his punching bag for far too long. As she swept tears fell, she should have stood up for her children she realized that now, because of her Raymond was no better than his father. She felt guilty for her part in Ray's troubles, she never liked any girl Ray brought home and she made life terrible for Kim.

Adam tried calling Kim, it went straight to voice mail, he dialed her apartment phone and it just rang. "Boss, I gotta go" he said as went down the stairs taking them two at a time, he didn't even wait to hear what Hank said as he left.

He was relieved when he saw Kim's car parked in her spot in front of her unit, he knocked twice. "Come on, Kim" he said as he waited for to answer, he knocked once more and when she didn't respond he grabbed the key she kept hidden and unlocked the door.

"Kim?" he called out he was surprised how shaky his voice was, he made his way into the kitchen and couldn't believe what he saw. He leaned against the door frame his hands in his pockets and watched.

Kim wearing ear buds was mopping the kitchen floor though at this point she was doing more dancing and singing then she was mopping.

Out of the corner of her eye Kim saw a figure, she froze and once she realized it was Adam she ripped her earbuds out "Jesus Adam, you scared me!" trying to slow her heart rate "how long have you been watching me?"

He went to her, "long enough" he smiled "if this is how you clean, you need to go to my place" he said as he kissed her.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Not much Burzek in this chapter I know, but it's coming together. This story will be a short one, its kind of fizzled out and unless I can kill this writers block I'm going to try and wrap it up as best I can.

As always, thanks for reading! I appreciate all the kind words and votes, I just feel like this story is a struggle to write and I'm not doing it justice.

Kristi