Oh my God where is he!

I ran out to the end of the driveway and complete fear crept into my heart.

“Troy!” I shouted.

I looked frantically from left to right, trying to find him.

“Troy! Where are you!” I shouted again.

I looked over and saw a black car slowly approaching the house. It pulled into the driveway and that fear turned into hatred pretty quickly.

Driving the car was Alec, Troy’s father. Seeing him made my blood run cold. He rolled down the window and waved me over. Shakily, I walked over to the car.

“I’ve had enough of this. I won’t allow my son to be raised by a drunk and a whore any longer.” He said with pure hatred in his voice.

I laughed darkly.

“Right because you’re such a model parent? I’m assuming you’re off house arrest now?” I spat at him.

He narrowed his eyes at me and tightened his grip on the wheel.

“Shut your whoring mouth bitch. I’m taking my son home and you can tell that drunk of a mother of yours that I’m taking her to court.” He said to me with a darkness in his eyes.

I looked back at Troy in the back seat. I could tell he was scared. I held back the tears and moved so that he could see me.

“Don’t worry Troy. Everything will be fine, I promise.” I told him.

Troy just gave me a look of disgust then turned his head to look out the window. It felt like someone shot me in the chest.

“Bye bye Kyle.” Alec said.

He threw the car in reverse, almost running my feet over, then pulled out of the driveway. My knees instantly went weak and I fell to the ground. My chest felt like it was caving in. I wrapped my arms around myself and started bawling. I was crying so hard my whole body was shaking. I didn’t even hear the door open behind me but the next thing I knew Zacky’s arms were around me.

“Kyle, what happened?” He asked softly.

I took several breaths to try and pull myself together.

“He took him.” Was all I could spit out.

“Who? Who took him Kyle?” Zacky asked.

“His father. He found us and is going to sue for custody.” I said through sobs.

Zacky tensed up behind me and held me closer.

“We’ll get him back Kyle. I swear.” He said.

I shook my head.

“No, we won’t.” I said quietly.

“Kyle, don’t say that. We’ll call my lawyer and we’ll get everything straightened out.” He said.

I sighed and closed my eyes.

“Zacky, there’s something I need to tell you.” I said slowly.

It’s now or never. If I don’t tell him the truth, he’ll never understand.

“Troy isn’t my son Zacky. He’s my brother.” I said.

I closed my eyes and wanted for what came next. But nothing did. He didn’t say anything, but I felt him relax. I opened my eyes and looked up at his face. He was smiling.

“Kyle, I kind of figured that out on my own.” He said softly.

I looked up at him again and just relaxed into him.

“Just tell me everything.” He whispered.

Then he picked me up and brought me into the house. I looked at my knees and saw they were all scraped up and bloody. Zacky just wiped them clean and sat us both on the couch. He took my hand and waited for me to talk.

“My mom was always an alcoholic. She drank since before I could even remember. I’m pretty sure the only reason she married my dad was because she was pregnant with me. When I was about 5 he couldn’t take it anymore so he left. He moved to Arizona and fell in love with a waitress named Betty. They have three kids now. But anyway, after he left everything went to hell. I learned pretty quickly that I was on my own. I learned how to do pretty much everything I needed to survive. By the time I was in kindergarten I was running the washer and dryer and cooking on the stove. I had to, or I wouldn’t eat or have clean clothes.” I started.

Zacky just sat quietly and listened to the twisted tale I called my life.

“I couldn’t tell you how many times I had to clean up my mother’s vomit. I couldn’t even begin to count the amount of times I had to call an ambulance because my mom got alcohol poisoning. I’ve been taken away from her three times. Each time she had to go to rehab to get me back. She would and for a while things would be okay. But then she’d go back to the bottle and we would start over. When I was 16, my mom was sleeping around with a bunch of different guys and Alec was one of them. He was one of her more steady boyfriends. He liked to stay over a lot. Mostly because my mom would pass out and he could come into my bed.”

I stopped and looked at Zacky’s reaction. I could see pure rage filling his eyes.

“Kyle, are you tell me he would-“ He stopped.

I nodded and let some tears fall. Zacky clenched his fists and pounded the coffee table.

“That son of a bitch.” He said under his breath.

“Yeah, well. That’s what he is. Anyway, my mom ended up pregnant and it was Alec’s. He was pissed. He didn’t want trapped by my mother so he told her to get rid of it and he left her. My mom wouldn’t get rid of him so she had him anyway. Alec was pissed. He didn’t want to have to pay her child support so instead he took her to court and actually won. Now she had to pay him. She couldn’t work so she brought me to the strip club when I was 18 and said if I didn’t make her money, she’s whore me out.” I said.

Zacky just hung his head down and shook it. I took a deep breath.

“So that’ s pretty much it.” I said finally.

When Zacky looked at me, I saw tears in his eyes.

“Kyle, I’m so so sorry.” He said. I swallowed hard and shrugged.

“It’s no big deal. Shit happens right?” I said.

He shook his head and pulled me in his arms.

“No, you didn’t deserve to be treated like that at all. And I’m going to do whatever I have to, to make sure it never happens again.” He whispered in my ear.

I put my arms around him and just cried. Once I had calmed down we pulled apart and he stood up.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m calling my attorney and we’re going to see what we can do about Troy.” He said.

I smiled and stood up too.

“Thank you.” I said. He shook his head.

“Kyle, you don’t have to thank me. I care way too much about you both to let this go on.” He said.

My heart swelled and I ran over and threw my arms around his neck and kissed him hard.