Page 24 of Single Teddy (Mayberry Protectors #6)

TWENTY

WESLEY

T he following day, I was back at the Barnes house on Aster Lane, and this time, I was there with a mission.

“Hello? Is anyone here?” I said, poking my head through the curtains, and when I heard no response, I raised my voice.

“Mr. Crawford!” Niko appeared from the living room and ran toward me. “Shhh,” he said, putting his finger on his lips. “He’s sleeping. He doesn’t like it when we wake him.”

My guts twisted at the confession, and I had to fight every urge in my body not to grab both kids right here, right now, and take them as far away from this man as possible.

No, instead I went deeper into the lion’s den. I found Valentin in the living room playing with a toy car, his lips pursed as if trying to imitate car noises, but no actual sound came out.

Those poor souls had even suppressed the most innocent of play time so as not to anger the man that was supposed to love and support them.

“Have you boys started on your homework yet?” I asked them, and naturally, they shook their heads.

I looked around me, but nothing had changed since my last visit.

I really wanted to grab a cloth and start cleaning, but I didn’t think that would bode well for me.

Instead, I pondered whether I should lift the armchair cushion to check if the bug was still there in front of the kids, or if I should just keep them out of the loop as much as possible.

I opted for the latter, so I took a seat instead and quietly instructed them to bring their bags so we could start on homework.

As with every other move they made, they were so quiet I felt as if I’d lost my hearing, watching them navigate their space, their supposed home, like cat burglars instead of as kids.

They returned and took their homework folders out, and as they started working on their exercises, I took out some fresh fruit and muffins I’d made and put them in the center of the table, still in their plastic container.

“Help yourselves to anything,” I told them, taking immense joy in seeing them reach for the plums and apples first.

I let them fill their bellies and stood back up again, determined to inspect every nook and cranny of this place in hopes of finding what I was looking for.

I squeezed the phone in my jeans pocket to ensure it was there and started in the same room, acting as if I was just interested in the limited books scattered around, then went out into the hallway.

As expected, I didn’t find anything in there either or any of the other rooms on the ground floor, but when I passed the kitchen, I saw it. A device.

A cell phone laying idle on the counter.

“Bingo,” I whispered and walked in.

Something stirred to my side, and I jumped, clutching my chest as I gasped for breath.

Mr. Barnes was sprawled all over the kitchen table, fast asleep, surrounded by bottles of beer, snoring like a beast.

Shoot.

I swallowed the knot that had formed in my throat and glanced at the device on the counter, desperate to ignore the way my heart had started to race.

My feet weighed like rocks all of a sudden, and taking any steps forward became a chore, but I tried to get as close to the device as possible before I took the phone out of my pocket and placed it on top of Barnes’s device.

“Who the hell are you?” he grumbled beside me, making me jump again, and I turned around to face him, despite how close I was to going into cardiac arrest.

“It’s me, Mr. Barnes. Mr. Crawford. The kids’ teacher?”

His eyes became crossed and his face twisted in all kinds of ways before he said, “The fuck are you doing here?”

“Oh. I…I’m here to tutor the kids like we dis?—”

“No,” he said and hiccuped. “What are you doing in…the kitchen?”

“Oh, that.” I took a small side step just in case the two devices were visible and used my full figure to hide what was going on behind my back. I’d never been more grateful to be fat than now, when it could literally save my life and get the twins into safety.

I smiled, turning to look at the sink faucet. “I was trying to get a glass of water. I’m sorry if I disturbed you. I was trying to be quiet.”

“Well, you failed,” he said, looking next to me rather than at me.

The man was wasted. Like beyond wasted. And maybe high. If he were part of this cartel, it wouldn’t surprise me if he sampled his own product.

Poor kids. As if it wasn’t enough living in a shit hole with a dad who didn’t give a crap about them, they also had to deal with drug abuse in their own home.

“I’m really, really sorry,” I said, unable to move.

Mr. Barnes sat back in his chair, and after managing to control his bobbing head, raised an eyebrow at me.

“Is…is there something else?” I asked.

Barnes burped and then hiccuped before he spoke.

“I don’t know what you’re still doing here.”

“Oh. Still trying to get some water,” I said.

How long did it take to clone a phone? Had they told me, and I’d forgotten, or had they never mentioned it, and I only just realized how ridiculous this was?

I had to turn around to check, but I didn’t know how to do it without getting caught red-handed.

“Where do you keep your glasses? Here?” I asked and pointed to one of the cabinets.

When he looked at where I was pointing, I moved my hips around so I was facing the counter again and checked the screen of the phone the guys had given me. It was at fifty percent.

Dammit.

“No. I’ll get it for you,” he said and got out of his chair.

My heart thumped so loud I was surprised he couldn’t hear it, and even as I turned around to face him, I could barely control my body.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to?—”

“It’s fine,” he grumbled and opened a cabinet to hand me a glass.

He handed it to me, and I froze. The natural thing to do would be to approach the tap to fill my glass. But even if I ignored the fact that the tap was probably nasty, I couldn’t move without giving away what was hiding behind me.

What do I do? What do I do? Think, Wes!

“Thanks,” I said.

I took a deep breath and glanced at the tap.

“I just wanted to say…” I started, turning my full attention to Barnes. “I wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me? Thank me for what?” he asked, stumbling backward before steadying himself on the counter.

I planted my glass-holding hand down on the counter, hoping it would hide the phones from his view, and smiled.

“For working with me. For making sure the kids are on time and not missing school. This past week has been phenomenal.”

Barnes stared at me but didn’t say anything.

“And the kids are really taking to the lessons. I know they’ll be back up to speed in no time.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said and stared down at the glass. “You gonna fill that or what?”

“I…oh…yeah.” I went back to scrambling.

I couldn’t reach for the tap. He’d see the phones if I did. But that didn’t exactly leave me with lots of choices.

Then again.

“I bet you’re proud of them,” I said. “The fact that they’re so well-behaved is a testament to how well you’re raising them.”

He shrugged, but the smile that appeared on his face was very telling.

Of course. Give a narcissist a compliment, and he thinks he’s a god.

“Well, don’t tell me. Tell it to your principal.”

I nodded.

“I’ll make sure to do so,” I told him.

“I’d like to see him try to take those kids from me. then. My kids are fucking smart.”

I smiled and let him drink his own Kool-Aid, which would hopefully distract him long enough to figure out how to get out of this mess.

“They’ve always been clever. But what do you expect when their father is a genius? My genes are strong.”

“I can tell,” I said.

Barnes turned around and narrowed his eyes.

“Are you hitting on me? I’m not a fag,” he said.

How charming.

“No. I was just agreeing with you,” I told him, somehow managing not to retch.

“I don’t have a problem with fags. They can do whatever they want. I’m just not one,” he said, and I did my best to grit my teeth and smile in understanding.

“Of course,” I mumbled.

“Why are you just standing there? I thought you were thirsty,” he said and grabbed his balls. “For these nuts.” And then he cackled like the monster he was.

I didn’t respond to that. I didn’t know how to.

He stopped laughing and narrowed his eyes even more.

“Are you hiding something? You haven’t moved all this time,” he said, and I opened my mouth to answer, but that was when a loud thud and creak came from the hallway, and Barnes ran out of the room.

Good thing because I had no idea how I would have answered his question.

I spun around. The phone was at one hundred percent, so I shoved it into my pocket. I started to follow Mr. Barnes, but I stopped in my tracks, and just for extra safety, I grabbed the device from the counter and put it on the kitchen table where he had been sleeping.

Hopefully, in his drunken stupor, he’d think he misplaced it, but at least when he returned to the room, he wouldn’t find it in the same spot I’d been leaning on.

When I joined him in the hallway, he was standing at the bottom of the staircase and Valentin was frozen at the top.

“Get down right now!” Mr. Barnes said.

“I was just trying to get my homework,” Valentin whined as he came down the stairs, and I stared at the little boy.

But he had his homework in the living room. And when he’d brought it down earlier, I hadn’t heard a peep.

“I’m sorry I woke you up.” Niko pouted and dipped his head in submission in front of his father.

“I’ve told you a hundred times to keep quiet. And you’re not supposed to wander upstairs.”

I glanced at the top floor..

Was that where everything was? Was that where they operated from? Had Teddy and Joey heard that?

“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again,” Valentin said, and Barnes glanced at me before dismissing his son.

I dreaded to think how he’d have reacted if I wasn’t there, but I was glad I was.

“Why don’t we return to the living room and continue studying?” I wrapped my arm around Valentin and dragged him away before the brute of a man changed his mind.

I could feel Barnes’s gaze on the back of my head like a hundred pin pricks, but as soon as we disappeared into the living room, Barnes returned to the kitchen.

“Are you okay?” Valentin whispered.

I looked down at the boy in shock. He was concerned for me when he had been about to get a beating.

“I’m fine, sweetheart. Why are you asking?”

Valentin didn’t answer, just shrugged and sat next to his brother again, and I was left stumped.

Stumped and horrified.

Had Valentin caused unnecessary mayhem to rescue me from his dad? And what exactly would Barnes have done if Valentin hadn’t gotten his attention?