Always (Next Generation The Skulls 1)

“But you want her to become a Chaos.”

“I thought it was what she wanted.” He scoffed. “Can you hear me?”

“I can and I do know that if you and Tabby want it to work, and you see all this trouble in front of you, one day you’re going to work it out, and then it will be pretty damn awesome.”

“Thanks, man. It’s a great place.”

“It’s a shithole.”

“My dad keeps leaving you packages?”

“Yep. Food stuff. I even have a microwave. I’ve got to save up for a stove. Takeout is too damn expensive.” Dean dropped down onto a crate.

“And this is better than home?”

“It is, to me it is. I don’t have to worry about an upcoming wedding or any of that shit. Taking over the family business.” Dean offered up a can of soda. “It’s not cold. I don’t have a fridge.”

Simon shook his head. “I could get my dad to adopt you.”

“Not happening. I want to make this work and I’m not afraid of hard work.”

Opening the soda, he took a large sip. He sat down on the opposite crate. “Have you had to deal with your parents?”

“Yep. They don’t like any of this. As if that’s a surprise to me. They don’t like any part of my life.” Dean shook his head. “To them, money makes the world go around.”

“You’re an idiot if you don’t think it too. Money’s not everything, but it makes life a hell of a lot easier.”

“True. If I had money, I’d have cold sodas. I’m going to make this work. I know I can.” Dean smiled. “You don’t know what it was like, growing up with them. With their expectations.”

“I have expectations back home, Dean. It’s just different.”

“True. So are you going to let Tabitha go, or are you going to fight for her?” he asked.

“I will always fight for her. No doubt about it. She’s the love of my life.”

“You know, Eddie and I, we teased the shit out of you, but one day, I hope I get a fraction of that kind of love with someone. What you’ve got with Tabs, dude, hang on to it.”

“I will.”

****

Today was a bad day.

Lexie had chemo and the moment she got home, the vomiting happened. She got a little dizzy on her feet. Devil was there, and Tabitha tried to keep the kids settled. Josh and Elizabeth helped, but seeing their mom so ill was taking its toll.

When the sounds of her spewing up could be heard throughout the house, Tabitha took them all out into the yard. It had been snowing. She wrapped them all up in jackets, scarves, and hats, and watched each one as they built snowmen and had fights.

Within no time at all, she had them laughing. After Simon arrived home from school, he did the same and helped out.

After a couple of hours, she left them with Simon as she went inside to go and make some dinner, coming to a stop when she saw Devil.

All her life, this man had been scary as fuck. Always in control. Never letting his guard down. She couldn’t recall seeing him sad. Angry, sure. Pissed off, a given. She paused at the doorway of the kitchen, and he was crying.

They weren’t giant sobs. If she hadn’t stopped and looked at him, it could even be mistaken for him just sitting there, contemplating life.

“You can come in,” he said. His voice hoarse as if he’d been screaming at something.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

She pressed her lips together. A smart comment was on the tip of her tongue, but she refused to spill it, not yet.

She stepped into the kitchen and looked into the fridge. There wasn’t a lot to cook with.

“I didn’t get a chance to go to the grocery store.”

“I can go,” she said. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I’ll drive you,” Devil said. “I need to … I need to.”

“I’ll let Simon know.” She made her escape. She’d rather Simon drive her to the supermarket but she had a feeling Devil needed to get out of the house.

Simon kissed her, and she left the main house, finding Devil already in the car.

Climbing into the passenger side, she waited.

Silence was often a comfort. With Devil in the car, it made her uncomfortable.

Devil drove past the supermarket and she looked back. “We kind of need to go there.”

She tensed up as he pressed his foot on the gas. He wouldn’t try to kill her, would he? It wasn’t her fault he was in pain.

Her heart raced. She felt sick to her stomach.

They cleared the town and the moment they got across the line, the worst sound she had ever heard came out of Devil’s mouth. He screamed. His hand hit the steering wheel. The dashboard. Anything he could hurt was there in front of him. He didn’t stop screaming or yelling.