Chapter 102

Robert’s Pov

I take a seat on the front porch rocking chair. I sink back and the chair swings with my weight. I let the rhythm of the sways carry me further away in my day dreams. I gaze out into the rolling hills and wonder what it would have been like to grow up here.

I chuckle as I recall the old-timey saying the sky’s the limit. That’s only true for alpha’s like Arthur, not forgotten throwaways like me. Where I grew up, the sky was only something for me to shout at. It’s peaceful out here. There’s no lingering echoes of screams which means Arthur probably never yelled at the sky.

It’s pretty funny, I have to admit. Seeing him suffer like this. Well I haven’t seen him suffer, but hearing of his infirmity is all pretty ironic. I mean, he’s only getting a taste of what my entire life has been like and yet h’s considered the strongest alpha. He can’t even handle a day of my life.

Must be nice to have a whole search party come look for you, meanwhile even my own mother would let me go on my own in search for food for days. The more I think about it, the more I realize how ridiculous the whole thing is.

Luckily, I don’t have time to stew over it. Some expensive cars begin to pull up. I sit back and wait for the show to unfold.

The first to get out their car is some guy I don’t recognize, but looks like my dad. His brother maybe. I guess I’ll be meeting all kind of family today. I wonder how my uncle would feel about reuniting with a long-lost nephew.

He shakes on his jacket and makes eye-contact with me while doing so. I give a friendly wave and he looks back at me with curiosity and a subtle hint of dislike, which seems on par for family relations.

I don’t rise from my seat a he approaches the front door. “Who are you?” He asks. His voice his deep, like Roman’s which only confirms my belief that he’s his brother. As for the hostile greeting, I return one of my own. Maybe he’ll recognize me as family.

“As far as Roman’s concerned, I’m a nobody. As far as everyone else is concerned, I’m the greatest scandal.” I flash him a big grin as he cocks his eyebrows at me. He mutters something under his breath as he opens the front door and heads inside.

The next car to pull up is a cherry-red mustang. The top is down and a man in a black suit hurries out of the car to let the passenger step out. I immediately recognize the woman as the promotional actress in all the sports gear commercials.

I could never remember who name, but it didn’t matter. The only thing anyone remembered from those commercials was the way she wore the merchandise and told you that you’d be bad wolf not to get one.

She takes her time crossing the long driveway and up the patio. Her face is an odd mixture of happy sadness, as if deciding which role to play. For a lady, I stand to greet her as she comes closer.

“Thank you, sir.” She says to me, taking a moment to bat her eyelashes at me. For a moment I wonder what she’s thanking me for, until I realize she thinks I’m just the door holder. Anger floods through me and I almost correct her that I would never work for such people, but Roman opens the door instead.

It’s evident in his eyes that he has his own piece of mind to give me, but quickly steps aside to let the red-headed lady in. “Oh Roman,” the woman feigns concerns and it becomes all too obvious she was never hired for her acting skills.

“Thanks for coming, Cecilia. You’ve known Arthur since he was in diapers and I know he’ll appreciate you being here.” I’ll give Roman credit, he sounds more believable than the actress. Cecilia nods empathetically and moves inside. Roman looks after to make sure she’s out of ear shot and then slams the door.

I brace for him to grab me by the collar again, but he doesn’t. Instead he pushes a hard fist into my chest that causes me to stumble back. I quickly catch myself. If I was prepared for that, I wouldn’t have moved so easily. I step closer, back to the spot I was comfortable in.

Roman lets out an insulted laugh and takes a step closer to me. Our noses inches apart. His hot breath blocks my ability to breathe. “I told you to go home, Robert.”

“I am home, Father.” I tell him more cooly than I feel, in actuality I want to punch him in the snout and rip his skin to shreds.

“This place is not your home. I didn’t want you then and I didn’t want you now. What is so hard to understand about that?”

I block the pain from spreading and instead go numb. “No, you’ve made that very clear. See, I don’t care what it is what you want. You’re not very used to hearing no I assume so it seems to me that you’re the one whose not getting it.”

Roman flares his nostrils and speaks in a low growl. “What do you want then? Hm? Is it money? That’s what I gave your skank of a mother.”

“I wanted money a long time ago. Now, I’ve realized what I really want is a relationship with my dad and my niece, and was that my uncle? I want a relationship with him too while we’re at it.”

I expect Roman to deny me, to tell me to leave, but what I don’t expect is him to laugh. He laughs right in my face and I can see spit fly from his lips. For a moment, all I see is red.

“I haven’t called the cops on you yet, how’s that for a relationship? You’re pushing it though. If you don’t leave now, I will call in a special favor from my friends at the police station and have you arrested.”

My lips curl into a snarl, but decide to give the old man what he wants. For now. “Fine.” I tell him. “I’ll go.”

Without so much as another look in my direction, Roman pulls the front door open and disappears inside.

I stomp down the white stairs and punch the nearest tree. Some blood bubbles around my knuckles. With that out of my system, I sneak around the side of the house. Having that time inside before Roman and his lady arrived gave me some time to map out the perimeter of the house.If my calculations are correct then the second window on the left is the one that looks into the living room. The window rests just above my head, if I jump I can see what’s going on but I don’t want to risk that. Instead I hang low and listen.

At first it’s hard to isolate the voices as everyone’s talking at once. It sounds like a damn cocktail party in there, you’ve never guess people were gathering out of genuine concern, that is until Almara’s voice cuts in.

“…Where he was going. He said it was best if I didn’t know.”

“I have an idea of where he might be.” Someone else says, I can’t tell if it belongs to Roman or his brother. More voice overcrowded one another.

“…..Where you met…..stadium” The words are cutting in and out, but I can tell they’re going to split up. Now it’s just a matter of deciding who I follow.