I glanced over at her with a tight-lipped smile. “Yeah, mymother.”
In the middleof the night, I got home from my shift at the restaurant. It was a Friday night, and the owner had needed me to stay late to help clean up the kitchen from a busier-than-hellnight.
“Ma!” I called into the house. It was weird that every light was on in the sprawling home. Usually when Dad was away on a business trip, she’d fall asleep early while reading in the sitting room off the master bedroom. “Ma? You stillawake?”
“Sean?” I could see her out on the patio, frantically waving for me to join her as she put her finger over her lips, signaling for me to stayquiet.
“Ma? What is it?” I whispered as I shut the glass door behind me, making my way over toher.
“Shhhh!” She grabbed my hand, pulling me into her side. Getting up on her tiptoes, she leaned in close to my ear. “They’re trying to getme.”
She darted away, yanking me closer to the side of the house as she crouched down, pointing at the window screen. She was in her favorite lavender nightgown and silk robe that matched, hair in a messy ponytail,barefoot.
“Ma, what are you pointing at?” I asked, frustrated that she was having another one of her episodes. Apparently, my father had forgotten to pick up her refill at the pharmacy before he left the morning before. It wasn’t unusual for him to forget, he counted care less about my mother’s mental health or even me for that matter. All he cared about was landing another big account or his next big building project. He was a great provider but a shitty husband and father. I would have traded all of the wealth in the world to have a caring father and a healthymother.
“Don’t you see the faces? They’re evil. They’re trying to get inside my mind.” She rocked back and forth, the heels of her hands jammed hard into her eyes as tears mixed with makeup poured down hercheeks.
I wrapped my arms around her. “Ma, if they’re trying to get you then we need to go inside and close the blinds. They can’t get you if you can’t seethem.”
Her eyes got wide as she grabbed for my hand. “You’re right. Yes, yes, let’s do that. Come,come.”
We darted around the house, closing every damn blind and curtain. Finally, once she felt safe, we sat on her favorite plush couch in her sitting room. Tucking her into my side, I wrapped a blanket aroundus.
Kissing the top of her head, I whispered, “Get some rest,Ma.”
“I love you, Sean. Thank you for being such a sweet boy and not letting the monsters getme.”
That was the night I realized monsters were real and I was going to have find a way to always fight them away, whether it was for my mother or anyone else. I knew I never wanted anyone to experience fear like my mother had just felt if I could help it atall.
Chapter 9
McBee
“Ready for your first concert?”Sean asked as he turned off the engine of ourcruiser.
Unbuckling my seatbelt, I raised an eyebrow at him. “Don’t think I can hack it, do ya,Whistler?”
Sean rubbed the back of his neck before reaching for the door handle to get out of the car. “It’s just a big event. They’re a whole different animal than our normal beat. You know I have complete faith in you,McBee.”
Our playful banter was normal, but the way it was making me feel was new. I really needed to get my feelings for my partner in check, or shit was going to escalate extremely fast. I knew neither of us was ready for something like that. I definitely was not ready for Sean to not be my partner anymore, and if my feelings for him got out, that was exactly what would have tohappen.
We started walking toward the area where the tour buses were about to pull in with the bands and their crews all loaded inside. “I guess I’m just going to have to stick close to you, then. Oh, captain, my captain.” I hooked my arm in his for a brief second to finish out the joke, but he pulled away fromme.
“Sorry?” I dug my hands into my pockets, feeling a little scorned.Did I take it too far?I felt like it was a completely normal move for us—how could I be reading him so poorly all of asudden?
Sean nudged me with his elbow. “There are going to be a lot of us here, and I don’t want anyone to get the wrong impression.” The frown that consumed my partner’s face was alarming. I had never seen him look so disappointed in all the time we had spent together, and I had no idea what he was actually upset about. We always joked around when we were working.I guess concerts really are thatdifferent.
Quickly, my attention was taken away from the awkward situation as the door of my favorite band’s tour bus swungopen.
Deepbreaths.
Deep.
Slow.
Breaths.
I had to force myself to not start fangirling as I watched the members of The Hysterics start to descend the stairs of their gigantic bus, making their waybackstage.