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1714 Words
“Quit or lose your boys, Trace.”
The man stared at the teen in shock and awe. Only days after his birthday, the teen had asked him out for coffee and a chat. “Excuse me?”
“This is my one and only warning, and I mean it. You have to stop drinking. Be the man you teach your sons to be, or I’m going to the big bosses about your alcoholism,” Jaxon demanded hotly.
With the ultimatum out in the open, the man leaned back in his chair. He looked down, his dark grey eyes flickering between various emotions as he thought over the teen's words. “Does anyone know you’re here?”
“Luke is tracking my location, so that’s a yes. I haven’t said anything to anyone, and only the adults in my family know anything about it. Look, I’m sorry to do this to you, but Mark is starting down the road of no return with his emotional and mental instability at this point, and Luke is scared of the one person he needs the most. I don’t know, and I don’t care why you do it, but you need to get help before it’s too late.” Affirming his stance, Jaxon had effectively cornered his superior with determination and words.
Lifting his gaze to the teen, Trace sighed. “You’d really go to Ambrosia and Callum with what you know?”
“I’m not doing it now simply to give you the opportunity to make the necessary changes yourself. Can I ask why you started to begin with? For someone like you, it must have been something horrible,” Jaxon asked calmly.
Sitting across the café table from his son’s boyfriend, Trace swallowed. “Jax, you’re a smart boy, and I know that you’re holding all the cards right now. I’ll tell you, but you… you have a point. I’ll try. Give me a month to pull myself out of the darkness.”
Unfazed, Jaxon nodded. “I’m not trying to hurt you or your relationship with the guys, but I’m worried about you getting sick from the drink. Your boys need you and, as your possible future son-in-law, so do I.”
Blinking back the tears that suddenly burned his eyes, Trace looked at the teen with a new understanding. Nodding, he said, “Like I said, you’re right. Not only that, but you’re also going about this in an incredibly mature manner. Give me one month to reflect and get a few things done. We can have another secret meeting four weeks from today.”
Smiling, Jaxon nodded. “I have nothing against it, but just try to see it from their point of view. Your sons need you to be there mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. You’re not you when you drink, Trace.”
After leaving the café, Trace didn’t go directly home like he usually did. Instead, he walked to the nearby park and sat on the first bench he came across. Pulling out his phone, he searched his video history before he found what he was looking for. He was looking at the pictures of when his boys were young, his gaze lingering on each one before he moved on to the next. A video of Lukas’s birthday caught his eye, and he turned the phone to watch it. That was when he saw the lingering fear in his youngest son’s eyes. It wasn’t directed at the man holding the camera, but at the bottle Trace had set down to take the video.
“What have I done?” he whispered, feeling the pain in his heart. Getting to the call screen, he knew there would be hell to pay for his screw-up, but he knew something had to give. The first call he made was to Jaxon.
“Hi,” the teen said.
“You were right. I need help, Jaxon.”
He could hear the frown in the boy’s voice. “What changed?”
“I was looking at the pictures and videos of the boys when they were growing up, and I noticed what you were talking about. Don’t think about it anymore. I’m going to tell the bosses myself, so you don’t carry that guilt,” Trace replied.
Jaxon fell quiet, then said, “Don’t go it alone. Take my father with you, Trace. He knows, and he’s willing to help.”
“Thanks, Jax. I mean that. Thank you for making me own my screw-up. Anyone else would have watched me fall flat on my face,” Trace lamented softly.
“Nein,” Jaxon told him. “You don’t have to thank me for doing the right thing, Trace. I’m happy to help, even if it means ticking you off to make a point.”
Hanging up, Trace called David. “Wanna know what your kid did today?”
“Do I have to know?” David shot back.
“He took the morning off of school to meet with me for coffee. He threatened me over my drinking, forcing me to realize something I should have noticed for myself. I need help, Dave. Can you be there when I face the others?” Trace asked, nervous for the first time in a long time.
David breathed a laugh. “He said he was going to knock some sense into you. I’ll be there, T-Dawg. I got your back.”
******
Markus stared at his brother in shock. Having just gotten the whole story about what happened on OTU’s campus, he could hardly believe it. Both his father and David had mentioned the incident from over a month ago, but he never bothered to investigate it further. Now, he was trying to wrap his head around it. "He fought back?"
Lukas grinned, encouraged. "He was awesome, bro. I mean, he didn’t do much, but he still made an impact. I swear I've never seen him fight like that. Then again, he's been spending a lot of time with Russell over the last year."
"I'm not sure what to say," Markus whispered as he helped his little brother put away the supper dishes. "Did Dad say anything?"
Falling quiet, Lukas nodded. "Before he dragged Matt to the Dean, he told Ji-Hoon not to use violence on school grounds anymore."
Markus scowled. "Did I just hear you call Jaxon by his real name?"
"Shove that jealousy up your ass, bro. He said we all could," Lukas replied as he put the last of the dishes in the strainer. "The last time I stayed over at his place, we were talking about how we didn't have code names or nicknames. We hashed out some details and came up with a few of our own."
"So Jaxon chose his birth name?"
Lukas nodded. "He told me that mine should be Storm. He said it was because I'm calm until people get me started. Then he told me I'm like a human hurricane when I'm angry."
Snickering loudly, Markus jabbed his brother in the ribs. He was having a hard time believing his boyfriend was anything but weak. Yet, Jaxon was also too smart for his own good sometimes. Markus laughed huskily. “He's not lying. You have Dad's temper, and you do get blackout mad."
He gazed out the patio window, his attention fixed on the Red-headed woodpecker on the rail. Absently, he ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm thinking of getting my hair redone, you game?"
"Mine is getting kind of shaggy, so, yeah, I'm down for a trip to Austin's," Lukas agreed, tugging at his hair. "I'd like to get the streaks cut off and redone now that they've grown out a bit."
Laughing, Markus shook his head. "You do know that Jaxon can cut hair, right? He's the one that trims the girls' hair for them."
"Which is kind of shocking because the last time Sky let him play with her hair, he set it on fire," Lukas said slyly.
Joining in on his brother's laughter, Markus turned toward the door. His laughter faded as a shiver of apprehension sent chills up his spine. How long their father had been watching them, he didn't know. The man looked tired, but the small smile on his face seemed to brighten his eyes.
"Boys, I need your help bringing the bottles into the kitchen," Trace said quietly.
Dropping what they were doing, the brothers followed him into the den. Their jaws dropped when they saw what their father had done to his liquor cabinet.
Wordlessly, Trace started lugging the bottles into the other room and placing them on the counter. They followed suit, taking as many as they could carry in a single trip. Giving each other confused looks, Lukas and Markus silently helped their father.
When they were done, Trace made them sit at the table.
"Markus, I need to thank your boyfriend, buddy. Talking to him made me realize something, and that's the fact that I've been relying on the bottle to ease my pain. The night you called me, Luke, I was having a very bad day. I honestly had no idea how much my drinking habit scared you."
Even more confused than before, Markus and Lukas looked at each other, then back at their father.
"What are you talking about, Dad?" Lukas questioned when he found his voice.
Trace blew out a heavy breath. "I've spent the last month watching how you both behave when I’m around, and I've come to notice something I didn't see before. You both tense up if I go near alcohol. My father was an alcoholic, so it was all I knew growing up other than doing chores on the farm until I came here when I was eighteen. He could put away the liquor better than your Uncle Kristoph and I, but he was never violent. I don’t ever recall being afraid of him, but you’re both afraid of me. I've done some deep thinking, I mean real deep, and I got a little scared myself when I realized what I was doing to you.”
Getting to his feet, he walked over to the counter and scoffed. "It's time to break the cycle, stimmst du nicht zu?"
- Writer
