Tyler

by Kathi S. Barton

  “I’m well versed in changing a diaper. Poor little guy, he’s soaked through his sleeper. Do you have another one for him?” Taking the sleeper off, he could see that the baby was healthy. He was a chubby little thing that Tyler wanted to kiss all over. “I think perhaps his bed needs changed as well. If you’d do that, I’ll take care of him here.”

  She hadn’t moved. Tyler asked her if she was all right and she nodded, then shook her head. He knew just how she felt. And when she got in gear to change the bed, he turned back to Joey.

  “I didn’t think they were expecting you until Saturday morning. And Ash didn’t tell me when I spoke to her that you’d left.” Tyler told her that Ash had moved on to the next house for him. Giving into temptation, he blew a raspberry on Joey’s belly. “You’re going to wake him up all the way, and if you do, you’re staying up with him.”

  Tyler doubted very much she’d allow him to do that. She kept looking in his direction, as if checking to make sure that he didn’t hurt her son. He’d not harm him anymore than he would her. As soon as he was finished with the diaper, he asked again for a sleeper.

  “I only have two. And he had a nasty diaper last night.” She flushed, and he wanted to take her into his arms as he had Joey. “I have a couple of onesies that he can wear tonight. I have a load of laundry that I put in before coming up to bed.”

  “You lost everything.” She nodded and found him the onesies, as well as a pair of thick long socks that had seen better days. “Does my family know that you’re this close to the edge of having nothing to wear?” Her look told him that he was about to get blasted. Turning to put Joey, who was now back to sleep, in his crib, he turned to look at her.

  “Why on earth would I tell them that I have nothing but literally the shirt on my back? Uncle Lloyd gave me his shirts to wear to bed, I’m so broke.” He said it was his shirt. “Yours? Why would he...this mate thing, right?”

  “Yes, it’s a mate thing. He more than likely figured that he’d live a good deal longer if he didn’t give my potential mate one of his shirts.” She looked away and he smiled at her. “You’re very beautiful when you’re flustered. Even when you’re not. But flustered is very nice on you.”

  “I’m going to go to bed.” He just stood there. “Why don’t you go to your bed and we’ll talk about this in the morning?”

  “This is my room. And if I don’t miss my bet, I’d say that is my old crib too. I know that the mobile is. I was given it when I bought my home. Mom thought that we should have a few of our old things when we started moving out.” She looked around the room. Her eyes landed on the large bed, custom made for his large frame. “You’re my mate. I think you already figured that out, didn’t you?”

  “Yes—why should my life be anything but continually fucked up?” Tyler asked her why she’d think that he’d fuck it up for her. “I have too much on my plate right now, and I don’t have the time or the energy to fend off a man who is going to expect me to be at his beck and call. Been there, done that.”

  “Ash told me about your husband. I’m glad that he’s dead. Otherwise, I’d have to find him and do it myself. No man should hurt something that he should love. And he was the worst kind of bastard.” Jazzie sat in the rocker that was the one that all the boys had been rocked in. His mom was making things easy for him, he thought. “She told me what he did the day that you had Joey.”

  “Ash talks too much.” Tyler sat on the edge of his bed, watching her fight with her emotions. “He was on his way to bring his girlfriend to the hospital to see Joey. He was pissed even then that I wasn’t naming Joey after him. Not that I cared then or now what he felt about it.”

  “I don’t think you did anything wrong in that department. Distancing your son from him was a smart move.” She just nodded and looked at Joey in the crib. “What do you want to do?”

  She looked at him then, and he could see fear there over something that he’d done, and his wolf snarled at him to behave. Tyler moved to the floor to sit in front of the rocker to speak to her. Taking her hand in his, he kissed the back of it.

  “What I meant was, I want to help you out with some clothing for you and Joey. No, that’s not right—I need to help you out. It’s in my DNA to make sure that you’re happy, as well as your son. And that means getting you both things that you need.” He saw the tears then, and it tore at his heart. “Jazzie, let me help you, please?”

  “I have nothing. No, I have less than nothing. I’m being questioned about the bombing. They think that I’d blow up a school full of teachers. And my home. Most of what was in it was second hand, including Joey’s things, but they were ours. The man who came to talk to me, he basically said that I wasn’t to leave the country, nor was I to try to hide from him.” He asked his name. “Addie has it. She’s none too happy about it either. And the only reason that she found out about it was that she was here when he just showed up. I’m so fucked right now. I just can’t deal with anything else coming my way. And I’m sure that you’re a nice man—it’s all your family talks about—but I just can’t deal with anything else right now. I want one thing to go my way.”

  Looking at the clock that was over the baby bed, he stood up and told her to get ready. The mall was opening early today, and he knew that he could get into just about any other store that he wanted to as well. Money, he’d come to realize, talked. Also, there were several shops that were open all the time, and it was time he took one thing off the list of his future wife.

  It took them two hours to get things going. She asked if it was all right if they brought Joey, and he told her that he was thrilled. Just as they were headed out the door, she stopped and looked at him. Her face looked like he’d taken away her favorite toy.

  “I don’t have a car seat. Do you?” He nodded. “Really? Why on earth would you...? The best uncle award. I heard about that too.”

  He laughed. Even as exhausted as he was, he was looking forward to spending a great deal of money on his new family. As they got Joey buckled in, he asked her if she was hungry and they headed toward the mall. Tyler knew the perfect place to take them. This was going to be a lot more fun than he’d ever dreamed having a family would be.

  After they had a delightful breakfast, he loaded them up again and they made their way to the mall. He knew there was a baby store in the place, as well as a couple of women’s shops. Tyler could have told her about dressing herself—he knew that with the kiss to her hand, she’d have that power—but he was excited about shopping with her.

  Almost as soon as Jazzie made her way to the dressing room, leaving him with the stroller and the baby, Joey started to fuss. Taking him out of the contraption that he was sure was only meant for adults to curse about, Tyler rocked him back and forth gently, telling him what they were going to go and get for him first. He felt the panic of his mother just before she spoke to him.

  Tyler, we can’t find Jazzie. I think she’s run away. He told his mom that he had her. And Joey? You have him too?

  Yes, we’re shopping at the mall. I finally convinced Jazzie to try on a couple of things before we went and got Joey some things. Why? What’s wrong? She told him that Mrs. Scott, her ex mother-in-law, was in town. We’ll be fine. I have her.

  Yes, but what you don’t understand is, she is going to try and take Joey. I just heard from Addie. She’s at the mall too, shopping for Jazzie and Joey. Tyler asked his mom if she was coming to the mall too. He also told her that the woman would not touch his child. Good. I’m so glad that you’re home. And I was coming in, but I don’t want to spoil your time with them. When did you get in?

  Early this morning. She’s my mate, Mom, though I think you’ve all figured that out. You should come in and have fun with us. I know very little about everything a kid would need, and I believe that he needs everything. She told him that Joey did, and that she was happy for him. I am as well. I’ll keep an eye out for Addie, as well as...I don’t know her name.

  Glenda. I don’t know what she looks
like, but if she sees Jazzie, you’ll know before we do. Just be careful of the two of them. I’ve grown ever so fond of them, and Joey just melts my heart when he falls asleep when I’m rocking him.

  He looked down at the little guy and realized that he was staring up at him with the most comical look on his face.

  I have to go. I have Joey with me, and Jazzie is with me too. You know that I’ll protect them with my life. She said that she did and told him to have fun. But when he was ready to tell her that he already was, Jazzie came out of the dressing room.

  Chapter 3

  Glenda had spies out everywhere, so it was little wonder that she was able to find her grandson and his mother so quickly. Not that they were really spies, but Glenda had filled enough people in on her daughter-in-law, most of it lies, to generate enough sympathy for her that they’d do anything for her. And that included telling her that the bitch was in the mall with the boy.

  The baby should have been hers. That was the least the bitch could have done for killing her son. Her precious boy was gone because his bitch of a wife didn’t know how to take a little slapping now and again. What did she expect to be? Happy? She should have been when she had a husband like Ryan. He’d been a good man—a little high strung at times, but he’d stopped hitting his mother when married to that bitch. And there wasn’t any way that Glenda could hit her poor little misunderstood baby back. Then he’d been murdered.

  Glenda saw several kids in the mall, all of them in strollers and a couple of them with some kind of rope around them, like a backpack thing. She would never do that to her grandson. He would be in her arms forever if she could hold him that long. And she would. Just as soon as she found him.

  Going back to the little shop that catered to little boys and girls, Glenda almost missed seeing Jazzie. Christ, what the hell had happened to her, she wondered. The woman had never looked that good when her son was with her. And the man with her, he looked too good to be with the likes of Jazzie. What sort of name was that, anyway? Jazzie?

  Barging her way past the sales woman and the man, she slapped Jazzie on the face, then asked her where her grandson was. But before she could do any more than look to where Jazzie looked, Glenda not only found herself on the floor, but several little outfits had fallen on her face, making it difficult for her to see who had done this to her.

  “You just lay right there and don’t move.” A baby was crying and the man asked Jazzie, in a tender voice, if she was all right. When Jazzie answered that she was, the man spoke harshly to Glenda. “Christ, woman, what the hell is wrong with you? You hurt my wife.”

  “Wife? You can’t have married again. My son was to be your only husband. You will not sully his name like this. I demand to know what you’re going to do about this.” She tried to lift her head, and he pressed her back to the floor with his foot. “Let me up, you moron. I have business to attend to with Jazzie here. I want my grandson. She owes him to me.”

  “How did you come up with that? I don’t owe you shit. What the hell are you doing hitting me, anyway? There is a restraining order against you to stay one hundred yards away.” She wasn’t sure where the girl had gotten her backbone from, but it wouldn’t last. “You hit me.”

  “Yes, and I’ll do it again if this person will let me up. I’m telling you right now, Jazzie, you will hand Joey, a name that I will be changing, over to me. You murdered my son, and you shouldn’t be allowed to raise a cat, much less a little boy.” Glenda tried to work up some tears, but she was too pissed for them to flow. “I want you to give me my grandson. I want to raise him as my own. You’re not a fit mother, flittering all over the place. You don’t even have a fucking home, according to my sources.”

  The man told her that the police were on their way. But he also said that not only did they have a home, but Jazzie had a job as well. She no more believed that than she did that Jazzie didn’t murder her son.

  Glenda heard the sirens and could not believe that someone had called the police. Looking up at the man, she wondered if she could take him. Knocking her husband around most of her married life, she was sure that she might have learned a few things. At least enough to get him off her. But when he smiled at her, showing her his teeth, Glenda had a feeling that he was hoping she’d try and knock him off her.

  Men needed a woman to keep them in line. If she didn’t, they’d stray and find someone else that was nicer to them, who listened to them. Those women were pussies and idiots. Glenda made sure that what was hers remained hers. And Jazzie wasn’t going to be letting her son go, simply because she’d killed him with her ways.

  She was arrested. Glenda was sure that someone had announced that there was trouble in the baby store, because it seemed to her that every person in the place had shown up to see her taken out. Having learned the hard way not to fight the police—they had guns and Tasers—she let them take her away. But she knew that she’d get out just as soon as she paid bail. Then the bitch would pay.

  She was booked on causing a riot—no one could tell her how the hell it was her fault that everyone came to gawk at them—breaking the restraining order that she’d been made aware of, and assaulting Jazzie. No one would believe that Jazzie needed that and more. The man, she never found out his name, must have been a big deal around the town. He sure was making it difficult to get her grandson by sucking up to everyone at the station. Fucker.

  Glenda had no one to call. No one to come and help her out once they charged her. Her attorney, a piece of shit, told her that until she got her bill paid for him working on the case against Jazzie, he didn’t want her to call. That was the biggest crock of shit she’d ever heard, and she told him so. Even after him taking seventy hours to look shit up about Jazzie, he’d not been able to find one single thing that compared her to what Glenda was saying about the younger woman. Bullshit. And when she’d gotten her bill from him, for work that didn’t go her way, she’d told him that she wasn’t paying him.

  She hadn’t been able to make her one phone call because they told her the system was down. That was code for they hadn’t paid their bills. Being around like she had, with the scum of the earth, listening to people bitch, Glenda had been able to pick up things that others—stupid people—might not know about. Like how to dance a check.

  When writing a check to, say, the power company, you’d put it in the one that was to go to the cable company. Then do the same for the cable company with the power company check. She knew for a fact that it would give you an extra week after your bill was due. But you had to remember to write down who you used that trick on. They got pissy with you if you did it more than a couple of times a year.

  Then there were the unsigned checks. It also had to be written down. Otherwise, like the dancing checks, they got all huffy with you and would turn off the power anyway. She used to be able to flash them a bit of tit to be able to leave it on while she gathered funds. But after being arrested for that, she had to stop doing that as well.

  But Glenda had been making things ready for her grandson to come live with her, even without the cable. There wasn’t that much on anyway. But she had been recording shit for him to watch, so that in the event that he was bored or something, she’d have something for him to do.

  Her deadbeat husband had left her with nothing. The entire time they’d been married he’d told her that he had an insurance policy worth about a million bucks. The only thing was, the moron hadn’t told her that he’d never put her name on the stupid thing as beneficiary, so the fucking company that he worked for got the cash. And it wasn’t nearly a million dollars either, just ten grand. Not even enough to bury the prick.

  Glenda hated men. Not her son—he was one of the good guys. But the rest of them could suck off for all she cared. Sitting on her cot, she was surprised when the man from today came back to see her. Standing up would have been a bad idea—he was bigger, and no matter what she tried, he’d be stronger too, she could see this.

  “I don’t know what your plan is,
but you’re not taking my son.” She said that he wasn’t his to make that decision. “Ah, but he is Jazzie’s. And she is going to let me adopt him. So, if you’re smart, which we both know you’re not, then you’d give up this wild idea that you have of taking him. Joey is ours, and we will fight you for him.”

  “And you think that I’m afraid of you? I’m not.” He just stood there, his arms over his chest. “I’ve won against men much bigger than you are, buddy. And I won’t have a care or any problem in the world taking you down with me.”

  “You think not, do you? Well, I’d like to see you try.” She snorted at him, then told the man that she wasn’t just going to try, but would win. “In two days, you’ll have a hearing about what you did to us today. And if I were you—as I said, I know you won’t—I’d take that time to think, very hard, on what you’re going to be up against when you take me on.”

  “Oh, the big man threatens me. You think you’re so big when I’m behind bars, don’t you?” He was just suddenly there, the bars between them as if they were nothing as his hand reached through them and wrapped around her throat, holding her about five inches above the floor. Struggling to breathe, she saw that he never seemed strained, nor did he look like she was the least bit heavy to him.

  “Now, as I was saying, stay away from my family. I am not going to tell you a second time.” Glenda was tossed across the cell, her back hitting the concrete hard enough to knock the wind out of her. And when she stood up, staggering slightly to the cot, he was walking down the hall laughing. “Remember what I said, Glenda Scott. Don’t fuck with my family.”

  She sat there for the rest of the afternoon, thinking, as he’d told her to do—but not about giving up. Instead, she thought of all the things she was going to do to Jazzie when she got her cornered. And then, while she lay there dying on the floor, she’d take her grandson and leave the country.

  There were no means for her to leave the county, much less the country. She had about twenty dollars on her and a bunch of credit cards, all of which were in her name and maxed out. Every time she thought of her husband, she wanted to kill him again for lying to her.