Forever and Always

Chapter Twenty Four: Archer

Archer

“No. It’s not happening tonight.” I crossed my arms over my chest as I leaned against the kitchen counter. In front of me was Jo, who was sitting with Ava and Ollie, all trying to gang up on me. But it wasn’t happening tonight, for more than one reason.

Because one, my kid is in trouble for running off with a damn stranger that’s psychotic and dangerous and two, I promised her I would finish what we started in the shower and if the kids are here, there is no way in fuckin’ hell that’s happening.

“Archer. Just listen to me.” Jo sighed, “Yes, I want the kids here for dinner, but it’s so we can talk to them about what happened today.”

“Yeah, that’s fine, but our son thinks he’s having some big ass sleep over. He thinks we’re all going to be happy and lovely, watching a movie tonight and then build a giant fort and that’s not happening tonight.”

“Jeeze, I’m not denying that.” Jo rolled her eyes. I tilted my head to the side and looked at her. She was getting annoyed while Ava and Ollie sat back and watched the dynamic, “I need you to calm down for a moment and listen to me. I am just as upset as you are. We need to have this conversation with the three kids together so we can explain to them what could have happened and then, to help ease the tension, because they’re four and five, we’re going to hang out with them and then, they’ll go home.”

“I don’t know.” I sighed and shook my head.

“Archer, the kids don’t understand what they did was wrong. All they knew was that some lady claimed to have known you both and are friends and said okay to get ice cream with her. In this town, the kids know you all know so many people and are close with them, it’s sometimes hard for the to distinguish who they can trust and not.” Ava said.

“But they’ve never even seen her around before!” I snapped, balling my hands into fists.

“Yeah, and it’s not because of anything anyone did. Sam and Phil see different people around than you guys do and Jamie doesn’t know a lot of people in this town. What he did was wrong, yes, but he doesn’t understand what he did was wrong.” Ollie tried to point out, but I shook my head as I turned to Jo.

“Did you teach him not to talk to strangers?” I asked, a bit condescendingly, which made her look up at me in surprise.

“Of course I did!” She snapped back, “Who do you take me for, Archer? Of course I taught him the dangers of talking to strangers. Of course, I taught him what could happen if he were to willingly leave with someone he doesn’t know. We even have a safe word for when someone has to pick him that’s not me or Nick. I mean, we’ve never had to use it, but still. We have established rules and he knows better.” She glared.

“Then why the hell did he leave with her?” I started to raise my voice, but the girls just sat there, looking at me like I’m going crazy, but I’m not. I swear I’m not. I just…she was so close to him. She was with him. She ate ice-cream with him and she could have easily taken him and we never would have known.

“That’s why we need to talk to them.” Jo whispered as she stood up and walked over to me. As she reached where I was standing, she wrapped her arms around my waist, looked up at me and gave me a sad smile, “Getting angry and yelling at them is going to make things worse. We need to calmly talk to them about what happened and why it happened. If we yell, it will scare them and then they’ll have a harder time understanding why it was wrong.”

I wrapped my arms around her and rubbed her shoulders, letting out a sigh, “I just…fuck, Jo. Tara could have done anything.” I rested my forehead on hers.

“And we should be thankful that she didn’t.”

“Why are you being so calm about this?”

“Oh, trust me when I say I am anything but calm. I’m angry. I’m pissed and I want to go find the b***h and rip her goddamn head off and do many other things that I shouldn’t be saying because you’re a cop and I could get arrested for the murderous thoughts running through my head, but that is for me to handle. Jamie is still young and freaking out on him right now would make it worse.” She leaned her head on my chest as I held her tighter.

And with each moment, I felt myself relax a bit until I was calmer. Thinking about it, maybe she’s right. I can freak out on my own. I have s**t to handle with the b***h anyways, but freaking out on Jamie would only make things worse.

“Oh, my gosh. Ollie, did you see that?” Ava whispered to her as Art came through the door and hugged her from behind.

“See what?” Art asked, kissing the top of her head, followed by Felix who came over and sat next to Ollie, wrapping his arm around her shoulder so she could lay her head on his.

“What did we miss?” Felix asked.

“So, with what happened today, before Jo came back, how do you think Archer would have reacted?” Ava grinned as I rolled my eyes.

“Oh, he would have flipped the f**k out. Raged and destroyed things. Gone off the deep end and did things without thinking of the consequences. He would have flipped out on the children and probably scared the crap out of them.” Felix laughed, “Why?”

“Look at him.” Art nodded his head towards me as I shook mine, grinning, “He’s calm. He didn’t freak out. He didn’t rage and Jo here, from the looks of it, got him to think rationally.”

“Shut up.” I laughed, “You two ready to get out of here?”

“Wait…I thought we were going to talk to the boys?” Jo asked.

“I figured why not kill two birds with one stone?” I shrugged, “And this is only if you’re okay with it, but how about you girls talk to the boys about what happened and use three here, get a hold of Gage and Aiden and take care of the problem at hand.”

“Archer, you can’t go near her. The restraining order and…”

But I cut her off with a kiss, “This is why Gage and Aiden are coming. They are going to handle her while I stand back and watch just to make sure everything goes okay.” I sighed, “Gage was able to pull up footage from the park and the ice-cream parlor to make sure it really was her. I mean, I know we knew, but we have to make sure we have everything we need before this happens.”

“I just…I think it would be better if we both talk to him. We need to be a united front and…”

“You’re right.” I smiled down at her, “You are absolutely right, but I really do think we need to talk to him on our own. No offense to the other two, but their parents can handle them and talk to them they way they need to. This is a first for us and I wanted it to be just us three.” I looked over at the guys and gave a sad, half smile, “You cool with that?”

“I am more than cool with it.” Felix grunted, “Sam knows better and I know Phil does too.” He turned to Ollie, “Come on. Let’s get the little rugrat home and we can have that conversation with him.”

She let out a sigh and turned to Ava and nodded, “Fine. But…”

“No buts woman. Come on, let’s go. For once, these two here are thinking clearly and we don’t want to ruin it.” He laughed.

And about five minutes later, the six of them left the house, leaving just me, Jo and Jamie. Jamie stood in front of me with my hand on his shoulder, keeping him in place before he ran off to play like he wanted to. Once they pulled out of the driveway, I looked down at my child, “We need to talk. Please, go sit in the living room and we will be right there?”

“Mama?” he whispered, looking up at her with tears in his eyes, “Why does he look mad? Am I in trouble?”

“He’s not mad, he’s scared and yes, you are. That’s why we need to talk.”

“But…can I have Aunt Taylor with me?”

“No. She’s with Uncle Gage taking care of something for me, so please, go sit down and wait for us.” He nodded his head and walked into the living room. I turned and watched him sit on the chair, swinging his legs back and forth with his head down. He knew something was wrong. He just didn’t comprehend what, though, “This is going to be hard, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” She nodded, “It’s a lot harder to do this with your own than with someone else’s child, but it needs to be done.”

And with that being said, Jo and I walked back into her home, holding hands and sitting on the couch in front of Jamie, and explained to him why we were upset. I told him about the lady he left with and how she was one of the ones that kept his mama away from me for years and how she wanted to be with me all the time. When I told him that, his eyes went wide when he heard this. Archer went to his knees and held his hands and calmly explained to him why he can’t run off with people he doesn’t know, even if they say we’re friends. They are still strangers to him and if they were really our friends, he would have known who she is.

I asked what he would have done if she took him from us? He started to cry and shook his head, no. He didn’t want to think about it, but I remained calm and held him and Jo remained silent, watching as everything unfolded. I knew she wanted me to take the reins on this and I was happy to, I just didn’t expect it to be this hard. f**k, I never want to do this s**t again. He was scared, I could see it, they both were. We almost lost him.

And after about an hour of talking to him, explaining things calmy so Jamie would understand how dangerous today way, I decided, with one last hug, it was time for me to take care of the b***h. So, Jo took a crying Jamie upstairs to her bedroom so they can cuddle and watch Shrek while I gave them one last kiss and headed out the door to meet Gage and Aiden at the station to get this s**t over with.

We pulled up to her last known address. I was sitting in the back of the cruiser while Gage and Aiden were in the front. The more I looked at the house, the more I was getting pissed and it was getting harder to rein in the anger I was holding. I wanted to punch something so bad, but my hand was still bruised and I couldn’t.

Fuck.

“Are you sure about this? We could arrest her for attempted kidnapping.” Gage said as he turned around and looked at me.

“Can we? I mean, she brought the kids back…” Aiden grunted, “Fuckin’ gray area.”

“No, not yet. First, we do this. If she doesn’t cut her s**t out then I’ll take it to the next step. She’s been good for two fuckin’ years, why now? I don’t fuckin’ know.”

“It’s because she knows Jo’s back.” Gage said as he opened the door.

The plan was for me to stay back and watch from the cruiser so I wouldn’t be near here, but I literally said f**k it. She f****d with my family for the last fuckin’ time and I was done. I’m done with her bullshit.

I stood in between Gage and Aiden as they knocked on the door while in uniform. I looked around her house. I’ve been here a couple of times. She would throw parties when we were in high school when her mom and dad were out of town and they were always pretty wild. I’ve attended a few but as soon as she would try to hit on me, I pushed her away and left. There was no way I was going to let her get to me like that.

There was a voice on the other side of the door that I didn’t recognize, “Who is it?” it was the sound of a child. I looked at the guys, confused.

“Did you know she had a kid?” I asked.

“No. She’s not supposed to. f**k, I watched her over the years Archer, there is no way she had a kid. She was never pregnant.”

“Hi!” Aiden said through the door, “It’s the police. Can you get your mom or dad for me lil man?”

“Yeah. One second.” The sound of his little feet ran through the house and for about five minutes, we stood there, waiting impatiently.

“I’m so fuckin’ confused.” I shook my head, “Are there any reports of missing children by any chance? I wouldn’t put it pass her for trying to steal a kid and try to pass it off as mine to try to get me back in her life.”

“She is that crazy, isn’t she?” Aiden shook his head.

Just then, the door opened and there stood a woman and a man that we’ve never seen before. I took a step back and looked at the house number, confused, but to make sure we got the right place. This was Tara’s house. She was last known to be here. What the hell happened?

“Hi, can I help you?” The man said. I took him in. He was about as old as my brother, maybe a little older, well dressed. He was wearing black pants and a red button up shirt and he was clean cut. The woman next to him was wearing a white summer dress and had long red hair. I don’t know either of these people.

“Yes. We’re looking for Tara Singleton? This was her last known address.” Aiden said.

“Oh.” The woman sighed and looked at her husband who just shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest, “I’m her cousin. We moved here a few years ago to help my aunt who was sick. We were there for all the crap Tara did to you, and I am so sorry she did that. After the court case, she went into a deep depression. It got pretty bad.”

“We had her in the hospital for a bit.” The guy said as he held his wife’s hand, “She was put on some pretty heavy medicine and anti-psychotics. She kept going on about how you were supposed to come to her, but you never did. Eventually, she got better, or at least we thought.”

“Where is she now?” I asked, getting a bit impatient, “To be honest, I don’t have the time for this crap. I’m sorry for what you guys went through, but what happened earlier today is more important.”

“I understand.” She sighed, “She was supposed to be at work today. She works at some club about thirty minutes from here. What happened?”

Aiden and Gage looked at each other and nodded, “We have video evidence of her approaching some children in the park, talking to them, convincing them to climb over the fence and walk down the street to the ice cream parlor. These kids are between the ages of four and five and she did this with no notice to the parents that were watching them.”

“What the fuck.” The guy groaned as he turned to his wife, “I told you we should have had her committed permanently and sent out of the damn state.” He turned back to me, “Archer, right?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“Her cousin is crazy. Did you know she tried to sneak into my room last year when her cousin was out for her birthday with some friends? Yeah. She blindfolded me and pretended to be Caroline, climbed on top of me and tried to sleep with me, but I knew it wasn’t her. I fuckin’ kicked her off me and gave her a bloody damn nose, but she claimed she was high off some medicine she was taking. I didn’t fuckin believe her.” He turned back to his wife, “You tell them to whole damn story of I will because I’m done protecting that bitch.”

My eyes went wide, listening to this. Holy crap, she is crazier than I thought.

“After she tried to sleep with my husband, my aunt kicked her out before she passed away. She fought with everything but she eventually packed up her things and left. She’s tried to come back but we won’t let her in. We won’t subject our son to her bull crap and put him in harms way.” She whispered as she wiped away a tear, “Not again.”

“Again?” Gage asked.

“Yeah. The day before everything went down, she tried to take our son and pass him as hers, claiming his father was you.” He pointed to me, “We caught her before she walked into town. It was a fuckin’ mess. But it ended that day. The last place I knew she was living was in some studio apartment by the club she works at. She was supposed to go down to the courts and let them know of her change of address because of the restraining order, but I’m assuming the b***h didn’t do that.”

“What kind of club is she working at?” I asked and I knew I was going to hate the answer.

“She’s a bartender and dancer as Klassy Kat off main in Arden.” He shook his head, “The sad part is, it’s a fuckin’ nice club, not like your typical strip clubs, but knowing that she’s there, I won’t step foot in that damn place.” He groaned, “I bring my single clients there for a night out, but when I go, I let her know and I only stay till like eleven. Because f**k, my girl is better.” He grinned, making her blush.

“Fuckin’ wonderful.” I groaned, “Thank you for your time. If you see her, please, call us immediately. We are going to figure this out before it gets out of hand.”

“Be careful though, Archer.” He warned me, “She’s more off the rails since some woman came back into town. I’m assuming it was one of the kids mother’s. She called Caroline, freaking out about her life is officially over.”

“I tried to calm her down. I tried so hard, but she wouldn’t. I told her to let it go but she just kept repeating, it’s all going to be over soon. Soon. Soon. It was weird, but I chalked it up to her just going off the deep end.”

“Obviously, you were wrong.” I glared, “She tried to take my fuckin’ son. She took him and his cousins to get ice cream and then brought him back with a fuckin’ picture he drew for me and his mother, saying it was a gift because he loved us, instead it said her fuckin’ name over the woman in the picture with the word ‘soon.’”

“Leave your number and I’ll call you.” He sighed, “I have to go there this weekend with a client and show him around town and stuff, so if I see her, I’ll call you and keep an eye on her.”

“Thanks.”

And once we left our numbers with them, we went back to the cruiser. Gage immediately went to work on his computer be brought while Aiden and I sat, waiting.

“Do you think they’re telling the truth?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Aiden grumbled, “They were pissed when we showed up.”

“And it checks. Here. Look.” Gage turned his computer towards us, “There is the change of address to this location for those two and here is the birth records for their son, who’s six. They moved here and he transferred jobs to be an executive at Bank One in the city. She quit her job and stayed at the house. Here is also the police report for the attempted r**e and assault on him. It’s crazy, fuckin’ crazy.”

“How did we not know about this?” I asked.

“Because, we weren’t involved at the time. This was handled by Cane and he was very thorough, so I’m sure if we need more information, we can talk to him. He’s a good guy. But here is also the death certificate of Tara’s mother last year, so what they’re saying checks.”

“What about information on Tara?” I asked.

“Well, I might need more time for that one. Let’s head back to the station and we can look into it because I also found out some s**t while working on Jo’s phone that you’re not going to like.”

And boy, when I found out what happened, I was about to lose my s**t and beat the crap out of my Uncle for being a dumbass. f**k, Tristian, how could you be so damn stupid?