Knight In Black Leather by Gail Dayton (people reading books .txt) 📗

he would never let his son down, never betray him the way Eli was betrayed, the way Teresa was. Pete would be safe. He would have what he needed. When he was a baby, he'd needed Teresa, so Eli had made sure he had her.

She'd been clean back then, mostly. She kept the dingy apartment he'd found for her as nice as possible, took good care of the baby. When Eli had the chance to escape the streets, she told him to go. Pete was almost a year old by then. Tee had a job and a grandmotherly neighbor to watch him. They were okay, doing good. So he'd grabbed his chance and run. But he always came back.

He had to. He needed to see how they were doing, how big Pete was growing. That's why Eli got the cell phone, once Pete was big enough to start school and could remember numbers. Pete could call him any time, for any reason, even just to talk. If he needed something, Eli came. He'd always sent them money. These days he sent it straight to Pete. Eli didn't need much. Pete and Teresa did.

Pete didn't know Eli was his father. He wanted it that way. The kid didn't need to know. He deserved a better father than Eli. He deserved a better mother than Teresa, but she was all there was.

Though the last year or so, when Pete had called and they'd talked, it seemed like Pete had been the one looking after Tee rather than the other way round. Maybe he didn't need her so much anymore. Eli hoped so, because even if he wanted to, he didn't know what he could do for her this time.

"Eli?" Teresa sounded hopeful at his long silence. She had always been able to tell when she was getting to him.

"Go back to the shelter, Tee. You'll be safe there."

"I can't." She sniffled, working hard to sound pitiful. "I'm high. They won't let me in. Come get me, E. You don't have to bring Pete. Don't tell me where he is. Just come get me."

"I can't. I wish I could, but I can't." He didn't tell her he was almost glad he couldn't. He wanted to help her, and yet.... And yet.

"Damn you, Eli! Fuck you!" Her words got even filthier. "You could. You just won't. You always did like that kid more than me. Well, I don't care. I'm going to find him anyway. I'm giving him to Flash. You hear that? I'm going to give him away."

"No, you won't." He knew she couldn't find him. The boy wasn't even in Pittsburgh, but Tee's ranting still made his gut ache. "I won't let you hurt him, Tee. Not anymore. You've hurt him enough already."

"I'm sorry." She was sobbing now. "I'm sorry, Eli. I never meant to. It's just--it's hard, you know? It's so hard, and I'm so fucking scared all the time."

"Go back to the shelter. There's a park across the street. Wait there till you come down. Flash won't look for you there." He hoped she would do it, but didn't have any faith that she would. Teresa wasn't much good at follow-through when she was high, unless somebody held her hand every step of the way.

"Can't you come get me? You don't have to tell me anything. Just come get me. I'm in the old neighborhood."

"Believe me, Tee, I'd come if I could. But I can't. I really, honestly can't. Go back to the shelter."

Her crying made nonsense of the words she still tried to speak. When she finally caught her breath, she said "Tell Pete I love him. Tell him I tried. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"Teresa." Eli made his voice go harsh, angry. Sometimes she responded to that. "Go back to--"

She hung up. Eli swore and lifted the cell phone, wanting to throw it across the room. But he'd only have to go pick it up and probably fix something he broke, so he settled for bouncing it off the sofa cushions.

Why hadn't she stayed where he put her? She was safe there. She'd have been fine, even given his broken bones. They would have taken care of her there. He couldn't rescue a mouse, the shape he was in now. And he refused to drag Marilyn into his problems. She didn't need to be smeared with his dirt. Teresa was on her own. He just hoped she could handle it.

Marilyn dug her fingers hard into the back of her neck, but she couldn't get a good enough angle to ease the muscle tension already crawling up her head to create a throbbing ache. She watched her mother stump down the frozen foods aisle at the Giant Eagle and sighed. As if the day hadn't been difficult enough already, what with Eli taking that idiotic fall.

Halfway down, Mom turned around, rattling the grocery cart in front of her. "Don't you need anything from this aisle?"

With a sigh, Marilyn pushed her near-empty cart along to join her. "I'm just picking up a few staples. I don't need to shop much. Besides, the frozen stuff would probably melt before I get home to put it up."

"It's cold outside."

"But above freezing."

"We can go by that crackerbox you live in and let you put your things up before you take me home."

"Then your things will melt."

Mom made a noise as she opened the freezer and snatched out a bag of frozen French fries. Then she put them back and got out a package of the store brand. Her iron gray hair was fluffed up in a tight perm all over her head and she wore her navy blue parka zipped up to the neck, though the store was warm.

"If you want to meet Eli, Mom, just say so." Marilyn pushed the glass door the rest of the way shut as her mother moved down to the frozen vegetables.

"So, he's still there."

"Yes. He was still there when you called this morning, and