*****
~ Chapter V
The air was freezing cold, but his lungs burned, and he struggled to catch his breath, Benny was still behind him and as always he was always faster, when Benny stopped next to him, they both laughed loudly.
Art showed him some of the snacks he had managed to steal when they ran from the store, and Benny did the same. They walked home glad they had something to eat, they heard dogs barking, bottles breaking and people yelling around them, but they just kept their heads low and their faces somber. Attracting attention was never a good idea in the neighborhood.
Karl's drunken ass called from the window and Art knew he had to jug, he only had a few moments before Karl got really pissed off.
Lindsey got kicked out of her house again, and she technically lived under Benny's bed for now. In the mean time they had to feed her, so they decided to take matters into their own hands.
Art gave all the snacks he had stolen to Benny in a dark corner of the street, trusting he would share them with Lindsey; he only kept a pack of chips and a soda. As he got bigger, Karl decided to place him on a diet, basically starving and beating him for sport.
"We run tomorrow? There is another store uptown." Benny asked.
"Hell yeah, and make sure she eats all of it." Art answered before running up the stairs.
Art lay on the floor, bruised up and beaten again he looked at the heating system as usual, the only thing keeping him in his hellhole. He had tried to run many times but freezing to death was not a plan, now more than ever he needed to be strong. At fourteen, he was used to the beatings by now; he just laid in silence whenever it happened. Sometimes wishing he was at Benny's house, being yelled at and belittled was way better than being in physical pain every other day.
Art waited until Karl was completely unconscious before he started to crawl to his room, he ate under the bed as quietly as possible, making sure not to leave any crumbs behind.
He repeated over and over again that he just needed to be strong enough for Lindsey, Benny, and Tokyo they were family. Now they just needed to wait a bit longer. Until Tokyo turned eighteen, so they could all run away from this nightmare of a neighborhood.
Soon as Tokyo could rent a house by herself, and they got a place with a heating system, all their dreams would come true, and they would never look back.
~
"Speak up." Art said looking at Lara.
"I can't help it; maybe I don't have much to say." She said as her fingers traced the lines of the winged angels tattooed on his chest while they lay in bed.
"Ease your mind a bit," he encouraged her looking at the ceiling.
"I'm scared," She admitted after a long pause.
"Of what she will say?" Art asked.
"Maybe it is too late like you said, and she will never forgive me," Lara said, turning away from him. "I know I said I could wait, but what if it's too late and there is nothing I can do..."
"Hey, you said to try." Art said as he pulled her back into him.
"I know what I said, but what if I was wrong." Lara's voice broke, and soon her tears and sobs started to flow.
"Then we find a way, there is always another way." Art said after a while.
"No, I changed my mind; I want to respect her wishes," Lara said as she buried herself in his chest. "I will do whatever she decides, ultimately I just wanted to see her, I was never really under any illusions that she would forgive me, but thank you anyway."
"Will you be okay with that?" Art asked.
"I have to be, I don't have a choice," Lara answered.
Art's mind ran wild as they lay in bed, for the first time in his life since Karl there was nothing her could do to help, and it bothered him more than it should.
"Will you be okay with that?" Art thought to himself as he watched her breathing get even and sleep take over.
When they got back in the truck the next day, he tried to lighten the mood, they were getting closer to the farm, and he needed her to relax.
When she slept, he decided to stop at a carnival in a town he had been too many times with his whole family before Ian was born.
They played games and he dared her to get on rides, Art remembered why he enjoyed coming here. This was calming; it reminded him of how lucky he was to survive where he came from. For the first time since he met her, he wondered just how awful her situation had been, to force her to run and leave everything behind, but it also made him feel fortunate that he was able to choose his family.
Lara didn't talk much about what she did when she ran, but he had the sense it was probably lonely and that was something he could never understand because through everything he never felt alone.
"Thank you for this it was really fun," Lara said smiling as they walked hand in hand through the streets.
"You should see this place during the holiday season." He said, pleased with himself.
Art held her tightly and passionately kissed her, drowning on the taste of her tongue, running his hands on her body, which got him a few loud noises from people walking about. This made them both laugh hard, but when they got back in the truck the same bad feeling came back to him this time way stronger than before.
*****
~ Chapter VI
Art had dreaded this moment the day he had left his home to pick up Lara; he didn't even want to imagine what was going on outside this house. All he could do was concentrate on Ian; the Toddler was a lively one, just like his mother.
Art watched Vincent from the corner of his eye as he moved to the kitchen; something about his presence was unsavory. Art had tried to keep things cordial with him ever since his wedding with Lindsey, but he couldn't shake the feeling of being around a predator, Art had a lot of experience with the type. Given Vincent was way more sophisticated than Karl had ever been.
Ian's screamed as he complained about a minor inconvenience got Art's attention back, Kids! he never actually played with his toys. The baby's fire-red hair was a dead giveaway to whom he belonged to, it was a reminder of his failure to protected Lindsey.
Art didn't know what was worse, being brought up by Vincent's sociopathic ass or the human excrement that was Karl. Art remembered how many times he had tried to run away from Karl as a kid.
Art and Benny had protected and cared for Lindsey as much as parents could while still being kids themselves. Art could still feel the liquid rage boil inside of him as he beat Karl to a pulp a year ago, if the police hadn't arrived at that moment, Karl would have been dead and gone.
That night, Benny drove Lindsey to Art's apartment and while Art decided to stay back at the clubhouse, Benny and Tokyo stayed together, but the next morning Art woke up to Benny frantically calling him and telling him what Karl had done to Lindsey.
Benny waited outside the house as Tokyo drove Lindsey to the hospital to get treatment. Art couldn't even look at her her as both men silently got on their bikes and set to finding Karl.
