Chapter Twenty-One
The cuffs were tight around his wrists, held down to the table and stretching the tendons in his arms in such a manner that the points of his fingers were beginning to lose feeling. He heard her step into the room, could see her and her too high-ponytail out of the corner of his eye, but he couldn’t for the life of him lift his head to face her full on. To look at her with the charges that were being levelled against him, with the accusations that had been flung the moment the cops had arrived on the scene. He’d known they were going to be coming in here. He knew they would have already spoken to Nicole, and he knew she’d undoubtedly told the both of them what she’d been only earlier that morning been agonizing telling them, and because of the emotional state she was in she had probably done so in much more graphic a detail than she would have liked to have done.
He couldn’t face Marie, when he’d been operating this whole time under the illusion that it wasn’t going to faze him any. Whatever reaction Nicole’s parents had—and yet, faced with the woman now felt so much more reminiscent of how it was he’d first met her, cuffed and chained with her entering the room silently and him unable to so much as make the briefest of eye contact with her. The only difference was the lack of defiance his form had held then versus the air of defeat that now drug his shoulders just that much lower towards the table and where his hands were already bound.
“Did you?” Broken the silence without any preface, just as she had the very first time it was he had met her, asking that same question, only this time he didn’t know which part it was in reference to, whereas before he’d been well aware she had been asking if he’d destroyed that property…and he had, only he hadn’t answered her then any more than he was now. “Did you start your relationship with Nicole when you were children? Aaron is swearing up and down that that’s what happened, and that is where the strife between the three of you has been coming in, that she was trying to escape what she knew was a sordid relationship in which you took advantage of her, and Nicole is saying… the exact opposite.”
Of course she was, because previous to the past few months he had never so much as touched her in even half of a manner that could be misconstrued as inappropriate, he’d been very careful not to do so. He might have entertained the thought of doing so, but never any more than that.
He didn’t offer anything up himself, only his thumbs shifting within their captivity, pushing further into the side of his palm and dropping his eyes even further. He didn’t owe anyone an explanation here, and he didn’t want to see the disillusionment in her eyes, or the disappointment and guilt either. Nicole and he weren’t actually brother and sister, and Marie and Paul had never been his parents, even if they weren’t simply the people who had collected his foster fund as he had first expected them to be.
“I knew, you know, back when you were an adolescent, after that fight you got into with those boys…”
It was almost enough for him to look up, chin jerking in place from the shock of what she was saying, from what she was inferring, his eyebrows knitting together on his forehead to try and keep his resolve and stare at the wood grain of the table only.
“It’s a completely natural response, all things considered, it happens all the time, figuring out your relationships and confusing healthily functioning ones as romantic when they aren’t- it was the same for my brother and I.”
She had lost him, the same tendency her daughter had when she was nervous or stressed displayed in her rambling in an order that only made sense to her alone. It wasn’t a natural response, his feelings for her daughter, wasn’t some psychologically traceable reaction to having moved in, elsewise it would have dissipated once he’d become accustomed to living in their home. He also didn’t see how her experience with her brother was at all similar, or even any of his business. As far as he knew his adopted mother and his adopted Uncle Pete had a completely normal sibling relationship, and her hinting otherwise made him uncomfortable on so many different levels- only part of which had to do with her husband that he knew had to be somewhere in this building.
“I mean, I was adopted a bit younger than you were- by two years actually-”
His head did jerk up then, eyes widening marginally despite his feigned aloofness since she had walked in. She was dropping all kinds of bombs tonight, ones which, even in the situation he found himself in, he was wholly unprepared to face.
In all of his years living in her home she’d not once mentioned being adopted herself, and neither had either Paul or Nicole- and while he could believe that Paul could be aware of it and keep it from him, he didn’t think that it was something Nicole would have managed, especially now.
“Don’t look so surprised Mason, did you think I got into children’s services at random? I was six when I was taken away from my biological parents for reasons I’d rather not get into right now, and I spent three years going through group homes and foster care before Mawmaw and PopPop adopted me, they’d seen me at a church my then foster family was visiting and somehow they just knew I was supposed to come home with them. They’d already adopted Pete years earlier, they’d had him almost his whole life- and then there was me. I took a longer time to adapt, and Pete was instrumental in my doing so, I fancied for a little bit that I had a crush on him, but wouldn’t you know when I tried to kiss him we both almost puked and swore to never discuss it again- a year after that and I’d found my way into their family. I’m only explaining this to make sense of my thought process to you, because I need to understand yours Mason. I need to understand how this happened.”
Her voice was almost stripped, that raw emotion being poured into each word almost painful to listen to, the bare bones of what was apparently her story lain out before him in more blunt a manner than he’d ever seen her approach a single other thing in his entire life with her. “I’m telling you this to make you understand that when I saw you staring at her, when I noticed you taking time out of your way to give her attention and show interest in the things she was interested in, even without having any real interest of your own, it was recognizable to me. Of course, I didn’t tell Paul, you were still so new to us… and bless his heart he would have never been able to understand it. I saw you, but I also just assumed that you never acted on it, because I was sure that Nicole would have told me if you had tried, and you were always so very careful around her… I just assumed… that with the time passing that you had gotten over it, that you had adjusted like I did with Pete, only that isn’t the case is it? You just got better at hiding it…”
He wasn’t even sure if she was talking for him anymore, staring at him in a way that made him feel like she wasn’t even seeing him. Like she was putting the pieces together just by walking through it out loud.
“I know you never considered us your parents… I know you were adamant in the beginning that you wouldn’t. I did hear you even if I pretended not to you know, I just figured that you were going to be like me, I refused to call Mawmaw and PopPop anything at first… but eventually I came around and they’re the only parents I could ever imagine having now, but our situations were different from the beginning.” Her face was too lined, her eyes dropping then, running over her fingers which he only just noticed that she was nervously twisting around one another. “I know it’s just not how it worked for you, no matter how much I considered you my son. It doesn’t make you consider me in the same light, and I really am fine with that Mason, but I tried my best, I wanted to give you what my parents had given me, but with all of this… it’s only more obvious that somehow I failed you, even if these charges are inaccurate, they are inaccurate aren’t they?” Her eyes shooting up faster than he was prepared for, locking on him with that searching gaze that she reserved only for such special occasions such as these.
He almost took too long of a second before nodding, a half dip of his chin towards his chest in acknowledgement, because he couldn’t not answer her, no matter how much he wanted to.
“I’m sorry Mason. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be a mother to you, I’m sorry that I ever made you feel like you couldn’t come to either myself or Paul with these kinds of things, hell I’m sorry for being oblivious enough to have missed all of this…”
The derisive laugh out of the side of her mouth hurt, his guilt clenching his gut at the way she dropped her gaze again, that dismissive shrug that encompassed her shoulders so far forced that it was nearly a succession of jerky movements instead of the one it was supposed to be. She hadn’t failed him, neither she nor Paul, they had been so much more than he could have ever been prepared for them to have become. His throat closed up around the words that he wanted to say, already aware that he was going to break his resolve and say something , it was just the words didn’t want to come, he didn’t have them on hand… grappling there while she fidgeted.
“Marie,” her name was stretched out into three more syllables than was necessary, his thumbs pressing even harder into his own flesh. “You’re not my mother,” he affirmed, watching that small jerk of her shoulders at him voicing it. “But you have been… equally as important to me, you didn’t fail me…” The words were stilted, awkward coming out of his mouth, so many more emotion words than he was used to expressing to another person outside of Dr. Friedrich and Nicole. “I didn’t touch her, not until recently,” which was probably too honest of an admission, however he was sure that much worse had been said to them by the detectives and Aaron both. “You’re right, I’ve had these emotions for a long time, but I never acted on them while living under your roof, and we were planning to tell you tonight over dinner…” He didn’t even know how much Nicole had managed to explain to her parents, didn’t know what assumptions that they were operating under, and this was much more personal subject matter than he was normally comfortable discussing with another person.
Just like he wasn’t comfortable with the way that, when he did manage to lift his gaze to her, she was crying- silent, large tears rolling down the angled planes of her face and dropping down onto her sweater.
“She told us some of what’s happened between her and Aaron…” she trailed off again, her wrist lifting to scrub at her face like she could get rid of the evidence itself and stop the tears entirely. “I did fail you- the both of you, both with this and with making my daughter think that it was ever something she had to hide from her father and I. The things he was allowed to do to her… in our home, with us supporting their relationship…”
Again, his guilt seared, watching Marie shift like she was, taking all of that blame into herself. She was a magnificent woman, even if it wasn’t something he had ever told her aloud, her fingers pressing into her temples and Mason shifting uncomfortably again. She couldn’t have seen it, Aaron was too smart for that, too cunning and too well developed a sociopath. That was something she should have known by now, working in the industry that she did. Those like Aaron were too good at what they did, too practiced and skilled to be caught easily by even the most highly trained. “If you had forbade it, or if you had tried to interfere it only would have pushed her further towards him,” he said instead, his words just as slow as they had been before. It wasn’t often he found himself on the giving end of advice when it came to Marie and Paul, he generally tried very hard to ensure that they were allowed to feel as if they were the ones assisting him with such things. “She needed to figure out her own way, in her own time.” Which wasn’t something he wanted to be admitting either, especially after seeing the degree of violence that Aaron treated Nicole to. There had been more than one moment while he’d been personally attacking him that the thought crossed his mind that it wouldn’t have been at all possible if Mason had finished the job the first time that something like that had even been slightly inferred. He knew he was right though, at least logically, even if his emotions were going down a completely different path. Just like he knew that Marie wasn’t at fault for any of the things that she was trying to take responsibility for. You couldn’t control another person’s emotions, not in truth. Just like you couldn’t read someone’s mind to know their true intent. If that had been the case it was very likely that Marie would have never let Mason in the house in the first place.
“I’m worried,” she broke the silence after another few minutes, not rushing through her words as she had been before, but obviously deliberating on each one before she spoke. “I’m worried about your situation here and the charges being levelled against you. I’m worried about yours and Nicole’s decision to pursue things in the manner that you have… I’m worried about you and Nicole period. This is a very dangerous situation, do you understand that Mason? I know you don’t always think of things the way the rest of us do, or consider the same things that we do- but if this doesn’t work out with the two of you? If it sours? What then? What if it doesn’t sour? I know you probably don’t care about the gossips in our town or what they’re going to have to say, but do you think Nicole will be okay with it? Do you think she’s going to survive the ridicule and scorn that’s thrown her way over what people are going to view as her sleeping with her brother? You don’t have to answer any of this now…. I just want to bring my concerns up to you, personally, and have you at least consider them, if only because I have asked you to.” Her reach across that table was slow, both of her hands folding over his jointed ones and squeezing, helping relieve some of that numb tingling that had begun to build up.
Something that, after a moment, he realized just how aware she was of it, her thumbs working small circles into his pressure points in an obvious attempt to alleviate some of that pain.
They were valid concerns, at least so far as Nicole and Marie were concerned. They were things that he had, just as she had assumed, not even considered as issues or concerns for him to address. He didn’t associate with people in the same way that the Carter’s did, didn’t have anyone whose opinion he cared for one way or another… Then while her relationship with Aaron had driven a wedge between her and her friends he knew it was only a matter of time, now that they had broken up, before that began to change again, unless of course her relationship with him was going to do the same. People had opinions, he was well aware of that, he just generally didn’t care for anyone else’s beyond his own. “I understand your concern,” was all he could offer her because of it, trying to return some sort of pressure to her hands in response despite the near impossibility for him to do so. Her focus didn’t shift from him though, looking at him still expectantly, and again uncharacteristically he found himself trying to soothe her worry and alleviate at least some of her tension temporarily. “And I hear you,” repeated as a phrase that she had made him use as a child once she had discovered he wouldn’t agree to something unless he meant it to at least show her that he was listening and not ignoring her in the way that she had thought he was for so long.
The half twitch of her lips was almost worth it, sounds of the doors opening and closing from beyond the room they were held in and her standing, hands still over his, to move around the table towards him, her hands only lifting when she was right by his chair. Then even still that was only enough for her to throw her arms around his shoulders, pulling his whole weight into her and squeezing as if it was some sort of prolonged goodbye. Which, if the face of the officer who stepped into the room then was anything to go by, it very well could be. “I love you,” was whispered into his hair, “and we’re going to fight this with you, but you need to be honest in return, and you need to keep. That. temper. In. check.” Her words were hastened.
The man that followed behind the officer much more familiar than he should have been, Mr. Jenson’s face lined with what looked both like tension and fatigue. There was no telling what all he’d been briefed on as of yet, or how actually willing the man was to represent Mason in court… While there was no animosity between the two of them, there was also no affection on either part. The man only represented him for the check and as favor to Marie, who he did love, even if Mason sometimes wondered at the appropriate levels of that love. Like now, when Marie finally stood and turned to embrace Mr. Jenson for that half second before she was ushered out of the room, looking over her shoulder pointedly at Mason, to which he half-nodded.
He did hear her. He hadn’t been planning on any deception nor had he been planning on losing his temper again. Not so long as Aaron was kept very, very far away from him through these proceedings. Seeing the extent of his injuries, he very much doubted that they were going to be wheeling him in to give a simultaneous statement as it was. “Mason, I was hoping we weren’t going to be seeing you back in here.”
It took too long of a moment after the officer spoke to identify him, half preoccupied with listening to Jenson get set up in the chair to his right and half still watching that door that they had all entered from as if expecting someone else to follow in. He hadn’t expected to see that face again, at least not for the reasons he was in here now, the handlebar mustache on the slightly overweight man now sitting in front of him twitching just enough for it to be noticeable. He was uncomfortable, which didn’t bode well for Mason. For a police officer to be uncomfortable speaking to you, it either had to mean they were intimidated or the sentence being faced was enough to make even them question it. Given the way that he was speaking to Mason… he would be willing to bet that it was the latter instead of the former.
He didn’t answer him one way or another, silent, with the approval off of Jenson for him being so obvious, it wasn’t his first rodeo, he knew the rules, he knew how to keep his mouth shut and allow the proceedings to continue without undue implications being placed on him for his own blunders.
“Listen Mason, there are a lot of different accounts here floating around, and to be honest, it doesn’t look good on you right now at all. The boy that you attacked is still in the hospital’s care unit getting blood transfusions and trying to repair a rupture that you caused in his spleen, that’s a fairly serious offense. To make matters worse he’s claiming that the girl, your adopted sister who you named as your girlfriend at the scene, sustained those injuries from you, not him.”
Again, Mason didn’t answer, glancing at Jenson from the corner of his eye and holding his tongue. Of course that would be the claim Aaron levelled, he couldn’t possibly spin it any other way to save his own skin.
“Now, is Nicole your girlfriend or is she your adopted sister?” The paperwork in front of Jenson stilled.
It was a fair enough question, and Mason only needed that slight nod from his lawyer before finally opening his mouth. “Both.”
Obviously not the answer that either one of them wanted to hear, Jenson going back to furiously shuffling that paperwork in front of him, lips pulled into a tight line, while the officer across from him shifted uncomfortably. They didn’t need to understand, they didn’t need to approve- he and Nicole were breaking no laws, and Marie had asked for him to be honest, there were few requests of hers that he could honor so easily as that one.
“Well,” again, the cop cut off to cough uncomfortably, shifting in his seat and moving the paperwork in front of himself in much the same distracting tactic that Jenson was using to his right. “Do you still want to claim that Aaron is the one that injured Nicole, or are you willing to admit that there might be some truth to his story that the injuries were either retained from you or from her trying to interfere in the fight between the two of you?” There had been no fight between the two of them, there had been Mason, losing all control, and destroying the bones in his face and torso. It wasn’t in his best interest to bring that up however, so he remained silent, again glancing at Jenson before even attempting to consider an answer to give the cop.
“No sir,” slow and even, his hands flexing on the table within their confines. “I walked into the apartment to find Nicole on the floor covered in glass shards, and Aaron kicking repeatedly at her torso and midsection while screaming obscenities at her.” As devoid of emotion as he could possibly make the sentence, even if his fingers were doing their best to curl into fists even with how they were held, his jaw ticking and the officer looking uncomfortably from the paperwork, to Mason, and back down again to the paperwork in front of him.
“You see, yours and Nicole’s stories match… a little too closely we think, almost as if-”
“Oh, this is ridiculous!” Jenson cut him off completely, slamming his own hand down on the table and lifting his forearm to point at the officer accusingly. “When would they have had time to corroborate their stories? The police arrived on the scene to find my client still engaged in the scuffle with the accuser! Their stories match so well because the both of them are being honest and transparent with this precinct, and being vilified for being such!”
The officer opened his mouth as if he were about to return the favor of Jenson cutting him off, but that only made the lawyer speak even more loudly, “Furthermore, my client has made such claims in the past, which were denied. He alleged that Ms. Carter was being systematically abused by the same man who did so tonight and was ignored. “And yes,” he again cut the officer off, the frustration clear in his voice and only a half second away from obviously rolling his eye. “We’re aware that at the time Ms. Carter denied any such allegations on her behalf, but as I’m sure you, having worked in law enforcement as long as you have, know- abuse victims keep silent at first for any number of reasons, since she has changed her statement, which you already know. We covered bond, the client’s adopted father posted the amount that was requested more than ten minutes ago, and the client’s therapist is in deliberations now with the court psychologist, so if we could move this along to releasing him to his family, you have his statements and you have all of the corroborating evidence to go over.”
In the space of five minutes, the man showcased just why he was the lawyer they continually rehired and kept on retainer, even after the slew of others that they had been through over the years. The officer coughing out something about protocol and following the chain of command even as he seemingly blindly handed over the key that Jenson was impatiently gesturing for. Those irons falling off of Mason’s wrists and his fingers instantly going to press into the raw skin in an attempt to sooth it, standing at about the same moment as the other two men in the room did. “The accuser has decided to press charges this time,” the officer finally stated, moving to open the door to the interview room and looking at both he and Jenson seriously. “It changes the entire structure of how this is going to go you know.”
Yes, he was aware, and apparently, Jenson was too, although he stopped at the door to speak to the officer for a few more moments, something that Mason himself wasn’t wasting time with. He was more focused on traveling that familiar corridor down and out to the exiting door, passing through it and immediately being assaulted by a small, warm body flying at him.
“Oh God! Mason!” Nicole’s body wrapping around him once more, and this time his arms free enough to lift, encircling her small frame and pulling her more firmly into himself as she kissed his face… repeatedly, her tears dripping onto his face and his attention not nearly so centered on the two adults standing behind her watching so closely. Maybe it should have been, but for the moment he just felt glad to have his arms back around Nicole, even if she was still in his now ruined shirt and what seemed to be a pair of standard issue police sweatpants, her tears finally getting the best of her and her head falling into the crook of his neck to snuffle while she tightened her arms about them.
“I don’t know about anyone else,” Paul interrupted finally.
Mason’s whole body tensed with the addition of his words, waiting for that drop in the atmosphere that was likely to come with it.
Marie’s eyes even more shrewd than that of her husband’s…looking over the two of them and at Mason as if to remind him of the conversation he had with her only an hour or so previous.
“But I’m starving.” Paul nodded.
Not the continuation Mason was expecting, his eyebrows twitching.
“Are you two in the mood for Chinese?”
His whole body sagged, the tension leaking out of him even as he pulled Nicole tighter into himself. That wasn’t a no from Paul, it wasn’t disapproval. It also wasn’t approval or a yes, but it wasn’t a no…and for now, with how things were unfolding currently, that was enough…