Oranges & Roses

Freefall

Unedited.

Chapter Forty-Four

The fight was dirty and I’m not talking about mud and grass flying everywhere. There was plenty of that, yes, but if there was an open shot to be made it was done and it was made with brutal force.

By the time the men folk managed to wrangle the two of them apart, blood was dripping out of both of their mouths and Chet had a nasty gash from Rey’s ring along his left eye.

The kids were crying hysterically with Paulita trying to comfort them while Lan was screaming at both of the men for being stupid enough to fight in front of them. They were the only kids crying, however, as the others watched the whole thing with wide eyed wonder. Even Ava had a bit of an excited twinkle in her eye as she’d gone over to try and comfort her friend and watch the whole thing at the same time. Her father, Ellis, was one of the guys holding Rey back from going after Chet again who was just standing there on his own, wiping blood from his mouth.

He leered at Rey before spitting at his feet. He was about to say something when Cesaro stepped into the fray. The leering look on Chet’s face stopped as he looked at the old man. At least he knew how to respect his elders.

“That’s enough. Both of you have managed to upset the children. It is time to make peace and go your separate ways.”

“Fine,” Chet hissed before looking over at the kids who were now just calming down to quiet sobs. “Tiny, JJ, it’s time to go. Get your stuff.”

“No,” Lan said. “There is no way I’m letting you take my kids anywhere. Not in the state you’re in.”

Chet glared at her. “It’s my time to have them…”

“Not when you’re like this.”

“But you’ll let your precious brother be around them? That is complete bull—”

“I think what she’s trying to say is you’re covered in blood and still angry,” I interrupted before he said something he shouldn’t. Tiny still had a hold of my hand and cowered into the folds of my dress when Chet looked over me but then down at her. “Why don’t you go home, calm down, get cleaned up, and when everyone here has calmed down, someone will bring the kids over.”

“That’s not going to happen.” He looked back at Lan and pointed. “She’ll just come up with an excuse…”

“Chet,” Lan bit out. “Stop. Go home. Now.”

“Not without my kids.”

Tiny’s hold on my hand tightened as the adults started to argue over what would happen next. This was the last thing either of them needed. JJ had his usual rebound rate and was now standing quietly in Paulita’s arms, watching the whole thing with a look no child should have until they’re not longer considered a child.

I dropped down next to Tiny and started wiping the tears off her face. The first fight I ever saw hadn’t ended the way this one had. In fact it was more like a brawl to the death but I could see why she was so upset. Two people she loved were fighting and she didn’t know why…

“Why did Daddy hit Uncle Rey?”

I finished wiping off the tears and gave her a reassuring smile. “Sometimes grownups do stupid stuff. Why don’t we go have a s’more?”

“But you can’t have s’mores…”

“True but I know how to make them pretty well. My brother taught me. What do you think?”

Her eyes ticked over my shoulder at the now quietly quarrelling mesh of people for a minute. I could see the indecision in her eyes and knew at that age there was probably a mixture of curiosity over what they were saying, worry over if they would start fighting again, and a weird want to remain present going on in her head.