Their Boy Beloved [MxMxM] (Taming His Blaze Book 1)

Chapter 4

I shrugged one shoulder softly.

"Mrs Bethan said I can't come back until I get rid of my head lice," I told her like I had done every day for the past few weeks. As if remembering the colony living in my hair, I scratched nervously, trying not to hurt the tiny little bugs and their eggs.

I was honoured I'd been chosen as their humble home, and that they'd found safety within the thick tufts of my hairs, but it was mighty annoying sometimes, especially because they were so itchy and well... I couldn't go to school anymore because of them.

Mama grunted, uninterested, stalking across the room, heading for the cramped little bathroom beside our shared bed - a mattress on the floor, pressed against the wall to make room for the couch.

She was always in the bathroom. Pooping I supposed, though sometimes she slept in there too. I had no idea why but it meant the bed was mine, so I didn't complain at all.

"Mama I'm hungry."

"The fuck am I supposed to do about it? Find something to eat."

"The kitchen's empty."

"Not my problem." She stalked into the bathroom and shut the door.

I sighed, rubbing my rumbling belly. It hurt so bad, though I tried not to think about it too much or the stabbing pain and the nausea would make me cry. Though... I really didn't think I could stand another night without dinner.

It had been three days since mama had come home with takeout and I'd eaten her leftovers on the counter once she'd passed out in the bathroom again.

I'm hungry.

I stared at my drawing. What would older, super awesome Reuben do? Well, grown-up Reuben would probably drive his fancy fast car to McDonalds and buy ten cheese burgers and all the fries in the restaurant and collect all the happy meal toys ever!

My stomach gurgled, happy with that idea and I groaned.

I wasn't grown-up Reuben just yet. No armpit hair, no car and I didn't have any money, or say swear words - apart from poopy-head and what-the-freak.

But... I stared at Mama's car keys abandoned on the counter.

She did say to sort it out myself.

"I'm gonna do it," I whispered and Uncle Cody popped out from under my pillow. He was disapproving, I could tell by the way he fluttered his wings. "I know, I know. But I'm hungry. I'll be gone and back before she knows it. Think of the cheese burger!"

I picked him up and set him in my pocket, grabbing Rachel and Peter too. For company and courage. Then, I bravely snatched my mama's car keys, and slid out of our apartment door.

REUBEN • POV
Present...

Unsurprisingly, I had not made it there and back before my mama had noticed I'd stupidly stolen her car and left.

For one, I had been eight and didn't know what the fuck I was doing, let alone how to drive a car, and for two, I may have placed way too much faith in lightening McQueen and floored the shit out of the accelerator so that I could 'kachow' my way past other drivers on the road, speeding to get a fucking happy meal.

Ironic because that day had been the start of many more miserable days to come.

I'd wrapped the car around a tree, going eighty miles an hour, broken both my arms, a few ribs, sprained my neck and cut up my face from the shattered glass.

The incident had been the start of a hellish physical recovery, a criminal investigation into my mother's neglect and the beginning of the many fuck-ups that made up my entire life after the state placed me in fostercare.