Thicker Than Water - 36. Chapter 36

“He did what?!” Bryan nearly shouted. He was pacing and seething. “He did what?!”

Steve looked at Diego wondering what to do. He knew that Diego had very strict rules for his sons—their sons—but Diego was just letting Bryan lose it. The 8^th grader's face was red, he was breathing heavily and looked like he was about to commit murder, and all Steve wanted to do was reach out and hold him.

“Please try calming down,” Steve pleaded and regretted it the second he said it.

“I am calm! I'm the bastion of serenity!”

“And the queen of melodramatics,” Kenny said. “Serious, Babe, could you at least take the volume down. I'm sure the characters in the other stories can hear you.”

Bryan rolled his eyes and said, “Ha ha.” He looked at his dads. “Can't we get another lawyer? I really don't want to see Calvin, ever. This is such bullshit!”

“I know you're upset,” Diego said, “but you need to watch your tone, young man. And it wasn't entirely Billy's fault. The judge is railroading us, so I don't know if another lawyer would be of any use; plus, I'm not sure we can afford it. Billy is doing this for free, and any other lawyer would charge us around $100 per hour. I know Steve's salary can't support that and neither can the restaurant. Billy is the best we've got.”

Caleb, who had been sitting between his dad, finally piped up. “I actually want to see him again.”

Diego gave Bryan a death glare preventing his eldest child from going off on his brother. “Why is that, Mijo?”

“He wasn't mean when we had dinner at the mall, and...I want to ask him stuff, like, about our birth family. Mom didn't really talk about her side, and we don't know anything about his side. Is his dad still alive? Do we have cousins? And stuff like that. I don't know, I'm just curious.”

Steve wrapped his arm around Caleb and held him tight. “I bet that's been bugging you forever, huh?”

“Yeah.” Caleb replied, leaning his head against the big man's body. “I didn't get to ask anything really because Ashley wouldn't stop talking and Calvin didn't say much when she was quiet. At least this way, she won't be there, and we can ask whatever we want.”

“God, she better not be there,” Bryan snarled.

Diego sighed. “She won't. The visit is just between you, your brother and Calvin. Steve will be here to supervise and that's it.”

“What about me?” Kenny asked. His mother still hadn't responded to his request to come home, and he didn't like the prospect of being at the house, holed up in Billy's room for an hour.

“You can either come with me to work, or you can stay here. If you have any friends you want to hang out with, I can always drop you off and Steve can pick you up after the visit. It's really up to you, but I'd rather you not be around Calvin.”

“Why?” Caleb asked. “He didn't seem dangerous or anything.”

“Calvin is supposed to be here to see you two, and I don't want to give him an excuse to tell the judge that the visit was constantly interrupted or something like that.”

“I wouldn't get in the way,” Kenny insisted.

Diego hugged Kenny and clarified, “I know you wouldn't, Buddy. I wasn't trying to say you would, but Calvin is a known liar and would lie to the judge just to get us in trouble. We're already at a disadvantage because the judge hates Billy, so we don't want to give any reasons for the judge to give Calvin more time with boys to make up for a botched visit.”

“I get that, I suppose.”

Steve said, “Nobody is happy about this, except, maybe, Calvin. He wanted to keep you guys for the weekend, but the judge shot that down.”

Bryan looked like he was about to have a stroke. “An entire weekend with that piece of--”

“--pie!” Caleb finished, not wanting his big brother to get in trouble. Everyone laughed, including Bryan.

Bryan walked over and pulled Caleb into a hug, thankful for the verbal blocking. Their dads were so proud of their boys. Still holding his baby brother, Bryan asked, “Are we sure there's no other way out of this?”

“Absolutely certain,” Steve replied. “The judge wouldn't buy you guys constantly being sick or just too busy to make an hour available. Your dad and I have already thought about it, but there is just no other way around it.”

“I'm fine with it, Bryan, really.” Caleb hugged his brother tighter.

“Well, I'm not, but if we have no other choice.... When are we doing this, again?”

“Saturday at 1pm,” Steve said. “I wanted to give everyone enough time to sleep and get ready; plus, I didn't want your dad to have to rush out of here, since he has to be at work at noon.”

“And Ashley definitely isn't coming, too?”

Diego said, “We made sure of that. Billy made sure to tell Calvin's lawyer that if she so much as steps foot on the property, we'd have her arrested for trespassing.”

“Good. I hate that--”

“--pie!” Caleb said, again.

Bryan tickled his brother into a giggle fit and said, “I could be wrong, but I think you want pie for dessert.”

“Maybe,” the 5^th grader squealed between fits of laughter.

“I suppose we can do that,” Diego said, enjoying the sight of his boys being close. He and his brothers had a much more typical relationship. They only got along when one of them needed back up, otherwise, they were at each other's throats. He made sure his boys were never like that.

*   *   *

With nowhere else to go, Kenny went with Diego to work. He brought along some homework and a book, since he was only going to be at the restaurant for a couple of hours. It had dawned on him the night before that he didn't really have any friends outside of Bryan and Terra. There were kids in his classes he talked to, but nobody he ever hung out with outside of school. The revelation stung.

“You can stay in the office if you want,” Diego offered, as they pulled into the parking lot. It was clear to Kenny that Diego was trying to hide the stress he was under. Nobody was happy about the visit, with Caleb being the least bothered.

Kenny reached over and hugged Diego. “I'm sorry.”

Diego gladly accepted the embrace and asked, “For what?”

“That you're having to go through this crap with their sperm donor. You're the best dad I've ever met...I've wished you were my dad, too, since I don't know mine.”

Diego squeezed Kenny tightly. “You know you're like my third son, right?”

“No,” Kenny protested, pulling away, “because the things Bryan and I have done would be incest, and that's just not right.”

Diego didn't know what to make of Kenny's comment, until the boy started laughing. “You're grounded,” Diego said, tickling Kenny, sending the boy into a fit of giggles. “You're so grounded.”

“Thanks for always being there for me, Mr. Padilla,” Kenny said sincerely, a tear coming to his eye.

“You're very welcome. I mean it, though. I see you as one my own. I love you, Kenny, and don't you ever forget that.”

It was just enough to push Kenny over the edge. Diego pulled him back into another hug, glad that he was the boss and made his own hours.

Once everything was good, they went inside. The place was packed. Given it was a Saturday afternoon, Diego expected it to be. The lunch rush was in full swing, and the staff was feeling it. Diego made a mental note to check the books to see if he could hand out some raises.

“Oh hey,” Diego said, as he opened the office door. He saw Ry and one of his boys in the office. Normally, Ry worked their other location, but it was being remodeled and closed for the weekend. “What brings you by?”

“Just needed to get out of the house,” Ry said, putting down the inventory book for the other restaurant. “James and this one were driving Charlie up a wall, I decided to get caught up on some work and separate our offspring.”

“I don't envy you,” Diego said, moving into room and showing Kenny to a nearby desk. “Kenny, this my friend and business partner, Ry, and I think you met Quinton at the high school Halloween party.”

In typical, teen boy fashion, they gave a quick, meek greeting. Both parents just grinned at the awkwardness.

“So, Quinton, were you the one who got in trouble the other day?” Diego asked. It was a clear yes by the look of shock the 14-year-old gave him.

“Daddy, you said you weren't going to say anything!” Quinton said, his face reddening.

“I didn't,” Ry replied, not thrilled by the accusation.

“Steve and I went to see Billy, and Charlie kind of let it slip. We honestly didn't know which one or if it was both.”

Ry chuckled, “It's usually both or just James, but this one decided to try to hack one of the school computers. Didn't work out too well for you, did it?”

“No, Sir.” Quinton dropped his head in shame.

“Hacking is a pretty serious offense. If Bryan or Caleb did it...well, I'd be impressed by their computer skills, but I'd definitely be mad.”

“Oh, we were, weren't we, Buddy?”

“Yes, Sir. All of my electronics were taken.”

“What else?”

“I had to clean the house.”

“And?”

“And Uncle Billy and Uncle Trevor's house, too.”

“And?”

Quinton sighed, “And Grandpa's house.”

Diego, who was well known for making his kids clean as a punishment, thought that three houses was rather extreme. “It was really that bad?”

Ry rolled his eyes. “No. We were all raised to keep a tight ship, so he mostly did dusting, dishes and garages. The worst he had to do was clean my dad's garage, which was full of some old stuff from when we were kids. I'm actually grateful for it, since there was a lot that we had forgotten about, like a pic from our very first Pride as a family.”

Diego wasn't quite sure, but he thought he recognized some bitterness to what was, otherwise, a very happy memory. “Quinton, why were you hacking the system?”

Quinton was normally shy, so it was no surprised that he didn't make eye contact. “I wanted to play Minecraft, but system wouldn't let me download it.”

“I love Minecraft,” Kenny said, enthusiastically. “Do you play Bedrock or Java?”

“Both, but I prefer Java,” Quinton replied, sounding upbeat for the first time. “I like Bedrock because I can play on my PS5, but Java has a whole lot more options.”

“Same. I hate the cool down on Java, but farms on the roof of the Nether are so sweet.”

Ry seemed pleased. It was clear that Quinton didn't often get a lot of interaction with someone like minded.

Diego interjected, “Quinton, if it's alright with your dad, how about you and Kenny find a spot at the counter and have your conversation there. You can tell Kelly to get your guys each a Coke and sandwich on me.”

“Can I Daddy? Please?!”

“Yes, get out of my hair while I still have some.” Ry talked like he was annoyed but the smile on his face told another tale. Quinton hugged his father and ran out of the room with Kenny. “Thanks. It's hard to get him out of his shell. James is such a presence, Quinton gets lost without him. I'm just glad James is over protective of his brother. I don't know what we would do if they hated each other.”

Diego smiled. “That's how I feel about Bryan and Caleb. They bicker sometimes, but Bryan would never forgive himself if something ever happened to his baby brother. Me and my brothers were nothing like that.”

“My brothers and I had our moments, but we're better now. I would literally be dead now without them. Anyway, I heard your kids are seeing their sperm donor.”

“Ugh,” Diego said, sitting down, “I take it the love of my life mentioned it.”

“Duh. He's worried for you, and asked me to check on you.”

Diego just shook his head. He was feeling to gushy to be angry. “He's lucky I love him.”

“Yes he is,” Ry said with a smile, “so do you want to talk about it? I know a thing or two about asshole DNA providers.”

“I know you do, and thankfully, it's nothing like you went through with your biological parents. Calvin's presence is just rubbing me raw, and then Billy pissing the judge off....”

“Yep, that sounds like Billy. His biological father, Will, was a character in the court room. I remember one time he got a CPS case worker to admit she was discriminating against my adopted dad. It was brutal. The judge was pissed but couldn't really do anything about it. I don't know if Steve ever mentioned this, and Billy would probably kill me for mentioning it, but he was sexually abused as kid.”

“Holy fuck,” Diego gasped.

“Yeah. The guy groomed him and I caught the guy trying to rape him. We were about 12, and I kicked the shit out the guy.”

“At 12?! That's impressive.”

“I was into martial arts when I was younger. Anyway, Will destroyed the guy. He conned the pervert out his properties, withheld payment, costing the guy his lawyer, and then sued for damages to Billy. When it was all said and done, Will basically took everything from the guy.”

“What happened to the creeper?” After seeing what happened to Charlie's abuser, Diego kind of had an idea.

“He died in prison not long after getting there.”

“Did-- Did Will have anything to do with it?”

Ry gave Diego an appraising look then said, “Nothing confirmed, but I've always suspected it. Will was into a lot of dirty shit, and a whole lot more than the papers ever reported. Will worked for some real sick bastards and was fully capable of some extremely sadistic shit, but he always looked out for little kids in need. I wouldn't have been adopted by Billy and Charlie's dad if it wasn't for Will. Charlie never would've been found had it not been for Will's criminal connections. I'm not trying to make excuses for his behavior. Will was a very bad man who deserved to die the way he did.

“I'm only tell you this because Billy idolized his birth father until the truth came out, so Billy is likely emulating Will's behavior. He sees two boys who need help, and Will would've made sure Calvin never went anywhere near them.”

“Is Billy going to kill Calvin?” Diego's pulse quickened. He hated Calvin, but he didn't want the man dead.

“No,” Ry chuckled. “Billy isn't capable of that, but he will do everything else in his power to make sure your kids stay with you, even if it means pissing off a judge. Charlie said that judge brought up Will, which is a constant sore spot for him. Talking back to the judge will be the least of that man's worries if he pushes Billy too far.

“I get that you may have reservations about Billy, and I honestly can't blame you; however, I know that Billy will stop at nothing to make sure your kids aren't taken from you. Billy knows where the lines are and how to cross them. Judges hate that. Billy wants to be like Will, but only so long as his soul isn't corrupted. Get what I mean?”

“Yeah,” Diego said, taking in everything his friend said. “I think I do. He was just cocky after the hearing, saying it was a victory.”

Ry's eyebrows raised for a second before he laughed. “Billy has been cocky since high school. I remember him being about as shy as Quinton, actually. I know; it's hard to believe. You honestly have nothing to worry about. If he gets too out of hand, tell Charlie; he'll take care of it.”

Diego felt better about his legal situation, though not 100%. He was glad that Ry and Steve both have confidence in Billy, but he wished Billy wouldn't push any buttons. This judge didn't seem intimidated or threatened by Billy or what his father had done, which could cost him his kids. Then what would Billy do? Appeals can take years, meanwhile, Calvin could take the boys to another state or even another country.

He took a deep breath and left Ry to book keeping, while he helped out in the kitchen.