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- 05/20/2023
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Thicker Than Water - 1. Chapter 1
Knock, knock, knock!
What the fuck?! Diego thought as he began to stir. He looked at the clock on the side table. It was 3:54am.
Knock, knock, knock!
Murder was on his mind as he threw blankets back and grabbed his shorts from the floor. Diego wasn't a morning person on the best of days, even after a full-night's sleep. “I'm fucking coming!” He yelled as the knocking turned into pounding. “I said, 'I'm fucking coming,' goddamn it!”
If Diego wasn't already angry, he most certainly was after seeing who was at his front door. A man just a couple inches shorter than him took up on him. The man wore basic clothing and smelled like he hadn't showered in at least a week, and Diego guessed that the man had slept in those very clothes the entire time, too.
“What are you doing here?” The volume may have changed, but his angry tone hadn't. If anything, it got more menacing.
“I need a favor,” the man said.
Diego scoffed. The man was always needing favors but never did much to repay them. “Really? And why should I do anything for you again?” The man turned to look over his shoulder at the beat up car parked in the driveway. Shit, he thought. “You're kidding me, right?”
“I'm not. I don't have anywhere else to go.”
It was typical Calvin. The man was toxic and used everything he could to emotionally manipulate the people in his life to get what he wanted, even his own children. Calvin knew that Diego would always fall for it, too, and Diego also knew this all too well.
Diego stood in his doorway. He hated Calvin. They used to be best friends, but eventually, Calvin started playing his games on Diego. Diego wanted to punch Calvin in the face, but his former friend was the type that would call the cops, even if it was well deserved.
He walked over to the car and saw two small figures in car seats. Diego's blood began to boil. He knew that Calvin lived only a couple hours away, which meant the dirt bag had woken the kids up in the middle of the night and drove them all the way to Washington. Maybe a night or two in jail would be worth breaking his nose, Diego thought.
“I lost my apartment,” Calvin said.
“Oh, let me guess,” Diego replied, “you couldn't find work, but have quit or gotten fired from half a dozen jobs in as many months?”
Calvin bit his tongue. He needed Diego, even if his former friend was correct. “Please, we've been driving all night.”
Diego opened the car door and pulled out one of the sleeping boys, Bryan, who was about 5-years-old. Getting the hint, Calvin went to the other side and pulled out his youngest known child, Caleb, who was barely two. They took the boys to Diego's room and put them on the bed. Diego then jabbed a finger, pointing towards the door and walked out, Calvin in tow.
Once they got to the kitchen, far from the bedroom, Diego spun on Calvin and spat, “What are you really doing here, fuck-face?! I haven't seen nor heard from you in months, and now, you show up on my doorstep, unannounced with your kids, needing my help!”
Calvin paused, and Diego guessed that the man was forming his words and lies carefully. “Like I said, I lost my place and don't have anywhere else to go, so I came here.”
“Where's Donna?” Diego asked, wondering where Calvin's ex-wife was.
“I don't know. I haven't talked to her since I got custody.”
“You don't know, or you choose not to know?”
“I don't know. She was living in some crack house or something the last I heard, and I don't care where she is.”
Diego assumed that was the first true statement Calvin had made the entire night so far, but he wasn't done, not by a mile. “So, why me? Surely you have any family you could take them to.”
“You are family,” Calvin said, causing Diego to scoff.
“Please,” Diego said, snidely, “we're not family. I'm just some guy you like to manipulate and take advantage of when it suits your needs and interests. You made it pretty clear last time that we're not even friends.”
“I fucked up, okay?” Calvin said, coming off as defensive. Diego saw through the ploy. Whenever Calvin got caught in his games, he always pretended to be offended and tried to play the victim, even though it was always Calvin's fault. “This time it's not my fault. I had a job, but my bosses tried forcing me to work when Caleb was sick.”
Under most circumstances, Diego might have believed that. Despite what corporate America might want people to believe, they don't care for their workers and would threaten to fire an employee for not working despite a child being sick. However, Calvin has used this excuse multiple times, even when he left his wife and kids for a year.
“What are you really doing here?” Diego echoed his original question.
“I need a place to stay...temporarily.”
And there it is, Diego thought. “I see, so you're here because nobody else will have you, and you think you'll be able to use your kids to guilt me into letting you stay.”
“It's not like that,” Calvin said.
“Sure, it's not,” Diego said. “What aren't you telling me?”
Calvin didn't immediately answer, and Diego stood looking at him, waiting for the answer. Neither would budge. Calvin didn't want to admit to his plans and saw Diego's question as invasive and none of his former friend's business. However, Diego knew Calvin all too well, and knew that Calvin was trying to manipulate the situation by leaving critical information out. Most of Calvin's lies had been lies of omission. It was always the things that Calvin failed to mention that usually hurt the most once they were revealed.
Diego was good at digging those little nuggets of truth from Calvin. He would spot the inconsistencies in Calvin's stories and wouldn't stop asking questions until Calvin finally relented. Unfortunately, Calvin would use that tactic against Diego by telling his girlfriends that Diego was obsessed with him and tried controlling his every action.
“So, are you going to answer my question or not?” Diego demanded, having the upper hand and leverage.
“I have a job offer, and I need a place to stay, so I can actually get it.”
“What's the job?”
“Construction. I'd be cleaning up the job site until I learned other aspects. After that, I could afford to move me and the boys into our own place.”
“I want to see the job offer.”
Calvin sighed bitterly, but opened his phone and showed Diego the texts. Diego scanned them and looked for anything shady. He wouldn't have put it passed Calvin to fake them. Satisfied, Diego said, “You can stay here, only because the boys deserve a home and a chance. There will be conditions, of course, and if you don't uphold them, you're gone. Got it?”
“Yeah, I got it.” Calvin said, without even so much as a thank you, which Diego never expected, since it was a phrase rarely used by Calvin.
...Six months later....
Diego came home from work, exhausted, but glad for a quiet evening. The boys were still asleep and he assumed that Calvin was, as well. Despite Calvin being true to his word thus far, Diego never stopped being suspicious. The construction job was working out, becoming the longest job Calvin had ever held down.
Diego took a shower and came out to the living room to make a snack before relaxing in front of the TV. On the kitchen counter was a handwritten note on top of a thick envelope. Without touching it, Diego stormed down the hall and opened the door to the boy's room. They were both in the single bed, fast asleep. He went back to the kitchen and picked up the note.
The note was simple but caused an emotional overload. Calvin met a woman online. She lived in Pennsylvania. He left to go see her, to convince her to move back with him. He didn't think it would take more than three months. In the meantime, Calvin was giving Diego temporary custody of the boys, since they had school and might need medical care. Diego opened the envelope and saw the documents, on top of birth certificates, Social Security cards and other important paperwork. There was a letter from a lawyer stating that Diego just needed to sign the forms and return them for processing.
Diego collapsed into a chair and cried.
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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