My mother married a Capo

Chapter 20

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" whined Logan as Ashley was gently cleaning and examining his nose. They had come to Ashley's home and the girls first tended to the boys' injuries.

"For god's sake." said Ashley frustrated. "Were you whining like this when that guy was punching you?"

Logan puffed his chest and made a proud face. "That dude didn't find the time to act so much. I knocked him out so soon. I only get distracted for a moment." he then looked up at Ashley's angry face and cowered back a bit. "But you are cleaning my poor broken nose harshly." he pouted.

"Don't be a child." said Ashley and put aside a cotton ball soaked with alcohol. "You are so lucky that it's not broken."

"And we are done." said Alison as she put the last piece of steri strips on Ed's forehead. "I did it so clean. I'm great." she then walked to the kitchen and disposed of bloody pieces of cotton in the trash bin and washed her hands. Ashley did the same and then both girls went and sat in front of the boys.

Ed and Logan moved on their seats uneasy under the girls' death glares. "Well??" asked Ashley after a moment of silence. "Do you want to tell us WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?"

The boys gulped and looked away. "It was my fault." said Ed embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I insisted on going there."

"Why?" asked Ashley confused and sad. "You promised to never do club fighting again."

"It was because of your father, isn't it?" asked Alison. "Things have gone worse between you, aren't they?" Her eyes were glued on Ed who nodded.

Ashley took a shaky breath. "Damn!" she cursed under her breath. "What has he done again?"

Ed put his elbows on his legs and rubbed his face with his hands. No one pushed him to talk. They know what a sensitive topic it was for him. "He is using drugs recently," he whispered after a minute but everyone heard him because of a pin drop silent in the room.

Alison felt something fall at the pit of her stomach. "He is not himself anymore." said Ed as he clenched his fists angrily. "He has become a addicted beast. I think he has become a drug dealer himself." 

Ashley stood and then sat beside him and hugged him sideways and rubbed his arm.

"I'm sorry, guys." said Ed sadly as he looked at them. "But I can't take it anymore. A few days ago he somehow had found my hidden saving in my room and took all of it. It was the money I had put aside for renting an apartment."

"Why you didn't tell us sooner?" asked Alison softly.

"You had enough on your plate already. I didn't want to add on it." he answered and pointed to Logan. "Logan was the only one who knew. His father kindly let me stay at their house for as long as I want until I find somewhere. I will turn 18 in one month and I can rent somewhere myself. The fight club was the only place that I knew to earn the money I had lost."

"I'm sorry, Edie." said Alison and sat on the edge of her seat, and grabbed his hands.

"No. It's me who disappointed all of you." said Ed.

Logan put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't get hard on yourself, mate." he said kindly. "We all understand. You are not alone at this."

"Okay," said Ashley as she stood and sniffed a bit and forced a smile. "Enough of sad news. Let's order pizza and watch a movie. Boys you are going to sleep here in the living room. Al will sleep in my bed. The extra mattress is in the attic, and the spare toothbrushes that you used last time are still in the bathroom cabinet." she yelled the last part as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed the phone to order pizza.