Butchered Beasts 1: Darren & EJ

Chapter 21

Darren POV

Pulling up to the house, I see there's a car I don't recognize there. It's a nice car. There's a couple of car seats in there. Maybe a few friends came over to see the progress? Walking in, I hear screams of laughter coming from the kids.

"Dawen!" Calloway yells at me as soon as he sees me, "This my Daddy." He says holding the hand of a man who's equally as tall as me, but not as big as I am muscle-wise. I stuck my hand out to shake the man's hand who had been introduced to me by my little buddy, Cal.

"Darren," I gripped his hand, firmly looking in his eye in some sort of attempt at showing my dominance, "I'm the contractor for the house. Where's your mom bud? I need to talk to her about something."

"She's updares." I smiled at him, ruffling his hair, and made my way toward the steps. I knew we had a lot of work left to do inside, but I ran into an issue with the bathrooms and with the kitchen sink. She didn't need to know about the kitchen sink though. That was part of her surprise. I heard her on the phone with someone, so I stayed on the landing not wanting to eavesdrop or interrupt.

"No. No. He's saying he wants full custody of the kids because we're living with my family right now. He's here spending time with them. Of course, I'm not denying him access. He wouldn't even contact them first six to eight weeks he was in rehab! I do have proof of that. He's demanding I let him leave with my kids. What do I do?"

Walking back downstairs, I see no one is in the house anymore. The kids were outside playing in the backyard when I heard 'Daddy' on the phone to someone.

"Yes. I love you too. I know you're ready to be out of there but if they don't think you're ready, you have to stay until you've completed the program. Yes. I told her I wouldn't sign the papers without full custody. You know I'll do anything for you."

Say what now? I pulled out my phone and texted Sean.

IceMan: Need all the footage pulled from the house today and saved. All of it. EJ is going to need it. He's here and going for full custody.

I made my way, quietly back upstairs and knocked on the door where EJ was still on the phone with, who I hoped, was her lawyer.

"Is that your lawyer?" I whisper asked.

"Huh? Yes, but how?"

"I need an email address from him. I have a video he needs to see now and get it to a judge. Pronto. It's about your ex. Or, I guess still husband?"

"Can you hold on a moment, Alan? Sorry," she moved the microphone away from her mouth, "What are you talking about?"

My phone pinged.

Sean: On it. Also, the live feed, he's planning on taking them. I have some of the work crew coming over so there are more witnesses. Prez is five min away with Hicks.

"Some of my guys are coming over to help out. Listen. He's trying to take full custody away from you. And he's got someone in rehab he's saying he loves and is on the phone with right now."

"WHAT?!" She looked horror-stricken, her face paling, "Not my babies. He's not taking them. No," I grabbed the phone from her as she started trembling.

"Alan? The lawyer?"

"This is he. Who am I speaking to?"

"My name is Darren. I'm a friend of EJ's. Listen, I need an email address, and for you to get over to the courthouse. We need immediate, emergency custody paperwork or order, whatever it is. I have proof he's trying to alienate the kids from her for someone else who's in rehab. Please."

"I'll take care of it. I have a judge who owes me a favor. Send me the info," he gave me his email which I sent over to Sean right away. I hung up the phone and EJ and I made our way downstairs and out the back door. The gate in the fence was open.

"Oh god. Oh no! He said he had car seats for them so he could take them places when I felt comfortable with it." She was running her fingers through her hair, running into the driveway I saw Prez and Hicks sitting at the end of the driveway on their bikes, not moving. The prick had the kids in the backseat. Through his open window, he was shouting at them to move their bikes and you could hear the kids screaming and crying for EJ. She ran up to the car and was attempting to open the back door.

"Open this door right now! I have temporary full custody and I did not say you could leave with my children!"

"They're my kids too!"

EJ POV

Patrick had the doors locked and wouldn't open them. My phone started vibrating and I heard a few more bikes pulling up, and soon there were bikes all lined up around the end of the driveway.

"Alan! Please tell me you have something for me."

"I called the judge, I'm on my way down to have the judge sign off right now. Call the police if he's trying to leave with them."

"Darren call the cops! Alan said to call the police!" He nodded and pulled out his phone. None of the guys on the bikes left. They moved around the car, not willing to move. Patrick won't stop yelling out the window that they need to move, he's just going to get the kids something to eat and to play at the playground. Calloway is yelling in the back, crying for me. Emery was screaming and crying, reaching for me. I'm sobbing on the phone with Alan. I can still hear him telling me it's going to be okay, and that he needs to stay on the phone with me so he can talk to the police when they get here. I remember my paperwork is still at my parent's house.

"Darren! I have to get ahold of my parents! My custody paperwork is at their house!" Darren nods and sends another text. A few moments later, he nods at me. I don't know what's going on, but he seems to have taken care of everything so I can focus on my babies. Trying to calm them down.

"Patrick! Open the window! Don't you see the distress they're in?!" I scream at him, just trying to keep a calm voice. Just trying to raise it, speaking in an even tone, but I break at the end. My babies want me and are in distress. It's taking everything in me not to try to rip the door off its fucking hinges or bust the glass so I can reach in and comfort my babies.

With tears running down my face, I was trying so hard to hold it together, "It's okay, guys! It's okay. You're not going anywhere. Mama's here. It's okay! I promise! I love you, Calloway. I love you, Emery. Can you guys take a deep breath with me? Mama needs to calm down. Can you do that with me?" But I couldn't stop the tears. I think they were the only thing keeping me from losing it. Darren came up and touched my shoulder. Flinching a little, he pulled away as soon as he felt it. I felt bad but I was in a state where the only touch I wanted was my babies. I needed to touch them and make sure they were okay. I needed to know. I was going to lose it if I didn't get to them soon.

I hear sirens in the distance, getting closer. Still. Not one biker moved his motorcycle. Once we heard them very close, all but one biker moved. He was a brick shit house, even bigger than Darren. He stood behind the car, arms crossed, glaring at where my ex sat. Looking around, I could see glares from each of the men, all toward my ex. Two squad cars pulled up with an ambulance not too far behind them. Officers got out of the car and moved in on my ex. They shut off the car and asked me to move back so they could be checked medically. I was absolutely floored but knew that they needed to be looked over. I wanted to puke though.

"Ma'am, they could have injuries from straining so hard in their car seats. We need to make sure they're alright." I nodded my head frantically, a lump the size of a softball that was currently residing in my throat, prevented me from saying anything. Darren, who'd become such a good friend to me these past months, put his hand on my shoulder. I turned to him and just broke down in his chest. As I was sobbing, an officer came over to get our statement of what happened. I couldn't even say anything. I was shaking, and sobbing. I wasn't sure what I was feeling, but all of a sudden, everything just felt drained from my body.

I heard another set of sirens, and someone yelling about bringing the paperwork. It sounded like Hunter, but the black spots I was seeing were preventing me from seeing anything.

I swayed on my feet, closing my eyes letting the darkness take me as I heard someone shout my name.

"EJ!"