Never Been Ready (Bonus Scenes)

Deleted Prologue

Twenty years ago...

~Declan~

"Mom? Dad?" I shouted, as I entered the kitchen and dropped my gym bag on the floor next to the granite topped island that occupied the center of the large space. I knew Mom would harp on me for dropping my stuff on the floor again, but I did it anyway. I'd come back for it later. It's not like the world was going to end because my book bag and unused gym clothes were taking up a small corner of the kitchen. But Mom was all about presentation. "What if someone came over Declan? What would they think?" she'd ask. I'd give her a lopsided goofy grin and tell her they would finally know a kid lived there. It was comments like that when I'd finally see a smile break through her rigid demeanor.

I wasn't always the best kid, and I didn't listen worth a damn, but I loved my parents and they knew it. I threw my shit everywhere, and was terrible at school, but I could make my mom blow milk through her nose in less than a minute flat. She was all hard lines and show to the outside world, but to me she was just mom. I knew all that other stuff was just an act, and it must be exhausting to keep up. My dad was pretty awesome too. When he wasn't busy saving the world from yet another financial meltdown, we'd go fishing, or he'd teach me about motorcycles. He may seem like an uptight suit-wearing prick, but he was my dad, and unlike many of my friends' dads, he treated me like a son.

"Dad?" Seriously, did anyone hear me? I knew I was home early, but it wasn't that early. Was it? I looked down at my watch, and saw due to my canceled track practice, I was strolling in about two hours earlier than normal. Granted, I was never home this early. My after school activities were very well planned, but I never thought the house would be this quiet. My dad liked to work at home several days a week. The commute into the city was a pain in the ass, and if he could, he would lock himself in his office, and play God from home. My mom, a "stay at home mom", did... well I don't know what she did during the day. But I knew she was busy, and it had nothing do with being a mom. She oversaw several charity groups, and volunteered at the club her and my father belonged to. Her social schedule was a mile long.

The eerie quietness of the house was almost deafening as I moved through the hallway. We had a maid, Lola, but I didn't even hear her quiet humming coming down the hall. If no one was home, I wonder what kind of trouble I could get into. Raid the pantry? Nah, that's too juvenile. Find my dad's hidden porn stash in his office? Bingo. But first, I needed to make sure there really wasn't anyone lurking through the halls of our expansive house.

As I neared my parents' bedroom, I brought my hand up to the door to knock but quickly stopped when I heard a faint noise coming from the other side.

Definitely female. Was that... a moan? Ewwh. I think I had just found my parents. This was something a pre-teen should never have to encounter. I quietly started to back away, hoping I wouldn't be heard. Being caught at this time would make this situation go from horrible to way bad in two seconds flat.

"Yes... Stephanie. That's my girl, faster. Faster!" The moans intensified and I felt the lunch I'd consumed hours earlier rising to make a second appearance.

What the fuck? Who the hell was Stephanie? And why was my dad saying her name? This was more than I wanted to know, more than I should know.

I continued to back away, my feet dragging the rest of my already numb body until I was down the hallway, turning around completely and exiting towards the parlor. My hands shook as I walked, and my eyes stung with unshed tears.

"Don't cry Declan, don't you dare fucking cry," I told myself. Only babies cried, and I was no baby.

I plopped down on the preppy sofa my mom and her interior designer had painstakingly picked out, making sure it went with the antiques and the frilly curtains and all the other shit in the room. Did she know? Oh god, would I have to tell her? Why did I have to walk down that hall? I suddenly felt older, and I didn't like it. Minutes earlier, my biggest worry was whether Mom would get angry over my mess in the kitchen and how quickly I could find porn, and now I was worrying over telling her about... what? I don't even know. Another woman in bed with Dad... doing? I didn't want to think about it.