Obedience Lessons

Chapter Fifty

Dylan's POV

I didn't realize that I was holding my breath until I saw redness well from my father's chest and pool beneath him on the floor. And then I knew that the loosening in my chest meant that I was relieved - truly relieved - that my father was dead.

Mom was still holding the gun, pointing it at my father's head as if she expected him to come alive and take vengeance. The doors burst open and Alyssa came bounding into the room followed closely by officers in gear. My mother held up her hands, dropping the gun. "I killed him," She said blankly, "Someone had to. I had to."

Alyssa rushed at me, circling the body to crouch in front of me, holding my face in her hands, "He was a monster."

"I know." I wasn't mourning him. There was nothing to mourn for him. "How?" I meant how the police came. I saw dad kill the cameras we had posted, and this room didn't even have transmitters set up.

Alyssa grinned, "That was me. Your mother's cameras. I have everything on tape, so I called them. Your mom... She's a fucking badass."

Behind Alyssa they had handcuffed my mother and someone was reading her her rights. Another officer attempted to check on me and I brush past him, "Leave her alone!"

"Sir, she just killed a man," a logical, authoritative voice came from a tall officer that had my mother's arm in a vice grip. He wore dark glasses and looked like he wanted to be Horatio one day.

"It's okay, Dylan, I can handle this," Mom's voice sounded stronger than I'd heard it in years.

"He was going to shoot me," I was in the middle of replying when Andy came through the doors, backed up by Bree, Romeo, his assistant, Nick, Louisa and someone else I didn't recognize. They looked about ready for anything.

"Still have to take her in. Who are they? This is a crime scene, get them off here. And bring this guy in to make a statement."

"The fuck," Alyssa's voice dripped with derision, "I have a fucking video! Do you people ever listen?"

"And you are?"

"The owner of this fucking house," She spat.

"In that case, bring her in too. Get the recording."

"I'm going wherever he is," Andy grated out and my heart warmed up several degrees.

The officer shrugged. "Drive down to the station then, we'll throw a goddamn party."

It took hours at the station even after they'd watched Alyssa's recording. I had to make a statement, Andy made a statement about the past few weeks, Louisa and Bree did another and by the end of it all I was all talked out. The place was bustling with other busts, addicts, prostitutes and psychos that made all sorts of trouble. We kept moving until we were in inner rooms and separated. The ceilings were low and the lights were bright everywhere. The place smelled like gym socks and cheesy balls, sheesh.

The officer probing me for emotional stability had a lot of questions as to why I wasn't grief stricken. I told her that the first round of drinks were on me and asked to see my mother. Could you believe they wouldn't let me after that? Fuckers. Guess they wanted me to open a tab.

Andy stopped by afterwards and he inched through the door until I looked up at him.

"Hi," I greeted without emotion.

"Hi yourself." He came in closer and took a seat right beside me. He didn't try to hug me or kiss me, everything about the distance between us felt wrong but I was too wrung out to do anything. He spoke again after a short silence. "I'm sorry about all of this."

Yeah. It kinda was his fault for my dad being dead. Deserves a blowjob right here, right now if I could just get on my knees and open my mouth.
"Don't be sorry." Ah! My mouth opens, halfway there already. But thinking about him made my head hurt again. He'd lied but then again he had reasons for what he did. "I just want to talk to her."

He nodded. Probably understanding more than I wanted to think about right now. How those golden eyes always seemed to know unnerved me. And made me feel... other things too.

He got up, and I noticed how his hair brushed the ceiling, "I'll see what we can do. They have to let you talk to her eventually." He started moving and was at the door when I spoke again.

"Andy?" He turned and waited, quietly watching me. "Thank you."

He smiled sadly. "You're more than welcome Dylan. Anytime." When I didn't say anything he finally left, feet shuffling away awkwardly. A part of me felt ripped away at the quiet he left with me in the room. I felt alone.

"I can keep you company..."

It was a thin voice that interrupted me from my thoughts. That girl, Romeo's assistant, I kept forgetting her name....

She must have seen the confusion in my face because she said, "Nancy. My name, it's - it's Nancy."

Right. Nancy. "Hi." I said, although I was happy for her company. Something about her soft brown eyes made me trust her. She reminded me of a mouse. I used to want a pet gerbil.

"It must be quite a shock huh?" She said right from the doorway. Her brown hair covered most of her face.

"Shock. Yeah. It is." Yeah. I watched my mother shoot my dad. Who was a scumbag. Who had killed my brother. Who I had thought killed himself. It appeared that Rymans were skilled in killing one another. Which would leave me with only one choice, kill my mother. I hoped that gene skipped me. "Lightning shock."

She nodded. "Can't say I know how that feels. But you wouldn't want that anyway." She sounded so timid and shy that I ended up smiling. She was right. I wouldn't wish this on anyone. Some things shouldn't be felt even once. "You're a good person, you know? Andy's lucky to have you."

I frowned. Andy? Did he talk to her? I had barely even remembered her.

"Don't tell me you already screwed that one up?" There was something totally dumbfounding about a shy girl getting upset with me, especially over which guy I had in my life. Or not, for that matter.

"It doesn't matter right now."

"Even you know you're talking shit right now," Nancy crossed her arms. "You wanna come to grips with all this, that's understandable. I don't know what I'd be doing or how I'd feel, but it's the worst time to push anyone away."

"He lied to me."

"From what I heard he tried to save you from this. He did all of this for you. I've known Andy for two years. He's never stuck with any guy through three dates... I was beginning to hope he was second guessing being gay..."

"So you wanted him for yourself then?" I questioned a bit too sharply.

"Easy tiger." She smiled, a cute little thing across her lips, "But half of college is after that boy. My advice is this... don't push him away too hard. You'll break him."

"And what if he already broke me?"

For the first time she really looked me into the eyes. "Something tells me you're a good fixer-upper. You'll be fine." She looked out into the hallway. "They're bringing your mom now. Hope you don't screw this one up."

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A/N: Aftermath time :) Waiting to hear from you all.

-Ender Xen