Chapter five - Luke

"Knock knock." Shane's mum calls seconds before appearing in the room, her arms ladened with bags of shopping. "Sorry I'm so late, I knew you were out and I wanted to see you." Immediately Shane and I jump up to take them from her and she smiles lovingly at us both, shoving Billy with her hip to make him move along the sofa so she can sit down. "So, I had a little phone call from the school earlier, apparently my darling son and his friends were in a fight today. Is there a good reason or am I going to have to be serious, angry mum for a moment?"

"Um…" The three of us look at one another, feeling like naughty kids under her stern gaze.

"Tell me quick, don't try to think of something I'll accept." She raises both eyebrows, her mouth pulling into a frustrated pout and her toe tapping a rhythm on my floor as she looks at each of us in turn.

"Aaron Cutler was mouthing off about Rory mum." She focuses on Shane when he speaks, not saying a word and waiting for him to get uncomfortable enough to keep talking. It works and he's staring at the floor as he tells her everything. "Don't make me tell you exactly what he said, it's gross and you're my mum. Just know it was about our sex life, her hair colour and him, well him and his friends actually, having a go. Together."

"Right." She sits back on my sofa and I can see the dilemma on her face. She adores Rory, has her hopes set on them getting married in the future, but she doesn't like violence of any kind. 

She's one of those women who think there's always another way, which is why it took so long for her to take to Jake, Shane's sister Kim's other half, just one look from him has most guys pissing themselves in fear.

"Emily…" She holds her hand up to stop me talking.

"No, answer me this a minute." She shifts her gaze back and forth between us all. "Why did you have to fight? Could you not have ignored him? Sticks and stones and all that?"

"We should have, I'm sorry Mum." Shane says, hanging his head and staring at his feet. "We won't do it again."

"Yes you will." She gives a wry laugh, cupping his face in her hands. "I hate it, Snuggles, you know I do. You're an adult now, you need to find better ways of dealing with this, all of you do. I don't want anyone to get hurt and that's where it's leading. I thought Aurora was a good influence on you, you've been studying, planning for your future, it's been weeks since I had one of these calls. You skipped school last week and now this. Dammit Shane, I don't want to get a call to say you've been hurt, any of you."

She stands up, pacing back and forth in my living room. She looks at the bags of shopping still on the floor and waves her hand at them.

"Get that packed away, there's frozen stuff in there." We rush to pack the shopping away, I feel awful for upsetting her and I know Shane will too. She stands behind us, watching as we scurry about without talking and she lets out a sigh. "I'm sorry for shouting boys, you know I worry. Hang on. Why are there so many locks on your door? They weren't there last week were they?"

All three of us stop and look at her, following her gaze to my back door.

"Uh no… my dad…" I start and her face morphs into one of concern, her eyes automatically scanning me for injuries, just like Shane did when he first arrived. "It's ok, he was leaving as I got home, crawling out of the back gate."

I snort a laugh, but there's no real humour in it and her mouth pulls into a thin line.

"Do you want to come back to ours for a bit? You know you're always welcome and I cooked a stew for dinner, I know how much you love stew." God I love the woman, she looks so worried, I wish she was my real mother. She's done more for me and cares more than either of my poor excuse for parents.

"Thank you, but I'm really ok. We fixed the window and added a better lock." I give her my best good boy smile and she rolls her eyes, swiping the back of my head. "I promise, we'll try harder to be good."

"We will mum, I hate letting you down, you know that." She pulls the three of us into a group hug, then stands back, holding us all close and the disappointment has been replaced by her usual loving look. 

"I love you boys so much. You're growing up too fast, it's so much harder to keep you safe." With one last squeeze, she steps back. "It's late, so I'm going to go home. I'm assuming all three of you are sleeping here tonight?" 

When Shane and Billy nod, she raises her hand, pointing at each of us in turn.

"Any trouble, any sign of that man. You call me, do you understand?" She doesn't wait for a reply, but she lowers her hand and softens her tone. "I'll send David around first thing in the morning to check the locks, he can be late to work. Actually, thinking about it, I'll send Jake, he's used to dealing with men like your dad. You've got Jake's number haven't you? If your dad turns up, I want you to ring him straight away. I'll call Kim and tell her what's going on, they won't mind."

I open my mouth to object, but I can see from the determined look on her face that it'll be happening regardless.

"Thanks Emily." I say instead. 

She's already on her phone and after a quick chat with Kim, she hangs up and turns to us all.

"Jake'll pop by at four tomorrow, after you've all been to school." She starts walking to the front door, turning back only to remind us to lock everything, doors and windows. Then, kissing each of us on the cheek, she backs away and opens her car door. "I love you all, stay safe. Come home whenever you like, all of you."

*

"Luke." I'm tackled by a tiny squealing human as soon as I open the door, her dark hair flying wildly around her head, her arms and legs wrapped around my leg tightly. "I'm gonna help build you a door."

"Hi Elody." I walk backwards, dragging her along the floor to let Jake get past us. He chuckles, shaking his head at the girl.

"Elody, I need my helper." He calls and the girl immediately releases me to run after him. Seconds later I hear Shane grunt and Elody laughing hysterically and shouting something about her horsey.

"Gee up." She shouts from Shane's back, kicking him with her heels. Shane looks at me for help, so I grab my phone and take a picture to send to Rory.

"Faster horsey." Billy laughs from the sofa, smacking Shane on the bum while he's forced to do laps of the room on his hands and knees.

"Luke, here a minute." Jake's low voice calls from the kitchen and when I get there, he's testing the locks. "These all look good, not a lot I can do. Did he cause any trouble?"

"Nah, he was too off his face." I shrug and he nods, stuffing his hands into his jeans and leaning back against the counter.

He's got this way of looking at you, which is the way he's looking at me right now, where it looks like he can see right through you and you want to spill all your darkest secrets. I sigh and run my hand through my hair. "Ok fine, he made a bit of a mess and tried to take some money, but he dropped it and scurried off like the rat he is."

"Hmm." Jake says, which could mean anything. "Let me know if he comes back, any time, I'll pop over." 

"Will do, thanks, you want a coffee or anything?" 

"I could murder a coffee, Leanna's round mine with Kim and I'm on Elody duty. She wants a pony, it's exhausting." The image of a huge scary bloke like Jake, being forced to crawl around the room on his hands and knees by a tiny three year old girl is comical, but knowing Elody, there's no surprise she's got him wrapped around her little finger, she's an adorable little terror. "Emily wants me to put a lock on your garden gate. So, you three are good with Elody, right?"

"Yep, it's Billy's turn to be the pony now and then yours." Shane comes into the kitchen and flicks the kettle on. Jake let's himself out into the garden, chuckling to himself as Elody shouts at Billy to trot faster followed by a grunt of pain from Billy after what I'm assuming is Elody kicking at him.

"Luke, Billy's too slow and he says it's your turn." Elody grabs my hand and tugs me towards the living room. "Come on, hurry up."

"Good luck." Shane calls from behind me.

When I get to the living room, Billy is sitting back up on the sofa, scowling at the phone in his hand.

"You alright mate?" His eyes flick up to me and then down to Elody, tugging on my hand.

"Uh… yeah, it's nothing. My mum's just messaged to say dad's working late and asked if I want to go have dinner with her. You mind if I head off?" I know what he's not saying in front of Elody and that's that his dad is currently off screwing his latest woman. 

His mum's pretending he's working late because she thinks Billy is still oblivious to what his dad's like and she doesn't want him to hate his dad.

"Yeah mate, no worries, you gonna be alright?" He pushes himself up and walks to the door with heavy footsteps.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Cheers. Say bye to Shane and Jake for me. See ya Elody." 

Elody's too busy trying to climb onto my back, using the sofa to give her added height, to take any notice of him. The door clicks shut behind him and then I'm being forced to run around the living room, clinging to her legs around my hips to stop her falling off as I make horse noises.

She's so cute, squealing and laughing hysterically, with the odd "Yee haw" thrown in for good measure and I'm exhausted by the time Shane and Jake reappear, each with a cup of tea in hand.

"Gates all done bud." Jake says, putting his cup down and reaching a hand out to Elody. "Come on monster, let's get you back before your mum and Aunty Kim tell me off for keeping you away so long."

"Ok." She slides down my back and throws her arms around Shane. "Bye bye, love you."

"Love you too, munchkin, I'll come visit soon." 

"And Rora?" She looks up at him with big pleading eyes that it's impossible to deny.

"Yes, I'll bring Aurora to see you too." He pats her on the head and she beams at him, then grabs Jake's hand, calling bye to us over her shoulder.

"What time's Rory done with cadets?" I ask, slumping down onto my sofa and switching on the TV.

"Nine- ish, why? You hoping to see Kia?" He sits down on the other end of the sofa and looks around. "Where's Billy?"

"Bill's got family shit going on and no, Kia's got herself a boyfriend, didn't Rory say? Gutting because she was a good lay without all the annoying clinginess that everyone else gets." My phone pings with a message from Cally asking me to come around. "See what I mean, I saw her yesterday and she already wants me to go around again. To watch a film? Fucking hell, I don't want that, she's already got a guy for that sort of shit."

I type out a reply telling her I'm busy, only to get a sad face emoji sent back.

"I need to end this with her, it's getting weirder now my mum's talking of marrying her dad anyway." I text her back telling her we can't do this anymore and to stick with her boyfriend and seconds later my phone is ringing, her number lighting up the screen.

"You need to find one who isn't crazy and stick with her." Shane giggles as I reject the call. "Establish some ground rules if you're freaked out by the girlfriend idea. Friends with benefits, that sort of thing?"

"Yeah, I tried that with Ruby and look what happened. Maybe I need to stick with one night stands, no names, no addresses, no attachments. What do you think?" He laughs and we both look at my phone which is flashing with Cally's number once again. I reject the call again and mute the ringtone, turning it over so I see the screen.

"Yeah, maybe you're right." He nods, draining the last of his tea. "Anyway, you going to be alright here, or you wanna come pick up Rory with me?"

My phone vibrates and falls off the sofa, Shane picks it up and shows me the screen.

Cally: I'm on my way to yours.

"Looks like I'm coming with you." I laugh, grabbing my keys and making sure all my doors are locked.

*

"Luke, I'm glad you're here. I've been thinking about you." Aurora calls me over as soon as we get to the cadet hall.

"Shhh. I said we could have a secret affair. It's not a secret if Shane knows." I wrap my arm around her, pulling her into me for a hug.

"Funny but no. I know we're dragging you on uni visits against your will, but I've just signed you up for something else." She grins sheepishly up at me and I already know I'm not going to be happy. "Shane and Billy too, but it's more you I was thinking of."

"What is it?" She slips away to stand beside Shane.

"A forces week. It's being run by some Marines I know, but it's a taster into what it would be like if you joined up. Loads of us are going and I thought it might be worth looking into for you since you don't really want to go to uni either." She glances at Shane and I realise this wasn't all her idea.

"Emily made you, didn't she?" Her cheeks flush red and it's all the answer I need, I'm not going to disappoint the only mother figure I have. "Ok fine, when are we going?"

"Not for a few weeks, I'll send you the email with all the info. It's going to be so much fun." She grins, leading us out and locking up the building. 

"Doubtful. I'm hungry, you want to go to Shane's and see if Mumma Woodson has leftover dinner we can have."

"My mum always makes enough for leftovers in case you come over Luke, it'll make her day." Shane shakes his head, a wide grin on his face.

We drive over in Shane's car and are immediately set up at the kitchen table with mountains of food, Emily standing beside us, icing a huge chocolate cake for dessert while she asks about school and this upcoming Marine thing.

"Are you all stopping here tonight?" She asks and I'm not sure she realises her hands are clasped together as though she's begging us too. 

"Yeah mum, we're here tonight." Shane is eyeing the chocolate cake hungrily.

"Yay, the house is so empty with your sisters gone and you staying out all the time." She slices through the cake as she speaks, cutting big slices and sliding them into place. "I miss the noise and chaos of having my family all at home. I can't wait for everyone to be together when we go skiing next month. Are you coming too Aurora?"

"Um… I've never been skiing before." Aurora says nervously.

"Oh it's easy, Shane will teach you, or Nathan. Nathan's a brilliant teacher, he's even got Elody started a bit, so you can learn with her. Let me go change the sheets in your old room Luke, then we can sit down and watch some TV together, what do you think? David'll be snoring before it starts, I'll bring the biscuits in. Shane make everyone a cup of tea."

She leaves the room in such a bustle of excitement that I feel bad and make a note to come and visit more often. I must admit, being in the warm family atmosphere of the Woodson household is nice, living here was probably the happiest few years of my life. I look at Shane and the way he is with Aurora and wonder if I might have turned out differently if Emily and David had been my real parents.