Daddy's Boy (18 page)

We walked from place to place,
checking out the animals, talking to people who approached Dodger
for one reason or another until we finally came upon the lion
enclosure. It was surrounded by press and people, many of whom I’d
had dealings with in one form or another. A lot of them were former
associates of Jack’s, and as I continued to look around at the
people surrounding Dodger and me, I saw Jack’s wife standing with
his children at the front of the crowd.

A petite young woman with
copper-colored hair, light brown eyes, and freckles sprinkled
across her nose, wearing the uniform of a zoo employee, stepped up
to the front and walked behind the empty podium.

“
Ladies and gentlemen,
thank you so much for attending this very special dedication
service. One of the biggest contributors to the zoo was Mr. Jack
Binzington. He has donated millions of dollars in order to keep us
running and to allow us to bring in more animals, hire more staff,
and to keep the grounds looking as maintained as they do today. Mr.
Binzington sat on the board of directors and told one of our park
employees, before he passed, he wished he could have done more for
so many different organizations that educated children and provided
them with a place to learn, to grow, and to feel safe from the
world that so often feels dangerous to them.” I watched as the
young woman stopped for a moment, wiping her eyes, and I felt my
heart clench. I hadn’t known anything about Jack being on the board
of directors at the zoo or that he’d donated so much money to them.
My respect for my former benefactor grew, and I missed him even
more. Jack had been a friend to me, a mentor in business and social
matters, even in charitable organizations. He’d been almost like a
father to me. Even though I’d had sex with him.

Eew. No. Scratch that. Not a father.
Just a mentor, then.

“
Mr. Binzington found out
about the zoo from one of his social counselor advisors, Mr. Tyler
Simpston who…”

The world around me faded, and all I
could hear was the sound of my heart thundering in my chest and the
blood rushing in my veins. Why was my name being mentioned? I
hadn’t told Jack anything about the zoo. Who would say such a
thing? Who had the power to make such a thing, true? I turned my
head slowly toward Dodger and found him looking down at me, concern
and a sheepish expression on his face.

“
Surprise?” he
said.

“
W-what? Why?” I
asked.

“
Before he died, Jack found
out I had been looking for you, and he contacted me,” Dodger said.
“It was about two weeks before he died. I’d been searching for a
long time. Using a private detective, personal contacts, things
like that. Jack confronted me. I think he thought I was a member of
your family, searching for you. Or maybe someone from your past.”
Dodger shrugged. “I don’t know. But there was this box. I’d been
carrying it around for a long time and it had a bracelet, a set of
keys, and a card for the zoo because even though you never told me
the story. I knew how special it was to you.”

My heart started to pound in my chest
at Dodger’s words and my lungs felt as if someone were squeezing
them in a vise. I wanted to deny what he was telling me because it
just wasn’t possible. “You had been looking for me? But you didn’t
know me!” I hissed softly.

Dodger shook his head. “I
told you, Tyler. I’ve known you for a while, a very long time,
actually. You just didn’t know me, or you forgot me. The bracelet
in that box? The white box with the red ribbon that I tied around
it, was a bracelet given to me by a friend I had years ago. A
silver bracelet with the letters T.T. engraved on it so I would
never forget them. And the keys are to the home that is a source of
horror and nightmares for this friend. For you. I bought it and had
it torn down so it would never stand again. Now there’s nothing
there but empty land. Your mother and stepfather don’t live there
anymore. I’ve known you for over a decade, Tyler, and never gave up
looking for you. Never forgot you, even though you stopped thinking
of me.” He reached out to touch my cheek, and frozen in shock, I
allowed it.
T.T.
My bracelet
.
I’d had a bracelet with my initials engraved on it, but I
hadn’t given it to anyone named Dodger; I’d given it to my best
friend…

“
That’s not possible. You
don’t forget a name like Dodger.” I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to
claw at my throat and scream at Dodger to explain all of this.
Explain why Jack hadn’t told me. Why
Dodger
was just
now
telling me all of this. To tell
me who he was.

Dodger smiled gently at me. “I wasn’t
going by Dodger back then. You knew me as Pierce
Agustine.”

My mouth dropped open, as I
stared up at Dodger… Pierce, reaching up and touching his face when
the sound of applause reached my ears.
No.
It couldn’t be. No.

“
Mr. Vanderbrook? Are you
here?” the zoo employee said, sounding worried.

“
Hold that thought,” Dodger
said, with a gentle smile, before he turned and made his way to the
podium.

I stood frozen, as I watched Dodger,
formerly known to me as Pierce, make his way up to the podium. I
hadn’t seen him since I was sixteen, and he’d helped me run away
from home. Our plan had been to meet up in San Francisco, where
“Pierce” had told me he had friends who could take me in, but when
I got to our meeting spot, “Pierce” hadn’t been there. I’d stayed
there for two days waiting for him, hoping he’d just gotten
detained, and on day three, just when I thought I would be alone in
the world forever…

KuJoe found me, and my life started on
the path I was currently on.

As white hot anger began to surge
through me, I clenched my fists, preparing to confront the one
person I’d trusted after my father to protect and help me, who had
also let me down and left me defenseless against the world, and my
knees went weak as reality crashed over my head like an icy-cold
tidal wave. I stared up at Dodger behind the podium, speaking of
Jack with respect and fondness, and started to tremble. It couldn’t
be. I shook my head and turned to push my way through the crowd,
not stopping until I’d left the zoo behind me, calling for a taxi
to come and pick me up.

If Dodger was Pierce, then that meant
Dodger knew my big secret, meaning being with him had just put my
daughter’s life in jeopardy.

****

Twelve years
ago

The sound of rocks being
thrown at my window should have been annoying, but for me, they
were as the trumpets of angels. It meant Pierce was outside waiting
for me. Pierce Agustine, the college guy who had quickly become my
friend and confidant, was gorgeous, and tall with black hair, blue
eyes, and an athlete’s build that would have made me drool if I
wasn’t dead inside. Pierce didn’t ask me for anything other than my
friendship, however, and never pushed for more. He was always there
for me when I needed him, listening when I told him about what was
going on at home, offering me advice and even a place to stay when
I needed it, all without making a move on me.

I scrambled up from my
bed, turning quickly away from the mattress with its twisted sheets
and the wet spots on them that displayed my shame and gave credence
to the gloom growing in me. I pushed aside my curtain and looked
down at Pierce, waving at my friend, who smiled up at me. Tonight
was the night. I waved again and turned to grab the money Lloyd,
the stepfather from hell, had left on my nightstand.

It was my sixteenth
birthday, and Lloyd and my mother had bought me a car as my gift. I
was going to spend the night with Pierce and his roommate at their
off-campus apartment and then take the car and trade it in for a
new one. Then I was heading for San Francisco to stay with friends
of Pierce.

Grabbing the seven hundred
dollars I’d received from Lloyd that evening, I lay on the floor
and pulled out the suitcase I’d shoved under there weeks before.
Opening the top, I pulled out the small black bag where I’d hidden
all of my other money over the years and added the seven hundred
dollars to the rest of it. The bag was bulging with cash now, and I
was happy—no, relieved—the horror I’d experienced over the past two
years had at least led to me receiving the money I needed in order
to escape.

Lloyd gave me five hundred
dollars each time he came into my room and raped me, which was
twice a week for the first year. I made $52 thousand that first
year. I could have left then, but a big party thrown by some
college guys, a shopping spree, and some drugs took most of my
money. Not to mention the fact that my mother found my hiding spot.
She thought I was selling drugs to make the money I had and would
beg me for some. Whenever I would tell her I wasn’t a dealer, she
would simply steal money from me or from Lloyd in order to take
care of her habit.

Lloyd had a job, in
addition to being a dealer, which was why he didn’t blink at the
money he left on the top of my nightstand. As I got older, and my
body changed, I admitted a truth to my friend Pierce, one beyond
simply what was going on in my home, but one that concerned my own
innermost thoughts and feelings. It was something I’d been
struggling with since I was a child, long before that first rape,
before the first time I was molested. Something I’d always known
but had hidden away and could now admit to someone other than
myself. Pierce, my good friend, my best friend, promised to help me
and told me to save the money I had to get away. He had people who
would help me with my truth and help me get to safety. I was happy
about that. Relieved. And that was when I started to save my
money.

By the time I was sixteen,
I’d saved over $70 thousand and was more than ready to move to San
Francisco, especially with the new car I’d received for my
birthday. All I needed to do was make sure I got out of the window
and away from my house without being caught.

Opening the window, I
peered down at Pierce and smiled.

“
Ready?” he whispered up at
me.

I nodded. Turning back
around, I grabbed my suitcase, made sure it was closed, and leaned
out the window, dropping it into Pierce’s waiting arms. I pulled on
my backpack and made sure I hadn’t left anything behind before I
climbed out.

I dropped down from the
second story window into the bushes below with a grunt, before
rolling and climbing to my feet. It hurt, goddammit, did it hurt.
There were scratches and cuts along my wrists and ankles, and my
ass hurt from the fall, but other than that, I was relatively
unscathed. I hurried over to Pierce with a grin.

“
Let’s go,” I said with a
slight bounce.

He chuckled. “Slow down,
speedy. You got everything?”

I nodded. “And I made sure
there was nothing left behind that would let them know where I was
going.”

“
Good,” he said. “I’ll help
you push the car down the street. That’s where I left my truck.
Then tomorrow, I’ll follow you out of the city and head back to my
apartment. Remember, go straight to San Francisco, only stop for
gas and sleep at rest stops. Pay for everything with cash. No paper
trails. I’ll meet up with you as soon as I can.”

I threw my arms around his
neck and hugged Pierce as tightly as I possibly could. “Thanks
again, P. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“
Hey, don’t worry about it.
I just wish I could do more.” He pushed me back gently. “Are you
sure you don’t want to go to the police?”

I shook my head. “No.
Lloyd knows a lot of the officers on the force, and the ones he
doesn’t know, knew my dad, and so they know my mom. They would
never believe that she would let something like this happen to me.
It would just cause more problems. Besides, I’ve been getting in so
much trouble over the years, they’d just think I was trying to get
attention or looking to stir up problems. I’d rather just leave and
start over somewhere else.”

Pierce sighed and reached
out to ruffle my hair. “All right. Well, call me when you get to
Leon and Devereux’s place, okay?”

I quickly agreed and then
climbed into the driver’s side seat of my new white convertible. I
was going to miss the car, even though I’d only had it for a few
hours. I put the key into the ignition and shifted it into neutral,
then stepped out to help Pierce push the car down the street, far
enough away from my house where I could start it up without raising
an alarm.

The next day, after
trading in the convertible for a Honda, Pierce and I said good-bye
at the first rest stop outside the city. I knew I would be seeing
him again in about a week, but I was nervous and scared about
driving alone to a new state, a new city, and pulling up to the
home of two people I didn’t know, to live with them. I trusted
Pierce, but I didn’t trust anyone else.

Pierce wrapped an arm
around my shoulder. “Don’t worry, Leon and Devereux are good guys.
They’ll take care of you, I promise.”

I smiled at my best friend
and elbowed him lightly in the stomach. “I trust you,
P.”

I headed for my car and
opened the door. Stopping, I glanced back over my shoulder and
threw Pierce a saucy smile. “See you in a week.”