Daddy Cool

I stood over the stove, trying to concentrate on the meal I was making for my family. Over the past couple of weeks, Willow had begun to stay out later and later and was now staying out for days at a time. I had tried to parent her as best as I could; Freya had tried lecturing her into being nice; Raiden had pleaded with his big sister to try and get her to see sense; Tre, it pains me to say, Tre appears to have given up.
I served up the pasta carbonara I had made for us and called the family to the table. We sat in relative silence, me, Tre, Raiden and Freya. Once again there was no sign of Willow – it felt as if everyone was too scared to mention her.

“This is doing my head in!” Freya burst, dropping her fork to the table. I jumped, and looked up from my food. The boys were staring at me and Freya. I didn’t reply to Freya, what could I say? I couldn’t lie and I couldn’t agree with her. “You are driving me fucking crazy!” She growled at me. She growled at me!

“What do you want me to do?” I hissed at her. You could have cut our tension with a knife. I was physically leaning over the table towards her, and her actions mirrored mine.

“Do some damn parenting!”

“What the fuck do you think I’ve been doing these past weeks?!”

“I know your probably real happy one of us has some of your old spirit in them; but for Gods’ sake! Rein her in!” That was a low blow. Tre placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me from exploding.

“Freya, we are trying our best with your sister. If you have any ideas, please voice them.” Tre was icily smooth, trying to keep as calm as possible. I was fuming.

“Maybe banning her from seeing that waste of space she spends her time with, that would be a start!” I shot a look at Tre, his eyes flashed the way they did when his temper reached boiling level.

“What waste of space would that be?”

“Antonio Lomas.” She gritted her teeth in reply.

“Who is Antonio Lomas?” Raiden and Freya exchanged a look.

“Antonio is the biggest drop out in L.A. He’s lasted about five minutes in every school. He spends his time smoking, swearing, drinking and sleeping around.” Raiden’s voice was old beyond his years. “Most sane people avoid him. Willow is seen constantly on his arm.” His voice faltered, he was obviously worried about getting his sister into trouble. Freya rolled her eyes at him.

“He is the biggest coke head going.” She spat. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Will’s in to all that now. Fucking headcase.” She cussed under her breath.

I tried to take a deep breath to keep myself calm, but found my breath kept getting caught in my throat. I couldn’t face any more food, I felt physically sick at the idea of one of my babies snorting cocaine. Even I, in my troublesome days , never touched hard stuff. Tre’s arms found my waist and pulled me close to him. I felt incredibly safe with him while I wanted to scream. Every so often his hand would stroke my hair and his lips would softly touch my forehead.

“Right, Freya look after Raiden tonight please. Me and your mother are going to find Willow. Finish your dinners, don’t answer the door to strangers, and phone Uncle Billie if anything happens.” Tre helped me from the dining room and physically walked me towards our car, never letting go of me for one moment.

“We’ll find her and we’ll stop this. I promise you.” He kissed my lips tenderly as he helped me into the passenger seat of his car.