‹ Prequel: Trouble-Maker
Sequel: Summer Boy

Infinite

Dam'ed

When Ronnie left us for life on the road, Arch tasted a piece of what he was afraid of. He hugged Ronnie relentlessly at the airport and made him promise to come home again soon and protect him from his own mother. It took days for Arch to get back to normal and in the time between Ronnie leaving and Arch feeling better, we stayed home and talked about how brave he was to face him mom and how quickly time would pass while Ron was away.

About a week after the singer flew back to meet up with the band, Arch and I clambered out of my bed, took showers, shunned our whining, and dressed for the day. We were set to meet Heather and Kyat for a late lunch picnic at a park not too far from our apartment in the city. Arch donned shorts and a t'shirt, which he complained about feeling strange in due to his usual Nicolas attire, and I dressed similarly, pulling my hair up on top of my head as if I didn't have a care in the world.

"Baby, don't forget to grab a jacket from the closet," I shouted down to Arch from the banister, "It's actually pretty cool out."

Arch rolled his light eyes. "It's warm," he rebutted, but dragged his feel over to the closet by the front door.

I hurried back into my bedroom and grabbed my phone off of the bed before trampling down the stairs. "We're late, we're late, for a very important date," I sang, gathering Arch up in my arms as he screeched in laughter and ducked his head as we barreled through the front door. "We forgot Charlie!" he shouted, reaching back towards the house that held the dog.

I hurried down the walk to the driveway and stopped, looking down at Arch. "Charlie's not coming, sweet boy. We don't have time to dog-proof the car. You have the keys, right?"

He giggled as I set him on his feet. "No," he said, trying to control his grin.

I gave him a look. "Are you sure about that?" I asked, "I'm pretty sure I saw you swipe them off the bed."

He giggled and shook his head, his hand going to the pocket of his sweatshirt.

I raised my eyebrows. "Arch Emerson Drewry," I grumbled, holding my hand down to him, "Give them."

"Nuh uh," he muttered, shaking his head. His eyes were bright and playful and his grin was genuine. It made me feel lighter and I started yelling and he took off around the side of the Cadillac.

"Arch, if you so much as smudge this car, Ronnie is going to sense it, poof home, and kick your little monster butt!" I shouted, chasing him around the driveway.

His laughter was infectious and I quickly changed directions. As he barreled around the back of the car, he rammed right into me and screamed. The lanyard hit the driveway, the keys jingling, and Arch's eyes widened.

I swooped them up before he could and he screamed. "Uh oh," he muttered, looking at me with impossibly big blue eyes.

"'Uh oh' is right, Mister!" I shouted, "You better run, you little liar!"

He took off the way he came and darted all the way up to my car, trying to hide in the shadows between the vehicle and the house. "Atticus no!" he screamed as I hurried after him, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Now his eyes were wide with playful fear. I raised my eyebrows and crossed my arms over my chest. He was trapped in the corner between my car and the locked garage and light fear crept up his spine. His giggles were deeper and darker. He covered his mouth with his hand and slowly crept backwards towards the grass and the far-back fence that separated our house from the neighbors'.

I darted at him. He screamed in laughter and froze, bracing himself for impact. I swooped him up into my arms and he cried out in giggles. "To the car, Monster!" I yelled, marching him down there.

I hit the button on the keychain and the Cadillac unlocked. I held Arch with one arm as he wriggled and pulled open the backdoor with the other. I set him in his seat and buckled him in. We'd recently gotten him a new one and he hadn't mastered how to unbuckle himself yet, something I was grateful for.

I shut his door and climbed in the front. "You're going to make us late meeting Heather and Kyat," I stated, starting the car, "I'm going to blame it all on you, too."

"That's not fair!" he rebutted, frowning at me, "You're the one who took 6000 years in the shower."

"Excuse you, at least I didn't lose one of my shoes under my bed and refuse to go under and get it."

"At least I'm not too big to fit," he rebutted, grinning mischievously.

I glared at him through the mirror and then backed out of the driveway. It only took about twenty minutes to get to the park on the edge of the city, but Arch demanded that we drive over the bridge at the top of the dam where a tourist-trap of a 'legend' said that secret treasure was thrown over and lost forever.

When we finally made it to the little park and pavilion, Heather was already waiting at a picnic table, feeding her five-month year old from a bottle and little cup of peas. She grinned when she saw the five year old running to her, hurrying past the small family that was already packing up their things.

"Arch! Look at you," she greeted, holding an arm out to him. He ran to her and wrapped his arms around her, careful of Kyat. She had known Arch just as long as I had and had a similar connection to him, even though she saw him far less than I did.

"Heather, he's so cute," Arch said, sitting on his knees next to the two of them so he could peer at the blue eyed baby who was greedily drinking down his bottle. Arch's light eye met Heather's, "Can he play with me yet?"

I sat down on the other side of the table and shook my head. "He's not big enough yet," I explained, having told him the same thing at Ronnie's birthday party back in December, "But someday soon he will."

Arch frowned. "Do you think Kyat would like the slide?"

Heather chuckled and nodded her head. "I'm sure he would. When he's done with this we can take him down it," she promised, watching Arch's eyes light up. He climbed down from the bench and moved to sit next to me, waiting patiently.

"What have you two been up to?" Heather asked, looking at us expectantly, "I know you haven't been all innocent lately."

Arch grinned and shook his head. "We took Ronnie to the airport and then we stayed in bed!" he explained, his eyes widening, "For a whole week! No work or school, just our fort and food and movies."

Heather grinned and peered across to me. "Really? The two of you stayed in bed for an entire week?"

Arch nodded excitedly and I grinned guiltily. "We miss our man," I replied, chuckling.

Heather shook her head at our antics. "Nothing interrupted the two of you? You just managed to stay home and do nothing all week?"

Arch shook his head. "I think everyone thought we were on a secret mission or something," he said, nodding solemnly, "That's why no one called or came over. They thought that we were too busy to talk and just left us alone."

"Yeah, Heather," I said as if it was an obvious explanation, "You were the first person to bother us during our secret mission and we had to cancel the whole thing."

"You blew our cover!" Arch shouted, his eyes wide.

Heather laughed and shook her head. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea. Kyat was just missing his best friend and god-mother."

Arch grinned but I faltered, taking the in the words. "What?" I asked, wanting her to repeat it. She just nodded. "God-mother?" I said again for her, "What are you talking about? I thought you were asking Hayden and Roxanne to be the god-parents?" I questioned, referring to her brother and sister-in-law.

"Aiden and I changed our minds," she said simply, "We had you as one of our choices the whole time but I didn't want to tell you until we were 100% sure. We love you Atticus, and you're the only person we would want to raise our son. We know you would do the best you could and he would turn out to be the most amazing man."

"But I'm not even married," I replied, stunned, "And Ronnie and I are so unstable, we couldn't possibly raise him like you and Aiden, or Roxy and Hayden could."

Still calm, Heather replied, "We wouldn't want you to raise him like us, we would want you to raise him like you, as if you were his mother."

"Heather, I don't think it's such a good idea-"

The blonde woman shrugged her shoulders. "We already filled out and signed the paperwork," she explained, "We don't actually need your approval to list you, that would only be needed if something were to actually happen to both of us. Then you would make the decision. We would hope that you would take him in as your own though," she added, smiling lightly over the table like she had the utmost confidence in me and believed that I was capable of raising her only child the way she would want me to.

I was surprised and honored and couldn't stop myself from clambering up and wrapping my arms around her shoulders, and Kyat. Heather obviously saw more potential in me than I saw in myself and it was overwhelming and insane to think that someday, if something terrible ever happened, that a little boy would become mine, and they saw me fit enough to raise him and teach him the way of the world.

Arch, who sat with his hands folded on the table, frowned and asked, "Wait, does this mean that Kyat has two mommies now?"

Heather and I chuckled and I wiped at my eyes, barring the tears from welling there. I turned back to him and wrapped Arch in my arms, holding him tightly to me. "Sort of, sweetheart," I murmured, "It just means that he has so many people that love him."

Kyat finished up his little meal and Heather let Arch hold him before the four of us took off to the slide. Heather waited at the bottom, I sat at the top, Arch on my lap, and Kyat on his. I held them both and we slid down the twirling slide. When we came to the bottom, Heather quickly grabbed Kyat before he could slip to the wood chips, and I pulled Arch up, holding him against my chest.

After a little while on the swings and slides, Heather roped us over to the table again and set out a sandwich for Arch, who devoured it willingly.

"Atticus, not hungry?" Heather questioned, jabbing her finger towards my untouched meal.

I shook my head. "Been feeling kind of off lately," I muttered with an annoyed roll of my eyes, "I'm probably getting sick. Which means Arch will be sick soon too and we'll have no other choice but to barrel down in bed and sleep it off.

Arch cheered, with food in his mouth, at the idea of getting to stay in bed even another day longer.

"You're probably just glum because Ronnie's gone," Heather replied, giving me a look, "They do say that when two people are super close and they're separated that it affects them physically as well."

I nodded, leaning forward on my arms. "Yeah, even having him here for one day was amazing. Him being gone just makes me love him more, you know?"

Heather laughed at my cliche line, but nodded anyway, understanding. "Yeah, when Aiden went to visit his family and took Kyat with him, I felt like I was going out of my mind. I couldn't imagine them being gone another day and made Aiden bring my boy back to me. We stayed home together for about three days after that.

"Why didn't you go with?" I questioned, glancing to my right as Arch took off towards the play ground again. Kyat was dozing in his car seat.

Heather sighed and shook her head. "Aiden was here with me the night his mother died," she explained, peaking at their son, "I wasn't feeling well and was terrified that something was wrong with Kyat. He wasn't born yet," she added, "and he stayed with me instead of flying home to be with his mother. When she passed and we found out that Kyat was fine, his family kind of resented me for it, as if I lied to keep him here."

I sighed and shook my head. "That's terrible, why would they think you were deliberately trying to keep him from his last moments with his mother?"

"He was really close with his extended family growing up and they never really liked me, so when all of this happened, they sort of took the chance to bar me from being that close with anyone on that side."

"Ridiculous," I muttered, shaking my head, "So what? Now Aiden takes Kyat to see them and you stay here? How do they treat Kyat? Don't they realize that Kyat is as much you as he is a Hofstater?"

"That's just it," the blonde woman replied, "He's a Hofstater by blood, so of course they love him. Plus, he's gorgeous and amazing. They would love him even if he turned out to be the downfall of the natural world. They treat him like a prince. Which I'm so thankful for, if his family were to treat him bad because of how they think of me, I couldn't bare it."

"How many siblings does Aiden have?" I questioned. Aiden was so soft-spoken that nobody ever really had deep conversations with him. Everything I knew about him came from Heather and in her eyes, he could do no wrong. He was the light of her life and had given her the greatest gift possible. Even if his entire family intentionally tried to keep them apart, she would search the whole world to be at his side.

"Four," she replied to my question, "Jackson, Halley, Kahl, and Brice."

"And what do they think about you?"

"Brice has always supported us, as has Kahl, but Jackson and Halley are older than Aiden and think they're looking out for him by not liking me. Luckily, Kyat is their little angel."

"You should just go the next time that they want Aiden and Kyat to visit," I said, ignoring the look she gave me, "Honestly, Heather. If they love your son then they already love a part of you. You need to go and show them that Aiden and Kyat are your family and if they want to have them too, then they need to accept you as well. You can't let them pull your boys away from you."

Heather smiled softly and nodded. "You definitely have had your share of family troubles, so at least I know you're giving good advice."

I chuckled and looked around. "What are you talking about, Mrs. Hofstater, Ronnie's family loves me," I said, drawing out the word.

She laughed and tossed one of Kyat's bibs at me. Her eyes moved over my shoulder and she frowned, searching quickly around the park. "Where's Arch?"

Instantly my nerves were on fire. I peered back and frantically called his name without any response. I was up quickly and hurled myself towards the playground. It was small enough for me to know he wasn't there, but I trudged through it anyway, terror climbing up my spine.

Heather gathered Kyat and tried to talk rationally since all common sense had already left me. I hurried down to her and shouted for Arch, becoming more worried when he didn't respond again.

Heather and I hurried off towards the down-hill path that lead to the bottom of the dam. We trudged through the shrubbery as it tried to snag us and came out near quite a few people. Despite it being a hidden spot that only locals knew about, a large group had planted chairs in the muck and their butts in them.

I shouted for Arch and watched their heads turn. I weaved past a group of bushes and gave a cry of relief when I saw Arch standing amongst the group of guys, who were harboring fishing poles and a cooler stocked with beer.

"Arch," I shouted, yanking him back by his shirt, "Don't you dare walk off like that again, so help me, I will-"

"I'm sorry!" he said right away, latching his arms around my neck, "I'm sorry, Atti, I saw people go into the woods and I was worried that they would find the hidden treasure before me, so I followed them."

"Damn it, Arch," I grumbled, "I nearly died of a heart attack. Next time you want to search for treasure, you tell us and we'll go with you."

He looked indignant. "I didn't go very far."

"If I can't see you, you're too far."

"Well I wasn't alone," he tried to justify, looking back at the crowd of men who watched nervously, probably afraid of getting yelled at by me, "I found your friend, from the music bar."

"Arch, what friend? What bar?"

"Hey, Atticus…"

I looked up from the five year old to the young guy that now stood in the middle of his friends. He looked shy and sheepish, like he was terrified of what I was going to do to him.

I bawked and then composed myself, standing up straight. "Chance?" I said, although it was obviously him, "What the hell are you doing here?"

His friends chuckled and Chance shot them glares. "Well, it is a public park…" he trailed off without any sense of sarcasm, "We just caught Arch following us a couple of minutes ago. I was going to come and find you."

Arch nodded adamantly. "He even yelled at me," he fibbed, "A lot."

The twenty year old, who I met through Pariah Conviction, looked incredibly innocent even though he wasn't trying to. He was young, and looked younger, and dressed in a simple t'shirt, khaki shorts, and a hat with colorful, strange shapes on it, worn backwards. His dark hair was cropped short, like before, and his tan skin and the setting sun made his eyes seem lighter.

His friends, who sat in lawn chairs behind him, grinned at me as they sipped beers and watched, most likely waiting for me to reprimand Chance like some worried-sick mother tearing a new one to the man who led her son from her.

Instead, I glared at him and pulled the beer from his fingers. "You're not even old enough for this," I grumbled, and set it down on the cooler. As his friends laughed, I gave them all looks.

Chance's apprehension turned to an easy smile at my almost-playful words and he glanced back at Heather, who held Kyat close to her chest.

I sighed and took a step back, pulling Arch with me by the collar of his shirt. "Chance, this is Heather, Heather, this is Chance, he's a friend of a band I signed not too long ago."

Heather smiled and shook the young guy's hand. "Nice to meet you," she said, "Which band?"

"Pariah Conviction," Chance replied, taking a step back towards the cooler and his friends sprawled out behind him.

Heather nodded and looked at me eagerly. "They're the ones that own the bar downtown, right? You played me a little bit that you recorded for Bruce. They were good." She asked and answered her own question as Chance nodded along.

"So, what are you guys doing out here?" I asked the motley group. Arch stepped forward, but I held him in place by his shirt without even looking at him.

Chance shrugged. "Just hanging out. It's nice to get out of the bar sometimes, you know."

I chuckled and nodded and he stepped back to introduce me to the five guys he was with. They all looked incredibly young and I suspected that a couple of them were still teenagers. When Chance was with PC, he was the youngest, but here he seemed to be one of the older ones.

Eric, Jase, Adam, Aaron, and Reese were polite enough as Chance said their names and pointed to them, but they grinned and glanced at the twenty year old as if they knew something about him that he didn't want shared. It was that same look that friends gave each other when introducing an outsider to the group, the one that said, 'we know you incredibly well, so don't embarrass yourself'.

One of his friends, Aaron, stood up and offered for us to join them. Arch was itching for the chance, but I shook my head and lugged him into my arms. "This one is too wild," I said to them, "If I leave him by the water he'll be swimming in a matter of seconds."

They looked at us like we were mothers and they nodded, because we practically were. We weren't girls their age for them to hit on, so they were resigned and polite and gaged what we were into by the way we dressed our kids. It was obvious that to them, with our hair tied up, dressed in shorts and t'shirts, we were average moms out and about with our average sons.

"We should get going," I said, groaning as Arch took the hint and broke free of my grasp. He took off up the hidden trail and shouted about how he was hungry still. I stepped away from the twenty year old, about to leave quickly, but Heather waved me off, saying that she would go round him back up.

"Thank you, I love you," I called playfully before I turned back to Chance. He was slightly closer than before, and grinning, and his friends' eyes were now back on the water.

"I thought you said he wasn't yours?" he questioned lightly, "If not, you're certainly watching him a lot."

I nodded and folded my arms over my chest. "He's like a foster son," I said, not knowing how else to explain it, "We're looking after him for awhile because he needs us."

Chance glanced to the ground with his colorful eyes. "'Us'," he repeated, looking back up, "Does that mean your fiancé is back in town?"

"Ronnie's around," I replied, "Is Jett keeping you informed on the gossip?"

He shrugged and nodded. "Something like that." He peered back into the darkening trees. "You should probably get back to Arch, he seems like he could run her rampant."

I chuckled and nodded and when I looked at his friends, they all looked away quickly. Chance noticed and looked away from me, practically blushing. "Come on," he said, putting his hand on the small of my back, "I'll walk you."

"Your friends seem nice," I said as we walked up the steep part of the hill, using the slim tree branches as leverage to heave ourselves up, "Quiet, but nice."

Chance laughed and shook his head. "They're embarrassing," he said, "They were only being quiet because they weren't sure what to say."

"They probably think I'm some lame mom who can't keep control of her kid," I rebutted, laughing as he chuckled and disagreed.

"That wasn't it at all," he said, "I know those guys. They only ever get that way when they're bombarded by someone who is way out of their league and they know it."

I practically snorted in laughter. "Oh please," I chortled, "Look at me. I didn't even try to impress anyone today."

Chance looked and then he grinned, a couple of dimples popping out. "Oh please," he repeated, his steely eyes looking away, "You obviously don't see yourself clearly."

I shook my head at him as we came to the grass at the edge of the park. Arch was back at the table, another sandwich in the process of being devoured, and Heather fussed with Kyat, situating him in his seat as he dozed.

Chance leaned against a narrow tree and peered across the park at them. "Well, now that you've conquered the hill safely, I should head back down."

"Don't drink too much," I advised, "I didn't see a designated driver. And you'll probably never make it back up intoxicated."

"Nah, we'll be fine," he said, crossing his arms over his chest, "If anything we'll just crash here. I think Jase has some sleeping bags in the back of his truck."

"To be young and free," I mused playfully, grinning at him.

"Don't even start with the 'old' thing again," he demanded, shuffling awkwardly as he tried not to slid down on the dirt, "You can ask anyone of them down there and they would agree with me one hundred percent."

"Alright, alright," I muttered, letting him win the battle, "I need to get back to my child."

Chance gave me a look that dared me to say I was old enough to have had him myself. I didn't remind him that I actually was. "Don't be a stranger," he said finally, already backing up, "The guys officially love you now so feel free to swing by the bar. I'm sure you'll get in free for the rest of your life."

"Maybe I will," I responded, "That is if I ever get a kid-free night."

He rubbed his jaw and nodded. He continued backing away and then turned around to head down to his friends. Just before I turned away, he looked back and said, "See you around," and then was lost in the shadows cast by the sunset and the angle of the trees.

I watched for just one second more and then crossed the park to my little man and god-son, and his mother, who was slowly packing up her things.

She gave me a look when I joined them at the table. "What was that?" she questioned, tucking Kyat's blanket around him.

"What was what?" I asked, snagging a bite of Arch's food and ignoring the possessive glare he gave me in return.

"That boy totally has a thing for you," Heather responded vigilantly, "Can't you tell?"

"Oh come on," I muttered, "He just turned twenty not too long ago. He has plenty of girls his own age to crush on."

Heather lightly smacked me with a hand-towel and grinned mischievously, "Yeah but none of them are sweaty, dressed like that, and as totally hot as you are."

She lifted up Kyat's seat and began walking away from me.

"Heather, I look like I just rolled out of bed and threw on my oldest pair of clothes!" I shouted after her, watching as she turned back and raised her eyebrows at me.

"Yes, my dear," she allowed, "But the sleeves are cut off of that shirt, you're only wearing a sports bra under, and your stomach is flat and rock hard. Oh!" she added, glancing back at Arch, who was wholly preoccupied with Heather's cell phone, "And your ass looks amazing in those shorts. No wonder that boy wanted to follow you up that hill!"

I screeched and tossed a water bottle in her direction. "Too bad I love Ronnie!" I shouted.

Looking back from the backseat of her car, she winked. "Too bad is right."

I groaned and covered my face with my hands, trying to hide the rush of blood to my cheeks.