Time & Time Again

“Scott? Everything okay? Your mind seems to be anywhere but here.”

The sound of Sophie’s voice snapped me out of the daze I was in and I turned around in my chair.

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” I sighed.

“What’s bothering you, sweets?” she asked and came to sit in the chair across from me.
I sighed again. “I’m not really sure, I just, I don’t know, do you ever get one of those feelings, like something bad is about to happen?” I scrunched my face and looked over at Sophie, a thoughtful look crossing her face.

“You mean like when you’ve been at work all day and you’re pretty sure that by the time you get home your meathead of a boyfriend will have eaten all the cookies you made last night.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her attempt to lighten the mood, she knew exactly what I was talking about.

“No,” I laughed again. “I just, I’ve had this weird feeling all day, since I woke up, I don’t know, guess I’m just paranoid.” I tried to shrug it off but I still couldn’t get that feeling out of my head, if I was being honest it was really starting to scare me.

Sophie gave me a sad smile. “Hmm, well have you talked to Fin lately? How’s he doing?”

“Fin’s good, we actually talked last night. He’s currently on Warped Tour which is coming here in a few days so I’ll get to see him, and Jace is finally old enough to come with so he’ll be meeting a lot of the guys for the first time, plus he just tweeted something a few minutes ago, so I’m pretty sure he’s okay.” I nodded, thinking some more.

“Okay, what about Jace?”

My heart sank at the thought of anything happening to my baby. “I think he’s good. He was fine when I left this morning, Janet was off today so she offered to watch him so he’s in our apartment, which is better than daycare so I think he’s fine and she also sent me a picture around lunch time, she would have called me immediately if anything had happened.” I nodded again but that feeling just wouldn’t go away. “I don’t know, it’s just really bothering me, I’m sure it’s nothing, sorry.”

I got up and wrapped my robe around my body, we were currently in the middle of a photo-shoot and the bikini I was in was a bit revealing to say the least.

Sophie smiled and clapped her hands together. “Tell you what, why don’t we call it a day? We’ve got enough shots to hold off the designers for a couple days, besides I think you deserve a break, go home, spend some time with your son.”

“Are you sure, I don’t want to cause you any trouble.” I offered out of politeness but I was desperately hoping she wouldn’t change her mind, now that I had Jace on my mind the feeling started to grow worse.

“I’m sure, now go,” she said, standing up and playfully hitting my butt. I laughed and starting heading towards the changing room before I heard Sophie let out a surprised grunt.

“What?” I asked, turning around while still walking.

“I just realized, it’s been exactly a year since you started working with us. One of the best decisions I ever made if I do say so myself.” she grinned at me.

“Wow, really?” I asked, had it really been a year already? “I guess time flies when you’re having fun,” I joked and Sophie snorted at my cheesy comeback.

I offered her another smile then quickly headed into the changing room and put my street clothes back on. I just really wanted to get home. As I stepped out into the chilly Chicago breeze I was thankful that it was still light out. If it was dark I would have had to get a cab when I could make it home much faster just by walking, well speed walking in this case. As I swiftly made my way in between the flurry of people I thought about all that had changed in the year. My modeling had really taken off, many people finding my looks to be unique and different, which was really just a fancy way of saying they thought I was sexy and my various tattoos added that extra sex appeal most companies were looking for these days.

I mostly modeled swimsuits and lingerie, though there was some fully clothed shoots in between, Sophie loved my body and loved showing it off as much as possible. Fin of course, hated it. Don’t get me wrong, he loved the fact that I was modeling and had found something I was good at he just didn’t like the fact that I was half naked most of the time. After all, I was still his baby sister. Plus, I guess it caused a lot problems for him when on tour, I guess some of the guys were really into my work, if you know what I mean. That of course would make me laugh, especially since half of those guys had known me before I even had boobs.

Another plus was that I was no longer just “Fin McQueen’s sister”. I had made a name for myself and a damn good one at that. I had some great offers thrown my way, all of which I would turn down, not wanting to leave Sophie and Janet here. Janet had become one of my good friends, probably my only friend if I was being honest, other than all the guys in the bands that was. Janet had started off as Jace’s babysitter but we soon formed a friendship that eventually lead to us moving in together. Which was nice, being as I no longer came home to just a two year old who could barely form a complete sentence.

I was just coming up to my apartment building when I heard my phone buzzing in my purse. I stopped, punching in my pass code to the building as I quickly roamed through my purse, grinning like a fool when I saw Tony’s name and goofy photo on my screen. That was another that had changed. I had kept my promise to him and started talking to him and the other guys after we had run into each other a year ago. We didn’t talk about much, just called each other when we bored or feeling a bit lonely. I had learned so much about him this past year with our late night chats and funny banter. We were still on a “just friend’s” basis which I was okay with, I mean as much as I would have liked to try and have a relationship with him something would always get in the way.

Not to mention, I had no idea how he felt about me. Sure we would occasionally flirt back and forth over twitter, driving the fans crazy, especially after Tony had posted that photo of us, but I could never tell if he was being serious or not. When we would flirt over twitter, neither one of us would mention it the next time we talked on the phone or video chatted. It’s not like I was looking for a relationship anyway, and I’m pretty sure Tony felt the same. I had a kid for fucks sake, who wants to deal with that, especially if you’re a famous rock star who can get pretty much any girl he wanted.

Another thing that was a bit of a downer in our relationship was that we hadn’t seen each other since that day we ran into each other and went to Starbucks. We had tried to plan a few meetings, he also really wanted to meet Jace, his little turtle, as he still called him, which of course would make my heart flutter, but the timing was always bad and one of us would eventually cancel, not being able to make it. Which is why I was more than excited about Warped Tour coming to Chicago, I would finally get to see all the guys I hadn’t seen in almost two years. And they were super excited because they would finally get to meet Jace, the only guys who had even met him yet was Searching Souls and that was because it was Fin’s band.

I smiled, thinking about how great the next couple of days would be and glanced back down at my phone, Tony’s goofy face still on my screen as I stepped inside the building. I was just about to answer when I suddenly heard the unmistakable wail of Jace coming from the second floor. I shoved my phone in my back pocket and booked it up the stairs, there was something off about Jace’s crying that scared the shit out of me. It wasn’t his usual whining cry that he usually did. He was legit screaming and crying out like I had never heard him do before. I made it up the steps in record time and my heart was pounding out of my chest as I saw that the door to our apartment was wide open, shards of wood scattered along the floor. Someone had kicked in our door.

There was a loud crash and Jace let out another scream and my motherly instincts kicked in. That was my baby in there and I would much rather die before I saw any harm come to him. I sprinted into the doorway and my heart almost stopped as I took in the scene in front of me.
There was Janet, lying unconscious on the floor, a wound on her forehead from where she must have hit it on the coffee table right beside her. I saw blood. The furniture was scattered in random places, the kitchen table flipped over, food that was still steaming now a pile of mush on the floor. Picture frames and Janet’s little knickknacks were now on the floor, having been forcefully shoved off their resting place on the mantel. I heard another crash and looked toward the sound. My breathing caught in my throat as I caught sight of a big burly man, a man I recognized shoving the candles off the kitchen counter to the floor, causing glass to spray everywhere.

I recognized the man as Ray; he used to be Janet’s boyfriend, who she quickly dumped when he slapped her after an argument. He was never okay with the break up and constantly tried to get Janet to talk to him, saying how sorry he was and that it would never happen again. He was harassing Janet, calling her day and night, she was currently in the process of trying to get a restraining order. I guess there was no need for that now. Ray still hadn’t noticed me standing in the doorway when a flash of movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention.
There, huddled in the corner, sobbing, was my baby. Jace had his hands covering his eyes, his knees pressed up against his chest. My heart nearly broke at the sight of him. How could I let this happen? I was supposed to protect him. I couldn’t help the gasp that escaped my lips and I dropped my purse. Ray heard this, and quickly turned in my direction. I looked from him, avoiding his eyes then focused my attention back on Jace, which Ray noticed. What happened next was such a blur I don’t know how I did it. All I remember is seeing the sick, twisted smile that formed on Ray’s lips as he looked at me staring at my son and before I knew it, I was moving.

I jumped over the kitchen table, amazed at my own ability and quickly scooped up my son, causing his to scream and squirm, not realizing it was me. Ray was right behind me and unfortunately a lot faster, I knew I would never make it anywhere if I didn’t find a way to slow him down. Just as I stood to my feel I found something that could help, I jumped over the mess of food on the floor and bent down to grip the wooden chair that was flipped over on the floor. I don’t even know how I did it, while holding my frantic child in my arms and Ray hot on my tail. But I was able to use the strength I didn’t even know I had to spin around and whip the chair in Ray’s direction.

I heard a thud and a loud grunt but I didn’t look back to see what happened. I flew down the hallway, dodging furniture and broken glass until I came across the only room close enough to me, the bathroom. I quickly slipped in and slammed the door, pushing my body against it and quickly locking the door. I leaned back against the door and slid down until my butt was resting against the cold tile floor.

“Jace!” I screamed causing him to jump; he was still sobbing uncontrollably and trying to get away from me. “Jace, baby sweetie, it’s okay!” my voice was shaking and I could feel the tears streaming down my face.

He finally seemed to recognize my voice and looked up and seeing his scared little face made me cry harder. “Mommy!” he yelled and his tiny arms swung up around my neck, squeezing me so tight it was nearly choking me but I didn’t care, my baby was here in my arms, safe. I gave him a tight squeeze and let out a ragged breath. Just when I thought we were safe there was a loud bang on the door and I heard the doorknob jiggle. There was another knock and Jace gripped me even tighter, his strength surprising me as he started crying again.

“Scotland, open the damn door, I just want to talk!” Ray’s voice boomed through the door and I clutched my son tighter to my chest, trying to calm him down.

The door shook and I heard a grunt as a horrible realization washed over me. Oh God, he was going to break the door down. I quickly straightened my legs out, bracing my feet against the wall opposite me, stretching my legs so that it was almost painful but I would first break my legs before I allowed this crazy man inside this room. A literal pain in my ass quickly reminded me that I had shoved my phone in my back pocket. I quickly grabbed it, mentally thanking Tony for calling me because if he hadn’t my phone would still be in my purse, which was now on the floor in the doorway. I quickly dialed 911.

I barely heard the voice on the other end over the sound of Ray slamming against the door and Jace sobbing in my shoulder. Barely holding it together anymore all I could do was repeat our address, over and over, like a song on repeat, my voice sounding emotionless and cold as the address kept spilling from my mouth. I couldn’t even find the will to stop, not until I heard shouting and the sound of fighting coming from the other side of the door. I tossed my phone to the side, clutching onto my son for dear life who had finally stopped crying. There was a small knock on the door and I jumped, Jace once again, tightened his grip on my neck.

“This is the police, we have the suspect in custody, are you alright in there? It’s safe to come out.”

I let out a ragged sigh and got up slowly, ignoring the burning in my legs from being stretched out against the wall for so long. I slowly opened the door to see the kind, worried face of a police officer who quickly looked me up and down, searching for any signs of abuse.

“We’re okay,” I managed to choke out, and stumbled into the waiting arms of the old man, and for the first time in a long time I sobbed, thankful that my son was here, safe in my arms.

Notes