Chapter 30 | The captors

"Honestly I think the drug addiction phase you keep reminding me of is the most ethical I've been. At least I wasn't breaking into people's houses or kidnapping a boy. Or stalking one."

"It's not called stalking. I just wanna know what I need to buy for my baby. Now shut up and look out for Aaron. He might come out any second."

Lou sighed and leant back in the passenger seat. It was around time classes were over and kids had already started filtering out like prisoners proven innocent.

The minutes passed by torturously slow. Lou relaxed and closed his eyes, only to have that moment of peace broken by Cara whisper-yelling, "Look, my baby!" and shaking his arm.

He jerked forward, squinting until he caught Aaron. He walked out of the school gates with his shoulders hunched and brows set in an ever-lasting frown. Kinda like the entire world—including the sky above him or the ground beneath him—had done him injustice and he didn't want to speak of it.

Lou's soft smile was both mocking and admiring. "Does he do anything other than frown?"

"He's just sad." Cara focused on Aaron. "I promise Mommy's gonna make it better, baby. I'll make you smile—" she stopped. Frowned. Then she jerked forward and squinted harder. "—who the hell is that?"

"Who?"

"That stupid girl beside my baby."

Lou frowned until he noticed a brunette walking beside Aaron. "I don't know. His friend probably."

"No. My baby doesn't have friends. He shouldn't have. He needs me." Cara watched Aaron and the girl pass by. "Hey. Hey. They're out of sight."

For the hundredth time this day, Lou sighed. "They're going into the park."

"Cool. She's taking him away."

"How is she—"

Cara turned the car on and drove off, rounding the curve of the park. She parked there, behind the bench and pond where Aaron and the girl stood, obscured by some trees.

Lou watched Cara and Cara watched Aaron. A perfect loop. Lou flinched when she jerked back in her seat and slammed a hand on the steering wheel.

"Lou," Cara said whilst facing forward. "Lou, look at that. Isn't that Aaron's jacket? Why is she wearing his jacket? It's cold. My baby needs it."

Lou glanced at the girl. The sleeves of a black jacket coiled around her hips, kinda a stylish clothing choice? "Not sure. He probably offered it."

"I don't care. That bitch is keeping my baby cold. And why the hell around her hips? Did she just use his jacket for a style?"

"Is it even his jacket? Maybe hers."

"I'm sure it's his. My poor baby's probably cold now and that stupid girl doesn't care."

Lou didn't respond. He didn't care about the girl, but he couldn't have mistaken the glint of jealousy in Cara's eyes and that was concerning. "Calm down," he coaxed. "Maybe she needed it to cover a stain or—"

"Oh my God. She did not just do that." Cara hunched in her seat, shoulders tight and tense. Her jaw dropped, brows slanting in time like she'd been offended in front of an audience. She grasped Lou's sleeve and tugged. "Lou! Look at what she's doing."

Lou alarmingly glanced at the two. He tried discerning anything wrong but he couldn't spot anything other than two regular friends. "I'm not sure what you're talking about." He relaxed in his seat again. "Nothing's wrong."

"She's... She's kissing him!"

"What?" Lou quickly jerked forward and peeked at Aaron with urgency in his eyes. He let out a long breath. "God, Cara, she's not kissing him. It's on the cheek."

"You don't understand." Cara saw the scene through different lenses: more than a little friendly gesture. She saw the girl's hand on Aaron's shoulder as she reached to kiss his cheek. Her lips on his skin. Her baby's skin. Cara slapped the steering wheel. "Yeah, go ahead, bitch, touch his shoulder. And kiss him one more time. You can totally do that."

Lou shook his head. "What the hell? Calm down. They're just friends."

"She's all over him."

"No she's not. And your baby is blushing, by the way. It doesn't look like it's bothering him."

"He's blushing because he's too shy to tell her off. And—" Cara snorted, narrowed eyes locking on the girl. "—this girl really wants to fight with me. Now she's touching his hair. You know what? I can't stand this bullshit anymore."

Lou inspected the spite in Cara's eyes as she opened the door and slipped out of the car. He gripped her arm, pulling her back in. "What are you doing? They're going out of the park now, you're gonna let them see us."

"No they won't." Cara put her sunglasses on and pulled the hood of her jacket over her head. "You just watch. No one's about to touch my baby and get away with it."

*_*_*_*_*_*

Dom only realized Lou and Cara had returned when muffled bickering sounded at the doorstep. He hurried over to the foyer and opened the door just in time with Cara (frantically) fitting the key into the keyhole.

Swinging the door open revealed a bit more than Lou and Cara: jealousy. Dom caught it in the folds between her brows. He subconsciously mimicked the expression, though a result of confusion rather than anger. "What's wrong?"

"Get out of my face," Cara snarled, slamming her purse in his chest as she passed by, but then she stopped and turned on her heels. "Actually, no. Come. We need to talk."

Dom gave Lou a quick look that said: what's going on?

Lou would've explained to Dom that his wife surely was possessively crazy but he didn't think he was in the best position to judge.

"Dom." Cara roughly shoved a strand of golden hair behind her ear, only to have it fall over again seconds later. She ignored it this time, eyes scouring Dom's. "Listen, I need my baby as fast as possible. I can't stand that there's a stupid girl out there trying to act like she can take care of him."

Dom blinked, this time raising his brows. "Wait, what? We can't bring him fast. First we need his info so we can get his stuff."

This reminded Cara of what they'd gone to do in the first place. They'd planned to eavesdrop on Aaron's conversation so they'd pick up on his interests. The girl's presence would've induced a proper conversation to help, except Cara couldn't take it that way. "God, I messed up," she mumbled into her palm. "I got distracted today."

"Yeah, because that's healthy." Lou laughed to himself then caught Dom in the eye. He pointed at Cara. "You know what she did?"

"What?"

"She put the hood over her head and rammed into the girl just to make her trip."

Hearing the story like that would've made Cara feel bad but she wouldn't forgive anyone when it came to her baby. She smiled and looked at Lou through her lashes. "What did Aaron do when she fell?"

"The asshole laughed."

Cara clapped. "That's my baby. He should laugh— wait, don't call him that, Lou! What's with your trashing my babies? First Leo and now Aaron?"

"Chill," Lou drawled, edge of his lip arching into a playful smile. "I like that about him."

"Alright," Dom said. "Alright. Can we skip this bullshit? I don't know who that girl is but I know we don't care about her. We care about Aaron."

"But..." Like the north pole's aurora, rare and startling, Cara's voice was low and weak. Almost shameful but still grudging. "His hair is mine. His shoulder is mine. Everything about Aaron is mine. She can't touch him."

Lou only stared at Cara through the corner of his eye. He pitied her. Maybe it was something about seeing someone as authoritative as Cara succumb to anger—the crippling kind.

Dom's expression was softer than Lou's, less pitying, more empathizing. His mindset at this point was a print out of Cara's. Lou was a step behind, with lingering sanity lost and broken.

Dom caught Cara's hand. "I know it's awful. I know he's our baby and I want him here too. But we have to wait. Ignore that girl. She can't make him happy." He let go of her hand and straightened, countenance on his face almost equating Cara's dominance. "You were supposed to get some info about him. Did you get anything?"

Cara almost squirmed. She glanced at the floor. "...No, I told you I was distracted, okay? I didn't get anything."

Dom nodded like a disappointed teacher, or parent. "Since you two are useless, it's a good thing I decided to work on it."

Cara's eyes widened expectantly. "You got something about my baby? How?"

"Yeah, about that. I'm not too proud but I kinda hacked his social media."

"What?"

"I had to!"

"You could've just stalked him! Why would you hack him?"

"Because all his accounts are private. I couldn't get to anything for shit. He's so secretive. He literally has only a slash in his bio. Not even a single word. So I hacked and I watched what he likes and follows and apparently he's into astronomy the most."

"Well... at least we know my baby likes astronomy. We'll get him star-themed stuff."

"Yeah. I saw a onesie with stars prints. He'll love it."

Lou chuckled, a bit too pitched to seem natural. "Are you guys seriously talking like hacking his Instagram is normal?"

"Huh." Cara tilted her head. "Says the one who messed up the most. At least we did it for him. Because we love him. Unlike some other people."

Lou regretted what he'd said immediately. "If someone reminds me of this one more time..."

"What are you gonna do?"

Lou lifted his chin for a mere second. He wanted to fight, let out the boiling blood in his veins. But seeing Cara's eyes and then flitting over to Dom's was just another reminder of where he stood. What he was.

"Nothing," Lou finally said. "I won't do anything."

*_*_*_*_*_*

hey! this chap was meant to delve a bit more into cara's obsession with touching Aaron. It was kinda like "claiming" him again after seeing someone touching him (in an affectionate way, which is why she's jealous). Obvi this is one factor only.

thank you for reading/voting/commenting <3 final chapter next week!