The Guard To My Sanctuary - Chapter 51: Chapter 51

Maddox
"Coral Highs QB Tyshawn Jefferson throws the ball to number twenty-four... He catches it amazingly and ducks an attempted tackle from the opposing left tackle and nobody can touch him. TOUCHDOWN! Coral High bringing the game to 42-38 with Central in the lead," the commentator said through the speaker that blared behind me.
"That's right Ozias," Dad and Grandpa shouted while my family all clapped loudly. Mom looked like he was coming down from a heart attack. He would hate to see any of his sons hurt so watching Ozias get tackled wasn't a fun experience for him.
"Yeeeeaaaahhhh," Wylder shouted from the side of me a little late which caused Cartier and Beo to laugh as everyone looked at her while she went back to looking at her phone.
"Angel," I said to her trying not to laugh.
"Yeah, I know," she said obviously embarrassed. I smiled at her cute face pretending to be focused on the home screen of her phone while pretending to type. She was probably daydreaming before she embarrassed herself. I liked that she was able to drift into the depths of her mind whenever she wanted to. Her eyes would squint a little and her nose would twitch like a rabbit's. It was the cutest thing that I had ever had the pleasure of witnessing. Oscar and Nia had let her come out since it was the weekend. I hadn't seen her anywhere but school the whole week my father's were gone since she wasn't allowed over without one of them present. My mom and dad both seemed rejuvenated by their honeymoon that was over three weeks ago and had big smiles on their faces. At first, I thought they were having another baby but Mom quickly shut that notion down adamantly.
I looked back over at Wylder after my brother got tackled and my mom took in a breath, he was so dramatic was all I could think. Wylder had the school grades app open and was looking through the various hundreds she had in the grade book seemingly bored to death by the game in front of her. She was second in our class the top spot going to Calloway while I stood at fifth in our class and Ozias at seventh. Calloway was just a monster academically. He wasn't as athletically inclined but school seemed to be the gym for him. He had to be on top of his game in order to get into Stanford University without a sports scholarship like Ozias and I were banking on. It was our goal to all get into Standford and have our college experience together before we had to head off on our own lives. I looked over wondering where Calloway had gone since he went to get something from the concessions ten minutes ago plus he loved watching us play. I ignored it seeing Ozias get tacked just as the final bell rang signaling the game was over. Zi got up off the grass looking pissed but took a deep breath and pulled his helmet off calming himself before running to his coach.
"Damn I bet money they would win," Uncle Alder said and received a swift slap to the back of the head from aunt Thalia.
"Are you fucking serious, where's your class. Betting on your nephew's game how low brow of you," Uncle Tyler said with fake distaste.
"Nigga you were the one who started the bets," Pine asked giving his husband the side-eye.
"I'm sorry when did anyone call you to give a statement," Tyler responded rolling his eyes. Pine leaned over and whispered something into his ear and causing him to smile.
"Can we not do this here," Grandma asked looking like she was freezing even though she was wearing a fluffy blanket around her and my grandpa had his arm over her shoulders.
"Fine," they all responded.
"Where's Call," Cartier asked looking around for him.
"Probably in some little boys face batting his eyelashes and grinning real hard," Aunt Thalia said looking at Mom and Dad who still thought their son was still "pure". It was funny how they so easily took in the lie he kept telling them.
"Call isn't dating or talking to anyone he would tell me," Mom said sounding confident in his words. Josephson who was so quiet I forgot he was there laughed out loud, he full on open mouth cackled," No matter how open you are kids like to keep their secrets. He's a smart good looking boy around fourteen when was it that you lost your virginity, Marco," he laughed again.
"Nah Call would tell me and I waited till I was about," My dad's eyes widened and it as like he got hit in the face with a truth bomb. Everyone but Mom and Grandpa was either laughing or giggling.
"Kids just don't tell parents that kind of stuff. Especially not when their parents say one thing but their faces tell a different story and both of you can't keep a lie to yourselves it writes itself all over your face by the expressions you make," Josephson said standing up.
"No," Mom whispered to himself. I understood their worry about Calloway being in a relationship since pregnancy for a teen was bad but when your body wasn't fully designed for childbirth things could get tricky. I looked over to my side and saw Tae, one of Stevens friends texting on his phone and looked up at my family group. Something about it screamed to me that something suspicious was happening. Tae got up from the metal seat once he saw me looking at him and walked away. My conscious basically screamed at me to follow his ugly ass.
"Hey I'll go look for him," I said getting up and placed a peck on Wylder's cheek.
"Dad come with me please," I asked and he just nodded and followed while everyone was packing their stuff to leave now that the crowd was smaller. We walked up the bleachers and into the covered area and walked down the aisle. I saw Tae walking briskly to a back area behind the concessions and sped up just as I was about to lose him.
"Where are we going, if you know about your brother and some boy I'm going to kick your ass," my Dad threatened.
"Shhh," I said and heard him scoff at me. He started speaking but I made a quiet down sound again following Tae who was too nervous to look back and see that I was following him. We got behind the fried food concession stand and there Steven stood with his friends Zach and Marsean. All dressed like typical hoodrats even though every single one of them was from Cupertino and lived in mini-mansions. What troubled me most was the figure on the ground.
"Hey," I yelled getting their attention. Steven turned around and his face dropped from a wicked smile he had plastered there. What I saw on the ground next to him sent me into an immediate fury. There Calloway was on the ground one eye blackened and a busted lip he had a few cuts and bruises on his face and dirt on his clothes. The guys that stood over him didn't look unharmed which meant Calloway had put up a fight that I was going to finish for him. Marsean's shirt was shredded and his chest had a bruise forming on it. Zach had a busted lip and Steven's face was scratched on the side.
"What the fuck," my dad said and ran over to them. Zach didn't stand a chance as my father's fist collided with the side of his face and he dropped to the ground already snoring. I ran into action going directly for Tae who tried to swing his twig-like arms at me but I bobbed down and just dodging the punch thrown at me and delivered an uppercut to his chin and followed it up with a kick to his stomach. He dropped to the ground clutching his gut and rolled over to his side with tears in his eyes. My dad moved onto Marsean's who thought it would be a good idea to try and trade blows with my huge muscle-bound father who was eating the punches of the much younger guy and then delivered a vicious blow to the teen's chest causing him to fall and clutch his chest. I was seeing my father actually do what he said he would in order to keep us safe. I turned to Steven who was backing up from us.
"Don't bitch out now, you did this to my brother right, you jumped him right," I said moving towards him. He looked like he was going to run but I was quicker. The moment he looked like he was going to take off I lunged at him grabbing his shirt and spun him around taking him to the ground with a thud. He started punching wildly and one clipped me in the mouth and I could taste the blood from the new wound on my lip. I started swinging at him just throwing blow after blow until he wasn't even able to protect his head and was crying for me to stop. I looked over at my father who was checking my brother's pulse and started swinging again until he stopped moving. I stood up and looked down at the guy who was knocked out and bleeding from his nose. I gathered the spit in my mouth and spat it at his unconscious face showing just how much respect I didn't have for him.
"Every time I think about this moment I'm going to whoop all of your asses," I said to Zach who was on the ground in pain and moved to my father's side.
"Is he breathing," I asked scared for the answer.
"Yeah he's unconscious but we need to get him to the hospital and call the police," My Dad said to me while whipping the blood of Calloway's face. I could hear the emotion in his voice.
"Go run and get your grandfather and mom," Dad said to me and I got up and took off. I ran to the stands not seeing my family and dashed to the cars. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket while running and dialed 911.
"Hello, what is your emergency," a woman's voice said through the phone.
"We need an ambulance to the Central Highschool stadium my brother was attacked and is unconscious," I said dodging whole families till I saw mine. Ozias spotted me first and saw the look on my face and dropped his helmet and ran over.
"We're sending an ambulance right now to your location," the woman said and I hung up not eager to see if I could juggle two conversations in my state of mind.
"Yo what's wrong with you," Zi asked and everyone who was still here turned to me.
"Steven jumped Calloway... He's unconscious, I called an ambulance. Dad needs grandpa and Mom," I said. Mom's eyes widened with shock.
"What happened," Grandpa asked as Grandma looked at us with the same expression as Mom. Wylder held her hand over her mouth while Beo looked over at me wide-eyed.
"Come on," I said running. I looked back to see everyone coming with me. I would have slowed down if this was any other situation but I wanted to get to my brother's side. We didn't have to run far because Dad jogged holding Calloway in his arms just as the ambulance pulled up to the sidewalk since the station was only ten minutes away. I could barely focus on the sirens over the sound of Mom's cries. My Dad shouted something to grandpa who took off into the stadium and pulled his phone out. The EMTs got out the truck and rolled out a stretcher where Dad placed Calloway then turned to Mom and asked him for the keys which he handed to Cindy. He said something to her and the next thing I knew all of us kids were pulling into a car and speeding down the road while mom and dad rode with Calloway...
I sat in the uncomfortable hospital seat doing nothing but watching to see any changes in my brother. He had been asleep for two days and it felt more like two weeks. Luckily he only suffered a concussion which was better than the things that I was coming up within my head. Grandpa had managed to get all of Steven's group arrested. They had to sit in jail for the weekend and had been charged with aggravated assault and battery and would be looked at to be tried as adults. Most of them didn't seem to have the support of their families who weren't going to jeopardize their social standing from what the police thought was a gay bashing even though I was sure to be a result of Steven being scorned. I hoped they would get what they deserved. Mom was sleeping with his head on dad's shoulder on the other side of the bed sitting in equally uncomfortable chairs. Mom had cried so much that I started to worry he would get dehydrated from the moisture loss. Dad, on the other hand, cried silently and wiped the tears as soon as they would fall. When he was awake he was holding Calloway's hand at all times. I looked to the side of me where Beo had his head on Zi's lap breathing through his mouth.
At the game, they seemed to avoid physical touch but now that they were in private Ozias seemed to need the physical comfort as much as Beo. I didn't get the whole not showing affection in public thing. I wasn't sure if Ozias was scared to come out or just didn't want to but I knew that the arrangement they had going was going to get old.
I turned my attention to my phone that was vibrating on my side and pulled it out of my pocket. I answered a text from Cartier who was asking about how everything was going and told her that everything was going the same as it had been. I then went to Wylder's thread and texted her good morning even though she was probably still sleeping. I was really in love with her which was exhilarating and scary at the same time. Love was great and fun but also left you open to being hurt which I wasn't looking forward especially since she had plans of attending MIT when she graduated and I wasn't going to be the one who held her back. She wanted to become an Architect and had been busting her ass studying and putting in volunteer hours to make herself more desirable when it came time to apply. It sucked knowing that we had an expiration date.
"Erm," I heard someone groan and looked up from my phone to the people around me all of whom were sleep.
"Ermmmm," I heard another groan and looked up at my brother whose eyes were wide open looking lost.
"Calloway," I said getting up knocking my chair over and standing to his side grabbing his hand. Everyone was startled awake by the noise and was looking around confused. Calloway was struggling to get his swollen eye open.
"It's okay, you're fine. You were attacked but we got them. You can't open that eye just yet," I said to him and saw a tear fall from his eye.
"I want Germany," he said as my family started to get up and looked at him with concern and relief that he was awake.
"What baby," my mom asked looking at him warily running his hands through Calloway's hair.
"It's fine everything is okay," Dad said holding his son's small hand in his huge palms. Ozias was rubbing his leg while Beo looked at him with tears in his eyes.
"I want Germany," Calloway said again this time louder and slightly clearer.
"Germany is a country Call we can't get you a piece of Europe," Dad said sounding concerned at his son's request.
"Germany," Calloway said again while Mom pressed the nurse call button.
"Wait I think Germany is his secret boyfriend," Ozias said still running Calloway's leg.
"His whom," Dad asked with a serious face.
"Calloway doesn't have that many friends and his main one lives with us who do you think he is texting all day and night," I asked Dad.
"What," mom asked bewildered. They were smart people but completely naïve when it came to teens.
"He's been really secretive about this person he's been texting and even went to see them while you all were in San Diego and stayed away for the weekend," Beo spoke up.
"What the fuck is going on," Dad said. Using his free hand to rub the side of his head
"Not the time," mom said to him.
"Hand me his phone," I asked mom and he dug into his pocket not asking any further questions. I took the bronze iPhone and powered it on. The screen was cracked but it still turned on without a problem and displayed the home screen. I positioned it in my hand and grabbed his thumb to place it on the pad. The phone opened immediately just as the nurse walked in with a doctor. I decided to step out since what they would have to do was more important. The doctor doubted there would be any long-lasting damage due to the scans not showing anything too concerning but Calloway would have to take it easy for a while. I looked through Calloway's phone trying to find his contacts which were hard since he didn't have any of the apps in folders. I finally navigated my way to his message app and saw that he had a few texts from different numbers but thirty-six came from contact with a German flag as the name. I opened the thread and saw a bunch of 'you okay baby', 'did I do something to you', and 'call me,' sitting in his inbox. I stopped looking any further not sure of what I would see if I kept scrolling. It was obvious from the messages that the guy cared for him. I moved the thread to the contact page and didn't see a picture of the guy but I did see a number with a San Francisco area code that I dialed. It rang maybe once then a deep voice of a guy answered it after a couple of rings.
"Baby boy what's going on why you haven't called me in like two days, for a nigga hella worried about you," the guy asked sounding a little slurred.
"Hello this is Germany correct,", I asked the guy cutting him off.
"Um yeah who is this," Germany asked me.
"This is Calloway's brother Maddox I don't know if you know about me," I said into the phone.
"I know who you is, why you have Calloway's phone," he asked me sounding like he had sobered up in just a few seconds.
"Calloway was attacked two nights ago and we're at Kaiser hospital. He just woke up from getting a concussion and has been asking for you. Can you make it here," I said to him.
"What hospital, where he at," the guy said sounding fully alert and I could hear the sound of him moving around wherever he was at.
"Kaiser," I said to him again.
"Alright I'll be there in an hour," the guy said and hung up. He definitely seemed to care for my brother which was a good start to this whole thing. I walked back to the room and saw that the doctor was gone.
"Is he alright," I asked.
"I'm fine, just a concussion," he answered for himself which I took for a good sign.
"I called Germany he's on his way," I said to him.
"What did you do, why would you do that," he asked me highly annoyed and shocked by my actions. I looked at him like he was crazy.
"You woke up asking for him," Beo said. Calloway looked at me as if I had kicked Pixi or something.
"What's wrong we know you have a boyfriend we aren't mad we just want you to get better," Dad half lied. I could tell he wasn't mad but he definitely wasn't happy about it. Calloway looked up at the ceiling and exhaled whispering something that we couldn't hear.
"What," Ozias asked with a confused face.
"He's 22 years old," Calloway said. Causing everyone's jaw to drop.
"Excuse me Calloway Joseph Tafferty, you must be delirious or something," my mom said looking at Call furiously. Call shook his head no to him and Mom's face fell.
"You're talking to a grown ass man," Dad said getting loud, now he was angry, "I'm so glad we are already in a hospital, I'm fucking him up the moment he gets here and they can haul his pedophile ass to jail."
"Dad no," Calloway said desperately already crying from both his good and black eyes hissing as the salty tears burned his healing scratches.
"No what? He's grown you are fifteen. Has he been taking advantage of you," my mom said pulling out his stern voice?
"He didn't start everything, I did. Please don't take him from me," Calloway said as tears flowed down his face. He was trying to get up but had to hold his head I guess from a building headache. The monitors started to alert us that his blood pressure had risen.
"Lay back down before you hurt yourself and what do you mean started it. You can't start something with a guy that's fully grown," Ozias asked making a good and legally sound point.
"He-he saved me-me," Calloway said. He couldn't speak as fluently when he was really emotional and it reminded me of when we used to roughhouse and he would get hit too hard and go to Dad snitching on me and Ozias. Dad walked over and plugged his nose and clamped his hand over Call's mouth. Call slowly started breathing normally since he was forced to focus on his breathing and the heart monitors stopped beeping sporadically.
"Continue," Beo said at the same time as Dad.
"I was at the mall with Cartier and her boyfriend at the time. It was seven months ago and we split up to find something for grandpa's birthday. I went to the food court after I was done shopping. Then this guy Riley that Maddox beat up a few days earlier walked up to me with like six guys behind him. He tried to fight me so I ran, we were at the open mall by the way and got to the side of the street. They caught up to me and cornered me. I tried to flag down some cars but nobody stopped until Germany pulled over and pulled out a gun. They ran and so did I because he had a gun. I ended up tripping and twisting my ankle. Germany helped me up and put me in the car. I didn't want to tell him where I lived because I thought he was kidnapping me and was going to hurt you guys but he just took me to his house in San Fransisco. His dad is rich so he had a really nice townhouse and he made sure I was comfortable in the guest room till the morning. He talked to me for a long time before leaving. I ended up telling Cartier that I got picked up by a friend so she didn't worry. So when I heard his other friends leave I made my way to his room and we ended up doing it," Calloway said.  The things that I got from that was Riley was going to get another ass whooping when I saw him. This Germany was more than likely a drug dealer based off Calloway not saying what job he had and I remembered that day was a Wednesday so he should have been at work. Also, Calloway wasn't as innocent as Dad like to see him. It was written all over dad's face.
"I still don't understand why you think I'm not going to call the police on him. He's seven years older than you," Dad said sounding hurt and disappointed which I knew was killing Calloway.
"I love him," Calloway said holding his head in his hands. In all the commotion it was easy to forget that he just woke up from being attacked.
"Calm down," mom said looking a little lost like the rest of us but ran his hand through Calloway's hair again.
"I don't, I don't know what to do here," Dad admitted and took a seat but didn't let go of his son's hand. Dad no matter how disappointed he never gave up on us which most kids couldn't say about their parents.
"Please Dad, mom," Calloway said to them looking desperate which wasn't something he let everyone see if he didn't mean it.
"We have to discuss this, we have to discuss a lot of things," Mom said sitting down his leg bouncing up and down. I followed their lead and sat in my chair not knowing what was going to happen in thirty or so minutes. We all sat in relative silence only Dad really spoke asking Calloway and the rest of us questions about our lives that he had asked before. This time he got real answers mostly because he looked like he would actually hit us if he thought we were lying. We learned a lot about one another in those forty-five minutes. Mom and Dad asked Beo if he would mind them getting temporary guardianship over him so he wouldn't have to deal with his family being horrible to him which he asked us if we were okay with. We all agreed to it since it was basically already the arrangement. Calloway talked about Germany owning a dispensary but I could tell he was holding back which was probably a good thing based on how hard dad was chewing on the inside of his cheek in frustration. Ozias admitted he was bisexual officially to us which was not really needed since he was basically fucking Beo in his mind when he bent over to pick up his phone that he had dropped. He also said that he still had some stuff to figure out about it which didn't seem to strike Beo too fondly. I didn't really have much to admit since my life was pretty straight forward. All I did was go to school, practice, and talk to Wylder. I felt good being the easy kid, the one that didn't cause any problems not that our issues were even that big compared to some families. The mood had softened just a tad before the door burst open. In front stood a man with a beard, low set brows, and hooded eyes. He was good looking and muscular and seemed to have a body full of tattoos peeking from his hoody. He looking kind of mean which seems to fit with Calloway's type. He seemed to ignore us and looked directly at Calloway who blushed under his gaze. Their moment was cut short by my Dad's deep booming voice.
"Sit down and shut the door. We need to talk."