Her Substitute Groom

“Which station?” Chase asked whoever he was speaking with on the phone, and after the person replied to him, he disconnected the call and ran his fingers through his hair. He had just gotten a call that Connor was drunk driving and had been arrested.

He grabbed his car keys from the bed where he left them earlier, and stormed out of the room, heading to the parking lot where he hopped inside his car and drove out of the house.

Minutes later, Chase pulled over at the front of the station and sauntered toward the entrance door as soon as he stepped out of the car.

“Are you not going to get this out of me, huh?” Connor’s voice welcomed him as soon as he walked inside the large office where some cops were seated. Connor was handcuffed, and he reeked of alcohol. Chase sighed briefly then shook his head and walked over to him.

“Good thing you are here. Tell them to get this shit off my hands, Chase! I only had a few glasses of alcohol and not that I was so drunk. Why would they fucking treat me like this?” It was obvious in Connor’s voice that he was drunk.

“I’m sorry about what happened, Sir. Please pardon my brother,” Chase ignored him and turned to talk to the cops.

“It’s dangerous driving while drunk. How could a reputable person like Mr. Hughes do something like this when he is aware of the law guiding…”

“Fuck the law and everyone here! Fuck you all! Give me my damn car keys and let me get the hell out of here!” Connor yelled again as he slammed his cuffed hands on the table, and the old cop shook his head.

“I’m sorry about the inconvenience caused my brother. I promise you that this won’t happen ever again,” Chase went ahead to talk to the cop.

“Are you supporting them now, Chase? I’m your brother for fuck’s sake, how could you support them and not me?” Connor asked disappointedly as a deep frown settled on his face, but Chase never spared him a glance as he continued to talk to the cop.

“Because of this, his car will be kept here for some time, and he will be restricted from driving for ninety days. He would really be arrested and imprisoned if found driving in that period of ninety days,” The cop stated, and Connor scoffed.

“Thank you, Sir. I’ll make sure of that,” Chase assured the man.

“Please sign here,” The cop gave Chase a document to sign, which he quickly did.

“You should talk to him if he is your brother. He needs to deal with his drinking habit,” The cop advised as he unlocked the cuff.

“You have no right to fucking tell me what to do, so fuck you, man!” Connor cursed at the man, but he ignored him and went ahead to remove the cuff.

“Thank you, Sir. I will do that,” Chase said to the man then turned to Connor.

“Let’s leave here,” Chase helped him up to his feet.

“What about my car keys?”

“We will come back for your car. Let’s go for now,” With all the stress, Chase finally managed to get Connor to the car, and he breathed out after he closed the door behind him.

“Why would those bastards seize my car when I did nothing wrong?” Connor ranted drunkenly as Chase drove down the road minutes later.

“You are seriously not going to do anything about it, Chase? You are going to allow them to do that to your brother just like that?” Connor spoke again, and this time, Chase pulled over at the side of the road and slammed his hands on the steering wheel frustratingly. He took a deep breath, trying to hold back his anger as he was about to burst at that moment.

“He is your elder brother, Chase. You can’t disrespect him,” Chase reminded himself as he closed his eyes and tried to calm down.

“I will get your car from there tomorrow,” Chase assured him even though he had a lot of things to say to him.

“What about the restriction? You can’t possibly allow them to do that to me, right? I didn’t do anything to deserve that…”

“Do I need to remind you that you were drunk driving?” Chase finally spoke up angrily as he looked back at Connor who was seated in the backseat.

“Why are you doing this to yourself? If you don’t care about your life, then you should think about me that’ll be left all alone if something should happen to you!” Chase yelled out frustratingly as a drop of tears slid down the corner of his cheek, and this time, Connor burst into tears. He sank his fingers into his hair and grabbed a handful of it, pulling it aggressively as he cried out, but the pain he felt in his scalp, was nothing compared to the one in his heart. Earlier, he thought getting drunk would help get rid of the pain, but he was mistaken. Even after the amount of alcohol he had, everything was still in his head.

“I saw her… She doesn’t want me anymore, Chase… What should I do? I love her… I love her so much,” He cried out, and Chase breathed out as he reclined on the chair.

“I love her, Chase…” Again, he cried out.

“Let’s get you home first. We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” Chase muttered then started the car and drove off.

The drive to his Dad’s mansion took pretty much time, and by the time they arrived, the gate was already locked since it was late in the night. Chase pulled the car over in front of the gate, then reached for his phone and dialed his Mom’s number even though he wasn’t sure she was going to answer the call since they hadn’t spoken to each other in a while.

Luckily, she picked up on the first ring, and her surprised voice rang through the phone.

“Chase?” She called, her voice a bit dull and Chase quickly concluded that she must be asleep before his call disrupted her. He knew Connor wouldn’t like that he brought him to their parent’s house knowing fully well that he wouldn’t want to be here, but it was the only thing he could do at this point. Connor needed to be surrounded by people at this trying time in his life so he could get over everything.

“I’m outside, Mom. Please open the gate,” Chase spoke on the phone and disconnected the call quickly before she could ask another question. He did that intentionally so she would come out and get the gate opened.

He glanced at Connor through the rearview mirror only to find him already asleep.

About seven minutes later, the gate rolled open, revealing Mrs. Hughes standing inside the compound. Chase drove the car inside and parked at the parking lot.

“What are you doing here at this time of the night, Chase?” Mrs. Hughes asked worriedly as she hurried over to him once he stepped out of the car.

Chase went to open the car door, revealing the sleeping Connor, and a deep frown settled on the woman’s face.

“What is he doing here?” She asked angrily, and Chase scoffed unbelievably.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“You are really going to be like this, Mom? Aren’t you worried about what happened to Connor?” Chase spoke angrily.

“I don’t care…”

“He is your son, Mom… We are all your fucking children. How could you not care about him?” Chase’s eyes burnt with rage as he stared at his Mom.

“If you have nothing important to do here, then get yourselves out of here, and don’t you dare disturb my precious sleep, ever again,” She snapped at Chase, her voice void of emotions, but deep inside her, she was worried. Seeing Connor in that state even though she was still mad at him because of what happened in the past, a part of her was worried about him. A part of her wanted to know what happened to him, but her pride wasn’t letting her.

“Why don’t you go ahead and kill the rest of us just because your precious son, Carl died? Why don’t you go ahead and kill every one of us?” Chase snarled when she turned to leave, and she paused.

“The only one you ever cared about is that bastard, anyway…”

“Chase!” She turned to face him, her eyes filled with rage.

“What? Do you ever give a damn about Connor? Even when he is hurt, the one you were always supporting is that bastard, and you know what? You are making me feel happy about his death…”

“Your action is making me excited that he died! If you are so pained, why don’t you kill us? You and Dad already disowned us because of that jerk, why don’t you two go ahead and kill us?” Tears streamed down Chase’s face and his heart wrenched painfully. Talking to his Mom in that manner and tone was something he’d never do, but it was hard to help himself. Not after everything.

“Bring him in. Just for tonight. First thing tomorrow morning, you two need to get the hell out of my house and find your way back to wherever you are coming from,” She stated bluntly then turned and walked away without sparing him another glance…