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Must be nice, being footloose and fancy free, doing whatever you want whenever you feel like it, no kids to tie you d...

Oops. My mistake.

Do I know you?

*tight and utterly unfriendly smile*

You don't remember me. Somehow I'm not surprised.

My name's Anson. Your son's name is Tayler. I just thought I'd throw that in, save you an awkward moment when you finally decide to go home.

I'm a friend of Salem's. You remember him, right? The underaged boy you picked up about a week and a half ago? The boy who's lying in a hospital bed right now because someone beat him and chained him up like a dog, and then shot him when he tried to escape.

*takes a step toward him*

Ringing a bell for you now?

Josh took a moment before smiling in spite of the situation as he remembered. "Right. Anson. I-"

He'd been just warming up to tell the annoying guy that he remembered him and didn't have anything more to talk about with him when the smile died on his lips.

Tayler.

Despite his strange behavior with the boy, the man's blood ran cold. What the hell did this man have to do with his kid.

Josh tried to work things out, though his mind hadn't been clear for some time now. Finally, his superior vocabulary came to his rescue.

"What..." He tensed up, "The fuck."

Anson snorts.

"Sorry to interrupt your run for Father of the Year," he snaps. "But you can just cool your jets. I don't get my kicks with little boys." He tilts his head, his eyes glittering. "Shame I can't say the same for you."

He folds his arms, regarding Josh coldly.

"You were the last one seen with Salem before he disappeared. I went to your house to question you about him. You weren't there." He shrugs. "Tayler was."

Edited 2008-03-06 01:38 (UTC)

"Yeah?" Josh was on the defensive, from the tone of his voice and his body language. Who the hell was this guy to say anything about his way managing his kid. Again his mind reminded him that he hadn't even wanted a kid in the first place, and then she'd gone and stuck him with it. He made an effort to steer away from those thoughts.

"I don't know anything about that kid." Meaning Salem of course, though who could tell from what Anson had seen. "I've been working."

Anson considers him.

"Yeah, we've got Salem back now," he growls. "But we still don't know how he got hurt...or who did it." He moves a little closer, itching to smack the shit out of this scumbag. "You're not into the rough stuff, are you, Josh? You don't get your jollies picking up underaged rent boys and keeping them in cages do you?" He smiles again, in a way that would have anyone with good sense running like hell in the other direction. "I really hope that's not the case. I'd hate to lose all respect for you."

Josh twitched, mentally. He wasn't worried about getting in trouble with the law over that kid, he wasn't so detached that he didn't know where he was. True, he hadn't been home in a while and that hadn't been intentional. But that wasn't because he was off abusing people.

"Fuck off." And he repeated his prior claim with a little more conviction through his clenched jaw. "I've been working."

Anson folds his arms, favoring Josh with a withering look.

"Yeah. That's what Tayler said. You do remember Tayler, right? The little boy who lives in your house. The one you leave to fend for himself while you're off picking up teenaged prostitutes barely older than he is."

Anson shakes his head, looking at the man in disgust.

"How old is he, thirteen? Fourteen? Don't you think he's a little young to be left on his own for weeks at a time while you run around town pretending you don't have a family?"

Edited 2008-03-08 21:24 (UTC)

Josh scoffed. The kid wasn't that young. Beside the point though, he didn't like this conversation. He needed way more intoxication to be in the mood for this sort of confrontation.

"He's-" The man made a sarcastic face now, "He's not a little kid anyway. Tay's gonna be fifteen in April and- I DON'T have a family! And that's my job, that kid takes a lot of money and it's none of your goddamn business what we do! Go manage your own life cause my style's working out just fine for me!"

"Bullshit!" Anson snaps. "Child Protective Services would take that boy in a hot minute and you know it." He glares at Josh. "I could've called them, but I didn't. Not for you," he growls. "For him. Because of what it would do to him."

He paces for a moment, rounding on Josh angrily.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, man? Huh? What the hell do you mean, you don't have a family? You have a son. A kid that, for whatever reason, looks up to you." He shakes his head. "You don't even know it, do you? How much he loves you. How he waits, counting the minutes until you come home. You should see the look on his face when he talks about you. Maybe if you spent a little time with him once in a while, you would."

He growls, frustrated, itching to smack some sense into him. The stupid bastard has everything, everything, and he's too dumb to know it. He's pissing it away with his selfishness and immaturity, running around town sticking it in everything that moves while his kid sits at home with his nose pressed up against the window like an unwanted puppy. And the maddening thing is, he's right about it being none of Anson's business. But Anson just can't leave it alone. Not if there's even a chance of getting through to Josh. He has to try, for Tayler's sake.

"For fuck's sake, Josh," he says softly, holding his hands out to his sides. "He worships the ground you walk on, or can't you see that?"

Edited 2008-03-09 02:06 (UTC)

He couldn't believe that the prick was threatening to call the kid-police on him. "What the fuck?"

Hardest for him to understand though was why the hell the man cared enough to have his nose pressed in so far. Josh was actually taken aback as the guy ranted on and on about how much more he knew about the kid than he did. It wasn't like he'd asked to have a kid in the first place, best thing for him would be if he'd get taken away. Then again, Josh was a way better day than his old man had ever been at least. That was what he told himself, at least he let the kid do whatever he wanted. At least he was a friend, didn't hassle him about every little thing. Tayler was an independent kid and for that Josh gave him the respect of leaving him alone.

Anson's words made little progress through the thickness of Josh's skull. What the hell did this guy know? Nothing. He didn't know anything about anything, just a load of opinions and conclusions that he'd jumped to like a flea to a dog. Now the guy was calling him by name, like they were old pals or something. Josh was at a loss of what to do, he'd never really been through this.

"The kid's fine. He doesn't need me around every two seconds. When I was fifteen, I had a job. He doesn't even have a paper route. Sits around all damn day reading or some shit. Not like I give him a hard time or anything. Lucky little shit if you ask me." Normally that type of pet name was saved for really bad days, but Anson was getting under his skin. "He understands that I have to work. That kid costs a lot of fucking money you know? I take FINE care of him. Especially since it wasn't even my idea and then that bitch stuck me with it ALONE."

He was mad now, and just getting started on one of his moods. Josh's body language matched the aggressiveness of his rising tone. "Nobody asked him to worship me. All I want is some fucking time to myself. Jesus. I'm fucking entitled to that. I'm stuck with this shit, all the time, my whole goddamn life, I'm stuck with other peoples SHIT. And I deal with it. So I'm making it fucking work. He's happy, he's fed and has all kinds of shit that he doesn't even need. That kid could have anything he fucking wanted."

"Anything but the one thing he truly wants," Anson says quietly. "To be important to you. To be with you."

He shakes his head, stunned at the man's cluelessness. Anson's met some selfish jerks in his time, but this guy takes the cake.

"Poor Josh," Anson snaps, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "So put upon. Such a hassle, isn't it? Taking care of your own kid. It's not like it's your fault he's here, after all. It wasn't your idea. I mean, hey, you're just the asshole who was too damn dumb or too lazy to bother with a rubber. You're just the guy who got some broad knocked up and nine months later, whaddya know? Here comes Tayler to ruin your fucking day." Anson snorts. "You're a real piece of work, you know that? What kind of man are you, anyway? Your kid is sitting there in that house right now, alone, while you piss and moan about poor little Josh and how you got screwed and how you have to pay for everything and the little shit is so ungrateful and so selfish that he doesn't even have a JOB."

Anson wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He's having to actively work to keep himself from throttling the man. He just can't stop thinking about Tayler. About how he must feel. What do you mean, how he must feel? You know how he feels. The same way you felt when your Dad left and never came home. He shakes his head as if to clear it, willing the thought away. No. This isn't about him. This is about Tayler. A bright, sweet, good-natured kid who doesn't want anything more than a moment of his father's attention.

"That's all he is to you, isn't he?" Anson says thickly. "Someone else's shit." He stares at Josh, almost at a loss for words. "Jesus Christ, man. How do you live with yourself?"

Edited 2008-03-09 18:20 (UTC)

Josh's mood kept alternating between angry and derisively amused. This guy. He thought he knew so fucking much. He didn't know anything, and he was getting to be fucking stubborn enough that Josh might just walk away and get a drink.

"And he said all this to you?" He replied with sarcasm of his own. The man didn't so much listen as he looked past the guy, barely feeling the words enter his right ear and exit his left. The sarcasm was not completely wasted though as it did cause an eyebrow to arch as he smirked to himself.

It hadn't been his idea. Though there was one thing that Anson said, that wasn't exactly on. Only sometimes did he feel that his brat was ungrateful, usually when the kid was being snotty.

"Steph was ungrateful. Bitch." That last part was quiet and less than half-hearted. Josh's front held up for the most part though.

"You know? You don't know shit about it. So run along and manage your own business." He smiled in a very insincere fashion. "Oh yeah, he's managing his business."

Anson stares him down for a moment, then turns as if to leave. But he turns back to face Josh again.

"Just answer me one thing first." He pauses, looking at the man intently. "Do you love him?"

Finally, thought Josh as the man turned to leave. It was about damn time that the guy went on his way.

Just as he'd finally let his guard down though, had the other man's final question hit him. Hit him, that was exactly how it felt to. It was more of a blow than anything else the man had said so far. Josh didn't even understand why it affected him so much either, but a tidal wave of emotions worked their way through him in layers.

First he was shocked, stupidly, at the question. It was as if it should have been obvious. He'd taken him. He'd raised him, whether poorly or not, he'd tried. Tayler was fed, he'd give him money or video games or books, anything the kid wanted. Josh didn't shelter him too much, and yet he made an effort to look out enough, keep the kid away from things that he needed to. It just so happened that he was lucky. It just so happened that Tayler wasn't interested in drinking or parties or drugs. And he resisted having parties at home so that the kid wouldn't have it around so much. When he did, he asked Tay not to be around. Yet, the guy still questioned him.

Next, was anger. Not entirely because it was none of Anson's business, but also because he'd begun to question himself. He knew that he wasn't father of the year, but he and Tayler were friends. That kid was his best damn friend. He wished that he could be better for him, a lot. Sometimes though, there were just things that were. He just couldn't be a better father. Even if he wanted to. So why try.

Indifference clouded him as his shields built back up. What the hell was love anyway? Josh scoffed.

Finally he settled on an answer.

"What's it to you?"

Anson stares at him for a moment, unsure what to think. He hadn't said yes, but he hadn't said no. He hadn't answered at all. But still, there was something, a brief flicker in the man's eyes, that made Anson think maybe there was hope after all.

"I don't know," he growls, frustrated. "You're right. It's none of my fucking business. But I just can't..." He shakes his head. "Maybe it's that I've been on both sides of this thing. I know what it's like to wait for my Dad to come home. I know what it's like to be a Dad, and wish I could go home." He digs out his wallet and hands over the little picture of Annabelle, eight years old and smiling in her blue dress. "She's twelve now, almost Tayler's age. I'd give anything to see her, but..." He shrugs. "I fucked up a long time ago. I lost my wife, lost my daughter. I don't even know where they are now." He sighs. It's all probably so much wasted breath. Josh isn't going to care about any of this. If anything, he'll probably just use it as a weapon against Anson.

Still, he has to try.

"I'm trying to tell you, man. What you've got...it's everything. Nothing else matters. He's your boy and he loves you. Just..." Anson pauses and looks at Josh, pleading with him to listen. "Just go home. Tell him he's important to you. Tell him you love him. Because one day he's gonna be gone, and you're never gonna get this chance again."

Edited 2008-03-09 23:44 (UTC)

Josh looked smug. He looked as if he already knew that he was right and that Anson was arguing a moot point. He took the picture lazily. This guy had daddy issues, that's what it was all about. No, the plot thickened. This guy had double daddy issues. Josh had always wanted his dad to give him more space.

"Just..." Josh wasn't sure that he wanted to talk to this guy anymore. Actually, he knew that he didn't, but at least the guy was getting less annoying. Most of what he said didn't matter much to someone as self-centered as Josh anyway. "What we have works. I guarantee you that he's taken care of and doesn't have any more problems than the rest of us."

Anson tucks the picture back in his wallet. He's wasting his breath, he's sure of it, but at least he said his piece. At least the guy heard him out, even if he doesn't take any of it to heart.

He thinks for a moment, then nods.

"I can see that," he continues quietly. "He's got a roof over his head, food and clothes. You didn't turn your back on him, I'll give you that. And he's obviously a bright kid, responsible, good manners. He must've learned that somewhere."

He sighs. No use beating a dead horse. Maybe there's some chance Josh will remember at least something of what Anson said, and take heed. Anson knows the look of a kid starved for attention, and a kind word from Josh would go a real long way with Tayler. Anson turns to go, then stops. He's got just one more thing to say. He looks Josh in the eye.

"You swear you had nothing to do with what happened to Salem?"

Josh didn't have anything else to say and nodded with a sense of finality before getting ready to leave. The last words caught him though, and he didn't blink.

"I don't know anything about it."

Anson's not a hundred percent sure. Hell, he's not ruling anything out until he gets his hands on the son of a bitch who hurt Salem. But he's got a feeling Josh is telling the truth. He's irresponsible, sure. Self-centered, undeniably an asshole, and he probably needs his ass kicked on general principle for messing with a kid Salem's age in the first place. But there's nothing in his pattern of behavior to indicate that he's a sadist, that he's sick enough to do the things that were done to Salem.

Anson looks at him intently, determined to find out all he can before Josh disappears again.

"Do you remember anything, anything at all that could help? Where did you drop him off? What time was it? Did you see anything, maybe a car parked nearby, somebody hanging around?" Anson shakes his head. "It's important, Josh. Somebody hurt Salem bad. He almost died. I gotta try and find him before he does it to somebody else."

For some reason, Anson saying his name annoyed Josh. He sighed, taking just a few more moments to talk before getting back to the alcohol in his desk back at work.

"I have work to do." He told the other man in an annoyed and important tone. "That's important."

After a moment he seemed to nearly reconsider, but not quite.

"I probably couldn't remember that far back if I wanted to." He thought about it, or maybe about something else. "He stayed in the hotel. I left alone. I took some girl home. I think that's the same night."

Anson flinches at Josh's words. He stares at him, wondering what the hell he's been doing standing here wasting his time for the last hour.

"Yeah, well, pardon me for taking up your valuable time," he says, his voice dripping with disgust. "I'm sure finding the sick fuck who abducted a sixteen year-old boy, chained him like an animal, beat him, starved him, raped him and tried to fucking shoot him to death couldn't possibly be as important as what you have planned for the day."

He shakes his head.

"Dude, you really are a piece of shit. Beyond hope."

Edited 2008-03-16 02:54 (UTC)

He cared a little bit. Josh just didn't see how any of that had anything to do with him.

"I don't know anything ABOUT that!" He shouted as his rage came through briefly. "Let the cops do their Goddamn job for once instead of worrying about all that petty shit they waste everyone's time with."

Anson's patience is at an end.

"The cops?" he repeats, incredulous. "You think the cops give a shit about this?" He shakes his head again. "Man, I knew you were a selfish prick, but I didn't know you were stupid."

He moves closer to Josh, his eyes blazing.

"Let me tell you how it works. You come from a good home, you got a family, you matter to somebody? Then they give a shit. You're a kid with no home, sleeping in doorways and selling your ass to survive? You're garbage. They could've found pieces of him scattered from here to Hoboken and they'd say he had it coming."

Edited 2008-03-16 03:48 (UTC)

"Not. My. Problem."

Josh struggled to keep his emotions level. Now the guy was coming closer. The guy calling him stupid didn't get to him, he'd heard it enough in his life. That aside, being smart really wasn't essential when it came to the world.

"I know how it works. But it's not up to me to find out what the shit happened to him. You got it covered."

There was a moment earlier, when Anson was talking about Annabelle, that made him think maybe there was a chance. A look on Josh's face, something he said, that made Anson think maybe he could get through to him. And then it was gone.

He's finally had enough. Josh is a lost cause, and nothing Anson says is going to make a damn bit of difference.

"Yeah, Josh," he says wearily, turning to go. "I got it covered."