Like Grownups Do Read Online Free

place just two nights ago. Babe ran his fingers through her hair as she lay still. Her breaths came slowly with a slight rattle. Her eyes opened with a flutter.
    “Babe,” she whispered.
    “Will you promise me something?”
    “Of course,” Babe said, “Anything. Anything at all.”
    “Will you stay with Daddy? He loves you. I know he does. He’s had to be strong. He’s tried to be my Superman for a long time. But I… I hear him. He cries sometimes. He needs somebody. He needs you.”
    “I love Jack, honey. I’ll stay with him. Yes,” Babe said.
    Jill closed her eyes.
    “Yes, Jesus Ma’am.”
    Babe blinked away tears and quietly cleared his throat.
    “Yes, Jesus Ma’am.”
     
     

 
     
    Three
     
     
    “ S ir? Please?”
    Babe jumped when Jordan Blackledge elbowed him. He looked up and to his left at the impatient flight attendant who wanted nothing more than for him to move his seat to the upright position and fold up his god-forsaken tray table, since everyone knows that a tray table will cut your ass right in half during a commercial airliner landing. As Babe put away the in-flight magazine and folded the table, he saw the narrowing eyes and look of general disgust directed his way from the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Boston FBI office, Russell Eckhart.
     
    Eckhart was not happy being assigned to this meeting in Phoenix. He was not about to say so, since complaining about Jack staying home with his dying daughter would not exactly be a great career move. But everyone that knew Russell Eckhart knew that he hated almost everything.
    He had not always been that way. In fact, Russell considered his memories to have come from at least two separate lives—a fairy tale turned nightmare, followed by—whatever today was.
     
    His childhood mirrored that of most any average, American, middle-class young boy. He lived with his mother and father in a suburban Virginia neighborhood where he played with his cousins and the other neighborhood children. Russell was a popular child and his father often played right along with them.
    One cold, March night, however, everything in Russell’s world went wrong. His father visited him in his room and before he left, he told Russell, “This is our little secret, okay Champ?”
    The secret turned into many secrets and went on for almost a year. But another eight year old “Champ” in the neighborhood was not as good at the game of secrets.
     
    Russell’s mother met Graham Stemple of the FBI at about the time that her husband was being sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Stemple was older, with the slow, confident demeanor of a plantation owner and a southern gentleman’s drawl that captivated Mrs. Eckhart. Mrs. Eckhart maintained a tiny waist that supported a sizable rack that captivated Mr. Stemple.
    Russell vehemently denied every inquiry about his being molested by his father. He never told— anyone. But he knew that Graham Stemple knew—somehow. And even before he became Graham Stemple’s stepson, Russell knew that Stemple hated him for it.
     
    He was his mother’s “Little Russ”, and he was guilty of being “average.” But average was nowhere near good enough for Graham Stemple. Russell’s education, and his brief work history, were all selected and orchestrated by his step father at great cost. During Russell’s first year of junior high school, and the night after Stemple first gave his wife a matching pair of black eyes, Stemple began a cycle of physical abuse of his stepson. The abuse was followed by long periods of apparent normalcy, and Russell watched his mother lose her mind while she pretended that the violence never happened. Stemple quickly learned to avoid their heads and faces whenever his rage consumed him.
    Stemple pushed his stepson through every single minimum requirement for an entry position with the FBI, often strong-arming grades or recommendations with threats or intimidation. Stemple’s own career climb