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3.

Dinner was hell that evening. He tried his best to keep his eyes on his plate, but couldn’t help the toxic glares sometimes drifting to his father. Dad obviously did his best not to notice them, but Mom did.

“Is there something I should know about?” she questioned finally with a sigh.

“No,” father and son said in perfect unison.

“Alright then,” Mom replied perplexed. Baylee felt a little guilty, after all, it wasn’t her fault that Dad was being an idiot.

“It’s not about you grounding me, alright?” he assured her and she shook her head smiling. “Oh, and the pancakes are awesome,” he added for good measure.

After dinner, he made sure to clean up his plate and leave the room quickly. He halted when he heard Mom’s voice.

“What’s going on between the two of you lately?” she questioned Dad.

“Puberty probably,” Dad answered and Baylee could almost see him shrug, even if he wasn’t in the room to see it actually happen. He narrowed his eyes in disgust. So easy shoving it all off on puberty.

“You mean him or you?’’ Mom countered and Baylee smiled. Good old Mom, sticking up for him.

“Hey, I’m not the one ditching Richard each time I’m going out,” Dad defended.

“No, you’re just keen on ditching everybody when you’re going out,” Mom replied heatedly.

Uh, oh, this wasn’t really going the right way, Baylee decided. Still he couldn’t get himself to walk away from the scene. Mom was partially right in her accusation, except only that Dad didn’t ‘ditch’ anybody when he went out. He actually rarely got out of the house. The band had decided almost three months ago that it would take a well-deserved hiatus for an undecided time, and only the occasional meeting with its members conserved its existence. Mom had told him it had happened before. Those had been different times though. Those were the times Baylee had been born, times of family extension, times in which everyone was basically too busy with their own stuff, whether it were personal problems, solo albums, business expansion, or child birth, to help preservation of a boyband.

Very much unlike what was going on now. Cause now, nobody was too busy with anything. It was just that the glitter and glamour of being in a pop band was getting old. The motivation was gone with the wind and just because nobody actually had the guts to quit, the hiatus was called. In terms of rediscovering motivation and taking some time off the busy world, it actually worked. Most members were doing their own stuff, celebrating the married with children life and even Nick had gotten his wife pregnant and was exceptionally okay with that. And although he often called for reassurance and confirmation from Dad, he seemed to be looking forward to the birth of his daughter. Dad had taken the time off to become more concerned about producing and writing, which was probably why he spend most of his days in the basement studio with other artists.

On the surface, the hiatus had done nothing but good for band members and their families, but Baylee knew better than that. Although he’d longed for most part of his life for his father to stay home with him and Mom, now that it was actually happening, Dad seemed further away than ever. As a child of a celebrity, Baylee could have proudly claimed that the contact between him and his parents had been exceptionally good. Had been. And who knew, maybe it was puberty plaguing him, but that was just part of it. Cause how could he explain the rather strange occurrences where Dad would just up and suddenly disappear for a day or two. Nobody knew where he went, not Mom, not the band members, and certainly not Baylee. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think his father had a mistress somewhere. But he did know better.

A mistress. Ha. Not ever in a million years.

The fight went on for a little while longer, Mom obviously seeking an explanation for Dad’s distant behaviour. It ended abruptly when Dad stormed out of the kitchen and Baylee had to duck away in order to prevent his father from seeing him. Try explaining this kind of spying to one of your parents. Wouldn’t be pretty.

He didn’t get much sleep that night. His head was so full of secret, prohibited rituals, distant fathers and frustrated mothers that he actually believed he was dreaming when he heard the sound downstairs. He still believed that as he walked down slowly, cautiously. His curiosity got the best of him and with a little more confidence, he approached the basement when he heard the sound again. It sounded like a dog in distress and he mentally kicked himself for being scared of Keeko.

The usual happy yapping of the small Maltese dog was nothing compared in loudness to the fearful squealing she produced when she was absolutely terrified of something. Baylee opened the door, that led to the basement’s stairs, slowly and descended carefully, a little scared he might fall in the darkness of the night. The lights were down in the studio and when he turned them on, he had just about enough time to see a flash of white fur shoot passed his legs towards the open door.

“Keeko, get back,” he yelled at the miniscule Maltese as the squealing intensified in loudness. Venturing after his dog, he crouched down at where the dog was hidden under the studio desk.

“Come here, you little monster,” he said gently, stretching out his arm to reach the white dog.

Normally, that helped when the Maltese felt distressed, but not now. Keeko shrunk even further back and howled pathetically. “What’s gotten your panties so tied up?” Baylee questioned wonderingly.

The sudden growl made him jump. Keeko almost never growled, and when she did, it didn’t sound like this.

Turning slowly in his crouched position, Baylee closed his eyes, having the nagging feeling that whatever scared the crap out of Keeko, would surely do the same to him.

He wasn’t wrong.

As he opened his eyes, he was faced with what he was sure was a full-sized wolf staring down at him intently.