Succumbing To His Fear by River Mitchell

Yvonne was standing at the door waiting for me.
    “Thank you so much for yesterday.” I’d explained the day before where I was going and why. Her eyes softened and she gave me a hug. We both watched poor Fear being talked at non-stop by a very excited Lily.
    “Not a problem, they were great,” she replied. Griffin chose that moment to make his appearance. He too, wore a huge grin.
    “Hey, you ready?” I asked.
    “Yep.”
    “Okay. Thank Miss Yvonne for letting you stay and let’s get going.” Turning, I shouted for Lily to come and thank Yvonne. After offering up our help if she needed it, we were on our way. Lily was practically bouncing with excitement at seeing the new baby. Griffin was busy telling us about all the games and things he and Nathan had been up to. Things were going really well until we turned onto Fear’s street and saw several police cars.
    “What the…?” Catching himself at the last second, Fear parked the car. “Wait here.” Not knowing what was going on, I did as he said. I reassured the kids that there was nothing to worry about and watched as Fear approached an officer. It took about two seconds for chaos to erupt. The officer whom Fear had approached started shouting and drew his weapon. I hollered at the kids to get down on the car floor behind the front seats.
    “Stay there Griffin, hold Lily’s hand. I’ll be right back.” With wide eyes, he nodded. I jumped out of the car and ran towards the commotion.
    “Get down on the ground. Down. Down. GET ON THE GROUND.” Fear started to kneel down.
    “What are you doing?” I yelled.
    “Get back,” was the shouted reply. An officer came and stopped me from moving any closer.
    “What are you doing?” I asked, panicked. “Why are you pointing a fucking gun at him?”
    “Stand back. What’s your name, sir?” the officer asked.
    “Alfie McKenzie.” I didn’t know what was going on or what the fuck should I do. “What’s going on?”
    “What is your relationship to Mr. Williams, Mr. McKenzie?” he asked, completely ignoring my question. While I had been talking to the nosey cop, Fear had been handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car. Feeling his eyes on me, I looked in his direction and all I wanted to do was run to him. “Mr. McKenzie, I asked what your relationship to Mr. Williams is?”
    “Why are you arresting him?” I asked again, this time ignoring his question. It looked like I wasn’t about to get any answers. “What police station is he being taken to?”
    “I’ll ask one final time Mr. McKenzie. What is your relationship with Mr. Williams?”
    “He’s my—my…” Oh, fuck it—all in, right? “He’s my boyfriend.”
    “Are those your children in the vehicle?” Turning to look at the car, I could see Griffin peering over the seat. It was obvious that he was scared.
    “They’re my brother and sister. We were on our way to pick up some things at Fear’s, then go over to Hayley’s. That’s Fear’s sister, I mean Hunter’s sister,” I explained. I wasn’t getting anywhere being evasive, so maybe the upfront approach would work. “Can you please tell me where you’re taking him?” The officer looked at me for a moment and sighed heavily.
    “Look, Mr. McKenzie—”
    “Alfie,” I interrupted.
    “Alfie, your boyfriend is in real trouble. He’s being taken to the station downtown, off Robertson and Vine.” I knew he wasn’t going to say more, no matter how much I pestered him. I nodded, feeling completely useless.
    “Could you please ask him if he needs me to do anything?” Swallowing down the emotion that was threatening to come out. “Please, please ask him?” I could actually see his internal struggle. Coming to his decision, he turned and walked over the car that held Fear. I watched them talk for a second before the officer returned to me.
    “He wants you to still go to Hayley’s to make sure she’s okay. “
    “Thank you.” I looked over to Fear and saw him looking