Blood and Honor

An entry in the 750 Word Project 2024.

The movies Taken 2 and John Wick revolve around fathers protecting or seeking vengeance for their no good sons, because family first, right? This short, non-erotic morality play is my response to the idea that blood is not only thicker than water, but also thicker than honor.

Blood and Honor

750 words on their relative thinness and thickness.

"Dad! What the hell? Why am I still in here?"

Clarence "Clay" Reynolds III looked ready to slug his old man, Clarence the second. But even if he'd really wanted to, it would have been hard since he was on the wrong side of the transparent stainless steel mesh screen that split the prisoner interview room in two.

"And what are you doing here anyway? Where's Roger?"

Roger Fetterman was the criminal law attorney at Mendes, Klein & Associates, the firm that had been representing the Reynolds' family and business interests since the original Clarence had made the family's first million in the mid-60's. Fetterman had represented Clay when he'd first been brought in for questioning, and Clay had expected him to be here after he'd been arrested.

"Roger's not working on your case anymore, Clay," answered his father. "He'll do a handover meeting with your new attorney, but that's it."

"New attorney? What...why? Who?"

"Whoever the court assigns as your public defender, I suppose."

"Public defender? Dad, what the fuck's going on here?"

"M&K can't represent you anymore, they need to work on the civil actions arising from what you did."

"What I did? And why a P.D., why not just get me another criminal lawyer?"

"I didn't know you were guilty before. Now that I do, I won't pay your legal expenses."

"Guilty?! Dad, you know the sex was consensual and this is just a money grab."

"Consensual? With drugs?"

"Yes. I've admitted all along that we both took Molly to party on."

"You took Molly. But you gave her..." he paused, thinking. "Molly with Special-K."

"What—"

"Ketamine. You had two stashes, one regular Molly for you, one doctored for your, 'dates'."

Most people wouldn't have seen the micro-twitch, Clay had a pretty good poker face, but his father was the one who'd taught him to play the game.

"M&K sent out their own investigators, expecting to prove what you said about Angela being a gold digger—"

"Angela? Angela? You're on a first-name basis with that lying bitch who's ruining my life? Ruining our family name? Hey, wait a minute. You haven't told the cops you think I'm guilty, have you? What the fuck, Dad?"

"You mean, have we told the police that Angela is at least the fourth woman you've 'partied' with by taking a different drug than you gave them so they wouldn't be able to say no or clearly remember what happened?"

Junior's voice was going from angry to scared. "Dad, why are you doing this? All I did was party with some sluts who wanted to take drugs and fuck. It wasn't like I raped anyone."

"Consensual sex led to Angela needing vaginal surgery?"

"Listen, I need you to understand what really happened. She came onto me and when I bit, it escalated. She said she wanted it rough; she cheered everything I did to her that I would never normally do to a woman.

"Look, I was fucked up, okay? I was drunk and did some coke and Molly, but so did she. If things got out of hand, that was both of us. Sure, we should take care of her medical bills, give her some money, but having me charged with rape and locked up? That's bullshit. I'm sorry I fucked up, but I'm not a monster."

"Ketamine?"

"It was just to give them an extra rush. I'd have taken the same, but it fucks with my boner, all right? But they still knew what they were doing. You gotta believe me."

"What I have to believe is that even with all your advantages you're still a mean, selfish person who takes without caring about hurting other people." The elder Reynolds turned to leave.

"Dad, Dad, don't do this. I'm your son, for God's sake."

"For God's sake I hope I can be a better father to the women you hurt than I was to you. I apologize for failing you, but you're twenty-three, not thirteen, and your choices and actions are yours to own."

"Father to them? What the hell are you talking about? You're my father, not theirs."

"And believe it or not, you have been first in my life since you were born. But that doesn't mean you're more important than everyone else's child. Blood without honor is thin, Clay. I hope we can both do things to make it thicker." With that, Mr. Reynolds turned his back on a rapist and his thoughts toward his victims.