Territory - Prequel

by Susan A Bliler

  She crashed through a clearing and faced forward just in time to throw her body to the ground. She slid a few feet along the dewy grass as both arms snaked out and clawed into earth. She twisted her body until she was on her belly and kicked at the ground with her feet as she continued to slide toward a cliff that dropped God only knew how far.

  Her hand snagged a tree root and her body was jolted to jarring halt. Pain tore through her shoulder as it bore the brunt of the full force of her weight jerking to a standstill.

  Instantly, her eyes turned to find the red wolf, but it was gone. Her breath sawed back and forth and her body shook from exertion as realization slowly dawned. She pulled back her left foot, horrified that it hung just over the cliff that very nearly just killed her.

  She forced herself to a sitting position, her hand reaching up to cradle her throbbing shoulder. She stood on trembling legs and tip-toed to peer over the ledge of the cliff from where she stood. She couldn’t see the bottom and the revelation had her belly convulsing. She dropped to her hands and knees and coughed as her body tried to wretch. She didn’t have anything to eat or drink that morning so there was nothing for her to throw up, so she dry heaved a few moments until the wave of nausea passed.

  Shakily, she got to her feet and took a tentative step towards the tree line. She kept her eyes intently focused searching for any sign of the wolf. When there was none, she dropped her arms and broke into a dead run, heading back down the mountain toward home. I am so done running in these woods!

  Back home, she showered and debated calling her friend Eden who worked for the local Fish, Wildlife, and Parks department. She’d been sure the wolf was stalking her, and if she didn’t know any better she’d have actually thought the wolf was forcing her to run in the direction of the cliff.

  She considered explaining the story to Eden then decided it sounded so foolish that she didn’t want the embarrassment. She didn’t mention it to her mother either when they met for lunch.

  Chapter 9

  Later that evening Chloe was going stir crazy. She’d cleaned her mother’s entire house and then with nothing else to do, she cleaned in again. She’d cooked dinner, fed her mother and cleaned up the dishes so her mother could turn in early. She sat in front of the TV flipping through the channels quickly with the remote, not really watching the TV at all.

  “Ughh, I gotta get out!” She picked up her cell off the coffee table. She hadn’t talked to her best friend Marissa since the morning of the funeral and because the two were also co-workers, Chloe dialed her friend with high hopes of being distracted by work-place gossip that she’d missed over the past few days.

  “Hello?” Marissa answered.

  “Hey,” Chloe didn’t attempt to disguise the relief in her voice. “it’s me. What are you doing?”

  “Chloe! How are you doing?”

  “Fine,” she winced at the pity in her friends tone. “I’m going fucking stir crazy. You busy, wanna have a drink?” She crossed her fingers silently praying that Marissa was free.

  “Hell yeah I wanna have a drink. Who’s car we taking?”

  Chloe smiled her relief. She could always rely on Marissa to be there when she needed her. The two had been friends for years, and Marissa’s boisterous nature was the perfect compliment to Chloe’s more reserved attitude. “Do you just wanna meet me at that new Irish pub on main and seventh?”

  “Betcha I beat ya.” Marissa hung up and Chloe smiled to herself thankful that her best friend was always there when she needed her.

  She touched up her make-up, and laced on some boots before checking on her mother and sneaking out the door. She left the TV on so that if her mother woke, she’d think Chloe was still zoning out on the couch.

  Fifteen minutes later she pulled her silver car into the parking lot of the Irish pub and noted that Marissa had indeed beaten her to the bar. When she entered the establishment, Marissa waved to her from where she stood at the bar. She leaned casually against it, one hip jutted out in form fitting jeans while two men hovered over her, drooling over her low cut shirt and exposed ample cleavage.

  As Chloe approached, Marissa let her eyes rove her friend disapprovingly before she whispered to one of the men then stepped away to meet Chloe. “Seriously? That’s what you’re wearing?”

  Chloe’s brows shot up. She knew better than to be offended. “Sorry, I’m not really in the mood for male company right now.”

  Marissa turned her eyes and plucked a pretzel from a bowl on the bar before popping it in her mouth and shrugging one slim shoulder. She turned to Chloe and smiled broadly before winking. “More for me.” Then she turned and sauntered back to her place at the bar with Chloe on her heels. “Sorry guys,” Chloe heard her offer, “girl’s night only.”

  “What?” One of the guys sounded genuinely offended. “Come on baby. Two men, two ladies, what’s the problem?”

  Chloe smirked, she knew Marissa was a huge fan of the opposite sex, but nothing turned her friend off more than a pushy guy. She watched as Marissa turned abruptly to the man that had remained silent. She stepped close and pressed her body into his. “Well if he’s gonna pout, then I’ll take your number.”

  The guy jerked his wallet out of his back pocket and yanked out a business card as he smiled and handed it to Marissa. The other guy cursed under his breath and stomped off.

  “I’ll call you.” Marissa kissed the guy on the cheek, leaving a smudge of red lipstick on his smiling face before she turned to Chloe, “Come on, we’ll grab a booth.” Marissa stopped to rap her knuckles on the bar, “Celeste, two bottles of Bud light please.” Then she followed Chloe to a booth by the window.

  “I thought you said you haven’t been here before,” Chloe whispered staring at the bar tender as she grabbed the two requested bottles of beer from the cooler behind the bar.

  “I haven’t.” Marissa smiled broadly pulling a ten-dollar bill from her sequin purse and holding it out to the approaching bartender, “But I’m a fast friend.” She winked at the bartender, “Keep the change.”

  Chloe accepted a bottle from her friend and took a sip watching the bartender leave, “Hey big spender, you just gave her like a four dollar tip.”

  “Keeps ‘em coming back.” Marissa lifted the bottle to her lips and took a long swallow before righting the bottle, “So,” she sobered, “how you doing? How’s your mom?”

  “Fine,” Chloe took another drink of her beer. “We’re both fine. I’m just…”she sighed eyeing the bar, not sure what her problem was.

  “It’s gonna take some time. I know you’re not big on patience Chlo, but you can’t force this.”

  “I know,” she dropped her chin to her upraised palm, “I just feel…off.”

  “Well, your worlds been tipped. It’s gonna take you a while to get right again.”

  “It’s not just Donnie, it’s…” God, how do I talk about Dell without sounding like a narcissistic asshole? “Do you remember Dell Blackbird from school?”

  Marissa leaned forward bracing both elbows on the table and resting her folded hands under her chin. “Sure.” She studied Chloe, “I saw him at Donnie’s funeral. I can’t believe he had the nerve to show up.”

  “Right?” Chloe barked. “My mom’s been acting like I shouldn’t have been offended by it, like it wasn’t out of line. Then he showed up at her house…”

  “What!” Marissa dropped her hands, “He showed up at your mother’s house?” Her lip curled in derision, “That is so fucking classless.” She kept her eyes on Chloe but lifted a hand and signaled the barmaid to bring two more beers. “Please tell me you put him in his place.”

  “I didn’t have to.”

  “No! Your mother wouldn’t!”

  Chloe smiled at the mental image of her mother cursing out Dell. “No, she didn’t either. When I answered the door, he got sick or something. He just fell and was holding his st
omach.”

  The bartender set two more bottles on the table and Marissa slid her another ten without looking, “It was probably guilt eating away at his gut!” Her mouth twisted adding emphasis to her words. The bartender left Marissa’s change and walked away.

  “I don’t know what it was but,” she stopped to stare at Marissa unsure how much she wanted to divulge.

  “Oh don’t you fucking dare look at me that way. You know I’m good for it. Spill!”

  She smiled then it faltered as she lowered her voice and took a healthy drink of her beer. “Then I ran into him again at the grocery store.” She blushed, “It was so fucking embarrassing!”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “Honestly, I still have no idea. He was talking to my mom when I found her and I was going to hide, but I’d already been seen. When I shook his hand….Christ, I don’t know if it was anger or exhaustion or what, but I…” her cheeks grew redder, “I passed out.”

  “WHAT!” Marissa shrieked drawing the attention of half the bar as she burst into laughter and grabbed her temples, “You passed out?”

  Chloe started laughing at her friend’s reaction, “God shut up!” She eyed the bar, “Everyone is staring.”

  “Fuck ‘em!” Marissa had Chloe pinned with her gaze, “So come on,” she motioned rapidly with her hands for Chloe to continue, “did you hit the floor, did you fall on your face, did you…” Marissa rose up out of her seat and curled her feet underneath her in giddy anticipation, “Oh God, please tell me you didn’t land on Dell!”

  “Worse!” Chloe moaned.

  “WORSE?” Marissa shrieked again and inched closer to Chloe snatching her hands up into her own, “What? Tell me, I’m dying to know!”

  Chloe eyed her friend over her bottle after she jerked a hand free to finish it off before wiping her lips with the back of one hand, “He caught me and carried me to my mom’s car.”

  Marissa’s eyes widened and her jaw fell open, “Are you shitting me?”

  Chloe shook her head.

  “Not for nothing Chloe, but he is one fine, and I do mean fine, piece of ass.” Marissa threw back her head and laughed throatily. “That is fucking great!”

  “It’s not funny Marissa!” Chloe pouted, “It was humiliating. I’m supposed to be hating the guy and there he was catching me and carrying me around the damn supermarket parking lot for the whole town to see. Then when I saw him again…”

  “Wait!” Marissa held up a hand. “You saw him again?”

  Chloe nodded.

  Marissa still had her hand up when she turned to find the bartender and shouted across the room, “Celeste, we’re gonna need some shots!”

  Rolling her eyes, Chloe shook her head at her friend. Good ‘ol Marissa, she could always rely on her friend to make a mountain out of a mole hill. She smiled. Marissa may have been a bit of an exaggerator, but it was nice to finally talk freely about what was going on in her life.

  When Celeste returned with two shots, both Marissa and Chloe picked up the glasses and eyed each other silently before downing the dark liquid without even knowing what it was. The amber concoction burned and Chloe coughed and sputtered, barely catching Marissa’s order of two more shots and two more beers as she placed a twenty on the bartenders drink tray.

  “Okay,” Marissa took a deep breath ready to continue, “now when exactly did you see him again, and what exactly happened that time?”

  Still disgusted from the foul tasting shot, Chloe took a drink of her beer and swished it around her mouth before she spoke. “Needless to say, we didn’t get any shopping done, so I went back to the market the following day. I was in the frozen food section and he came up and wanted to talk.”

  “About what?”

  Shrugging, Chloe took another sip and realized she was getting buzzed, “I have no idea. I walked away when he tried to touch me.”

  “Touch you where?” Marissa’s eyes widened and she smiled perversely.

  “Not like that! He tried to grab my arm.”

  Marissa fell back against the cushion of the booth staring whimsically over Chloe’s head, “I’d so let him touch me anywhere he wanted.”

  “Marissa!”

  “What? The guy’s a fucking God.”

  “Anyway, he followed me out to the parking lot and said that something was happening and we needed to talk, that our confrontation was coming.” She dipped her eyes to her bottle and used a polished finger nail to start peeling the edge of the label. “He’s really kind of freaking me out.”

  “Well what did he say was happening? What does that even mean?”

  “I don’t know. It’s just…weird stuff’s been happening around him, and I…”

  Marissa cut her off, “Weird stuff like what?”

  Chloe chewed on her bottom lip before blowing out a breath, “When he touches me it feels…different.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Marissa leaned forward, “Touches you? You said he tried.”

  “Look,” Chloe eyed the bar, annoyed that the bartender wasn’t back with the distraction of shots, “I don’t know what’s going on. I just know that things are getting weird.”

  Marissa screwed her face into a look of skepticism, “Well you said he spoke of a confrontation. What’d he mean by that?”

  “Again, I don’t know.”

  “You know what we should do,” Marissa eyed Chloe intently; “we should get a restraining order.”

  Chloe laughed, “A restraining order? And what are we going to say when we file for one?” She changed her tone to sound mocking, “This man has been catching me when I faint Officer, I demand you keep him away from me!”

  Marissa started laughing and was distracted when Celeste came back with their round, “Okay, you’re right that’ll never hold up.” She took the shots off the tray and placed one in front of herself and the other in front of Chloe before she snatched the beers off the tray and eyed the change that remained before smiling at Celeste and pushing the tray away, “Keep it.”

  Alone again, Marissa took up her shot glass and clinked it off Chloe’s. “Cheers.” She slammed the shot and winced. “Maybe confrontation is code for he wants to bend you over a table and…”

  “Marissa!” Chloe felt herself blush.

  “Hmm,” Marissa’s eyes narrowed in scrutiny, “It would appear young lady that you aren’t as opposed to that type of confrontation as you’d like me to believe.”

  Waving a hand dismissively, Chloe snatched up her shot and downed it quickly hoping to quell some of her apparent discomfort before she chased the shot with a long swallow of beer.

  Marissa smiled knowingly keeping her eyes on her friend. “Hey, I don’t blame ya! I’d let him bend me over a table any day.” She laughed loudly.

  “Look, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. What’s up with you? How’s work?” The shift in conversation worked, and Chloe felt herself relaxing as the topic steered from her and Dell to Marissa’s monotonous work week.

  Too many beers and too many hours later, Chloe peeked at her watch and cringed when she discovered it was nearly closing time. “We better go.”

  Marissa smiled then sighed, eyeing the bar, “You’re right. Wait here. Those two goons are still at the bar. I’ll get ‘em to give us a ride home.”

  “Pass!” Chloe exclaimed standing quickly only to brace her hands on the table as she swayed. “I’ll get myself home.” She watched as Marissa pulled lipstick and a pocket mirror from her purse and re-did her lips before smacking them together.

  “Fine,” Marissa hauled herself up and turned glossy eyes to the bar. “I’ll take ‘em both.” She erupted into a peel of laughter.

  “Marissa, maybe you should just go home. I can drop you off or call you a cab?”

  “Why on God’s green earth would I want to go home alone when there are two viable and willing s
pecimens at the bar,” she crooked a finger to beckon the two men who’d been watching her since she rose, “who are eager to satisfy my needs.”

  Fear sobered Chloe momentarily. “You don’t know them.”

  The men approached and Marissa eased herself out of the booth, stopping to loop an arm through one of each man as they stood on either side of her before she winked and licked her lips devilishly, “They don’t know me.”

  Ignoring the two men Chloe grabbed Marissa’s shoulder, “You sure you wanna do this?”

  One of the guys grabbed Chloe’s elbow and jerked her into his chest, “Come on baby, you can come too.”

  Chloe pulled back, “I don’t think so.”

  Marissa giggled and slapped the guy on the arm, “Leave her alone, she’s not as…adventurous.”

  Quickly grabbing her purse, Chloe turned imploring eyes to Marissa, “We could go have breakfast, head back to my apartment. You could stay with me.”

  Marissa shook her head, “Don’t worry about me.” She pulled tighter on the two men on either side of her and smiled, “I’m exactly where I want to be.”

  She knew from past experience that taking two guys home wasn’t anything new for Marissa, but it still left Chloe feeling like a worthless friend when the trio stumbled out the front door and out of sight. Celeste approached and was picking up the numerous empty bottles and shot glasses that littered their table when Chloe asked, “Do you know those guys?”

  Celeste shrugged, “Sure. Well the one anyway. His name is Hank, he’s a metal worker. He’s a good guy, don’t worry. He wouldn’t hurt your friend.”

  “What about the other guy?” Chloe eyed the door nervously.

  “The grabber? Not sure, just heard Hank call him Mitchell. Tonight’s the first night I’ve seen him. But Hank’s a straight arrow. Tough as nails too, he won’t let Mitchell rough-up your friend.”

  The revelation while meant to be comforting had the opposite effect. “Thanks.” Chloe hurried out the door, hoping to find Marissa still in the parking lot. She wasn’t, but Mitchell was.