Finding Valor

by Charlotte Abel

  Diego narrowed his eyes at Josh. “Can you at least give us a ride to the bus station?”

  “I don’t have a car.”

  “You have a Rav4.” Diego dropped his chin and groaned. “But it’s sitting in the parking lot at your school.”

  Josh shoved his hand in his front pocket and found a set of Toyota keys. “I have a car?”

  “You need to go get it as soon as possible.”

  “Why? Is it parked in the teacher’s lot or something?” If Dad had finally given Josh the car he’d wanted for the past two years, it’d be just his luck for it to get towed.

  “No, wait. I’ve got it.” Josh held his hand up and recited a small piece of the story Diego had told him. “My stripper roommate gave me a pillowcase full of cash as a wedding present before my bride and I left Las Vegas to escape her crazy mother that wants to cut her heart out.”

  “This is not a joke.” Diego spoke through gritted teeth.

  “Then what is it? A scam?”

  “You think I want your money?” Diego’s face darkened. “All I want is to save the life of your wife and make her momma pay for killing mine.”

  “Look, I’m sorry. But try to see things from my perspective—”

  “You are not the man I knew.” Diego turned and stomped out of the room. “Come on, boys. We’re leaving.”

  “At least let me pay for a cab to take you to the bus station.”

  Diego glared at Josh. “I told you. I don’t want your money.”

  “I already apologized. But I’ll say it again. I’m sorry.”

  One of the triplets tugged on Josh’s hand. “We’re hungry.”

  Diego sighed. “You’ll have to wait until we get to the bus station.”

  Josh didn’t want to further insult Diego, but he wasn’t about to send those kids away hungry. “My stepmom doesn’t cook, but there’s usually something to snack on in the kitchen. If it’s okay with your dad, we can go check.”

  Diego gave a curt nod of his head.

  “You want anything?”

  “No.” Diego declined, but followed his sons into the kitchen.

  A foil-covered, glass baking pan on the counter drew Josh’s attention. “What’s this?”

  He lifted the foil.

  Pain exploded behind his eyes as a fragment of a memory flashed across his mind…A mouth-watering aroma; a dutch oven buried in coals; a beautiful voice, full of love and pride. “I made cornbread, just for you.”

  And then it was gone. All except for the headache.

  “Josh? Are you okay?” Diego ducked under Josh’s arm and half-carried-half-dragged him into the dining room. He lowered him to a chair then pulled one out for himself. “What happened?”

  “I remembered…something.”

  “What was it?”

  “I think it was…cornbread?”

  Diego rocked forward and dropped his head into his hands.

  Another wave of calming energy swept over Josh.

  Diego slumped onto the table. “CoCo. You gotta stop doing that. It’s gonna drain you.”

  “I don’t want you to cry every time you think about Momma.”

  Josh told the boys to help themselves to the cornbread. His mouth wasn’t the only thing watering. He didn’t think he could look at that pan without tearing up. Why did the thought of cornbread make everyone so sad?

  When the taxi pulled into the drive, Diego pulled Josh into an unexpected hug. “Call me if you need anything. My number’s in your phone.”

  Savvy, Zeal and CoCo flung their arms around Josh’s legs and clung to him. There was something undeniably familiar about the simple act of affection that made it hard to swallow. Josh leaned over to hug them and cleared his throat. “Maybe we’ll run into each other again someday.”

  CoCo lifted his chin and locked his gaze on Josh’s eyes. “You can bet cash money on that.”

  Josh didn’t want to admit it, not even to himself, but he felt connected to those little boys. The sight of them waving good-bye from the departing taxi tugged at his already aching heart.

  Josh decided he needed a long, hard ride to clear his head. He resisted the urge to look at the photo on his phone again and inspected the bikes in the garage instead. All three of his BMX bikes needed air. Dad’s mountain bike was the only one ready to ride. He wouldn’t mind if Josh borrowed it, especially if he tuned it up when he got back.

  Josh rode south until he hooked into the Boulder Creek Bike Trail at Fourth and Canyon. The scenic route along the stream was always crowded, but when he rode up on a group of old farts, riding side by side, blocking the trail, it really pissed him off.

  They huffed and puffed their way up the slightest incline then rode their brakes down even the gentlest slopes.

  Josh spotted a gap and called out, “On your left” as he shot into it.

  The guy on his right swerved. Josh grabbed the man’s handlebar and steadied his bike to keep him from crashing. But instead of thanking him, the old guy cussed him out.

  Josh made sure the obnoxious idiot was balanced before releasing his grip. “When someone says ‘on your left,’ it means move over, not look over your shoulder.”

  “Why do all you young punks think you have to zip along the trail as if your pants are on fire? This isn’t a race track.”

  It’s not a geriatric track either. Josh wasn’t usually rude to old people so he kept that thought to himself. But this guy and his friends were a hazard. “It’d be safer for everyone if you guys rode single file.”

  The old guy flipped him off.

  Josh considered hopping off the trail when he got to the underpass below Twenty-eighth Street. But all it would take to end his racing career, if not his life, was for some jerk reading a text to swerve into the designated bike lane.

  When he got to Stazio Fields, Josh left the bike path and headed south on backroads.

  The more he thought about Diego and the triplets, the less sense it made. He should have been totally freaked out when he woke up in Dad’s house with a room full of strangers. Why hadn’t he called 911, or at least Dad, the instant he woke up?

  Diego must have drugged him. That didn’t explain the missing six months of Josh’s life, or his new and improved body, but there’s no way he would have sat there and listened to Diego’s ridiculous story without totally freaking out unless he’d been sedated.

  Maybe he was the victim of some sort of mind control experiment. Why else would he feel so drawn to a girl he’d never met? Maybe it was a plot to steal his trust fund. Diego claimed he didn’t want Josh’s money, and hadn’t even let him pay for a cab, but that could just be a ploy to get him to trust him. If Diego and Channie could convince Josh he was married to her and that she was in extreme danger then he’d just fork over the whole thing. They obviously didn’t know he couldn’t touch it until he was twenty-one.

  “Great. Add paranoia to the list.”

  By the time Josh got to South Boulder Road, his chest hurt so badly he could barely breathe. He stopped and pulled his phone out of his pocket. The glare from the sun kept him from seeing Channie, but just knowing it was her image on the screen eased the ache in his heart. “Yep. I’m definitely going crazy.”

  He shoved his phone back in his pocket and kicked off. Ordinarily, he would have continued on to Cherryvale, since it had less traffic, but something inside him insisted he head east on the more direct route into Louisville. He turned right onto McCaslin Boulevard without thinking about it then veered off into the neighborhood surrounding Harper Lake. Josh rubbed his aching chest and pedaled harder. When he passed the Louisville Rec Center, he knew where he was going. Heritage Park. He just didn’t know why.

  ~***~

  Josh dismounted in front of a slightly neglected house on West Juniper Court, next to the park. The weird light in his chest pulsed as he stared at the far right window on the second floor. He considered knocking on the door, just to see who lived there. But it looked empty. And even if it weren’t, what was he su
pposed to say? Hey, I have this weird feeling about your house. Mind if I have a look around?

  He pushed Dad’s bike along the gravel path that led into the park. The ride to Heritage Park had taken a little over two hours, but Josh wasn’t any closer to figuring out what the hell was going on. He leaned the bike against the concrete building that housed the bathrooms then filled his water bottles from the drinking fountain.

  He sat at the same picnic table that he and Eric had been sitting at last night…no. Not last night. Six months ago. The yellow and purple crocus blooming in the planter box next to the playground meant it was spring, not fall.

  He pulled out his phone and stared at the wedding photo. He enlarged it until Channie’s face filled the screen. “Who are you? And what sort of spell have you cast over me?”

  Josh laughed. “Spell. Yeah, right.”

  He needed to talk to someone. Someone he knew. Someone he could trust. And someone that wouldn’t haul his ass off to the emergency room which meant someone other than Mom or Dad.

  He didn’t want to explain anything over the phone, so he texted Kassie.

  Need 2 talk. 911 Heritage Park.

  She responded immediately. On my way.

  Josh met her at the parking lot behind the baseball diamond. His jaw dropped when she got out of the car. “You…you’re…pregnant!”

  “No shit, Sherlock. What’s up?”

  “I…I…”

  “Josh?” Kassie’s eyebrows puckered. “What’s wrong. Where’s Channie?”

  “Oh god. It’s real.”

  “What’s real? You’re scaring me.”

  Josh wrapped his arms around Kassie. Her baby kicked him. You couldn’t fake that. “Let’s go sit down. You aren’t going to believe this.”

  Josh led her to the picnic tables and told her about waking up in Dad’s basement with no memory of how he got there. He told her about finding Diego and the triplets. He told her about his amnesia. He told her that Channie’s mother forced her to leave and that Diego believed she was in danger.

  He did not tell her Diego’s wild story about how Channie’s mom had forced him to kidnap Josh to save his own family. He didn’t tell her about Abby’s murder or Diego’s claim that Josh had magical abilities.

  The color drained from Kassie’s face. “Why didn’t you go with Diego? You have to find Channie!”

  “Do you think she’s in danger?” Josh’s stomach twisted.

  “Her parents are horrible!” Kassie’s eyes filled with tears. “I can’t believe you just let her go.”

  “I don’t know what happened, but I do know that I didn’t let her go.” Light pulsed out of the center of Josh’s chest. It lit up the side of Kassie’s face, but she didn’t react. She didn’t even blink. Josh lowered his voice to a whisper, even though the park was deserted. “Do you see anything…weird?”

  “Like what?”

  Like a golden glow pulsing out of my chest? If she did, she would have mentioned it already. Josh didn’t want to freak Kassie out any more than he already had by getting into the whole magic thing. So he raised his right arm and flexed. “Like, how I’ve bulked up.”

  “You came back from Arkansas like that.” Kassie smirked and elbowed his ribs. “You left a boy and came home a man.”

  “You think I lost my “V” card?”

  Kassie frowned. “You really don’t remember?”

  Josh shook his head. Of all the things to forget, why did it have to be that?

  Kassie rested a hand on her baby bump. “What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know.” Josh propped his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. “I guess I should have gone with Diego.”

  Kassie moved her hand to Josh’s shoulder. “You don’t know him very well.”

  “I don’t know him at all.”

  “Why don’t you call Hunter?”

  “The stripper I shared an apartment with in Vegas?”

  Kassie’s eyes widened. “Hunter’s a stripper?”

  “According to Diego. He also claimed that Hunter gave Channie and me a sack full of money before we left Vegas…he thinks I left it in my car.” Even with the keys poking his thigh, Josh found it hard to believe that Dad had finally caved and given him a car. “Do I have a car?”

  “Yeah. Uncle Ezra gave it to you after Channie broke up with you.”

  “Channie broke up with me?” Josh’s voice cracked.

  “Yeah, but it was before you guys got married.” Kassie grabbed Josh’s hand and hopped off the picnic table. “Come on.”

  Josh stood up. “Where are we going?”

  “To get your money.”

  Josh locked Dad’s bike in the rack by the baseball diamond and followed Kassie to her car. She chattered nonstop as she drove, filling in some of the gaps in Diego’s story. Most of those gaps concerned Kassie and her relationship with Hunter.

  She glanced at Josh and caught him staring at the wedding photo on his phone. “I can’t believe you haven’t already made that your screensaver.”

  “Might as well make it my wallpaper, too.” Josh’s heart warmed as he made the switch. “I can’t believe I’m really married. How did that affect my racing career?”

  Kassie cringed and sucked in a quick breath. “Yeah, about that…”

  ~***~

  Josh couldn’t breathe. His entire body was a ticking time bomb. “Pull over.”

  “Josh…”

  “Now!”

  Kassie pulled off the road and unlocked the doors. “Are you sick?”

  Josh bolted out of the car without answering. If he opened his mouth, he’d scream. He wanted to hit something. He wanted to kill something. An old oak tree drew his attention. Without realizing what he was doing, or why, Josh pointed at the tree. A fluorescent bolt of red light shot out of his hand. The tree exploded.

  Josh stared at his tingling, but uninjured, palm then shifted his gaze to Kassie.

  Her eyes, and mouth, were matching circles of astonishment.

  Josh rubbed his palms on his thighs. “You saw that?”

  “It’s kind of hard to miss an exploding tree.” She swiveled her head and scanned the sky. “There’s not a single cloud, anywhere. And no thunder. Did you hear any thunder?”

  “Um…no.”

  “I didn’t see any lightning either. Did you?”

  “No.” Nothing but a red bolt of energy shooting out of his bare hand that, apparently, no one but he could see.

  Josh walked over to the blackened hole in the ground, all that remained of the old tree. He glanced at his still tingling palm then fisted his hand. What would have happened if he hadn’t gotten out of the car in time? Would he have hurt Kassie? Or her baby? The thought tied his stomach into knots.

  Kassie tugged on Josh’s hand. “Let’s go see if we can find that sack of money.”

  Neither of them spoke until they got to the nearly empty parking lot at Monarch High. Kassie parked next to a cherry red Rav4 and cut the engine. She circled his car like a shark, peeking in the windows. “I can’t see inside. Unlock it.”

  Josh fumbled the keys out of his pocket and pressed the middle button on the fob. Kassie yanked the back passenger side door open and crawled inside. “Holy shit!”

  She backed out dragging a lumpy pillowcase. She plunged her hand into the bag and pulled out a fistful of bills.

  Josh grabbed the sack of money and shoved it back in the car. “Are you crazy? What if someone sees this?”

  “Hey, I’m not the one that hauled it to school in the back of my car.”

  Josh shoved his hands in his hair. “I have no idea where this money came from. What if it’s stolen? What if it’s drug money? What if—”

  Kassie pinched Josh’s lips shut. “Why don’t you just call Hunter and ask him?”

  Josh lifted his chin, freeing his mouth. “I don’t know Hunter. How about you call him for me?”

  Kassie pressed her lips together and shook her head.

  “Why not?”


  “That son of a bitch asked me to marry him and then disappeared without so much as a word.”

  “He asked you to marry him?” What was wrong with everyone? “You’re not even out of high school.”

  “Neither are you.” Kassie huffed and crossed her arms over her baby bump.

  “I need to go get Dad’s bike. Meet me at Mom’s, okay?”

  “Oh, hell no. I’m not getting caught in that crossfire.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You moved in with Uncle Ezra when Aunt Marge refused to let Channie in the house.”

  “Mom and I are fighting?” Josh couldn’t imagine things getting so bad that he’d move out.

  “You gave up racing and got married, what do you think?”

  “I think I’m screwed.”

  Chapter Two

  REVELATIONS

  Hunter didn’t even bother counting the night’s haul before he shoved the money into the pillowcase in the back of his closet. It’d been at least two weeks since he’d strengthened the touch-me-not spell on the sack of live mistletoe he used to protect his stash. He was too tired to deal with it tonight. He stripped out of his clothes and crawled into bed.

  But he couldn’t fall asleep. He couldn’t stop thinking about Channie and Josh. They’d all agreed that it would be safer to not call each other unless it was an emergency. Extreme loneliness didn’t qualify. He couldn’t even call Ms. Stephanie for a quick roll in the sack. That was a one-way deal. Hunter was on call twenty-four hours a day, and by gawd, he’d better not keep her waiting. He knew her most recent gift, a Kawasaki ZX-14R, wasn’t just to make him happy. It was to cut down on the time it took for him to answer her booty calls.

  Sex with Ms. Stephanie was fun. That woman knew all sorts of tricks. But it was a temporary distraction, and left Hunter feeling more lonely than ever. He laced his fingers behind his head and studied the cracks in the ceiling. He wondered if Kassie missed him at all. He wished she hadn’t dumped his sorry ass.

  “This is stupid.” Hunter punched his pillow then got out of bed and took a quick shower. He didn’t bother shaving his face, or anything else. Ms. Stephanie insisted that he keep his entire body as smooth as a baby’s butt. One trip to the waxing salon was all it took for him to know that wasn’t for him. If she called, he’d let it go to voicemail and claim his battery died. He was in no mood to entertain Ms. Stephanie.