by Lynn Red
Then again, maybe not. After all, Rex’s neighbor, about four cells down, was Davis Edgewood.
Rex let the corner of his lip curl in another smile and he slid the picture back in his wallet. The guy who booked him in and put him in his cell let him keep all his things. It was a tacit sort of apology for putting him in there in the first place, Rex thought. As apologies go, it was a pretty good one.
Down the way, by the entrance to the jail, the door creaked and a sliver of moonlight crept through. He’d never expected things to go so fast. The way that officer, Ash, was talking, he’d be sitting in the can most of the night for the judge.
“All right,” Rex said to himself, under his breath. “Let’s get this over with. I’m ready for a ticket or some community service or—”
As he watched the person who walked in, he couldn’t believe, couldn’t imagine she was here to take him to the judge.
Suddenly, as he watched her adjust the blue bandana she used to hold her tan and black hair back, Rex for some reason forgot about all that stuff with him swearing loneliness and chastity to keep from getting hurt. Something about the way she moved, the way she walked... he couldn’t get enough.
She was wearing these thick, horn-rimmed black glasses that didn’t exactly fit her face, and as she started down the hallway, he thought maybe he saw each of her eyes glint a slightly different color.
Falling down the side of her head, cascading about three inches down the woman’s cheek past the bandana was a shock of white. Rex had to look twice to make sure it wasn’t something attached to the bandana, but no – it was part of her hair, a part that was either dyed white, or had turned that way on its own. He’d never seen anything like that before.
Then again, he’d never seen anyone like that before.
“You need anything?” she asked, coming up to the bars and putting her small hands on them. “Water? Food? Cooper told me you’re the good guy in this one.”
You, he thought. I want you, he wanted to say.
“I’m kinda hungry,” is what actually came out. “Jail food is... not really the best for bears.”
Three cells down, Davis Edgewood started whistling. She shot a nasty glare in his direction and shook her head. “Glad to see he’s back. It’s hardly a weekend without an Edgewood in here. But you, I’ve never seen before.”
The woman laughed. She had a guarded kind of air about her, but there was a certain care-free breathiness to her smile that made Rex’s chest tighten. He was standing straighter than he usually did, sticking his chest out some. He never did that.
“You’re staring at me,” she said.
“Sorry,” Rex replied, but didn’t stop staring. He couldn’t, not even if he wanted. Something about her was magnetic, even when she raised her left eyebrow.
“The judge,” she said, “he’s not going to be here for another couple of hours. The long days keep him in later. But, since there’re only two of you, I can probably make a run for something if you want. And... just so you know, I don’t usually do this.”
“Why are you offering now?” Rex asked. He dropped the dog tags he realized he was still clenching, and let them fall against his thickly muscled, lightly hair-covered chest.
“I dunno,” she said with a shrug.
The way she smiled and how it made a dimple on one of her lightly freckled cheeks made Rex grin too. It had been a long, long time since he bothered doing that around anyone except Leena.
“Well... thank you,” he said. “I’m not picky. Just some burgers.”
“Some?” she asked, showing him that smile again. “I’m guessing you don’t stop at one.”
“I am what I am,” Rex answered. “When I get out of here, I’ll pay you back. Get me... let’s call it ten. I don’t need much in the way of lettuce. Tomatoes are good though.”
Her hands curled tighter around the bars, and without realizing he was doing it, Rex put his on top of them.
“Onions?” she asked. “Cheese?”
You, he wanted to say. I’d forget all about the hamburgers if I could touch your face, if I could...
“No onions,” is what actually came. “Yes to the cheese. And mayo. If that’s on offer.”
For a long moment, she just stared back at him. He thought that he felt the same flicker behind her eyes that he had, but he also wasn’t sure he hadn’t just gone crazy in the last thirty-four seconds.
“Do I get to make an order, Lilah?” Davis Edgewood screamed from down the hall. “I want something too!”
“Lilah?” Rex asked.
“Yeah?”
“Just checking,” he said. His voice was a low growl. “I... thank you,” he said. “But why are you being so nice to me?”
She shrugged. “I made a promise that I was going to be nice to someone today,” Lilah said. “Kind of a karma thing, you know? Anyway, you’re just the lucky recipient. Cooper said you were here for a good reason. I always feel bad about good people who get caught up in shitty situations. Reminds me of... well, me, I guess.”
At that, Lilah shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said with a laugh. “I’m never this open and out there.”
But her hands were still on the bars. She hadn’t made a single move to pull back or move them. A million things were going through Rex’s mind, not the least of which was that he had to pull back and do it right then. This wasn’t why he came back.
Looking for love is the last thing in the world Rex Lee needed to be doing. He’d had trouble before, and he knew it. When his mate died, he went on a tear he wasn’t exactly proud of going on, and that ended with him in a bigger mess than he ever imagined.
Finally she moved her hands.
It was a relief to have the heat from her hands gone. At least, it let Rex think about something else for a second except those entrancing eyes. Those eyes, he thought. When he looked again, he realized he was right. One of them was almost lavender and the other was brown.
“Ten burgers, no onions, cheese, no lettuce, but you want tomatoes. Right?”
Rex nodded. “I owe you,” he said, as his stomach growled. “Big.”
“I can tell,” Lilah said. “Give me fifteen or twenty. Might be thirty if Mac’s gotta cook all these patties.” She stuck her tongue out a little and it was so cute that Rex almost grabbed her again.
Luckily, he managed to restrain himself. He’d hate to be tried for “grabbing a person through jail bars” along with beating the ass out of Davis Edgewood.
“I... Lilah?” Rex asked. “There must be some reason you’re doing this for me. As far as you know I’m just a rowdy drunk.”
She shook her head. “Nah, the rowdy drunk is three cells down from you. Like I said, I promised someone I was going to be nice today. Kind of a self-help thing, you know? Anyway, I’ll be back way before the judge is in court. And I’m bringing a receipt, because I’m serious about you paying me for these burgers.”
Before he could answer, Lilah turned around, adjusted her bandana, and walked away.
That walk, he thought, almost ashamed at how he was watching her as she went. Why can’t I keep my head straight? What’s she doing to me?
Lilah and the desk guy – Cooper, apparently – exchanged a few words, and he buzzed her out the front door. Cooper scratched himself on the neck, and then, she was gone.
That was it. She was just gone. All those things he felt when he touched her hands, the confusion, the excitement, it was gone. Rex shook his head, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Not now,” he said to himself. “Not now, not ever. I gotta keep my head straight. I can’t do this.”
A couple of minutes passed with him standing at the bars and looking toward the front door until he realized what he was doing. Rex sat back down on the bench, letting out a groan as he did.
In a way, he kind of hoped he’d get called to court before she came back. The burgers he could pay for. His heart? He wasn’t so sure he was ready to face that music.
-5-
/> Lilah
Cooper didn’t bother responding verbally when I told him I was going to get food for Non-screechy Prisoner, whose name I totally forgot to ask. Cooper just sorta grunted and nodded in my general direction and went right back to the crossword he’d been fussing over.
This... was life. Although life didn’t usually involve running errands for guys I’d just met in jail. That part, not so much the norm, but there was just something about him, something I couldn’t place.
I wanted to call someone and ask if I was a nutbar for what I was doing, but I already knew the answer.
Yep.
So instead, I just shook my head a little, made sure my bandana was in the right place, and pulled into Mac Tamblin’s Grill parking lot. This was the sort of place with a Coca-Cola sign – we’re not talking fancy. But, damn if Mac doesn’t make a damn fine hunk of ground beef.
As soon as I hopped out of the car, my nose started tingling. A scent I wasn’t expecting flooded my nostrils – the scent of nothing. No greasy grill, no sweet scent of frying onions.
“Oh shit,” I cursed, fishing the phone out of my pocket. “Great.”
Five past nine, I thought. Of course it’s five past nine.
The big sign on Mac’s front door proudly stated DOORS CLOSE AT NINE GRILL GOES OFF AT EIGHT FORTY-FIVE and as long as I’d been alive, it was true. It was actually great to work at Mac’s like just about everyone did at some point in their lives. I waited tables at a few places in my day, but never at one that was empty the second the door was locked.
Still, I was in a little bit of a pickle. Wait, did he want pickles? Or had I forgotten to ask. I guess it didn’t matter all that much.
Anywhere else, I could’ve just hopped in the car and swung down to the Burger King, but in Jamesburg? The options were a lot more limited. After dark, which was quickly approaching, Jamesburg just shuts down. Except for The Tavern, and a couple of restaurants, the streets were bare.
It was for the best, really, because... well otherwise, the streets would be bear.
I made myself laugh, then snort slightly, thinking about a roving pack of bears coming out and rifling through all the trash.
And one of those bears would have turned his huge head toward me, let those gorgeous, amber and tan eyes caress me as he held me in his gaze. Then he’d walk over to me, stand up and pin me against a wall, and—
Whoa, whoa, whoa, I’ve got way more important things to think about right now. For instance – how to get those hamburgers with Mac closed. Burgers, I thought. Gotta keep my mind on the burgers.
Back behind the building, I heard an old truck engine rev up and roll out. That would be Mac. And now, this place was empty.
Completely, totally empty.
I was having thoughts I didn’t want to have about climbing up the side of this building, breaking in and... cooking ten hamburgers with cheese, tomatoes, and mayo, but without the lettuce.
I hated doing things like this, even though I was so good at doing them. I spent half my life running from empty building to empty building, stealing to eat, stealing to live. When the Jorgensons took me in, I swore off this kind of stuff, and stuck to it, mostly.
When I slipped into my old ways, I always felt really bad about it, but sometimes nature just got the best of me. Nature, training, upbringing, whatever it was.
Sighing heavily, I took a deep breath. I promised burgers, so burgers I was going to deliver.
And anyway, I’d leave the money for Mac. I was just borrowing his grill.
I pushed my glasses up and tightened my bandana, then proceeded to roll up the legs on my jeans and my shirt sleeves.
I’d broken in here once before, but it was totally sanctioned. Mac somehow managed to lock himself out of his own restaurant with about eight stoves running. My “skill set” had its uses past getting me in trouble.
“Let’s see if I can remember,” I said to myself softly. “Foothold here.”
I curled my toes around a little nub of rock sticking out the side of the building and hoisted myself up. Foothold, then a handhold up and to the left, then a foothold.
And then, with a soft under-the-breath swear, I realized I was stuck.
The last time I did this was eight years ago, I thought, realizing I had made it all of three feet off the ground, and the hole in the overhang was still well out of reach. Ten years and ten pounds. Yeah, let’s just call it ten.
This was never going to work.
What in the hell was I doing, and why was I doing it? For some guy I’d known all of five minutes? Whose name I didn’t even know? I blew an impatient puff of air out my nose and shook my head.
I did promise those burgers...
I took a quick look around. Parking lot was totally dark. No one would see. Probably.
Hopping back in my Malibu, I fought my rolled up jeans and unbuttoned my shirt. A few seconds later, I was totally naked in the front seat of my car, sitting in front of a burger joint.
It, er, wasn’t the first time. Although usually that happened in the back seat.
Burgers, I reminded myself. Eyes on the prize.
I giggled as the hair slid out of my pores, and my glasses fell off my shrinking nose, to the floorboard. My hands curled up. I flexed my paws, wiggling my claws, and from my lower back, my long, puffy tail wiggled out.
One last look around the totally empty parking lot to make sure I really was alone.
Climbing sure is easier when you have paws and claws and a tail for balancing.
He better love these burgers.
*
Back in my car, and back in my clothes, I was pretty satisfied with what I’d managed. I left Mac a twenty, plus I wiped down all of his dubiously cleaned grills as a way of saying ‘sorry for breaking into your diner to make food for a prisoner.’
He’d understand, I’m sure.
The whole way back to the lockup, the only thing I could think about – the only thought going through my head – was that I was about to see him again. I was about to let those dark eyes seduce me, to dream about those big, powerful hands sliding up my back. And I was going to hyperventilate if I didn’t get a grip.
But, a little part of me kinda liked not having a grip.
I was usually so grounded and realistic that letting my fantasies get away from me totally was kinda great sometimes, even if I was just setting myself up for a big fall.
By the time I got back to jail, it was a little past ten. I checked my hair, my bandana, my glasses; everything was where it should have been. And then as I stole a last glance in the rearview before heading inside, I got an idea.
“Just a little won’t hurt anything,” I said, sliding my pale pink lipstick gently along my bottom lip. “No one will even notice. Probably. Maybe.”
Grinning at myself, I felt pretty – and that’s not usually a way I can describe myself. But it all worked. My lips played perfectly with my bandana... and even the white shock in my hair didn’t bother me at all right then. Might sound kind of silly, but the way he looked at me, it was almost like he liked everything he saw.
And now I’m boarding the train for crazy town, I thought as I climbed out of my car. He’s not thinking anything about this. He was lonely, you were talking to him, that’s all there is to it. You have other things to worry about – real life, for instance, instead of empty fantasies.
Satisfied with the down-dressing I gave myself, I pulled open the door and smiled at Cooper, making sure to pull my bottom lip in just enough that if he bothered to look he wouldn’t see the pink splash of color.
He just grunted, nodded, and buzzed me through. “Judge is here, little girl,” he said. “He’s comin’ in a few minutes. Better make sure your boyfriend can eat fast.”
“Oh, okay,” I said. “Thanks.” And then it hit me that he called this guy my boyfriend. I chose to not dignify that with a response.
I turned, almost burning with anticipation, my stomach clenching. I nervously adjusted my bandana-armor.<
br />
“Hey, Lilah?” Cooper’s voice jolted me out of my obsessing. “Mind if I get one a’ them burgers? I didn’t think I was hungry, but damn if they don’t smell good.”
But he wants ten! If I only give him nine, he... he probably won’t care at all. I gotta calm down. I gotta get myself under control.
“They’re all the same,” I said. “Cheese, tomatoes and mayo. No lettuce, no onions.”
“Just like I like ‘em,” Coop said. “Thanks. It’ll keep my breath nice and fresh without them onions.”
With a... fairly upsetting level of excitement, if I’m being honest, he tore in, groaning and moaning. “Damn, that’s good!” he called out, after me.
Softly, I padded up to the cell and stared at the guy in front of me. He had these huge shoulders, and a neck that looked like a tree trunk. Around each of his eyes lay an intricate series of tattoos that ran down his cheeks. Even if I hadn’t known what he was deep down inside, he had the marks of a bear all over him. His forearms, bare where he’d rolled up his sleeves, were lined with the markings of his clan though I didn’t know enough to tell which it was.
Around his neck hung a pair of dog tags on a thin, beaded chain – Army issue. Or Marines? I couldn’t ever tell – hell, I didn’t even know if there was a difference. As I stood there, unashamedly watching this hulk of a bear, he turned a picture over in his hands and looked at something scribbled on the back.
“She’s pretty,” I said, for lack of anything remotely intelligent to offer. “That your daughter?”
A daughter? For some reason, the thought of a little cub in this guy’s arms was almost too much. He couldn’t have been much older than me, though the lines on his face told me he’d at least as rough of a life as I had.
“Yeah,” he said, smiling and sliding the picture back into his wallet before standing up and coming over to the bars.
I hadn’t even realized I was resting one of my hands on them until I felt the heat from his finger against the side of my hand.
I... felt like an idiot. Just that little hint of his touch was enough to make me all google-eyed. I looked down and closed my eyes tight to try and bury as much of my ridiculousness as I could. Opening them, I looked back up and saw him watching me.
