Stealing Joy

by Lulu M. Sylvian

  He yipped and bounced away from her. She laughed and returned to my foot.

  “Something tells me that’s why you had no problems with Doggo in the hospital bed with me.”

  She laughed. I liked her.

  “Yeah. One, I’m not afraid of the hairy brutes, and two, I’m a private nurse.”

  I cocked my head and scrunched up my eyebrows.

  “You didn’t know that? Yeah, Gage has me work with people in custody. I mean, I’m a hospital employee, but I have an in with the Sheriff’s Office. He knows I’m good with difficult situations.”

  “Are you saying I’m difficult?” I squeaked as she did something to my foot.

  “Hardly. The guys, however, they’re being difficult. Max was not letting anyone near you. Gage was as snarly but in human form. I finally had to put my foot down and insist on no more than two of them at any given point in time. And only Max, no other animals.”

  Before I could ask her to elaborate, Jade knocked and then pushed open the door. “Hey, gimpy! You ready to become a redhead again?”

  Was I ready? Two weeks and I was beginning to forget what I had looked like before.

  “Hells yeah, I’m ready. Bring it on.”

  Tracey laughed at us, and I forgot to ask her more about why the guys were all weird around me.

  Jade bounced on the foot of the bed.

  I winced.

  Tracey must’ve seen it because, in no time, she was handing me my favorite dose of Motrin and a cup of water.

  Jade dumped her arm full of goodies on my lap—dandruff shampoo, vitamin C pills, a small mixing bowl, and slightly bigger mixing bowl, a spoon, cling wrap.

  “How is this going to help?” I asked picking up the dandruff shampoo.

  “I’m not a licensed hairdresser for nothing. There are no beauty supply stores in town and even if there were since we’re all on house arrest, I can’t go. So we make do with what we cobbled together.” Jade rubbed her hands together like a mad scientist.

  “Are you going to need the shower chair?” Tracey asked.

  “Yeah, probably.” Jade nodded.

  Tracey disappeared into the bathroom for a moment. “All set up. I’ll be back to check on you. Will you be a ginge when I get back?”

  “Hey now, don’t go throwing words like ginge around. I believe the proper PC version is ginger-American.”

  “Shut up,” I picked up and tossed the spoon at Jade.

  “Have fun ladies,” Tracey said as she left. Brooks was plastered to her hip. I had forgotten him since he lay down after goosing Tracey.

  Jade opened the vitamin C and poured five or six tablets into the small mixing bowl. She handed it to me with the spoon. “Crush these up as small as you can make them. While you’re doing that, I’m going to get us some ice cream.” She jumped up and left me to my grinding. Mark slid into the room. I wasn’t used to seeing him alone.

  “Is Jade around?”

  “She’s getting ice cream. If you wait a minute I’m sure she’ll be back.”

  He shuddered. “Naw, I’ll leave this here for her.” He looked at me funny and made sure I saw where he placed a razor on the counter near the medical stuff Tracey had set up. “Fresh blades, just as she asked. She can toss the blades; I will need the handle back at some point.”

  “Okay, thanks.” I didn’t really think about it until he was on the other side of the door. Why had he shuddered? Why had he given me the stink eye? Why a razor? Did I need to shave my legs that badly?

  I looked down. Nope, my legs seemed fine to me. I tucked my hand into my armpit. Oh yeah, those were getting fuzzy.

  My jaw dropped open and I could feel the flush spread across my face. Right, shaving would be healthier than trying to strip the color. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I mean I know most chicks my age go bald, and a lot of the guys I dated seemed to really like it that way. But bodies came with hair for a reason. I’d have to think on that—brown pubes or none at all. How could I ask Gage on the sly what he preferred? He had some nice chest hair going on. I bet he didn’t mind a little body fuzz.

  Jade came back with a huge bowl of pure vanilla ice cream. I know, right? Everything in my life was a riot of color and sensation. But I swear, nothing beats a bowl of unadulterated perfect vanilla ice cream. No chocolate sauce, no cherries, nothing, just sweet, sweet creamy vanilla.

  “Yum.” I put the grinding of the vitamin C tablets down and got a whiff of orange flavored dust up my nose. I snorted trying to clear my nose of the offending powder.

  Jade picked up the pulverized vitamins and began blending in the shampoo.

  “Is that really going to work?” I asked between bites.

  “I’m a witch, what do you think?”

  I gave her a level glare.

  She said nothing for a full thirty seconds. “Okay, so I saw this on Youtube. If it doesn’t work, it won’t hurt your hair. The only other option we have until I can get you to a salon is to bleach it. And you won’t be any happier with that than you are right now.”

  The goo she pasted in my hair smelled like chemical oranges. It wasn’t bad, and it smelled a million times better than any bleach I’ve ever had on my hair. I loved the feeling of Jade massaging the concoction into my hair. Hell, I loved the feel of hands in my hair and getting my head scratched.

  That’s probably why I kept getting my hair highlighted and dyed wacky colors all the time, just to have my hair played with.

  “I’m so sorry, Bails.”

  “What?” Part of me wanted to sit up and face Jade. I was afraid my hair was falling out or something. I really shouldn’t move. It had taken some serious pillow jockeying to get me situated where I could relax back, Jade could get to my head, and I could keep the four toe wonder elevated.

  “That you got hurt. The bastard even did your eyebrows.”

  “Yeah, it sucks.” I shrugged. “But you are fixing me. It, you are fixing it.”

  “The skin around your eyebrows is pissed off. Burned. I don’t want to put this mix on there and burn you more. You’re going to have to live with brown for a while. How did he do this to you?” I know she wasn’t seriously asking the physical how, after all, she had heard me tell the FBI that I had have been drugged to have slept through it. And I couldn’t smell anything because I had a bath bomb up my nose.

  “I didn’t notice the eyebrows right away. And by then, I was more concerned with the black eye.”

  Jade lightly touched my brow and cheekbone. “It’s fading, but it’s not pretty. God Bails, you got away. I’m so glad you got away.” She let out a ragged sigh.

  “Hey shut up, no crying. Let’s talk about all the freaking hot men who saved me instead.” I didn’t want to wallow, I didn’t want to live there.

  “You certainly did land yourself one hell of a harem. And I bet Max is a god.”

  “Max is a wolf and I don’t have, ew, not going there.” I shivered all over. Ew.

  “Bailey.”

  I don’t think I ever heard Jade use her serious “mom voice” before. I know she would frequently give Yuki her “mom look” which came before the voice because Yuki would say something about it. But damn. I felt the need to sit up straight and say yes ma’am.

  “You know what he is.” Her voice was flat.

  “Actually, I don’t. Gage won’t tell me. He is saving it for tomorrow. So I’m going to pretend I don’t have any ideas about it because if I start thinking about it, I’m gonna freak out.”

  “How about you don’t freak out over that and start freaking out over the fact you’re so getting laid tomorrow night.”

  “Okay, so it’s not just me?” I squeaked.

  “Gage couldn’t be more obvious unless he had a neon sign embedded in his forehead. He’s not even chill around your parents, and it is cracking me up.”

  I groaned. Mom was weird about sex. “You know she thinks Gordon was my first. And don’t you dare tell her otherwise.”

  “She won’t hear it from me. So y
ou probably don’t want me to tell you…” She stopped for a dramatic pause.

  I stuck my fingers in my ears. “La la la la la la la.”

  She wrapped my head in the cling wrap and wrapped a towel around that.

  “I’m gonna go see if Zeke has any more movies, or do you want to watch the one we saw last night again?”

  The one from last night was an auto-tuned musical nightmare. “Uh no, find something else. How long do I need to keep this in?”

  “About as long as it takes me to find something for us to watch, and for us to watch it.”

  A few movies later Yuki bounced into my room. She was only surrounded by two wolves, instead of the normal three. Doggo and Oz.

  “You look so much more like you,” Yuki said as she tried to get past the wolves and climb up onto the bed with me. She touched and played with my hair. “And it feels so soft. That brown did not suit you at all. Are you feeling better?”

  My hair was almost all the way back to normal. It wasn’t quite as bright, there was still a layer of brown darkening the color, but I was back to orange. The purple and pinks were also seriously faded. Stripped out with the rest of the dye.

  Yuki sat and bounced the whole bed. I smiled. Yeah, I felt a whole lot better. The shower and rinsing of hair had been a bit of a circus, but Jade and I giggled and cackled the entire time. Travis was my hero for the afternoon and he happily lifted me to and from the shower and even fetched an arm full of dry towels when it was all over.

  “Hi, Nurse Brooks,” Yuki called out when Tracey came in. She had the third wolf pasted to her side.

  Brooks was the wolf.

  I looked from Tracey to Yuki to Brooks. I think I made a connection in my head, but not being certain, I didn’t want to say anything too foolish out loud.

  “Are you excited for the new moon? Everyone seems to be all amped up,” Yuki said.

  “Yeah, the new moon is a big time around here,” Tracey answered. “It’s the only time all of the men can get together. So they have a big meal to celebrate. This month, with all of you here, it’s going to be a big party.”

  “Sounds like fun. Do you think I’ll be able to get out of this bed for it?” I groused a little. My feet were hurting. I was keenly aware that my renewed orange coloring made my facial bruises even more vivid. I was cranky.

  “Of course you will be. You’ll have to be carried down, cause I got word from the doc that you are off your feet for at least three days. And you are back on the antibiotics.” Tracey held up and wagged a bag of liquid drugs at me. As she attached the medication to the IV she continued, “You’ll be attached, but the IV pole is mobile. Besides I don’t think Max will let you out of his sight.”

  She finished hooking me up, checked my line and patted my arm. “All set. And I love the ginger-American look. I can see why you were having a hard time with the other.”

  She lifted her brows and wiggled her finger in a circle at my girlie parts. “Did you do down there?”

  Jade sucked in a hiss. “Nope, the lady parts didn’t need to be harassed any further. Bailey is contemplating leaving it and letting it fade and grow out or shaving it.”

  Yeah, this was my life, discussing my dyed short and curlies with my best friends and my nurse. “Ok, so I’m waffling. I’m not a fan of either the color or the ingrown hairs.”

  “Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t. I still vote waxing. R-r-r-rip!” Yuki had a cruel streak in her. She giggled.

  Tracey leaned in, she was trying, and failing at suppressing a smile. “Mind if I’m slightly unprofessional for a moment?”

  I shifted in my spot. Yuki leaned in. Out of nowhere, Jade was by my side with her hands clasped in her lap. I think we all had eager expressions on our faces. Nurse Tracey was going to be inappropriately unprofessional. We live for moments like this.

  She took a big breath in and looked out the door, and then shifted her glance to the wolves carpeting the floor. “Hairy guys don’t mind a little body fur. Gage is clearly not big on the man-scaping.” She made a gesture indicating the visible chest hair at the base of his throat when he was out of uniform and those top three buttons of his shirt were undone.

  She tilted her head to the side with a little shrug.

  The three of us on the bed collapsed in laughter.

  “What’s all the noise going on in here?” Gage stopped in the door frame.

  Oh, he looked nice. His uniform was fresh and pressed. And he did that little curl over his forehead.

  I laughed even harder.

  He stepped into the room.

  “Wow, Bailey.” He came toward me like I had him in a tractor-beam and he couldn’t stop or control his movements.

  Of course, I couldn’t breathe I was laughing so hard. There was the hairy guy of the hour, and all I could think was some random furry comment he made the other day and Tracey motioning about his chest hair.

  “You look nice today, Officer Masterson,” Yuki said sweetly as pie.

  “Thanks Yuki, but it’s just a uniform. I was heading out for the evening and wanted to say bye.” He made it to the side of the bed and reached up before dropping his hand back down.

  I managed to stop laughing, but the smile I had hurt my face. I loved the look on his face as he took me in as a redhead for the first time.

  His jaw was a little slack, and his eyes wide. He closed his mouth with a little grin. He sighed.

  I was a goner, and he was looking at me like he really liked the renewed ginger coloring.

  “God, Bailey.” His eyes moved over my hair and then my face, and back to my hair. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “You like? This is what it’s supposed to look like.” I bit the side of my lip. I think he liked it, but I still needed some confirmation.

  “I like it very much.” He reached up again, and this time he picked up a section of my hair. I died and I went straight to heaven when he pressed his face to my hair and sighed. He kissed it as if he was kissing the back of my hand. “I’ll check in on you when I get home.”

  “Won’t it be late?” I asked. I mean, he was leaving now and it was already afternoon.

  “Is that a don’t bother?” He sounded hurt.

  “Not at all. I’ll be asleep and will miss it, that’s all.”

  “But I won’t, and that’s the point.” He winked at me and I melted.

  “Hey Gage, it wouldn’t bother you if carpet and drapes don’t exactly match would it?” Jade asked with a perfectly straight face.

  I think I stopped breathing.

  Tracey snorted.

  Gage looked up at the window. His brows crinkled, and then rose as he got what Jade was saying. His whole face relaxed into a smile, he nodded and then shook his head. He leveled his gaze on Jade and ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek, pushing it out. He adjusted his posture. “When the drapes are stunning who cares what color the carpeting is, as long as there’s something to keep the toes warm.”

  He turned on his heel and was out the door.

  I was dead, completely dead. Tracey turned her back to us and quaked with laughter.

  Yuki and Jade cackled.

  The furry beasts on the floor actually had the nerve to make complaining woofy sounds.

  12

  I’m not the kind of person who feels energy or can read an aura, but I swear, the air in the lodge vibrated.

  Yuki burst into my room, buzzing with the same energy. “So exciting. Are you excited?”

  “What?” I asked.

  “It’s the first night of the new moon.”

  “The new moon is only one night,” I said. I looked at her like she had an extra head growing between her eyebrows.

  “I know that. Nurse Brooks was telling me they have three nights at the new moon, and three at the full moon. The night before, the night of, and the night after. After that, the pull of the moon is too strong or too weak for the changes to occur.”

  “So what’s supposed to happen?” I asked.

/>   “I don’t know,” she squeaked. But she sure was happy about it.

  It wasn’t until then I noticed there were no animals with her.

  “Where is your flock?”

  She shrugged. “Brooks has been with his Tracey for a couple of days already. Max and Oz went out running or something.”

  Gage stopped at my door. I swear it’s the only way I got to see him anymore.

  He was in uniform.

  “Hey, I thought you were on duty really late last night?” I asked. I hated that he had to work so much. But most people had regular jobs. We didn’t all get to stay in bed for days at a time. I know Zeke and Mark also had jobs. I have no idea what they did. I felt a twinge of guilt realizing I had never asked them. Travis was between seasons, so he wasn’t too worried about working. He told me if he needed any extra cash, he’d pick up handyman work around the local businesses. But, he typically made enough as a guide and instructor in the summer, and once ski season started.

  “I’m headed in early so I can be home tonight. Is that okay with you?” He sounded tense.

  Right, new moon, and—my insides did a certain acrobatic flip—the culmination of a whole lot of freaking flirting. Jade was certain Gage was saving closing the deal until tonight.

  I opened my mouth and closed it again. I couldn’t think of anything snarky to say.

  “I miss seeing you. So if that means I get to hang out with you then I think that’s okay with me.”

  Gage came into the room then. He looked worried. “I can’t promise that’s going to work out, but I’ll do my best.”

  He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. I didn’t want a kiss on the cheek.

  “I thought you… I thought we would, you know?” I whispered. I thought I was thinking it, and that I hadn’t actually said anything out loud.

  His face didn’t leave mine. He rubbed his cheek against mine like some big cat. “I do. Let’s see how tonight goes with Max okay?”

  I nodded, and he was gone before my brain caught up with what he said after ‘I do.’ What the hell does a big wolf have to do with whether or not Gage wants me?