“Fifteen, sir,” I answered.
He dropped his spoon. It clanked on the bowl.
“Isn’t someone looking for you out there?” he asked.
“No. My mother was killed when I was five. My adoptive parents died almost a year ago, and everyone else I’ve ever cared about is gone.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“There’s nothing I can do about it now. Manny told me I should move forward and be kind. And to always pay it forward. That’s what I want,” I said.
“What is it you want?” he asked.
“To be kind,” I said.
➣ Chapter 16
A Place To Put My Head
Jefferies had given me a fluffy pillow with a fresh pillowcase, a clean sheet for the twin-size bed, and a heavy blanket and told me it gets a little colder at night in here. He said he’d bring his wife with him tomorrow, and she’d make me some breakfast, and we’d make decisions about my future. He told me I’d be safe. That there was a security system and not to go outside until he came back in the morning or the alarm would go off.
I told him I wouldn’t go anywhere and that I’d see him in the morning.
I got under the covers and pulled them up to my chin. The mattress wasn’t too comfortable, but it was all right. I was too exhausted to care. I fell asleep after some tossing and turning. I had only thoughts of Jamie that night. It was the last time I had gotten to see him in my dreams.
In the morning, I woke to light coming from under the door and some light moving around. I was up on my feet and looking through the diamond-shaped cloudy window. I saw Jefferies moving around in the kitchen that was right off the bar. He swung the door open and started talking to someone in the bar.
I stretched my hearing out.
“He’s not up yet,” he said.
“Oh, that’s too bad. I wanted to meet him.”
“You will. But just remember Mac Lir said he’s been through a lot. We’ve got to give him time and space.”
“He’s just a boy. He needs love and support,” the woman said.
Her tone made the corner of my mouth tilt upward. That was the same tone Diane had with John. Loving and strict. I missed them. Wished I hadn’t been the one to cause their deaths. I hadn’t wanted Jefferies and his wife to get hurt because of me. I’d make sure of it this time. They wouldn’t pay for my mistakes.
I gathered my courage and walked through the door. I could hear them even better now without having to stretch out my hearing. I pushed through the swinging door and into the open bar. They both turned around and looked right at me. The woman covered her mouth with a gasp, and Jefferies pulled her into his side.
“Striker, this is my wife, Jean. She’s feeling a little overwhelmed this morning. So don’t mind her.”
I nodded.
“I was thinking we’d make some eggs and bacon. Jean slices her own bacon, so it’s nice and thick. Tastes delicious. You hungry?” Jefferies said.
I nodded and said, “Yes, sir.”
“How about you and Jean get started on that bacon, and I’ll get everything turned on and up and running out here,” Jefferies offered.
I nodded.
Jean made an excited squeaking sound that was barely noticeable, but I heard it. I followed her back to the kitchen, where she started to pull out two pans and then went to a business-sized cooler and pulled out a hunk of meat. I could smell it the moment she unwrapped it. I wanted it right then and there.
She got out a knife, and I backed up. But when she started to cut the bacon and lay one piece in one direction then one in the other direction over it, I settled down. She wasn’t there to hurt me. There was no reason for me to be wary about Jefferies or Jean.
She placed the thick cut bacon into the skillet. Adding some crushed sea salt and—I sniffed the air—maple syrup. She turned around to me and smiled over her shoulder.
“It’s the sweet and salty that makes it perfect,” she whispered as if it were the biggest secret.
I smiled back at her.
“How about you grab the eggs?” she said, nodding her head in the direction of the refrigerator.
“All right,” I said and walked over to the refrigerator.
I pulled out a huge tray of at least four dozen eggs and brought it over to her.
“Good. Right over there is a bowl. Let’s crack… I don’t know… how about ten eggs. I think both you boys have big appetites,” she said as Jefferies walked through the swing-door and looked to see how breakfast was coming.
“I’m getting hungry,” he said, patting his belly.
“Well, we’re getting it all ready.” She nodded her head toward the bowl and said, “You better get to cracking.”
“Oh, yeah,” I said and picked up the first egg.
I remembered helping Diane with breakfast. She would have me crack the eggs just like this. Then take a fork and whisk them together. She taught me how to make an amazing omelet.
I had cracked the ten eggs and then she put a fork in my hand as if she’d done it a thousand times before then. I started to whisk them together, and then she sprinkled in some salt and pepper with her fingers.
“Diane used to do that,” I whispered.
“Who’s Diane?” she asked.
“Diane and John were my adopted parents that took me in after my mom was killed. They died almost a year ago,” I explained.
She looked at Jefferies and sniffled.
“I’m so sorry you’ve had such a hard time. But we’re here. We’ll take good care of you.” She leaned in to give me a hug, but I pulled away. “That’s okay. You don’t have to.”
She took the bowl from me and poured it into the bacon grease. It sizzled and cooked quickly. I was really hungry as I watched Jean scramble it together and then scoop it out into a bowl.
“You boys grab some plates and forks, and I’ll bring it over.”
We sat and ate breakfast just like I had when I lived with Diane and John. They really were great people. Jefferies and Jean seemed to be a lot like them. Perhaps I’d be able to fit in among people who weren’t mac tire or ogre and who didn’t have any connections to the mystics.
➣ Chapter 17
Living In Peace
I celebrated my sixteenth birthday with Jean and Jefferies, and then I spent my next five with them too. They wanted me to move in with them in their home, but as time went on and I kept saying no, they finally gave up. I didn’t want them to get hurt because I let them get too close. It was going to be what kept them alive.
When I turned eighteen, Jean pushed me to get my GED. She helped me study before and after work at Twisted Belly. I found out why Twisted Belly was called Twisted Belly my first night cleaning the bar. A bunch of college age kids came in and drank something called Twisted Pig. It is what the Twisted Belly is known for, and it will knock you down and twist you inside out. With my advanced senses, I could hear it giggling and twisting inside of their bellies. They barely made it outside before everything in their bellies were turning and twisting and up-chucking behind the garbage bins.
Now that I was old enough to drink and serve the liquor behind the bar, I got upgraded to be a bartender. After being behind the bar for a few months, I saw an angel walk in through the door. I looked up when I caught a glimpse of her light blonde hair and lips as rosy as Snow White’s. She came up to the bar and sat down her wallet then looked around and sighed.
“Hey, can I get ya’ something?” I asked.
I needed her to speak to me.
She looked up through her eyelashes and smiled at me. Her perfectly straight, white teeth peeking out from her red lips in a coy smile.
She was beautiful. A genuine angel.
“Um… just a water. Please,” she said.
“Sure thing.” I moved to get her a glass of water.
She continued to look around the bar. She hadn’t let her beautiful blue eyes focus on anything specific. I came back over to her with the glass and set down a square
napkin in front of her then her water.
“Are you looking for someone?” I asked, hoping I’d get her attention one more time.
“My friends. But I don’t see any of them.”
She twisted her lips together and wiggled her nose back and forth like Samantha on Bewitched.
I chuckled.
She turned back around to me, quirked her head and said, “Did I say something funny?”
Her tone was harsh. I definitely pissed her off by laughing.
“No, uh… you twitched your nose like a witch.”
“Excuse me?” she snapped.
“That’s not what I meant. I’ve been watching Bewitched. Samantha does the same thing with her nose… It’s cute.” I rushed to explain but felt heat travel to my face and ears with embarrassment.
“Oh.” She giggled.
It was like music to my ears. That was when I looked back up and was she…? She was checking me out. I’d had women come in and flirt with me before, but none of them kept my attention the way that this angel did.
I reached out my hand for hers and said, “Striker.”
“What?” She laughed. “No. Your name isn’t Striker, is it?” She giggled then snorted at the end. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. That was rude.” She held out her hand and took mine. “Lucy.”
“Lucy,” I repeated. “I like it. It suits you.”
She snorted again, and with that, she had my heart in her hand, and then she said, “Is your name really Striker?”
I chuckled. “Everyone calls me Striker. But William is printed on my birth certificate.”
I happened to know that specifically. Jean had helped me obtain it after I had turned eighteen so that I could get a driver’s license without the state taking me away from them. I hadn’t wanted to be found by anyone in my clan or any mac tires. I wanted to be normal, even though I was everything but.
“I like Striker. I think it fits you quite nicely,” she said.
“Thanks. I think Lucy works for you too.” I cleared my throat and went for it. “Would you want to get dinner sometime… with me?”
She giggled. “I’d really like that.”
***
Within that year, she had agreed to marry me. We hadn’t spent a day apart from each other. My heart pulled toward her when she was not near me, and I could feel when she needed me. Jean and Jefferies threw us a wedding in their backyard, and then we had a reception at the bar.
I didn’t think I could be more in love with a woman than the way I felt about Lucy. We spent our honeymoon at Nigra Falls, and when we got back, we moved into a little one bedroom apartment near Jefferies and Jean. Lucy was finishing up her degree to become a social worker and help the kids that had pasts like mine. She inspired me to do more.
Two years into our marriage, Lucy found out that she was pregnant. I was over the moon. But scared. I’d never thought about what would happen if Lucy and I had a child. Would they be ogre or mac tire? Or could they get lucky and be completely human?
My wolf hadn’t come back or urged me to let it run since Jamie. My wolf was gone, and with my ogre temper, I wasn’t put into any kind of situation where I’d let that side of me out for anyone to see. Nobody knew the real me, and I was going to do everything in my power to keep it that way.
“Striker, what are we going to do about this place? We’re going to need at least another bedroom,” Lucy said to me one night when she was doing all her pregnancy cleaning and reorganizing.
I moved toward her and gathered her in my arms. As I swayed with her back and forth, I said, “I promise we will get anything and everything your heart ever desires.”
She placed her hands on my arms and tilted her head back into my chest and said, “All I ever want is this right here.”
“Me too. You and that little bean.”
“That little bean is more like a watermelon now.” She laughed.
“She is,” I said.
She turned around in my arms and gasped.
“Oh, shit. Babe, I’m sorry,” I said, covering my mouth.
“I thought we were going to wait to find out the gender. When did you find out?”
“I saw on the paperwork at the last ultrasound.”
“You mean you peeked?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, sounding ashamed.
She laughed. “Fine, I guess Taylor will work either way.”
“Taylor?” I responded.
“Yeah, do you like it?” she asked, looking up at me with those big ocean blue eyes.
“I love it,” I replied and leaned down to kiss her.
➣ Chapter 18
What You Once Had Is Now Gone
“Daddy, come watch me,” Taylor called out from the driveway where she was sitting on her bike, ready to ride without the training wheels.
She’d been practicing for months and begging me longer to take them off of her Barbie bike Grandpa Jefferies and Grandma Jean had gotten her for her fifth birthday a couple of months ago.
“I’ll be right there,” I called out as I finished draining the oil out of Lucy’s car for her oil change.
I wiped my hands on an old rag and walked out of the carport to watch Taylor on her bike as she rode without her training wheels.
I clapped and hooted as she rode around in circles like a pro. Lucy came out to see what all of the commotion was and smiled with pride at seeing our little girl accomplish what she had been trying so hard to do.
“Great job, Baby!” Lucy called out to Taylor.
Taylor looked up from her bike with the biggest smile on her face. We were so proud of her.
“T, honey, do you want to come with me to the grocery store?” Lucy asked her.
“YES!” she shouted and jumped off of her bike as it dropped to the side of the driveway and partially in the grass.
“Take my truck,” I said, reaching into my jeans pocket and pulling out the keys and placing them in her outstretched hand.
“Is there anything you want?” she asked, taking the keys.
“Some chocolate chip cookies,” I said, snuggling against her.
“No, stop, you’re all greasy.” She squirmed against me as I kissed her cheek and she giggled.
“Never. I’ll never stop loving you.”
She relaxed into my arms and kissed me straight on the lips. When she pulled back from me, she put her hand over my heart and said, “I’ll never stop loving you.”
“Mommy, I’m ready,” Taylor called out and went running for my truck.
I buckled Taylor into her booster seat and then closed the door. I watched them as they pulled off of the driveway and down the street.
I went back to Lucy’s car and finished up the oil change. When I went inside to wash up, I felt a bolt of panic hit me directly in my heart. I was knocked off my feet and couldn’t breathe.
“Lucy,” I breathed out.
My heart beat harder, and my blood was boiling. I felt the change happen before I saw it, but I took off on foot, knowing I would be able to get there faster on foot with my mac tire speed and ogre strength. I’m sure I looked like a beast running to where my heart was pulling me.
When I saw the smoke in the air, I knew I was close. I ran into a scene where bystanders were helping to get them out. My truck was completely totaled. I stretched my hearing out and only heard one heartbeat from my truck. I ran over and pushed my way through the men trying to open the passenger side door.
When they caught sight of me, they cracked up in fear. I grabbed the door by the frame and pulled it completely off the hinge. I reached in and picked up Taylor. She had a gash on her head and blood dripping down the side of her face. I knelt down, protecting her with my body, and trying to wake her, but it was no use. Her heart had stopped.
I roared out in anguish.
I looked around, trying to find Lucy. They had already pulled her out of my truck, and they had placed her body in the grass while they tried to get Taylor out. I stood, Taylor in my arms, and drug myself o
ver to my Lucy. I held both of them until I had to let them go.
The police had told me that it was a drunk driver. He hadn’t survived the crash. He had been thrown from his vehicle and died on impact.
Jefferies and Jean came to me the moment they found out. I told them I couldn’t do it anymore. I needed time and space. I needed my family, and I was never going to be with them ever again.
“Striker, you can’t just run away from this,” Jean said.
“I’m not running. I just can’t let anything happen to anyone else I care about, and the only way I know how to do that is to not care for anyone ever again.”
“No, Striker. Love is everything. I know you’ve been through so much…”
“Jean, please,” I begged her to stop. I couldn’t take anymore. “I just need to be alone.”
***
I buried my wife and baby girl on a rainy, cold day. Jean and Jefferies held each other tight, and Lucy’s parents sobbed uncontrollably. I had let them get taken away. I couldn’t protect them even though I had vowed to keep them safe. I felt my blood pumping hard. I felt failure.
“Striker, it’s going to be all right,” Jean whispered to me.
I hadn’t said anything back. I watched as they lowered them into the ground and then walked away. I had already packed up my things and left a note for Jefferies and Jean. I left them our house to rent out for extra income and told them that they could sell everything.
I sold Lucy’s car and got a motorcycle and took off.
I had never intended on returning to Wisconsin. Too many memories and too many dreams never fulfilled.
➣ Chapter 19
Alone
I ended up somewhere in the Nevada desert a week later. I was dehydrated and starving. I also wanted to die. But I knew I wasn’t good enough of a man to be with Lucy or Taylor on the other side. I had taken lives with my bare hands, and I hadn’t felt remorse.
A Beast Among Gods (The Mac Tire Chronicles) Page 7
