by J. D. Light
Unless… had he used his shifter hearing to listen in on one of my conversations? It seemed unlikely. What could he possibly have wanted to know about me?
After considering him for a moment, watching as he tried not to look awkward and not succeeding a bit, I went back to pulling nails out. When I was done, I tossed the used nails in a plastic bag he had sitting on top of the table, being held down from being caught up in the wind by a drill with a Phillip's-head bit on it.
There were no Phillip's-head screws in sight, so there was no telling what he'd had planned for that thing.
Turning to leave, I paused, sighing, and glanced over my shoulder to look at him.
Had he been checking out my ass? It seemed like a maybe since he jerked his eyes up to my face in a hurry, a blush staining his cheeks, but what the hell for?
Shaking my head, because I had to be imagining things, I threw my head in the direction of the swing. "I know how you and staplers get along, but that's what I would suggest. Kriss-cross the rope under the wood and use several staples to hold each piece of rope in place. It's still not going to be able to hold much weight, but it would probably hold me."
The smile he gave me then was breathtaking. It was everything I'd liked about that boy so many years ago, who'd rushed me to the bathroom to help me clean my face.
"Thanks," he said excitedly, and there was a terrifying moment when I almost said anytime, but managed to control myself.
"Yeah," I said instead, giving him a small smile in spite of myself.
I almost felt lighter as I walked back around the house, and then up the steps to the front porch. I'd been so angry at the sixteen-year-old boy that used to be Asher Douglas for so long, but I'd never even stopped to consider what it was doing to me.
For the first time in a long time, I didn't think of pain and humiliation when I thought of Asher Douglas. I wasn't sure what I felt. The man had tried to make me a swing, because of a conversation he'd overheard years before.
"See!" Kendrick said, practically clapping his hands together and bouncing up and down like an excited teenage girl. "You guys had a nice talk."
I raised an eyebrow, turning to look at Turner. "Were you sitting in here the whole time telling him what we said?"
"Huh?" he asked, playing dumb.
I huffed, trying not to smile at the look on his face. "Right."
"So, about dinner?" Kendrick said, sliding in front of me and grinning like an idiot while batting his eyes.
"What's going on?" I asked, watching him suspiciously as I reached up and opened the cabinet, pulling a glass down. "You've never been so adamant about trying to get me to hang out with him before. Why now?"
"Huh?" Wow, my brother and his mate were ridiculous and clearly meant for each other.
"Warren," Turner said quietly in that voice he always used when he wanted to have a serious conversation with me, and I tensed. "I didn't want to say anything before, and I know you've been through a lot lately, but are you eating?"
I swallowed, wondering if he'd noticed how thin I was getting, or the shit ton of food I'd thrown out, because it had gone bad in my refrigerator. "Some. Why?"
He glanced sideways at the bag on the table with the lunch they'd brought me in it. "You don't ever seem to eat anymore."
He was right. I hadn't even thought about getting into it, and probably would have just tossed it into the fridge after they left and not gotten it back out until it was time to clean everything out again.
I thought about lying, but if Turner had finally said something, that meant he'd probably been stewing on it a while. I loved him and he'd been amazing in every aspect of my life. I didn't want him to worry about me, especially since he was probably worrying about something else entirely.
"It's not like I'm trying to starve myself or anything." I paused, rolling my eyes. "Not like what you're thinking." I sighed, resting my hip against the front of the sink, glancing through the window to find Asher picking up his mess.
"If you talk about it, it takes away its power, right?" I whispered, swallowing. I looked back over at Turner and my brother, hating the worry I saw on both of their faces. "When I first got taken, the man who kept me thought I was too fit." I laughed, shaking my head. "I had never in my life heard of that, but that's what he said. I had too much muscle. He wanted to thin me up. Soften my overall look."
I licked my teeth, my eyes getting locked on some inane part of the wall behind Turner as I remembered the first day I'd gone without food and the way it had seemed like even my esophagus had ached. "They wouldn't let me eat for nearly a week. I was miserable the whole time. I… I actually cried a few times, because of the gnawing pain."
I gripped the edge of the sink, my eyes shifting to the stainless steel. "I felt weak because of it, for crying in front of those assholes. I'm just trying to prove to myself that if it ever happens again, I can handle it. They won't know next time how much they hurt me." I looked up and through the window again, meeting the eyes of Asher Douglas, and I could have sworn he looked absolutely devastated. "It's what I've always done. Figure out how to make it through the next time."
I held eye contact with the man I'd thought I'd never be able to even look at again, watching his handsome face as he watched mine. I had the strangest urge to tell him everything was going to be okay. He truly looked devastated.
Was it pity? If he'd been listening in and he really was as good a guy as my brother said, there was a definite possibility that he was pitying me just then.
"I want you to stop doing that." Kendrick said, surprising me into breaking eye contact with Asher, and I laughed, turning to roll my eyes at my brother.
"What?" I asked, more than a little shocked, but still amused. "You can't just…"
"Please?" I raised an eyebrow at his tone. If he broke down and started crying, like it sounded like he was about to do. I was going to leave. I didn't think I could take my big, stupid brother's tears. "I know you want to prove how strong you are, and you hate not having some form of control over your life, but you've done it. You survived not eating for nearly a week. You made it. I don't think it will ever happen again. Not with the way everything is going now, but if it does, you know you can survive it. So, just come have dinner with us. You don't have to talk to Asher if you don't want to, but let me see you eat."
I smirked at my brother. "Is this like a kink of yours?"
"Of course, it is," he said, putting his nose in the air. "Nothing turns me on quite like watching my brother masticate his chicken."
Chuckling, I rolled my eyes before sighing. "Fine."
"We aren't having chicken, by the way," Turner said, shaking his head before side eying his mate and curling his lip like he was disgusted with the man. "Especially now."
Chapter Two
I stood at the top of the stairs, frozen to the spot and holding the little glass gorilla in my hand. He came. He actually showed up. Sure, it was just a simple walk across the yard from the pool house to the main house, but he made that walk. I'd been sure he wouldn't. That he would call a few minutes before he was supposed to be here and say he wasn't coming. But he had come.
Buutttt, he wasn't necessarily happy. Mostly because his brother was being manipulative… or trying to be. It really was amazing how horrible at lying the man was.
"You said dinner," Warren said irritably.
Kendrick shrugged, smiling brightly. "It's not ready yet."
Warren eyed him dryly, blinking for several moments before shrugging and turning back toward the door. "Okay, well, I'll just head home, then."
"Warren," Kendrick whined, actually flopping his arms to the side and letting his head fall back on his shoulders like a little kid throwing a fit.
"Kendrick," Warren mocked, making me chuckle.
I tried to cover my mouth, hoping he wouldn't see me yet and therefore run home faster, but I smacked my own hand with the other and sent the little glass figurine flying. It missed the top three steps, but it hit every s
ingle one after that, all the way down, little pieces chipping off as it went.
Everyone turned to watch it make its graceless trek down the stairs, and then all heads moved back up to look at me.
But I only addressed one. "Oh, hey," I said, throwing a hand in the air. "You're here."
A dark eyebrow rose over quickly blinking eyes, and I could swear the corner of his mouth twitched like he wanted to smile. "I am."
"So, the swing didn't turn out." I started down the stairs, stopping to pick the bigger chunks of broken gorilla as I went, cringing at the little slivers that were everywhere.
"Really?" Warren asked dryly, leaning down to pick up the biggest chunk sitting next to his foot.
He frowned down at it, tilting his head to one side and then the other, probably trying to make out what it was supposed to be without part of its head and any of its limbs.
I stopped next to him, looking down at the broken chunk in his hand, hoping he didn't cut himself on it. It kinda looked like a mountain range at that point.
"I bought one," I said, smiling when he looked at me.
Our eyes met and held, and it was just like when we were in school before the incident that ruined everything, when we'd catch each other's eyes, and hold contact longer than was strictly necessary.
He cleared his throat, glancing around at his brother and his brother's mate who were both watching the entire interaction like they were watching their favorite will-they-won't-they couple on some dramatic TV show, with wide eyes and weird smiles on their faces.
"You bought a tree swing?" he asked finally, holding out the figurine for me to take.
I held out my hand and he gently set the jagged piece of glass in my palm, his fingertips brushing the skin there. "Yep," I said huskily, before clearing my throat. "You want to try it out?"
"Uh…" He turned to look at his brother and Turner, probably looking for an excuse to say no, but all they still had on were those stupid expressions of we started to smile, and our faces got stuck half way, so we are just sitting here mouth-breathing. Warren blinked. "Yep."
He actually beat me out of the front door, and though I enjoyed the way his ass looked in those pants, I still chuckled when the door shut behind us, and he sighed like he was relieved. "You're just trying to get away from your brother, aren't you?"
He groaned. "I don't know if it's him being weird, or if I'm being weird." He glanced at me quickly before looking back out in front of him as we rounded the corner of the house. "Okay, I know I'm being weird, but jeez. It hasn't mattered for the two years you guys have worked together whether you and I are friends. Why does it matter so much right now?"
I cringed, knowing full well the reason Kendrick was pushing so hard for us to become friends. "He means well."
When we reached the tree and the swing hanging securely––I'd hired someone to install it––I held it still, so he could climb on. Once he was settled, I gave a gentle push, my heart swelling when I saw the smile blooming on his face as I leaned around to look at him.
"Wow, this is nice," he said on a sigh, gripping the front two ropes and leaning his head back as he closed his eyes, looking peaceful. "I forgot how much I loved doing this as a kid."
"You haven't had any tree swings since the tree that split?" I asked, fascinated by the look on his face.
I hadn't gotten much of a chance to observe him in person. I’d looked him up on social media every once in a while, to check and see how things were going for him, and I'd always practically drooled over the pictures of his gorgeous face and body, because duh, I'd practically been obsessed with him the entire time he'd gone to school with me. And I wasn't all that proud of the next year and a half either, since I spent a great deal of time following him around without him knowing… just to make sure everything was going okay for him at his new school.
Yep. That was why.
"Nah," he smiled with his eyes still closed and his head leaned back, shaking it. "My mom barely let me live on campus when I was in college. She'd have lost her mind if I tried living anywhere besides at home or the dorms, and that tree was the only one in our yard big enough for a swing."
"Is Pete still alive?" I asked without thinking, not realizing my mistake until his eyes popped open and a small frown creased the skin between his brows.
"Yes," he said hesitantly, leaning back up slowly. "He's six, now. He's gotten a bit fatter since we got him fixed, but he's still really active and a giant baby."
"Good." I cringed, knowing he was thinking exactly what I would expect him to be thinking. How the fuck did I know about the puppy he got right after his old dog, Sam, died.
Of course, with him knowing I was a shifter, he was going to start putting together the fact that I'd often listened in to his conversations with others when we'd been in school, if I didn't quit bringing shit up I shouldn't know, and then he'd know just what a weirdo I really was.
"My sister is coming to town in a couple of days," I blurted, wanting to get his mind off of my big fat mouth.
He turned his head slowly, looking at me over his shoulder, a small frown on his face. "I don't think I ever met your sister."
I chuckled. "Yes, you have. Ellory."
He jerked, rocking forward to put a foot down on the ground, then turned himself and the swing to face me. "My Ellory?" he asked excitedly, and my gorilla grunted annoyed in my head.
"Uh, Ellory Douglas," I said hesitantly, my eyes narrowing slightly.
"Holy shit!" He laughed, shaking his head. "Duh. I don't know how I didn't put that together."
"Did you and Ellory have a thing?" I asked, possibly a little harshly considering how his smile faded slightly and he blinked up at me in confusion.
"No," he said slowly, licking his lips. "I'm gay. Not bi." He took a deep breath, dropping his head slightly and letting the swing turn back around by lifting his legs and letting it spin him back and forth until it ran out of momentum. "But, she was there for me during a tough time."
My heart sank and my chest ached. "I should have been there." I clutched the two back ropes hard enough my hands nearly cramped. "I ended up getting fired from that stupid job a couple weeks later, anyway."
"What are you talking about?" he asked, once again turning the swing slightly, so he could get a better look at me over his shoulder, and I let go of the furthest rope.
"Oh," I said, swallowing, my stomach and chest heating with anger when I thought about it and the whole two weeks leading up to it. "My diner job Jasper got me. About two weeks after…" My eyes widened and I bit my lip before shaking my head. "You know. I knocked Jasper out when he and his friends came in and started shit." I cringed. "I'm lucky I didn't kill him. I had no business hitting a human like that."
"Jasper and his friends?" he whispered, watching my face. "Weren't you one of his friends?"
I held his gaze nodding slowly. "I was before, yes."
He blinked at me slowly, his eyes wide and confused, a bit of suspicion working its way in there. "What did you punch him for?"
I gave him a small smile. "He called me the F-word."
"Why?"
"Hey guys!" Kendrick yelled, from the back porch, getting our attention. "It's ready!"
***
I wished I could read Warren's mind as we sat there at the dinner table. I knew I'd given him some things to think about, which was good since I wanted him to see me for who I really was. Although I was a little worried I'd given away more than I'd meant to at such an early stage in the working up to begging for forgiveness process. Letting him know I'd been listening in to all his conversations while we'd gone to school together probably wasn't going to win me any points with him.
"When is Ellory coming?" Warren asked, surprising me to the point of jerking in the chair next to him and jostling my bite off of my fork and right back on to my plate.
It was the first time he'd actually initiated a conversation with me all night and I tried not to seem overly enthusiastic when I turned to look at him,
but I knew my eyes were wide, right along with my smile.
"I don't know," I said, making a conscious effort to calm down and ease my face into a semblance of normalcy. It was tough. "She won't let me pick her up at the airport. She said I needed to spend time with my ma… Kendrick."
I tried not to visibly cringe, but Kendrick and Turner were definitely not doing well about hiding their expressions, and I could tell Warren was seconds away from demanding to know what was going on by the narrow-eyed expression on his face.
"Okaay," he said slowly, once again looking around the room as though he suspected us all to be in some kind of plot to get rid of him. "But you said a couple of days?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Tomorrow, or Monday."
"So," he said, pushing the last half of his food around on his plate. "Did you end up talking to your contacts in the FBI about the girl you were looking for?"
I was still reeling a little from what he'd told his brother and Turner earlier in the day about the eating, so I'd watched him for probably an uncomfortable length of time as he'd eaten a little over half his food. I was guessing, by the way he was using a bite of steak to chase around a green bean on his plate, he was already full, which didn't surprise me if he hadn't been eating all that much lately. I would assume his stomach had shrunk.
"I talked to them," I answered, putting my fork down, so he wouldn't feel like he had to pretend anymore. I was satisfied with the amount he'd eaten, so I was sure his brother and Turner were too. "But everything is a mess right now, because a few of those men that were keeping you guys actually were FBI, and now they're working on trying to figure out who all was involved and reinstate the shifter department. It's just a giant mess.
"Grayson said he thinks they caught them all, but Tabitha is one of two people to disappear after being rescued, so he's worried that someone is leaking information and giving a list of chosen names for someone else to track down. The list alone would be worth a shit ton of money."
Turner took a deep breath, licking his lips. "The guy I shot?"