by Kim Fox
My mind doesn’t stay on my cute admirer for long. I have bigger problems to worry about than Caleb getting a little wet.
I hit the gas as I turn around the bend and gasp when the back of my car fishtails on the wet cement. Luckily, the worn-down tires catch before I skid off the road.
My heart is pounding as I keep driving, a little more carefully this time.
Frank sounded so upset on the phone. He already gave us lots of warnings, and I’m afraid we’re down to our last one. I might be sleeping in this car from now on if Frank has finally had enough.
“Fuck, Bryce,” I shout, slamming the dashboard with my palm even though I know it’s not his fault. I know the poor kid is trying really hard, and there’s nothing he can do. It’s not like he can control the wild beast. He comes whenever he wants.
There’s a fluttering in my stomach when I finally pull into the ranch. I park my old two hundred dollar car beside Frank’s pickup truck and run out into the rain.
It’s the stinging kind that burns when it hits your skin.
“Bryce!” I yell as I run around the house, slipping on the mud as I go.
I’m drenched by the time I turn around the small house and see Frank standing on the back porch. My blood goes as cold as the rain when I see the shotgun slung over his shoulder.
“Where’s Bryce?” I ask, breathing heavily as the rain hits me.
Frank spits out a wad of chewing tobacco and motions to the dilapidated barn. “He scurried in there when the rain kicked off.”
I gulp as I stare at the open door of the barn that’s swinging on rusty hinges. The beast is in there, and I have to go in.
No. Not a beast. My brother.
I take a deep breath and puff out my chest, psyching myself up as I narrow my eyes on the door. Go, Abby. He’s your brother. He won’t hurt you.
“Wanna take this?” Frank asks, offering his shotgun.
I grit my teeth and turn away from him with my chin in the air. “It’s my brother,” I say in a tight voice.
Franks spits out another wad of tobacco. “Not right now he’s not.”
“Yes, he is,” I whisper under my breath.
With my stomach in knots, I hurry across the wet grass, shivering as the cold rain hits my back. A part of me wants to run back to the safety of my car—a big part of me—but I keep going. Bryce needs me. He needs his big sister.
It’s dark and eerie inside the barn and every goosebump on my body rises when I feel eyes on me as I quietly step inside. The dry hay crackles under my feet as I shiver. It seems colder in here than outside in the rain. Or maybe it’s not the cold I’m trembling from.
“Bryce,” I try to say, but it comes out as a whimper. I swallow hard as I look around the barn from the sleeping tractor in the corner to the circular saw that’s causing the smell of sawdust to linger in the air.
Then I see him, crouched beside the stacks of hay, staring at me with his bright golden eyes.
My heart is racing so fast that it feels like it’s going to explode in my chest as he stares me down.
It’s Bryce in there. I have to remind myself of that.
I shouldn’t feel fear, but it’s hard when a full-grown lion has his chilling eyes set upon you.
“Bryce,” I whisper. My limbs are shaky and all I want to do is run out of here. A sudden image of the lion bounding forward and lunging at me flashes into my mind, making me gulp. I squeeze my eyes closed and swallow hard, pushing the unwelcome image away. That’s my brother.
A gasp escapes my lips when the lion takes a step forward on his massive paws. His face comes out of the shadows and my stomach hardens when I see the crimson blood dripping from his jaws.
“Bryce,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady, although it seems nearly impossible right now. “It’s me. Abigail.”
The lion never takes its chilling eyes off me as it lowers its head, looking ready to pounce.
“Bryce, I know you’re in there,” I say with my voice racing. “I need you to come out now. Come on out, Bryce.”
The lion’s lips pull back, showing his deadly teeth as he lets out a low snarl that I feel in my bones. He’s only a young lion with a thin shaggy mane, but he’s absolutely terrifying.
“Bryce!” I say with a little more force in my voice. “That’s enough!”
The next few seconds are tense as we stare each other down. He’s trying to size me up. To see if the authority in my voice is real or just a bluff.
It’s just a bluff, but I’m really trying to sell it with my chest puffed out and my chin in the air as I stare him down with a fierce glare.
Relief floods through my body when the lion steps back and starts shaking. The cat hisses in pain as his body convulses violently. I hold my breath as I watch his head thrashing from side to side as the skin-crawling sounds of ripping and popping fill the quiet barn.
It’s over fast. With a rip, the lion explodes into my baby brother.
I rush forward and catch his naked body as he collapses onto the barn floor in exhaustion. He’s shaking just like I am.
His eyes are squeezed shut. He’s trying to stop the tears from leaking out of his eyes, but he can’t stop them.
“I’m so sorry,” he says, sobbing into my shoulder as he wraps his arms around me. “I didn’t mean to.”
“It’s okay, Bryce,” I say, stroking the back of his head as I hold him. “I know. It’s not your fault.”
He’s just a kid. A fourteen-year-old shouldn’t have to deal with heavy stuff like this.
His trembling body crumples into me as he sobs. “He killed them,” he says with a quiver in his voice. “I had to watch. I could taste the blood.”
I hold him tighter as he tries to pull away.
“He liked it.”
My heart breaks for him. He’s already been through so much with mom. He doesn’t need this on top of it.
My mother has never been the most stable or dependable person, but even I didn’t expect this from her. She hops from one man to another, falling head over heels in love for a few months until the next love of her life comes along. I was a product of her first marriage, and Bryce was a product of her second. We have different fathers, but that doesn’t matter to me. He’s my brother through and through.
I just wish my mother had the same level of commitment. She’s currently on her third marriage to a baseball player named Tom who was never good enough for the major leagues. So when he got an offer to play ball in Japan two months ago, he took it.
I grit my teeth as I remember what happened. She showed up at my apartment in New York and dropped Bryce off, trying to play it up like this was a good thing for both of us.
“Think of how close you two will get,” she said, smiling tightly as Tom scrolled through his phone by the door. “He’ll learn so much from his big sister, the businesswoman.”
The next day, they were drinking champagne as they flew over the Pacific Ocean and I was looking for a school that would take my brother halfway through the school year.
Bryce wipes the tears from his eyes and looks up at me. The shame is thick on his face.
“Why is this happening to me?” he asks.
I wish I had answers for him, but I don’t. What makes a full-grown lion explode out of a teenager’s body? I looked it up online but only found a bunch of weird conspiracy theory sites talking about men who turn into bears and dragons secretly running the world. It was no help.
“Let’s go inside,” I say, holding him close. “Your skin is freezing.”
He’s hiding his nakedness, not wanting to move. “He ripped my clothes again,” he says, unable to look into my eyes. “I’m sorry. I know we don’t have money for another pair of jeans.”
“You let me worry about the money,” I say, feeling a tightness in my chest. There’s no money left in the budget for another pair of jeans. There was no money last month either for that matter.
I grab a pair of dusty overalls that are draped over the tractor and h
and them to him, turning away as he puts them on.
This is bad. That was real blood on the lion’s face, and Frank is all out of patience.
“Do you know how many?” I ask, trying to keep my voice from shaking.
“No,” Bryce says in a soft voice. “I closed my eyes.”
“More than one?”
He sighs. “Yeah.”
“It’s okay,” I say, forcing out a smile as I turn to him. “We’ll be okay.”
“Abigail,” he says, looking pathetic with his hunched shoulders and burning cheeks. “I’m so sorr—”
“Stop,” I say, stepping toward him. His eyes dart up to mine when I hold his chin and lift his head up high. “You’re doing your best and I’m proud of you. We’ll get this cured.”
His bright eyes drop back down to my feet like he doesn’t believe me.
“Hey,” I say, squeezing his chin. “Keep your head up. Always. This doesn’t define you, Bryce. You’re a good person. Stand proud and stay strong.”
“But I screwed everything up,” he says, the tears streaming back down his cheeks. “You had such a good job and a great place in New York City and I ruined it all for you. Now we’re broke, and Frank is going to kick us out of here and we don’t even have—”
“Hey,” I say, dipping my knees to lock eyes on him. “It’s going to turn around. It always does when you have a good heart.”
He lets out a low sigh.
“Go warm up inside,” I say as I steady myself. “I’ll go talk to Frank.”
We step back into the cold rain and I cringe when I see two dead cows lying in the distance. The rain is running off their still bodies in a light red stream.
Frank’s hard eyes never leave me as I walk onto the balcony while Bryce runs around to the front of the house. He shifts the shotgun from one shoulder to the other but doesn’t lower it as he stares at me.
“I’ll pay for them,” I say, feeling my voice race. “I promise.”
He spits out a wad of chewing tobacco and then wipes his chin with the back of his sleeve. “Y’all still owing me for the last time.”
“I know,” I say, nodding my head vigorously. “And I’ll pay those too.”
“That’s four thousand for them last time, and four thousand for dis time. I’m no mathmagician, but that is a lot of money.”
“I’ll pay you back.”
“When?”
The rain is pounding behind me as we stare at each other. I wish I had an answer for him, but I have no idea when I’ll be able to afford a haircut, let alone eight thousand dollars for dead cattle.
“Y’all have to leave.”
The words cut through my shivering body like a Samurai sword. We have nowhere to go. We’re officially broke and homeless.
I swallow hard as I nod, trying to fight back the tears that are burning my eyes. “Now?”
He huffs out a breath and then spits onto the grass. “Y’all can stay the night if the boy can keep that cat locked down. But I want you out after breakfast ta’morrow.”
The whole house is dark and silent but I can’t sleep. Bryce is curled up on the sofa beside my small bed, sleeping soundly as Frank fills the house with his deep snores.
My life was going so smoothly before Mom showed up and unexpectedly dumped Bryce onto my lap. I had a decent job, working in a marketing firm in Manhattan. It didn’t pay much, but it was a start and was in the best city in the world. It was fun and exciting and every day seemed like an adventure. I had fun interesting friends and a beautiful rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn.
But the city wasn’t a good place for Bryce. It must have been the sounds or smells, but it woke the lion up. The second day after he arrived, I returned home to find my beloved apartment shredded to pieces. Bryce was on the bathroom floor, lying naked next to the broken toilet. I thought he was on drugs and didn’t believe his crazy story until a few days later when I saw the lion with my own eyes.
Then, I thought I must have been on drugs.
I locked myself onto the balcony and watched in horror through the glass doors as a young lion prowled around my apartment, knocking over plants and scratching up the grey sofa that I bought on Craigslist.
When I looked it up after, I had found one sane voice among the flood of wacky conspiracy theorists. We started private messaging each other and he told me that the city was a bad place for shifters. He said it was too chaotic and made the animals crazy.
I was skeptical at first, but when my landlord walked in after some noise complaints and saw the apartment in ruins, I didn’t have much of a choice. He kicked us out, and I was forced to quit my job to find a better place for Bryce.
The man online recommended Redemption Creek, Montana, saying it was a sort of haven for people like Bryce, but so far I haven’t seen any other people that can turn into wild animals.
I pull out my phone and turn on Facebook for a distraction. Anything to get my mind off this mess for a few minutes at least.
My newsfeed is full of my friends from high school and college on exotic trips and having fun, partying and living it up. All I see is wide smiles and happy faces as they cheers me with their glasses of wine and martinis. I can’t smile back.
I’m not having any fun.
They all get to travel and meet people and dance all night without a care in the world, and I’m stuck in the middle of some shitty mountain town in a rainstorm while I plan out where I’m going to park the car that we’re now going to have to live in.
My heart starts pounding when I see a post in a public group for Redemption Creek residents that I’m a part of. It’s for Caleb’s band that’s playing tonight at The Slurry Rabbit: Predatone playing tonight! Come see them in an intimate setting while you still can because soon they’ll be selling out Madison Square Garden!
He is really cute. I have to admit that.
In my old life, I wouldn’t have thought twice about going on a date with a hot funny guy like Caleb, but things are different now. I have Bryce to think about. My life is too complicated right now to focus on a relationship, and I really don’t want to drag him into this mess.
We’re attracted to each other now, but he’s going to think I’m a freak if he ever found out what’s really going on with my brother. Not to mention that after breakfast tomorrow, I’ll be homeless.
My life is about to get a lot worse. Just for one night, I want to be like all of these lucky twenty-year-olds in my newsfeed who get to cut loose and have fun.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see my red dress hanging in my closet and perk up. Could I?
This might be my last chance for some fun and I definitely could use a drink. Or two.
Before I can stop myself, I spring off the bed, grab the dress from my closet, and hold it against my body.
Just one drink wouldn’t hurt. Would it?
Bryce looks sound asleep on the couch and he probably won’t wake up again until the morning.
I shouldn’t. I should save every dollar that we do have. I should be here in case he does wake up. I should save the gas in the car.
I’m saying all of this as I’m climbing out of my clothes and slipping into my dress.
I shouldn’t. But fuck it.
I’m going.
3
Caleb
“I have the perfect lifeguard pickup line for you,” Tito says with a grin. “But only use it if you’re ready to get married because it’s a killer.”
I know it’s probably going to suck, but I perk up anyway just in case. Just the thought of marrying Abigail is getting my pulse racing.
“What is it?”
Tito smiles. “Tell her that you can’t swim very well. Then say: Can I hold onto your floaties?”
The guys all laugh as I shake my head. “That will definitely get me kicked in the beach balls.”
These grizzly bears are no help. I’m having a beer at the bar with Maximus, Lachlan, Tito, and Ronin before my show. Kneecap is the only one who didn’t come.
Last time he was in a bar, he nearly brought the dragons down from the tower when he threw a keg at Marcus from the Rescue Patrol. I don’t need that during my set.
“My guys look thirsty,” Jessie says with a big smile as she pops out of the packed crowd and lowers her tray full of beers onto the table. She started working as a waitress here a week ago and absolutely loves it, although she’s sweating pretty hard under her white cowboy hat.
Lachlan looks so proud as he takes a beer from his mate. “How are those arms holding up?” he asks.
She slides up her shirtsleeve and flexes her bicep. “Fucking sore,” she says with a laugh. “These beers are so heavy, and the guys in this town really know how to drink.”
“Everyone has to drink a lot tonight,” Ronin says with a smirk. “It’s the only way to get through Caleb’s show without jabbing pencils into your ears.”
“Ha ha ha,” I say, staring at him with a blank stare. “I see you tapping your foot under the table every week. Don’t pretend that you don’t like it.”
“Well, I enjoyed the show last time, and it looks like the whole town did too,” Jessie says as she looks around with a smile. “This place is packed.”
“You picked a smart one,” I say with a grin to Lachlan. “I like her. Finally, someone around who appreciates my talent.”
“I like you too,” she says with a smile. “Any luck with the lifeguard?”
“Nope,” the twins say at the same time.
“He’s still friend zoned,” Lachlan says with a laugh.
“I wish,” I say with a huff of breath. “The friend zone would be an improvement. I’m in the nothing zone.”
“Aww,” she says with a tilt of her head. “One day she’ll wake up and see what kind of man you really are.”
Tito laughs. “Yeah, and then she’ll move across the country.”
I throw my coaster at him like a ninja star and he laughs as it bounces off his chest.
“How do you like working here?” Maximus asks her.