But then Gail shrugged. “Okay. Well, have a seat at the table, and when I get a tray ready for her, I’ll bring it over.”
Good. Everything was going according to plan.
Cole went to sit down at the table.
* * *
Avery held the phone in one hand, the piece of paper he’d scrawled on in the other. “They’re from a neighboring farm just down the road. They have livestock experience, and they said they’d be happy to care for the animals for as long as is necessary.”
“Out of the goodness of their hearts?” said Jimmy. He didn’t seem to be in a very good mood this morning. He claimed that his wound was bothering him, but Avery wasn’t sure if Jimmy wasn’t simply annoyed that things were progressing.
“No, they’re going to be paid,” said Avery. “The SF will pick up the tab.”
“Well, thank you,” said Jimmy. “It’s very kind of you to pay for that, considering you’re forcing us all out of our home after you came in and killed two of us and wounded several others.”
Avery couldn’t resist being a wee bit sarcastic. “Well, it’s the least we could do.”
“You don’t sound in particularly good spirits, Avery.”
“I’ll feel better once we get all of you safely off that farm without anymore bloodshed. I’ll admit that.”
“And Dana? You’re concerned about her as well, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am. She’s my partner.”
“So the two of you have a strictly professional relationship?”
“I fail to see how that has anything to do with what’s going on.”
Jimmy chortled. “I knew it. I could hear it in your tone every time you talk about her. Must really rile you up what she’s got going with my boy.”
Avery dragged a hand over his face. “Jimmy, if we could get back to the topic at hand, which is setting up a schedule for your people to come off the farm and surrender to the SF?”
* * *
when Cole was seventeen…
Cole stood in the corner of a kitchen holding a can of beer. Cole was at the party that Chase had told him about. Chase was here too, somewhere. There were a lot of people, and Cole hadn’t been able to keep track of Adam and Chase.
There were two other people in the kitchen with Cole, but they couldn’t see him because they were on the opposite side of the room, and the refrigerator was in the way. He couldn’t see them either, but he’d seen them when they’d come in.
One was Kyle Lamar. He was in the band. He played trombone. His father was a lawyer in town.
The other was Dana Gray. She was in the band too. She played saxophone. Cole had spoken to her exactly once in his entire life, last year when he’d tried out for jazz band.
He’d begged and begged Jimmy to let him do it, and Jimmy had said no every time. Cole had gone to auditions anyway, figuring that once he got in, it would be easier to convince his father. But he hadn’t gotten in, so it had all been pointless after all.
“Why are we in here, Kyle?” Dana was giggling, flirting.
“Told you, I want to talk, and I wanted to it away from everyone else.”
“Right, you want to ‘talk.’” From her tone, it was obvious that she thought he meant something completely other than talking.
Cole wondered if it would be awkward if he walked out right now. He wasn’t sure he wanted to listen to them make out. He guessed they were going to make out.
He had a flash of Tasha suddenly. Her lips against his in the sideways tree. Her naked body in the barn. He shuddered.
“No, I mean it,” said Kyle. He wasn’t flirting.
“What’s going on?” Dana’s tone had changed.
“Look, I was trying to tell you this before, but I just… I think you have the wrong idea. You know, about what happened with us.”
“What do you mean?” Her voice was confused now and a little hurt.
“You know what I mean,” said Kyle. “It was just a hook-up. I didn’t do it because I wanted to, you know, date you or something.”
Silence from Dana. Then she spoke again, her voice artificially cheerful. “I know that. Of course I know that.”
“Well, you’re not acting like it. You’re all over me, and you’re being sort of possessive.”
“No, I’m not.” She was struggling not to sound upset. Cole could hear it.
“You keep touching me.”
“Sorry.”
“All right, well, I just…. I’m only saying, cool off, that’s all.”
“Fine.”
It was quiet. Deadly quiet. Cole could only hear the hum of the refrigerator.
“Well, I guess I’ll go back to the party,” Kyle said.
“Sure.”
Cole heard his footsteps cross the floor. Cole peered out around the fridge to see Dana sit down heavily at the kitchen table. She was biting down hard on her lip, looking like she might cry.
“Hey,” he said.
She looked up. “Oh. Hey.” She squinted at him like she was trying to place him, but she didn’t quite remember how she knew him.
“Uh…” He jammed his hands into his pockets. “He’s an idiot.”
“Who is?”
“Kyle.”
“You heard that?” She buried her face in her hands.
“No, hey, it’s okay.” He picked up a bottle of vodka off the counter and brought it over to the table. “I wouldn’t say anything or whatever.”
“I thought he liked me,” she said.
Cole unscrewed the cap on the vodka bottle. “You want a shot?”
She lifted her face. “Maybe.”
He handed her the bottle. “I don’t know where the shot glasses are.”
She took it. “Doesn’t matter.” She upended the bottle into her mouth and took a big swig. Then she put it down, grimacing and shivering.
“That’s shit, what he did to you,” Cole said.
“No, I was being stupid. When we hooked up, he told me he wanted to keep it casual.”
“Fuck that,” said Cole. “I don’t think it is casual.”
“You don’t think what is?”
“Whatever.” He shrugged. “Being with a girl at all. It’s, you know, a big deal.”
Dana nudged the vodka bottle towards him. “You have some.”
He picked it up and took a drink.
“I talked to you once, didn’t I? Last year? For jazz band?”
Shit, she remembered him. He felt frozen somehow. A girl like Dana shouldn’t remember him.
“Oh,” she said. “Maybe not. I thought you were Cole, but maybe you’re… Adam?”
He opened his mouth to tell her his name.
But Marci Chilton came into the kitchen. “Dana, there you are! I’ve been looking everywhere. Come on, they’re showing the video from the band trip in the basement. Remember how Dave ate all that Mexican food on a dare?”
Dana looked at Cole. “I was talking to…?”
He shook his head. “It’s cool. I said what I wanted to say.”
She bit down on her lip. “Okay.” She got up from the table. “Um, thanks. For saying that.”
He shrugged.
Later, he, Adam, and Chase were sitting outside in the driveway, watching the preps stumble around drunk. Cole had to admit it was fun.
Half of the basketball team was slurring their words and making fools of themselves.
“I wish I had a camera,” said Adam.
“We could blackmail them, dude,” Chase laughed.
A basketball player had his arm around Kyle Lamar and the two of them wandered into earshot. Cole stopped listening to Adam and Chase and tuned in to the other conversation.
“So, you’re not with that Dana chick?”
“Fuck no,” said Kyle. “She was way too easy, you know. I barely had to do anything, and she toppled onto her back with her legs spread. Kind of a dead stick, too, if you know what I mean.”
The basketball player snorted. “Not even worth it, huh?”
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“Oh, you know, as a hole to shove your dick in, she’s adequate, man.” Kyle laughed too. “But for anything else?”
“Right. Get some and get gone.” The basketball player held up his hand.
Kyle high-fived him. “You know it.”
Cole narrowed his eyes. He didn’t like the way Kyle was talking about Dana, he realized. He didn’t really know Dana, but every time he’d observed her or interacted with her, she’d seemed like a nice girl. She didn’t deserve that. Kyle was being a total ass.
Cole couldn’t even imagine the idea of thinking of a girl as a “hole to shove your dick in.” It was sort of ludicrous to him. The idea of getting a girl to actually allow him to have sex with her and not being fundamentally grateful on some primal level was an alien concept to him. He guessed that people like Kyle and the basketball team were drowning in pussy. They could get it whenever they wanted, so it didn’t mean anything to them. Girls didn’t mean anything to them.
Cole hated them both.
He was a little new to the feeling of hatred, but he’d been getting good practice at feeling it with people like Jimmy and Julia. This hatred wasn’t the same thing. It wasn’t as fiery, or as intense. But it was still there, still smoldering. It was a righteous hatred, borne out of the fact that the boys were doing wrong things, things that hurt people.
“…and they’d give us tons of money,” said Chase.
Cole turned to look at his friend. “Are you still talking about blackmail?”
“Chase is,” said Adam.
“You know what would be cooler than blackmailing them?” said Cole.
“What?” said Chase.
“Killing them.” Cole took a long drink of beer.
* * *
When Cole entered the punishment room, Dana backed up against the wall, fear in her eyes.
He’d nearly forgotten their last interlude. He guessed he hadn’t left things on particularly good terms, had he? Well, damn it, he couldn’t help it. The way he felt about Dana was confusing. He wasn’t going to hurt her, though. Not actually hurt her. There was no reason for her to be afraid of him. “Dana, come over here.”
She gazed at him warily. “What are you going to do to me this time?”
“Get you out of here,” he said. “Come on, I sent the guard at the bottom of the steps off to check on Jimmy. I gave him some bogus story. But he won’t be gone forever. So, we don’t have a lot of time.”
“Oh. Well, then I guess you won’t be able to get most of my clothes off of me again. Darn.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, but it was also trembling.
“Look, I shouldn’t have…” He swallowed. It wasn’t easy for him to admit that he was wrong. “I’m sorry I said what I said to you. I’m sorry I hurt you. I don’t…” He looked at the floor, his voice dropping to a whisper. “I don’t hate you.”
“Well, I hate you,” she said. “I hate everything about you.”
He found himself wincing. He took a step into the punishment room. “I was out of line. It was wrong.”
She held up her hands, her chains jangling. “You stay back. Don’t get close to me.”
“Dana…” He pulled the key out of his pocket and showed it to her. “I’m getting you out.”
Her face crumpled.
Shit. She was crying. He wasn’t sure what to do about that. He closed the distance between the two of them. “Don’t do that. You don’t have to cry. I’m going to unlock your chains.”
Tears spilled out of her eyes. “You’re horrible, Cole. You’re cruel to me. I don’t deserve how cruel you are. I didn’t ask you to come back here and save me, you know.”
“I know.” He fitted the key into the lock. “Just don’t cry. I don’t like it when you…”
“You didn’t mind when you had me chained up in your basement. It was like you were stone.”
“No,” he said. “That’s not it.” He turned the key and the cuffs on her hands released. The chains fell away with a clatter.
It wasn’t that he was stone. It bothered him when she cried. It was only that he didn’t know how to react to it. He didn’t know what to do for her.
She massaged her wrists. “Oh, you did do it. You got them off of me.”
He nodded. “Come on. Let’s go.”
He held out his hand to her.
She hesitated, but then gingerly, she put her hand in his.
The touch of her skin was electric. He felt it all through his body. He shut his eyes. “Dana,” he whispered.
She snatched her hand back. “Fuck you.”
He shook himself. “Sorry.”
“Why do you do that to me?” She burst into fresh tears.
Damn it, why was she crying again? He wanted to yell at her, but he bit it back. He made his voice soft. Soft, like her skin. Like her curves. “Dana, it’s okay. You’re okay. But we need to get out of here. You need to come with me.”
She clenched her teeth. Clenched her fists. Shut her eyes.
When she opened them, she gazed up at him, her chest heaving.
And then she flung herself at him.
Startled, he caught her, pulling her into his arms.
Her mouth was on his. Her hands were tangled in his hair.
He groaned, tugging her closer.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Hold on a second,” said Jimmy. “I got an interruption here.” He raised his voice, talking to someone else. “What’s going on out there?… Who?… Well, why isn’t he guarding the basement?… Cole said what?”
Avery was feeling more frustrated by the minute. He wasn’t entirely sure that Jimmy wasn’t manufacturing this interruption, the way he seemed to be manufacturing as many possible roadblocks to getting his people out as he could.
“Avery?” said Jimmy.
“Yes?” said Avery.
“I got a situation here. Important situation. It involves your partner, so I’m sure you’ll want me to be thorough. You understand, don’t you?”
“Actually, Jimmy, I’m beginning to feel as if you’re not really holding up your end of the bargain.”
“I really can’t chat any longer. I’m sorry. I’ll be back in touch.”
The connection was severed.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” said Avery.
* * *
With effort, Dana tore herself out of Cole’s arms.
He was panting. “What the hell?”
“I don’t know either,” she said. “I hate you. And I would be happy if I never saw you again. But whenever I do see you, it always seems like a great idea to lock lips. You figure it out, genius.”
He held up his hands. “Maybe it’s better if we don’t touch.”
“Maybe,” she said.
He gestured with his head. “Let’s go.”
She nodded. “I’m right behind you.”
Cole darted out of the punishment room.
Dana followed him. She was still in that stupid robe, and her feet were bare. This had to be the worst rescue either. Couldn’t Cole have brought her some regular clothes? Of course not. He liked her practically naked. Easier access. Jackass.
“This way,” said Cole, plunging into a dark hallway that led further into the basement.
Dana went after, the concrete floor cold on her heels.
A noise.
Someone coming down the steps.
Voices. “He said I needed to see Jimmy. He said Jimmy’s wound had opened up, and it was urgent. He was right here.”
Cole grabbed her by the arm and yanked her into another room.
It was dark inside, but Dana could see that it was another room like the one she’d been in, a similar punishment room.
Cole flattened her against the wall and pressed his body against hers.
Thrills kicked through her system, emanating out from every place that their bodies touched. She tried to tamp it down, but she couldn’t. She was a slave to that sensation, apparently.
Cole was kissing her again, and she opened her mouth
to him, responding furiously. She thrust her hips against his and held onto him for dear life.
She could barely hear the voices over the beating of her own heart.
“He got her out.”
“How could he? Jimmy had the only key.”
“Did he? Go up and check if it’s gone. I’ll keep looking down here.”
Footsteps went off in both directions. One set seemed to be getting closer.
Cole stopped kissing her but didn’t move his body, which was pressed into her. She could feel every inch of him, including the swollen, hard part.
Fuck him.
Cole stared at the door, waiting.
A light shone into the room, falling on the two of them.
“Cole,” said a man’s voice, “what are you—”
Cole leaped off of her and tackled the person who’d just come into the room. “Sorry, Rusty.”
The two went down on the floor.
There was a brief struggle.
Then Cole managed to bang Rusty’s head into the concrete floor.
Once. Twice.
Rusty stopped moving.
Cole scrambled to his feet. “Come on.”
And they were running again.
They tumbled through the black dampness of the cellar. Dana didn’t dare touch him, so she followed him by the sound of his movements.
She nearly tripped on a set of stairs when they came to them, but she managed to right herself.
Then she collided with Cole, who was fumbling at the wall, muttering swear words to himself.
Something came loose, and he pushed open a door. It was one of those cellar doors that sat tilted against ground.
They hurried out into the sunlight.
“Shift,” said Cole. “We’ll be faster in wolf form.”
She did as he said, throwing off the stupid robe she’d been wearing.
She felt freer in her wolf form, as if she’d been released from a musty enclosed space into the great, wide open.
They streaked away from the house, over the fields.
Cole went first, and she followed him.
He only paused once, behind a barn, where a teenage girl and boy were huddled together, both looking frightened.
Cole howled at them but didn’t stop running.
The teenagers exchanged a look and then took off at a sprint, coming along with them.
Bad Moon Rising (Cole and Dana) Page 18