Chapter 9
“Dear Colton, I know that I should be writing to my friend, but this is the only way that my mother will allow me to write. I do hope that you know who it is I’m speaking about. Tell her that I loved her, my whole life. She’s been my little sister since I first met her. And my biggest protector too. “The insurance policy is for you to use for something to do with mental health. I don’t have any idea what that might be, but please name it for my wife and son. His name would have been James Shipley. Please don’t name it for me. I have...I am a man that wished only to be happy, and that never happened. My family, Alma and our son, they were all I had, and I wasn’t able to protect them as I should have. I lost them because of myself. “I’m going to end things when I get the chance. I don’t know when that will be, but I know that you wished to help me with my issues. All of the Stantons did, and you’ve no idea how that made me feel. But I’ve had to do this, so that she cannot take control and hurt others. I’m sure you understand. I don’t know where she ends anymore and I begin. I think it’s been that way my entire life.” Tess looked at Colton when she got to this part. He’d read the letter, he told her, and thought that she should as well. She asked him about the money and the fact that he committed suicide. Surely they’d not pay out for that. “There will be cash from the policy. He made sure that when he was seen in the room with me he wasn’t himself. That alone will go for state of mind, I’m hoping. If not, then I’ll match the money myself and do as he asked.” Tess thanked him. “No need to, Tess. He was a good man.” Picking up where she’d left off, she continued. “My mother killed my father. I don’t know who he might have been. As you know, my name isn’t Jorden, or if you don’t know, then I cannot help you. He was dead long before I knew to ask for him. And that only happened the one time. She was not happy when someone questioned her, as you might have found out. “You will find his body in the back of the property where there is an old stone fence. I would go out there every time I would think of him and add another stone there. As you’ll be able to tell, I went to see him a great deal.” Colton told her that there were thousands of stones, and that Mr. George had been exhumed and put into the cemetery. Nodding, she went back to reading. “I should like to tell you something that you should pass on for me. “When I was seventeen my mother destroyed all hope of me ever becoming a father or to have sex like a normal human being. I need not tell you how that happened, but I was injured in such a way that I couldn’t father any children. I suppose that was her way of making sure that I never made her a grandmother. “That, I’ve come to understand, was her greatest fear, and the reason that she made up talking to the Lord. I think, after so long, she might have believed her own lies. Whatever happened to her, she manifested them onto me and made me less than a man, less of a person. “The child, my son, you’re asking yourself; who’s was it? I don’t know. Neither did Alma. One night when she was coming home from her job, someone jumped her, and she was raped by several men. The thought of losing the child to some kind of drug never entered her mind and I took her to my heart, and I would have the child as well. Much like Jules has done for me and the child of my sister. “She meant the world to me, that one. When things were getting bad at home, which was often, I would go into my head and think of her. The things that she’d have said, the way she would have taken me away. She did in a way; every time I thought of her, I would run away from where I was and be happy. Even if it was only for a moment. “There is money in my account. I’ve called the bank were Alma and I banked and had all the money put in the name of Ruby Stanton. She, of all children in this world, deserves a head start on life, a chance of happiness and friendship like no other. I understand that there is money for her from her father, but this will be for something special. Especially for her. I wish for her to enjoy life in a way that my son never got to do.” Tess was crying now; the hurt of this man, the bigness of his heart for her daughter, was overwhelming. While she continued with the letter, she saw the young boy that she’d grown up with, the child turned man. And the profound suffering of them both. “There are other things that I’d like for you to take care of for me. I don’t know how this will come about, but I’d wish for you to bury me next to my Alma and child. They were mine as much as I had anyone in my life.” She paused to gather her heart to her chest, where it beat hard for this man and his life. “My mom...I know not what to tell you about her. She had been insane all my life, and I should have tried harder to run from her. But it got to be too much, so I just left when I was old enough. Help others, please, so that they will be safer than I was. “Alma was killed that day. I don’t remember much about it other than to say that I was there when my son died. He was in my arms as my mom took Alma away, taking his last breath, so to speak, when he never had a chance. I have wished with all my heart now that I had never left my home that week, never given in when I should have remained strong for them. I will never forgive myself for leaving my wife and child to her. We’d be alive and happy had I never trusted the façade that she put on for me. Now Alma is gone, my son James is, as well as myself. My mother, she did this to us. “I wish to tell you to hug my friend for me, every day. Tell her that I will never forget her. Nor her granddad. He, too, was important in my life, and maybe, had I been able to stay with him, I’d have had a different life. But alas, I did not. “I thank you for what you’ve done for me, Colton. Thank you for everything.” Then it was signed Dexter Shipley. Forever yours.” Tess cried for the next half hour. Not all the time, but when she remembered Dexter and how he had thought of her, even to the end, her heart would break again. Going to the office where she knew that Jules was working, she sat down while he finished the phone call he was on. After he read the letter, she sat on his lap. They didn’t speak, but just held one another. Jules was her life, and her daughter’s too. From this day forward, she decided she was going to live each day like it was her last, and be happy even if she had to— No, never that, but she was going to take charge of her life and be the best at what she could be. “Change me.” He looked at her face. “Right now. I want you to change me into a cat. I want you to make me a cat so that I can run with you and be like you.” “All right.” He picked up the phone. “I have to make arrangements for Ruby. You and I will be down for a few hours, and you’ll be out for days. She will be upset, I think, seeing you like that.” After his mom and dad came to get the baby, hugging her and telling her that they were sorry about Dexter, she waited in the living room for him to come to her. As soon as he entered the room with her, she asked him what he wanted her to do. “You need to be naked.” Nodding, she began taking off her clothes. “Do you know what is going to take place? Have you talked to Dane or Allie?” “Yes. They said that it’s painful for a little while, then I’d just black out. That when I woke, I’d have to turn the volume down; that I didn’t understand, but they told me I would. Are you really going to do this?” He nodded and pulled his shirt off. “You have to be naked too?” “I do. I’m going to make love to you first, then when we’re finished, I’m going to be my cat, and then we’re going to change you. You understand that my cat must do it.” She nodded and smiled at him. “You’re entirely too calm about this. I thought you’d be nervous.” “Oh I am. But I want this too much to be scared of it. I don’t want to be—? Will the baby be all right?” “Yes. I asked Mom about that a couple of days ago, and she said that it would be fine. Stronger for this, and so would you be. You’ll feel the child differently as well. More in touch with it. I don’t know the sex right now, but you more than likely will be able to tell.” She told him that Dane told her it was a boy. “Well, she would know. I’d like to name him after your friend, if you don’t mind.” Tess started to cry again, and he held her. “I’d like that as well. Dexter was my friend and a monster, his mom, treated him like he was nothing more than a thing. The things she did to him.” He held her while she sobbed again. “James Dexter Stanton, if you don’t mind.” “Perfect.” He helped her undress, and when she was na
ked, he dropped to his knees in front of her and pulled her pussy to his mouth. As soon as he pulled her clit into his mouth and bit down gently, Tess came apart. This was going to be epic. He made love to her with his mouth and hands. She was fondled, her body warmed by his hands. When he moved his mouth to her thigh and then to her knee, she moaned at the feeling of his thicker tongue, and looked to see that he was still a man but different somehow. “Lie down, love. I want to explore you.” She did as he asked, holding onto him as he helped her to lie down on the floor. And when he leaned over her, tasting her body everyplace he could, she tried hard not to come. For some reason, she wanted it to be huge, and this was her way of giving him something too. “You’re making it hard.” He sat up and fisted his cock, making the precum drip on her belly. “That isn’t what I meant, but I want you.” “You have always had me, Tess. Forever.” She felt her heart fill with her love for this man. “When you come, I’m going to shift then bite you. Are you ready for that?” “Yes. Make me your cat, Jules. Please?” She watched him settle over her, his cock right at her entrance. And when he punched forward, not just her body came apart with the climax, but her mind as well. Colors danced behind her eyelids. Her hands felt like they could pull magic from the room. And when he came too, bringing her over the edge again, she held onto him, afraid that she would fly away with the passion of his love. The first bite wasn’t that bad. But then he was only tasting her, he told her. Jules grinned at her as he let his cat take him. And when he licked her breast, the feel of his tongue made her come again. Just as she was peaking, the massive teeth of the cat entered her shoulder. ~~~ Jules didn’t want to hurt her, but he knew that he had to. This was going to make it better for her, make her stronger for them both. But almost as soon as his cat bit down on her thigh, he knew things were going wrong. Her blood tasted weak, and he knew he was going to lose her. Brayden, come to me now. She’s dying. He told him that he’d only just begun. No, you don’t understand. Something isn’t right. Come here. Bring Dane. They arrived just as her heart was slowing to almost nothing. Dane shifted, her sleek cat larger than even his. But when she bit down on Tess’s other leg, he could tell that she knew it as well. That Tess wasn’t going to survive this. Brayden let his cat take him. When he told him to bite her where he could but not in the belly for the child’s sake, Jules did as he was told. This was to save her life, and he’d do anything, anything at all, to not lose the only person that he’d ever loved. It took them another hour to get her stable, but they still weren’t sure about either the baby or her. When Brayden told him they’d have to finish the job or lose her, he bit hard into her belly and into the womb. They would lose the child for sure, but as they were young yet, he told him, they could have others. Picking her up from the floor when her heart finally started to beat better, he took her to their room and Dane helped him dress her in his shirt. She was so pale, deathly white. Jules wouldn’t leave her, not even to take a shower. But Dane bullied him into it, and he stood under the water and sobbed like he’d not done since he’d been a child. The phone in the house was ringing when he returned to the bedroom. He didn’t want to talk to anyone right now, and was grateful that Brayden seemed to have a handle on it. When he touched her hand, he knew that she still wasn’t going to make it, and promised her the world if she’d just wake and look at him. “We did everything we could.” Jules told Dane that he knew that. “She had cancer. On her brain. Not anything we might have noticed right away, but that’s what you were tasting when you bit her. I can feel that it’s shrinking, the tumor, but as far as it being gone, I just don’t know what will happen now.” “I didn’t know either. I mean, as soon as I bit her in the shoulder, I knew that she wasn’t going to make it. She was too weak, I guess.” Dane said nothing, but he could feel her sorrow. “If you don’t mind, I’d like for you and Brayden to go on back home. I’m sure you have more to do than to sit here with me.” The pop to the back of his head was so much like his mom that he turned to look for her. “What the fuck is wrong with you? She’s my sister, and I’m not leaving her here. You’re my brother, you moron. I’m not leaving you either. What the fuck? You wouldn’t leave me if the roles were reversed, and I’m not leaving you. What a thing to say to me.” “I’m sorry.” He did grin then. “I thought you were Mom. I swear, you hit like she does. I’d hate to think this, but I almost feel sorry for your children.” Children. He knew that the baby Tess carried now would soon abort on its own. There was too much trauma to her body for it to be able to survive it. Nothing had happened so far, but it was only a matter of time. When Dane stood up, cutting her wrist with her ever present knives, he watched as a few drops of her blood fell along Tess’s lips. “It can’t hurt. And my blood has some extra shit in it that might help her.” When she did that every ten minutes, he could feel Tess’s heart slowing again. “I’m so sorry, Jules.” It took another twenty minutes for her heart to stop beating altogether. Wyatt had been called in, as well as Colton. Both of them worked on her for two hours, trying their best to get her to be all right. But all it did was prolong the inevitable. Tess was gone from his life, and he had killed her. “Mom, she’s—” Mom stood over her still warm body and slapped her. It was the cruelest thing he’d ever seen his mother do. Just as he was standing up to—well, he didn’t know what he was going to do when suddenly Tess not only sat up, but gasped for breath as well. No one moved as she sat there. “What happened?” Tess looked at him, and then around the room. They were all there, and he would imagine that not one of them looked happy to see her. “Did I die or something?” “Yes.” She nodded at him, then shook her head. “You died. Just seconds ago. Then Mom hit you and you came back to me.” “You hit me?” Mom sobbed and hugged her to her. “I love you as well, Lucy, but hitting a woman when she’s down, that seems sort of harsh. But I do thank you for it.” They were laughing then, all of them, as they each hugged her to them as if she’d been gone on a long trip and had only just returned. He sat on the side of the bed with her when the rest of them went to make something to eat for her. She said several times that she was starving. Jules crawled into the bed with her. He wasn’t going to leave her right now, perhaps not ever. But holding her, feeling her warm skin under his hand, he was glad that Mom had hit her, but didn’t understand why. “I had a dream when I was...well, I don’t know where I was, but I had this dream. I spoke to Alma.” He didn’t tell her that she more than likely had. But since he wasn’t sure what happened to a person when they died and came back, he said nothing. “She told me some things. Things about Debra that someone should know.” “Right now, I don’t care. Unless it’s important.” Tess told him it was, but it could also wait. “Dane and Allie went to talk to the family yesterday. They’re taking it pretty well, I guess. They said that they had already figured that she was gone, but it’s good to know that she’s home. They didn’t tell them about the baby. Dane said that it was just too hard on them knowing that their child had been murdered.” “I think that’s for the best. Did they know about Dexter?” He said that they had met him once and had liked him a great deal. And he’d been there when she’d been hurt. Again, they didn’t seem to know about the rape, only that she’d been robbed at gunpoint and hurt.” Tess nodded. “You think they should have known about the baby?” “I would have wanted to know. I’m assuming that I lost ours.” She didn’t say anything when he told her that he was sure too but didn’t know when it would happen. About then, Wyatt came in to give her an exam. Jules was glad that his family was being so helpful. But he also wanted them to leave them alone. To just let him be with her. She had died, he was sure of it, and his mom had saved her life. He would need to ask her why she had hit her, what made her think that would work. Reaching out to her while Wyatt did his thing, she laughed. I was angry, to be honest. But I read once that sometimes a shock to the system could jumpstart a heart. Or in this case, her mind. I think she would have been very disappointed in herself if she hadn’t woken up. He said that he might have been as well. I didn’t
have any paddles, nor a machine like your father has in the basement of our home, but I thought, it couldn’t hurt. She’s doing well then? The baby is still intact? What a strange way, he thought, to ask if she’d lost their child, but he told her that Wyatt was seeing to her and he’d let her know when he was finished. When he came into the hall a few minutes later, Wyatt was smiling. “You’re a very lucky man.” He said that he knew that too. “The baby seems to be fine. I’ve checked, and his heart rate is much better, as well as he moved. I would like to take her to the hospital to make sure with an ultrasound, but I don’t foresee any problems. But I would like for her not to shift for at least a week, Jules. And bed rest for at least that long. When you bring her in next week, I want you to carry her to the car, bring her in with a wheelchair, and make sure that she eats well.” “I will. I promise. Did you say this to her?” He said that he did, but he wanted them both to know. “And sex is out of the question too.”
Julian Page 11