"LIVE nightclub? I've heard of that club from somewhere." Monica tried to refresh her memory to find out why the name sounded so familiar.
"Yes, LIVE. It's where all the parties are happening. Shifters and humans blend and mingle for a good time. I'm surprised you haven't heard about it. That's the other big controversy everyone's talking about." Linda rolled her eyes. "My older sister worked as a server there with Deacon before she earned enough to move out to New York. She made a lot of money there in tips. I've been tempted to follow in her footsteps for the money, but I don't think I can work in an environment like that."
"So Deacon used to work at LIVE nightclub and also at this auto body shop somewhere up near the mountains?"
Linda nodded. "The shop is still there, but it's been deserted for over a year. I think at one point the County tried to claim using eminent domain laws, but then that attempt got shot down real quick after our new Alpha got involved. That's really the only thing Deacon left behind in Aspen Valley that was truly his. Like I said, there aren't anymore Remys here in Tellevue County."
"This has helped me out a lot," Monica said.
"You're not super infatuated with him or anything, right?" Linda giggled.
Monica shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Of course not. I think that I really owe him a favor. I guess I'll have to Google the auto body shop to find him."
"I didn't think so. You don't seem like the type to throw yourself at all these rich single men around here either.”
"Nope. You couldn't pay me to throw myself at any of them."
They shared a laughed and then Linda said, "The Remy Shop isn't on a map, but shouldn't be too difficult to find. You'll take County Line Road out of the town. You'll drive a good thirty minutes until you pass through the valleys. And then you'll see the mountains. You'll take the road that leads you to the mountains. Pat's Grocery and Eatery is just off of the main highway right before the split. It's a pitstop, so anyone who works in the market can direct you to the shop." Linda shrugged. "They'll probably get suspicious and might not direct you at all. You're better off not going alone. Like I mentioned earlier, rogues don't stick around."
"Well, he mentioned he'll be in town for a couple weeks, so I'll take my chances," Monica said.
6
Three Days Later
He seems un-groomed and like maybe he's a little out of your league.
Deacon couldn't get Dr. Collins statement out of his head. Monica's dad's first impression of him had been disappointing. This had bothered Deacon all night long and he had tossed and turned with images of a gorgeous Monica in his dreams with her long, raven colored hair fanned out across his pillow and of her cool gray eyes begging for his attention. But when he woke up…
He's ungroomed.
He's out of your league.
Nonetheless, he rose before sunrise, but Dr. Collins’s disapproval of him had sparked other memories. Memories he'd fostered all these years. He'd even controlled the drastic emotions he encountered every time he had these memories, but like a festering sore, his conscious ate at him again. And not in a good way.
That Remy boy will never amount to nothin'. His papa was a liar, and his grandpapi was a rotten scoundrel.
It's best he leave this Pack.
He oughta go back to the Tunica Pack.
He could see all the faces of the men who'd prosecuted him before knowing the full story. "Loyal" pack members had driven him out of Aspen Valley and away from the Pack in the first place. It had taken him over a year to forgive them and come to terms that the only person responsible for his destiny was himself. He wouldn't let what his father did or what his grandpa was forced to do define his future. He'd already decided. He wasn't going back to the ways of the pitiful young man he once was.
Deacon drowned himself in the sounds of the motorcycle engine purring beneath him. He closed his eyes and counted to one hundred. He willed himself to focus on his immediate goals once again. He'd come back for very specific reasons.
He lifted his gaze and focused on the clearing in the woods, hoping that his cousin, Luke Lombardi would welcome him after all this time. He owed Luke his life. One reason Deacon had returned to Aspen Valley was to the pay the guy back tenfold for the favor he extended shortly before Deacon left town.
Deacon rolled his motorcycle up to the front of the office cabin, which used to be labeled "Lombardi & Sons Lodging Administration Office". Now the sign was gone, and the cabin he visited almost weekly when he lived on the property looked homely. Plus something smelled oddly unfamiliar about the place. The sound of a woman humming a tune inside and jostling stuff around came to him from his position under a tree. There was also a lingering scent of a human female inside. The woman wasn't Luke's niece, who'd been the office manager when Deacon left. Maybe Luke had finally hired someone new like he'd always talked about but never got around to doing.
Deacon decided that Luke couldn't have been in the office cabin and looked further across the property at his cousin's personal residence. He hated to bother the man so early in the day, but carrying stacks of cash around town wasn't something Deacon preferred doing. He rolled his motorcycle along the dirt road leading to Luke's front porch.
When Deacon reached the house, he caught a whiff of Luke Lombardi's wolf essence when a small gush of wind passed across his face. He applied the kickstand, propped his helmet on the seat, and stuffed his gloves down into his back pocket. As he grabbed a wool drawstring tote from the trunk bag, Luke Lombardi came around from the back of the house carrying a string of freshly caught fish.
"Deacon? Is that you?"
"Yeah. It's me."
Luke didn't look a day older since Deacon had last seen him over a year ago. He aged well, but no one could tell because he was good at hiding his true age. Although the man had worn his beard for the past few years, Deacon could still detect some carefree youth in him. Both men were only four years apart and were alike on many levels. Both had been misunderstood in their teenage years—and were considered the trouble makers and bad boys of the Pack. The difference now was that Luke had major responsibilities. His niece and nephew to look after. A business to run all on his own. A duty to his Pack as one of the newly appointed scouts. Deacon looked up to Luke, and he hoped to reach the level of respect that Luke had gained from the Aspen Valley community one day.
Luke was the only family he had left in Aspen Valley that he knew he could trust. They were blood related on Deacon's mama's side of the family. Even now, after not seeing Luke in over a year, a strong bond still existed between them. He was home now. It didn't matter how many bad memories that had developed here—this was his home.
"I heard you were back in town, but I wouldn't believe it until I saw you for myself," Luke said, holding the string of trout aside while the men gave each other a big bear hug.
"Yeah, here I am. I tried the office but there was a girl inside. It wasn't Nessa," Deacon said.
Luke scratched his head and glanced behind Deacon at the office cabin. "Yeah. Cassie will stay on my property for a couple weeks. I'm looking after her for a good friend of mine."
"I hope I didn't come by at a bad time," Deacon said.
"No, not at all. You're always welcome here anytime. I just got back from the lake. I saw these trout jumping high when I went for a quick run and I just couldn't resist. I ate a couple there and then brought some back for supper later this evening." Luke clapped Deacon on the back. "I thought I'd never see you again. What have you been up to?"
"Lots. I told you I'd be back when I got my shit together, and I'm here to tell you all about it," Deacon said.
"I've missed you, cousin. We've got some catching up to do. Come on inside. I'm gonna get these trout on some ice and change into something else."
Deacon sighed, relieved that Luke hadn't looked down on him for being rogue for so long. The last few days had been a roller coaster ride for Deacon. He'd found almost every single person he told he would pay back and did just that. No
t everyone welcomed him, but, so far, everyone had accepted repayment of the Remy debt. And Deacon felt good about what he had accomplished. He was now debt free and not one soul in Aspen Valley could say that the Remy family owed them any money.
Once inside, Luke kicked the door shut and said, "Make yourself at home. Nessa and Henry are up at college, so you don't have to worry about them begging you to take them out drag racing."
At the mention of his younger cousins, Deacon realized how good it felt to be home again. He chuckled. "I'm not the daredevil I used to be."
"Once a daredevil, always a daredevil. He's in there somewhere alright. You just have to let him out. I'll be right back," Luke said and then disappeared into the kitchen area.
Deacon missed a lot of things about Aspen Valley, but he didn't know if this could ever be his Pack home again. Luke had his business. Everyone else was pre-occupied with their own lives. He hadn't even been here when Dane Magnus was named the new Alpha. He was a rogue. A lone wolf without a Pack home. On top of that, the woman he wanted the most was the woman he could not have.
Deacon sat down on the couch and picked up one of the architectural magazines off the coffee table to flip through while he waited on Luke to come back.
7
"Business must be booming for you," Deacon noted as they talked over beers on the back porch. "I tried to book a cabin here a couple weeks ago and you were booked out for the next four months. I had to rent out a unit with the Landers, and all they had available was a bunkhouse."
Both men were seated outside, enjoying the cooler air as it passed through the trees.
"Yeah, between those of us who own the rentals out here, we stay pretty busy. Sometimes I get folks cancelling on me for one reason or another. If I can spare anything, I'll let you know."
"I'm alright. It's just me, so the bunkhouse will do. Plus I won't be in town that long," Deacon said.
"Unless I can convince you to stick around, right?"
"Ah, you don't want me around here. I'm more trouble than I'm worth. That's what they all say about us Remys," Deacon replied, and then changed the subject by saying, asking, "Haven't you remodeled this place? I don't remember it being this big."
"Don't you remember me adding on the third bedroom and the laundry room?" Luke asked. "That made more space for Nessa and Henry. And then when they moved out, I got rid of a whole lot of stuff, so it probably just looks like the cabin is bigger. Still the same old cozy home I've been living in for the past nine years."
"You've done well for yourself."
Luke sighed. "Sometimes I feel that way, and then other times I feel like something major is missing from my life, you know? Do you ever feel that way?"
"What do you mean? Like a mate?"
"Ah well, that too, I suppose. I was talking more along the lines of where I would be if I'd never lost my brother and things were running the way my family had always planned."
"Of course, man. I always think what if this and what if that. But these tragedies have shaped us into who we are today," Deacon said. "I've been away from Aspen Valley for longer than I wanted to. I know I'll never be able to change what some people think of me. I no longer spend my energy on thinking about those people anymore. What I give my attention to are the people who I left behind. Those who were loyal to me, like you and Leo and Hawk. Without being in the company of you guys, I was on the verge of depression. It affected me to the point where my wolf would withdraw and I couldn't shift for weeks at a time. I got my shit together real quick at the thought of losing my true identity."
"Where were you exactly?" Luke asked.
"I wandered around for about two months after I left here and then I ended up in Tunica, Mississippi." Deacon said.
"Tunica? That's where your grandpa's old Pack migrated to, right? Isn't that where you were born?"
Deacon nodded. "Not to far from it. I realized that to truly accept my life as it was and my family's past, I had to revisit our origins."
"I think that's great that you went back to your birthplace. Is the Tunica Pack still there?"
"Sure is. Now known as the Wild Horseshoe Wolf Pack. They're a small tight-knit group. They knew I was a Remy the moment they saw me. I gathered with them every now and then, but I didn't pledge or anything. I had just gone rogue from one Pack and I couldn't see myself declaring my loyalty again so soon, ya know?"
"I get it. Rogue or not, you're still one of us. You grew up here."
Deacon emptied his beer bottle before saying, "Tunica is where my grandpa developed his gambling addiction. He had some good folk out there…people he trusted. They still talk of him. I almost wonder why he never went back after losing our house."
"You and I both know…" Luke commented.
Deacon sighed. "Yeah. He lost the love of his life here, and he wanted to be buried beside her. I was only a teen then but after my grandmama died, he started drinking again. He stopped for a bit when I went to live with him permanently, but I don't know…maybe he only stopped then because he knew I depended on him since grandmama was gone. He knew my mom wasn't coming back and he knew my dad was up to no good when he got involved with that outlaw group out west."
Luke frowned. "Yeah, that's unfortunate."
"I remember my grandpa saying that he wanted to buy the farm back one day as if the current owners would just agree and hand it back over." Deacon shook his head. "He said he wasn't going anywhere until he figured out a way to get it. We were so dirt poor that I knew it was a lost cause. On his death bed, he told me where he buried his life savings and made me promise I'd pay back any debts he had here. I think his dementia had progressed too much for him to understand that his savings wouldn't even pay back a quarter of the debt he owed. It was mostly business debt from the farm we had. Nonetheless, after he died, I went from business to business, person to person, with a little notebook and recorded everything the Remys owed. I used to carry that think around in my back pocket while I was homeless and look at it almost everyday. I even added the folks, like you, who helped me along the way after he passed. I've memorized it all. All the names. The amounts. Everything."
Luke shook his head. "It's been so long. I think the people who your grandpa owed have finally realized that when he owned the farm and when he wasn't sick, he gave back to the community far more than some of us have ever done. They can't be expecting him to clean the slate now that he's dead."
"Well, it's why I came back. It's done. I did some things to come up with it all, but it's done. Every red cent. By the time I leave Aspen Valley, the Remy family will owe no one."
Deacon grabbed a wool drawstring bag, set it on top of the table, and pushed it toward Luke and then added, "Out of everyone I've paid, I can say you were among the few that personally helped me the most when I was down on my luck. I couldn't thank you enough before I left, but I wanted to pay you back."
"What's this for? You never asked me for money. I offered many times and you refused to take it."
"Remember when I couldn't get the electricity or anything to work right in the apartment above the auto body shop?"
"Yeah." Luke nodded. "You were staying there for over a month when things just stopped working. The wiring. The plumbing. We tried everything to repair stuff with what little tools we had."
"You let me stay in one of your cabins rent free until the day I left Aspen Valley," Deacon said.
"Man, it wasn't rent free." Luke shook his head. "You helped me with a lot of maintenance and errands for the lodging business."
"An hour of handyman work here and there didn't equal the amount of weeks I stayed in that cabin. A cabin that you could have rented out to the public. I wanted to pay you back. With interest."
Luke pushed the money back. "No, I'm not taking that. You're family to me."
"Yes. You are taking it. Do you know how hard I worked at that casino to save all that up?"
Luke cast him a sideways glance. "A casino? Really? You told me you'd never go to one of those."
"Well, I spoke too soon. It's not what it seems or what I've been led to believe. All the money is legit. I spent a lot of sleepless nights earning it."
"When you talked about leaving, I offered you a permanent place to stay. We could've worked these issues out together. I'm not sure what you went through to earn all the money to pay back your family debt and yours in just under a year’s time, but that's what I call amazing and true dedication," Luke said.
"It was rough, but I lived way below my means. I still do. When I got to Tunica, I bugged a casino owner about a job almost every week until he let me on the security team. I bounced at LIVE, so I thought…hey, I can handle a few drunken gamblers too. Pay was fantastic. Incentives were even better if you think about all the opportunities I had to double and even quadruple my earnings."
Luke laughed. "No wonder you stayed gone for so long. I'll have to come down and visit one day so you can show me how to play poker like a pro."
"I'd like that," Deacon replied.
Luke's gaze landed on Deacon's left forearm briefly before he looked up and asked, "Do you still stare at those hummingbirds?"
Deacon chuckled. "My wolf does. He thinks it's quite entertaining when they bicker over nonsense. I can't believe you remembered that."
"Your birthmark is showing, man. I was just wondering if that had anything to do with it."
Deacon looked down at his birthmark which resembled a lone hummingbird. His grandpa always told him that it was his mate mark. He ran his hand across his skin, wondering why the mark had chosen this moment to emerge. Then again, the mark had been tingling on skin for the past several days. He hadn't paid it any mind. If he had stopped to stare at the birds, he probably would've never accomplished his goal in the short time that he had.
Rogue Wolf Page 3