by Rach Elle
James reclaimed his position, “Actually, I had a little something different in mind.”
“What’s that?”
James smiled, “It’s a surprise.” He hurled the ball toward her again. She ducked, and muffled an uncontrollable squeal as it sailed over her head. She stood up, “I can’t wait.” She turned and took off running to fetch the ball. Anything has to be better than this.
45
“And… time,” Zeff said as the stop watch reached zero. “Good job mate,” he smiled at Junior who had just punched the crap out of the heavy bag for an entire five minutes. He was breathing heavy and he immediately grabbed a drink of water. If he were a normal human being he would have been covered in sweat; one perk of having regulated body temperatures. “Feels good, yeah?”
Junior nodded, “Yeah; I need this, thanks.”
“We’re men,” Zeff said, casually hitting the bag, “we need to let off a little steam every now and again. We’re not like the opposite sex; a simple holiday at the spa doesn’t do the trick.”
Junior began taking off his gloves, “And I had a lot of steam to let off, too.”
“I could tell. It wouldn’t have anything to do with our most recent visitor, would it?”
“Awilda’s dad?” He shook his head, “No, I’m happy for her. He’s her only family; she deserves the chance to get to know him again.”
“Who are you trying to convince, mate?”
Junior looked over at the blonde, scarred shifter and smirked, “I didn’t say I like that he’s here. In fact, I might go so far as to say I wish he’d never shown up; that Awilda is vulnerable and fragile as it is and if that son of a bitch hurts her in any way I’ll hunt him down myself and rip his head off; you know what? I’m not done punching this thing.” He started putting his gloves back on.
“Whoa, slow down; maybe we can move on to something else, yeah?”
“Like what?”
Zeff shrugged, “We can work on the free weights or we can spar.”
“Spar?”
“Yeah, you know, square off, grapple a little.”
“You mean, roll around with you.”
Zeff crossed his arms over his bare chest, “Believe me mate, I do a hell of a lot more than just roll around. I’ll have you tapping out in no time.”
Junior cocked an arrogant smile, “I don’t think you know what you’re asking for, mate. I never submit.”
“Then we’re a go?”
After a few seconds Junior shook his head, “No, I can’t do that to you man.”
“Do what?”
“Destroy this alpha male reputation you’ve got everyone buying into.”
“Oh,” Zeff playfully carried out the syllable, “You can’t do that to me. See, here I thought you were just scared that I’ll have you crying ‘uncle’ in a matter of seconds.”
Junior scoffed and placed his hands on his hips, “I’m not going to fight you man.”
“Oh come on, pretend I’m Awilda’s dad; or better yet, pretend Awilda is here watching. That’ll bring out the best in ya’. Maybe I should just go get her so she can really watch…”
“Leave her out of this.”
“Why? Because you don’t want her to see you lose?”
Junior puffed out his bare chest and charged toward Zeff. They stood so close they were nearly touching. He squared his shoulders, “You know what I think?” He began, “I think you wouldn’t dare bring Awilda in here because you’re afraid she might see you lose. Yeah,” he nodded arrogantly, “don’t think I don’t know. You’ve got a thing for her.”
Zeff narrowed his eyes, “At least I don’t follow her around like a lost puppy.”
“No, you just sing old-time musicals.”
“A man who is well versed in many facets of life is much more appealing than a love-struck wanker such as you.”
Junior lowered his voice, “Awilda needs a real man; not Twinkle Toes.”
“I’m more of a man than you’ll ever be.”
“Yeah? Prove it; right here, right now.”
“Alright then,” Zeff nodded, “winner gets Awilda.”
Sunders had been sitting at his computer, wrapping his fingers rapidly across the keyboard for at least an hour. Finally, after exploring every avenue he could think of he picked up his cell phone and dialed one of the numbers he’d obtained the day before.
Junior and Zeff were in the middle of sparring when they heard a cell phone going off. They both stopped instantly, their bare chests rising and falling with each heavy breath. Neither of them could seem to get the upper hand over the other. It was pretty clear that if they were going to have a winner then they were going to have to do more than spar; they would need to have a full on fight.
Junior picked up his phone and scowled at the caller ID. He pushed the button to accept and put the phone to his ear, “What?”
“Nice to hear your voice too,” Sunders said sarcastically.
“Sorry,” Junior said flatly, “what the hell do you want; better?”
“Oddly enough, aye; listen; I’ve been doing some thinking about James and Regina. I don’t think they’re telling you the whole truth.” Sunders listened for some reaction, when none came he figured he had the shifter’s full attention. “I did some digging and James isn’t exactly someone to be trusted.”
“Tell me about it,” Junior mumbled.
“He’s been in and out of rehab for countless vices and in and out of jail for all the same reasons.”
“He hasn’t exactly made any attempts to hide that. Look, I agree he’s a shitty human being and I wish I could say I’m not just waiting for him to run out on Awilda again but none of this is news.”
Sunders lowered his voice as if concerned someone might be listening, “It’s not James that’s the real concern.”
Junior rolled his eyes, “You think Regina’s a threat? Why?”
“Well, she’s a Creator, and according to the DAA the Creators disbanded nearly a decade ago.”
“And?”
“And… just a few days ago a couple of Protectors showed up asking one of our team leaders to work on a secret project involving an explosion at a DAA facility… in Nevada.”
Junior crinkled his nose and furrowed his brow, “You think Regina and the explosion are connected?”
“I’m almost positive.”
“I’m failing to see how that really concerns us.”
Sunders sighed with frustration. “If the facility that exploded was where the Creators resided then that means the Creators didn’t disband ten years ago; up until recently they were still active.”
“So… what… you think Regina is going to try to conduct experiments on us or something?”
“I highly doubt it; there’s no way those two could have enough power to take even the little shifter captive; but you definitely need to be weary of her.”
“Dually noted.”
“One more thing,”
Junior pinched the bridge of his nose, “What is it?”
“Regina Wilds doesn’t exist.”
Now that got Junior’s attention, “What?”
“At least not in the DAA; we have a database that lists all members currently active and all members from up to twenty-five years ago when the database was first created; she’s not in it.”
“That would make sense if the DAA was trying to keep the whole Creator faction a secret.”
“So I did some research on Regina Wilds.”
“Of course you did.”
“I don’t think that’s her real name.”
Junior arched a brow, “And why is that?”
“She’s too perfect; her credit history doesn’t have a blemish on it, there’s no record of her ever having parents and no college; university or otherwise has any record of her ever attending.”
“What kind of database do you have?” Junior asked, baffled by all of the information – or lack thereof – the Finder had gathered.
Sunders smirked, “I ha
ve a lot of toys at my disposal; just watch out for her. James said he wanted to reconnect with Awilda, which means they’ve got her in their crosshairs; for what reason, I don’t know. Best case scenario he’s telling the truth; but worst case scenario…” his sentence trailed off.
“Yeah, I got it,” Junior said roughly, “thanks.” He hung up the phone and stared at the now blank screen.
“What do you want to do?” Zeff asked.
Junior looked to him, conflicted and unsure, “Looks like we’ll have to keep a closer eye on Mr. Rose than we thought.”
“I was talking about our little wager.”
Junior looked at the blonde, shirtless man in front of him and smiled, “Obviously if we’re going to fight then we’re going to have to really fight.”
“Agreed.”
“We’ll get a few of the others to act as judges. Three rounds max; may the best man win.”
Zeff smirked, “Tonight then; and I will, thank you.”
46
Awilda sat on the sofa in the middle of the living room trying to hide her boredom. The surprise her dad had lined up for her wasn’t the heart-to-heart she’d been hoping for; but rather sitting in silence and watching her favorite movie as a child – The Wizard of Oz. When that was finally over James decided to surprise her again by popping in a DVD of Return to Oz.
Once the credits began to roll Awilda forced her eyes to open as if she’d been sitting on the edge of her seat the entire time. She looked over to see her father playing with the remote to get the movie to stop. Between them sat an empty bowl that was once filled with buttered popcorn; all of which had been eaten by James.
James looked at his daughter, “Feels just like old times, doesn’t it?”
Awilda forced a closed mouth grin, “Yeah; hey, speaking of old times; I was wondering if maybe you could tell me a little about my mom.”
James winced, “Let’s not bring down the mood Wills.”
She motioned to the television, “This can’t be why you went through all the trouble of finding me; to watch old movies. You said so yourself we have a lot of catching up to do and so far we’ve barely said a word to each other.”
James sighed and looked down at his lap, “You’re right, and I’m sorry; it’s just that the subject of your mother is very difficult for me.”
“I didn’t mean to make you feel bad…”
“No, no you didn’t,” James cut her off. “It’s just that… never mind.”
“What?”
He looked at his daughter. “I don’t really feel like I can connect with you here. I keep feeling like someone is always watching us; listening to everything we say.”
Awilda knew exactly what he meant and she had a feeling a certain invisible Limrid was responsible.
James adjusted his position and leaned in a little closer to his daughter. “Listen, I know you turned me down before, but I really think it would be a good idea if you and I got out of this house for a while.”
Awilda shook her head, “I told you, I can’t…”
“I know, I know; all hands on deck. But I know of this great little, private place where we can go have dinner; just the two of us. We can truly be free to talk and I promise, I’ll tell you everything you want to know about your mother. Please Wills, you’ll be gone for no more than an hour; two tops. They won’t even know you’re gone.”
Awilda wanted to say no; to abide by Cooper’s rules and stay within the castle property line, but she couldn’t ignore her father’s pleading eyes. She figured she’d be able to sneak out of the castle with a little help from Tauggle; and the Limrid would undoubtedly tag along in case she needed to hurry back for any reason. Finally, her lips parted in a smile, “Okay.”
Alvin was leaving the kitchen and heading down the hall when he heard Awilda and her dad talking in the living room. Awilda was asking about her mom and he figured he shouldn’t intrude during such a heavy time. He contemplated finding Mason and seeing if they didn’t have any bottle rockets left when James suddenly started talking about Awilda leaving the castle for a couple of hours. His mouth began salivating at the thought of getting away from this place; or maybe it was the thought of breaking the rules. His school counselor did describe him as having an intentionally deviant and rebellious personality. In a nutshell if you told him not to do something there was a pretty good chance he was going to do it. And right now he was under strict orders not to leave the premises.
“Okay.”
Alvin heard Awilda agree to meet her dad outside of the castle and he completely forgot about the bottle rockets.
“Wonderful,” James beamed at his daughter. “Now, I’m going to go make the reservation and I’ll be waiting for you at the end of the driveway at say, seven o’clock?”
Awilda nodded.
“Great,” James stood and leaned down to kiss his daughter on the forehead. “I’ll see you then Wills.”
47
2 weeks ago
Las Vegas, Nevada…
Jessie had been sitting at the bar for ten minutes, wondering when this Noah guy was going to show up. She had no idea what he looked like and therefore had no idea who to look for, but she supposed that was the point; total anonymity. Instead she nursed her gin and tonic and waited for someone to approach her.
A man sat next to her at the bar a few moments later and ordered a diet coke. After the bartender pushed the drink toward him and left to tend the other end of the bar the man spoke, “Maxi sent you.” He didn’t phrase it as a question and he didn’t look at her; only stared down into his drink. Jessie turned toward him…
“Don’t,” he said sharply. “You and I are strangers with nothing to say to each other.”
Slowly Jessie turned back to facing forward, “You’re Noah?” When the man didn’t answer she continued, “Yes, Maxi sent me; but I don’t have a lot of money.”
“She’s covering your bill.”
Jessie’s heart warmed a little at her friend’s offering.
“Meet me out back in twenty minutes.” Noah stood and left the bar without ever taking a sip of his soda.
Twenty minutes later Jessie rounded the bar to see the man standing next to an old pick-up truck. She approached him cautiously.
“Turn around,” He told her.
“What?”
“I said turn around.”
Jessie did as she was told and suddenly a burlap sack engulfed her head. She began to squirm but Noah held her in place.
“Be still,” He whispered so she could just barely hear through the burlap. “This is only temporary; for my protection. I’ll drop you off back here when it’s all said and done, yes?”
Jessie nodded.
“Good, now let me help you into the truck.”
48
Present Day
London, England…
Awilda was heading up to her room when she saw Junior beginning to descend the staircase. Her heart stopped at the sight of him. He was shirtless with a pair of loose hanging shorts that sat just below the V sculpted into his hips. The tattoos on his arms covered every inch of skin and wrapped around his shoulders, leaving his hard chest and his ripped abdomen bare.
He stopped in front of Awilda and watched as she fidgeted awkwardly for a few seconds before he finally cleared this throat to speak, “So, um, what are your plans for tonight?”
“What?” Awilda’s eyes darted to his. Don’t let on.
“I was just wondering because Zeff and I are going to have an MMA fight and we need some judges in case it comes to a decision.”
“Why are you fighting?”
Junior’s heart raced as he wished he could tell her the truth; but he figured if she knew they were fighting over her she’d be either offended or excited that Zeff wanted her; because there was no way in hell she wanted him. She’d made that perfectly clear. Junior tried to think of a brilliant lie. He shrugged, “No reason,” nailed it.
“Oh, well, actually I was going to go to bed early. You know
, after spending the whole day with my dad I’m a little emotionally exhausted.”
Junior smiled softly, “I understand. Well, goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” she continued up the stairs and made her way down the hall to her room.
“What do you mean she’s leaving?” Mason asked in a hushed whisper.
“I mean she’s going to sneak out of the castle tonight to go have dinner with her dad.” Alvin said as he had Mason backed up against the corridor wall.
“What does that have to do with us?”
“We’re going to go with her.”
“Why would we want to have dinner with her dad?”
Alvin hung his head and shook it. “We’re not; we’re just going to use her and her Limrid to get out of here. Once we get to the restaurant the two of us will go our own way for a bit until she’s ready to come back. No one will know we’re gone.”
Mason lowered his chin and laced his eyes with sarcasm, “You really don’t think Cooper will notice?”
“Notice what?” Cooper called as she reached the top of the stairs. A few seconds later she rounded the corner and saw the two boys standing in the hall.
“Uh, that we’re going to watch a marathon tonight on the tele; we were hoping you wouldn’t mind us taking up the living room all night. Or maybe we can just watch it in Mason’s room.” He turned to Mason, “You have that big tele that Zeff got you last year; yeah; we’ll watch it on that.”
“No matter,” Cooper began, “Bawli and I will be in the storage room watching Zeff and Junior fight; we’re the judges. You two are more than welcome to join us.”
“That sounds bloody ace,” Mason began before Alvin nudged him in the ribcage.
“No, I think we’ll watch the marathon; we’ve been looking forward to it.”
Cooper lowered her lids, “What’s it a marathon of?” She asked suspiciously.
Without missing a beat Alvin smiled and said, “The Soup Pot; it’s all leading up to the season premier.”
“Is that the one where Clive’s cousin is a lawyer?”