by Kristie Cook
“Oh.” I didn’t know what else to say. “Well, this is somethin’ that we have to try. I’ll call you again when I can.”
“Wait, Bex?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for doing this for her.”
“She’s our mama, Sissy.” That’s all there was to say, and we hung up.
I pulled Mason’s card out of my back pocket and dialed his number. His voicemail answered, so I left a message with our decision about Mama and also that I had next Monday off if his offer was still open.
Unfortunately, I had to go back on that. Sullivan’s hired the new girl, Leni, which was good in a way because we really needed another waitress who could also help out at the bar. But they wanted me to train her, which meant giving me the crappy shifts until she was ready to take on the busiest nights. Crappy shifts meant suck-ass tips, which meant I couldn’t afford to take time off for a concert. I could justify a shift here and there to see Mama, but not several in a row for something unnecessary.
I made it down twice in the following couple of weeks, but at least I got to see Mason at the hospital. We had coffee both times, but didn’t have an opportunity for anything more than that. He was a perfect gentleman, too, always pulling away after giving me a quick peck on the head or nose. He said it was because once his lips touched mine, he’d never be able to stop, and he was not going to make me a dirty little secret he snuck into the janitor’s closet. But he did insist on giving me a cell phone.
“I want to be able to talk to you whenever I want to,” he said when I tried to give it back to him. “Especially since your mother’s being discharged, and I don’t know when I’ll see you.”
The meds for Mama’s heart and lungs had finally stabilized her, and there wasn’t much more they could do at the hospital until she either improved and received a transplant, or she worsened. So they were sending her home.
“We can’t exactly talk whenever we want. I still have to work and so do you.” I held it out to him.
“I know, but it makes me feel better that at least I know I can call you, even if you can’t answer. I can leave you voicemails. Sext you, even.” He gave me a smile that made me weak.
“Don’t you dare.”
“Don’t worry. I’m a doctor. I’m not that stupid. But know that I’ll be thinking about it.”
So I ended up with a cell phone that he paid for. Part of me felt weird about it—it’s not like he was family helping kin or anything—but part of me appreciated that not only could he call me at a whim, but so could Sissy if something came up with Mama. Sometimes I felt so far away from all of them, but unless I wanted to move down there and hope to find a job that could make up for the ones I had here, there was nothing I could do. And I wasn’t exactly ready to do all that anyway. A mere couple of weeks with Mama or Mason wasn’t enough to make me pull up and move out.
And then there was Ty.
“Bex, sweetie, you’re exhausted,” he said one night when I came home to him sitting on my steps again. It had become our thing—every time I had a shift at Sullivan’s, he waited for me afterwards to share a beer on my stoop. I dropped in front of him, too tired to argue, and grabbed the beer he had waiting for me. “You need a break.”
“Can’t afford it.” I chugged half the bottle.
“You can afford an afternoon of fun. A day in old Mr. K’s field.”
I laughed, giddy with exhaustion. “They still party there?”
Mr. K’s field included a small lake or big pond, whatever you wanted to call it, and was where everyone went to party. Mr. K had actually passed long before I was old enough to go out there, and his relations that inherited the land lived up north, so they had no idea about what went on down here.
“Everyone’s going a week from Saturday. Come out and have some fun for once.”
“I gotta work.”
“Troy’ll give you the day off for me. He likes me.” That was true. “A lot more than that doctor you’re seeing.”
“I’m not seeing the doctor. I don’t have time to see anyone.”
“Well, you sure do spend a lot of time with him, from what I hear. You know you don’t fit in that world, Bex. You belong here. With me.”
“I’m not fixin’ to fit in any world, Ty. Whatever Sissy told ya’ll, she’s lying because she wants to be the one seeing the doctor. She’s setting you up.”
Ty’s hands fell onto my shoulders, and he pulled me backward. I tilted my head to look up at him as he hovered over me. “I don’t wanna argue. I just want you to remember that life’s about more than work. Come hang out. Jeric and Leni and their city friends are comin’. It’ll make things all kinds of interesting.”
“Jeric and Leni?”
“Leni from the bar and her boyfriend Jeric. Did you know he’s an ex UFC fighter? He’s been training me. And did you know he used to be deaf but by some miracle, he’s not anymore?”
I nodded, although I didn’t know the full story beyond whatever surgery he’d had. During our shifts together at Sullivan’s, Leni didn’t talk much about herself, but was always asking me questions about me and if I was okay. The girl, bless her heart, was still weird and overly interested in my business.
“Wait,” I said as all of Ty’s words hit me. “What do you mean he’s been training you?”
“To be a cage fighter. My first fight’s next week.”
I jumped to my feet, spun around and put my hands on my hips. “Ty Daniels! What in God’s name are you thinking? You’re seriously going to jump into a ring and let someone hit you for the fun of it?”
“Not for the fun of it. For the money.” He gave me a grin and cockiness shone in his eyes. “Besides, who said anything about letting someone hit me? Jeric hardly ever can, and he was a pro.”
“I don’t like it. Not one bit.” I placed my hand against his cheek. “You’re gonna ruin this face of yours.”
His expression fell serious, and he clamped his hand over mine. “Glad to know you care.”
Oh, crap. He was taking it the wrong way. I slid my hand out from under his and returned it to my hip. “Yeah, well, that face of yours is about the only thing you have goin’ for you.”
He laughed. “You just wait and see, Bex. I’m gonna be famous and rich, and then you won’t care how I look when I can give you the life you’ve always wanted. That doctor won’t have nothin’ on me.”
I groaned, but before I could say anything, Ty reached out and grabbed my arm.
“Get inside, Bex.” His voice was suddenly full of warning, and his gaze was focused on something in the distance, near the highway. I turned to follow it. A man’s figure stood on the edge of the road. He appeared to be staring at us, although I couldn’t tell for sure because a hood blocked his face. “There’s been some weird guys hanging around town, and I think that’s one of them. I don’t know what they want, but they’re creepy as hell. I feel like they’re following me all the time, and I don’t want them seeing you.”
He ushered me inside my own house, then watched out the window until the creep disappeared. The only way I could get Ty to leave, too, was to concede to going to the party if Uncle Troy actually allowed it. My uncle did have a soft spot for Ty since he’d served our country, but I still never believed in a million years he’d give me a day off.
Chapter 11
I stood outside Sullivan’s, waiting in the dark parking lot for my girl and watching the Shadowmen who leaned against an unlit lamppost at the edge of the lot, near the highway. Pretty much in the same place where they’d jumped me when I’d been carrying Leni out of the bar the first time I saw her dance the bull. When they took human shapes like this pair did at the moment, my mind reverted to calling the Lakari the name Jacey had coined and we had used before we knew exactly what they were. These Shadowmen had an unnatural interest in both the
truck stop and the RV and trailer park, always around, at least at night. Sometimes others joined them, but when they sensed Leni and me, and Brock and Asia not far off, they scattered, leaving only these two.
However, the group never left the area. There were at least twelve watching over the town at any given time. Or one divided into twelve human shapes. The Lakari could combine and split like that because they weren’t really separate entities. The Dark spirits, controlled by Enyxa, took human form to blend into this world called Earth when they had to. They hadn’t attacked anyone yet and hadn’t even challenged us Guardians, so my guess was they were weaker than they wanted us to know—so probably fewer in number than they wanted us to know, as well.
“Always here, aren’t they?” Leni’s voice came from the back door of Sullivan’s before her sexy body emerged into the pool of light provided by the security lamp.
“Who the hell are they and what do they want?” Bex asked, stepping outside behind Leni and turning to lock the door. “They’re creepy as hell.”
“Stuff of nightmares,” Leni agreed as she crossed her arms across her stomach, her eyes never leaving the Shadowmen who hadn’t budged from their post.
I moved out of the shadows over to the girls. “Exactly why I’ll be walking the two of you home.”
Leni knew of my presence—we always knew where each other was at any given time—but Bex jumped.
“Ohmagosh, you scared the shit out of me,” she exclaimed in her Southern accent that at one time would have been the icing on the cake of the entire hot little package she had to offer. But since Leni, I couldn’t even think of another girl like that. It never occurred to me except when I noticed just how much I’d changed. “Good heavens. Liz’beth’s got me all worked up and jumpin’ at a June bug’s shadow.”
“I like to think I’m more threatening than a June bug,” I said, taking my position between the two girls and sliding my arm around Leni’s waist as we began the short journey home.
“I don’t know. You ever have one of those massive suckers fly right in your face?” Leni shuddered. “They smack right into you like they’re flying drunk.”
“I hate those things! But Jeric, trust me, ya’ll are worse. You and that friend of yours,” Bex said, referring to Brock. He and Asia had come into the bar earlier to keep me company while Leni worked. They’d been making occasional appearances, allowing the locals to get used to them being around … and the Lakari, too. “And Ty’s told me all about your fightin’. Do you really have to train him? You’re just encouragin’ him.”
“It’s what he wants,” I said with a shrug. “I need a job. Besides he’s good.”
We stopped at the highway to wait for a car to pass. Movement in the corner of my eye came from the place where the Shadowmen had been standing. I looked over my shoulder, where they still stood, but no longer like a couple of loser loiterers. They were in a more attentive stance now, feet shoulder-width apart, hands clasped behind their backs, shoulders squared. Hoods covered their eyes, but I could feel their glares on me. If it remained just the two of them and Leni didn’t have to get involved, I would have said to bring it on and taunted them into a fight. I could have used the chance to release some pressure. But I didn’t know how close their friends were, and Leni would insist on getting involved. Or, they’d do what they did when Brock and I approached them to ask what they wanted: they disintegrated into smoke without a word. So I simply made sure they knew I knew of their presence, then turned back as we began to cross.
“Is he really?” Bex asked. “Good, I mean? Because I feel like he’s tryin’ to prove somethin’ in the stupidest way possible.”
“I wouldn’t waste my time or his neck if I didn’t think he had a real chance,” I said. “He’s good, Bex. Better than most at his level. Don’t worry your pretty little head over it. That’s my job, and I’m honestly not all that worried.”
“You better not let anything happen to him,” she warned, and although she didn’t look physically threatening, I took her seriously.
Ty had told me enough about Southern girls’ tempers, especially when it came to protecting their own. They could be sweet as pie and offering up all kinds of Southern hospitality one minute, but as soon as they felt they or someone they love was threatened—as soon as you heard that, “Oh, hell no!”—don’t be surprised to find a shotgun in their hands. And they were trained to use them. Leni had a touch of Southern in her from her mama, and I had firsthand experience facing the barrel of her shotgun. Luckily, she didn’t shoot me. I didn’t know if that luck would hold out with anyone else. I might be a former fighter and a current warrior, but I did not want to piss Bex off.
“It’s his choice to get in that cage, and after that, there’s not a lot I can do. But when he’s not in the fight cage, I’ll take good care of him,” I promised, and I meant more than ensuring he trained smartly and stayed out of trouble.
Although Leni felt the pull to Bex and was almost sure she was Rebethannah, that didn’t mean the Lakari were there for her. They could just as easily be there for Ty, whose unrequited love could be leading him to dark places. Or a number of the people in town who suffered from depression, anxiety, and other ailments that affected the soul … or could come about because of a Dark soul. This town seemed to have more than its share per capita of tragedy and hard times—quite the attraction for the Lakari. Plenty of tainted souls for them to hunt.
Brock, Asia, Leni, and I discussed the Lakari a lot more than I preferred. We couldn’t figure out why they hadn’t acted yet. We could only guess that they must have been waiting for something. Like a Bonding between soul mates, a re-Bonding of Twin Flames, or, on the flip side and what seemed more likely, the soul they wanted reaching the peak of its hopelessness and doing something irreversibly stupid, like murder or suicide. Since they never attacked, we couldn’t figure out who they hunted, if anyone specifically. For now, they seemed content to watch and wait, basking in the bleak mood that hung over the town.
We took advantage of their foot-dragging, learning as much as we could about the people by becoming a part of their community. Maybe our presence kept the Lakari from acting—I could at least hope. If that were the case, I’d be perfectly fine with hanging out in Lake Haven until we all became old and gray and the Lakari grew bored shitless. Not likely, I knew, but I wouldn’t have complained.
“So I guess he talked all ya’ll into going to your first K-bomb,” Bex said as we strode across the sandy area between the highway and the paved path of the RV park.
“K-bomb?” Leni asked curiously. I knew what Bex meant, but kept my mouth shut.
“What we call the big parties on the lake in old Mr. K’s field,” Bex explained. “They’ve been having parties there for decades, ever since they closed off the real Lake Haven.”
“There’s an actual Lake Haven, as in a lake?” Leni asked, her surprise and curiosity leaking over me. We hadn’t heard that yet.
“Well, yeah, that’s what the town’s named after. But it’s all shrunk down to a pond and only that because it’s spring-fed. They closed it off years ago because at least once every generation, someone died there and always of mysterious causes. It’s like the town’s skeleton in the closet. Nobody even talks about it anymore.” She paused to draw in a breath and waved her hand in the air, dismissing the subject. “So, anyway, Ty said ya’ll were goin’ to the party Saturday?”
Leni threw me a questioning look, and I cringed. I hadn’t brought this up with her yet. She narrowed her eyes.
“I was going to talk to you about it tonight,” I said, trying to cover my own ass. She lifted her chin in that don’t you forget it look girls do.
“Hey, ya’ll’s camper’s that way,” Bex said, tossing her head to our right.
“I said I was walking you home. All the way home.”
She pointed to a mobile home about six
ty yards away. “I live right there. Think I can find my way.”
I glanced over my shoulder. The Shadowmen were no longer in the parking lot. I didn’t know where they disappeared to, but I did know they hadn’t gone far.
“I got it from here,” said a male voice in front of us. Ty stepped out of the shadows of trees that separated the RV side of the park from the permanent trailer side.
Bex’s breath had caught again, and she blew it out angrily. “Cripes! Ya’ll need to stop scaring the damn bejesus outta me.”
Ty placed his hand on Bex’s back and nodded a thanks to me before he and Bex headed for her place. Leni and I didn’t move, though, until we were sure both made it safely inside.
“So what’s this about a K-bomb?” she asked once we were home in her camper.
I stuffed my hands into my jeans pockets and leaned back on my heels. “Like Bex said, a party. Ty was telling me about it and asked if we wanted to go. Says it’s the best time we’ll find around here.”
Leni placed her fists on her hips and lifted a brow. “And you really think we need to be looking for a good time?”
I smiled and sauntered over to her. She backed up as far as she could go, and I pinned her with a hand on the counter on each side of her hips. I leaned down and with my lips barely touching her ear, I whispered, “I don’t think it would hurt anything. Could be fun.”
Her hand slid between us and pressed on my chest. She pushed me away, and her tone came harshly. “We’re not here to party, Jeric.”
I cocked my head, not expecting this kind of reaction. I thought she’d be a little upset for not discussing it with her first, but angry? Didn’t see that coming.
“No shit. I know what we’re here for, as much as I hate it. But we’re supposed to blend in, get to know the people, find our target. What better way is there than at a party where everyone under thirty will be?”