Krystanfrowned.“We need to find that chickagain andfigure out how she is responsible for all this bullshit.”
“I don’t knowKrystan, she seemed pretty scared to me.”
“Yeah because she knew I was going to punchin her pretty face.”
“Maybe, but we need go back to where we were attacked last night first.”
“Can't we go back to her motel and beat her brains in, right now?”Krystanwhined. “We didn't disturb anything, so she wouldn’t know we had been there.”
“That will be our second stop,” I said, taking a final long look atKrystan’senticing body beforegetting out of the bed. Iswiped mypants and shirtoff the ground.I'd change in the guest room where I kept some clean clothes.
“Jinkies,”Krystansaid,raising an eyebrow.I followed her gaze to my crotch where my erection pressedconspicuouslyagainst my boxers.I jerked my hands down, still holding my clothes. Unfortunately, I tried to cover uptoo fast andended up smashingmyownjunk. I let out a grunt of pain andscuttled out of the room, leaving behind a laughingKrystan.
In fifteenminutes,we had clothesonand avoided the kitchen again by picking up coffee at a gas station as we drove back to the Highlands.
Getting out of the van in the back alley, I breathed in deeply. The air wasfresh,and I enjoyedthe cool stingof early morning.Different birdstwitteredbut thestreets werestillrelativelyquiet.Iwaslucky to be alive,luckyto have spentthe night with my arms wrapped aroundKrystaneven if it would never happen again.
Growing up with anxiety anddepression,I always felt completely schizophrenic when I finally came out ofa dark spotbecause I wouldsuddenly be on top of the world andconvinced,I could never slip back down so far again.That was how I felt now.
The irony of life;you need the shit times to appreciate the good. Things had gotten about as bad astheycould get and today things were good and though that wouldn’t lasteither, I was grateful.
Krystanhopped out of the van, the hood of hersweatshirtup over her head,large mirrored sunglasses on, andcoffee cup glued to her face.She looked like theuni-bomber. Why did I find her so freaking hot?
Krystanjust needed a bodylast nighttohold her in her time ofgrief. She didn’t want anythingmore. We’d bonded and while I knew she cared about me now, and more about why she was always trying to push me away, I was stillher sidekick, whipping boy.
As I held her last night before drifting off to sleep,Iremember wishingthe kid she was carrying was mine. That she would keep it, and we could act out what Isuggestedlast night. Become a weird little supernatural fighting family complete with axes and bottles. But this morning the dream wasover.
Since my embarrassing exit from her room this morning,Krystanonly gave me monosyllabic responses and wouldn’t look me in the eye. She was in one of her moods, so I knew to steer clear,even if I didn’t want to. I wanted to hold her, make everything okay.
But I could still appreciatehaving the one nightwith herandspend today focusing on protectingpeople from thecrazy crap that came out of theStygian.
The salt circleremainedbuta couple tracks resembling bike wheels had broken it. Some of the candles had fallen over and rolled away.
Krystankicked one of them, checking the area for clues.The hand not holding her coffee wasshoved inher jacket pocket.I scanned the area as well, walking up and down the alley behind the houses.When I circled the van,Krystansaid, “What are welookingfor again?”
My eye caught on something behind a dumpster two housesdownfrom the salt circle. Ijogged over then leaned downand sunk my hand into a body of fluff. My heart skipped a couple beats. “This,” I said, holding up the stuffed rabbit.
Krystanstared at the plush toy. “Is that what I think it is?”
I sighed and pulled out my keys again. “Yeah. It’s Sophie’s.”
Krystanlooked dazed. “What the actual fuck?”
“I don’t know but let’s go find out.”
18
Knocking on Susan’s door, anxiety clawed at my throat. Were they even there? Susan hadn’t picked upthe phone when I calledso we raced back across town, well as much as we could with Travis hitting every red light on theway back. At one point I was tempted to stomp on his foot on the gas and blow through a red no one else was at.
Knocking again, I finally heard footsteps. Susan was in her housecoat, her hair frazzled.Her eyes were puff with sleep but the bags I'd seen under her eyes last night had lessened.“OhI’m so sorry I didn’t hear you, what time is it?”
“9:00 a.m. Where are the kids?” Travis asked, trying to get a look around Susan and into the house.
I was two seconds from pushing her to the groundand stormingintoget my hands on those kids. I wasn’t sure if it was because I needed tomake sure they were safe or throttle them.
As Susan let us in, Noah emergedfrom the hallway, still in hisrumpled batmanpajamas. He yawned and rubbed his eyes.
Susan smiled sweetly at him. “They were as quiet as little lambs, sleeping the whole night through in the guest room.” She said under her breath to us, “Had toeventuallytake a sleeping pillmyself.”Then louder, “Let me go changerealquick and then I can make breakfast.”
