Authors: Aimee Laine
Sophie rubbed his shoulders. “That’s okay, big boy. You were just trying to help, like you said.”
“That’s when they came back and told me to get in the car so I could take care of Charley.” His eyebrows squished to the center. “But I kept telling them she wasn’t Charley, and they kept saying ‘yeah, right’, but I said they weren’t right.” Chase ran a finger under his nose. “Why did they think I wasn’t right?”
Cael chuckled. “Because they were bad guys. What happened next?”
Chase tilted his head back up but turned to James. “They didn’t make me buckle up.”
James chuckled. “Another okay, buddy-boy. You were there for Sophie, and that’s what counts the most.”
Wyatt couldn’t help the smile. The boy had clearly learned, but like a typical eight year old, he hadn’t grasped the point of the rules.
“Um … so, since Sophie was sleeping, they drove and drove and kept on going all the way over the river. I remembered the bridge—that’s why I knew where to go. You remember the bridge, Cael? When we went fishin’?”
“I do,” Cael said, his own grin mirroring Chase’s.
Wyatt mouthed to Cael, “The bridge?” Cael nodded. The kid had provided a fantastic geographic marker.
“They carried Sophie away and took me to a room with two beds and one Mickey Mouse light. There weren’t any toys, but they did bring me a samwich. Ooh! So, then there was this cute little mouse in my room, like Pops. He ran across the room a couple times, and one time the people came back to check on me, and the mouse ran in front of them. I was hiding under the bed, and they didn’t see me. They screeched like you do, Charley, when you see a mouse.” Chase’s giggle infected them all.
“The people just kept bringing me food and a couple toys, but they didn’t let me out. I was gettin’ bored, so I decided … um … to try what Cael showed me.” He tweaked his gaze to Cael again.
“Keep going. It’s okay. Charley knows I showed you.”
Chase bit his bottom lip. “So, I focused really hard on the mouse. Thought all about him and how he might walk and ’bout his whiksers—his whik—his whiskers … I tried to keep real still and think about it.” He turned to Cael. “Like you showed me how to get out of ropes and things.”
Cael nodded him forward.
“So when I was thinkin’, I did it! I got really hot, but I just kept thinking about being the mouse ’cause there was nothin’ else to do. I walked all around the room but got real tired. I think I fell asleep.”
“When did you change back to you?” Charley’s voice held a calm softness, but Wyatt could see the burn in her eyes.
“In the dark. I was kinda cold, so I thought about bein’ me again. It kinda hurt, but not as bad.” He cocked his head at them as if to say ‘it was no big deal.’
Wyatt tilted his head.
The boy didn’t experience pain while transforming?
“Transformation is a very tough process,” Charley said. Her voice sounded supportive, not angry or judgmental. “Especially when you change into an animal. People are easier because you’re already one of them, but animals—very little is the same. You’re very special to be able to do that, Chase. Very, very special.” Her gaze tracked to James.
“It makes you extra sleepy, and you have to rest for a while,” James added.
“I know!” His exclamation came with excitement. Chase slid off Sophie’s lap and stood, nearly bumped her in the chin as he did. “So I did it again the next night when they told me to go to sleep, and then I stayed under the bed like the mouse—alllllll night!” He all but jumped with giddy elation.
“Didn’t they see you the next morning?” Cael asked.
“Nope!” He stood with his little arms crossed against his chest. “They looked everywhere. While they were finding me, I went out the front door!” His smile would have warmed polar bears in a pond of freezing water.
• • •
The sound of the phone cut their conversation short. Charley whipped around to Wyatt. He flipped his cell open to speed-dial Detective Bland, who they’d not yet told about Chase’s reappearance.
“Go ahead,” Wyatt said.
She grabbed the handset from the base on the side table. Answered on the third ring. “Hello?”
“Is this Charley?” A flat voice, masked by the robotics of a computer, asked.
Charley’s entire body shook. “This is.”
“We will offer you a trade.” The caller took in a deep breath.
A trade?
She opened her eyes wide at Wyatt, who remained in the room. Cael and James had disappeared to the office, or so Charley figured with their absence.
“Play along,” Wyatt mouthed.
Charley pressed a hitch in her voice. “Anything. You can have anything you want if you give me back my son.”
“Ah yes, the boy. We’ll return him—”
“Unharmed,” Charley interrupted.
“We’ll return him if, and only if, you meet uh—me, alone, at the arboretum as the night turns to morning of the last week day.”
Charley flipped her phone over so she could see the time. “Why not now? Why not right this fucking instant?” She pitched her voice up as if in hysterics.
The voice laughed. “You always get what you want, don’t you?” The sound turned to a sneer. “Well not this time. Friday. Midnight and no sooner. Nor later.”
“Where exactly?”
“By the gazebo, under the stars. Rain or shine, Charley. There will be no further instruction. Come alone.”
“You don’t know anything about him. He’s just a baby. Send him home, and I’ll meet you, now.”
So I can kick your ass.
“Do you want money? I have plenty. You can have it all. Tell me what I can do to get my son back!”
“Friday!” the voice blasted in monotone and hung up.
Despite the fact the entire conversation had been faked, Charley’s body vibrated with tension, rage and worry. “What do they want from me?”
She balled her hands into fists, pounded them against her thighs.
Wyatt stepped toward her but hesitated. “I don’t know, but I think we need to backtrack a bit.”
“What do you mean?” Charley took deep breaths in the hope of calming her need to throw something.
“I need to know everything there is about you.”
18
Wyatt wanted to yell at her, to tell her that the secrets she kept put her in her predicament. He realized, before he said anything, that he meant those words for whatever sizzled but fizzled between the two of them. Secrets kept her family safe but put him on the outside fringe.
“I can’t help you if I don’t have more detail,” he said.
Her head popped up, her eyes glossy with emotion he couldn’t read. “Where do you want to start?”
“Who are you? Where do you come from? Why are you here? What did Cael show Chase? Why wouldn’t he already know? What does he know about you guys? Is he like you guys, for example?” Wyatt asked.
I could go on and on and on.
James’s silent entry surprised Wyatt. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
Behind him, Cael rushed in. “Charley!”
They all turned to him as Wyatt banked the need to pull at his hair. At every turn, he found interruption.
Cael moved to Charley’s side. “Something’s going on.”
“Of course it is. I have to meet the—” She stopped, Chase’s wide eyes, trained on her. “Little ears don’t need to be a party to this conversation, let’s go down to the office.”
“Can I have some lunch?” Chase blinked a few times as the dust and dirt from his hair settled into his eyes.
Lily rushed over to him, picked him up and spun him in a circle. “You can have all the lunch you want after you have a bath.” She carted him up the stairs to fits of giggles.
“I’m really sorry, Charley,” Sophie’s tired voice came from the couch.
Charley knelt at her head. “It’s not your fault, and I will make these people pay for what they did.”
Sophie closed her eyes, snuggling further into Stuart’s lap.
“Now then, let’s go to the office, and we’ll figure out what to do next.” Charley pushed them all down the hall.
The moment they entered the room, she moved to the center, her hands on her hips. She emanated pure determination if ever Wyatt saw it on display.
“Before we begin, let me just say that I will do whatever it takes to get back at them. I also think they are total idiots because they don’t seem to know he’s missing.” Her hands shook in the air.
Cael walked to her, stopped her hands, his back to Wyatt. “We all will.”
“I don’t know about that,” Wyatt said.
“What?” She spun out of Cael’s hold.
“What if they know and are just playing along?” Wyatt shrugged as if the question were obvious and she should have already figured it out.
Cael moved to the desk, tapped a few keys, and glared at Wyatt over the edge of the monitor. “Can we get back to the call?”
Wyatt nodded him forward.
“By the way, the Detectives have it. Anyway, the caller’s voice … it changed. Still masked by a computer—”
“I figured that,” Charley said in a huff.
Cael’s smile reflected Chase’s youth, an excitement borne of news. “I know, but the best part of it was the tone. The lack of confidence.”
“I didn’t hear anything like that.” Charley’s statement came out flat as if she chastised herself for not picking up on it.
“You wouldn’t because you weren’t listening for nuance. Your focus was on playing the part—which you did like an Oscar winner, let me tell you.” Cael stopped. “It’s these little problems, these little clues that are going to help us kick their ass. I’m jacked Chase is back and ready as hell to see them fry for it.”
“Keep going,” Wyatt waved him forward. “And careful what you say.”
“You’re going to toe the line on this, Wyatt?” Charley’s accusatory tone threw him.
He jerked back, crossed his arms over his chest.
“Listen to this again.” Cael pressed play on the mini-recorder.
“We’ll return him if, and only if, you meet uh—me …”
Wyatt stepped closer to the group. “Hesitation. There’s more than one. The voice started to say ‘us’.”
“Yes.” Cael slapped the desk with his hand. “Now listen to this.” He played another piece of the conversation back.
“You always get what you want, don’t you?”
“This is personal. Completely, absolutely and without a doubt,” Wyatt said, but didn’t alter his stance.
“Exactly,” Cael agreed. He tilted his head up to Wyatt and twisted back to Charley. “They want you, Charley, like we already surmised, and whoever is behind it has a history with you, or us. That’s the frustrating part.” Cael knocked his fist against his forehead.
“We need to prep for Friday’s little mystery visit.” James shifted in his chair.
Wyatt held out his hands. “Whoa there, guys.”
Each of the three faces mirrored different expressions. Charley’s filled with anger, James’s with humor and Cael’s with curiosity.
Charley moved first. “What do you mean, ‘whoa’?” She took another step toward Wyatt.
James shifted back.
“I mean, you asked me to get involved, and I have, so we’re going to do this right, which means you three will not play a part in this.”
“Like hell we won’t.” Charley stood at his toes.
Wyatt wanted to wrap her in his arms. Instead, he maintained his stance. “We’ll find an agent to be you and send them to the park. That’s the safest thing once—”
“No,” Cael said. “One of us is going to have to do it. If these people know about us, they’ll know what we’re capable of.”
Wyatt glared at Cael, willing him to disagree again so he could bring his confidence down a notch or two. “It’s not safe for any of you to get involved at this stage.”
Cael stood, bringing himself to his full height. James moved to flank Charley.
“We’re trained for this, Wyatt. This is the kind of job we do each and every day,” Cael said.
“And I am now your boss. So what I say, goes.” He met Charley’s gaze as he spoke.
What had been simmering in her eyes boiled over. She poked Wyatt in the chest. “Cael’s right. This is what we do. I have to be the one to go, but I think we can probably go as a team—”
Wyatt shook his head.
“Get out, Wyatt.” Charley pointed to the door.
“Excuse me?”
James and Cael shifted behind Charley.
She closed her eyes as if she had to think to make the motion. “I said leave.”
“No.”
She glared at him—as if her look could have been any more of a death-warning. “If you would afford me this professional courtesy, I would appreciate it, Mr. Moreland,” she said in a crisp, polite tone Wyatt had only ever heard when a superior dismissed him.
He spun on his heel and walked out.
• • •
Charley staggered back as Wyatt stormed his way out. The front door slammed a moment later. It rang through the entire house, right down to their office.
“Ouch,” James said.
Charley spun, offered James the same look she’d provided to Wyatt. “What?”
James leaned into her face. “I said … ouch.”
The tension in her shoulders radiated down her arms, adding a pain and vibration worse than some of her body changes. Charley stared at her best of all friends. “Why?”
James snapped his fingers at her eye level. “You screwed up.”
“What?” Charley shook her head as if to jostle her thoughts into proper order. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You know he still loves you, right?”
She said nothing.
Cael leaned over James’s shoulder. “I’m going to leave you two in private. This conversation is going to go somewhere I am not prepared to hear.” He bumped Charley in his hasty exit, but other than a slight shift, she didn’t move.
“He doesn’t want you on the job because he doesn’t want you hurt.”
“That’s a load of—”
James tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. His touch, while soft, came nowhere near the intensity of heat that Wyatt’s brought to her skin. “You didn’t see it in his eyes in Montreal once he found out about you because right afterward, we learned about Chase. You’ve missed all the signals since we got back because Chase was gone. And now that he’s back, you’re hell bent on revenge, but Wyatt’s still thinking clearly.”
“And how can you think ‘clearly’ through this now, James?” She folded her arms over her chest. “Why are you all the sudden the voice of reason?”
“Aren’t I always?”
Charley dropped her gaze.
Dammit. He is. Always.
“The boy
was
in love with you. The man
is
in love with you, but neither of you have had time to talk through the past. You still haven’t told him what’s happening in less than a week, have you?”
“No.” Charley studied the random pattern of the Berber carpet in the office. “It doesn’t matter, anyway.”
“Like hell it doesn’t, Charley. You need him. When we got the call for his case, we jumped at it, knowing you’d stay away. You’re six days from your last change. You need to go to him, tell him, and see what he’s willing to give you.”
He stood before her, so strong and kind, his hands on her shoulders. “You’re waiting for him to find something he can’t deal with and leave, Charley, even though it doesn’t matter at this point. You’ve given him very little about you.”
She sat down on the edge of the desk. “I know. I can’t help it.”
“You need to tell him everything. Start to finish. From scratch. A to Z. Whatever you want to call it.”
“I was planning to, but like you said, everything keeps getting in the way.” She balled her fists.
“You need Wyatt now, and even more for the future, but you have to let him into your life and stop looking at him as someone outside our circle. He already knows what we are, and I haven’t seen that fly across the six o’clock news, so I’m pretty sure he’s keeping the secret. Chase’s disappearance has been a huge hurdle, but we’re over that. We could use Wyatt’s help, his guidance, and his rules with this unknown group.”
James took her hands in his and rubbed. “Remember the night of the dance? I told you it was okay then, and you opted to keep your promise to Lily and not derail his life. I’m telling you … again. Tell him. Make mad, passionate, earth shattering love to him, and next Sunday, on your birthday, shift to his age and make it stick. We’ll all still be here. I know you want that.”
“But what if he won’t have me? What if—”
James stared back up at her, a smile lighting his eyes. “I have a feeling none of that will happen, and if it does, we’ll be here for you.”
“But I won’t be able to help you guys anymore, and you could get stuck with me, not just have to help. My work will be done. I’ll just be like any normal person—”
“It was always going to be over, and you know that. We knew that. We had to bring you two back together. This is it. The last time. Two hundred and thirty-four years is all we get. Isn’t that what you’ve wanted for sixteen of them? You won’t forget us, Charley. He’s not going to let that happen if you take the time to tell him.”
She let out a small laugh. “I kicked him out, James. I told him to leave and have given him no reason, none whatsoever, to stay around me.”
“And that’s going to stop you? You can suck up with the best of them.” He chucked her chin with his fist. “If only we’d shared a birthday, I might have gotten you for myself. But no matter what, I’ll always love you, Charley.”
“Thank you.” Charley put both her palms on his cheeks and leaned in to add a soft kiss to his lips.
• • •
Wyatt strode back into the room to tell Charley what he really thought about being bullied out of the way when he saw her lay a kiss on James’s lips. The fire within erupted. His fist itched to punch a surface, but he couldn’t bring himself to ruin any of their artwork, the walls or doors. He opted instead to let fury and anger burn as he stormed his way back through the hallway.
If he hadn’t returned, he wouldn’t have known for sure. She should have told him and put him out of his misery since their reintroduction and the kiss that brought forth floods of memory.
He could fight him for her.
She might like that, given she was born in what? … Eighteen something or other? No wait, before that.
Or, he could give her up.
That would be noble.
No matter what, he vowed to finish the job, to help her family get the justice they deserved. Then he’d get out of her life.
It’s going to hurt like hell.
Wyatt paused at the front door as Stuart caught up with him.
“Lily’s got cheesecake and sandwiches made.”
“No, thanks.” Wyatt leaned his head against the door and banged it once.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, okay. Liar.”
Wyatt thought, briefly, that he should rip the door off its hinges, but his mother’s warnings about anger and cause and effect came back to haunt him. “Charley kissed James.”
“So?”
Wyatt spun back around. “Don’t tell me ‘So’. They were kissing!” He pinched his fingers together and mock kissed Stuart with them. “I knew it before, saw it in Montreal and ignored it. I’m so stupid to even think there might be something between us again.” He punched a fist into his own palm. It didn’t help.
“Again. So?” Stuart munched on a chip from the pile in his hand.
Wyatt raised his arm as if to hit Stuart but let it fall when Stuart stood still as if he’d take a punch for him—just to help him get it out of his system.
Hushed voices echoed from behind the stairs.
Stuart stepped closer. “They aren’t a couple. I can assure you. It’s not possible.” He disappeared through the dining room.
Charley and James emerged from the hallway. “Wyatt!” Her eyes widened as if surprised by his presence.
“Sorry, just leaving.”
Charley cocked her head at him. “Actually, I—”
Wyatt turned the knob and opened the door without a backward glance. He stepped outside and pulled the knob until the door clicked into place and the wall he’d created wedged between them.
“Fuck,” he said for the second time upon leaving the house at the top of Turner Point.