Authors: Jessica Ryan
She smiled at herself in the mirror one more time, liking the beauty that stared back at her. The internet was filled with memes that said “Real Women Have Curves” and she definitely agreed with that, there was nothing fake about her.
It was a cloudy day, leaving her feeling lazy as she walked onto the front porch. She looked down at her red Mustang, thinking of getting inside and driving away. Maybe she would look for apartments in Lawton, but then the delicious smell of cooked meat hit her nose.
“That smells like Billy’s burgers,” she said, stepping down off the porch and walking down the dirt road in front of her trailer, trying to get a glimpse of the store.
Sure enough Billy was out back grilling burgers. On Sunday’s he liked to grill burgers for the late afternoon church crowd. They sold like mad and Billy made a tidy profit. Paige knew why: they were delicious. He must have driven up to see her about the clothes when he showed up to make his burgers. He was so lazy he couldn’t even walk up the hill to her house at this point.
Billy had been gifted as one of the best grillers Paige had ever been around, a good skill to have in Southwestern Oklahoma. In his younger days he’d load up his pull-behind smoker and travel to BBQ competitions. That was before his ex-wife, Tammy Faye, had left him and his two girls. Now his free time was split between raising them, running the store and yelling at Paige.
Fortunately for Billy the girls were getting older. Lily was fourteen and Lyric was twelve. Paige still didn’t understand why Tammy Faye had ever thought to name a little girl Lyric, it was a terrible name. Paige used to call her by her middle name, Ann, but now that she was older she demanded to be called Lyric.
Maybe the girls are inside,
Paige thought.
I haven’t seen them in a while.
Her nieces were one of the things that kept her in Wounded Bow all these years, but as they grew so did their independence, meaning she hardly saw them. Paige began walking down the hill behind the store, intent on grabbing one of those burgers and talking to her nieces.
“Hey there, Paige,” Billy said, glancing at her as she walked up. “Where’s your friend?”
“He had to leave,” she said, not wanting to linger on the subject of Travis. “I forgot you would be grilling burgers when you came by.”
“You thought I made an extra trip from home just to yell at you?” he asked, smirking at her.
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” she muttered.
“Hell, you’re right,” Billy said, looking down. “I’m sorry.”
This was unexpected; Billy rarely apologized to her for his behavior.
“Are you ok?” she asked.
He looked up, his eyes appearing a bit watery. “Hell yes I’m ok Paige. Can’t a brother apologize to his sister for being a jerk?”
“Well yeah,” she said. “You just never do it.”
“Awww, hell Paige,” he said, putting the spatula down and grabbing his face. “I know. I just realized I gotta start being good to you. We have to, we’re brother and sister. Family’s all you’ve got.”
Family is your pack,
she thought, remembering lessons she learned earlier in the day.
What’s wrong with him? Is he thinking about Tammy Faye again?
It had been six years since she left him, but he had showed up on her doorstep more than once three sheets to the wind, crying about being alone.
“It’s ok,” she said, patting him on the back. “It really is. I love you too.”
“Thanks,” he said, still sniffling. “There’s some burgers already cooked inside. Have Duncan fix you one up.”
“Are the girls inside?” Paige asked hopefully.
“Lily is,” he said. “Lyric is off playing with that Lockhart girl. I can’t stand that family, they give me the creeps. But, I just can’t deny her friends. It’s hard growing up in a town this small.”
“Have you ever thought about getting out of here, Billy?” Paige asked, turning serious.
“Why would I do that?” Billy asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Mom and dad did it.”
“Mom and dad retired. They’d done their duty and were ready to relax.”
“Well why can’t you do your duty somewhere else?’ she asked. “Somewhere better than here? Somewhere where you can be selective about the girl’s friends?”
“And shut down the store?” he asked, his mouth hanging open.
“Why not?” she asked.
“You know granddaddy opened this store way back!” he said, his voice starting to rise. “I can’t just sell it off. It’s been in the family for forty years! It’s a landmark in Wounded Bow.”
“It’s the only landmark in Wounded Bow,” she said. “I understand, you have duties, but I don’t.”
She turned and walked into the store, leaving Billy alone at the grill. She couldn’t believe she had just said that, but she had to tell him what she was thinking eventually. Hopefully he read between the lines and this was an icebreaker. She waited just inside the backdoor, expecting Billy to burst through at any moment to ask her what she meant. Instead she heard the radio flip on and the sounds of Big and Rich began filling the air.
She rolled her eyes and continued into the store, finding Duncan behind the counter like he had been that morning.
“Hey Paige-turner,” he said, giggling at his pet name “You want a burger?”
“Of course,” she said. “Where’s Lily?”
“Over here, Aunt Paige,” Lily said, turning around in her seat. The store was set up like a normal convenience store, but off to one side there were several diner style booths for people to eat. Most of the time the restaurant area was filled with regulars drinking coffee and talking about politics, but today, only Paige’s beautiful niece occupied the area.
“Hello, pretty girl,” Paige said, walking up and hugging her niece. She didn’t have to bend too far, Lily was growing fast. She was going to be tall just like her dad and aunt. She had long brown hair that she usually kept tied back and she wore thick glasses that just magnified her bright blue eyes. She was fair skinned, like everyone in the family, and she was starting to develop the same curves her aunt had.
“Dad said you had some big guy at your house earlier,” she said. “Is that your new boyfriend?”
“No,” Paige said. “He’s just a friend, but he went home.”
“So you’re not with that fat guy anymore?” Lily asked, her eyes narrowing.
“Why does everyone think he’s fat?” she asked.
“Because he is,” Duncan said, plopping a burger down in front of Paige.
“Everyone is fat compared to a beanpole like you,” Paige said, winking at him.
“Don’t knock it until you try it, girl!” Duncan yelled, heading back for the counter.
“No, we broke up,” Paige said. “Why is it so dead in here?” The store was usually a lot busier on Sundays, but today it was empty.
“I don’t know,” Lily said. “Guess nobody wanted a burger today. Guess what Aunt Paige?”
“What?” Paige asked, feeling the excitement in Lily’s voice.
“Our mom is dating a new guy that agreed to pay for her to drive down and pick us up for Christmas! We’re going to spend all Christmas break with our mom!”
Paige felt her heart fall a little. She knew it excited the girls to see their mother; it was rare that they did. Tammy Faye had left Billy for an oilfield worker that wasn’t even from Oklahoma, instead he lived in Wichita. Turns out he was a meth-addict and Billy quickly got custody of the girls. After that Tammy Faye bounced from man to man, never leaving Wichita and never affording to see her girls.
That’s why Billy was upset,
Paige thought.
He’s not going to have the girls on Christmas.
“That’s great, pretty girl,” Paige said, forcing a smile. “I hope you have lots of fun.”
“Oh we will,” Lily said with a smile. “Hey isn’t that your old boyfriend out front?”
She turned and looked through the store’s front windows, seeing Randy’s big ass truck parked across three spots. He jumped out, with the woman from yesterday in tow. She was screaming and pointing at the store while Randy huffed and puffed. He had a large bandage on his nose from where she punched him.
“Stay inside,” Paige said, jumping up and heading for the front door.
“Paige….” Duncan started to say.
“It’s fine,” Paige said.
Surely he wouldn’t start shit with me here,
she thought.
Besides I can kick that skinny bitch’s ass.
Randy had never been violent with her, but she’d seen him try to start plenty of other fights when he thought someone had disrespected him. She had ended up in a fight with another woman more than once thanks to Randy’s mouth.
She walked through the front door, facing Randy and his whore. “What do you want Randy? I thought things were pretty clear yesterday.”
“You broke my nose, you bitch,” Randy said, his face contorting in anger.
“I think it’s an improvement,” she said, her eyes darting back and forth between Randy and the woman.
“You think I’m going to let that slide?” Randy asked, balling his fists up and stepping forward.
“Yeah get her, babe!” the woman screamed. She looked even more like white trash in her clothes. She was wearing an American Flag t-shirt and cut-off jean shorts, very classy.
“Who the hell are you?’ Paige demanded, turning towards the woman.
“I’m Erica, his main squeeze now,” she said. “He was going to tell you about us nicely, but you had to come down and put your fat nose where it don’t belong.”
“So you left me for this whore?’ Paige asked, turning back to Randy.
“You fucking bitch,” he said, lunging forward for Paige.
Without thinking about it Paige ducked under his grab and ran forward, finding herself in the middle of the parking lot. Now Randy and Erica were between her and the store.
Stupid,
she thought.
Randy turned and marched towards her again. She tried to run for the side of the store, wanting to get around to the back. She could see the hill behind the store and the road leading to her trailer, but it all became a blur as she felt her hair being pulled.
Her fat ex-boyfriend was faster than he looked. He had run up behind her as she tried to make her escape and grabbed her by the hair, pulling it tight.
She could feel tears forming in her eyes as he nearly ripped her entire scalp off. The pain was unbearable.
“Listen here you fat whore,” he said. “Nobody puts their fucking hands on Randy Wilkerson and gets away with it. Ya hear?”
He flung her forward, knocking her to the ground. She felt the air go out of her as her chest slammed into the concrete parking lot. She rolled over, pain radiating through her whole body as she looked up at Randy who was standing over her.
“Yeah baby!” Erica screamed. “Stomp a mud hole in that fat bitch!”
Randy’s lips curled into an evil smile as he lifted one boot off the ground, preparing to bring it down somewhere on Paige’s body. He never got the chance as a huge blur flew over Paige, slamming into Randy and taking him to the ground.
Chapter 3
Travis started to remove his shirt, considering shifting into wolf and tearing the man limb from limb. Luckily the human side of his brain realized what a bad idea this would be in such a public setting.
As he drew nearer he saw the man throw Paige to the ground. Travis’ vision began to blur as his anger intensified. A vampire and wererats had taken away his pack; he wasn’t going to allow this man to harm the only thing he had left.
When he was about ten feet from the man Travis leapt with superhuman agility and dove right into the man, knocking him to the ground. The man was pretty large and strong, for a human, but Travis was bigger and stronger.
Travis stood up off the man, allowing him to come to his feet. He wanted this piece of human trash to see the face of the alpha he had pissed off.
“Who the fuck are you?” the man demanded, stumbling to his feet.
“Kick his ass too baby!” he heard the shrill woman yell.
“Your worst nightmare, fat boy,” Travis said, his lips curling into a snarl.
“I’ll fuck you up too!” the man yelled, swinging at Travis. He easily caught the slow human’s fist, crushing it in his hand. The man screamed in pain and dropped to one knee as several bones shattered in his hand.
“This is going to be painful,” he said to the man.
Travis let go of the man’s fist and then stomped down on his raised knee, hearing the satisfied crunch of breaking bone as his boot drove into the man’s kneecap.
“Oh god!” the man screamed, falling to the ground completely and trying to turtle up.
Travis knelt beside him, whispering in his ear. “You should have never touched my mate. You’re going to pay for that with your life.”
The man just whimpered in response. Travis cocked his fist back, ready to rain blows down onto the man’s face and head until he died.
“Stop Paige!” he heard her brother yell. “For the love of God, stop!”
He stood up, leaving the wounded man to cry on the ground. He turned to see Paige with a handful of the skinny woman’s hair, ramming her head repeatedly into the door of the man’s truck. She had lost it, attacking the woman with all her might.
She would make a mighty fine warrior if she was a wolf,
Travis thought.
She’ll make a strong mother for our pups.
Her brother finally interjected himself physically, pulling her away from the woman who was now bleeding all over the concrete parking lot. The smell of blood stung at Travis’ nostrils and excited the wolf inside him.
“Paige, that’s enough!” Billy yelled, holding her tight. “She’s done. They’re both done.”
Paige burst into tears, burying her face in her brother’s chest. Her sobbing gripped at Travis’ protective instincts and he rushed forward, putting an arm around her.
“It’s ok,” Travis said, trying to sound soothing. “It’s all over.”
Paige turned to him, burying her face in his large chest and continuing her crying. She tried to get words out in between hard sobs. “Thank….you….for…not…leaving….me…”
“I’m here for you now and forever,” Travis whispered to her. His words only made her grip tighten.