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Mudflaps and Murder Mittens

Episode 1:

 

Josh wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, he was busy trying not to pull his hair out as he searched for the pullups, fruit snacks, TV dinners, toddler meals, and good lord, pads that his soon to be ex-sister-in-law had instructed him to come back with. He got why it was important that he drop in on her from time to time and make sure she and Josh’s nephew were good, if that really was Josh’s nephew, which was a whole different bone of contention he really didn’t want any part of.

 

Rochelle could fight that out with his mom and his brother, if Kerry ever decided to come back from wherever it was he’d wandered off to this time. Josh was just trying to be a good person until someone said one way or another if Jonnah was kin to him or not, and even then, he’d probably still help out where he could, on account of the kid being so cute and downright adorable, despite his mother’s less than stellar attitude.

 

“Make sure you get the right shit this time,” had been her parting words to him as he’d headed down her steps, Jonnah on the floor behind her, sputtering car sounds and pushing around the plush truck that Josh had brought over for him.

 

He’d have liked to have sat and played awhile, listened to Jonnah giggle, and maybe even helped him with his food when it was time for lunch. The boy loved peanut butter and banana sandwiches with the crusts cut off and could manage a square or a triangle on his own, depending on how Josh cut his food for him. Afterward, it might have been fun to watch a movie while Jonnah’s food settled and Rochelle got ready for work. Her sister Cheryl would be over then to watch Jonnah while Rochelle worked her shift, and she never minded if Josh stuck around to play cars with Jonnah or walk with them up to the park where they’d take turns pushing him on the swings.

 

Hell, if Cheryl had been Jonnah’s mama, Josh had no doubt that she’s have let him stay with the kid while she went out and got what she needed, seeing as how she probably knew exactly where everything was, could have grabbed it quicker, and been back in a flash. Unlike him, with this search, search, and more search routine that left him wandering aisles like a space cadet. Unlike her sister, Cheryl didn’t get off on making people’s lives hell, or threatening to withhold access to the kid if she didn’t get what she wanted. Rochelle tended to use Jonnah like a bargaining chip, especially when she wanted something from Josh or his mama.

 

Was like she was taking it out on them that Kerry was gone, not that they’d had a hand in it. Kerry always had been prone to doing whatever popped into his head at the time. From the postcards Josh and his mama had received, it was fishing that held his attention right now, though whether he’d last a season was still up in the air. He’d sent all of his notes from the same seaside town and claimed to be splitting rent on an apartment with other fishermen who headed out early in the morning the way he did and trudged home at night smelling of the sea and fish guts.

 

He seemed to like it too, if his messages to them were honest. Sometimes with Kerry it was hard to figure that part out, since his brother never made it obvious when he was struggling. He could have been chin deep in quicksand and he’d still have smiled while he waved off a floatation device, insistent on extracting himself from the situation on his own.  Stubborn, that was Kerry, and until he made up his mind to come back, nothing in the world would sway him, which meant Rochelle had been extra pissed off these days. It was the kind of anger and vindictiveness Josh tended to avoid where he could, but since avoidance meant losing time with Jonnah, there were times when he was forced to bite the bullet and man up.

 

At least Cheryl was friendly, levelheaded, and prone to laughter, often sharing the funny stories of her student’s classroom antics with any who’d sit still long enough to listen. Like Josh, who didn’t mind letting her ramble on about the kid who’d insisted upon decorating his glue stick with paper cutouts of pants and a jacket, then went on to name the stick and make it his desk’s mascot. As long as nobody stifled that kid’s creativity, that imagination of his would take him far, especially when he had someone around like Cheryl to encourage him to explore it more.

 

She was the closest thing he’d had to an actual friend since his teenage years when a few misguided decisions cost him more than just blood and skin. If she were Jonnah’s mom, he’d have even considered stepping into his brother’s place full time and making that little family his, despite his preferences not always leading him to pursue women. She was just that special. The kind of person who lit up every room she walked into. There were evenings when he lived for that smile and the brief times they got to spend together laughing with Jonnah. Those were the moments when everything in his word felt right, unlike this one, where he was wishing for a hole to crawl into as he spotted the pads and veered left, cutting off an older lady and flushing with embarrassment as he snagged the packs and tossed them into the cart.

 

Oh good, down the aisle there were the diapers. He spun the cart in that direction as he tried to remember the proper size to get, a shoulder-to-shoulder collision with someone jarring the number right out of his head.

 

“Owe, damn, sorry,” the other guy grumbled as he backed away.

 

Josh rubbed his shoulder and glared, only to realize who it was. His glare faded as an even worse feeling of shame flashed through him. He hadn’t seen Randy in years, not since the accident that had left the long, jagged scar down Randy’s cheek, an accident that would never have taken place if Josh hadn’t bullied him into jumping Potter’s creek on his dirt bike. Randy had wrecked in spectacular fashion, with almost a dozen of their classmates watching, and not a one of them, Josh included, had waited around for the EMT’s to reach their location before taking off. Randy had been shuttled out of town to go live with his grandparents after that, and the circle of friends that Josh had once been able to count on for anything had dwindled faster than a loaf of bread at a duckpond. Now, there was no one left that he was close to from those days.

 

He supposed he deserved that, what with how he’d acted back them.

 

“Hey, umm, long time,” Josh stammered. “I um, didn’t know you were back in town.”

 

“Just visiting,” Randy shrugged, looking eager to get away.

 

“Your uncle? How is he?” Josh asked, recalling the way the man had frequently helped them repair the damage tearing around in the woods had done to their machines. “I don’t see him much anymore.”

 

“Yeah, well, he doesn’t get into town much since my aunt died,” Randy explained. “Look, I’ve really gotta get goin’, promised him I’d make dinner tonight.”

 

“Ah, okay, sorry, it’s um, good to see you again,” Josh managed.

 

Randy was several feet away before Josh called out. “Hey um, I never got to say I was sorry for the accident and all. I’m um, really sorry about what happened to you.”

 

“Yeah, well, now you’ve said it,” Randy said before angrily storming away and leaving Josh to face the stares of those around them, some of whom, he was certain, knew the truth of what had taken place in the woods that day. It was a mistake. A terrible one. Randy had known it wasn’t safe to try and jump that creek, hell, Josh had known it, he’d wrecked on it every time he’d tried, but on that day, he’d been feeling jealous, and a little bit ignored. As a result he’d wound up picking a fight with the boy he’d secretly been in love with.

 

Childish shit. That’s what it was. He couldn’t look back on that day without experiencing a surge of regret, and a type of hopeful protectiveness that would have him doing everything in his power to ensure that Jonnah never experienced a similar fate. It was too easy to get lost in the sinkhole that was small town competitiveness as everyone fought to be the big dog in a tiny postage stamp of a yard filled with crabgrass and stinkweed. He’d have longed to go back to that day and done a bunch of things different, but mostly, he’d have loved to have Randy still standing in front of him and the courage to utter all the words he’d never had the nerve to say. 

 

 

Episode 2:

 

“Fuckin’ Asshole!!!!!”

 

Randy had waited until he’d gotten outside, barely, but he was certain his bellow reached back into the store. The fucker probably heard it too. Oh well. Maybe then he’d know exactly what he could do with his fuckin’ apology!

 

Snarling, Randy stormed to his truck mindful of the attention he’d drawn and the stares he was getting from people he only vaguely recognized. Seven years he’d been away from here and yet very little had changed, including his hatred for Josh Mullings. It licked at him like fire and left him longing to storm back into the building and lay him out on the floor.

 

“URHGGGGGGGGG!!!!”

 

A sharp gasp drew his attention to the right where an older lady stood wide-eyed and pressed to the side of her car, a squirming kid half trapped half in and half out of the vehicle, with the seatbelt clasp tangled in her clothes.

 

“Sorry ma’am. Bad day,” He grumbled before hurrying across the lot, fists clenched so right his nails dug into his palms.

How the hell could that fucker think that I’m sorry was going to fix shit between them like some sad, pathetic words going to erase the scars that riddled his skin.

 

He shoulda decked him.

 

Hell. He owed him that much.

 

And he’d forgotten the coffee and everything else his uncle had sent him for. If he didn’t go back inside he’d have to drive clear over to Fiddler’s Corner to get them and probably pay more too.

 

Fucking hell!

 

Fuckin’ Josh!

 

God damn everything!

 

Packing behind the truck, he considered the darkening clouds forming over the mountains to the east and the scent of rain that already lingered in the air. It would wash out the road to his uncle’s place if they got another downpour and then he’d be stuck carrying wet groceries up the mile long drive through mud and potholes.

 

It wasn’t worth it to risk the drive.

 

But was it worth the bail money they didn’t have to go back inside that building where he knew he’d put his hands on Josh and maybe a couple of boots too?

When the first drop of rain touched his cheek, it made the decision for him. He went back in because that’s what was expected of him, just like coming back here had been expected when his uncle reached out to the family in need of assistance. And the shit part of it all, the part that broke him over and over, was that he loved living with his uncle, he loved the woods surrounding his uncle’s farm and he loved the little town that he’d come to call home when he was just a little kid.

 

He'd hated his grandparent’s insistence that he go live with them after his accident. It had been early in his aunt’s illness, just a few weeks after her diagnosis, and they’d felt that his uncle had his hands more than full dealing with all of that.

 

Randy hadn’t gotten a say. He’d been stitched up and on painkillers, with one arm in a cast and a brace on his knee. Sixteen had still been a kid in his grandmother’s eyes and she’d been the one pushing the hardest, while his grandfather had shaken his head and tried to tell her that boys got into shit like dirt bikes and hayloft swings. Of course, the moment those words left his lips, she reminded him that they’d lost Randy’s father to the same kind of reckless behavior and the old man fell silent, effectively sealing Randy’s fate.

 

Being offered a window to return, even of only temporary, should have left him flooded with a sense of rightness and normalcy, and it had, until he’d left the farm for the first time to run an errand and been faced with all the questions he’d never had to answer…

 

…along with the rumors that had cropped up since that day.

 

And wow.

 

Talk about small town gossip, there had been one hell of a storytelling session to arise out of what had happened to him and like with many small town tales, it had become a cautionary tale for the next generation, a warning of what not to do so what happened to him didn’t happen to them.

He’d lost his childhood friends.

 

Lost his home and the teachers who knew and encouraged him.

 

Lost the freedom of the woods he’d loved to roam in.

 

Lost the patient teacher his uncle had always been.

 

Lost the father figure he’d desperately needed.

 

And in some ways, he’d lost himself, because the person he’d been when he’d lived here had been left out there in those woods, and the guy they’d scraped up off the forest floor and tucked into that ambulance was one he still hadn’t figured out yet.

 

Nothing about his life was what he wanted it to be. Not the job his grandfather had gotten him when he’d graduated from the college his grandmother had insisted on him attending and not the fact that his bosses wanted an answer from him when he returned about whether or not he was willing to accept the promotion that was being offered to him, one that would send him further from this place and the woods he’d loved and into the heart of a cold, cluttered city.

 

His soul screamed no at the very idea of being caged up in a forest of steal and glass, where the lights were so bright at night there was never a chance to see the stars.

 

It wasn’t that he was without options. His uncle had offered him the opportunity just last night to stay and take over the farm. It would mean his uncle could stay in the house that he loved and on the property he’d built up with his bare hands.

 

Damn.

 

The more he thought about that the less of an actual question the whole thing was.

 

Until he caught sight of Josh out of the corner of his eye and wondered how fast he’d blow through his savings if they wound up in a barfight every other week.

 

Damnit.

 

He grabbed a cart a little too hard and smacked it against his shin, winced and took a deep breath before he added reparations for damages to the produce aisle to that tally he was adding up in his head.

 

Focus on the hear and now. With Josh in the checkout line he could focus on potatoes and onions again and not thoughts of how Josh’s nose would feel breaking beneath his fist. Focus and fill the list with some extras to make chicken and dumplings and a meatloaf, that would last them several days, especially if they turned the loaf into sandwiches.

 

Which meant ketchup.

 

And cheese.

 

And not thinking about packing those sloppy ass sandwiches the last time he and Josh had gone camping together or the taste of ketchup lingering on Josh’s lips when they’d kissed each other breathless in the moonlight.

​

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Episode 3

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“Alright, enough. It’s storming hard enough out there that it doesn’t need any help from you to make an impression. Sit your ass down and tell me why you went out of here whistling and came back snarling an impressive enough array of curses that you could make a hooker blush.”

 

“There’s nothing to tell.”

 

“Uh-uh, spoken by a man blatantly ignoring the definition of something.”

 

“I ran into Josh at the grocery store.”

 

“Good. Then you’ve gotten it over with. Now you can stay in your lane, he can stay in his, and I won’t have fork over any bail money because you two knuckleheads decided to get into a brawl one Friday night.”

 

“No promises.”

 

“Not good enough,” Randy’s uncle snarled, banging the crook of his cane on the table. “Now you won’t hear shit outta me about nuthin’ if you wind up mixing it up at the bar with someone because something popped off, but you go looking for trouble and I’ll let your ass sit in that cell until your feelings rot. Maybe then you’ll actually decide to do something about them.”

 

“Newsflash, unc, it’s years too late for that, but if you need me to say I won’t go after him, then fine, I won’t go after him, but I can’t promise I’ll keep my hands to myself if we just randomly wind up in the same place.”

 

“You need to let it go. That boy has changed the same way you have, maybe more. It’s a shame you lost your friend over your shared recklessness, but you can’t ever forget your own part in it. In the end, he wasn’t the one driving that bike when it wrecked, you were. At any point, from the moment he taunted you to the moment you lost control of that machine, you could have altered the course of things, but you didn’t, and that’s for you to live with.”

 

“You think I’m still mad at him for goading me into jumping?”

​

“What other reason do you have for this sudden desire to cause bodily harm to a man you haven’t seen in almost nine years.”

 

“Not true, unc, I see him every time I close my eyes.”

 

“Then that’s a problem that you need to solve for yourself,” his uncle replied. “What good will taking it to him do when you’re the one creating it.”

 

“I didn’t create shit! I went out there expecting an afternoon of racing my boyfriend through the woods and…” Randy blurted, feelings overruling common sense and leading to him blurting out the one detail he’d always kept to himself. 

 

There was no hiding from his uncle’s piercing gaze, or the look of understanding that softened his features before he gave a little nod.

“I’ve always know that there was something you weren’t telling about what happened back then,” his uncle said. “I just didn’t think it would take you so long to decide to be honest with me.”

 

“What point would honesty have done once Gram had made up her mind about me not living with you anymore?

 

“Had I known what you just told me, she wouldn’t have been taking you anywhere.”

 

“Why? We were teenagers catch feelings and fuck around all the time without throwing in some redneck Romeo and Juliet shit. If you’d wanted to fight that hard to keep me here, it shouldn’t have mattered who I was in a relationship with.”

 

“In this case, it’s not a matter of who, but of what.”

 

“What the fuck, unc? You been getting into the whiskey again? You know what your doctor said about mixing it with your painkillers.”

 

“I know what he said about red meat too, and in about two minutes I’m going to cut into one of the juiciest cuts of meat known to man. You can sit over there being angry if you want to, but the indigestion you’ll have later will be on your head.”

 

“I’m pretty sure it’ll be further south than that.”

 

His comment caught the older man off guard and momentarily cut off one of his uncle’s notoriously long-winded blends of storytelling and lecture.

 

When the timer went off, Randy stood before his uncle could even think about getting up to check on them himself. It was bad enough that he’d gotten impatient and decided to start cooking instead of waiting until Randy got home. He wasn’t about to serve the meal too.

 

“All joking aside, what you’ve just told me has some potentially life altering consequence that you might not be ready to learn about just yet.”

 

“Oh my fuckin’ god, did he give me some disease or something? Is he dying? Is that why he actually had the nerve to apologize to me.”

 

“And what did you say?”

 

“I dunno, I don’t remember I was too pissed at him for speaking to me in the first place.”

 

“Funny, but I remember you begging me to find him and ask him why he hadn’t answered your texts or tried to come see you. I believe you said something about hogtying him if I had to, but not hard enough to bruise. You were the one desperate for him to speak to you back then.”

 

“And he never showed either, did he?”

 

“Which might not have been his fault.”

 

“So then whose fault was it, ‘cause there was never a moment during my hospital stay when a guard was posted outside of my door turning people away!”

When his uncle sighed and turned his focus to his meal, Randy was left with no choice but to do the same. His uncle was a man with an eerie amount of patience. Growing up, there were times when it felt like the man was toying with him by letting him ramble on and on, backtracking and trying to flesh out his fictitious story in the hopes that would make it more believable.

 

Better to just eat his steak while it was hot and get started on the dishes when he was done. A question asked now would just mean five additional minutes of spiteful silence that Randy wasn’t in the mood to deal with.

 

“What I’m gonna tell you, it’s going to take some patience on your part to let me get all the way through it without interrupting. Ask all the questions you want afterward. I’m sure you’ll have plenty.”

 

“Unc, if you’re about to tell me some fucked up backwoods story about a…”

 

“Shut your trap and open your ears kid, your whole life’s fixing to change. “

​

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Episode 4

 

“Am I going to need to pour myself a couple shots first?” Randy asked as his Uncle’s words still hung in the air between them.

 

“You can pour ‘em, but you’d better be pouring some for me, since I’ve got to tell it.”

 

“Alright, Unc, but this better not be some crazy ass Baba Yaga bullshit. I’m not in the mood to hear anymore about those woods out there being cursed. It wasn’t a curse that caused me to wreck, it was whatever the hell my front wheel hit right before the jump. Instead of getting the nose in the air I wound up flipping over the edge. Having the bike land on me didn’t help, but there were no supernatural forces at work there either, just gravity.”

 

“Just pour the drinks.”

 

“Yeah, sure Unc.”

 

He popped a piece of steak in his mouth before he left the table, the meat as tender and juicy as his uncle had promised, not that he’d had any concerns that it wouldn’t be. When it came to preparing meat, his uncle was a master. It was the sides he always had issues with, something Randy’s aunt had been more than happy to make up for when she was alive. From baked mac and cheese to fried dill pickles, bacon ranch potato salad to a flavorful blend of tomatoes and cucumbers in a vinaigrette, she’d always put together the perfect side to complement his main dish.

 

Randy had been acutely aware of her absence since returning to his uncle’s home. Between an impressive layer of dust on damn near every surface and the collection of magazines his aunt would have taken to the burn pile long before now, it was hard not to see all the changes that had taken place since she’d been gone. Add in the scorched broccoli bits in the slightly burnt tasting pasta salad and it was clear that what was needed around here was someone who could both aid his uncle in the house and help with the farmwork when Randy needed them to.

 

It wasn’t going to be easy. His uncle had made it clear that he didn’t want another woman coming in and touching his aunt’s things or puttering around in her kitchen. Randy couldn’t blame him for that, he was certain he’d have felt the same way if he’d lost the person he’d spent thirty years of his life living with. It just made it harder to get them the help they needed, especially with the way he’d reacted when Elma Pierce had dropped in with a casserole she’d made and moved to tie one of his Aunt’s aprons over her dress before she dished it up for them.

 

His uncle had lurched to his feet the moment she’d touched it and shamble-ran in there like the place was on fire, just to snatch it out of her hands. He hadn’t exactly been nice about asking her to leave and not come back, either. From the rumblings Randy had overheard at the grocery store, word had gotten around about his uncle’s behavior. It was a safe bet that no one would be coming out there to check on them for a while.

 

Honestly, his uncle could probably do without the well-wishers reminiscing about his dead wife, so maybe his little outburst over the apron was the best thing that could have happened.

 

But where the fuck was he supposed to find a guy with the qualifications to be both farmhand and housekeeper?

 

It was that added thought that prompted him to pour them doubles and set his uncle’s down beside his glass of sweet tea before returning to his seat with his own shot glasses in hand.

 

“You know that Baba Yaga bullshit you were droning on about?” His uncle began as he swirled a piece of meat through the steak sauce on his plate.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“With any story like that there is always truth ingrained among the exaggerations and embellishments.”

 

“So, what? Are you trying to tell me there’s some kind of forest spirit out there that didn’t like us tear-assing around the woods on our bikes? Even if that was true, I don’t see what it has to do with Josh.”

 

“Because your lips keep flapping when they should be closed and you keep interrupting the introduction to the story,” his uncle shot back. “Now, do you want answers, or do you want to keep sitting there letting your steak get cold while you give me shit about things you lack a basic understanding of?”

Randy flipped his palms over and huffed, willing to be silent long enough to finish his meal at least, but his uncle really needed to start telling him something that didn’t sound like it was ripped right from a fairy tale.

 

“People have talked for decades about hearing a woman screaming out in the woods where you had your accident. Some have even claimed to have followed the sound and found what looked like a little den. One even swore he’d discovered a tiny house set high up in a tree, but when he tried to lead people back to it, he couldn’t find the way despite his insistence that he’d marked the trail he’d taken. The thing about those screams though is that they weren’t made by a human.”

 

“Yeah, I know, Unc, I’ve heard the stories too and listened to the old men playing checkers in front of the bait shop talk about there being panthers out there,” Randy said. “I can’t see how there’s any truth to that, either.”

 

“Then you’d better start opening your eyes and paying attention if you go back into those woods,” his uncle warned.

 

“I call bullshit, unc! There are no panthers in South Carolina! If there were someone would have shot one by now and gone running around with a panther pelt over their overalls like it was some kind of fuckin’ fur coat.”

 

“I didn’t say there were panthers, I said you needed to pay better attention to what was out there in those woods with you because there are cats roaming, and I’m not talking about the domestic kind.”

 

“So, what, ferals? Okay, that I can see to some degree, only I’m still not getting what any of that has to do with anything.”

 

“Because you keep talking.”

 

“Fine, I won’t say another word until you’re through.”

 

“Thank you,” His uncle said, his plate having been picked clean of all but the charred broccoli. He took a shot while watching Randy across the table, probably waiting to see if he was going to follow instructions this time.

 

“The kind of cat I’m referring to is smaller than a bobcat but larger than a Maine Coon. It’s fast, it’s fierce, and it’s smarter than any housecat you could ever hope to know. The reason for that is simple. It isn’t just a feline These cats most closely resemble the Caracal of the middle east and central Asia, and they’ve been in these woods since long before homo sapiens ever settled here. They are an old species and one that has adapted to the presence of man in a way that has allowed them to live in relative secrecy.”

 

It took everything in him to keep from making a comment, but Randy managed it by shoving a piece of steak into his mouth that was slightly too large for him to grumble complaints around.

 

“Adults of the species are able to shift between feline and human forms at will, while their young appear entirely human. They don’t grow into their ability to transform until they reach maturity. It’s a secret each subsect fiercely guards. Each family passes down their abilities a little differently. Some keep to their own kind, others mix with humans. The products of those unions tend to carry some traits from their feline bloodline, but usually not enough to allow them to shift.”

 

Now it was the shots Randy used to keep from saying anything, kicking them back one after the other while trying to figure out if there was any polite way of calling his uncle crazy.

 

“Those families who have been able to keep their bloodlines mostly undiluted by humans have retained their ability to move between forms seamlessly, but it takes time to grow comfortable with, especially if the change comes on them when they’re ill prepared to handle everything that goes along with it. If I had known you and Josh were more than friends, I’d have insisted on you staying here while you were recovering. Instead, I took your friendship with Josh at face value and assumed that some kind of falling out between you was the reason for his absence. It was the only excuse I could come up with for him not coming to the hospital to see how you were.”

 

“It sounds like you no longer believe that to be the case,” Randy said when his uncle paused for so long that he started to doubt his intention to finish the story.”

 

“There are five families in this county that carry the bloodline of those cats,” his uncle explained. “One of them is Josh’s.”

 

Now all Randy could do was snort and shake his head before he downed the other shot. “I think I’d know if he could turn into a fuckin’ cat. That isn’t something he’d have kept secret from me. We told each other everything back then, unc. He was more than just my boyfriend, even if we hadn’t gone public with our relationship yet. Coming out was…we’d talked about doing it together but he wasn’t ready to tell his folks.”

 

“So you kept it a secret from everyone while you waited for him to be,” his uncle surmised. “I get that, I do, but Josh couldn’t have told you anything back then, especially if he hadn’t shifted yet. I never told you this, but I went to see him while you were in the hospital. I’d planned to drag his ass there if need be, but his folks wouldn’t even allow me to talk to him. I chalked that up to them assuming we were going to sue or some shit, but now I wonder if there wasn’t another reason.”

 

“Uh-huh, well spill it then if this is going to be your big reveal,” Randy said. “Explain to me why the person I loved went all ghost on me while I was laid up in the hospital.”

 

“Without asking him directly, this is only theory right now, but if you two were as close as you claim, then you getting hurt the way you did and him being at the age he was where his body was already gearing up for that first shift, then there is a possibility that the accident triggered it. If that was the case, then there would have been no way for him to get to you while you were laid up. It would have been agony for him to have shifted that way and even afterwards he’d have been hurt, disoriented and in need of medical attention himself.”

 

“But it’s only your crazy-ass theory and if all of this is supposed to be so secret then how do you know so much about how the whole shapeshifting thing is supposed to work?”

 

His skepticism was met with the one thing in the world he never expected: Proof. Randy watched with dawning realization as fur flowed over his uncle’s hand, leaving a cat like paw in its place.

 

“Because one of those other families I was speaking of is ours,” his uncle explained.

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 Episode 5

 

The last thing Josh expected was to answer the door of his trailer to see Randy and his Uncle Gary standing on the other side.

 

“Ummm…if this is the part where you take me out, let me turn the stove off first. I doubt my brother would appreciate coming back to see I’d burned his trailer down.”

 

“Go ahead…turn it off,” Randy said, stepping closer.

 

“Boy, if I was gonna take you out I’d have done it back when I was still healthy enough to give you an ass kicking first, now move out the way. Smells like whatever you’re cookin’ is already burnin’.”

 

“Shit!”

 

Whirling around, Josh rushed for the kitchen to see black smoke wafting up from the scorched pan a blackened pork chop sat. Groaning, he snapped off the eye and moved the pan to the back burner. After further consideration of the smoky mess, he decided that buying a new pan would be far easier than cleaning that one. Like a fuckin’ idiot, he grabbed the hot pan and dropped it in plastic garbage bag, realizing his folly only when he heard the thunk of it hitting the bottom of the garbage can. Sure as shit, when he went back to look, he saw that it had melted right through the bottom of the bag. At least it hadn’t been full. Just a couple egg shells and some coffee grinds.

 

He decided to clean it up now, so it wouldn’t harden, or at least that’s what he told himself while he was trying to convince himself that he wasn’t stalling about returning to the living room to see what the fuck Randy and his uncle were doing here. After their encounter at the grocery store, he’d figured on any further conversation coming in the form of thrown punches.

 

Unless that’s what this was.

 

The pan he fished from the bottom of the trashcan to see that it had melted the plastic bottom of the can a little too. Shaking his head at his stupidity, he dropped the pan in the sink and scooped the mess out with a paper towel before wiping the whole inside down with a Clorox wipe. Add a new bag, pitch the messed up old one and the now cool pan and he was out of things to do to keep from going out there.

 

He turned to see Randy standing in the doorway, glaring at him. “You just cost me five bucks, fucker, I told Unc you’d probably run out the side door. He bet that you were just stalling. Guess he was right.”

 

“You want to tell me what the fuck’s going on?”

 

“Actually, that’s what we came here for you to tell us,” Randy said as he stepped back and inclined his head towards the living room.

 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Josh said as he followed him out to see that Gary had already parked himself on the couch.

“He’s been brought up to speed about the Miracinonyx genes our families carry,” Gary explained. “So now would be a good time to tell the truth about why you never showed up for him when he was stuck in that hospital bed.”

 

Josh froze, lips parting, heart hammering as his brain fumbled around for words. No way this was happening. With the hatred Randy held for him he had no reason to hope that the truth now would change anything. Maybe if that first meeting had gone even halfway right…

 

“There’s nothing else to tell. I didn’t show ‘cause he’d pissed me off,” Josh growled, wishing they’d just take the answer and fuckin’ go.

Smacking carts together in the grocery store had been the last way he’d planned for them to see one another again. He’d wanted time to prepare. To figure out where to start so maybe it would all make since to Randy when Josh spilled his guts. Instead, all he’d managed was a pathetic excuse for an apology. He hadn’t had even had the courage to go after him when he’d walked away.

 

Again.

 

“You know, that’s what I’ve always believed,” Gary said. “That you two got in some stupid fight and you stupidly held on to the grudge rather than show up when he needed you. Having been there myself, I could almost forgive that, even knowing he’ll never be able to. But if you not coming was because you couldn’t, then I need you to say that here and now so we can lay this to rest.”

 

“We can lay it to rest with the truth, which is what I’ve already told you,” Josh said, digging fingernails into the palms of his hands to keep from shivering at the cold sensation that slithered up his spine.

 

“That your final answer?” Randy asked as he stalked across the room to get right up in Josh’s face. “’Cause if it is, we can skip past the rest of the Baba Yaga bullshit and get to the part where I kick your ass.”

 

Their eyes locked and Josh was reminded of how blue the color was and how easy it had always been to get lost staring into them. Like drowning in brilliant pools of endless liquid.

 

Shaking his head, he shoved those thoughts away, wishing there was a way to lock them up until they didn’t hurt as bad. With Randy standing this close, he was sure the man could hear the jackrabbit beat of his heart. The urge to touch left him grinding his nails into his flesh harder.

All he had to do was say it and give Randy what he so clearly wanted…a reason to hold on to that hatred for the rest of their lives. But even the thought of that lie left a bitter taste in his mouth when he parted his lips to speak it.

 

Before he could utter a sound, a clap of thunder made Randy jump back, it was so close while Josh just reached to pull the phone from the back pocket of his low riding jeans. Most days he’d have rolled his eyes at the sound of Rochelle’s ringtone, but right now all he could think was saved by the bell.

 

“Hey, what’s…” he began.

 

“I can’t find Jonnah! I was in the kitchen cooking and he was riding up and down the hall…”

 

“The fuck do you mean you can’t find him?”

 

“Josh, the back door was open and…”

 

“I’m on the way, just hang up the fuckin’ phone and start lookin’ I’ll be there in three minutes,” Josh announced, already crossing the room to snatch his keys off the wall. As soon as he stepped out the front door he realized he’d forgotten sneakers and turned to see Randy holding them out to him.

 

“No way you go tear assing up to her place in three minutes,” Gary said. “You’ll kill yourself and anyone else on the road with you. Get in your ass in the truck, I’m driving.”

 

Not willing to waste time arguing with a man known throughout the county for his stubbornness, Josh did as he was told and climbed into the bed of the truck, Randy following right behind him. In seconds they were careening down the gravel road slower than Josh would have gone, but far faster than was the legal limit. With the sun almost down the critters would be coming out, something Josh didn’t even consider until he spotted a trio of deer a few feet off the side of the road. He wouldn’t have been ready for them either, let alone another vehicle.

 

His night vision was excellent. The closer they got to Rochelle’s the more he focused on skimming the edge of the woods for any sign of movement.

Nothing.

 

The moment Gary reached the end of her driveway, Josh and Randy vaulted out of the truck bed and hit the ground running in the direction they heard Rochelle calling from.

 

“Did you call the cops?” Josh asked, searching for movement among the trees even as they walked beside her.

 

“No! I called you! I can’t call the fuckin’ cops! The first thing they’ll do is call in social services and you know the only thing they are going to care about is that

I’m a stripper and therefor an unfit mother!”

 

“Yeah, no, I get it, Rochelle, it’s okay, we’ll find him. Fan out,” Josh said. “He can’t have gone far.”

 

They swept their phones in wide arcs as they called his name, but the only thing they spotted was an ambling raccoon that didn’t seem too impressed about them shining a light in his eyes. A sharp pain slashed across his calf and Josh looked down, expecting to see barbed wire. Instead, there was a dark colored cat with a faint orange bullseye pattern along its side. The cat hissed and jerked its head, prompting Josh to race off behind it, steadily calling for Jonnah.

When the cat stooped, it was in front of a wide-eyed boy clutching a stuffed animal, looking absolutely terrified to be out in the woods alone with no light. He was seated in a leaf pile and judging by the leaves that clung to his hair when Josh scooped him up, he’d been asleep in it for a little while.

 

“Over here!” Josh bellowed. “Over here! I’ve got him!”

 

“Unkie Josh! I scared!”

 

“It’s alright buddy. Let’s get you back to your mama. She’s worried about you, little dude.”

 

“I sowwwry.”

 

“It’s okay. It’s all okay now,” Josh said, rubbing Jonnah’s back. If there was one thing to be thankful about in the whole situation it was that it was summer and warm enough that Jonnah hadn’t been at risk of catching a chill.

 

When he turned to look for the cat, it was nowhere to be found. It was owed a bit of gratitude for its part in the search. He’d just have to go fishing in the morning and see about catching it’s reward.

 

“Oh my god, oh my god!” Rochelle cried as she rushed over branches and saplings, nearly tripping several times as she rushed for her son.

Josh placed the little boy in her arms the moment she’d careened to a stop, then put his arms around her to steady them both while she covered Jonnah’s face with kisses and rocked him in her arms.

 

“You scared mama so bad, baby!” Rochelle said. “Mama is so sorry she didn’t close the door right! Oh, my sweet boy! Are you okay? I’m sorry baby. Let’s get you dinner. You must have been so scared. You can sleep with mama tonight, okay.”

 

Now that Jonnah was in his mother’s arms, he had his thumb in his mouth, looking quite content despite all the upset of the adults around him. A breathless Randy caught up with them as Josh started steering Rochelle back towards the house. All the while she cooed to her son and cuddled him.

She might have an attitude problem when it came to the way she talked to Josh, but he’d never once had a reason to doubt her love for that little boy. Hearing her take responsibility for not securing the door, rather than lecturing the child about wandering off only reaffirmed his feelings about her as a mom to his nephew. Social services around here never would have looked at that, just where she worked and the assumptions people made about women in her line of work. Was shady when the same people that trashed talked her in public would go slinging off after hours to visit the place where she worked.

It wasn’t until they were all inside the kitchen and she’d secured Jonnah in his highchair that Josh realized that the only one unaccounted for was Gary. As if thinking the man’s name summed him up, he stepped into the doorway with a collection of lanterns in his hand.

 

“Guess we won’t be needing these after all,” Gary said, chuckling.

 

It was a relief to join him, the laughter helping to ease some of the fear that still had his gut in a knot. Now that he could breathe a little easier, he’d take a look at that door for her, just to make sure there wasn’t something wrong with it besides accidental human error.

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Episode 6

 

“I um, made spaghetti and meatballs,” Rochelle said, “there’s enough for everyone. Please, sit down and I’ll have dinner on the table in a moment. I can’t thank you enough for coming with Josh to help.”

 

Her hands were still trembling and even with Josh safely in his highchair she hadn’t stopped stroking his hair.

 

“We’re just glad he’s been found safely,” Gary said. “Randy and I have already had supper, but I’m sure Josh could eat. He was in the process of burning his dinner when we dropped in at his place.”

 

“If he cooks anything like his brother, then that isn’t a new occurrence,” She said, but there was a warmth to her smile for once.

 

“Why don’t you sit, Rochelle,” Josh said. “I’ll get the food on the table.”

 

He didn’t have to say that she didn’t look like she’d be inclined to step away from her son anytime soon, she just nodded, and he went to the cabinet, got down a divided plate for Jonnah and soon had spaghetti, meatballs and garlic bread cut up for him and juice in his sippy cup, both of which he sat on the high chair tray along with a small plastic dinosaur spoon perfect for his little hand.

 

“Thank you,” Rochelle said when he sat a plate down in front of her along with a glass of the sweet tea-lemonade combo she always kept in the fridge.

He fixed his plate too and sat across from her feeling an equal mix starved and self-conscious about the fact that Randy and Gary still lingered like they were waiting for him. It dawned on him that they probably were, considering that they’d driven him over.

 

“You don’t have to wait for me,” Josh said. “I’m going to stick around here a little bit and check on the door for Rochelle and just make sure there isn’t something broken on it.”

 

“I’ll take a look,” Randy said, shoving away from the table before Josh could protest.

 

“And we’ll wait,” Gary said in that no nonsense tone of his that told Josh it would be useless to say anything more about it.

 

Ducking his head, Josh tucked into his meal, fully appreciating how well seasoned and delicious the sauce and homemade meatballs were. Nothing about the meal was out of a can or frozen and it showed, especially with the way his nephew was eating. His little ordeal in the woods had clearly been forgotten.

 

“Mama, lookie meatball, weeeeee.”

 

As Jonnah flew his meatball around, Rochelle looked on with a gentle smile, ready with a napkin once the little boy finally flew the meatball into the ‘hanger’ aka his mouth and left a smear of sauce behind on his cheek which she gently wiped away.

 

“I found the culprit,” Randy announced when he stepped back into the kitchen, a child’s sock in hand. “It was keeping the door from closing completely.”

Rochelle’s eyes widened when she saw it and that’s when her face crumpled and she burst into tears.

 

“Uncky Josh, why mama cryin’?”

 

“She’s just happy that Randy found your sock,” Josh explained as he pushed his chair back from the table and moved around to her side of it. “Go ahead and finish eating, buddy, so you can get cleaned up and have a story. I’ll take care of mommy.”

 

Kneeling, he put a hand on her head, and she turned and nearly knocked him over with the force with which she hugged him. He rubbed circles on her back and urged her up from her chair before walking her to her bedroom and sitting on the edge of the bed with her. There, he let her cry himself out, knowing Gary would make sure Jonnah didn’t make too much of a mess of himself with his food.

 

“It’s okay,” Josh murmured. “He’s just fine. It’s all okay.”

 

“I was…so scared,” she stammered, clinging to him. “You…thank you. You’re not your brother. I never should have treated you like you were. I’ve just been so mad at him for denying Jonnah and then putting it in your mom and your sister’s heads that Jonnah’s not his.”

 

“If it helps any, I’m pissed at him too, for all of it,” Josh admitted. “And I’m not going to question your word on Jonnah, I just want to be an uncle to him.”

 

“He needs one,” she admitted. “He’s getting bigger and eventually he’s going to want to do a bunch of things that I’m scared I won’t be able to teach him no matter how much I try.”

 

“Then, I’ll help. We’ll do it together,” Josh said. “Whatever you need. You call me first from now on. There is nothing I won’t drop to be there for him, for the both of you. Believe me, I wanted to kick myself the moment I asked if you’d called the cops. It was a stupid ask.”

 

“No, I get it, it’s the first thing I thought about too. Even had the 9 and the 1 pressed before I got scared that all they’d see is that I wasn’t supervising him properly and he wandered off,” She said.  “I looked for that sock. It was half hanging off his foot when I scooped him up out of his car seat and I didn’t think anything of it, I just left it alone so I wouldn’t wake him from his nap. He’d been cranky when I picked him up from my mom’s. Clair’s two little girls were over there, and they can be a handful. Mom said she put him down for a nap twice only to have them wake him up not long after, not that he stayed down long after we got home. I laid him on the couch and put the movie on for background, but I was only in the kitchen for ten minutes before he was up and racing around on his truck.”

 

“Rochelle. You did nothing wrong. You could not have known that sock would come off in the doorway the way it did. His foot probably brushed against something on the way in and got stuck there when you nudged the door closed with your foot.”

 

“How’d you know I…” She asked. There was still the occasional tear spilling over to run down her cheek, but she looked far more composed than at the table.

 

“Because you’d have had both hands on Jonnah,” Josh said simply.

 

She nodded at that, face scrunching up a little. “Always, I know how squirmy toddlers can be, especially if they get woken up.”

 

“Exactly,” he said.

 

“Would you be able to come back out tomorrow?” She asked. “I’m going to go to the hardware store first thing in the morning and get a bolt for the door so this never happens again.”

 

“Absolutely,” he said. “But you don’t worry about going to the hardware store. I’ll go pick one up and bring it out here. Enjoy sleeping in with Jonnah in the morning. After his wandering around and no nap, I bet he even lets you sleep until eight.”

 

“Oh, don’t I wish,” she said, laughing a little. “When he started sleeping through the night I swore I could handle anything, including him being up at six every morning, but there are days when I long to roll over and shove my head under the pillow when he comes into my room yanking at my sheets and asking for cheerios.”

 

“I bet.”

 

Sighing, she wiped her eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded. “I’d better finish eating so I can give him his bath and read him his story.”

 

“How about you let me handle the clean up in the kitchen before I take off,” he offered.

 

“That would be amazing, thank you, I don’t think I have the energy for that tonight. I’ll probably pass out right beside him as soon as I finish the story.”

 

“There ya go, done. And if your mom is getting overwhelmed with watching the kids all the time, I’d be glad to come here and watch him some nights so you won’t even have to worry about picking him up when you get off work.”

 

“Oh my god,” she said before hugging him again. “Thank you. I appreciate it more than I can ever say at this point and I know she will too. Clair just got this new job and with Anthony in lockup things are too tight for her to afford the daycare she’d been sending the girls too.”

 

“Talk to your mom, find out what nights she’d like to have me take and I’ll be here,” he said. “I’ve got you. Whatever you need to make sure he’s good, you just say the word.”

 

When she squeezed him again, Josh felt a small measure of pride at knowing that he could do something to take some of the burden off of her while getting to spend more time with his nephew. His thoughts drifted back to the cat that had led him to the boy, and Gary’s revelation about what he’d told Randy. No way that cat hadn’t been Gary and if Jonnah really was kin and Josh’s brother’s son, then one day, he’d need that knowledge, and everything Josh could tell him about what they were.

​

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Episode 7

 

Seeing Josh with Jonnah had left Randy churning with a torrent of twisted emotions. On one hand, there was the guy that not only comforted a scared mom but seemed to be a favorite of her tiny son. Then there was the silent man who’d insisted on riding in the bed of the pickup on the way back to his trailer, rather than in the cab with Randy and his Uncle Gary.

 

“You thinking of picking up where we left things off, or pushing for the rest of your answers tonight?” Gary asked when the trailer came into view.

 

“I dunno, unc, it’s getting late and I’m sure you’re…”

 

“Don’t for one moment treat me like I’m some tired, dottering old man with a nine o’clock bedtime. I ain’t and I ain’t ever gonna be.”

 

“The doc’s said…”

 

“If that fucker had even an inkling of what I was, he’d know that this illness wasn’t going to be the death of me,” Gary insisted. “Our bodies heal different. Repair things humans would never be able to.”

 

Snorting, Randy shot a glance at his arm. “Yeah, well, I must not carry much of that gene then.”

 

Gary shot him a look and raised an eyebrow at him. “Don’t be so sure of that, kid. You got scars, sure, but you weren’t supposed to keep that arm. They wanted to take it the night they brought you in, but I insisted they wait for your grandparents. Told them it was in case something went wrong. Truth was, I was hopefully that waiting would mean they wouldn’t have to take it at all. Sure glad it worked out.”

 

Now that was news to him. He’d never known he was in danger of losing his arm. Now, he was left wondering what else his uncle was keeping from him. Josh vaulted over the back of the truck the moment they pulled up in front of his trailer and was halfway to the door by the time Gary had it parked.

 

“Hey!” Randy bellowed, nearly falling on his ass in his haste to catch up. “We ain’t done talking yet.”

 

“You might not be, but I am,” Josh replied. “I’ve got a deadbolt to install in the morning and a ton of shit to do around this place too. I think we’ve said all we need to say to one another, except maybe thank you for helping find my nephew tonight.”

 

“Thank me with the truth,” Randy said. “Are you one of those whatevers Unc was talking about?”

 

“Miracinonyx,” Gary said, stepping up beside him. “And he is.”

 

“You don’t…” Josh began.

 

“Wouldn’t have found Jonnah so fast if your line didn’t carry it,” Gary said. “Rochelle’s don’t, but Jonnah being kin to you means your brother passed it on.”

 

“Guess he can stop trying to deny the kid, then,” Josh blurted, then realized exactly what he’d invertedly admitted to.

 

“Gotcha,” Gary said.

 

Josh just hung his head and shook it slowly, pain blooming in the center of his chest as he tried, and failed, to block out the memory of what had taken place in the woods the day he and Randy’s relationship fell apart.

 

“All either of you need to know is that I’m sorry,” Josh said, voice low and edged with pain, rather than the defiance he’d faced them with in his living room. “I don’t know why I got so jealous that day, but it was raging out of control and that’s why I challenged you to that race.”

When Josh raised his head and their eyes locked, Randy saw nothing but sorrow in his bright, yellow-green gaze. Now that he was staring up-close into their depths, he was reminded of how odd the color had always seemed to him, and the way he’d always likened them to a kitty-cat’s stare, something his boyfriend had scoffed at whenever Randy mentioned it.

 

“What the fuck did you have to be jealous over?” Randy asked. “You were already the better rider, and don’t get me started on how much better of a machine you had to work with.”

 

“Had nothing to do with the bikes!” Josh snapped. “You were mine, but you were out their flirting it up with Jasper like you were about to step out on me with him.”

 

“Are you out of your fuckin’ mind?” Randy shot back.

 

“I could smell how much he wanted you!”

 

“Then you should have been able to smell that I had absolutely no interest in him!”

 

“Whoa!” Gary said, shoving between the two of them while there was still room to fit. “Back it up a minute. Are we talking about Jasper Kincade?”

 

“Yeah, that fucker…” Josh began.

 

“Is a Miracinonyx, too, or are you forgetting that?” Gary said, effectively silencing him.

 

Josh seemed to deflate, while Randy was left wondering about the unspoken bits that seemed to be flying over his head like the two of them were speaking in a language all their own.

 

“You shifted for the first time that day, didn’t you?” Gary asked.

 

It was like the world sucked in a collective breathe and held it while they waited on Josh’s answer, only for an unexpected wave of disappointment to smash him when Josh shook his head.

 

“Figured I would have, if I was ever going to,” Josh said. “And when I didn’t, I assumed that meant he and Kincade were the ones who were supposed to be together and I bowed out.”

 

“Chickened out is more like it,” Randy muttered.

 

“Call it what you like, but that’s what happened,” Josh said. “I was jealous, I was pissed, and I got scared when I saw the blood all over you. Figured I’d wind up having to answer a whole bunch of questions I wasn’t in the mood for if I showed up at that hospital, so I didn’t show. Took off with Riley the next morning to head out to Baja with our cousins and never looked back. If that means we gotta throw down now so you can get all the hate out of your system, then go for it. I at least owe you a free shot.”

 

“You owe me more than that,” Randy said. “But I doubt you’ll ever be able to pay off that debt.”

 

“Are we done here?” Josh asked.

 

“You sure that’s the way you want to leave it?” Gary asked.

 

“Wasn’t any other way for this to end up,” Josh said, only it seemed to Randy like he was struggling to seem more detached about the moment than he truly felt.

 

It was almost like Randy could feel Josh struggling with something that was tearing him up inside, which made no sense with how cold he was attempting to sound.

 

“I’m sorry about goading you into that jump,” Josh said. “If I could take back that moment, I would.”

 

“The only moment I wish I would take back was the one where I met you,” Randy said before turning on his heel and stalking back towards the truck while he could still stifle the urge to punch Josh in the mouth.

 

Behind him, he could vaguely make out the sound of a hushed conversation, but all the words were too low for his ears to make out. He gave the door an extra hard slam when he closed it, only to catch the seatbelt in it and have to slam it again. By then, his uncle was stalking towards the vehicle with murder in his eyes, though it was impossible to tell if it was because of Josh or Randy’s abuse of his truck.

 

“Young people,” Gary snarled as he climbed in and fired up the engine. “That’s what’ll wind up being the death of me. You stupid, stubborn, young people.”

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Episode 8

​

“Thank you so much for doing this,” Rochelle said when Josh arrived at her place to spend the evening with Jonnah.

It was several days after his little venture into the woods and while the boy bore no ill effects from his barefoot exploration of the leaf and rock-strewn area behind their trailer, Rochelle still looked wary as she glanced from Josh to where Jonnah was sprawled coloring on a blanket on the living room floor.

 

“No thanks needed, I’m just grateful for the extra time to spend with him.”

 

“You really mean that, don’t you?” she asked as she laid a hand on his arm.

 

“Sure do. He’s an awesome kid. Maybe one day I’ll be lucky enough to have one just like him.”

 

“It’s the kid that will be the lucky one,” she said. “His or her mama too. I wish Kerry felt the same way about Jonnah as you do.”

 

“My brother is an idiot and Jonnah deserves better,” Josh said. “As do you. It isn’t right for my mom and sisters to keep being shitty about helping out with him.”

 

“You didn’t tell them what happened the other night, did you?”

 

“Hell no, they’d just give me shit for helping and talk shit about you like mom hadn’t lost Corina at the mall when she was three,” Josh replied.

 

“Oh my god, I can’t even imagine how scared she’d must have been,” Rochelle said.

 

The fact that she didn’t immediately jump to bashing his mom’s parenting the way his mom would have been bashing hers if she knew what happened showed a side to Rochelle that he’d never seen. Not that he knew her all that well, they’d never run in the same circles when they’d been back in high school together. She’d been two years older and a cheerleader, while he’d just been Kerry’s hoodlum of a kid brother. It used to piss Kerry off to no end that Josh preferred the company of gearheads and daredevils over going out for sports or focusing on his studies. Truth was school had never held any appeal for him.

Studying bored him and sitting in a classroom all day had been what Josh imagined death would feel like if he ever suffered an epic crash and burn while he was running around showing off.

 

Was bad enough asses needed to be parked in the proper seat in homeroom by 8:15 or be marked tardy, which meant a phone call to a parent and him being called on the carpet and accused of cutting the moment he got home, despite having been mostly where he was supposed to be. The fact that the final bell wasn’t until 3:15 had sucked great big donkey balls. Add in the homework factor and holy shit. What was the point of it all? If the only life one could expect between the age of five and whenever they graduated or dropped out, was one of books, lectures and following a whole bunch of other people’s rules, then it wasn’t kids people wanted, at least not in Josh’s opinion. It was a puppy or a puppet, depending on if they minded cleaning up after messes or not.

 

“I’d better get going,” she said. “His bedtime snack is in the fridge, I’ve got his sippy up filled and everything.”

 

“Anything comes up and I’ll text you,” Josh said. “But I think Jonnah and I will be just fine. I stopped in at the library earlier and got some Blue’s Clue’s videos and an activity packet. I didn’t even know you could do that until the librarian told me. It’s really cool, too. Came with coloring and activity pages that will let him find the missing items and it even explains how to set up our own scavenger hunt. They’ve got several other packet themes too.”

 

“Really, I didn’t know that either.”

 

“Yeah, I guess there are these books about a character called Flat Stanley, where the kids can make their own cardboard cutout of Stanley and take him on adventures,” Josh explained. “There was a whole wall of photos in the children’s room of kids holding him on their outings.”

 

“Ohh, talk about scrapbook moments. I bed Jonnah and I could do a whole theme of them.”

 

“In that case, I’ll grab you one when I take the movie back tomorrow.”

 

“Thanks, Josh.”

 

“Anytime. You’d better get going though, and don’t worry if Harrison asks you to stay a little longer, I’ve got nowhere I need to be.”

She flashed him a bright smile at that and gave a little nod before pulling her duffle bag over her shoulder and heading out the door, leaving him and Jonnah to start their evening together.

 

“So what ya coloring, buddy?” Josh asked as he sprawled on the floor beside him.

 

“Dinosaurs.” Jonnah replied before making a series of roaring sounds. “You color too?”

 

“Yeah! Who doesn’t love dinosaurs.”

 

“Cavemen ‘cause dinosaurs ate them all up.”

 

Josh snickered at that and got comfortable as Jonnah scooted over and pushed an empty page his way. Rochelle had gone all out and gotten the ultimate big box of crayons with two hundred different colors to choose from. Kids songs played from a channel on the television, with bright, colorful cartoon characters dancing on the screen, not that Jonnah paid much attention to them. He was working on a stegosaurus. Josh couldn’t remember the name of the dinosaur on the page in front of him, but its tail looked like a spiked mace and its spiked, armored body looked like it would give a series case of indigestion to whatever predator attempted to eat it. 

 

For some reason, the thought of coloring it to look like it was wearing shinny metal armor held a great deal of appeal for him, and he selected both silver, and light blue crayons and went to work making it look more mech than flesh and blood.

 

“Whoa,” Jonnah said when he glanced over.

 

Side by side, they finished their pictures, then hung them on the fridge with magnets in the shapes of letters. Fun for all ages, really when Josh paused to think of the messed-up messages couples could leave for one another if they had enough of them. Was almost enough to make him wish he had someone to leave spell out words for.

 

Of course thinking like that made him think of Randy and the last words he’d spoken to him. He wasn’t proud of those, and Gary hadn’t been the least bit impressed. He’d told Josh so before they’d driven away, though he wondered if the older man would still feel that way if he knew the truth about Josh’s cat and the rest of what had taken place seven years ago out in the woods.

Episode 9


“Fuck this shit! God damn it! I’ve tried every fuckin’ thing that I know how to do! I can’t get the tractor or the skid loader working, and the damned electric milker is on the fritz again,” Randy snarled as he plopped down on a bale of hay beside his Uncle and accepted the icy glass of lemonade the older man passed him.
Nothing had ever tasted as good to him as lemonade on a warm day, but right now all he tasted was the bitterness of the lemons and the fact that his Uncle hadn’t put as much sugar in as he usually did. He must have made a face because the old man chuckled and gave a little shrug.
“Sorry, kid, we ran out of sugar again. Butter too. We’re down to one egg and the grocery list keeps growing. I reckon we’d better take a break and go get what we need before that line of storms rolls through.”
Cocking his head, Randy peered past his uncle to stare at the bright, endlessly blue sky. What few clouds he saw were light, wispy ones that broke apart easily and drifted away from one another. Funny how that struck a cord with him and brought back the tight ache of furious sadness that had been lodged in the center of his chest since Josh had crushed the one chance Randy had of ever being able to forgive him.
“You shifted for the first time that day, didn’t you?” Gary asked.
It was like the world sucked in a collective breath and held it while they waited on Josh’s answer, only for an unexpected wave of disappointment to smash him when Josh shook his head.
“Figured I would have, if I was ever going to,” Josh said. “And when I didn’t, I assumed that meant he and Kincade were the ones who were supposed to be together, and I bowed out.”
He’d needed Josh to say yes and show them his cat the way his Uncle had done, back before Randy’s world got tipped on its axis. Now he knew about the Miracinonyx, or cat people as he’d taken to thinking of them in his head, not that his uncle’s cat form had been what one typically thought of when they looked at an adorable kitty lounging in a window, its tail hanging over the edge as it soaked in a sunbeam.
Bigger than a Maine Coon and nearly as large as a Bobcat, they weren’t the kind of kitty one would be tempted to sit on the ground and open a can of tuna for, unless they were fans of getting their hands all sliced up by wicked, razor-sharp claws. Those fangs were no joke too, though all the pleading in the world hadn’t gotten his uncle to agree to taking a bite out of Josh.
“Pretty sure the weatherman has been smoking up before checking the radars,” Josh said. “Just look at that sky. Whatever storms are brewing, they’re far away from here, and that’s where I hope they stay until I have a chance to get up on the roof and patch those holes in the barn. Dammit Unc, I can’t seem to make headway on anything. I checked those pallets of roofing in the shed like you told me too, but they are as moldy as what’s up on the roof and completely unusable. Half are stuck together, and the other half is starting to rot.”
Sighing, his uncle scratched at the stubble on his chin, still more golden brown than gray, like his hair, still worn long and tired back in a ponytail the way he’d always worn it. The man didn’t look much different from the way he had when Randy had lived here, until you looked in his eyes and saw the sadness there and the deep lines of worry that had appeared on his forehead and in the corner of his eyes.
“You’re not going to be able to tackle that roofing on your own, though,” his uncle said.
“Don’t even think about it, Unc, you are not getting on the roof with me, no way, no how, so don’t even try and argue it. I’m too tired and too frustrated to list all the reasons that would be a bad idea,” Randy said. “I’ll get it done. With everything that’s going to shit, we can’t afford to hire any help.”
“Might not be able to hire someone, but that doesn’t mean I can’t offer something up in trade.”
“Unc, come on. We need every cow, pig, and chicken we have and some we don’t. We’re going to be stretching ourselves to the limit just hiring someone once the peaches are ready to be picked. The only saving grace right now is that there is nothing wrong with the cotton harvester because I wouldn’t even know where to begin with that one if it decided to break.”
“I’m not talking about trading any of the animals,” his Uncle Gary said. “We’d have too give up too many of them for the amount of work that needs doing around here. I’ve thought long and hard about it, and it’s time I let Buela go.”
“Unc…”
“Look, kid. We both know that I’m not ever going to be able to ride her as she is, and a Frankenstein kit to turn her into a trike is more than I’d be able to afford anytime soon, especially if we can’t get the help we need out here. If things were different and your accident had never happened, I’d have passed her to you years ago, but I get why you feel the way you do about bikes of any kind.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to give her up, there’s got to be another way.”
“Well then, tell me what it is. I’m listening. Don’t think I haven’t racked my brain trying to think up something, but aside from that cotton harvester, she’s the only real thing we have of value out here. Besides, it’s not the same without your aunt riding on the back with me. God, I loved that woman’s fearless ways. Did you know that she demanded that I teach her how to drive it in case we ever wanted to take a long trip somewhere, not that we ever found the time to. Always said we’d go out to deadwood, see where the outlaws died and all that but there was always so much to do here and then her daddy had that accident with the plow and between the kids and her mama, they just all needed too much attention for us to up and leave on a long joyride.”
“I knew she rode, but you never told me that it was her idea. I guess I always figured that it was your thing that she just enjoying doing with you.”
“Oh no, she loved to take a turn up front and got damned cranky whenever I tried to tell her a road had too many curves for her to handle,” his uncle said, a rough chuckle accompanying the smile that spread across his face. “I’ll never forget the day we got into an argument at Smokey’s Diner, and she got pissed and stormed out. She wanted to take a turn driving River Road and I got all bull headed and macho about telling her the bike would be too heavy for her with me on it, and she kept insisting that she could handle it just fine. I put my foot down and told her no, and she got that look in her eyes that always reminded me of a cat five tornado, all hellfire and pissed off looking to destroy someone. I thought for sure she was going to upend her glass of water over my head when she picked it up, as cool as could be, drained it dry and headed for the exit.”
“Man, I know that look. It’s the one she gave Jamie and me when she caught us jumping off the roof trying to use her good sheets as a parachute,” Randy admitted. “That was fuckin’ terrifying. I remember her saying that she was gonna tan our hides when we came down from there and Jamie and I just looked at one another and declared that we lived on the roof now and there would be no coming down ever again.”
“Yeah, I remember you two fools trying to go to sleep up there,” his uncle said, chuckling more. “One of you would have rolled off and broken your damn fool necks and then she’d have truly been pissed.”
“At least then she wouldn’t have been able to beat our asses,” Randy remarked certain that he felt a fantom stinging on his rear from the swats she’d given him after Uncle Gary had climbed up and dragged them down to face the music.”
“I wouldn’t go thinking that if I were you,” his uncle said. “That woman had some powerful ways about her, and she knew people that dabbled in things that are best not ever spoken about. If she was hell bent on punishing you, even death wouldn’t have saved you from her wrath.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah. Let me tell you, I watched her head outside and figured she’d pace around smoking a cigarette or two, while inventing new names to call me, but man was I wrong. Next thing I knew, I heard a bike firing up and had just enough time to make it outside before she went tearing past. She flipped me off too and left me standing there kicking myself for forgetting that she always carried the spare keys in the pocket of her jeans.”
“Whoa, seriously? That’s kinda badass.”
“No kinda about it,” his Uncle said. “She went and drove River Road the way she wanted to, then came back for about three hours later and jerked her thumb for me to get on the back. You best believe I did it too before I wound up hitching home. Hell, I thought about it while I was waiting, but I always figured that would just piss her off more.”
“Probably.”
“After that, I learned to trust her when she said she could handle it. I even offered to get her one of her own, but she said that we spent enough time apart between the kids and the farm and that time when we road together was the same as getting to cuddle, which, I had to agree, was exactly the way I felt about it too. Even if I could still ride Buela, I’m not sure I’d want to without your Aunt.”
Sighing, Randy found that he was out of arguments and damn it all, they DID need the help.
“Why does it seem like you already know who you can trade her to?”
“Because I do, though I don’t expect that you’ll like it much.”
“Unc if you’re gonna say what I think you’re going to say…” Randy began, only to get cut off.
“Ain’t a piece of machinery in three counties that he can’t fix and the two of you have been picking peaches since you were little tykes that we used to boost up into the trees,” his Uncle continued.
“I don’t care if he can fix the fuckin’ space station…” Randy grumbled only his uncle just kept on talking right over him.
“He’s damn good with the critters too, always had a gentle hand with them,” his uncle said. “We could do far worse, and with the deal I strike, we’ll have this place ship shape in no time.”
“God damn it!”
“Yeah, he has. Now we’ve got to undamn it…and Josh is the only way that I know how.”
“Fine! Whatever! I’ll deal with it. I’ll deal with anything you need me to, Unc, just know I am going to hate every second of it.”
“Yeah, I figured as much,” his Uncle said. “Just remember one thing kid.”
“What’s that?”
“Hates gotta come from somewhere, the stronger the hate, the stronger the other emotions that go along with it. If you’re gonna hate him that hard, one of these days you’re going to need to sit down and analyze why that is.”
“Thanks for the lemonade, Unc,” Randy said as he stood and handed back the glass before he said something he knew would be disrespectful. Instead, he stalked outside to check on the orchard, the one thing he knew he could do without something going wrong.
Or so he thought.


Episode 10

The text read more like a summons than an invitation, but Josh knew Gary wouldn’t have sent it if he didn’t have something serious that he needed to discuss. While he hadn’t had supper out at the farm since before Randy’s accident, he knew the old man would bring the thunder, especially when it came to anything he put on the grill. The fact that Gary had told him in advance that he had ribs marinating was mean as enticement, but Josh also knew Gary well enough to know that the man wouldn’t hesitate to drive his ass out to Josh’s place for a less than pleasant version of the conversation that he had planned. While stubborn had always been in Josh’s nature, much to his detriment from time to time, he knew that old bastard could out stubborn him any day and if Josh was being honest with himself, he wanted to go, because that meant a bit of time in Randy’s presence, something he’d been craving more frequently since the moment their carts had clashed at the grocery store.
He needed to work on that before he accidentally gave away his secret.
Despite that internal warning, he still fired off a text telling Gary he’d be there at five, then tossed his phone on the kitchen counter on his way to the bathroom to collect a load of laundry. Both hampers were overflowing and a sniff test of the towels hanging over the shower rod made his nose wrinkle, so he snatched those down too and gathered up an armload of clothes to toss in the washer. A glance down at the jeans he was currently wearing, the last clean pair in the drawer when he’d pulled them on that morning, revealed that they could no longer be considered anything but filthy. Between oil splatters from when he’d been working on the truck, the smear of peanut butter on the thigh from where he’d wiped his fingers before touching his phone, and the dust that caked the legs of it from when he’d crawled beneath the truck to look at a few parts that should have been replaced months ago.
He peeled those off and the boxers beneath them and tossed them into the washer too, careful not to stuff it so full that it started banging and rocking on the spin cycle. He’d already torn up one machine that way.
Naked, he headed for the bathroom and turned the shower on as hot as he could stand it, taking care to wash the dust and grit from his hair before rubbing in the conditioner. It wasn’t until he was scrubbing the grime from beneath his fingernails that he realized that he was taking as much care with his appearance as he would have been if he’d been getting ready to go out on a date, not that he’d had many of those lately.
Now that he thought about it, the closest thing he’d come to going out with anyone in the past year was when he and Rochelle had taken Jonnah out to Funland for pizza and Whack-a-mole. His joyous laughter when Josh helped him bop the moles on the heads when they popped up out of their holes, had left him grateful to Rochelle for the time he got to spend with his nephew, who was a joy on every level.
If he’d ever been interested in women, he’d have asked Rochelle out in a heartbeat. Now that she knew that he didn’t feel the same way as the rest of her family had about Jonnah’s parentage, she’d dropped the attitude and actually sat and talked to him after she got home from her shifts on the nights when he watched Jonnah. Not only was she funny, but the stories she told about some of the girls she worked with, and the patrons who hung around the strip club, were hilarious. And if it had led to him looking at a few of the more sanctimonious biddies who cackled about the town a little different, or more specifically, look at their husbands in a different light, well then too bad. When the truth came to light, and it always did in a small town, he hoped they’d think twice about the way they looked down on others and the gossip they spread.
Maybe if one of them had to spend a night getting ogled by men who were only interested in them because of what they looked like, or pawed at by drunken assholes who kept claiming to have forgotten that they weren’t supposed to touch, they’d have a bit more compassion, and respect, for women like Rochelle who were doing what they needed to do to make sure their children were taken care of. Josh had watched her come in more than once with a bruise on her arm from where someone had grabbed her, or a tear in her costume that she sat and painstakingly repaired while he heated her up a snack so she wouldn’t go to bed without something in her belly.
Things in his life would be a whole lot easier if he felt some attraction for her, but the only one he dreamed of, the only one he got hard thinking about, was the one person in the world he’d ruined his chances with.
Just picturing Randy’s face and the scowl he’d likely greet Josh with when he pulled in at the farm, left his cock twitching with interest. A quick blast of cold water while he rinsed the rest of the bubbles from his skin and hair put an end to that but he knew it wouldn’t be so easy to hide if it happened while he was out at Gary’s, and if they ever threw down the way he knew Randy was itching to do, Josh knew he’d be hard before the end of their battle and wanting far more than the ass kicking his ex was hell bent on giving him.
Why was he going over there again?
.
.
.
Oh yeah, he was a glutton for punishment and probably a bit of a masochist too. Who else but someone who craved pain would hand someone the means and opportunity to gut them while grinning and asking them to twist it harder?
A mate, that’s who, the voice in the back of his head screeched.
Loud fucker, and almost impossible to ignore most days. Someday, maybe even one day soon, that was going to be the voice that got him killed.

Episode 11

“You showed,” Gary remarked when he opened the door to see Josh leaning against the railing. “I was beginning to wonder. “
Yeah, well all the way over there Josh had been wondering too, wondering why he didn’t take the road north and drive to Raleigh or even further, to Richmond or even Baltimore.
“Figured if I didn’t, I’d have to leave the state to avoid you tracking me down and raining hell all over my head for making you go through the effort.”
“Oh no, kid, I’d have tracked you clear out of the state in this case, it’s that important.”
“Okay, now you’re freaking me out a little. You ain’t dyin’ are you?” Josh blurted. “Fuck, Gary, I’ll do whatever you need me to do, including help carry the coffin, just tell me the Docs gave you some treatment options or have a specialist you can talk to or something. Have you tried seeing someone in Raleigh? Not to insult Doc Greer but he is only a small-town doc at an itty-bitty clinic. Can’t he give you a referral or something?”
“Kid, take too seconds and breathe, why don’t you. I’m not dying, well at least not anymore than anyone else who just saw another sun come up. I’m sick, but I’ve been dealing with damned Graves’ Disease for long enough now that I know what my body will let me do and what it won’t. Now that is part of why I asked you to come out here this evening, so get your ass inside and grab a drink and meet me out back at the picnic table. What brought all that on, anyway?”
“Sorry.”
“Did I ask you if you were sorry? I asked why you mind went there in the first place?”
“Maybe ‘cause you ain’t asked to see me in years, and maybe ‘cause Rochelle found out last night that her mom’s cancer is back, stage three. She’s a mess and Jonnah couldn’t understand why his mama wouldn’t stop crying, so I went over there and helped get him put to bed then sat with her while she was trying to process everything and I guess it left me a little raw, seeing her hurting that way. Her mama isn’t even that old.”
“Kid, cancer don’t discriminate, especially not when it comes to age,” Gary said. “But it’s good that she and Jonnah had you there to help. Hope you’re still feeling as charitable when you hear what I’ve got to say. Though don’t think I am going to forget about what you said, about doing whatever I needed you to. I’m gonna hold you to that, ya know.”
“Knew it when I said it,” Josh admitted. “Meant it too. You were always better to me than my old man has ever been.”
“Yeah, well, you’re old man has had his head up his ass for a very long time. I keep hoping someone will come along and yank it outta there before he does more damage to you kids than has already been done.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“That’s a good question and one I’ve asked myself more than once. Maybe if I had, you wouldn’t have hurt my nephew they way you did, nor would you continue hurting him now with your lies, but it’s too late to go backward and you won’t move forward, so here’s hoping you still remember how to crabwalk.”
Josh cracked a smile suddenly hit wit a reminder of why he’d loved being here way more than he’d ever liked being at home. Gary jerked his head towards the door, so Josh followed him in and paused at the fridge, bypassing the beer in the front to snag a chocolate milk.”
“Grab that foil covered bowl while you’re in there and a couple serving spoons,” Josh said. The plastic tongs, too. They’re still in the same place.”
“Yeah, okay.” Josh said, grabbing the bowl and laying the serving spoons on top of it before he headed out back.
Josh was already seated at the picnic table next to Randy. Several foil covered containers were already on the table beside a roll of paper towels, including a huge aluminum roasting pan that Josh knew would contain the ribs and probably corn on the cob too since Gary had asked for the tongs. Josh set the bowl down took a seat across from Gary keeping his gaze on the older man while trying to ignore Randy’s presence.
“Damn Unc, you win again,” Randy said, passing his uncle a twenty.
“Told you not to bet against me, kid.”
“Was hoping this would be the one time I had a shot of winning, considering running is what he does best,” Randy grumbled.
Josh was shocked when Gary shot his nephew one of those looks all southern kids learned to recognize as the shut the fuck up before I knock you into the middle of next week look.
“Now, if we can manage to say the blessing without my needing to send someone to meet their maker, that would be nice,” Gary cautioned.
Josh steepled his hands together and bowed his head while Gary blessed the food and asked God to watch over Rochelle’s mama and her family while they were dealing with her diagnosis. At they end, they all said Amen, then Gary stood and removed the foil from each container. Not only was there corn on the cob, but the bowl Josh had carried out was Gary’s infamous bacon-ranch pasta salad. There was some kind of poke cake that Josh thought might be lemon, based on the candied lemon peel that had been sprinkled over the frosting, but he knew it could have just as easily been some other flavor too.
The one thing he knew for certain was that Gary wouldn’t start talking until he was ready too, so he might as well fill his belly and enjoy this good food, because whatever was coming next was probably not going to be good.

“Alright, I’d say we’ve all stuffed ourselves fatter than a thanksgiving turkey,” Gary declared. “Only thing now is to get to the point while a certain someone is too bloated to bolt, or at least, bolt fast enough that I won’t be able to trip him up with my cane.”
“I’m not gonna bolt,” Josh grumbled, wondering why Gary had felt the need to start talking about him like he wasn’t there.
“We’ll see,” Randy muttered beneath his breath.
A glance across the table revealed that he was still shoving the last bit of his desert around on his plate until it more closely resembled a smear of mush.
“You still interested in Beulah?”
“Always.”
“Well, I’m willing to give her to you in exchange for you coming to work here on a permanent basis and helping to get this place up to snuff again,” Gary offered. “You can work your hours however you need so they don’t interfere with you helping Rochelle with Jonnah. I admire your willingness to be there for the boy even when the rest of your family has turned their backs on him and his mama. Your brother is going to have a lot to answer for when the truth finally does come out.”
“Whatever the truth turns out to be, he’s my nephew. I don’t need some blood test to tell me how important it is to be there for him,” Josh replied.
The way Gary nodded at him with a knowing smile and that glint of pride in his eyes that Josh had always craved just served as a reminder of how disappointing it was that his own father couldn’t be more like his ex-best friend’s uncle. It sure would have made growing up in his childhood home a hell of a lot easier.
“You’ve never been willing to part with Beulah before,” Josh said. “Why the sudden change of heart?”
“Machine like that deserves to be ridden, not hidden beneath a tarp in some old shed,” Gary said.
“True, but you’ve still had her there for the last five years with a firm no on your lips whenever anyone asked about her,” Josh pointed out.
“True. But I’ve never had three pieces of machinery down at the same time and no cash in the bank to have someone come out to fix them,” Gary pointed out. “Got enough for parts though and I figure that bike will cover labor easily enough and then some. I’m not up to helping with the animals or the harvest, and while Randy is capable enough, it’s still not a one-man job. You two always worked well together, I see no reason why you can’t do so again as long as you’re willing to leave the bullshit on the other side of the property line. Got some buildings in disarray, including roofs that need patching. Pens that need some serious maintenance, and some twisted up fencing that isn’t doing a lick of good keeping the wild critters out. Won’t be long before it stops keeping the tame critters in. Hell, I’ve got a list as long as my arm for the two of you to tackle, if you’re willing to take me up on my offer, that is.”
“Told ya I’d help with whatever you needed,” Josh said. “You offering Beuleh up just sweetens the deal.”
“Just like that?” Randy asked.
“Is there something I’m missing?” Josh asked.
“You do get that the bike is the only payment, right? Randy asked.
“Yeah.”
“Must be nice not to have to worry about bills,” Randy said. “Mommy and daddy must still be picking up the tab for everything.”
“If that was the case, I’d be living in my own place and not squatting in my brother’s trailer, not that it’s any of your concern,” Josh seethed, hating that Randy had that sort of impression of him, and yet grateful for it along with anything else that kept the wall of hatred and distain firmly erected between them. “If this is going to work, then I think it best if we each tackle the tasks we’re capable of executing without assistance and only interact when there’s a two person job to be done.”
“Fine by me,” Randy said. “If there was any other option we’d have happily taken it. Unfortunately, none presented itself.”
“Alright, then you two open your ears and focus on what I’m about to say ‘cause if I wind up needing to repeat myself neither of you will be happy with the outcome,” Gary declared. “This here proposal is about making this place sustainable again. That’s where your focus needs to be. You keep your mouths in check and your fists to yourself. I don’t wanna here fuck all from either one of you about your feel bads getting hurt by something the other said or did. You’re adults and you will act like it, or so help me, you’ll both be out of here. I’ll let the whole damn thing fall down around my ears before I let you turn it into a warzone. You keep that in mind if you ever decide to get squirrely and start giving each other shit.”
“Understood,” Josh said.
“I hear ya, Unc.”
“Good,” Gary said. “You’ll find your to-do list on the clipboard inside the barn come morning. It’s by order of importance if that helps any. I’ll make a note of what supplies we’ve got and what we’re gonna need and I trust you can take it from there.”
“Won’t be a problem,” Josh declared as he pushed back from the table and collected his plate and Randy’s. “I’ll be here at sunrise to get started.”
“Don’t bother with bringing a lunch, I hate to eat by myself so if you’re working here, you’re eating here,” Gary declared. “Non-negotiable, in case you’ve got an argument forming in your head.”
Chuckling, Josh bit back the protest that had instantly sprung to mind and instead headed to the kitchen with the dishes. He had the sink half filled with hot, soapy water by the time Randy stepped up to the sink beside him to man the sprayer. With Creedence on the smart speaker, they washed, rinsed and got the dishes in the drying rack without a word to one another, but the moment Josh headed for the door, Randy growled out a harsh: wait.
Josh stopped without turning around, waiting for whatever vitriol Randy wanted to lob his way.
“Thank you,” Randy said, though Josh could tell from the sound of his voice that the words were bitterly and begrudgingly spoken. “Just know that I’m still gonna hate your guts when all this is over.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”



Sunshine streamed through his hair as he moved from one pen to the next, feeding the animals and rubbing fuzzy ears whenever they nuzzled his hand. The goats loved to have their foreheads scratched, nudging with so much enthusiasm that grain spilled from the bucket he carried, drawing the attention of more members of the herd.
He was on to their tricks, but their antics were amusing and never failed to bring a smile to his face, unlike the man who’d been clanging around beneath the skid loader since he arrived, Shinedown blaring from his phone, Josh’s voice occasionally mingling with the song.
He sang A Symptom of Being Human like he was performing it on a stage, loud, enthusiastic and full of emotion, the same way he used to sing for Randy on those rare times when he could bribe him into it. He learned early never to ask when others were around, Josh would not only flat-out refuse, but he’d get downright testy about it. Even Christmas carols were off limits if others could hear him, which was a shame, because his voice was fantastic, even now when Randy hated him being there.
What he hated more was the progress Josh was already making on the machine. Sure, they were in desperate need of it, especially with all of the supplies they’d need to unload later in the week. But the first rumble of life in that old machine had let out not twenty-five minutes after Josh had started tinkering with it had only served to highlight his own shortcomings with anything mechanical. There would never have been any reason for his Uncle to trade Beuleh to his ex.
A part of him wished Josh had said no.
Not about helping, but about accepting that bike as payment. It meant that at some point, Randy was going to have to see him on the back of it and each time he did, he knew he’d remember those early days of careening around on the back of Josh’s dirt bike, clinging to him and laughing as they flew down trails and bounced over obstacles.
Beuleh was built to carry two. It had always felt odd to see his uncle tear off on her without his aunt on the back. He was torn between wanting to know and never wanting to find out who Josh invited to ride on the back with him.
It should have been him his inner voice screamed, the same way it had screamed liar, liar, liar when Josh slammed the door on Gary’s inquiry about him shifting and about Randy being his mate. Ever since he’d come back here he’d dreamed of the press of warm fir against his side and the comfort he’d taken from the creature who’d pressed itself against his side when he’d lay broken and bleeding on the forest floor. He’d forgotten about that. Buried it really and convinced himself it had all been a dream until he’d heard his uncle’s story.
Even then he hadn’t admitted to it. It was the only shred of that day he kept to himself. It wasn’t that he didn’t want his uncle to know, he knew Gary would just try harder to get Josh to admit the truth, which was the real issue.
It shouldn’t take convincing, persuasion, threats or even bribes. If Josh had ever given even a shred of a damn about him, Randy wouldn’t just be learning about the Miracinonyx genes now and what it could potentially mean for him.
Of course, there was still that one nagging possibility that lingered in the back of his mind.
It wasn’t Josh.
His inner voice didn’t agree with that assumption and if he was being honest with himself, Josh’s heart and injured soul didn’t agree with it either.
Which left him hating the man now singing Simple Man even harder than every before.
“You glare at that boy any harder and laser beams are gonna come shooting out of your eyes and fry him right along with my skid loader.”
His uncle’s voice jarred him out of his thoughts and led to him spilling the last of the grain in his bucket, making for some extremely happy sheep.
“He’s a liar,” Randy spat.
“I know,” Gary replied. And so are you.”
“Excuse me?”
“You tell me you hate him, but that isn’t all hate I see on your face. It’s love and longing, hurt and regret. You won’t admit to them, and you can’t move past them. That’s on you as much as it is on him.”
For a moment, it was on the tip of Josh’s tongue to tell him about the cat in the forest, then he shoved the thought aside, gave the goats one last scratch and headed in to get feed for the chickens, grateful when his uncle didn’t follow.
By the time he emerged, Gary had made it over to where Josh was still hard at work on the skid loader, adding fluids now while Gary inspected the hoses. He could just make out Josh’s mouth moving, but whether he was still singing along to the song or answering a question Randy’s uncle had posed to him it was impossible to know. He couldn’t hear anything besides the music, only it wasn’t Shinedown playing now, but Godsmack’s Under Your Scars, a song Josh both loved and loathed.
And this was just day one.
His inner voice was laughing, mocking the raging conflict Randy was struggling with…and the nagging urge he felt to stalk over there and demand that Josh sing Seether’s Breakdown. Ironically enough, it was the first song Josh had ever sung to him, and the one that had been playing over and over in his head since the day he realized Josh had not only broken the promise he’d made to him, but broken Randy’s soul in the process.


“Awful hot to be wearing long sleeves,” Gary remarked as Josh guzzled his second bottle of water in less than five minutes.
When he’d come to check on the progress of the skid loader, he’d expected a parts list to add to the order he needed to place, not a rumbling machine ready for its next task. God damn. He’d known hiring Josh would bring results, especially when it came to his neglected equipment, he’d just never expected to receive them this fast.
“Better to be warm than be burned,” Josh shot back as he wiped the sweat from his brow before pressing the dripping water bottle to his forehead.
“Sunscreen exists for a reason.”
“Yeah,” Josh said. “To make everyone smell like coconut.”
Chuckling, Gary knew he’d walked into that one, having forgotten the wittiness of Josh’s dry, sarcastic brand of humor. He shouldn’t have though, not with the amount of time the man had spent around this farm while he was growing up. A late in life kit, he had the misfortune of being stubborn and curious to boot.
And always underfoot and getting into everything.
Gary recalled the day he’d overheard Josh’s father shout those words at him as he, Randy and Gary’s son Jamie had waited in the truck for him to come out so they could head off on a weekend camping trip.
Josh had stalked out like a storm cloud, red faced and scowling, with a backpack over one shoulder and his sleeping bag in his other hand. He’d slammed the door behind him then kicked it for good measure, hollering fine when his old man had yelled after him that Josh would have to fix that door if he broke it.
The whole way out to the site, he’d leaned against the back window of the truck, staring out at the trees and the winding road in silence, even while Jamie and Randy joked, shoved one another and at one point wound up wrestling half on top of him. Their eyes had met in the rearview, allowing Gary a glimpse of the dark circles beneath Josh’s before he looked away.
It was worrisome.
He’d intended to pull him aside and ask questions, but Josh had slipped away the moment the tents were build and the next time Gary say him, he was laughing right alongside the others like nothing back at the house had ever taken place.
He’d let it be at that, not wanting to meddle, even when it happened again…and again…
Instead of confronting Josh’s old man about shoving his son off the side and making him feel unwanted, he and his wife had just made him feel as welcome as they’d made Randy when the boy had come to live with them. When he got off the school bus with Randy and Jamie, there would be an afternoon snack waiting at the table for him and help with his homework if he needed it.
They’d always wanted a big family, but Jamie was the only child they’d been blessed with. Randy coming to live with them had allowed them a small taste of that dream, and the addition of Josh had made it feel even more complete.
Selfish, maybe, but if those folks of his shouldn’t see how blessed they were then Gary doubted that pointing it out would change anything.
If Elena hadn’t fallen ill, Gary liked to think he’d have gotten the truth out of Josh by now, because the more time he spent around him, the more signs he saw of Josh’s Miracinonyx genes at play. He was certain that the younger man was unaware of it, but he was hyper focused and the rate with which he assessed and processed things were at a far greater speed than a humans. It wasn’t just about talent and the things he knew about machines, it was those catlike reflexes and split-second moments of decision making that only came from being in tune with one’s inner beast.
And speaking of inner beasts…
Gary homed in on something that ticked along the edges of his consciousness, something he’d thought he saw only to instantly dismiss it until he thought he saw it again.
No. It wasn’t a figment of his imagination. It was there and only perceptible to eyes that were more than human.
Like Gary’s.
Josh was ambidextrous and easily switched from one hand to the other depending on his position and that of the part he needed to adjust…but he’d never shown that kind of adaptation when he’d spent time out here before. He was the only lefty and had always done everything with that hand.
A hand that was a little slower and a little clumsier than what had always been his non-dominant one.
Something wasn’t right there.
“Might want to add chain case oil, hydraulic oil and hydraulic filters to your order, “ Josh muttered as he swapped out the old hoses for new ones. “We’ll want to change them a little more often then normal with as long as this thing went unserviced.
“Should I add a few short-sleeved t-shirts to the list as well?” Gary asked pointblank, willing to do it if he needed them, but also wanting to gage his reaction.
“Only if you plan on wearing ‘em.”
So much for that.
“Did you have a staging spot in mind for the supplies?” Josh asked. “If so, I can put this old girl through her paces while I clear it.”
“That gray shed should hold everything and it’s got a good roof on it,” Gary said.
“What’s in it now?”
“Dirt and mulch for the garden patch, which might work better stacked up under the deck along with the wheelbarrow. At least then I can get to everything without needing one of you to stop and grab more bags every time I run out.”
“As long as you promise not to overdo it,” Josh warned. “Otherwise, the bags can stay where they are and Randy and I can dole them out to you one at a time to ensure you take a break between them.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Ohh, I would, and so would Randy, without hesitation, so please don’t try us on this.”
“Fine, you have my solemn pledge to sit between bags for at least long enough to enjoy something from the cooler I intend to have out there with me.”
“Then I’ll get everything set up under the deck for you,” Josh said.
“Thanks kid.”
“Let me know if you want me to bring one of the lawn chairs down under there too, you’ll have shade, and a view of the orchards too.”
“You know what, that’s not a half bad idea. I accept.”
“Cool. I’ll take care of it.”
“I know you will,” Gary said, their eyes meeting for a moment before Josh ducked his head.
Busted.
There was something there he was keeping secret. Josh never could maintain eye contact when he was hiding something he’d done.
Now Gary was left to hope that he still cracked like an egg when he was pressed enough, because the sooner the truth got out, the sooner they could stop watching each other when they thought the other wasn’t looking.
Stubborn bastards.
He’d have no sympathy for either of them if they took off a finger through their own inattention.
Yeah right.
Even as he thought it, he knew he was lying to himself. Looking at them was like looking in the mirror when he and Elane had first tied the knot and moved out here.
Hell, he’d run his tractor into a tree stump watching her feed chicken in a tank top and shorts, her hair pulled back in a messy bun as she’d clucked and sang to them.
He’d been as much in love with her as these two knuckleheads were with each other. If losing Elane had taught him one thing, it was that time slowed for no man. Better to make memories while the opportunity was there, than to look back on unfulfilled dreams with bitterness. He’d spare them those regrets if they’d let him.
Though a little less stubbornness out of both would certainly help things along a bit.



“I don’t like the look of those clouds out there,” Josh said as he stepped into the kitchen and looked at the clock. “Something tells me we are in for a major storm tonight.”
“Let’s get the girls rounded up and moved in the barn,” Gary said as he stood from the table where he’d been balancing the books. “Then we’d better get the supplies tarped, just in case that shed roof takes some damage like the one east of it.”
“Done and done,” Josh said. “Randy put the dairy herd back in their barn too and all of the equipment is in the machine shed except the peach picker. I’ll be glad when the parts come in so I can get it moving.”
“You and me both.”
“I need to take off and help Rochelle with the storm shudders,” Josh explained. “She just text me and some of them are so stiff she can hardly move them. I need to take them apart and get everything oiled up once this patch of storms if over.”
“Then you’d better get moving,” Gary said. “Her place out there has a storm cellar, correct?”
“No sir, just that interior bathroom that doesn’t have any windows.”
“Not good enough,” Gary said. “Get those shudders closed for her and secure the place as best as you can, then you bring her and Jonnah here where we’ve got a proper storm shelter if we’ve got to take to it.”
“Yes, sir,” Josh said, already heading for the door.
“I mean it, you get them back here,” Gary called out.
“I will,” Josh replied.
The whole way over to Rochelle’s his heart was hammering and his nerves were on end. Every sense was dialed up and he could already feel a shift in the wind. His inner voice screamed not safe, and he knew to trust it. Not trusting it had ruined his life already.
Thankfully, the road was deserted, because he was all over it, particularly in the curves, driving way faster than he should have been but needing to get there, close those shudders, and get them back to the farm.
He pulled into the driveway spraying dirt off his tires as the rain unleashed from the heavens and soaked him before he made it to the door. Rochelle already had Jonnah bundled up with a pair of backpacks beside her in the entry way, so Josh sent them straight out to the truck while he fought the shudders. Gary must have contacted her and let her know what that plan was, which he was immensely grateful for. It had no doubt saved valuable time, especially with the way the sky had grown steadily darker on his way over. Fortunately, he was able to get all the shudders closed and secured with only a few bruises and a cut along the side of his hand that stung like hell.
He was glad to see that Rochelle had cranked the trucks heat, but the rain was coming down like a son a bitch now and even with the wipers working at full speed, it was difficult to see more than a few feet in front of him, which mean he was forced to drive back to the farm at a much slower speed.
“I’m scared,” Rochelle whispered, but at least Jonnah seemed to have fallen asleep tucked against her and wrapped in the blanket she’d tucked around him.
“So am I,” Josh admitted. “But we’re almost there.”
“Oh my god, so is that!”
He looked where she pointed, then floored it, because that was a funnel cloud twisting their way.
“Call Gary tell him and Randy to get their asses in the storm cellar, we’ll be right there, tell him we’re two minutes out,” Josh said as he did his level best to make it one. The back-end fish tailed as he took the final turn, but he managed to correct it without sending them careening into a tree. He heard Rochelle deliver the warning then shove her phone back in her purse, while he bounced over things and skid, stopping as close to the storm cellar doors as possible without smashing into something.
“Grab your backpacks, I’ll get Jonnah,” Josh said, eyes meeting Randy’s through the windshield. He had the door held open, the wind sending debris flying through the yard.
At least all the animals had been secured and in just a few seconds, the humans would be too. He blew out a long breath, scooped Jonnah and his blanket from the seat, and tucked him to his chest, hunching around him so nothing would strike the child while he and Rochelle ran for the cellar doors. She stumbled a few feet from it, but Josh was able to catch her arm and keep her for falling, while Randy was able to catch her hand as soon as she was close enough and tug her past the door, because holy shit, it was going to take two of them to close it.
Pain slashed across his back, shoulder and arm, the force of whatever had struck him sending him slamming into Randy and the door, which his them both. Still, he was able to protect Jonnah and get him into Rochelle’s arms so she could carry him down the steps while he and Randy fought the door, the funnel cloud at the back field now. With their combined efforts, they got it closed and bolted, then secured the two heavy wooden bars across it, insuring it wouldn’t go anywhere.
Gary had told him a long time ago that he didn’t trust the lives of his loved ones to a simple piece of metal. That old wood was more than a hundred years old, from a sturdy oak that still stood on the property, and he swore by his method. It was a struggle though, the wood was heavy and even with Randy lifting his end, Josh fought to raise his high enough to get it into the iron latches on either side of the door.
By the second one, his arm was trembling, and it was only with one last surge of energy that he managed to shove it high enough to drop it in place. The world spun then and he staggered, managing three steps before falling off the second one from the bottom, a short fall, fortunately, but when he landed on the arm that had been struck outside, a fiery bolt of pain knifed through him.
“Oh my God you’re bleeding,” Rochelle said from where she clutched a sobbing Jonnah to her chest. Was hard to hear her though, between the buzzing in his head and the way everything faded in and out, including howling wind that sounded more and more like a freight train with every passing second.
Door wasn’t rattling though.
That was good.
There was light too, bless Gary and his lanterns…though it was growing difficult to focus on anything.
“Get that shirt off him and get pressure on whatever is bleeding,” Gary said. “That’s way too much blood for a simple cut.”
No, it felt like a gash, but he didn’t want his shirt off and tried to twist away when Randy went to work with the scissors while Gary began trying to peel the wet fabric from his skin.
“I’mmmm fine,” Josh slurred, “Just leave it, fuck, it doesn’t even hurt that bad.”
“Might not hurt at the moment, but it’s bleeding like a son of a bitch so quit your bitching and your moving around before you do more damage to yourself.”
“N-no!” Josh snapped, not that they were listening to him. He could feel the brush of the scissors as Randy cut his shirt away, then Gary swearing up a blue streak, which meant the damage must have been bad.
Or maybe he was cursing about the old injury, though it wasn’t as prominent in this form as it was when he shifted to cat.
Which was why he rarely did it.
Someone pressed on the back of his shoulder, forcing him to bite back a scream. Now that hurt! The white hot haze blacked out everything, but with it came blessed oblivion, as Josh mercifully passed out.

“Grab the first aid kit and bring it over here,” Gary barked, startling Randy and shaking him from the frozen stupor he’d fallen into at seeing the deep slice that had cut into Josh’s back, side and an arm that already bore a mass of twisted scars worst than the ones Randy carried from his accident.
Randy was certain it had been a piece of metal roofing that caused all the bleeding Josh was doing now, but what the fuck had caused that old injury…
And when the fuck had it happened.
Not that day at the gorge, it couldn’t have been. Randy had jumped first….and unless he was mistaken, no one else had jumped after him.
Unless…
No…the impact with the ground has caused his injuries….even if Josh had jumped, he’d have made it, he always made it. Hell, he’d even made that leap with Randy on the back, which everyone had told them both they were crazy for attempting.
Only now…
“Randy!”
Blinking, Randy realized that he hadn’t moved and that Josh was still bleeding and Jonnah was still sobbing and Rochelle was still staring at Josh with wide, near panicked eyes while Gary held the remains of Josh’s t-shirt to the injury, trying to staunch the flow.
Scrambling, Randy rushed to do as his uncle said, grabbing the kit and setting it open on the floor beside Gary who grabbed his hands and immediately placed them over the shirt so he could rummage around in the kit.
“You do not get to die on me, fucker!” Randy snarled down at Josh’s prone form. “Not until you give me the truth. All of it. You fuckin’ owe me that and more for making me love you still, you stupid, stubborn bastard!”
“Save all the declarations for when we get him back on his feet again,” Gary growled, as overhead, the sound of the storm had grown into a tremendous roar like the world was falling down outside.
Randy watched as he removed a bottle of alcohol and thick, heavy gauze pads.
“Move your hands and the t-shirt away,” Gary said once he had the bottle open and the gauze ready.
“What, no, why, he’s still bleeding…” Randy stammered, not wanting to do anything that would hurt him more than he already was.
“Do it!” Gary barked, his words crashing over Randy like a whip, so sharp he reacted before his brain could think up another protest.
The moment he peeled the cloth free, blood spurted, then Gary squirted the alcohol into the wound like he was trying to flush it, using the whole bottle before he pressed the gauze into place, covering the entire wound.
“Now you can put pressure back on it,” Gary said, as he pressed his hands over two of the gauze pads and Randy did the same with the other two.
“Come on, damnit, kick in, kick in,” Gary murmured, leaving Randy confused, but at least Rochelle was finally getting Jonnah to settle and holy shit, the gauze pads weren’t rapidly becoming saturated with blood the way Randy expected.
He started to ease up, peel it back, take a look, only Gary immediately barked no, not yet, and Randy froze again.
“Unc, what’s going on, shouldn’t we wrap it, or tape it or something?” Randy asked, wishing Josh would wake up because at least then he’d know that everything was going to be alright.
“Remember what I told you about the Miracinonyx genes and the healing factor?” Gary said, his voice the only calm, level one in the room. Rochelle was singing to Jonnah, but even that was wobbly, raspy and a bit off key like she was fighting back her own tears in order to manage the song.
“You…something about it being why your body would eventually cure itself of the Graves Disease,” Randy managed.
“And why you didn’t lose your arm,” Gary reminded him. “The higher the percentage of Miracinonyx genes a person posses, the more resilient they are and that doesn’t just translate to combating diseases. He posses genes from both sides of his family, the moment the wound was flushed clean, it would have begun to repair itself which is why there is just a thin trickle of pink coming through this gauze. We need to keep it in place until the wound is nearly sealed, then flush it one more time to wash any fibers from the gauze away. He’ll have a scar, but there shouldn’t be anything lasting he’ll need to contend with.”
“Jesus, Unc, he’s got enough scars on that arm to deal with.”
“Which was exactly what I suspected,” Gary said. “Something happened to his cat for the scars to be twisted and gnarled up like that, and look at the placement, really look…”
Randy did, now that he wasn’t panicking, then glanced down at his own arm to see that they were in almost the exact same location, just above the bend in the elbow, only several of Josh’s transversed it and wrapped around the sides.
“He’s your mate, kid,” Gary said as Rochelle was finally able to sit with Jonnah and rock him.
“The Miracinonyx gene, that’s what allow you all to shapeshift, isn’t it?” Rochelle asked. “Does that mean that Jonnah will be able to turn into a cat someday?”
“With as strong as the gene in their family runs, I’d say it’s highly likely,” Gary replied. “But now I’m curious to know who told you about what we are. Was it Kerry?”
She shook her head no before glancing from where Jonnah looked to be finally falling asleep, to where Josh lay on the floor. “No, it was Jamie.”
“My Jamie?” Gary asked.
Where his uncle had once been calm, cool, and completely unflappable, now he looked positively floored.
“Yes sir,” Rochelle said.
“Why would he do that?” Gary asked.
“I’m not sure I fully understand it all myself,” Rochelle admitted. “We were both drinking and he was upset about some stuff at the club, you know, he’d just started bouncing there and he was mad that things had gotten so lax with the rules that people thought getting up onstage and trying to dance with one of us was part of the cover charge. He said something about how felines were finicky, especially about someone touching what was theirs. He kept talking about the need to remove all the scents that didn’t belong so they could replace them with their own again. I thought we were just talking about housecats, until he told me about this gene that made it so cats could change into people, and I think I asked if he meant to say so people could turn into cats, but then he told me this story about the cats of the forest and how they evolved to be able to take on people shapes to blend in, but were always, always felines at heart no matter what form they were in. I couldn’t get that story out of my head. I wanted to ask him more about it. Was even going to ask if he wanted to get something to eat after work the next time I danced, only…he didn’t show up to work the following Wednesday.”
“He’d gotten arrested,” Gary summarized with a long, heavy sigh.
“Yeah.”
When Gary scrubbed his hands over his face, then started chuckling, Randy began to wonder if the whole day was finally catching up to him and he was starting to crack.
“Looks like there is more than one conversation that needs to happen once this one is up and on his feet, again,” Gary stated. “I foresee even more changes around here, only something tells me that they might just be for the better.”



He’s your mate, kid.
His uncle’s words were still echoing through his mind hours after they’d exited the storm cellar to get a look at the damage the storm had wrought. Every building had been left standing, though each had suffered various degrees of damage either from the wind, or something striking it. The chains had held, keeping the vehicles in their places, if a little crooked, and the trees in the orchard had sustained broken branches and the loss of buds and fruits, but none had been uprooted or outright destroyed. What they were most proud of though, was that they had succeeded in protecting every animal. Getting them protectively relocated into the barns had been key to that, even when some of the pens had been makeshift at best. Evey member of their menagerie had come through the storm safe and if not content, then at least dry and well fed with access to plenty of water and a soft place to sleep. In the morning, they’d check the fence lines and outdoor enclosures, clean up debris and make certain that each was safe before they turned the animals back out into them.
For now, all Randy wanted was something to fill his belly and a quiet place to process everything he’d learned during the storm and the feelings it had stirred up in him. Josh was a liar. Okay, so that part he’d known, after all, the man had sworn to love him and instead had walked away. Fine, Randy had been living with that for years.
But until tonight he’d been willing to accept that the relationship had run its course, that they hadn’t been meant for one another, that it had all been teenage infatuation, but the more he learned about those Miracinonyx genes the more he understood that the Miracinonyx weren’t hardwired to abandon their mates. That they viewed them as sacred, that they protected them to the last breath in their bodies and some even believed that they looked down upon them from the heavens after they’d passed, always there in spirit until they could be reunited again.
He's your mate, kid.
His arm. The scars. The matching scars on Josh. He’d stayed away. He’d lied.
Josh. His Josh would never lie to him.
Mates are sacred. A Miracinonyx will sacrifice everything for their mate.
His Josh would never, ever lie to him.
.
.
.
Unless it was to save him from something.
Sonofabitch.
Whirling around, Randy stormed back to the house as quickly as his aching body would allow him to move. Stomping up the stairs, he shoved open the door with a growl and nearly collided with his uncle.
“One of these days you’re gonna take me out with that thing,” Gary grumbled.
He was leaning heavily on his cane tonight, but before Randy could tell him he needed to sit down and rest, his uncle pointed a finger at him.
“Settle your nerves and get some food in your belly before you go snarling at the boy for whatever it is you think he did,” his uncle ordered. “I mean it too. Rochelle just fell asleep with Jonna and I won’t have you two waking them, or me up with your mess. If I have to come out and separate you like when you were children, I’m going to treat you like children and send you out to clean the chicken coop.”
“We did that yesterday morning, Unc, those poor birds haven’t messed it up enough to have us back in there scraping it.”
“Then I’ll find something else for you to clean. Like the hog pen.”
“We did that the day before the chickens.”
“Just remember what I said, smartass!” Gary grumbled, pointing a finger at him. “Now I’m taking my ass to bed. Josh is awake, and he’s eaten. Go easy on him. Something tells me he hasn’t had that in his life since he lost you.”
“Which wouldn’t have happened if he’d have figured out a way to tell me whatever the fuck it is he’s been keeping from me!” Randy snapped.
“Unless keeping it from you was the only way he could keep from losing you for good,” Gary lobbed at him like a landmine before he hobbled off to his room.
Son of a bitch.
Dammit all.
Who held sway over Josh? Who always held sway over Josh? There had only ever been one person and…Randy smacked a hand to his forehead and groaned. The one bone of contention between them, the one thing they’d gotten into fights about, was Kerry. The hero worship for his older brother was something Randy, being an only child, had never been able to comprehend. That Kerry could do no wrong in Josh’s eyes had pissed Randy off to no end, especially when Kerry went around unchecked acting like a complete and utter asshole.
Yeah, he was definitely going to need food before he went into that room to confront whatever secrets Josh had been hiding, because this time he’d have him cornered, weak from blood loss and unable to go anywhere, especially if Randy sat on him, which he’d absolutely, one hundred percent do if Josh thought he about trying to get up and leave.
As always, his thoughtful uncle had left him a plate in the oven, covered in foil, so all Randy had to do was take the foil off and sit at the table to eat by the one remaining lantern left on in the room. How long before they got power restored this far out of town, who knew, but the generator would run the important stuff as long as they conserved on the rest of their use. Between the gas stove and the barbeque grill, they’d be able to cook whatever they needed to, hell, they could always light the firepit and roast something on the spit if the mood struck. Once the damn thing dried out anyway.
Yet even before he took the first bite, his thoughts were spiraling beyond firepits and how long it was going to take the ground to dry out following this latest deluge. He dared not hope the truth would change everything between them and he knew it couldn’t erase the hurts of the past, but it could give them some chance at a future…
Couldn’t it?
 

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