Rock point collection, p.75
Rock Point Collection, page 75
It will. I assure Nosh, who always worries. The boy is twelve, he gets to voice his wishes and you know he’ll want to stay.
I hope you’re right.
Trust me, I assure him, I’ll make it so he won’t ever want to leave.
“And how do you propose on doing that?” Momma wants to know.
I grin up at her. “I’m getting him a dog.”
An hour later, I’m standing in front of the kennel of a mangy looking animal. A new arrival, the volunteer at the La Plata County Humane Society said.
“That’s an ugly thing,” Kaga comments.
I asked him to make a stop here on our way to check in on our businesses in town. I haven’t stopped in for a few weeks, it’s about time I show my face. Of course, since I still can’t drive, Kaga gets to be my chauffeur for the day.
“Nothing a little food and a good home can’t fix,” I tell him, crouching down and sticking my hand through the bars, palm up.
The dog may not look its best and appears to be blind in one eye, but the other eye is clear and keen, and he seems to follow the conversation as if he can understand what we’re saying. Cautiously he takes a step closer, his focus never leaving the hand I hold out. I let him sniff first, before curling my fingers and scratching him under his chin.
“How old is he?” I ask the volunteer.
“The vet estimates he’s about three years old. He was brought in malnourished, was partially blind, had worms, and half his body was covered in ticks, but we cleaned him up, neutered him, and made sure he’s had all his shots. He may not be the prettiest now, but I’m sure with proper care, he’ll slowly put on some weight and his fur will start to look healthier.”
“I’ll take him,” I announce, getting to my feet.
“You’re not gonna get the boy a puppy?”
“Because a puppy is shiny and new?” I shake my head at Kaga. “No. I’d much rather show Ahiga that everyone’s deserving of a good home. The boy and the dog have a lot in common.”
We follow the woman into the small office where she pulls out a binder.
“If you’d just fill out the paperwork? We’ll process it this afternoon and you should be able to pick him up tomorrow morning.”
“What are you gonna call it?” Kaga asks when we get into his truck.
“Up to the boy to name his dog.”
An hour later—the back of Kaga’s truck filled with a dog bed, toys, leash, and bowls, and a food supply that’ll last the mutt three months—we pull up to the clubhouse.
“You sure you have everything?” Sarcasm drips from his words.
“Fuck off, just hang onto it until tomorrow morning.”
I get out and start walking to the clubhouse when Kaga calls out after me, “You realize if my kids see this, I’m gonna be in big shit, right?”
Without turning around I stick my hand up, flipping him the bird, but I’m grinning all the way to my office.
-
“What has you so happy?” Luna asks later that night. “Have you had good news I don’t know about?”
“Come here.”
I’m sitting with my back against the headboard and crook my finger at Luna, who’s still putzing around, getting ready for bed.
“Just a few more things to put away.”
She and the boy had come home, the back seat of the Traverse loaded with bags. Enough clothes for Ahiga to fill the small dresser in the spare bedroom, but also some sheets, new towels, and a few things for herself. I hadn’t said anything earlier, just observed as she took the bags, ran everything she bought through the laundry, folded it, and put it away. The new undies, I happen to notice she bought, are the last thing she’s stuffing in the dresser.
“Not sure why it all needs washing,” I observe. “All that stuff comes out of the packaging clean. It hasn’t had a chance to get dirty.”
She shuts the drawer and stalks over to the bed, putting a knee in the mattress. “Have you ever slept on bedding straight out of the package?” she asks, as she slowly crawls up my body. I run my hands over the new sheets she put on the bed earlier. “It’s like sleeping on packing paper. They’re nice and soft now.”
“Look at you…” I stroke the back of my fingers down her flushed cheek when she settles on top of me. “Big tough FBI agent, all domesticated. New sheets, new matching towels for the bathroom. Hot as fuck new little panties.”
“Your sheets were threadbare, you had three towels in your linen closet, and I ran out of clean underwear,” she sputters, lifting her head from my shoulder.
“I love you domesticated.” I roll her under me, propping my head up on my hand and with the other I draw a line from her chin down between her breasts. “I love you making yourself at home here.” I cup the handful in my palm and brush my thumb over the hard little tip. “I love how you probably don’t think of yourself as nurturing, but you’re a natural.” Bending down, I close my mouth over her nipple and suck gently, her back arching into me right away. I let it go with a soft plop. “I love how responsive you are to my touch.” I lift my eyes to her warm smiling ones.
“I love…”
Her eyebrows go up, waiting for me to finish.
“…you.”
Luna
I flick the light on and off and Ahiga lifts his head off the pillow.
Time to put that phone down and get your butt out of bed if you want to eat before we go. We leave in twenty.
“Is he up?” Ouray asks when I walk into the kitchen where he’s flipping French toast on the stove.
“He was up. Still in bed, though, playing on his phone—I may have created a monster.”
Ouray’s warm laugh washes over me as he snags me around the waist and tucks me close. “Nah, the phone was a good call. I think he sent me twelve texts while you were shopping yesterday alone. It’s like a whole new world you’ve handed him.”
“I guess. I just don’t want him to get lost in there and forget about this world.”
“Mmm.”
I press my nose into his chest and inhale the familiar smell of laundry detergent and freshly showered Ouray. Fast becoming my favorite scent in the world.
“Kiss me good morning,” he rumbles over my head and I lift my face to his.
A sharp rap of knuckles on the counter interrupts us, and I turn my head to find Ahiga—haphazardly dressed with hair sticking out every which way—scowling at us.
You’re killing my appetite with the smooching.
“Get used to it, smartass,” Ouray says chuckling, making sure the boy can read his lips.
I don’t think his appetite sustained much damage when he scarfs down his fourth piece of French toast. I tap him on the shoulder and tilt my head to the door.
You may want to go ahead outside. There will be kissing in the next minute. When he snags up his phone, tears through the house, and out the front door, I turn to Ouray. “I think we’ve discovered a sure way to light a fire under that boy.” I step into his body and fit my arms around his waist, tilting my head back. “Now, where were we?”
Ouray doesn’t waste time. I barely finish talking when his mouth slants over mine, his tongue stroking firmly between my lips to tangle with mine.
From the very first time he kissed me—even when it was just for show—this man unearthed emotions I thought were out of reach. Now, with every touch he shows me it was worth risking my heart.
“I should get going,” I mumble through swollen lips when he lifts his head. “He’s waiting outside.”
“Drive safe,” he says, pressing a last kiss on top of my head before letting me go.
I walk to the door and stop, turning around. “You know—I love…” I wait until I see his eyebrow pull up. “…you too.”
The last thing I see before I dash out the door is the glow from his eyes as his face breaks open in a gratified smile.
Lost in my head, I leave Ahiga to fiddle with his phone all the way to Aztec. It gives me a chance to get my rambling thoughts sorted before I sit down with Gary. Other than my call to him when I was looking for a therapist for Ahiga, I haven’t spoken to him since we had lunch at the beginning of September.
He’s not going to believe the change in me. I was a mess last time, freaked out, scared, unsure how to take my next step and now look at me. Barely a month later and I’ve just bared the bottom of my soul to Ouray.
“I. Am. Hungry.”
I turn to look at Ahiga, who loves the new app Jasper downloaded. It’s perfect for him, he clearly never had the benefit of a speech therapist to help him gain the confidence to verbalize words, and this app gives him a voice. Albeit a mechanical one.
“You just had breakfast.” I enunciate clearly, so the program doesn’t bastardize my words into some garbled word soup text, like it’s done a few times in the past three days when Ahiga was playing around with it. “Here.” I reach into my purse and pull out a granola bar I stuffed in there God knows how long ago.
Garbage in the trash, please, I tell him when he threatens to dart from the vehicle, leaving his crumpled wrapper sitting in the cup holder. I swear he rolls his eyes when he snatches it up and tosses it basketball style in the trash can at the edge of the parking lot. I bite my cheek, holding back a smile. I’ll take his eye rolls and deep sighs any day, as long as he engages.
It’s a vast improvement on the withdrawn, almost skittish kid at the beginning of the week. As soon as Ouray’s mood lifted, Ahiga started coming out of his shell. I’m not sure of the kind of male role models he’s had in his life, but I venture to bet they weren’t good ones.
See you in a bit, I’ll be here.
The moment he disappears into his therapist’s office, I turn and go down the flight of stairs to Gary’s office.
“I think I’m in love,” I announce the moment I sit down, figuring it’s better to rip the bandage off.
Gary gives me an easy once over before he teases. “Thought I noticed something different. It looks good on you.”
“Is that all you have to say? Aren’t you surprised?” I’m actually a little peeved my news isn’t received with a bit more fanfare.
He sits forward, elbows on his knees, and his joined hands dangling between. “Luna, this may come as news to you, but the only one convinced love would never be in the books for you…was you. You spent a long time hiding behind your view of the world, avoiding all emotion. I knew it was inevitable, at some point, someone would break through that barrier. Just as I knew once that first brick came down, and you got a glimpse at all that was on offer, that wall wouldn’t be standing long. So in short, no—I’m not surprised in the least. I am, however, very happy for you.”
By design, my appointment ends ten minutes before Ahiga will be done, and I’m about to head back upstairs to the waiting room when my phone rings. There’s a strict no cell phone policy in the clinic and when I glance over to the receptionist catch her glaring already. With an apologetic wave I duck out the door instead, answering the call as I walk over to the Traverse.
“Hello?”
At first I just hear some rustling but then I hear faintly. “…Please…help me…hurt…”
“Hello? Who is this?” I’m trying to place the difficult to hear woman’s voice. I pull out my keys, unlock the doors, and try to squeeze my way between the idiot who parked his van barely a foot from my driver’s side.
I’m so focused on the disembodied voice on the phone, I’m too late recognizing the danger.
Even as the sliding door behind me opens and I’m hauled back—dropping my phone in the process—my mind goes straight to Ahiga. My eyes fly up to the first floor window, where I can just see his face and hands pressed up against the window.
I must’ve made a sound, because the next thing I know the door slams shut in front of me, and I hear a woman’s voice.
“Fuck, it’s the kid. Go grab him.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
Ouray
“That mutt’s what you got the boy?”
I jab an elbow in Dylan’s ribs. He volunteered to drive me this morning. Kaga dropped off the dog’s stuff earlier, but is spending the weekend with his family.
“Fuck off.”
“Excuse me?” The same volunteer who was here yesterday stops right inside the doorway, her mouth dropping open.
“Sorry,” I mumble. “That wasn’t meant for you.” Dylan laughs heartily behind me—the asshole—I try to ignore him. “I’m here to pick him up.” I indicate the dog.
“Right—Mr. Strongbow—I remember. Did you bring a collar and leash?” I hold them up and she takes them from me, opens the gate to the kennel, and puts them on the dog. “I need one more signature from you and you’re all done.” The phone in my pocket buzzes with a text just as she hands me the leash. “Just follow me.”
A signature, a lengthy lesson in dog care, a stack of flyers with instructions, and almost twenty minutes later, we finally walk out of the shelter. The moment Dylan opens the door of his truck, the dog jumps in, taking a seat facing out the front window.
“Looks like the pooch has done this before,” Dylan comments as he climbs behind the wheel. “Where to? Clubhouse or your place?”
“My place. They should be on their way back soon and will probably stop there first.”
I let the dog off the leash when we get inside, and he starts sniffing around immediately. Doesn’t take him long to locate the bowls of water and kibble I left by the back door.
“Beer?” I ask, tossing my keys on the counter and fishing my phone from my pocket. I check the screen as I walk to the fridge, Dylan following me into the kitchen.
“Sure.”
“Damn kid sent me another message. At this rate we’ll have to upgrade his damn plan. I think he’s almost at his allotted texts for the month already.” I swipe my thumb on the screen and it opens up to a picture. It takes me a second to register what I’m looking at. “What the actual fuck?”
“What is it?” he asks, looking over my shoulder at an image of my vehicle in a parking lot. It’s blurry, but I can still recognize Luna’s blonde curls as someone looks to be forcing her into the dark van parked beside right beside it. “Do you know where that is?”
“It’s a clinic in Aztec. The boy’s therapist.” I manage as cold fear crawls up my spine.
“Have an address?”
“I …no. Luna, she’s taken him.”
Dylan pulls his own phone out of his pocket. “Jas? It’s Luna, she’s been…”
It’s all I register him saying before all I hear is the blood rushing to my head. I drop the phone on the counter and have to brace myself with my hands on the edge. All I see when I close my eyes are hers, wide open, over a dark hand covering half her face.
Aztec. I have to get to Aztec.
Before I realize what I’m doing, I’m already pulling open the front door, Dylan calling my name behind me.
“Hold up, where the fuck do you think you’re going?” A strong arm swings me around. “Running off half-cocked is not gonna do Luna any good. You should be trying to call the kid back, not running off blindly.”
Jesus, Ahiga.
Shaking off his hold, I stalk back into the kitchen, snatch my phone off the counter, and hit the speed dial for the boy. Five rings, and then the mechanical voicemail message comes on. I hit end and try again—same result.
“Nothing?” I shake my head at Dylan. “Okay, you hang tight here, Jasper is contacting local law enforcement and I’m heading out there. I’ll keep you updated.” He starts walking out the door and I snatch up my keys and follow him outside.
He’s already getting behind the wheel of his truck when I pull the passenger side door open. “Like fuck you are. I’m coming with.”
He doesn’t argue and tears out of my driveway.
“Jas, you still there? We’re on the road.”
“Yup. Got the address for the clinic and a ping on both the boy’s and Luna’s phones for the same location. Sending it to you now.” I can hear the ping even as Jasper’s voice continues to flood in through the speakers. “Law enforcement is en route and Damian is too, but he’s coming from home so you’ll probably beat him there.”
“Does that mean they’re still there? Luna and Ahiga?” I ask, unable to keep the small spark of hope from my voice.
“Well, their phones are, I don’t know about them.” Jasper is the one who answers. “Ouray, can you shoot over that picture? I’m gonna see if I can get anything on that van.”
I do as he asks, and with my phone still in my hand, I dial Kaga’s number. He answers right away.
“Chief?”
I quickly explain the situation and tell him to head over to the clubhouse. Until we can figure out what the hell is going on, I need someone I can trust to keep an eye out, but I’d also like to know who the hell is missing. The moment Kaga says, “I’m on it,” a little of the weight bearing on my shoulders lifts.
“Good call,” Dylan says when I hang up.
I blindly stare out the window as he maneuvers his truck through Durango Saturday traffic. Faster than I thought possible, we leave the town behind us as we race down Highway 550.
Not ten miles south of town, my phone buzzes announcing a message. I look down and notice a number I don’t recognize.
“What is it?” Dylan asks, noticing my hesitation.
“A text. Don’t know the number.”
“Open it.” I startle at Jasper’s disembodied voice, I’d almost forgotten he was there. “And forward it to me.”
Unknown: 36.796567 - 107.990820
“It’s a bunch of fucking numbers.” Even as I’m saying it, a photo pops up on my screen. “Jesus…”
“Talk to me,” Jasper barks.
I struggle to get air in my lungs. “Both, they…they have them both.”
“Shore it up, brother. This no fucking time to lose your shit. Now send those to me.”
My hands shake trying to forward the information, while my mind spins out of control. The image of Luna duct-taped to a chair, her head hanging forward, and what’s visible of her face and the front of her shirt covered in blood—and the boy sitting wide-eyed beside her on the floor with the barrel of a gun pressed to the back of his head—is indelibly burned into my brain.
