Chapter Twenty-Two
Taylor
Elijah was lifted up on his side, resting his head in his hand as my eyes opened. “How long have you been watching me sleep?” I whispered, smiling in his direction.
His eyes penetrated my soul when they filled with that emotion, that unreadable, but beautiful emotion. “Just a few minutes,” he replied. I knew that was a lie.
“You’re a creeper,” I teased and then giggled softly. I didn’t want to wake Xander, especially after he’d drunk so much the night before. I figured he’d sleep a while, and that was fine by me. I’d spend some alone time with Elijah, and then get up to help prepare breakfast.
“I can’t help it; you’re just so fuckin’ beautiful,” Elijah whispered, his grin growing wildly as I stared into his eyes. He leaned down, kissing me passionately on the mouth. My body ached from his touch, and arched towards him, his erection pressing into my leg.
“Good morning,” Xander announced himself as he walked through the front door. He held a basket, filled with mangoes, pineapples, pomegranates, and papayas. “You hungry?” he smiled.
My belly was already grumbling, but I knew it was partly craving what Elijah and I had just started on the floor. “I am,” I exclaimed, lifting up from the floor. I headed into the kitchen, following Xander, amazed by all the fruit he’d collected right outside his front door. “You have everything you need here, don’t ya?” I asked, washing the fruit in the sink as he handed it to me.
“Just about,” he agreed, flashing a warm smile in my direction. There was something in his eyes I recognized: loneliness, similar to that of Milton’s. I wondered why he didn’t want to find a woman, someone to share his life, and possibly start a family with. He was a handsome man, rugged good looks with shaggy blond hair, a goatee, and muscles that rippled down his body, covered in smooth, tan skin.
“I’ve got some eggs in the fridge,” Xander motioned to the modern black side-by-side. This place was amazing, Elijah hadn’t exaggerated.
I grabbed the eggs from the small basket and began whipping them with some cream until they were smooth and well-blended. Elijah entered the kitchen, leaning against the doorway and watching Xander and I work together preparing the meal. “You need a woman out here; you’re getting too domesticated,” Elijah teased his pal.
“Domesticated? Boy, I’ll show you how domesticated I am when we go catch lunch,” Xander pushed back, a gleam in his eye that proved he was happy to be teased.
I cooked the eggs while Xander cooked some veggies he’d pulled from his garden: mushrooms, potatoes, and green peppers. It smelled delicious as he dumped the mixture into my eggs, smiling at me as I stirred everything together. He had a bowl of fresh fruit already prepared, which he handed to Elijah and told him to make himself useful. I couldn’t help but laugh at their teasing. It was like having two brothers in the room. It felt good.
“Are these wild chicken eggs?” Elijah asked, pushing the yellow substance around his plate like a finicky two-year-old.
Xander laughed. “Yes, but mine aren’t wild. I feed them oats, fruits, corn, and grains,” he stated proudly.
“What’s wrong with wild chicken eggs?” I asked. I’d never eaten them, even though we had several take a home in our yard when I was a girl. My dad would shoo them away, throwing away any eggs that he found.
“Those birds are rats with wings,” Elijah moaned.
“I have a system; my eggs are fresh,” Xander assured his squeamish pal.
I was starving, and I didn’t care where the eggs had come from; they smelled delicious. I dug in, shoving a large bite in my mouth. “Oh wow, that’s good,” I exclaimed, staring at Elijah, motioning him to try them.
I could tell he didn’t want to, but Xander called him a pussy, and he’d already seen me try, so he had no choice. He shoved a bite into his mouth, and then his eyes widened as he tasted the flavor. “Not bad,” he admitted.
We didn’t see too many of the wild hens in town, but Xander’s place was swarming with them, so he could have as many eggs as he wanted. “I mark the ones I don’t take, so I know what’s fresh and what isn’t,” he explained after Elijah had declared he liked the feathered rat eggs.
After breakfast, I was ready to ask about Tommy while I had the two guys together, figuring two memories were better than one. I sat down on the couch after getting dressed and slid my hand into Elijah’s.
“I’ve got some news,” Elijah announced, taking my opening for starting the conversation.
“What’s that?” Xander asked, looking up from his spear he held, sharpening it with a smooth rock.
“Remember Kellie?” he asked.
I knew what was about to happen, and I was grateful that he was finally talking about it and hopeful that Xander would help him make the right decision. I knew what the right decision should be, but I couldn’t tell Elijah what to do, but maybe Xander could.
“I remember: the prom queen with a bad attitude,” Xander described her without showing any signs of emotion, and little interest.
“Apparently, that night we hooked up, there was a… I… shit, I have a kid, she’s three,” Elijah blurted out.
Xander didn’t show much surprise, making me wonder if he’d already known about the kid. Elijah said he seemed to know everything about everyone, and being on this small island, it would make sense that he’d already figured it out. “So, what are you gonna’ do?” Xander asked.
It was a question I’d been wondering as well, but was too afraid to come right out and ask so directly.
Elijah let out a sigh, a deep, exhausted one filled with irritation and stress. “She told me she didn’t want me to see the little girl until I decide if I want to be in her life. But, you know how what my old man was like; what kind of role model was that? What business do I have screwing this kid’s life up?” Elijah questioned.
Xander laughed. “We don’t get to choose our parents, and they don’t get to choose us. But, I can tell ya, knowing a parent chose not to be in our life is far worse than any mistakes they make in raising us,” Xander stated profoundly.
I knew that hit a nerve with Elijah. His mother had left, vanished without a trace. His father never spoke of her, and his memory of her, if ever there was one, didn’t exist. She chose not to be a parent. That hurt him; I knew it did. “I just don’t want to mess some kid’s life up,” Elijah added.
Xander rolled his eyes and continued sharpening his spear. “You can make all the excuses you want. But, you have to man up, step up, and let that kid know she has a father, one that will support her, help her, and hopefully, love her,” Xander said without lifting his eyes from his spear.
It was obvious the respect the two men had for one another, neither getting upset at the other’s remarks. Elijah sighed. “But, Kellie fuckin’ Kamaka?” Elijah moaned.
“You fucked her, not me,” Xander laughed. “Sorry, no disrespect,” he lifted his eyes to me as he spoke.
“You know he has to step up, right?” Xander asked me directly.
I nodded. Yes, I knew that all along. It was tough to swallow, knowing he had a child with another woman, one that glared at me with mean-girl eyes, but it was his child. Bailey was a beautiful little girl, and she deserved the best. Elijah was very capable of being the best.
“Get dressed, pansy boy; it’s time to catch our lunch,” Xander teased Elijah as he got up and walked out the front door.
“Do you think he’s right?” Elijah asked me once we were alone.
“I do,” I said softly, offering a supportive smile to his shaken eyes.
I loved the bond the two men had together, and I knew that my brother shared that same bond. It was nice being there with them both, witnessing the type of friendship my brother had before he died.
“I’ll meet you outside,” I kissed Elijah’s cheek before getting up and heading to the front door.
Xander had a bag hanging at his side and a set of spears in his hand as I stepped out of the cabin. “Choose your weapon,” he instructed, motioning towards the gear on the picnic table. A spear gun, a shotgun, a fishing pole, a net, and an ax. What the fuck are we hunting?
I grabbed the net and the fishing pole, deciding the other weapons looked too dangerous and scary. Whatever it was that you hunted with those weapons, I could live without.
“There’s the pansy boy, finally,” Xander called out as Elijah stepped towards us. He told him the same thing, prompting him to select his weapon of choice.
“I’ll take the bayonet,” Elijah said proudly, sliding the large, sword-like knife from the table. I hadn’t even noticed the weapon upon first glance.
“Now, let’s see who’s domesticated,” Xander taunted and led us into the woods.
We stopped at a large stream, about a half mile into the woods and away from the safety of the cabin. The noises in the trees made me nervous, unsure of what kind of animal hid beyond them, or just behind them.
“Drop your pole in there,” Xander motioned towards the water.
I sat down on the edge of the bank and attached the shiny spinner to the end of the weighted line. It was deeper than I first expected, going down at least ten feet before dragging at the bottom.
Elijah was walking the woods, rustling leaves with his hands and peering around the trees. Eventually, he was out of sight. “You okay here?” Xander asked.
I nodded, even though I wasn’t sure I was.
Both guys were gone, and I got a bite on my pole. I pulled up a good-sized trout. I unhooked him put him in the wicker basket Xander left by my side, and dropped it back into the water.
After about an hour sitting on that bank, I’d caught at least six fish, more than enough to feed us three for lunch. A loud yell echoed through the woods, and then another. I stood on the bank, searching through the trees until I made out Xander and Elijah walking side by side. “We got dinner!” Elijah yelled.
A large boar was between them, each having a hand at dragging it towards me. It was bloodied, and obviously stabbed in the heart. “That’s a big one,” I gasped, surprised the thing didn’t kill them first.
“Elijah proved he’s still a man,” Xander boasted, giving Elijah full credit for the kill.
“Holy shit, you caught lunch,” Elijah beamed, looking in my basket.
“I found some lemons and wild ginger,” I smiled. I could see the appeal of living out here off the grid, even though he was more on the grid than he realized with his running water, electricity, Internet, and satellite TV. It was still nice, catching your own food, growing your own plants. I could handle it, maybe not forever, but at least for a couple more days.