Chapter 3
If you’re hungry, eat anyway....just in case.
-Life lesson
James
“There isn’t a fucking cat in this fucking house. It must’ve gotten out.” I growled.
I’d looked everywhere. Under the bed, in the closets, in the bathroom and kitchen cabinets. Dammit to hell, I was going to have to look outside in the fucking rain. Hell, even Cheyenne had followed behind me and looked, so the cat must be gone.
“She, literally, has one bag of clothes.” Cheyenne said in surprise, holding up a suitcase in her hands.
“Yeah, she said it was stolen from the hotel the day after Sam dropped her off.” I said making one more pass through the apartment looking for the stupid cat.
“What the hell? I thought her father was giving her money. Why’s she living here?” Cheyenne asked with a confused look on her face.
“From what I’ve gathered, which isn’t much, she’s here because she stirred up some bullshit asking questions that involve Sam, Sebastian, her father, and her. Something their father fucked up and didn’t keep a lid on. Now she’s here hiding out, I guess.”
Picking up the pillow off the bed, I threw it in the general direction of the wall in a fit of anger.
A cat’s low-pitched snarl of outrage had me turning and looking into the corner. Following the sound, I hunkered down on my hands and knees, moving the pillow aside to find a hole in between the floorboards.
A piece of the wood that would normally cover the hole was laying off to the side, not easily seen since the wood floors were dark, concealing the hole and the extra piece of wood perfectly.
I reached into my back pocket and took out the small flashlight I kept there for convenience, and shined it down into the hole. Glowing eyes, one green, and one yellow greeted me. Followed by brown fur with black dots interspersed throughout its coat.
Reaching my hand down slowly, my hand made contact with the cat’s long silky fur. Since I wasn’t missing a finger, I made a move to remove the cat from the hole. He came willingly enough. The problem wasn’t his refusal to come out of the hole, it was the fact that his body just plain didn’t fit.
After some maneuvering, I pulled him all the way free and was just plain stunned at the amount of cat that came out of the tiny hole. “Jesus.”
“Oh, my. He’s a big boy, isn’t he?” Cheyenne said peering over my shoulder.
Big didn’t even begin to cover it. Massive. Gargantuan. Colossal. Those words were barely even fitting. The beast wasn’t fat either, just big boned.
“That looks like a wild cat. Are you sure you want to take that home?” She asked worriedly.
I looked down at the cat who was no flipped backwards, limp like a rag-doll in my arms and laughed. “Cheyenne, this cat couldn’t be further from ferocious. Looks like a pussy-cat to me.”
My eyes moved down to the open board in the floor and my brow wrinkled in confusion. “Hold this.”
The cat didn’t protest in the slightest at the transfer of beds. Cheyenne grimaced and I laughed. She wasn’t a cat person in the least. She was a dog person through and through.
Going back to my knees again, I shined the light into the hollow space and was surprised to see a safe as well as a sheath of papers illuminated in the dark.
I fished the papers out cautiously, and then carefully sifted through them.
You could’ve blown me over with what I read.
“Holy shit.”
***
I didn’t delay in confronting Sam. If my head could explode in anger, it’d have done that over twenty minutes ago as I left Shiloh’s apartment. How could he have been so fucking thoughtless? She’d been in that shithole for well over seven months now. By herself. Scared to fucking death.
The cat hissed in my hand when Chewy met me at the front door, deterring Chewy’s advance in his tracks. He stopped and eyed the cat, but didn’t make a move forward to check the newcomer out.
Good for him. At least one of the males that lived in this house had some fucking brains.
Sam stood as I rounded the corner into the kitchen, eyeing the cat with a raised brow. “Whose cat?”
“That would be your sister’s. Not that you care.” I growled.
Sam’s eyebrows rose. “What makes you think I don’t care?”
“Oh, maybe the fact that your sister is scared fucking shitless to live by herself. Or maybe the fact that she recovered from cancer seven months ago. Or how about the fact that she was abducted and tortured when she was a young girl rendering her practically phobic against absolutely everything; so scared that she has to take medication, which, I might add, she can’t afford right now, to help her sleep without having nightmares. And not once. Not even one goddamned time in the last eight months have you made any effort, whatsoever, to get to know her!” My voice rose with each word that came out of my mouth, but by the time I was finished I was all but bellowing.
Sam look flabbergasted. His eyes went from mine to Cheyenne when she cleared her throat behind me. “You told me she was living somewhere else.”
“My father,” he hissed. “Sends her money every month. I’ve been forwarding it to her on the second of each month like clockwork.”
“Oh?” I asked. “And what makes you think that she’s getting it? Because if I was getting money every month, I wouldn’t be living in some shithole apartment behind a goddamned strip club.”
“What’s your fucking problem?” Sam asked sharply.
“My problem?” I asked in surprise. “Oh, that’s just fucking rich. Did you know that your sister had to walk home today? In the rain? Because her truck broke down on the way home from your shop? Too bad you weren’t there to help her fix it. Then, maybe, she wouldn’t have a broken arm for her troubles. What exactly would you do if I treated Cheyenne the way you’re treating Shiloh?”
His jaw clenched in anger, but he didn’t answer. I was hitting every hot button he had, and right now, he wanted to beat the absolute shit out of me. He might’ve swung at me if I didn’t have Cheyenne at my back.
“How about you run a check on her address. You do know where she lives, right?” I asked in a facetious tone.
“I send her the fucking checks every month, I know where she lives.” He spat.
“You know she lives above the diner?” Cheyenne asked in surprise.
“Yeah,” He said, regret starting to make an appearance in his voice.
“Sam?” Cheyenne asked. “What’s going on with you? You wouldn’t let any woman you know live over there, why would you let your own sister?”
“I went over there and did a drive by. Seemed okay to me.”
The excuse was pitiful, and we both knew it.
“What?” She hissed.
Here’s a little tip for all you young men out there. When a woman says “What,” it’s not because she didn’t hear you, it’s because she’s giving you a chance to amend your answer.
I didn’t stay for the rest of the fight. I knew it was inevitable and about to get heated. Cheyenne had that tone in her voice that said she was about to lose control of her temper, and I had better things to do right now than listen to them go at it.
I stopped first and looked in on Janie who was sleeping on the top half of the bunk bed in Phoebe’s room. She was sound asleep with her tiny body curled up into a little ball in the middle of the bed. Her hair was in a mess covering most of her face, as well as the pillow.
Smoothing the hair away from her face, I gave her nose a soft kiss then checked on Phoebe who was asleep in her crib.
Phoebe slept as Cheyenne used to with her butt in the air and a stuffed animal clutched tightly to her chest. The sight made my chest tighten when I thought about Janie at that age. What I’d missed when I’d been deployed or on missions. I missed her first steps, her first words, her first everything when she was a small baby.
I placed my palm on Phoebe’s back feeling the rise and fall of her chest before leaving, closing the door behind me.
I could hear Sam and Cheyenne hissing back and forth at each other, and I was supremely grateful that they were keeping their lover’s spat quiet, seeing as I didn’t want Janie to wake up. Shiloh needed my attention tonight.
The cat, still sprawled limply in my arms, shifted when I entered the door to my house. Setting the cat down, I watched him explore the area with a bored air to him. I didn’t own any animals, I was lucky enough to get Janie fed and watered every day. Another living being wouldn’t be beneficial to me right now, much to Janie’s disappointment.
The cat must’ve picked up Shiloh’s scent, because as soon as the cat hit the hallway, he was off like a shot in the direction of the guest room.
I followed slowly behind, laughing at the site of the humongous cat laying protectively on the pillow Shiloh’s head rested on. The cat had his paws resting on Shiloh’s face as if in claim of the sleeping woman.
I walked into the room and right up to her bedside. She sure was a beautiful woman, even with her face puffy from crying and a cat lying on top of her head.
Her casted arm now laid on the side of the pillow I’d originally rested it on. As careful as I could, I repositioned it on the pillow again, and then moved my hand up to rest on her brow.
Her silky hair was splayed much the same Janie’s was, only there was a lot more of it. The cat was laying on a quarter of it. Some of it was tucked underneath her body, while others were splayed across her face.
“Jesus, honey. Where’d you get all that hair?” I whispered as I pushed it off her face with one blunt finger.
She shifted, inadvertently moving her arm, and then whimpered.
Glancing at my Luminox, I realized that it’d been nearly four hours since her last dose of pain medication. I’d also forgotten to fill her prescription.
“Fuck.” I groaned and turned towards the door while fishing the phone out of my pocket.
I dialed Jack’s number and waited.
“Hello?” Winter answered.
“Hey, sweet stuff. I was wondering if you had any extra Vicodin or something that matched that in strength.” I asked without preamble.
“Sure, I have some left over from my C-section. Do you need me to bring it over?” She asked.
“If you don’t mind. Jack around?” I asked.
“He’s burping Cat. Well, he was before she puked on him. Now he’s changing his shirt.” She snickered.
I remembered those first few months before I deployed. How hard it’d been. I’d been stubborn and refused any help from my mother and sister, until one day I just couldn’t do it anymore. I envied Jack and Winter being able to raise their child together.
My relationship with Anna, Janie’s mother, started innocently enough. We met at a rodeo. Her sister was a barrel racer and she was there to watch her compete. I was there with my sister a week before I went into basic training. I was eighteen years old and about to become a man.
Anna and I had fun, but when I left for boot camp, I hadn’t given her a second thought. Then I was deployed my first time. When I got back nine months later, I just happened to bump into her again and we’d hooked up. Only there was a consequence to my decision, and it changed my life forever.
Janie was born nine months later. I was scheduled for another deployment when Janie was two months old, and at three months, I left her for six more months. Then again when she was two months shy of two years old for another seven months.
I missed nearly half of my daughter’s life, and it finally hit home when Sam and Cheyenne started seeing each other. I was missing everything, and I didn’t want my daughter to grow up without her father. It was only when one of my best friend’s in the world died, while on a mission, that I really understood the repercussions of my career.
Dougie was the life of the party, and when I watched a bullet tear him apart, I just knew that I couldn’t do it any longer. The benefit wasn’t outweighing the cost anymore. His daughter would grow up without a father, and that could’ve very easily have been me.
“Alright, James. I’m on my way.” Winter said before hanging up the phone.
I paced the living room floor and waited.
I had no clue why I’d called Winter, and not, for instance, my sister, the nurse. Well, quite frankly, I did know. I was somewhat pissed at her, too. She had to have known that the situation with Sam was weird. That he wasn’t acting right.
Didn’t she ever wonder why Sam wasn’t making an effort with his sister? Hell, I would’ve known way sooner if I didn’t have so much bull crap from Anna swirling around me like an Afghanistan sand storm.
Hell, I was doing good just to get to sleep at night.
The knock at the door interrupted what was sure to be a horrible place for my mind to go at that instant.
Walking to the door, I swung it open and smiled at Winter.
She was still wearing her medic uniform, which meant that she must’ve just gotten home from work. She smiled brightly at me, but I missed the full effect because my eyes were drawn down to the newest addition on the Free family.
Cat was nestled in a tight swaddle in the crook of Winter’s arm. Cat was also one pissed off girl, too. Of course, it’d been raining and thundering every other day here since she was born, and it was a common occurrence around the compound.
“Hey,” Winter said as she slid past me inside.
“Hey,” I said and closed the door behind her. “Shiloh broke her arm today, and I forgot to get her prescription filled. Can she have one of yours until tomorrow?”
“What?” Winter practically screeched, then passed the now awake Cat to me before disappearing in the dark of the hallway.
“What the fuck is that-” I heard before Cat’s cry of outrage drowned out the rest of Winter’s question.
The rumbling of the thunder shook the house with its fierceness, and then the sound of pouring rain followed it its wake.
Expertly cradling the tiny girl to my shoulder, I bounced and shushed right against Cat’s ear, which calmed her instantly.
I smiled as I thought about how Janie used to be much the same way. I’d just about pulled out all my hair when I’d discovered a book at the super market. Figuring that I had nothing else to lose, I’d purchased it, read it, and then implemented the actions on a colicky Janie that very same night.
Much to my surprise it’d worked, and I’d been a believer of the method ever since. Cat passed out in my arms after a few more whimpers, and I tucked her in close to my chest, then followed Winter to the guest room.
I found Winter sitting on the bed next to Shiloh, cradling the massive ‘cat’ in her arms, snuggling him close. “This is the most awesome cat I’ve ever seen. Even better than Ember’s!”
I was thinking that much myself. “I thought so, too. Did she take the pill?”
“Yeah. Got her to drink a glass of water, too. What’d you do to get my girl to quiet down?” She asked skeptically.
I smiled. “It’s my magic touch. You just wouldn’t understand.”
“Well, how about you and your magic touch watch the girl this weekend. If the storms keep up, I’m gonna have to build her a soundproof room.” She griped.
“Well, at least she’s not colicky. Janie was the most awful baby. No matter what I did, she would cry. Feed her, she cried. Change her, she cried. Look at her, she cried. And you’d better not even think about putting her down.” I said wistfully.
In all honesty, I missed every single minute of when Janie was a baby. She was five, going on forty-two, and I’d give just about anything to freeze time to ensure she didn’t grow up anymore. She’d stay my little princess forever.
“We’ll see how Shiloh feels. She’s not going home until I get her place wired.” I growled getting upset all over again about the state of her apartment.
It was completely unfit for such a young beautiful woman to live in. If I had my wish, she’d be somewhere more secure, pronto.
“Yeah, Cheyenne said something just a couple of minutes ago as I passed her place on the way to yours. She looked kind of pissed off, too.”
I imagined she was. I just wondered what Sam had been telling her all these months as to why Shiloh wasn’t coming around.
“Yeah, Sam has some explaining to do.” I answered, and then recapped what I’d learned in the past couple of hours.
“Did it say what type of cancer?” Winter asked with alarm.
I thought back to what I’d read on the paper. “Basal something.”
“Basal Cell Carcinoma?” She asked.
I nodded my head. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
Her breath left in a whoosh. “Whew! If you’re going to have one, that seems to be the best type to have. It rarely spreads to other parts of the body, and it’s the slowest growing. Did it say where it was at?”
“I didn’t get that far. I didn’t want to keep reading her personal documents. All I read was that she was ‘Negative for basal cell carcinoma’ and that she needs to follow up with her new doctor within six months as a precaution.”
“Are you going to tell her you found it?” Winter asked.
I nodded once. “I can’t not tell her. That just doesn’t sit right with me not to tell her. And more, she’ll ask where I found the cat, and that was in the hidey hole she had.”
“You’re a good man, James. You’re also a miracle worker.” She said, smiling sweetly at Cat.
Winter sat the cat back down on her perch above Winter’s head, and we left the room silently. I walked to the door, grabbed the umbrella that was the size of a small spacecraft, and opened it on the front porch with a flick of my wrist.
“Well, it’s just because I’m that awesome.” I grinned cheekily at her.
She snorted, and stepped out under the umbrella I was holding up. We walked quickly, and Jack opened the front door before we were even half way there, stepping out on his own porch and waited as I walked his life back to him.
“Yeah, your awesomeness knows no bounds.” She said dryly, taking a step onto the porch so she was under the awning before she held her hands out for Cat.
I transferred her gently to Winter’s arms, and stepped back. “Look up Happiest Baby on the Block on YouTube. You’re welcome.”
Winter’s laughter followed me home, and even though it was warm, I still felt a chill deep down in my bones. As if I was on the precipice of something big. Life altering, and huge.