“Hey, what’s up?” Drake greeted me as he walked into the empty warehouse with his red-and-white Igloo lunchbox in hand. I’d hired him a couple of months ago to teach him the trade. So far, he was picking it up amazingly well.
“What’s up?” I asked, dropping the cables onto the ground and giving him a fist-bump.
I explained to him what we were going to be doing today, and we both immediately got to work. A few hours passed quickly, and when we sat down to lunch, I was quiet, like usual.
“I hate to even ask this, man, but are you all right? You don’t seem yourself lately,” Drake asked between bites of his lunch.
I sighed. “There’s nothing you or anyone can do about it, so I’m just trying to put it out of my mind and move the fuck on.”
He nodded and bit into his sandwich. After he swallowed and took a swig of his Coke, he said, “Well, try me. Can’t hurt to talk about it, man. I normally don’t like talking about shit either, but you are literally not the same person you were when I met you, and I’m fuckin’ worried.”
I chuckled and set my thermos down after pouring some coffee into the lid and taking a sip. “It’s a woman… you met her, Emory. We broke up and I just can’t seem to shake her. It was like she got under my skin and wouldn’t leave. This has never happened to me before… and it fucking sucks.”
Drake draped his arms over his knees and folded his hands together as he sat on an upside-down bucket. “I thought so. She seemed super cool. Did she cheat on you or something?”
“No. I told her I was a shifter. She thought I was insane and told me to get out of her life. She didn’t believe me at all. Didn’t even give me a chance to explain, really.”
“Why don’t you just show her? It might freak her out, but at this point, what do you have to lose? I mean, at least it’ll prove you’re not crazy or a liar.” He picked up his soda and took a swig.
I laughed without humor. “I thought about it, but I can’t get an audience with her. The only way I could even talk to her is to literally stalk her… sit outside her apartment and wait for hours for her to come out. Then what? Just shift in the parking lot? No way. I tried going to the clinic and her aunt fuckin’ cock blocks me every time. Makes me leave. It sucks.”
Drake set the bottle down and grinned at me.
“What?” I asked
“I have an idea.”
I stared hard at him, at the mischievous glint in his eye. “Ah, what the hell. Hit me with it.”
124
Emory
Aunt Nora came to stand in the doorway of the stockroom as I restocked the medical supplies we’d just received earlier that day.
Finally, I turned to her and said, “What?”
“How are you doing?”
I sighed. “I’m fine, Auntie. Why do you keep asking me that?”
“Because you’re still moping. Don’t you have some girlfriends you could go out with? Take your mind off ’a things?”
I shrugged. “Sure, but I don’t want to. What’s the point?”
“To meet someone else. Help you get over Holden.”
I laughed. “I don’t want to meet anyone else. It doesn’t matter. I’m destined to be single. All the guys out there are either taken, crazy, or abusive. Or gay. I’m done. I’m over it. I’m twenty-nine. It’s not gonna happen for me.”
She pushed off the doorframe and came over to me, gently removing the box of bandages I was holding. She set the box down and put her hands on my shoulders. “Why don’t you tell me why you two broke up? I think I could help. I rather liked Holden. I just don’t understand what he could have done that would have been so bad.”
I avoided her stare and chewed on my lip. “He’s just crazy, Auntie. He said some weird shit, and it’s not like I will ever be able to unhear it. Ya know?”
“Well, what was it? I’ve heard a lot of weird shit in my life. Trust me.”
I dipped my head to the side and gave her an incredulous look. “Come on. Aside from your hubby dying, what have you gone through to have heard or seen weird stuff? I mean, you don’t even date. You don’t know what’s out there.”
She stared at me and grinned. “How do you know I don’t date? Just because I don’t bring them around doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the company of a man every once in a while.”
I wrinkled my nose and picked up the box to finish stocking the shelves. “TMI.”
She laughed. “You brought it up. Now tell me. What did Holden say? I’d like to know how crazy he really is, in case I want or need to hire an electrician again. He did such a good job, I was considering hiring him to rewire my garage. I was thinking of renting it out for extra income.”
Well, when she put it like that, I supposed I should tell her the truth. I didn’t want that man anywhere near my aunt. “Fine.” I finished emptying the box and dropped it to the floor of the stockroom. I folded my arms across my chest. “After his accident, his cuts and scrapes had healed really fast. Like crazy fast. Loose, dry scabs just a day later. When I questioned him about it, he said that—”
“Help! I need some help over here!” called out a male voice from the front of the clinic.
We took off running out of
