Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Misty

Of course things had to combust amidst the busiest part of the day. I leaned over still eyeing my phone and whispered in Camila’s ear. “I need to make a call, sorry, can you take over?” Camila nodded and I pressed the phone to my ear as I walked past Beck who trailed me like a shadow without a word. I listened as the number rang, straining with the need to hear her voice. We had kept it no contact, it made sense on the tactical level, however on the human level, I fucking needed to hear her voice regardless of the circumstances. Hearing her with my own ears would prove to me she was alive. Beck in our late evening discussions had told me it was bad, very bad, like deathdoor bad. I believed him, that's why I hadn’t pushed yet to contact her but this was information she needed to know, and I was selfish.

I paused on the landing as I listened to the phone ring, maybe she wouldn’t pick up, maybe her new fucked up life didn’t have room enough in it for us. I felt like I was about to hyperventilate from the stress.

“Misty?” Ads voice questioned, and I let out the breath I was holding.

“It’s so fucking good to hear your voice.”

“Same,” Ads said.

“How are you?” I asked, before kicking myself. My friend had been shredded from who she was and here I was asking ‘how are you.’ You're stupid, Misty, face it. I palmed my face and kept walking. “That was stupid of me,” I tried to awkwardly correct myself.

“Still alive,” she said honestly, Ads never played stupid. I opened the door to my apartment and walked in, pausing as my shadow closed it behind us giving me a sense of security.

“What’s up?” Ads asked. “How are you and Cricket?” My heart clenched because this was my friend, the one always putting us before her.

“We are fine but I have to tell you, there was a background check placed on you just now,” I let her know. There was a sharp intake of breath, before she asked.

“By whom?” Real fear resided in the question.

“Jerimiah Carter,” I let her know.

She huffed. “I should have known,” she seemed to admit in defeat.

“Should have known what?” I asked.

“That he was too good to be true, no matter his intentions,” she admitted.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I’ve been staying at his place for a few days until I got power back at Jake's place,” she admitted. I was already typing up the man’s name. He was a sexy man I wanted to punch in the face right about now, but we had other angles..

“He seemed so sincere,” Ads murmured, attempting to mask the croak of emotion. I sat back and looked at the inquiry. It was almost pointedly vague.

“It’s nothing extreme, he used very quiet channels. What does this guy do for a living anyway?”

“Cop,” Ads stated and I heard some rustling.

“Shit, not all cops are good guys,” I pointed out.

“Fuck Misty you don’t think I know that? Why don’t you think I didn’t go to the fucking police in the first place? I was coated in evidence,” Adelaide snapped, I could practically hear the tears that must be streaming down her face. Adelaide never snapped unless it was in someone else’s defense. Beck gave me a concerned look.

“Why did you decide to stay with him, Ads?” I pressed and Beck looked like he was about to strangle me. The thing was he didn’t know Adelaide like I did. I wanted her pissed off and angry. She was silent for a long moment and I let her pull herself together.

“Because, he was a friend of Jake’s, he's as close to neighbors as you get out here, because he was kind, because…” she paused, taking in a deep breath, a sound of obvious discomfort followed and I waited holding my breath. Her real answer was coming. Beck’s eyes met mine, his filled with obvious sincere concern. Her breathing was coming through the phone ragged. “Because, I needed someone,” she gritted out, her voice breaking.My heart squeezed with the regret of not being there to be that someone. My throat tightened and I blinked, a tear rolling down my cheek. Beck watched it fall, his jaw set, his expression something I couldn’t read. I cleared my throat.

“I wish I was with you,” I said, my voice hoarse through the emotion gripping me.

“Me too,” Adelaide said quietly.

“Physically, how are you?” I asked changing the subject.

She huffed before saying, “I’ve been better.” She tried to make light of it.

“Turn the damn camera on or I’m getting on a fucking flight,” I threatened.

“You don’t need to see me like this. I don’t want anyone to see me like this,” she whined.

“Now, Adeliade,” I ordered. I had to know just how bad it was, I hadn’t seen her in over a month, she had been out of his grasp for a few weeks, and she was obviously still in pain. I pressed the button on my phone when the alert to switch to video call came through. She was sitting on a bed in a bedroom the phone propped up nearby. She was wearing a long sleeved black men’s shirt, her knees tucked up under it, as she cuddled a grey cat burying her face in his fur, in an attempt to hide the worst of it, her hair unbrushed and tossed up in a messy bun. Her pretty face was marred with varying degrees of old bruises. I swallowed as Beck hovered nearby peering at the screen but staying out of view. He didn’t want her to know he was here, I realized.

“He didn’t just fuck with your face did he?”

shook her head, burying her face deeper into the cat’s fur. A canine’s whine was heard before a cattle dog jumped on the bed licking her face. These had to be his animals, but she was finding solace in them and they were being attentive to her.

“Put the cat down and show me, I want to know how slowly this motherfucker needs to die,” I growled. Resigned, she set the cat on the bed and stood up. I watched as she carefully shrugged her arms out of the sleeves and gingerly worked it over her head. My hand went over my mouth. There she stood in nothing but a pair of cotton shorts and a bra, that seemed big for her; she had clearly lost weight. Her body was covered in varying shades of fading black and blue, finger and hand prints, he’d tried to choke her out also, the worst however were the still angry bruises that covered her torso and ribs. Her eyes were cast away, not wanting to see my pity or horror. I swore in Spanish as Beck turned away his fingers running though his hair.She only gave me a few moments to take it all in before she carefully replaced the shirt and sat on the bed collecting the cat again. Her pretty aqua eyes didn’t return to the camera. She radiated shame, regardless of being the victim.

“That fucker is going straight to Lucifer,” I promised her. No reaction. I’d pushed her too far, but I had needed to know. A part of me regretted needing to know.

Beck was now pacing in the background. I didn’t have to be a shifter to feel the rage radiating from him.

“What do I do about Carter?” she asked quietly.

“Did Jake tell him about you?” I asked, because if he had, the inquiry made no sense.

“No, it's as if Mom and I didn’t exist, as far as I know, he hasn’t told a soul. My grandmother didn’t even know I existed.”

She had a grandmother? It just all seemed crazy to me. Alice and Adelaide had been her uncle Jake’s world. The man never missed a birthday and helped with Alice when she fell sick, until her last breath.

I wanted to tell her to tell this Carter dipshit to fuck off but I found myself pausing. My mind turned the situation over. A strange woman with links to someone he knew dearly had shown up out of the blue, I’d want to know more too. I sighed.

“Pack your shit, confront him, and leave. He couldn’t have known that this could lead to this piece of shit finding you. Let him stew on that knowledge. I’ll watch it, he's a cop so he's just doing what cops do, however, it's a breach of trust. If he is worth anything he will still show up for you when it counts. I know you don’t want to be alone right now, but you have to wait this out, he will come find you if he really is a friend.” I told her. She nodded and sighed.

“I love you, Misty, thank you for watching out for me,” she said. The dog had laid down and leaned into her to offer comfort. Her fingers dug into her fur as if finding an anchor. She'd be out there all alone now. I would call her every day so she knew she had someone if that was what it took.

“Ads, I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me,” I told her.

“Neither of us could have seen this coming,” she said, resigned. “Give Cricket my love.” “Of course,” I said.

“Love you.”

“Love you too,” I said as she reached over and ended the call.

I dropped the phone in my lap and stared at the wall.

“It’s so much worse than I ever imagined it,” I whispered, my voice thick with emotion.

“She’s not even healing at human pace,” Beck said, and I realized he had only checked to gauge Adelaide’s progression physically.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“He is sucking the life slowly out of her with their bond,” he informed me.

“How do we stop it?”

“By killing a man we can’t even fucking get too,” he muttered. “This Carter guy, let’s hope he really wants to help her, because she is going to need it,” he growled and walked out of the apartment. He needed air. What I needed to do was treat him like he treated Adelaide, by giving him his own background check Misty style. I got up and went to my computer, typed in the order then headed downstairs. I needed to stay busy right now or I would go insane. So back to work I went. I felt bad for the tacos, I really did.