Chapter 17: Chapter 17
Beck
“Don’t do something fucking nice and then goddamn disappear,” she snapped, tears leaking from her eyes. “You said you wanted to protect us, you chose to do that, I didn’t ask for it, you change your fucking mind you goddamn better say something or when we are dead I’m coming for you!” she snapped, pointing her finger into my chest. “I will die before I let them take her. I will not let my daughter be subjected to their brutality. I may not have claws, but rest assured I will go down fighting till my last breath!" she spat at me and the turn of her thoughts just from me being away a short time occurred to me. Misty was scared, my presence took some of that fear away, by not letting her know what I was doing, by not being where she expected me to be; that fear had skyrocketed. I placed my hands on her shoulders and she shuddered at the contact, her chest heaving, however her fierce hazel eyes glared at me with tenacity. Thankfully she didn’t pull away but I wasn’t sure if that was because she didn’t want to back down or if she was too afraid to show weakness.
“Misty, I just went out to get a helmet in case I ever had to take her with me. There weren’t any close by in her size so I had to go further away than I would have liked to get one. I promise going forward I’ll tell you what I am doing if I ever have to leave. I just wanted to take you out tonight to get your mind off Adelaide, I figured you wouldn’t let me pick Cricket up if I didn’t have a helmet for her so I had to go further to get her one then I anticipated.” She let out a breath and I forced her chin up so I could look her in the eyes. “I’m not leaving you, or Cricket,” I promised and I watched as she closed her eyes and the tears leaked into my hands cupping her cheeks.
Pulling her into me felt natural and she surrendered to it for a moment as she pulled herself together. She cleared her throat and pulled away as if she was embarrassed, but I found I missed the contact. Most of the women I dealt with were scared fragile things that feared a man’s touch. Misty wasn’t one of those. She had recently lost her support system with Adelaide’s disappearance, which was scary enough for a single mom, add in the Creedon issues and the bears and this Mama was dealing with a lot.
“You can’t pick Cricket up if you're not on the pick-up list,” she informed me. “I can’t go out, someone has to stay home with Cricket,” she added. She had moved back to her mop and started wringing it out.
“I already got a sitter, and you might want to add me in case of an emergency,” I pointed out.
Her jaw ticked. “I dunno how I feel about that, it hadn’t crossed my mind before, but…”
“But what, Misty?”
“You are a bear, I know you helped Adelaide, and you’ve been here for a week but I don’t know you well enough to give you the power to take her. You could go get her while I’m working and disappear with her, I… I can’t.”
I couldn’t say it didn’t wound me a little that she didn’t trust me, however, I couldn’t fault her. She had a laundry list of very good reasons not to let me in, what she afforded me already was a great risk.
“That’s why I want to take you out,” I pointed out.
“I can’t leave Cricket with just anybody,” she countered.
“Mrs. Gonzalez agreed to watch her and we wouldn’t be leaving the street, it’s just a little ways up, coffee, food, alcohol and its karaoke night so we can sit back and watch people make fools of themselves,” I tried to leave her with as little room for pushback.
“Mrs. Gonzalez?”
“Yeah, she knows what Cricket is, the bears avoid her kind, so it’s a best case scenario, we won’t be far and I can smell their asses from miles away now that I know them. I doubt they will be an issue though, because they can smell me too and as long as they know I’m here they best not dare to bother you.”
“Valentina is one of you?” she asked, shocked.
Her story was her own to tell so instead of being direct I said. “Not exactly, you will have to ask her yourself though.
Misty paused, about to lift the bucket as her mind rolled over the possibilities.
“Let me get that,” I said, stepping into her before she could protest and took the bucket to the bathroom and dumped it down the tub. I rinsed it down the drain, giving Misty time to think. Coming back out I asked “What do you say? I think a change of scenery will do us good, it’s been a rough day.”
She tilted her head considering. “Okay, but only because I trust Valentina. And only if Cricket is okay with it,” she relented.
Well, that was a win. “Of course,” I said. “Best go get ready now so we can go get Cricket since I can’t go pick her up.” It hadn’t occurred to me since I didn’t have kids, that school was the safest place for Cricket because not just anyone could walk in and get her. The world had changed since I was a kid.