Chapter 18: Ryan

Ryan was alone in the apartment when he heard the ruckus coming from the floor below. The building had an open stairwell that connected all the floors, and sound carried remarkably well. When he and Rodrigo first moved in, they used to shout up to each other until a single mom with two kids under the age of four asked them if they could keep it the hell down when her kids were napping.

More recently, he and Rodrigo were witnesses to a blow-out between a toxic couple upstairs who seemed to be on the threshold of murdering each other. It was one of only a few times in Ryan’s life when he considered calling the police. Normally, he would just stay out of it but the two of them were convinced they were about to see one half of the couple come tumbling over the banister of the stairwell, ricocheting off each banister along the way.

The day when he was alone, he had decided to get some chores done and was just getting ready to bring the trash down when he heard the first suspicious sound: a deep man’s voice uttering the single word “move.” There was the click of a deadbolt being unlocked then a distinctly female “no, no, no, no”, which was ended by a dull thud. A hush of crying drifted upwards but it was silenced briskly by the slamming door.

Ryan was no stranger to the unpleasant realities of life but the fast, frantic ordeal he managed to overhear simply because he had the door open at the right time was bigger than just a terrible relationship. That was the sound of someone in trouble, someone who needed help and probably thought they were alone in the world.

There was a moment, as he started down the stairs still holding the garbage bags for cover, when he thought to himself that this was a stupid, reckless thing to do. Whoever that girl was, whatever the situation happened to be, it wasn’t his business, and he could possibly be risking more than just his safety by sniffing around where he wasn’t wanted. By the time he had gotten to the floor below him, that thought was gone. He knew what his dad would have said if he heard doubts like that. “Not your business, Ryan? Helping people is everybody’s business.”

Ryan stood on the landing, staring down the short hallway and listening. There were only three units on each floor, and he heard motion in two out of three. Shifter’s ears were naturally sharper than normal humans so he could hear the shuffling of feet, the voices speaking in threats and orders.

He got one step closer to the door near the stairs. The smell of his own kind reeked through the wood and drywall; the timid scent of a frightened human was slick underneath it like a salty, bitter aftertaste. It can’t be what Joe was talking about, he thought as he got too close to pretend he wasn’t being nosy should someone suddenly appear. I was positive those were just rumors.

The sound of footsteps inside the apartment headed towards the front door so Ryan moved as quickly and quietly as he could back towards the stairs. When the men he knew appeared in the hallway, he was back against the banister, acting as if he was taking down his trash and didn’t have a clue about what was going on.

“Ryan? That you, man?” A sharp eyed shifter he was pretty sure was named Daniel nodded in his direction. “Do you live here or what?”

The guy next to him was younger, Ryan’s age, skinny and nervous. His eyes kept moving from Daniel to Ryan then to the door of the apartment that was slightly ajar. The scent of the human wafted out through the crack; Ryan was surprised they couldn’t tell that they were giving themselves away. That was before he considered the fact that they didn’t care if he knew about the human because he wouldn’t dare turn against another pack. Right?

“Yeah, me and Rodrigo.” Ryan motioned vaguely up the stairwell. “Been here a few years now. It’s a nice building.”

“You don’t live in the main house with the rest of the pack?”

“Ah, you Marin guys think it’s like the suburbs around here. That house is too small for a whole pack. Lots of us gotta branch out and live on our own.”

Daniel smiled but it was menacing and cold. Ryan remembered that that was how he always looked. “Well, I suppose it’s easier with your pack,” he said, moving in front of the skinny nervous kid who was still peeping through the crack in the door whenever he got a chance. “For us, it’s different, ya know? It’s tough to be separated. We’re family.”

Ryan felt his jaw clench, the taste of bile was in the back of his throat. “Yeah, us too.”

“But it’s not the same.”

An older shifter exited the apartment and closed the door behind him. When he saw Ryan, he raised a hand in greeting but didn’t say anything. Ryan was almost positive he recognized the man’s face but his name wasn’t coming to him.

“Are we good to go?” the skinny one asked the older man who had just appeared. “Is it...alright for now?”

“For now,” the older man said with a voice that rattled Ryan’s chest like the voice of god. His name flashed loud in Ryan’s mind: Troy.

“Do you two know each other?” Daniel asked, pointing between Troy and Ryan. “You probably know Ryan’s dad.”

“Knew him,” Troy said gingerly, that voice congealing the blood in Ryan’s veins and turning his movements, his motives, his reflexes to stone. “Knew him well. I was very sorry to hear what happened.”

“Me too,” Ryan agreed coldly. “Troy, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Ryan.”

“Yes. I know.”

The group of them moved towards the stairs then paused when Ryan didn’t start down ahead of them. Troy pointed to Ryan’s trash. “You bringing that down there?”

“Yeah, yeah. That’s what I was doing.”

Ryan walked in front of them even though the hair on the back of his neck was raised, and he was sure they’d be able to tell. Troy and Daniel spoke casually to each other about whether or not they were going to get takeout for dinner. The skinny nervous one didn’t say anything at all.

“It was good seeing you again, Ryan,” Troy said when they parted ways in the cramped lobby of the building. It was badly in need of a renovation, and all four men standing in there at once made Ryan feel like the walls were closing in on him.

“You too, Troy. Are you guys living here now? Maybe I’ll see you around.”

Daniel snickered, his laugh venom and hate-filled. Troy joined him after a beat, his laugh like the shaking plates that composed California. “No, we don’t live here,” Troy told him. “I don’t think any of us could live anywhere but the headlands.”

“Damn straight,” Daniel said with a gusto that was as embarrassing for everyone else as it was for him.

“Well, good seeing you either way,” Ryan said, moving towards the door that led to the alley way. “I’ll tell Rodrigo you said hi.”

“Yeah, do that.”

Troy waved over his shoulder as they exited. Ryan watched what car they got into, another skinny and nervous looking guy in the passenger’s seat. He could see Daniel and Troy laughing but the other two weren’t sharing in the joke.

Ryan ducked into the alley to dump his trash then decided to head back upstairs and sniff around their apartment again. Literally this time. When he came back in from the alleyway, he saw the van with the four of them tearing down the street, Daniel in the driver’s seat and his mouth wide open in a silent pantomime of the second right before jaws snap shut on their prey.