Chapter 64 Chapter 64

Chapter 64 Chapter 64
Beck

I woke to the sound of little feet padding down the hall. I glanced at the clock. It was just after 8 a.m. and Misty was blissfully curled into me, her head resting on my chest. I hated to wake her but we had already slept longer then I think we had both intended. I rubbed her arm and she grumbled before pausing, clearly trying to realize the situation she was in before she opened her eyes to realize the reality of it. Her hazel eyes met mine.

“Cricket is up,” I murmured.

She blinked coming around from her sleepy stupor as her brain processed. “Fuck!” she hissed. She went to scramble out of bed in panic but I grabbed her arm and she whirled on me most likely about to cuss me out.

“Breathe,” I reminded her. “The more guilty you act the more awkward this is going to be for everyone involved.” She deflated, yet her eyes narrowed on me.

“Don’t…” she started but I put my finger to her lips and pointed at my ear. Cricket could hear everything. Well, that shut her up quickly. I didn’t want to hear about how it was a mistake. I had no shame for what we had done. Apparently, I wasn’t above hiding behind a 6-year-old to protect me from her mother’s berating. My win was that she complied. I hadn’t expected that. This woman folded into layers of herself. Pulling whatever hat she needed off the shelf in order to survive the next storm. In this case, Cricket. She slipped out of bed in a blur, grabbing her clothes and pulling them on. I watched, partially transfixed. However, in the back of my mind all I could think about was how this was all so, however exquisitely beautiful in its own way, it was also insurmountably wrong. She slipped out of the room and I decided to pull myself together.

I stepped out of the room and visited the bathroom. When I came out I wasn’t ignorant of Cricket’s side-eye. The cub was observant if nothing else. I kept my chin up and took the stool beside her as Misty made french toast. It was clear to me I had suddenly become a different variable to the little girl, she was on alert. Watching our every move. Misty ignored me as she bit her lip and me pretending not to notice me, forgoing her usual greeting.

Misty split the toasts between us and excused herself, a natural human response given the pressure building in the room.

“Don’t hurt my mom,” Cricket warned; the first moment Misty was out of earshot.

“I don’t intend to,” I tried to explain.

“I don’t care what you intend, I care what you do. Mom doesn't need bullshit,” Cricket insisted.

Smart girl. She was right.

“I don’t want to hurt your mom, it's just complicated” I tried to correct her.

“Adults make things complicated,” she huffed, taking a bite of her food.

Was I really explaining myself to a first grader?

Yes, I was.

Cricket’s approval meant a lot, but I didn’t even know what I was doing here. What she needed to approve of.

“I don’t deserve your mom but—”

“Do you love her?” I choked on my coffee and sputtered as she went on. “If you don’t, you don’t deserve her,” Cricket said, shoving a giant bite into her mouth.

I took a long moment to think how to respond as I recovered.

“I’m still trying to figure that out. She’s the closest friend I have had in a long time. I care about her, I care about both of you. I’m an old man though, I don’ t know how to do this anymore, and I don't know if she even likes me like that. Sometimes adults are lonely and they just find comfort in one another.”

“She likes you, or she wouldn’t have let you in her bed. She never even brings guys over,” Cricket pointed out.

That kind of floored me. Misty could be any man’s wet dream. Her morals however, as a mother made her hold a hard line, not allowing men in and out of Cricket’s life. I had just become the exception to that. I respected her for it but that didn’t tell me what she thought of what we were doing. 

Misty came back in leggings and a hoodie, she took her food and sat at her desk. She was fumbling with her phone and an ear bud when the security line from Creedon’s building came blasting out of her phone.

“Sir, there's no telling who it was, the cameras didn’t get clear images of their faces. Just the woman running with a hood over her face and the damn bear, who was barely a blur he moved so fast. He got to our men before they intercepted the female,” a male voice tried to reason.

“Shit!” Misty cursed fumbling with the settings

“Dig deeper and pull up all the bear’s playing grounds in the city. I want to know exactly who these two are and I want them to fucking pay!” Creedon seethed before the audio cut off.

Misty’s eyes met mine before trailing over to her daughter. I followed her gaze to find Cricket narrowing her eyes at me from over the rim of her orange juice.

She set it down, narrowing her eyes on Misty.

“Who the fuck was that and what are you two up to,” the little spit fire sitting next to me demanded.

“Language! Cricket!” Misty chastised her with a hiss.

I was staying out of this one as they glared at each other.

“Whatever, Mom, what did you do? Does this have something to do with what we talked about last night? Are you in trouble?”

What had they talked about last night? I wondered.

“For fuck’s sake, Cricket,” Misty started.

“Language, Mom!” Cricket sassed back.

Oh, shit.

Misty pulled the earbud out of her ear and met her daughter’s glare with one I wouldn’t ever want directed at me.

“That's the man that hurt your Auntie. Yes, we are up to something and yes it has something to do with what we talked about but we would have had to have that conversation sooner or later because of your piece of shit uncle. Right now is not the time to question things. Let the adults handle it, Trequita \[little stubborn one\].”

“Are you going to kick his ass?” Cricket asked, looking up at me.

Well, shit seems I was being forced to be a part of this. I cleared my throat.

“I think what your mom and auntie have planned is worse than any ass beating I’d give him,” I admitted. “Though if given the opportunity I wouldn’t leave the scum with a pulse,” I added.

“Beck!” Misty scolded. I gave her a ‘what else was I supposed to say’ gesture and look. Her next look straight at me made me want to cower.

“I swear if I could ground you I would,” she hissed at me before turning to her daughter.

“You two have problems,” Cricket pointed out as she slid out of her seat and collected her breakfast. “I’ll be in my room, I have ‘packing’ to do,” she said and though I didn’t see the eyeroll, I knew the little girl well enough to know that was exactly her response as I watched her stride down the hall and slam the door.

My eyes diverted to Misty who was looking up to the ceiling praying to someone to give her patience. I gathered my coffee and plate and took my usual place beside her. She looked at me out of her peripheral vision.

I wish I had words of wisdom, as it was, I only had the truth.

“Cricket is smart, you can’t lie to her,” I said softly.

Misty’s shoulders sagged. “I wasn’t trying to lie to her…I just didn’t want her to have to think about this shit. She’s a kid, I want her to focus on that. She has enough to deal with on her own as it is,” Misty relented her feelings on the matter.

“She’s part animal, Misty, they sense things. She knows when you lie to her and she normally just gives you the benefit of a doubt that you know what you are doing. Right now she’s either hurt she hasn't been clued in or she's pissed at having to wonder what's going on when the pieces to her puzzle don’t match up, and her stability is in the balance,” I tried to explain to her. Then she got that defeated look so I grabbed her chin to make her look at me.

“Don’t do that,” I told her.

“Do what?” she asked, scowling at me.

“Question yourself. You don’t realize how amazing you are, how despite the odds, you are raising your daughter to be kind, to think for herself, and love fiercely. Usually kids that have had to put up with the shit she has would fold under the pressure. Your daughter takes it in stride just like her mother. Every day one foot in front of the other and she never apologises for who she is. That's what I admire about you. You think you fuck up all the time but in reality you teach her to be stronger, kinder, and more resilient each and every day. Despite everything, you shelter her from the worst of the world regardless of the predators sniffing around. I see the human mother willing to stand up to apex predators in order to defend her daughter. While I agree we don’t need to tell her the harshest of the reality surrounding her, Cricket needs to know that when we say run she needs to run or to stay put when we say to stay put at this point. Her safety is dependent on it depending on how this all pans out.”

Misty sighed heavily looking back up at the ceiling. “I told her we will eventually have to leave here, " she agreed. “She wants to go to Adelaide but I don’t know that that can be a possibility until Creedon is taken down.” Misty informed me.

“From what Carter said his Alpha isn’t the most welcoming to strangers, he's having a hard time keeping him from pushing Adelaide out. I think he's hoping her wolf surfaces so he has leverage to claim her within the pack.” I told her honestly about that fact. 

“So where do we go?”

“We will work it out, for now we plan for it. Packing, Cricket’s schooling, get it all in line. I’m not going anywhere.” I promised. 

Tears filled her eyes as she gave me a watery smile. “Thank you Beck for…everything. I…”

I stopped her, taking her hand and kissing her fingertips and rubbing her knuckles. “Don’t thank me, you’ve let me into your lives and reminded me mine was worth living," I said, realizing my voice was hoarse as I stood. She blinked up at me with a mix of concern and I gave her a soft smile. Her hand slipped from mine as I stood fully and I brushed her hair out of her face with that hand and kissed her brow before making my way down the hall to the little girl who needed some support.