Bleacke's Geek (Bleacke Shifters) (28 page)

He bashed Dave’s head back against the carpeted floor, getting another
oof
out of him, but no recognizable words. “So I’m going to drag your fucking ass outside my front door, and when I come out if you’re not gone, I’m going to fucking drag you back inside, dismember you in my bathtub after cutting your tongue out so you can’t scream, and start by chopping off your fingers, toes, and dick while you’re still alive.”

He dropped down with his right knee firmly planted on Dave’s chest, unable to believe the words were coming from his mouth. “Do you understand me?”

“You fucking—”

“Wrong answer.” He rained vicious punches onto Dave’s head, until the other man was sobbing and ineffectively trying to ward off the attack with his hands.

Ken felt a wave of blind rage wash over him as he remembered how Dave had called Dewi a pussy. “You get your fucking ass out of my apartment right now, or you’re dead.”

Half crawling, half stumbling, Dave managed to make it to the front door. Ken opened it and planted his foot on the larger man’s ass, kicking him out, literally.

Then he slammed the door shut behind him and locked it.

His body trembled, the shakes overwhelming him as he leaned against the door for support, then slid down it. He alternated between crying and laughing for a good twenty minutes, sure the cops would show up any second, but they never did.

When he finally got himself under control he realized how badly everything hurt, especially his fists from punching the bane of his existence. He stumbled into the kitchen and held his hands under cold water, wanting the feel of Dave’s blood completely washed away.

It wasn’t until he felt something approaching normal again that he made his way back to the bedroom.

The window stood open, the screen on the ground outside.

Fuck. Me.

He closed and locked it, as well as the other one in the bedroom, and followed suit with the ones in the living room. Since he’d never opened the windows, he could only guess Dave had left himself with a ready way to get in on one of his previous visits.

Which also explains how Dave knew I hadn’t been home in several days.

He wanted out, and he wanted out now. After looking through the front door’s viewfinder and not seeing Dave, he grabbed the box of pictures and opened the door. He shuffled the two garbage bags out and locked the door behind him.

Looking around, he didn’t see Dave lurking anywhere.

He’d snagged a parking spot right in front of his door and quickly got the box and garbage bags loaded. After dumping the trash, he swung past his mailbox and emptied it, too. Nervously looking in the rearview mirror, he sped out of the parking lot.

Dewi ran out to meet him as he pulled into the yard. Her beaming grin faded as she got a better look at him. And as he stepped out of the SUV Dewi frantically began checking him over for injuries. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“What?”

“You were in a fight. What happened?”

He grabbed her hands to still them and held them to his chest. “How can you tell that?”

“I can smell the blood. And it’s not your blood. Are you okay?”

Of course she can smell it.
He closed his eyes and leaned against the driver’s door. With her pulled close and his forehead touching hers, he thought the events to her and hoped she could understand because he wasn’t sure he could retell it.

Hell, he wasn’t sure he even knew what the fuck had happened.

As the story unwound in his mind, she pressed closer and tighter to him. Freeing her hands, she wrapped her arms around him, holding him. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you,” she said, her voice sounding sad.

“It’s okay,” he finally said. “I kicked his ass. Not sure how, but I did.”

“I’m so proud of you.”

He let out a gruff laugh. “Yeah, it was like an episode of
When Geeks Go Agro
.”

“It’s all fun and games until someone ends up in a cone.”

He looked at her, confused.

“Sorry. Wolf joke.” Her expression turned sad again. “I should have given him an order to leave you alone the other day, but I was caught by surprise when I got there. I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “No, don’t be. I’d rather you not go messing around in his mind anyway. He’s an asshole.”

She growled. “If he shows up again can I kill him?”

“No. Scare him, yes. Kill him, no.”

She stuck her lower lip out in a pout. “You’re no fun.”

She got him and his stuff inside and ushered him up to their bedroom. There, she helped him undress and pulled him into the shower with her.

“
I
wanted to kill him,” he said. “I didn’t tell you this before, but the other morning at work, Mark and Jason were waiting and rode the elevator up with me. I wanted to punch them for talking about you. I could tell what they were thinking. And today…today it’s like what I wanted to give to them I gave to Dave. In spades.”

“Not like he didn’t deserve it.”

“Yeah, but I’m better than that. I should be better than that.”

“We all have our weaknesses.” She pressed a tender kiss to his lips. “You are my weakness.”

* * * *

After dinner, she asked about the box while they were curled up together watching TV in the family room. He’d left it in the corner by the doorway, where no one would accidentally trip over it.

“It’s some photo albums and pictures. Only thing I really have left of my parents.”

She sat up. “Oh! May I look?”

He shrugged. “Sure.”

She brought the box back to the sofa and opened it, taking out the pictures and albums he’d packed earlier. “Is that your mom?” she asked as she pointed to one picture.

“Yeah.”

“She was beautiful.”

He nodded. “I thought so. She always looked sad. I just wish she’d left the asshole sooner. I feel guilty she waited until I graduated to try to get away.” He didn’t want to talk about her death, but Dewi looked up at him and he sensed she wanted to hear it all. “The coroner said in the autopsy that she had a lot of old injuries that had healed. Like cracked ribs, fractured arm. Even several broken fingers.”

He felt her protective fury grow on his behalf. “I’m sorry. You said he’s in jail?”

“Doing life. He also killed a guy while inside, and that time got added onto his sentence. He won’t be eligible for parole for at least another thirty years, which is, in essence for him, life.”

“Good.” She stood and went over to one of the bookcases and removed a photo album. Carrying it back to the sofa, she settled next to Ken again. She paged to the middle of the album first, which turned out to be the end of the pictures. One of the last pictures was a shot of a woman and a man holding a tiny infant girl decked out in a ruffled pink dress. The little girl wore a chubby grin, while the parents positively beamed with pride.

She reached out and touched the picture. When she spoke she sounded quiet, sad. “Badger said there was never a doubt for strangers if I was a girl or not. Mom always dressed me in the girliest things she could. This was the last picture taken of them. They were killed a week later.”

He put his arm around her shoulder and snugged her securely against his side. Pressing a kiss to her temple, he said, “You were a beautiful baby. I should have known.”

He felt a brief flash of pleasure ripple through her at his words. “Badger said I never would hold still for dresses for him when I was little. Said I fought him when he tried to dress me in anything but pants or boy clothes.”

“But you were a baby.”

She shrugged as she paged back through the album toward the front. “It wasn’t until I was older and he could order me into skirts and dresses that I would unwillingly wear them.” She stopped at a picture of her mom and dad with Trent and Peyton. Her mom looked very pregnant, and she was opening a present wrapped in pink baby shower paper. The boys were watching her open the present. “That was taken a week before I was born.”

She turned to the beginning of the album. There were pictures of both her parents in their younger years. Then she stopped at what looked like a picture of a family picnic. In the background, standing and seated at tables, were dozens of people. In the foreground were her mom and dad looking like they were in their early twenties, flanked by two couples she identified as her grandparents on both sides.

“This was taken at the Muster where my mom’s parents announced Mom and Dad had mated and were getting married.” Most everyone looked like they were smiling or happy except for a guy caught mid-scowl in the background. “It was a really big deal.”

“What, exactly, is a Muster, anyway?”

“It’s what we call our gatherings. It’s like a family reunion, business meeting, and way for wolves to meet each other. Sometimes it’s only from one pack, and sometimes people from other packs are invited if they’re friends or family by marriage.”

“Did your parents grow up together in the same pack?”

“No. My dad was born in Scotland. He and Badger knew each other for years and are distant cousins. They came over to America together, to Idaho. One of Badger’s sisters married my mom’s sister’s brother-in-law. That doubly made him family and welcomed. Everyone told me he was the only one who could help Mom and Dad control Peyton and Trent when they were younger.”

Ken was still trying to work out what that would technically make Badger in relation to Dewi.

She looked up at him with a playful smile when she sensed his confusion. “I know, right?”

“So that’s why you just call Badger an uncle?”

“Yeah. I’m not sure what he is, except that he’s family and I love him.”

“How’d he lose the eye?”

“He doesn’t like to talk about it.”

“I gathered.”

“It happened while he was still in Scotland. Before he and my dad moved to the States.” She closed the album and walked it back over to the bookcase. “I don’t know all the details, and he doesn’t like to talk about it. But it had to do with him trying to protect his mate from a couple of vicious rogue wolves from a rival pack.”

“Oh.”

She returned to the sofa. “Rogues are something we don’t really need to worry about now. It’s not like in the old days.”

“Did he?” he asked.

He didn’t have to clarify what he meant. She sadly shook her head. “He’s never taken another mate.”

Chapter Eighteen

Tuesday morning, it took a lot of talking for Ken to convince Dewi he didn’t need her to babysit him at work. “Look, if the guy’s stupid enough to show up again, he deserves whatever I give him.”

Her expression looked dark. “I don’t like it. Please don’t go to your apartment again. Not alone. What if he brings some scumbag friend of his back with him? Wait until one of us can go with you.”

She had a point. It might have been sheer luck that he’d been able to take down Dave. Taking down some of Dave’s asshole buddies might be harder. “All right, I’ll concede to that. Happy?”

She frowned. “No, but I don’t want to be a bitch and order you to let me go with you to work today.”

“Thank you. That means a lot to me.” He pulled her close and kissed her, enjoying the way she relaxed into his embrace, her curves fitting him perfectly.