CRAVE (17 page)

“And you can take that contraption back to the shed for me. My ass cheeks are stuck together. Somebody else’ll have to ride the doc back to town.”

He chuckled. “You want a cinnamon roll?”

“Wouldn’t turn one down. I’ll wait out here.”

The door opened. Free and Serene emerged.

“We’re leaving them alone,” Free said.

Charming passed him on the way into the house. “I said Flora would get a roll. If you leave Crave alone with them, there won’t be any left.”

Free and Serene looked back at Flora, who smiled and shrugged. “Congratulations are in order.”

Serene smiled. “Indeed. It’s a fine day.”

Charming emerged with a roll wrapped in a napkin and handed it to Flora.

“Much obliged,” she said and walked off.

“I’m going to return this bike,” Charming said to his parents. “Want to meet me at the Commons?”

“No,” said Free. “We’ll just wait here.”

“Okay. Be right back then.”

Inside the kitchen, Crave asked Dr. Reising if she would have a cup of tea and grudgingly offered one of the cinnamon rolls to go with it. Since Charming had taken another, there were only three left. So he wasn’t entirely unhappy when she declined.

“They look wonderful, but I’ll just have the tea. Thank you,” she said.

He set a cup in front of her, poured hot water, and sat down.

“So. I’ve been told some of your memories have returned.” He nodded. “What were the circumstances?”

“A human kid came up the road and said my brother, Carnal, owed him a favor. That’s when it happened.”

“At the mention of your brother’s name?”

“I guess.”

“Did you remember everything all at once?”

“No. First I remembered seeing Carnal die. Then I remembered the injury I did to my mother.”

Reising could tell by the way he looked away that it was difficult for him to talk about those memories.

“Do you recall events from your captivity by the Rautt?”

His mouth tightened and she saw his jaw clench. “If I’m honest, I have to say that I’m remembering a lot of things I wish I could forget.”

She nodded. “Considering what you’ve been through, that’s quite normal. I’m sorry, but I have to ask if you recall what happened between the time you were recovered and the time you were released with restriction?”

“You mean when I was in that makeshift jail?”

“Yes.”

“No. The only thing I remember is waking up with no clothes on.” He didn’t see the need to mention that he woke up looking into Dandy’s beautiful eyes and seeing hope flare before he revealed that he didn’t remember her. Reising didn’t need to know everything.

She nodded. “Okay. So how do you feel?”

He barked out a laugh that sounded more like a pejorative than an expression of amusement.

“How do I feel? I watched my brother murdered right in front of my face. Within seconds of that I permanently disfigured my own mother. Then I hurt my Promise by paying intimate attention to other females right in front of her, after I’d given my oath that would
never
happen.” His smile turned bitter and his tone was sarcastic. “Feel peachy, doc. How ‘bout you?”

“Your reactions, to the circumstances and to me, are understandable. I’m going to lift your restriction and let you get on with your life the way you see fit. You won’t be required to take sessions with me from here on, but I will be available to chat if you ever feel the need.”

“Okay.”

Crave couldn’t manage pretending that he cared much either way.

When she stood and extended her hand, he got up and accepted the gesture, thinking her hand felt tiny as a child’s and wondering how such fragile creatures as humans managed to survive. He stayed in the kitchen after she left, thoughts circling like a whirlwind.

His family, what was left of it, filed back in after a while. Free sat down at the table while Charming helped Serene start dinner. It seemed she was most comfortable when she was busy in the kitchen listening to people converse as they sat around the big table.

She patted Crave’s shoulder. “If you want to talk about… anything, we’ll listen, but we’re going to be taking cues from you.”

“I just need to think this through. I could use some alone time.”

Free nodded. “We’re glad you’re home.”

“Yeah. Speaking of that. Okay if I sleep here tonight?”

Free smiled in a way that lifted the corners of his mouth, but still conveyed sadness. “As long as this is our home, it’s your home. No need to ask.”

Crave nodded absently, looking like his thoughts were far, far away. He stood slowly, walked over to the counter where Serene was cutting biscuits from rolled dough. He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek before he left the room.

She was grateful her back was turned so that Free and Charming didn’t see the wave of emotion that threatened to take her over. After everything the family had been through, watching Crave’s devastation was the one thing that tipped the scale past just one too many things to endure.

A knock at the front door had Charming on his feet again. “I’ll get it.”

One of Red’s main assistants, Tracker, waited anxiously on the porch. “I’m sorry to disturb you at home.”

“’
S’alright, Tracker. What’s wrong?”

“Got a list of questions.” He raised the note in his hands as if to give a visual demonstration that he was telling the truth.

“Meet me over at the Commons, “Charming said. “Grab me a cider. I’ll be there in a second.”

Tracker nodded and stepped off the porch.

Free listened to Charming’s steps as he strode back into the kitchen. His youngest boy’s body had grown heavier and Free suspected he’d probably reached his full growth.

“Got a few things to take care of. I’ll be over at the Commons for a bit.”

Free was beginning to realize he’d been so preoccupied with grief that he hadn’t fully appreciated the way Charming had taken on responsibility, without fanfare, without formal declaration. He’d simply seen what needed to be done and stepped in.

“Dinner in about an hour.” Serene looked back at him with a hopeful expectation. He hadn’t been home in time for dinner for a long time.

“I’ll be here. What are we having?”

“Sheep on stick. With peppers and cohash.”

“Sounds good. One of Crave’s favorites, isn’t it?”

She smiled at Charming in confirmation.

Before going to the Commons, Charming jogged over to the Bike Barn. It was late, but Race was still there.

Charming greeted him with a chin lift and a ‘hey’. “Can you get Crave’s bike ready? Got a feeling he’s going to be wanting it soon.”

“I thought he was tethered.”

Charming grinned. “Not anymore. Next time you see him, he’s gonna know who you are.”

“
That’s good news.” Race grinned. “Crave’s bike is tip top. He thinks he’s been restoring somebody else’s bike, but…” he laughed, “he’s been gettin’ his own ride top shape. It’s good as new. Just need to fuel up.”

Charming returned Race’s smile and left. He hadn’t known that Crave had been working in the Bike Barn. He thought he was just sleeping there.

It took about half an hour to plow through Tracker’s questions. This or that. That or this. Charming was glad for the cider and for the respite from the heavy energy at home.

“That all you need?” he asked Tracker. “You’re barely going to be able to get back down the mountain before dark.”

“True enough, but we’ll be ready to go in the morning.”

“I should be back tomorrow.”

Tracker grinned. “Well, looks like I got a cider and a nice ride away from work for nothin’.”

Charming laughed. “Nothin’ like a ride.”

When Charming walked back into the kitchen, his parents were still where he’d left them.

Serene said, “Dinner in twenty minutes. Go tell your brother.”

Charming nodded and climbed the stairs to the first landing that opened into the hallway that led to his brothers’ rooms, first Carnal’s, then Crave’s. He started down the hall, but something out of place caught his eye.

Carnal’s door was always open, but Crave, sitting on the side of the white gauze-draped bed and staring straight ahead, was definitely out of place.

Charming sat down on a wood-sided foot locker across from Crave. “Dinner in about twenty minutes.”

Crave looked around the room and said, “I don’t know how far off my memory is, but I don’t remember Carnal’s room like this.”

Charming chuckled. “You know the female I mentioned? Rosie? She was staying here as a favor to Kellareal. She did a little redecorating. When she saw how much it bothered Carnal, she kept making it more and more female frilly.”

Crave smiled. “Bet I would have liked her.”

Charming smiled, nodding. “I’m sure of it.”

“When I talked to Dr. Reising? Earlier? She asked me what I remember. I think I remember pretty much everything except what happened between… ah… between Carnal’s death and waking up behind bars.”

Charming nodded solemnly. “You want me to fill in the blanks.”

Crave looked like he’d aged years in a few hours’ time. “Yeah.”

“You sure that’s okay with Reising? I mean she’s been really insistent about you remembering stuff on your own.”

Crave stared at Charming for a few seconds before answering. “There’s a reason why I asked you. It’s between you and me. I don’t care what Reising thinks about it. I want to know.”

“Okay then. Not sure you’re gonna like what you hear.”

Crave startled Charming when he barked out a derisive laugh. “Well. What else is new?”

“This is. You and me talking.”

“You were still a kid when I was taken.”

“I know. Alright. Here it is. You were as crazy as crazy gets. You wouldn’t wear clothes. Anything we put inside your cell that
could
be torn up was destroyed. Clothes. Blankets. Furniture. Anything.

“You were so mad you growled all the time. I mean
all
the damn time, even in your sleep. I’m not going to try to describe how much that shit wears on a person’s nerves. Nobody could stand it for long. Well, nobody except Dandy. Seems when it comes to you, her patience doesn’t have normal limits.”

Crave’s eyes came up when Charming said her name.

“Carnal’s crew took over taking care of you. It’s not like they were asked or assigned or anything. It was like a tribute. Something they could do to honor him. They took his death pretty hard which, I guess, is what you’d expect. They were tight.

“Anyhow, Dandy refused to leave you. She tended the fire and kept it extra warm in there, since you weren’t wearing any clothes. She tried all kinds of stuff to get you to remember. She’d come here every couple of days and get something else from your room. Stuff was starting to pile up over there. She brought stuff from her place, too. Like a wind chime that I guess you made?”

Crave looked down. Indeed he did remember the wind chime. He even remembered that it had stopped him in his tracks just minutes before he encountered the human boy, Max.

“At night she’d read to you from some children’s book.
The Lion and The Wind,
I think. The whole time she was reading to you, you’d be roaring and snarling like her voice was the most awful sound in the world. You’d try to reach her through the bars, hoping to get ahold of her and tear her into little bits like you’d done with everything else you could touch.”

After that settled for a bit, Crave let out a big sigh. “How do you know all that?”