The Craving (31 page)

As Simon continued to swallow partially chewed pieces of the jerky, he decided there was one thing that Volker was wrong about—being a werewolf wasn’t a gift.

It definitely wasn’t a gift.

A
little before ten, approaching the playground in Battery Park, Simon was missing Jeremy terribly. Although he hadn’t been a stay-at-home dad for a very long time, he’d gotten used to the routine of being with his son every day, and it felt especially weird to be at a
playground alone, as if he were going to a party he hadn’t been invited to. The joyous sounds of other kids’ laughing and screaming only made Simon feel more out of place.

Then, among all the other strong scents in the area—people, dogs, mulch, rotting garbage—he could smell Charlie, and was it Ramon? He looked toward the bench they usually sat on but didn’t see them there. Suddenly he had a buzz of anticipation, but he couldn’t tell if it was excitement about hanging out with Charlie and Ramon again, or fear of seeing Michael again.

“There’s my man,” Ramon said.

Simon turned to his right and saw Ramon and Charlie walking toward him, both smiling widely, pushing along their sons in baby carriages. Ramon was sharply dressed in jeans, a white T-shirt, and a black blazer. Charlie had cleaned up well since the marathon, in jeans and a tight white long-sleeve shirt accentuating his lean, muscular body. Looking at them, it was hard to believe they were living secret lives as werewolves. They looked like a couple of normal, good-looking dads out spending a beautiful fall morning with their sons in the park.

“Hey, it’s great to see you,” Simon said.

Simon couldn’t resist rushing up to Ramon and hugging him tightly. Ramon was hugging him back, and neither of them wanted to let go. Simon had forgotten how good this felt; he wanted the hug to last forever.

Then Charlie said, “What, I don’t get some too?”

Simon stopped hugging Ramon and hugged Charlie, saying, “Don’t worry, there’s enough to go around.”

After about thirty seconds, Simon ended the hug with Charlie, knelt down, and said to Ramon’s son, Diego, and Charlie’s son, Nicky, “And how about you two little guys? How’re you doing?”

“Good,”
Diego said, but Nicky looked away shyly.

“Good is good,” Simon said. “Good is better than bad, anyway.”

Seeing the other kids made Simon miss Jeremy again.

As if reading his mind, Ramon asked, “Where’s your little man at?”

“Oh, um, he’s with his mom today,” Simon said.

“So you came down here just to see us?”

“Yeah,” Simon said. “Actually.”

“That’s cool,” Ramon said. “You’re makin’ me feel so special.”

“Can we get out, Daddy?” Diego asked Ramon.

“Yeah, I wanna go uppy,” Nicky said to Charlie.

Ramon and Charlie unstrapped their kids, who then ran off to play. Then the three men went into the playground—getting admiring, even lustful, looks from practically every mom and babysitter—and sat on their usual bench. Simon breathed deeply but didn’t smell Michael.

“Looks like somebody was wolfin’ out last night,” Ramon said to Simon.

Simon wasn’t sure why Ramon said this, but then realized it had to do with the torn shirt.

“Oh, yeah.” Simon looked at Charlie. “I think you forgot to mention something about that to me.”

“Sorry about that, bro,” Charlie said. “I wasn’t allowed to, but I did invite you to come to the brewery.”

Simon didn’t know what
I wasn’t allowed to
meant but assumed it had to do with Michael being the leader of their pack.

Simon wanted to be angry at Charlie, but it was hard when Charlie was such a nice guy.

“Whatever,” Simon said. “I avoided disaster last night anyway.”

“Where’d you hang out?” Ramon asked.

“Central Park,” Simon said.

“Cool.” Ramon was excited. “Bein’
in the trees and woods, damn, that must’ve been awesome.”

Simon remembered how amazing it had felt, running with Volker as a wolf.

“Yeah, it was definitely an experience,” Simon said.

“Maybe next full moon you can hang out with us,” Ramon said.

Thinking that in a perfect world, by the next full moon Michael would be dead and they’d all be human again, Simon said, “Sounds like a plan.”

“Or maybe we can all run together in the park,” Ramon said, “or up at Michael’s house.”

“Michael’s house?” Simon asked.

Ramon looked at Charlie, as if wondering if he’d said something he wasn’t supposed to say. Charlie shrugged.

Then Ramon said to Simon, “Yeah, he has a summer house. Upstate, but not too far up, like an hour and a half outside the city.”

Simon couldn’t deny that running as a wolf in the woods had to be the ultimate experience, but why hadn’t Volker mentioned that Michael had a house upstate?

“Have you guys been up there yet?” Simon asked.

Ramon said, “Nah, not—” and then Charlie cut him off with, “Michael said we’re not ready to go up there yet. But when the time’s right we’re definitely gonna let him take us.”

“Yeah, well, that sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun,” Simon said.

Ramon suddenly appeared very serious, which was unusual, because he usually had a wide, engaging smile. He asked, “So why’d you come back here anyway?”

Simon had prepared an answer for this. He said, “Last night taught me a lesson, I guess. I didn’t want to be alone anymore.”

Ramon absorbed this, then put an arm around Simon and said, “Well, you’re not alone anymore, man. Stick with us, all your problems’ll be solved.”

“Yeah,” Charlie said, also putting an arm around Simon.

It felt good to be sandwiched between the two guys, breathing in their warm, familiar scents. He noticed some women in the playground staring at them, but he couldn’t tell if it was because they noticed or sensed there was something unusual about the three guys with their arms around one another, or if they were just uncontrollably attracted.

Ramon said to Simon, “So I heard you were having some problems downstairs.”

“Downstairs?” Simon asked.

“You know,” Charlie said. “Your problems in bed.”

“It’s not a
problem
,” Simon said. “Everything’s working fine down there; too fine, if you know what I mean.”

“Oh yeah, we know,” Charlie said.

“No, I meant I heard you been wolfin’ out.”

“I almost … wolfed out.” Simon felt funny saying that. “I mean I had a few close calls, so I’ve been avoiding intimacy.”

“Hang with us, all your worries’ll go away,” Ramon said. “Before you know it, your only problem’ll be you’ll be wantin’ it too much.”

“Yeah, so how is this gonna happen?” Simon asked. “Is there another beer or something I’m supposed to drink?”

Simon was hoping Ramon or Charlie would give away some info about the remedy beer.

“Nah,” Charlie said. “It’s more like a, you know, behavioral type thing.”

“Yeah, and trust me,” Ramon said, “when the floodgates open you won’t know what hit you. I mean, check it out, right now, all these
women here in this playground, they want our bodies. Even the old ladies can’t resist us.”

Simon noticed a woman with a walker, probably eighty-five years old, who was taking a rest on a bench across from them, staring at the guys like they were slabs of meat on a rack.

“I could get any of these women I want,” Ramon said. “I know, I used to be the same, but it was never like this. Before, I had to work it. I had to have the right look, right clothes, say what they wanted to hear, but now, forget about it, bro, now it all just happens naturally. I get women proposing to me every day, like I’m, I don’t know, Derek Jeter or something. You think that happened to me before I got bitten? When I was just an unemployed actor living with my mother in
el barrio
?”

At the other end of the playground, a very attractive young blond woman, probably a babysitter, was giving Simon a come-hither look.

“I’ve definitely been experiencing that part of it,” Simon said.

“But you know what the funny thing is?” Ramon asked. “When you can get anything you want, know what happens? You don’t want it anymore. You want one thing, one solid thing you can hold on to forever. And that’s what happened to me last night.”

“Oh no, here we go,” Charlie said.

Ignoring Charlie, Ramon said to Simon, “She was like an angel that dropped from the sky and showed up at my doorstep. She had the silkiest black hair I’d ever seen, and when I looked in her eyes I wanted to get lost in them and stay lost forever.”

“We’ve only heard that a gazillion times before,” Charlie said.

“Last night was different,” Ramon said. “Last night was the real deal. Last night I fell in love for eternity. And want to know the funny thing? She’s a cop.”

“A cop?” Simon hoped he was joking.

“Yeah, you believe it?” Ramon
said. “I’ve met so many beautiful women in my lifetime, but I never would’ve thought the one I would want to be with forever would be a cop. But, yeah, Geri’s the one for me.”

A cop? Geri?
A sickening feeling was building in Simon’s gut.

“Wait,” Simon said. “Her last name isn’t Rodriguez, is it?”

“Yeah,” Ramon said. “She talked to you too?”

Simon’s throat was closing up. Well, not really, but that was what it felt like.

“You okay, bro?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah, I know her,” Simon said to Ramon. “She was the detective who questioned me when my boss was killed in New Jersey.”

“Oh yeah, that makes sense,” Ramon said. “She might come talk to you again, so just be ready.”

Now Simon had full-blown nausea. Suddenly he didn’t feel comfortable with Ramon and Charlie’s arms around him. He felt trapped between them, and their arms were like clamps, locking him in.

“Is that how you met her? She
questioned
you?”

“Yeah,” Ramon said. “Don’t worry, nothin’ to do with your boss. My ex-girlfriend Diane was shot and killed in Michigan.”

Simon knew Diane. She was a friend of Olivia, the woman/ werewolf Simon had killed. Simon had warned Diane to leave New York because she knew too much about Michael and the pack, but apparently someone had found her.

“When did this happen?” Simon asked.

“Last week,” Ramon said. “But what can you do? When your time’s up, your time’s up.”

Simon had only been there about five minutes and he already felt like he was getting sucked back into a nightmare.

“Tell me the truth,” Simon said. “Did you do it?”

Charlie removed his arm from around Simon and said, “Whoa, that’s not cool, bro.”

“I just want to know the truth,” Simon said. “I don’t want to be in the dark anymore about anything. If I’m going to hang out with you guys, I need to know the truth about what’s going on.”

Simon realized that he wasn’t making much sense, but this was the best he could come up with.

Ramon moved his arm off Simon as well and said, “Of course I didn’t kill her. She was a wonderful woman. It sucks that she had to die.”

Noticing that Ramon didn’t exactly seem torn up that his ex-girlfriend was dead, Simon said, “What do you mean, ‘had to die’?”

“He didn’t mean anything by it,” Charlie said.

“I just meant it was a tragedy,” Ramon said. “But I guess that’s just the way God is sometimes. He’s got a plan and he sticks to it even if it means good people get hurt.”

Simon couldn’t read Ramon. He had no idea whether he was lying.

“Okay, if you didn’t do it,” Simon said, “what about Michael?”

“Nah,” Ramon said. “Michael was with us the time Geri said Diane was killed.”

“So you’re Michael’s alibi,” Simon said.

“Yeah,” Ramon said. “I guess we are.”

Simon was still trying to accept the idea that Diane was dead, actually
dead
. She had to have been in her midthirties, so much life ahead of her.

“Look, I honestly don’t believe that you guys are killers,” Simon said. “But I think you have a craving now, a craving that you may not be able to control. And I know that Michael must be fueling that craving for you. He wants to make you behave the way he behaves, and I
don’t think you can help yourselves because he’s the leader of your pack, so of course you have to respect him, and do what he wants you to do.”

“You have anger.”

The deep, familiar voice had come from Simon’s left. Then he looked over and saw Michael standing there with his son, Jonas. Michael’s graying hair was combed straight back with no part, and his face was smooth and affectless. Though his big, extremely dark eyes were a little freaky looking, he looked damn good for ninety-one years old. Simon hadn’t detected Michael’s scent, so he was surprised to see him appear next to him. Weirdly, Simon couldn’t even smell Michael right now, with them only a couple of feet apart.