Wolves among men (5 page)

“Can I help you?” She smirked as she noticed
me looking at her.

“When did you start wearing makeup?” I
sneered.

“I’ve always worn it.”

“No you haven’t,” I argued as I searched my
memory for even one time I saw her dolled up like this.

“Yeah I have,” her eyebrow rose as she
insisted. “You just never notice.”

“That’s not true.”

“Just go get changed.” She chuckled as she
shook her head and turned her attention back to her little
computer. I grabbed my bag and wandered into the bathroom to take
care of the ever increasing facial hair that seemed to grow as fast
as I could shave it. I shut the door behind me and groaned as I
flipped on the light, slightly blinding myself in the
process.

Ten minutes and one clean shaven face later, I
rinsed off and took one last look in the mirror. The shadow was
gone but at least I wasn’t left with a baby face to deal with. Men
should look like men if you asked me but hell maybe I was biased.
My eyes were a darker green than they were yesterday, deep set but
even I had to admit they were kind. I didn’t have one of those
chiseled faces, I thanked God for that. It was softer like my mom’s
and a part of me was eternally grateful for that. I was only twenty
five years old. I guess it wasn’t all that odd that I still had a
boyish charm to me and if I was thinking right, it would be a few
more birthdays before I grew out of it.

Did werewolves even age? I wondered to myself.
There was a lot about this I was realizing I didn’t
know.

Grabbing my things, I wondered out of the
bathroom to where Cordillia sat at the foot of the bed. “You
ready?” I asked as I slung my bag over my shoulder.

“I was ready before you were.” She smirked as
she stood from the bed. “Besides I thought you weren’t in a rush?”
She smirked.

“I’m not,” I smirked. “But I don’t know about
you but I could eat a horse.” She raised her eyebrow at me and
chuckled.

“Okay bad analogy but the fact still stands.”
She laughed lightly and stood up, grabbing her bag from the bed
behind her. She held out her hand and it took me a moment to
realize she was handing me back my key.

“Oh hell thanks. I would have forgotten.” I
smiled as I took it and slung my bag over my shoulder. She looked
over at the broken table and my eyes followed suit.

“Let’s just do this quick and get the hell out
of here.” I smirked and led her out of the room, locking the door
behind me. I walked up to the front office and handed the old man
his key. He looked out the front window to my sister who was now
leaning against the hood of my truck and looked back at me raising
an eyebrow and gave me an approving smile.

“Have a good stay, sir?” he spoke with a bit
of humor in his voice.

“Sure.” Smiling, I knew that I didn’t have the
heart to correct him. It would just make this more awkward than it
needed to be. He ran up my total and I threw in a nice tip, I had
to do something to make up for the mess I left behind. I made my
way out to my truck quickly and froze.

“How did you get out here, Cordy?” I asked as
I scanned the area and saw no other car but my own.

“I took a cab.” She smiled. “I paid him a
little extra to bring me here. I figured if I couldn’t convince you
to come back, I could make you drive me home.”

“Yeah and how would that help you any?”
Cordillia shrugged as she walked over to her side of the
truck.

“Would have given me just a little more time
to convince you I guess.” She shrugged as she pulled open the door
and crawled into the passenger seat. I could hear her stomach groan
over the creak of the door as she shut it behind her and tossed her
bag to the floor.

I jumped in, threw my bag on the floor with
hers and started the engine. It was strange but I could swear my
truck sounded happier this time as I pulled out of the old hotel
and back onto the highway.

Chapter Four

“
I spy with my little
eye...” Cordillia was the first to break the silence. We were
easily half an hour away from the hotel and I had yet to find a
place to stop for food.

“
Not this.” I glared out
the front window as I raced down the highway. Normally I wouldn’t
be so reckless but the need for food was becoming nearly
unbearable. I looked over at her just in time to see her roll her
eyes and huff at me.

“
Do you have a better idea
then?” She asked mockingly. I shrugged and turned my attention back
to the road. After a few moments had passed she groaned and reached
for the stereo. I kept my eyes glued ahead desperate for a turnoff,
a truck stop, anything. I listened as she fiddled with the dial a
lot longer than necessary and eventually gave up with an
exasperated grunt. We were in the middle of nowhere headed out of
California. Between straight static and some pop princess bleating
out the word baby more times than needed our options were more dire
than limited.

Chuckling at her attempts, I pointed
to the black case lying at her feet. “Look in there, there should
be something you like,” I said not taking my eyes off the road. She
picked up the bag and shuffled around for a few moments before
finding a CD buried near the bottom. She eyed me suspiciously and
dropped the CD and the bag back where they were.

“
What?” I asked with a
grin.

“
AC DC?”

“
You know what, I’m
starting to think you wouldn’t know awesome if it bit you in the
ass,” I said with a smile. Before she had a chance to respond, a
beautiful green sign like a saving grace, came up from the ground
and pointed us toward salvation.

Truck Stop Next Exit

“
Thank you GOD!” I shouted
with a smile as I stepped on the gas and pushed my truck as fast as
I could. Cordillia laughed as I took the turnoff and she fell into
the door next to her. Looking back, I probably should have taken
the turn a lot slower than I had but there were only a few miles
between me and what I wanted and as I said before, I am not a
patient person.

Following the narrow winding road, I
pulled into a small parking lot outside a rather tiny silver diner
and cut the engine. Saying nothing, I climbed out of the truck and
waited impatiently for her to join me. I never did understand
women. It didn’t matter how beautiful they were, they always needed
to check and double check themselves before going
anywhere.

It was hot but thankfully not humid
outside as I leaned back against my truck waiting for her to make
herself ready. One or two big rigs sat parked off to the side and
the sound of the occasional car moving down the highway behind us
filled the air. I loved the desert for one reason and one reason
only, it was private. Here we stood out in the open, miles of
nothing surrounding us and yet there was a lingering feeling of
seclusion and peace. My thoughts were broken by the sound of
Cordillia’s light footsteps crunching in the sand beneath
her.

“
Ready?” I asked as she
stopped at my side.

“
My stomach hurts.” She
smiled as she looked over at the tiny restaurant. “Hopefully they
have more than just road kill on the menu.” I chuckled and followed
close behind as we made our way up the narrow dirt path and pulled
the door open.

We walked in slowly and I couldn’t
help but cringe as I took a quick look around the place. The
building itself was small and looked like it had had taken
decorating tips straight out of a bad fifty’s movie. Metal rimmed
tables, red overstuffed seats and black checkered flooring
included.

As we walked over to an empty table
near the window lined wall, I scanned the restaurant and took a
seat. There was a family in the large booth near the end. An older
man sat reading a newspaper as a tired young woman with a desperate
look about her tried to calm a small boy into his seat and a baby
fussed in her high chair not far from where she sat.

“
Dammit, Frank, you could
help,” she barked at him so loud it didn’t take my ears to catch
it. He just grumbled and went back to his paper. I felt sorry for
her but that passed quickly as my stomach made its presence known
once again.

As I slid into the booth opposite my
sister, I noticed a man out of the corner of my eye. It’s not that
I was looking but there was something about him that was hard to
ignore. It’s not unusual to see people in places like these that
are disheveled or look like they haven’t slept in days. But
something about this man made my stomach turn. The first thing I
noticed was the smell like he’d been running through the woods for
years without so much as a bath. His hair was long and greasy and
his face held the same signs of neglect offset only by the slight
scabs and scratch marks that decorated his cheeks.

I could see the dirt under his nails
as he stirred a spoon into his cup of coffee and the black scabs
that littered his knuckles looked painful at best. He wore jeans
and a light brown coat that went down to his ankles and didn’t seem
to be in much better shape than he was. It was stained and torn and
my God the smell, I just couldn’t pull myself away from that
detail. Turning toward Cordillia, I tried to shake it off and hoped
that she could find some way to distract me.

“
I’m not seeing babies or
human hearts.” She smiled as she peered over her menu. I thought
for a second before a grin crossed my face.

“
There’s one over there.”
I nodded at the couple in the back. Cordillia looked both horrified
and amused as she smacked me with the menu.

“
Hello,” an unusually
chipper voice came from next to me. “How is everyone today?” I
turned to get a better look at the woman that had appeared out of
nowhere and as I turned, I found myself taken back by her
appearance. She was a husky woman with an older look about her; I
couldn’t help but wonder if she decorated this place from memory.
Donning a pink uniform and trademark horn rimmed glasses she stood
patiently, notepad in hand waiting to take our order. “My name is
Annie and I’ll be your waitress.” She beamed. “What can I get for
you all?” I flashed her a smile and quickly gestured over to my
sister.

“
I’ll have the pancakes,”
she chirped. “Blueberry and a side of bacon please.” The older
woman wrote down her order surprisingly fast and turned to face me.
I looked up just in time to notice her flash me a wink and a toss
of the hair.

She batted her eyes at me and asked in
a sweet yet unmistakably flirtatious voice, “And what can I get
you, sugar?” She smiled and leaned closer to me as she readied her
pen.

“
I uh... do you have
steak?” I asked pushing my menu to the side.

“
We sure do, honey,
they’re not very big though.” She added with a smile. I thought for
a moment, not about what I wanted to eat but whether or not I
wanted just a few steaks or the whole damn cow.

“
In that case,” I spoke
quickly. It was becoming increasingly annoying to have so much in
between me and my inevitable and much needed meal. “Make it two,
rare.” I added. “And I mean still bleeding. A side of eggs, double
side of bacon, some pancakes and a couple of biscuits.” I watched
her scribble as fast as she could and glanced over at Cordillia.
Her jaw hung open and her eyebrow rose.

“
Are you sure you can eat
all that?” she asked with a smirk. I leaned over the table close to
her and nodded.

“
Want to put money on it?”
She leaned back and thought for a moment before shrugging and
reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a twenty and placed it on
the table but I decided to make this fun as I looked up at the
waitress and waited for her pen to stop.

“
Is that all?” she spoke
sweetly. I grinned at Cordy and turned back to finish my
order.

“
Make that steak three
please. Also, a cup of coffee and that should be good, thanks.” I
flashed her a smile, pulled out my wallet and placed another twenty
on top of the pot.

“
Okay then,” she chimed as
she finished scribbling and placed the pad in her apron. “If you
need anything else, you just ask.” Smiling up at her, I offered a
quick thank you as she took our menus and walked back toward the
kitchen. Taking a deep breath, I leaned back in my seat. The stench
hit me again, this time it was enough to turn my
stomach.

“
Do you smell that?” I
asked Cordillia as I turned to take another look at the man sitting
at the bar. She lifted her nose and took a whiff.

“
I smell eggs and coffee.
What do you smell?” she asked me, puzzled. I didn’t understand how
she couldn’t smell that. It was sour and sickly with an undertone
of decay. I shook my head and scooted over, anything to get as far
away from him as possible. It wasn’t long before Annie returned
with my coffee and flashed me yet another wink before she headed
back into the kitchen.