Chapter 3 Teddy #2
Teddy looked at Trace and found him staring back unblinkingly, expression hard and lips pinched tight. Teddy held his gaze, begging him to understand, to get him out, to stop them from asking for too much.
“We’re just worried about you,” Trace said. “You came back all fucked up and we’re used to you keeping this thing together.”
“I’m not fucked up,” he said, curling in on himself.
“I’m banned from my favorite dry cleaners,” Eerie said, examining his nails.
“What? Why?” Teddy asked.
“They ruined my blouse and I asked you to go talk to them about reimbursing me for it,” he said.
Teddy pressed his lips together as he remembered. “And I never went.”
“No, but I did,” Eerie said.
“Shit.” Teddy rubbed the back of his neck. “What did you do?”
“I did what you taught me,” he said. “Smiled. Asked nicely. All that.”
“You smiled at them?” Echo asked, whimpering under their cardigan.
Eerie did a reenactment and a chill went around the room.
“I’d ban you too, man,” Heir said. “Shit’s scary.”
“Eerie’s smiling abilities are not the subject at the moment,” Saint said, bringing everyone back on topic. “Echo, your turn.”
“There’s a new barista at the café,” Echo said. “Again.”
Teddy looked at them, their round eyes glossy with feeling, and sighed.
“You haven’t been able to go?” he asked, and Echo shook their head. They had terrible anxiety around new people. Voice gone, eye contact impossible, flight reflex at full power when they encountered someone they had never seen before but had to interact with.
“Been drinking house coffee,” Echo said miserably. “And Trace refused to buy the good kind, so my arteries might be closing as we speak.”
“I did buy—” Trace started.
“I’m sorry,” Teddy interrupted. “I’m guessing everyone has something like this to share?”
They all nodded, other than Heir who just shrugged one shoulder, nonchalant as ever.
“I want to give you space to voice it if you need to.” Teddy leaned forward. “I’ll be open and listen.”
“And he’s back.” Trace clapped his hands. “Intervention over. We can all fucking disperse now.”
“I don’t think it’s that simple,” Saint said. “We don’t need to pile on you. You seem to get the point, but we’re worried, and we want to help if we can.”
Teddy sighed and slumped into the chair. He caught Trace’s eye and silently begged him for help, but the big man had nothing to offer.
“I’m just a bit under the weather, Saint,” he said finally. “There are some things I’ve been carrying around for a while and assisting on this case pulled them to the surface. I just need some time to readjust and I’ll be fine.”
“You sure about that?” Heir asked.
Teddy nodded. “Completely.”
“Are you gonna go with me to get coffee tomorrow?” Echo asked, and Teddy smiled at them, tempering the urge to sigh and run away.
“First thing in the morning. We’ll get you comfy with this new barista and you’ll be ordering your own drinks again before you know it.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be comfy with him,” Echo said. “He’s terrifying.”
“I’m sure he’s perfectly nice,” Teddy said.
Echo whimpered and hid inside their cardigan again.
“You owe me a blouse,” Eerie said before standing up and clicking out of the room on his heels.
“You really don’t have to buy him a blouse,” Saint said.
“I’m still going to get him one,” Teddy said, knowing himself.
“I’m gonna go and get some sleep,” Heir said. “I got back from a case and got roped straight into this.”
“Sorry, man,” Teddy said, but Heir just clapped his shoulder in passing before disappearing upstairs.
“Well,” Trace said, “that was fucking delightful. I’m gonna go do literally anything else.”
“I haven’t got a case currently,” Saint said, trying to act casual. “Wanna go work on our mystery some more?”
Teddy immediately nodded, following Saint out of the room and toward his car. A distraction was what he needed.
They piled in, Teddy moving a stray takeout bag off the seat. “I thought you told Echo you stopped eating here after they fretted over that news article about there being microplastics in the food for three weeks straight.”
“What they don’t know doesn’t hurt them.” Saint grinned. “The fries just hit. Sue me.”
“At least get rid of the evidence.”
“Yeah, yeah. I got busy.” Saint shoved his key into the ignition.
Teddy peered into the back seat as he buckled up, spotting more bags and receipts here and there. “Too busy for the past month?”
“It’s not so bad. They’re all empty, I just haven’t gotten to recycling yet. I’ll do it tomorrow, Mom.”
Snorting, Teddy rolled his eyes, shoving the bag in his hand into the back with the rest of them.
Saint pulled out of the spot and set them on a familiar path. Teddy had lost count of the number of times they’d visited the same addresses, but until they worked this out they wouldn’t stop.
He peered out of the window, his mind wandering from mysteries to the inevitable slippery slope.
What was Wren doing right now?
“So…” Saint broke the silence between them. “Tell me to piss off, but…I’m gonna guess this sudden downfall of yours has something to do with a certain Slatehollow counterpart of mine.”
Teddy froze in his seat for a second before turning his head toward Saint and staring at the side of his face as he drove, calm and collected as ever.
“What? Didn’t we already do the intervention?” he asked, but his voice came out shaky. Nobody knew about Wren. Nobody but Trace knew anything about Teddy’s messy departure from Nexus.
“We were in the same cohort, man,” Saint said. “You were glued to that little sprite constantly.”
“We were never…”
“No, you were never obvious to everyone. But I learned early on to have my eyes on everything and everyone because of Eerie. I’m pretty sure I’m the only reason he’s a cursebreaker and not on PUMA’s most wanted list.”
“He’s not that bad.” Teddy scratched the knees of his jeans with his short nails, stomach turning at the idea that someone knew.
“You’re right. He’s worse. And don’t change the subject. After you came back from Slatehollow I read the case files to inform myself about this new development of cursebreakers suddenly catching curses. Still terrifying, by the way.”
Teddy had to agree. The shockwaves were still rippling through the other cursebreaker departments, despite Nexus’s assurances.
“Anyway, I looked their team up and, well, he does have a face that’s hard to forget.”
Porcelain skin flashed before Teddy’s eyes, contrasting beautifully with dark hair and that white braid Teddy’s fingers remembered the exact weave of.
The scent memory of dirt, forests, and rain assaulted him, and that glowing mark that framed Wren’s eye like a celestial painting written in the sky eclipsed everything.
Unforgettable.
Probably the best way to describe his litt—Wren.
“Were you in l—”
“Don’t,” Teddy said.
“What?”
“Don’t say it.” He squeezed his eyes shut.
He’d never plucked up the courage to say it out loud in front of other people, and he wouldn’t do it now.
Not where Wren couldn’t hear it. Where he couldn’t have it confirmed for him in front of everyone.
Teddy didn’t deserve the relief of claiming his feelings out loud without Wren there to witness it.
“I won’t,” Saint said softly. “I apologize.”
“We’re different people now. He doesn’t… He isn’t…”
Mine?
Here?
In love with me?
What was he about to say that wouldn’t be a dagger to the heart? What could he say to just end the conversation?
“Please…” he whispered.
Saint nodded. “I’m here if you need to talk.”
Teddy nodded, knowing he’d never take him up on it. He had his letters. And he had his memories.
Saint parked in front of a large country club.
A carefully manicured lawn wrapped around the large, elegant structure, littered with round tables covered in pale blue tablecloths with matching chair cushions and floral teacups.
It all looked exceptionally stiff and boring and Teddy huffed as they stepped out of the car.
“I hate places like these.” He tugged at his sweater. “Did I mention that the fifteen other times we’ve been here?”
“Yet you fit right in here, pretty boy. You have that look that can go anywhere. Do you think I’m underdressed? I didn’t really think it through when we decided to come here.”
Teddy looked at his scuffed boots, torn jeans, and a sweater that looked about three sizes too big on his wire-thin frame. “Is that Trace’s?”
Saint looked down.
“Might be.” Saint shrugged. “It’s not Eerie’s, and that’s all that matters.”
“You could just wear your own clothes,” Teddy said, falling into step with Saint as they walked up the long, perfectly manicured pathway from the parking lot to the entrance.
“I’m pretty sure I do, sometimes.”
“Mostly by accident, though.”
“That’s all you’re getting, so take it,” Saint said, looking toward the front door where a younger man in a crisp three-piece suit with an actual top hat on his head waited to open doors. “Maybe he won’t notice.”
Teddy smiled and shook his head, leading the way.
“Damir.”
There were only two voices that could make everything inside him freeze.
Saint paused right next to him, turning around to see who had called out.
“Instructor Kellan,” Saint said, making Teddy close his eyes in defeat. “What brings you here?”
“I was on some business and saw Damir,” he said. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of him all morning, but I guess he was quite the busy bee. I was wondering if he could spare a minute now?”
“We’re on a case,” Saint said, and Teddy winced.
“Which case is that?” The question was a pleasant inquiry layered on top of a sharp knife. “I wasn’t aware of a new case at the Worthingham Country Club. Maybe I should look it up?”
“Uhh…w-well…”
Teddy swallowed and turned, finding Kellan’s dark eyes already fixed on him from inside his prominent features. He shivered at the anger hiding behind his calm facade—a thin wall of glass hiding a storm.
Teddy didn’t want Saint to be caught in it.