Chapter 10
Elijah
I managed to refrain from rolling my eyes as I leaned back on the counter in the exam room.
No one ever listened to me, but I wasted my breath anyway.
“I know you want her to have kittens, Mrs. Bright, but like the doctor mentioned last time, if you let her go into heat before you have her spayed, it will greatly increase her risk of mammary cancer. Plus, you’ll have to find homes for all the kittens except the one you want to keep.
Why don’t you look at the animal shelter?
They have plenty of kittens right now that need homes. ”
She argued back but I just sighed and finished up her paperwork.
With my best customer service smile, I headed out of the room, letting her know she was all set, and walked up front to let Rory know she was ready to check out.
At least I could say I tried. Rory gave me a knowing look since she’d been in there for the last argument with the doctor.
But then she said, “Hey, I know your day’s already weird, but we’ve got a feisty cat coming in next, and I know Doc Wilton will want you in there.
There’s no way Jeanie can handle this one.
And just so you know, it’s—” The bell over the door jingled before she could finish her sentence.
You’ve got to be kidding me. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected her to say, but it wasn’t that Mason was getting ready to walk through the door.
It made my morning when he walked in, even if I didn’t want to see him yet, because I almost laughed out loud.
He had a little black cat carrier in one hand that zipped on top, and he looked like he’d been through an epic battle.
He was sweating, there was a tear in the front of his shirt, blood stained around it.
He had a huge scratch down his left arm, and he was holding a battered towel that I’d bet hadn’t been battered that morning.
He stopped short when he saw me. We hadn’t discussed my career, and he looked as surprised as I felt.
I couldn’t resist. I looked him up and down and said, “I can’t tell which of you won, to be honest.”
He still had that wide-eyed, deer-in-headlights look on his face, but he regained his composure pretty quickly. “Ha, ha. I won, obviously. She’s in the damn carrier, isn’t she?” He walked over and sat the carrier on the desk in front of Rory. “Sweetie Pie is here for her fucking shots.”
Rory tried to hide her smile and stood to take him to an empty exam room.
She brought Mrs. Bright out when she came back, giving me a knowing smile that I wanted to flip her off for.
Instead, I walked back to wash my hands and prepare for this supposed demon cat.
She had a bunch of warnings on her chart, and I knew why Rory thought the doctor would want me.
I had a way with those “difficult” animals, just like I did with the wild ones, and sometimes the only person at the clinic the feisty pets were nice to was me.
We grabbed gloves and a towel just in case, but I started soothing her through the carrier while the doctor talked to Mason.
I refused to let them distract me, even though Mason’s answers to the questions were comical.
He had no clue about anything he was being asked, including what kind of food his mom was feeding her.
“Uh . . . the kind in the bag?” He was trying his best and I only just managed not to laugh.
When I knew the doctor was almost ready, I unzipped the carrier, and behind me Mason said, “Good luck. Be careful.”
I didn’t bother with the gloves. She looked at me, and I looked back, but not directly in her eyes. “It’s okay,” I told her, but not out loud. “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise. I’d kind of like to hurt him a little bit, though.”
She allowed me to pick her up, and the doctor raised his eyebrows.
I hadn’t been here long enough to have dealt with her before, but he obviously remembered her well.
She glanced once at Mason to give him a hiss—I could feel his eyes on me the whole time, but I didn’t look back at him—and let the doctor get through the exam with my hands on her, placating her.
When the vaccines were done and she was back in the carrier, my boss looked at me, impressed.
“That’s the first time we didn’t need gloves for Sweetie Pie Hale. Good job, Elijah.” I beamed.
The doctor shook Mason’s hand and told him it was good to see him again.
I assumed he’d come in with his mom when he was younger.
I turned to the computer to finish the paperwork.
“Rory will get you the rabies certificate up front,” I said, not looking up from the screen.
“And she’ll get you all checked out. Call us if you see any vomiting or rapid breathing.
We don’t expect any reactions, though she might sleep more than normal today from the stress of coming in. I’ll let Rory know you’re re—”
“I think we should go out to the cabin.” He completely blindsided me with the interruption.
I looked up sharply. “What are you on about?”
He glanced around as though someone might be hiding in the small exam room, and lowered his voice.
“You touched me. That’s when you saw it.
That’s what happened when you knew my aunt died too.
And you were touching the graves in the old section right before you saw the lady in the cemetery.
I was thinking about that last night. We need to go to the cabin.
You need to touch something there, where it happened. Maybe you’ll see something.”
I finished on the computer quickly, grabbing the chart the doctor had left.
“I’m working, Mason. Take your cat home.
Rory will check you out up front. You might want to get that scratch looked at too.
” I rushed from the room and practically threw the paperwork at Rory.
“I’m taking lunch early,” I said, passing by Mason in the hallway on my way to the breakroom. I refused to look at him.
“Elijah?” I didn’t bother turning around.
He didn’t understand. They wanted to use me to get answers, but I couldn’t make it work like that.
I didn’t want to go to the cabin. I didn’t want to see anything.
I’d never liked my visions in the first place, and the thought of seeing Brandon was about the worst one I could imagine.
I shoved my way into the breakroom and let the door swing shut behind me. I hoped he’d leave me alone. Rory surely wouldn’t let him follow. I wasn’t even sure I was ready to talk to him on a regular basis, let alone go with him to the place where my ex was murdered. What was he thinking?
I sat down and glanced at the door across the room that led to the basement.
I kind of hated being in the breakroom alone.
Rory made fun of me for being freaked out by the basement, but excuse me if I hated to go down into the creepy-ass pit in our building.
The place was a human medical office before it was a vet, so it occasionally had bad vibes anyway, but the basement had the worst. It was the only bad part of working in a historical building that was original to the town.
I always sat facing the basement door, refusing to turn my back on it. I started eating, hoping Rory would take an early lunch out of sympathy.
◆◆◆
“So, are you going to tell me what happened on Saturday or what?” Rory was staring at me over her sandwich.
We were the only ones in the breakroom since it was too early for lunch.
She raised an eyebrow at me. “You went to sit down, then you were gone and I got some gibberish drunk text saying you were going home.”
I sighed as I looked at her. “I felt sick, so I went outside for some air. Tanner and Jaron followed me out there and started shit-talking while I was trying to get the world to stop spinning. When they first came out, I really thought you were going to find me outside beaten and left for dead. I was way too drunk to try to defend myself.”
Her curious look turned to horror. She grabbed my arm. “Oh my god, Elijah! I’m so sorry! I wish you’d had one of us go with you. I don’t trust them. I’m still not sure they didn’t have something to do with Brandon.”
“I know how you feel, but regardless, I guess they’d been talking shit about me at the bar all night, and Mason heard them.
He saw them follow me outside, so he followed them.
” She was leaning toward me by then, her sandwich forgotten in front of her.
“I didn’t even recognize him at first. He started yelling at them as soon as he came out.
He told them to leave me alone, and he was ready to fight.
He’d already started to, but then Chris came out and scared them away.
I wasn’t having fun anymore, and I told them I was going to call a cab, but Mason was sober and offered—well, more insisted, on taking me home. ”
“He rescued you?” she sounded as shocked as she looked. She remembered Mason as the prick basketball player, the asshole to everyone who wasn’t popular. That wasn’t, unfortunately, the only way I remembered him.
“He wasn’t always that asshole in the gym, you know. He was my best friend growing up. We were together all the time, but no one seemed to remember that. They all thought I was just an idiot with a crush on someone out of my league.”
Rory had been around while Mason and I were still friends, but I hadn’t been close to her until middle school, after he’d abandoned me for people he apparently thought were better.
Her group had taken my lonely, bullied ass in and tried to protect me.
It worked fairly well until senior year.
“Anyway, he got me home. I think he was worried they’d come after me, because he didn’t want me to go home alone.
Then I puked in my driveway, so he insisted on helping me inside. ”
She stifled a laugh, waiting for me to continue, and I went back to my lunch, because I really didn’t want to. “And then?” she finally pressed. “So, did you guys make up? I don’t know if I’m ready to forgive him for hurting my best friend back then. But did my best friend forgive him?”
“He did apologize. Repeatedly. I mean, I can tell he’s felt bad about it.” He kept the picture all these years. “He said he was just—” I stopped myself abruptly. I wasn’t even sure if Mason was out. He seemed to be, but maybe that was only in Chicago.
Rory looked around the room as though checking to make sure someone hadn’t slipped in silently. “He was just what? Why was he still with you in the morning? I’m not stupid. I saw both of you yesterday, and I can tell you what it looked like from the outside.”
I lowered my voice in case someone was trying to eavesdrop, even though everyone else here was older than us and didn’t give a shit about our love lives.
“He said he was scared back then, alright? And don’t you dare repeat any of this, because it’s not even my place to tell you, but you’re my best friend.
He said he was scared because he liked me too.
He didn’t want anyone to find out. I was really drunk, and I . . . let him talk.”
“And then you let him rail you?” She fucking knew me so well. I hated it. “I mean, he’s literally the biggest walking red flag around, so of course you did, right?” If it were anyone else, I would have been pissed. But she was smirking at me, and we both knew I was just as mean to her.
“Fuck you, Rory, you’re such a bitch.”
“But you love me. And you know I’m not exaggerating. You did get laid, right? You had the glow. Even if it was reluctant and you were pissed that you had it and you were trying to hide it from me.”
“Fine. I got railed. Happy?”
Her triumphant expression dimmed slightly. “Not as happy as I would be if it had been someone I thought was actually good for you.” She sighed. “But if you and your ass are willing to hear him out, I guess maybe I could too.”
“I mean, I haven’t forgiven him completely. I just . . . I don’t know.”
“Oh, so you just hopped on for a ride, but you still aren’t even sure he’s worth hearing out?”
“Correct.”
She huffed out what was almost a laugh, but shook her head. “Dammit, Elijah, you are so you. How can I keep you out of trouble when you won’t even try to keep yourself out of it?”
“You can’t. You know that. I just need you to be there for me when it all comes crashing down.
” Because it would. I knew it would. It always did.
And she had been there for me, so many times.
She was right there with movies and beer or ice cream.
With a shoulder to cry on and the words that always seemed to help.
But even she hadn’t been able to get me to admit everything Brandon had done to me, and she hadn’t been able to get me to leave him.
I thought if I’d stayed with him much longer, she would have been the one to kill him.
Her eyes softened. “Always,” she said softly. “I’ll always be here for you, Elijah.” I threw my trash away, gave her a quick hug, and headed back to work.