Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
LELAND
We walk through the front door and into the house after picking Waylon up while I try my hardest to pretend that I don’t notice Waylon staring at me like I might have become the host for some alien.
“I’m… I’m concerned,” Waylon says.
My eyes snap over to him. “Did something happen? Do you think someone is watching you?”
His eyebrows scrunch up. “No. It’s just… we walked by The Fence, and you didn’t even look at it. Have you ever walked by that chunk of wood and not stared at it?”
“Ah. It’s because The Fence is so beautiful, it hurts my eyes to gaze at it for too long. I already hit my quota of what my eyes can withstand today.”
“Ha, funny.”
“What’s wrong?” Jackson asks me.
“I honestly don’t know what to do,” I say as I gaze at Waylon. “Are we putting him in more danger? Is he safe enough with us?”
Waylon freezes and I regret saying it.
Jackson tries to wave Waylon’s worry away. “Waylon, don’t… Leland is just saying that we’re afraid we’re dragging you into danger. Like what if something happens to you because of us, like what happened with Cam?”
That seems to do nothing to calm Waylon down.
“What about Sophia? Even when she tried to have a normal life, her past came back to haunt her,” he says.
“If I went and lived with… normal people and someone came after me… what do you think would happen? You know I can’t fight well, and any family you put me with isn’t going to be like you two. I don’t want to leave.”
“Neither of us are saying that.” Jackson looks over at me for help, but I don’t know how to help any part of this situation, so I decide standing frozen in time is the best choice. I know I brought it up, but I also have no interest in dealing with it.
“I’m not leaving,” Waylon insists, sounding really upset, and now I’m over here feeling bad that I made him feel that way. “I’d rather get abducted like Cam than leave! I’ll do all of Leland’s training. I promise. I’ll try really hard at it. I don’t want to go somewhere else.”
“Waylon, we never said we were getting rid of you or even that we want to find you a new home. We’re just worried about you because we care about you,” Jackson says.
I lean against the wall as I stare at him.
“In the past, I never really knew how to care about people. And now, I realize that loving someone is the scariest fucking thing out there because it comes with this horrible fear of losing them. I can’t lose you…
but I also can’t let someone else take you.
However, if you stay with us, you have to realize this life is fucking risky.
We told you in the car about us getting attacked again.
And Sophia getting attacked… things are risky right now. ”
“I don’t care,” he says stubbornly.
“Okay. Jackson and I are flying to deal with this Barlow guy. While we’re gone, you’re going to be staying in one of my safe houses and watching the dogs.”
Waylon looks on edge, even though I thought he’d be relieved about this. “Why can’t I go with you?”
“Why can’t you fly across the country and come help us deal with a man who is notorious for having his own army of contract killers? That one?” I ask, as if I’ve heard wrong.
He seems determined and not at all dissuaded by my sarcasm. “Yes.”
“You’re supposed to be the smart one in the family,” I say. “How disappointing.”
His eyes narrow. “I can be of use. I… can make that drug again. If you take it and just like… throw it into their home, you wouldn’t even have to fight them or be put in danger.”
“No,” Jackson states. “We’re not taking something you have created and killing people with it.”
Waylon looks put off by this. “It’s not like I’m the one killing them! It’d keep you safe!”
“We have to fly, so we couldn’t take it even if we wanted to,” I say, putting an end to that.
“Then let me go with you and I’ll make it over there. I can make other things too. They taught me how to make explosives and—”
“I’m more of a grenade launcher and flamethrower kind of guy,” I explain while I mime holding a grenade launcher.
“While we’re gone, we’re going to put you in our super-ultra-secret safe house.
Sophia and her husband, who still likes her for some reason, are going to stay there with you, as well as Cam.
And then Jackson’s parents and Tucker will all be staying with you. ”
“Why such a strange assortment of people?” Waylon asks.
“Sophia because I do trust that she knows how to fight, and while she probably wouldn’t put in too much effort to save my life, I’m confident she’d save yours.
Tucker because while he’s not a master of guns like I am, he has a large network of people.
He will have a few people stationed around the premises at all times.
And Jackson’s parents because all Ava would have to do is open her mouth and she would make even the toughest person cry.
And also, I trust her to take care of you, even if she’s sketchy. ”
“Is all of this supposed to make me feel more at ease or more concerned?” Waylon questions.
“Waylon, there’s no way Leland would get on a plane and fly halfway across the country if he didn’t truly think you were safe, alright?” Jackson asks. “These are people he trusts. You and Cam can just play video games all day.”
“I wonder if I should hire someone to watch over The Fence as well,” I say thoughtfully.
“You… I’m sorry, you think someone is going to hold your fence hostage?” Jackson asks, as though there’s any way he couldn’t envision this.
“It’s highly possible.”
“It’s highly ridiculous. There is absolutely no one who is going to think that fence is of any significance.”
“Hmm…”
“Waylon, we’re going to drop you off tomorrow morning. So we thought before we went, we could go out for dinner and have a little fun,” Jackson says.
Waylon just shrugs. “I’m happy with whatever.”
“That’s because you’re a good kid and a decent person, unlike my husband who is shaming my fence,” I say as I grab Waylon and try to toss him over my shoulder. The issue is he’s a tall kid, so no part of the attempt is well coordinated, and I nearly drop him. “Whoops.”
“Yes, Leland, let’s drop him and leave him here with a broken arm while we’re at it,” Jackson deadpans.
“He’s fine. Definitely fine,” I say as I kind of just let him ooze onto the ground before heading out the door.
Even after that, he still trails after me, telling me that he enjoyed every second of it. Before he can reach the car, I yank him in front of The Fence and force him to look right at it. “A beaut, ain’t he?”
“I just realized I’m going to have a few days without having to look at this thing,” Waylon says with a significant amount of relief.
“If your friends ever want to know how your parents met, make sure you tell them this story. Maybe we should get a plaque and put it in front of it so everyone walking by will know too.”
“I’m sure all of my friends are breaking down the door to hear how you two met,” he says as he plods off toward the car.
I grab Jackson and try to do the same to him, but he oddly fights harder.
“I don’t want to look at it!”
“You look at it, Jackson!” I say.
He tries kicking The Fence, and I gasp, hurt by his betrayal.
“How dare you?” I whisper.
“I’ll do it again with a smile on my face,” he says as he struggles some more before giving up and joining Waylon.
I kiss my fingers then press them against the wood while I look Jackson in the eyes, hoping to make him jealous.
He kisses his fingers and rubs them down the hood of the Mistress, making me gasp.
I hurry over to the car and kick a tire before getting in. “Jackson!”
“You two are so weird,” Waylon complains as I buckle my seat belt.
“Yet you said you’d do anything to stay with us. How cute,” I say.
Waylon looks embarrassed and horrified. “I regret it! I take it all back! Please! Give me up!”
I hear him scribbling something, and I turn around in the seat while Jackson drives so I can figure out what he’s doing. That’s when I see that the paper says, “Child for adoption,” a moment before he presses it against the window.
“Oh, Waylon, you’re stuck with us now. Now and forever, all mine,” I say as I grab the paper from him, ball it up, and then throw it at his head. In true Waylon fashion, he doesn’t catch it and takes it right to the forehead. “Your reflexes astound me.”
“Thanks,” he grumbles. “Where are we going? Or are you going to blindfold me, traumatize me, and then do something weirdly nice that creeps me out?”
“That one,” I say.
“We thought maybe you’d enjoy doing the skydiving thing again? We didn’t have a lot of time to really plan anything and they had an open slot,” Jackson says as he absolutely shatters my plan to blindfold him.
Waylon is thrilled by Jackson’s words even though it was my idea. “Ooh, really? Yes! I want to learn to do those flip things like the instructor was doing.”
“It was my idea,” I mutter.
“Your idea was to blindfold me!” Waylon cries.
Jackson nods. “It’s okay, Waylon. I told him no and that we’d do the skydiving instead.”
I glower at my traitorous husband turning our child against me!
When we reach the place, Waylon doesn’t have to be dragged in like he did last time. He nearly skips inside, which is why we should have put the blindfold on him to slow him down. What if he trips?
“Waylon, you look too happy, it’s bothering me,” I call after him. “I just came here hoping that the bad guys would attack us like they did earlier today, and then I could shoot them from inside the wind tube thingy.”
“Hon, you think… you think you’re going to be in the wind tube thingy, and the bad guy is going to be like, ‘Hold tight, let me come in too.’ And then they’re going to just like… slip in and you’re both going to do what exactly? Float for a bit until you can attack him?”
“That’s the plan, Jackson. Why do you insist on ruining all of the fun that could happen in my life? I can kill a man with anything.”
“Definitely with your ego,” Waylon comments.
“He’s vicious!” I say as we sign all the waivers again before the instructor takes over.
“Hi, I’m Ronny, I’ll be your instructor for today. Oh, I had you guys not that long ago. Everyone remember the basics?”
“I do!” Waylon says. “Will we get to do more stuff this time?”
“Yeah, I think I can show you a few new things,” he replies before we get suited up and Waylon heads on in. I think he’s thrilled that because it’s just the three of us, he gets a lot more time in the tube.
“You should have a fight club here and make people fight in these things,” I say.
“Maybe we already do. First rule of fight club,” Ronny jokes before waving Jackson in.
Jackson gives me a look. “Stop starting things.”
I give him my very practiced innocent look. “I’m not!”
Waylon joins me to watch Jackson’s turn. “Waylon, look at your father. Look at him finding his coordination,” I say as Jackson accidentally flips around and the instructor has to stabilize him. “He’ll be able to jump over fences in no time at this rate.”
He scrutinizes his new father. “I’m just… fascinated that you guys accomplish anything. Like when dealing with you normally, I forget you’re competent. Cassel sent me a clip of you throwing a plate at that man to disarm him and Jackson like batting an old video tape.”
“Hold on… you have a video of this?”
“I wasn’t supposed to tell you because Cassel said it’d go to your head.”
“Sure as fuck will. My son called me competent,” I say as I wipe a fake tear away.
“Ha. Ha. I… I’m going to be honest… I actually thought it was pretty impressive, and it made me want to learn a bit more about fighting. But the look on your face makes me want to learn nothing from you.”
“You are evil and I’m fine with that.”
When we finish up, Waylon believes we’re heading to dinner, but instead, we pull up to a nondescript building. He’s too busy texting Cam about what games they should play to realize what the sign out front was.
When he finally does look up, he glances around nervously. “Where are we? I’m afraid.”
“This is where you’ll stay until we get back. In that little dog cage, right there,” I tell him. “They’ll take good care of you here.”
“With you, I literally never know what’s real and what’s not,” Waylon says as he gets out of the car and follows us to the front door where he sees a little picture of a cat on it. He hesitates before hurrying inside.
“Am I really getting a cat?” he asks.
“You can have a pony too if you want it,” I assure him because how couldn’t I when he looks so happy over a cat?
“We already talked about this,” Jackson says.
“I know, but look at his face. The moment he looks happy, I forget everything,” I explain.
The woman at the counter smiles. “Welcome. You can go right on back and look at the cats and kittens. You’re allowed into any of the cat rooms as long as you sanitize between them. We also have a lady in the back to help if you want to hold any of the kittens,” she says before she waves us on back.
Waylon goes into one of the cat rooms and kneels down. Only one of the cats comes to sniff him and the rest continue to snooze away. So he heads out and into the next. He pets them all, even if they refuse to so much as open their eyes to look at him.
“They’re all so lonely; we should take them all,” Waylon says.
“If that’s what you want,” I reply.
Jackson raises an eyebrow. “Leland.”
“Just don’t forget Jackson is the evil one,” I say.
He goes from room to room, holding cats, playing with cats, petting cats. I start to wonder if we’re going to still be here when they open tomorrow morning at this rate.
A young woman must notice because she smiles at us. “Hey, come in here. You need to meet this little guy,” she says as she leads us into another room. This one has small cages of kittens, and among them is an older half-grown kitten. She pulls him out and hands him over to Waylon.
The cat falls against him, rubbing and purring, immediately in bliss.
“He had a shattered leg that went too long without medical care, so it had to be removed. Because of that he’s been stuck here with us until it healed up, but he just got approved to be up for adoption today,” she says.
The three-legged cat is in love and it’s quite clear so is Waylon. It’s all black and lanky, with short hair and all of the love.
Waylon looks up at us. “I can really have him?”
“Whichever cat you want, you can have,” Jackson says.
“I want him.” He sits down on a bench, but the cat has no interest in leaving his lap. He rolls and purrs and rubs all over Waylon. So we leave him to it while Jackson and I fill out the paperwork.