Chapter 10 The forest of giants #2
Jude’s smile is sincere as he says, “Hello, sweet nightmare of mine. Much as I would love to spar with you verbally now, we have an urgent matter. We heard you have Perri. His friends are here and worried sick.”
“We do!” she says excitedly, and my heart is about to explode. “We picked him up along the shore near San Francisco. He’s a sweetheart. One second, he’s coming.”
I can’t breathe until at last Perri’s voice echoes on the line. “Stellan?”
I lean forward, eager to be closer to where his voice is coming from. “Fuck…. Yes, I’m here, baby. Are you okay?”
Tears choke his voice. I know him, and I can picture his crumpled face as he tries not to cry but fails.
“Yes, I’m fine. Some fuckers shot me in the leg with a crossbow, but Helios and Griffin cleaned the wound.
I’m already healing. Stellan… I’m sorry…
I shouldn’t have left without you. I messed up.
I’m so sorry… I thought I could save Vex and prove to you I could be a grown-up too, but she was taken because of me, and I—”
He’s freaking out. He must be really stressed out.
“Shhh,” I say. “Take a deep breath. Tell me what happened.”
And he does. His retelling of the last three days is enough to make my blood boil. He would have come back to me safely if not for the fuckers he met on the way back. They shot him in the leg and hung him up like a pig for slaughter.
“We’re going after them,” he says at last.
“Perri—”
“No. I’m not letting them keep Vex.” His voice is shaking. “She’s innocent and kind.”
“She’s an AI, Perri. She’s not real.”
“She’s real to me. And Beet likes her, too. So, we’re going after them. I’m sorry, I—”
“Where are you guys? We need a meeting point.”
“Stellan…”
“Nothing is going to change your mind, so I’m coming. The King’s with me. We’re coming for you,” I say.
Perri gasps. “Alastair’s with you?”
“He likes you more than I thought.”
“Oh, really?” I can hear the delight in his voice. Perri has always been a hopeless romantic.
My smile is genuine and relaxed now. “Really. He even put aside his grudge against Jude to be here. Like I said, he really likes you.”
“Or he likes you,” Jude provides, eyeing me.
I glare at him. “Stop talking nonsense.”
His eyes twinkle with mischief. I would punch him in the face if Oliver weren’t right behind me.
“I knew it!” Perri says over the channel. “He likes to play hard to get, but I could see the way he looked at you. He wants to—”
“For fuck’s sake,” I cut him off. “Can you please get us some coordinates where we can meet up? And thank your hosts for me.”
As it turns out, the Beetle is quite a long way up north. It’ll take us two entire days at break-neck speed to reach the meeting point—two days before Perri can be in my arms.
Considering the late hour, we decide to spend the night at camp and take time to see my mothers.
They come back from their wood-gathering adventure an hour before nightfall, their trailer heavy with logs for the cabin.
Their delight is genuine as they see me waiting for them under the Gears and Giggles sign.
Jess runs to me, arms open. She smells of home.
She’s not my biological mother, as anyone with eyes can tell.
She’s black, with graying curls and the kindest smile I know.
My biological mother, Margaret, is right on her heels, and her embrace is strong enough to choke the life out of me.
I became a man, and yet I’m still not taller than my beast of a mother.
She’s the reason why I have blue eyes and blonde hair.
Perri likes to call her ‘muscular mommy’.
They look over my shoulder, searching for Perri, and frown when their eyes land on Alastair standing near his truck.
“It’s a long story,” I say.
“Then we better get you a drink, and you can tell us all about it,” Jess says.
Were it not for Jude, Oliver, and Alastair, I would curl into my mother’s lap and let her soothe my fears.
At nightfall, Margaret lights a fire in the firepit.
I help Jess cook over the embers as she tells me her plan for a garden and greenhouse.
The redwood trees own the surrounding earth, so she’ll need to build garden beds and bring soil from outside the forest. I can’t wait to see what they’ll make of this place.
Jude and Oliver finish unloading the trailer—or, more accurately, Oliver unloads it, and Jude points out directions like a rotten prince. I’m still surprised these two work so well.
Alastair, to my surprise, is cutting more wood for the fire and stacks it up neatly under the makeshift shed near the RVs. I keep an eye on him, wondering if the proximity of his ex-lover brings him pain or anger, but he shows no signs of caring whatsoever.
By the time the food is ready, everyone sits around the fire to share the meal. But unsurprisingly, Alastair disappears in his truck.
Jess pushes a second bowl into my hands. “Bring him some,” she says with a secret smile.
I sigh and stand up. For some reason, the closer I get to the truck, the more my heartbeat speeds up.
Jude’s words echo in my mind, ‘or he likes you’.
I shake my head, unsettled by the absurdity of such a statement.
Alastair has a thing for smaller men with beautiful features like Jude and Perri, not tall Scandinavian hunks.
I find him sitting on a rock behind his truck, near the river. His pale eyes glow uncannily in the dark as I approach. I hand him the bowl without saying a word. He smiles and accepts my offering.
I take a seat on another boulder in front of him. “I’m sorry.”
“What for?” he asks.
“Bringing you here.”
He hums, then says, “I wouldn’t be a king if I couldn’t handle a minor discomfort. I learned to compromise from an early age, and finding Perri is more important than petty grudges.”
I blink, impressed by how level-headed he is. I’ve heard how he devastated entire camps after traveling merchants were killed. He’s known to be ruthless and dangerous when triggered.
“Thank you,” is all I find to say.
He smiles, eyes lingering on me. “The pleasure is all mine, Stellan.”
I avert my eyes, mind buzzing. I stay and keep him company while we eat our dinner.
Pretty quickly, exhaustion catches up to me. I’ve been worried about Perri for days, and now that I know he’s safe and cared for, the lack of sleep and exertion hit me like a freight train.
“Go to sleep, Stellan,” Alastair says, grabbing my empty bowl and spoon. “I’ll do the dishes.”
Am I imagining things, or did he nod towards his bed in the open camper behind us? Does he think I’m sleeping in his bed again?
I scowl, pissed off for some reason. “Yes. Good night then,” I say before walking away.
I swear I can feel his eyes on my back all the way to my mothers’ RVs, but I refuse to turn and meet his gaze. I kiss my family, then fall asleep with my clothes on as soon as my face hits the mattress.
I dream of Perri curled around me, warm and safe, his breath tickling my neck, and the world feels right again.
When morning comes, I wake up to an empty bed beside me.
Perri isn’t here, and I have to whisper, “He’s fine.
He’s fine…” a few times to make it feel real.
We’ve never been separated for more than a day or two, and his absence creates a physical ache in my chest, as if my ribcage is about to cave in under pressure.
I jump off the small bed, angry. Perri always says I’m a morning grouch, but it’s never been more true than when he’s not with me. His bright smile is usually the first thing I see when I open my eyes every day.
I overslept; the sun is already too high. The sooner we leave, the faster we’ll be reunited with Perri.
My mothers are already outside making breakfast over the firepit when I emerge. Jude and Oliver are nowhere to be seen, and neither is Alastair.
“Morning, sunshine,” says Jess. She has been calling me that since I was a little kid, even though I grew up to be the opposite of someone with a sunny disposition.
I kiss her on the cheek. “Mornin’ Mom. We’ll eat breakfast and then be on our way.”
“Already?”
I nod. “We have a long way to reach the coordinates.”
“Margaret refilled your gas tanks, just in case you need to push farther than planned.”
“Thank you.”
Gas is more precious than gold in the world after the Rise, so their gesture is not lost on me.
“Go get our boy,” she says, pinching my cheek. “But first, bring breakfast to the King, then you can go wash before leaving. Sorry, son, but you reek of wasteland grime.”
I chuckle and accept the bowl of nut porridge before walking to the truck. I do my best to smooth my hair, which I’m sure is a mess after sleeping for almost ten hours straight. Jess is right. I need a good wash.
Alastair isn’t in his truck, so I walk around the camper and come to an abrupt halt when I see him standing in the river, stark naked.
He’s facing the other way—small mercies—but I get a perfect view of his muscular back, his ass, and his powerful legs.
Before I realize what I’m doing, I’m staring like a creep.
The water dripping from his hair is making his dark skin shine.
There’s something big hanging between his legs and—
I close my eyes. The fuck are you doing, Stellan? This is not okay.
“Care to join me for a dip?” Alastair says.
My heart skips a beat. Shit. “No. I’ll use the shower in the RV. The water must be freezing.”
“It is,” he admits, throwing me a glance over his shoulder. “But I like it cold. Must be the Kraken in me.” He chuckles. His white locs cascade over his shoulders, heavy with moisture.
Mercifully, he doesn’t turn around. I must admit, I’ve been curious about what Alastair is packing since the day Perri told me he was different down there. But I’ve been killing my curiosity with fire. Wondering about people’s genitals is weird and rude.
“I’m leaving your breakfast here,” I say, putting the bowl on the camping table in front of his camper. Then I turn and walk away.
“What’s gotten into you?” Jess asks as I stomp back to the RV, face warm.
“Nothin’. I’m going to take a shower.”
I spend some time trying to scrub away my impure thoughts.