Chapter 22 #2
I tried to pull my hand through his grip, but I felt the bones on the side of my thumb and pinky not sliding through. I rotated my wrist, putting his thumb against my inner wrist, and then pulled it right through.
“Did you feel the difference?”
“Yeah, before I rotated, it felt like my bones were ledges keeping me in place,” I said.
“Exactly. Alright, let’s try again. This time, you have to do it quickly before I think to tighten my grip,” he said.
He let go and bounced around me, and then grabbed my wrists. I quickly rotated and pulled them through his grip and turned to face him.
“Good girl,” he said.
My eyes widened slightly at him. He flashed me a smile.
“Alright. Next up, I’m gonna grab you from behind,” he said.
He moved behind me again and bear hugged me, pinning my arms to my side. I thrashed, tried to kick, and pinch, but he held on tighter.
“You don’t need to be stronger than them, you just have to make yourself hard to hold,” he said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Drop your body weight, go limp. You were kicking, that’s good, but I knew they were coming, and you can’t make a force behind a kick like this, but stomping onto my foot? Lastly, use your head. It’s one of the most powerful weapons you have. Throw it—”
I threw my head back, hitting his chest, then stomped on his foot, before dropping my body. His arms dropped from around me. I turned around to look at him.
“Ow…” he said,
“Sorry—”
“No, don’t apologize, you did exactly as I said to do. I just wasn’t ready for it at that moment,” he said. “Now, if they don’t pin your arms, which would be dumb, but if they don’t. You can bend their fingers backward and use your elbows. Elbows are some of the deadliest weapons a human has.”
“How will I remember this when I need to?” I asked.
“You will, because we’re gonna practice them over and over again.”
And we did. We alternated between him bear hugging me with and without my arms free, as well as getting out of a wrist grab. An hour went by fast, while we—no, I—practiced how to get out of less-than-ideal situations. By the end, he actually had to put forth effort to keep me held.
“We need to go and get some kitten milk and probably an actual bed for her today. Oh, and Sunday Supper at my Titi’s,” he said.
“Oh… okay,” I said.
“Is that okay?”
“Yes, totally fine,” I said.
“I also believe she wanted to do a more formal checkup on you as well,” he said.
“Yeah, I think she may have mentioned doing that,” I said.
As soon as I stepped inside the house, Lucy was making little crying noises. I went and scooped her into my arms and carried her to the kitchen to make a bottle for her. Within a minute, she started to purr. I kissed the top of her head. She finished her bottle by the time Quinn walked back inside.
“That hungry, eh?” he asked.
“I guess so,” I said.
“Well, I can do the gross part while you shower,” he said.
He walked over to me and held his hands out for her.
I handed her over, headed to my room to grab my clothing, and then headed into the shower.
It had been almost six weeks since Izayuh was born, which was why Lina had wanted to have a visit with me.
I remembered the day like it was yesterday.
His little squeaks were playing in my mind.
His little, tiny face, with his fuzzy hair.
It hit me that I was held captive for nothing.
I didn’t get a baby at the end of it. Instead, I was hiding out in the bayou with the same person who made sure I didn’t go anywhere.
I hurried and washed up. I decided I needed to get out of that mindset and move on. I allowed myself to have one sad or negative moment of the day, and then I’d move on. I had to be happy. For Izayuh. For Aspen. For myself.
Once I got done, I took Lucy, and Quinn took his shower. He was much quicker than I was. We got into the car and drove down all of the dirt roads. He turned onto the interstate heading toward Baton Rouge. I tilted my head.
“Wait, we’re going to the city?” I asked.
“Yes, my uncle doesn’t have any kitten replacer he could spare right now, and we need a few things… like Bambi,” he said. I rolled my eyes.
We stopped at Wal-Mart first and got everything we needed plus more, except the kitten milk, but headed to another little store.
It was geared toward pets. They had enough milk replacer that we grabbed two containers.
We spent the drive talking about the dumb things we did back home.
He did a lot of street racing, while I was partying and trying to pretend my life didn’t exist. We shared party stories, with him sharing stories of parties I hadn’t even known he was at.
“I remember this one time, your friend was there, and she was quite drunk. Both of you were sitting on the couch, gossiping in each other's ears. She leaned forward and puked all over your lap. It turned chaotic so quickly. You were so mad,” he said.
“Fucking Maggie,” I said, before bursting into laughter.
We went back to the cabin to put away the various stuff we picked up from the store.
We had a little bit before we had to go to his Titi’s.
We were sitting in our chairs, both of us reading a book.
Lucy was curled up in my lap, sleeping. I thought about what he said this morning, about last night being the best night of his sleep in over a month.
That was how long we’d been here. Back at the pack house, he had a bed.
Here, he laid down a sleeping mat each day onto the hardwood floor and slept.
The chairs were far too uncomfortable to sleep in.
“You should sleep in the bed,” I said, breaking the silence between us.
He lowered his book and looked at me. “No, you need the bed more than me. I’ll survive,” he said.
“I wasn’t suggesting for me to sleep on the floor…”
“So, share a bed?” he said, raising his eyebrows.
“People—friends—share a bed all the time, without it being an issue, so why can’t we?” I said.
“Because I might start getting the wrong idea…” he muttered.
“Then don’t. You need sleep—quality sleep. We are planning to go home, and you’re planning to do whatever you’re gonna do, and you need rest for that,” I said.
Was that it, though? Not because you were developing feelings, right, Zalayuh? No. It was the practical thing to do. The right thing. The bed was meant for sleeping, which is what we would be doing. Right? Right.
“I guess…” he said.
“Or we can get an air mattress?” I suggested.
“Ugh, I’ll take half of the bed,” he said.
“Glad that’s settled,” I said.
I pulled my book back up and started reading again. Lucy started to become restless in my lap. I got up and went to the kitchen to make her a bottle. Quinn got up and stood next to me, opening the formula, waiting for me to fill the bottle with water.
“And to think you didn’t want Lucy,” I said.
“I still don’t, but I’ve grown to like her,” he said.
“Hmmm…” I said.
Once I got Lucy fed, we headed over to Lina’s home.
The few times that we’d gone there for Sunday supper, there were different people who joined us.
Lina didn’t have living children; instead, she spoiled her nieces and nephews.
Quinn and Callie saw her as their second mom, but she told me she and Quinn had a special bond from when she lost Malika.
“It should be a quieter evening at Titi’s. Think it’s only Callie there,” he said, on our way there.
“Everyone else must be hungover,” I said.
He laughed. “Probably.”