Chapter Nine #2
“There is considerable information on Titus Haverland,” Paulie said. “I can give you the summarized version verbally if you prefer, and then send you the full details in an email for you to peruse later.”
“Is the email follow-up a new service?” Apollo had never heard of the app sending follow-up emails before.
“Yes, Lord Apollo. Your father believed that far too many people have the attention span of a gnat, in his words, and that sending vital information via email helped reduce the number of times a person might inquire about the same topic. It is one of Coda’s efforts to streamline godly communications as more of them are now living on Earth. An efficiency drive, if you will.”
“That’s a very good idea. Yes, if you can summarize the main information relating to family, work history, and past relationships, then you can send the rest to my email.
” Then Apollo had a thought. “Do I have a personal email?” He wasn’t sure if that had to be set up separately or not.
He knew he had a business email through Orion Industries, but he didn’t want Artemis reading about his mate.
Titus’s whole body was twitching, clearly trying not to laugh. Apollo ignored him.
“A personal email address was set up when you accessed the network,” Paulie said calmly. “It is a hundred percent secure, and the content of the emails sent through this network is only visible to your eyes.”
“That will be helpful, thank you.” Apollo had no idea if it would be helpful or not, but he knew how to be polite. “About Titus?”
“Certainly, Lord Apollo. Titus Haverland is a wolf shifter who was born in a small pack in Idaho, in the fall of nineteen forty-six. He is one of four children, he has three younger sisters. His parents, Dolly and Dennis Haverland, are the alpha pair of the pack. They are not fated mates, they are bonded, but their relationship appears stable.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Apollo could see Titus nodding.
“Titus left the pack in nineteen seventy-two, accompanied by another younger alpha male from the pack – Regis. There was some gossip among pack members when Titus and Regis left the pack to be together, but there is no evidence of any intimacy between the pair.”
Apollo glanced up to see Titus’s raised eyebrows. Paulie knew something you didn’t?
“Titus and Regis worked a number of different jobs and businesses before Titus Industries was formed. This included owning a general store in Utah in the nineteen eighties. They moved to Nevada in the nineteen nineties, and owned a small hotel and casino in Las Vegas that is still part of Titus Industries, but the day-to-day is managed by paid staff.”
Titus wasn’t grinning anymore, or nodding. He seemed fixated on the road ahead. His knuckles on the steering wheel were white.
“I got the impression that Titus had always been interested in the trucking business,” Apollo said.
“That is correct to a point, Lord Apollo,” Paulie said.
Titus’s lips tightened. “Titus Haverland bought his first truck in nineteen ninety-three by taking out a mortgage on the hotel. He and Regis started expanding their delivery options in nineteen ninety-six, and bought the second truck. However, due to personal circumstances, those trucks were sold in two thousand and one, and Titus Haverland didn’t purchase another one until two thousand and eight.
“He and Regis moved to Buffalo in two thousand and fourteen and have run Titus Industries since then. The company has grown to twenty-four trucks owned by the company, alongside an extensive network of contract drivers who use their own vehicles across the country.”
“I get the idea,” Titus muttered. “The Paulie app is very thorough. Haven’t you heard enough yet? We’re about to stop for a break shortly.”
“I’m having a conversation with Paulie because you didn’t want to tell me these things yourself.
” Apollo thought for a moment and then asked Paulie, “It’s clear that over time Titus has become a successful businessman, which is to be applauded, but I’m more interested in the loves in his life.
What type of relationship history does he have? ”
“Oh, come on.” Titus slapped the steering wheel. “There’s no way an app could know things like that.”
“Paulie?”
“The relationship history section of the dossier on Titus Haverland is fifty-four pages long.”
“Fifty-four pages?” Titus was clearly shocked.
“Just a brief summary, thank you, Paulie,” Apollo said calmly. His own love-life was long and extensive – he would dread to think how many pages of content that would turn out to be… Although I have lived a lot longer than Titus.
“Many people are unaware, but the Fates take note of even the shortest of intimate interactions between two or more people,” Paulie said.
“Those interactions, which might seem nothing more than harmless pleasure for each person involved, can have intense or unintended consequences for an individual’s relationships in later life.
I believe mortals consider this a ripple or butterfly effect. ”
“That makes sense,” Apollo nodded. It was why he was only intimate with people he truly cared for.
“For the most part, Titus Haverland preferred one-time intimate encounters, predominantly with women, up until he and Regis moved to Buffalo. Those interactions number over ten thousand…”
“There’s no way there can be that many,” Titus growled. “It’s not physically possible.”
“On average, four to five different intimate partners a week, over forty or more years…it’s definitely possible,” Paulie said sharply.
“However, once Titus Haverland and Regis moved to Buffalo, he refused most female advances and focused on intimacy with adult males, although his pattern of how many partners he had per week remained the same.
“On page forty-two of the report, you will find an outline and explanation of what Regis and Titus Haverland call an ‘alpha bingo card.’ The card is a physical item – a five by five table printed on white cardstock. It appears to be a game between the alphas. Regis writes various attributes and situations related to people Titus Haverland might be intimate with. So far this year, Regis has two and a half completed bingo cards as a result of his alpha’s activities.
You can find a breakdown of the different symbols and words used in glossary form on page forty-three. ”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”
Apollo knew he should get off the app. Clearly Titus was distressed to the point of anger about what he was hearing.
One of the reasons gods couldn’t know everything is because everything meant every tiny detail of a person’s life – everything .
But he was still curious – there was a part of the facts provided so far that didn’t make sense.
“One last thing, if you don’t mind, Paulie,” he said, making sure his tone was as neutral as possible. “You said that Titus had relationships with women for the most part, until he and Regis moved to Buffalo. From then on, it was mostly men. What happened to cause that change in preference?”
“No.” Titus was shaking his head. “No! You don’t need to know anything to do with that. It does not concern you.”
“In the six months prior to moving to Buffalo, Titus Haverland was in a live-in relationship with a vampire woman, Lorna Bloom. He was still traveling with his trucks, but he believed he and Lorna were in a committed relationship. Words of love were exchanged, and at one point Titus Haverland was seriously considering taking Lorna as a bond-mate…”
“I said no. Shut that thing off!”
“In March of that year, Titus Haverland was on a long-haul trip to NYC when he received a message from Ms. Bloom, who advised him that she was pregnant with his child.
The message claimed that she was determined to raise the child without him.
By the time Titus got back to Las Vegas, Ms. Bloom had gone, stripping the house and their joint bank accounts completely.
“Almost a year later, Ms. Bloom sent notification through her lawyers demanding Titus Haverland pay child support for the boy at a rate of five thousand dollars a month, which he has been doing ever since. As soon as those payments were started, Ms. Bloom bond-mated with the man who was determined to be the actual father of the boy and has refused all physical contact with Titus Haverland ever since.”
“You fucking piece of shit, you don’t know anything.
” Apollo’s phone went flying out of his hand, landing on the floor, and seconds later, his shoulder was smashed into the passenger door of the truck as Titus wrenched on the steering wheel, hurtling the truck across two lanes of traffic, before pulling into a large rest-stop set down from the road.
Brakes engaged, the engine was shut off, and all Apollo could hear was Titus’s growling and his own shocked breathing.
That was unfortunate. Reaching down, Apollo picked up his phone, checking to make sure it wasn’t broken. Paulie was still activated.
“It appears you’ve suffered an incident, Lord Apollo. Do you require assistance?”
“No, thank you, Paulie, I can take care of myself from here.”
“As you wish. All hail the Almighty Zeus and his beloved mate, Paulie.”
Sliding his phone into his pocket, Apollo opened the passenger door and climbed out, stretching out his back and rubbing his shoulder where he had hit the passenger door.
Clicking himself up a mug of coffee, he wandered slowly to the edge of the gravel area, looking out over fields and trees.
Titus will need a moment to collect himself, he thought, sipping the hot drink slowly.
It was tempting to translocate, to leave the angry wolf alone for a while.
But Apollo knew that the wolf side of Titus was already committed to him, and he had no wish to cause the animal any distress.
He’s not responsible for his human side’s behavior.
In the meantime, it was nice to stretch his legs and enjoy some fresh air for a while.