Chapter 7
Night Out
Atall bonfire cast an orange glow on the beach in the distance as I sat on the deck, sipping a glass of cheap chardonnay. After that brief, uncomfortable exchange with Darryl last night, Roscoe hadn’t been as talkative. In fact, I’d seen little of him and Adam today.
Darryl had to cut my swimming lesson short since the lifeguards needed him back on the beach, and he spent the rest of the evening entertaining friends around the fire with his guitar.
I thought about joining, but I’d feel like the odd man out.
Most of them were surfers or much older friends of his, and after getting lost in the lingo for several minutes with no one to talk to, I broke away to sit by myself.
There had never been a moment in my life where social events with strangers weren’t awkward and uncomfortable.
After a few more minutes, the music died and the crowd on the beach whittled to only Darryl and Adam.
They seemed serious, but I was too far away to hear any of the conversation.
The half-turn jumped to his feet and made a few angry gestures, but Darryl remained straight-faced.
This seemed to upset Adam further, and he kicked sand at the huge werewolf before running toward town.
Darryl stared at the ocean, seemingly unfazed as he strummed a gentle tune while his tail swayed.
The guy was hard to pin down. He was laid-back, funny, and talented, but at the same time, stern and honest with an almost sage-like quality.
His own personality contradicted itself in such a way that it seemed to work in his favor with everyone else.
I stepped barefoot on the sand, which was still warm from the residual heat it absorbed from the afternoon sun.
Though the confrontation wasn’t any of my business, I wanted to make sure everything was okay.
And since it was Adam, I had to admit a little gossip about him would be quite the pick-me-up.
After approaching the crackling fire, I sat next to the huge werewolf playing the guitar with his eyes closed.
These weren’t the folk songs he played earlier.
This was classical and overly technical.
Despite how large his fingers were, they effortlessly slid along the neck of the instrument with prodigy-like precision and emotion.
Even as the music shifted from complex to gentle, his tranquil expression stayed the same until he was done.
“That was incredible,” I whispered, staring up at Darryl as he breathed deeply through his nose and opened his eyes. He didn’t look over at me, though a slightly toothy smile parted his lips.
“Thanks.” He placed the guitar to the side. “My dad taught me.”
“You’re not classically trained?”
“I never said that.” He let out a gentle laugh. “Sorry about our lesson earlier.”
“That’s fine. I needed to get all this housing stuff taken care of anyway.”
“Have you heard anything?”
I shook my head. “I’ve been calling, and I keep getting the run-around. No one has a straight answer for me, and I’m starting to wonder if there really are any houses—or if any of this shit is real.”
“You don’t have to stress yourself out. My place might be small, but I don’t mind you guys staying.”
“That’s not the kind of vibe I’ve been getting from you lately.”
Darryl’s smile faded. “Sorry.”
“I know you don’t like talking about it, but I have to know. What happened between you and Roscoe?”
The werewolf sighed and laid back on the sand, his hands cupped under his head. “I’ve known the guy since I was a half-turn.” He shook his head. “Damn, that was like four decades ago. Time sure has a way of getting away from you the older you get.”
“How old are you?”
“I’ll be sixty in a month.”
“Damn. I guess that’s something neat to look forward to,” I said. “I’ll get to keep my boyish good looks for a while.”
“I really hate that someone like you made a kuu with him,” Darryl said abruptly. “It bothers me.”
“Why do you care? Were you and Roscoe, like… together?”
“Oh, fuck no,” he said with a laugh. “I’d probably end up killing him, for real.
It’s just… you remind me a little of myself.
I was a late bloomer, too. Socially awkward as a kid.
Spent a lot of time alone. It took going half-turn and meeting Roscoe to really break me out of my shell.
I don’t want him to betray you the way he betrayed me. ”
“When did you go half-turn?”
“Twenty-two. Everyone thought it was kinda weird me going through that being that old, but apparently, I was a special case. You might be, too.”
“This really ruined my life. I’ve got a degree I can’t even use now, and I’m in so much debt. Now I don’t even know where I’m going to end up living in the long-term. It’s not the first time in my life that I’ve been so scared, but I’ve never felt this hopeless.”
“It’s only hopeless if you’re alone,” he said, smiling at me before rubbing my head. “And you’re not gonna be alone.”
“You still haven’t really answered my question. How did Roscoe betray you?”
“Well, I guess you need to know more than anyone what kind of asshole you’re shacked up with.
” He let out a growled sigh before looking back over at me.
“Roscoe and I were inseparable. We were best friends, and he taught me a lot about what to expect when I finally turned into this handsome beast. He also introduced me to a lot of drugs and shady people. It was fun at first, but I realized that we were way different people, and I started to see Roscoe for who he really was. I just never noticed until I stopped getting high.”
“Maybe you guys need to talk it out now that he’s sober.” I lay back against the sand and turned to face him. “He’s obviously changed since you last saw him, so maybe you can find some common ground?”
“That ship sailed years ago, Cody.” The werewolf gritted his teeth for a moment before relaxing.
“Just thinking about his face makes me want to rip something apart. But werewolves can’t dwell on shit like that, or it gets dangerous.
I put it out of my mind for so long, but then he showed up with you, and everything came flooding back.
” He shook his head, his smile a little sadder than before.
“My dad was one hell of a musician when he was alive. There wasn’t an instrument the man couldn’t master, but the guitar was what he loved the most. Some of that musta rubbed off on me, because when I held his guitar, it felt like I was holding a piece of myself.
“My dad noticed and started teaching me when I was about seven. Mom died when I was a toddler, so I never really knew her—just have flashes of memories now and again. Dad was my world, and he taught me a lot about bein’ a man.
The guy was a chain smoker, but he wasn’t a werewolf.
It eventually caught up to him, and he died when I was seventeen.
He left me a guitar that was passed down through generations, and was worth more than most luxury cars.
That was the only thing of value he owned.
Of course, I’d never sell it, and I kept it safe for years until I met Roscoe. ”
“Oh no.” I whispered, already knowing where the story was going.
“One night while I was visiting the city with him, we were both fucked up pretty bad, and I woke up the next morning to a missing guitar and no Roscoe.
I immediately put two and two together, and that was the first time I actually howled.
It was the most painful feeling. Not only was I pretty hungover, but my best friend fucked me over, and I lost the only thing left of my dad. It was the second worst day of my life.
“I eventually tracked him down and beat the ever-living shit out of him. I’d never lost control like that, and I almost killed him.
But he was so out of his head that nothing I did mattered—it was like hitting a ragdoll.
He blacked out on the sidewalk and I left him there for good.
I went to every pawnshop in the area looking for that guitar, and I did eventually find it.
” He shook his head. “The guy at that shop knew exactly what he had, and Roscoe practically gave the thing away. There was no way I could afford to buy it back, so I left it and left him in that shithole of a city. I hopped on a bus, came back here, and threw everything I had into surfing. Then I became a lifeguard, quit most of the drugs, and I have it pretty good now.” He sat up and grabbed his guitar.
“It’s not Dad’s, but I realized later on in life that I never lost the most valuable thing he left me.
” He strummed out a gorgeous riff, gently tapping the strings with his claws.
“When I hit my full turn, it was harder to play with these hands, but I adapted a new way… the Darryl way.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said, swaying in time with the music. “It seems like you’ve got a lot of friends now.”
“I do. All walks of life, werewolf and human. I met a lot of people on this very beach, even met someone really special, but I’ll save that for another time.”
“Do you have someone?”
Darryl stopped playing and let out a deep laugh. “Sure do. He’s not much of a swimmer, though.”
“Lucky guy,” I said, pushing myself to my feet. “You gonna stay out here for a while?”
“Yeah. Got a lot to think about. Looks like Roscoe’s been gone all day.”
“I don’t know where he went. He didn’t say anything to me.”
“You’re better off without him, but since he gave you the kuu—”
“We’ll have a talk about things when he gets back,” I interrupted, turning toward the direction of the small beach house. “If he ever starts back up old habits, I’ll get out of this.”
“If you need a place to stay, my house is always open.”
I leaned over and gave him a hug. “Thanks, Darryl.”