Chapter 11 #3
Roscoe filled a large pot with water before setting it on the old gas stove.
“I know he’s a little rough but think of him like a wet lump of clay that was dropped on the ground and stepped on a few times.
It’s got dirt and grass and all kinds of shit in it, but it can still be cleaned and made into something nice. ”
“So, Austin’s a piece of shit. That’s not news.”
“Cody,” Roscoe scolded as he threw a handful of salt into the water. “He ain’t that much older than you. He’s still a kid.”
I raised a brow.
“Yeah, I know. Yer an old man trapped in a twink’s body.”
I balled my fist. “I told you not to call me that!”
“You know what I mean,” he finished, flinching.
“Anyway, I see through him. He’s not as tough as he pretends to be, but he’s in a place where you gotta be delicate or you lose him.
” Roscoe leaned against the counter on the other side of the kitchen, intentionally puffing out his chest to show off that ridiculous apron.
“He’s testing you. He’s testing all of us to see where he fits in, and right now, I think he’s confused. ”
“You make it sound like they’re going to be here for a while. Adam’s been acting weird lately, so he’s probably about to turn. Once that happens, they’re both going to be climbing over themselves to leave this place.”
“You’re makin’ a lot of assumptions. We don’t know what’s gonna happen when Adam goes full-turn. They might leave, or we might have us a pack.”
“I hope they leave.”
Roscoe shook his head. “I’m hopin’ they stay. You’ve gotta admit, it’s been a lot more interesting with those two.”
“If by interesting you mean frustrating, then yes.”
“Are you and Adam still arguing?”
“The guy’s hot one second then cold the next, so I don’t have a clue. I keep trying to be his friend, and when I feel like we’re getting somewhere, he gets all pissy about something stupid.”
“What’s he pissed off about this time?”
“Let’s just say, the twerp doth protest too much.”
“I—don’t know what that means,” he said, checking the pot as it roared to a boil.
“It’s not a big deal. It’s just funny,” I said, packing the rest of the groceries away in the cupboard. “I mean, I understand why he is the way he is, but it still doesn’t make it any less annoying.” I closed the cabinet door and sighed. “I really miss Darryl. I wish he were here.”
Roscoe ran a finger under my chin. “Who knows? Maybe he’ll get sick of the ocean one day and make his way up.”
“You know that’s never going to happen.”
“Not a chance,” Roscoe said, moving away to pour the dry pasta into the pot.
“I didn’t know you were supposed to boil it if you’re gonna bake it.”
Roscoe looked like someone punched him in the gut. “How the hell did you manage to survive all these years by yerself without starvin’ to death?”
“I don’t know what the big deal is. It’s just pasta, sauce, and cheese.”
“And somehow you managed fuck it up,” Roscoe growled. “I still see that burnt atrocity in my nightmares. All that wasted food because you didn’t want to pull yer head outta yer ass.”
“I still don’t know what I did wrong.”
“See what I’m doin’ here?” Roscoe asked, pointing to the pot.
“Dry pasta only works if you’re combining everything in a Dutch oven or something like that, but that ain’t what you did.
Second, you can’t just dump everything into a glass pan and throw some cheese on top.
You gotta layer it. And your third sin was using glass bakeware on higher heat.
Nothing’s gonna cook evenly, which is one of the many reasons everything was burned on the top and raw in the middle. ”
“Well, I know now. It’s easy enough to fix.”
“I’m only scratchin’ the surface.”
“All right! I never learned how to cook, okay?”
“Cooking and common sense go hand-in-hand. You didn’t bother to read the back of the pasta box before you dove in?”
“Oh my God, you’re actually angry with me, aren’t you?” I chuckled slightly as Roscoe’s ears went from pressed against his head to relaxed and pointed off to the side.
“Naw, I never get angry.”
“Then let me cook tonight.”
His ears pressed against his head again. “Get yer ass out of my kitchen.”
I laughed and jumped up on the counter while watching him give the pot a stir. After a moment, he looked back and pressed his nose into the crook of my neck.
“You smell good.”
“I’m guessing I smell skunky?”
He backed away. “I think you better go shower. Don’t make me choose between sex and overcooking my pasta.”
“Why is this so good?” Adam asked while shoveling in more. “What did you lace this with?”
“Love,” Roscoe said, looking rather proud of himself. “And homemade tomato sauce.”
Austin didn’t say a word but didn’t stop eating either. I couldn’t blame him. This was the best thing Roscoe had made so far.
“This was your plan all along, wasn’t it?” I said, scooping more onto my plate, the cheese so gooey it fell on the table in strands. “You want to make me fat.”
The old werewolf said nothing while flashing his brows.
“What else can you cook?” Austin asked.
“It’s easier to list what I can’t.”
“I’ve been in the mood for venison.” Austin shoved another forkful into his maw, smacking loudly. I wasn’t looking forward to eating like that when I finally made the shift. “I’ll hunt it, you cook it. Deal?”
“I get to cook deer, and I don’t have to catch it? Shit. Sign me up.”
I looked over at Adam and we silently chuckled. Roscoe was hands-down the laziest bastard I’d ever met, but when it came to cooking, he didn’t cut corners. Austin offering to hunt was a bit of a curveball though.
“Oh!” Roscoe said, reaching behind him to grab an envelope off the counter. “Look. Our first piece of mail.”
I snatched the letter out of his hand. “Is that my check?”
“I dunno. It’s from the courthouse here in Norwich.”
“Oh yeah. The orientation.” I tore open the envelope and read the letter. “We need to go to city hall tomorrow.”
“All of us?” Adam asked.
“That’s what it says.”
Austin’s eyes went wide. “I’ll pass.”
“It’s mandatory, Austin,” I said, pointing to the bold lettering.
“I’m not going into a government building. They’ll have to come find me first.”
“Maybe the three of us can go up there without him,” Roscoe said.
“I don’t think that’s gonna fly.” I handed the paper to Austin. “But it’s your choice. I’d rather us not draw too much attention to ourselves though.”
“I don’t like this,” he whispered, reading over the document.
“It’s a small town in the middle of nowhere. There aren’t any black helicopters,” Adam said sarcastically.
Austin slammed the letter onto the table. “You think this is funny?”
“No, I think it’s stupid. No one’s after you. The military probably doesn’t even give a fuck where you are.”
“You just want them to take me. That’s what you’ve always wanted.” Austin stood and backed away from the table. “I bet you’ve been tipping them off this whole time, pretending to be on my side. Now they’re always watching me.”
“Austin,” Roscoe said calmly, “if Adam had done that, you’d already be gone.”
“Maybe all this is a lie. Maybe I’m still there hooked up to some machine, and this is all just a—a drug-induced hallucination!”
The far-away expression, the dilated pupils, the heavy breathing. The poor guy was having a full-blown panic attack. Roscoe stood and carefully approached the snarling werewolf.
“Why don’t you come with me to the bedroom,” he said, reaching for the larger werewolf’s hand.
Austin wildly scanned the room, his breathing turning to panting. Roscoe was able to grab his hand before gently leading the other werewolf toward the hallway.
“Everything’s gonna be fine,” Roscoe assured, putting one careful step in front of the other. One wrong move could have sent Austin right over the edge. The larger werewolf trembled, drool roping from his maw onto Roscoe’s arm. “They really fucked you up there, didn’t they?”
The other werewolf didn’t say anything, but he did allow Roscoe to lead him into the bedroom. The door clicked closed, leaving Adam and me in stifling silence.
“I hate it when he gets like that,” Adam said, continuing to eat as if nothing happened. “You guys get to see what I’ve been dealing with for over a year.”
“Dude! That was not some casual acting out. That was full-blown PTSD! He needs help.”
“Good luck convincing him to get any,” Adam said coldly before setting his fork down. “No one can force him to do anything, but he’s too afraid of change. So he just stays in his own little hell.”
“Why aren’t you more concerned?”
“Because I’m not. I’m past that. I learned a while ago that I can’t do a damn thing anyways. I tried everything, but now I’m just tired. Once I turn, I’m outta here and he can be you guys’ problem. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life babysitting someone who doesn’t want to help himself.”
“I guess,” I said, trying not to show how annoyed I was, but I kind of understood. It was emotional fatigue, and it could happen to even the most giving person—which Adam was not. He was still a kid, and this was too much for him to handle.
“You were right. There’s more to Roscoe than I give him credit for,” Adam said before pulling away from the table. “Maybe a really, really small part of me finds that kind of a turn-on.”
I smiled. “Mmhmm.”
“It’s a really small part of me, Cody. Almost microscopic,” he added.
“Whatever you say.”