Chapter Two: Convincing Richard

It was the ninth time he’d beeped her.

“Goddamn it, Anita. Where the hell are you?” Sergeant Rudolf Storr paced up and down the crime scene, his hulking form threatening to destroy the evidence.

The unfortunate local this time was a small gated community in a new suburb of St. Louis. RPIT – Regional Preternatural Investigation Team – were on the scene.

And it was a grisly one at that. Ritual magic. Or so it seemed. A lot of blood with no body. But it wasn’t the cryptic symbols that were making Dolph uneasy: he held up a clear plastic forensic baggy. It held the one photograph that had been left on the makeshift altar like some sort of sacrifice. It was of Anita; surveillance shot. He looked at her picture for a long time. Then back at the room.

Something wasn’t quite right. It all seemed staged. Too many monsters knew Anita’s name. This could be a trap. If she wasn’t going to answer her pager, she should at least be warned.

Zerbrowski watched Dolph warily, knowing what must be on his mind. “You want me to drive by her place, Sarge?”

Before Dolph could nod his head, Zerbrowski was out the door.
 

o….o
 

Convincing Richard to come with me had been easy enough. I could hear the preening in his voice over the phone at being chosen over Jean-Claude. In his mind, I wanted to sort things out with him first, and he didn’t care about the details. Santa Fe or St. Louis; it didn’t matter to him.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’d chosen his name at random. That would be my little secret.

Although, in all honesty, I had to start somewhere. At least I wasn’t running back to Santa Fe to ‘get away’ from the boys and my problems. This time I was dragging one of them with me.

Before I knew it, we were on a plane together heading to New Mexico, snug as a bug back in coach.

Can you say ‘trapped’?

Dear Lord, what had I gotten myself into?
 

o….o
 

Richard was being good and not hoarding me with questions. At least about “us” or the marks. I guess he figured we had a few days together, so why rush it. We were heading out a day early to the Jack and Jill party, which was on a Friday night. From what I had gathered from my friend Catherine, a ‘Jack and Jill’ was the hip thing to throw nowadays; a “couples shower” of sorts. Some were fancy while others were casual. Sometimes they were themed. Sometimes it was given in place of an actual wedding reception.

Which was the case with Mr. and Mrs. Forrester-to-be. Apparently they were having a very small wedding ceremony a week from now (the very one I’d refused an invite to), and then planned to hop a plane directly after the vows to Rio.

Gag me.

In the meantime, Richard was trying to work out the logistics of Edward, of all people, ‘getting married’. He’d always had a lot of questions when it came to Edward.

Didn’t we all?

“How is someone like him tying the knot?” Richard was being casual in his questions, but I could tell he was having a moral dilemma, too.

“Wait till you meet the Bride,” I replied, fidgeting a little in my small seat. I felt like I was forgetting to tell him something…

“She’d have to put up with a lot. I don’t know many women, except for maybe you, who’d put up with his violent lifestyle. She must be a dangerous woman, herself.”

Donna? Dangerous? I started laughing. And no sooner did I catch Richard watching me worriedly out of the corner of his eye, did I choke on it.

Oh, shit.

All the things that Richard was bound to have a problem with in regards to Donna and her kids cropped up in my mind. I had a lot of explaining to do, and fast. What the hell was I doing bringing someone with morals with me to something like this!?

I turned in my seat to face him fully. He was waiting patiently for an explanation. Just then I was struck by just how gorgeous he was; the soft artificial overhead light bathing his hair in amber. I took a deep breath, and began by stating the facts that would, hopefully, protect my ass:

“Donna knows Ted’s a bounty hunter.”

There was a long pause, his brown eyes boring into me. Then, “Ted?”

I thought briefly of lying and saying that ‘Ted Forrester’ was Edward’s real name, and leaving it at that. But that could cause more trouble down the line. “Yeah. Ted. You remember. Edward’s alias.”

Richard’s brow furrowed at me. “…I’m not going to like what you’re about to tell me, am I?”

I sighed heavily and closed my eyes, throwing myself back in my seat. If he was going to be condescending, I was about to develop a headache. “Richard, there are so many layers to this relationship with Donna that it’s … hard to explain, even for me.”

His voice went cool. “Try.”

I thought of all the things I could tell him: that although Edward was lying to Donna, he might be doing so for all the right reasons – that he’d found some part of his humanity that he had thought was lost forever. But that sounded too personal a thing to blurt to Richard, whom I’d barely spoken to in months. I felt like I’d be betraying Edward. And that wasn’t right.

“I can’t give you an explanation straight out, Richard. Donna knows Edward as Ted just like everyone else in the day to day world. Isn’t that real enough?”

“No. It’s not enough.”

He was right. But instead I said, “Look, reserve any judgement until you meet Donna. She may be an innocent, but Edward is not using her…” And then I added, because I was at a loss, “I think that this wedding justifies a lot of things for him.”

Richard fell silent and I knew I had hit close to a similar sore spot in our relationship, such as it was. All Richard wanted to do was get married and have a normal life, so maybe he could find it in himself to relate.

Trying to break the ice I leaned toward him, eyes solemn, accidentally giving him a nice shot of my cleavage under my v-neck polo shirt. I sucked at flirting. But it did garner me a brief smile.

“Just promise to call him ‘Ted’ in front of Donna and the kids.”

“Kids!?”

Oops. Had I forgotten to mention them as well??
 

o….o
 
 

There was simply no flipping-way that I was going to accept an invitation to stay at Donna’s house, so we checked into a motel. Separate rooms. Richard didn’t seem to make a fuss, which was irritatingly nice of him.

I don’t know what it is about airplanes that I feel I need a shower after getting off of one. Maybe the pumped in air and stale food. So I tossed off my clothes and jumped in.

Despite all the desert sunshine outside, I let the water rush over me, hot. I just stood there for a long time. I’d like to say that I was gathering my wits. But I think they were all washing down the drain.

All through the plane ride my mind had wanted to deliberate on Edward and that phone call. But I’d been too distracted by Richard.

 We had cut through a lot of bullshit, Edward and I, last time I was here. His call had been personal, but I hadn’t excepted the coldness I felt from him. The more I thought on it, the more it felt like he hadn’t wanted me to come here. If that had been the case, why not just say, ‘don’t come’. I wouldn’t have had a problem if he’d been his usual direct self.

I splayed my hands out on the porcelain walls and leaned into it, water falling off my back in streams. The instant I closed my eyes, images from the weird dreams I’d been having fell over me too.  Edwards’s hands reaching out to touch me. His lips closing over mine. The pressing warmth of his body against me. The house with a white picket fence; a symbol of what I would not allow myself to have.

Was that it? Was I jealous of Edward? After all, if he could have it all, why not me?

I opened my eyes quickly, scrubbing at my face. Richard’s presence wasn’t doing a very good job of keeping these Freudian slips at bay.
 

o….o
 
 

Much later that afternoon we found ourselves at 1704 Turtle Run Circle.

Donna’s home was adobe style like so many of the home in the area, with a turquoise door and a walkway framed with colorful petunias. Little lawn gnomes and ceramic ducks peeked out from the shrubbery here and there, and I gave a slight shutter. I looked up at Richard before I rang the doorbell and saw an open look of pure curiosity on his face.

We heard a muffled, “Honey! Could you get that for me??” just before the heavy front door flew open revealing a little girl with long chestnut braids.

Becca.

 “Anita!” She ran into my legs, hugging them and nearly toppling me.

“Hi Becca. How’s it goin’?” Boy, the kid had a grip.

“We missed you!”

Thinking of Edward, Donna and Donna’s older son Peter, somehow I doubted that. But it was sweet all the same.

“Well, I missed you too.”

“Who’s this?”

Before I could turn to introduce Richard, Donna appeared at the door with a wide smile for both of us. “Well, hello Anita. Glad you could make it.” She fidgeted behind Becca for a moment, probably wondering if she should hug me or something.

So before she had a chance I said, “Hi, Donna. Hope you don’t mind. I brought a friend. This is Richard.” Knowing full well that Richard could charm even the blindest of old biddies, Donna completely forgot herself and looked pleased as punch that I’d brought a boyfriend along.

“Well! Richard! It’s very nice to meet you. Ted mentioned you’d be coming along,” she exclaimed, putting extra emphasis on the word ‘very’.  So much so that even Richard cocked his head at me, inquiring, as she pumped his hand warmly. “The more the merrier. Come in. Come in. The house is a mess with all the preparations happening,” she rambled on. Becca wormed her way between the two of us as we entered her home, and now I could see that see clutched something furry in her hands.

I barely had time to take in the colorful explosion of Southwest décor before I saw all the crap scattered about her dining room table. A few of Donna’s woman friends were gathered here helping with preparations. There were little place cards and small net bags filled with rice. In fact, rice was all over the place.

“Becca, darling, please keep that hamster off of the dining room table. He’s making a mess,” Donna chided her daughter. I thought it more likely that it was Donna and her friends creating the mess, but I kept my mouth shut.

Becca danced back over to Richard, holding up the furry thing in question.

“This is my hamster,” she said, matter-of-factly. “Ted got him for me for my birthday!”

Richard knelt down to Becca’s level and patted the thing on the head. Watching Richard with children was as natural as breathing - he was a schoolteacher, after all – and my heart gave a little quiver of longing while I gazed upon this pretty picture.

In contrast, it had been no small feat getting used to seeing Edward with the kids, much less taking them shopping for birthday presents. But, then again, he was always surprising me.

I found myself looking around the hallway that led off of the living room and wondered if Edward was lurking about somewhere. To say nothing of ‘Ted’, I’m quite sure Edward would make sure not to get too close to all the wedding planning festivities. It looked like Martha Stewart had thrown up in here.

To tell the truth I was a little nervous, after the way Edward had behaved on the phone, to see he and Richard in the same room together.

“What’s his name?” I heard Richard ask.

“His name is Potato, for short. I named him ‘Hot Potato ‘cuz he doesn’t like to be held all that much and he likes to jump out of my hands,” Becca explained, giggling.

Indeed, the little wild-eyed thing seemed to be attempting a high-dive this very moment.

Donna came up behind me and laid a hand on my shoulder. I don’t think she remembered that I was not the ‘touchy’ type, but I grinned and bared it. “Why don’t I give you both a tour. Anita, I don’t believe you’ve ever been in my home before.”

“That would be lovely,” Richard replied and Donna flashed him a dazzling smile and took his offered arm. Lovely?

“Where’s Peter?” I asked as she led us down the hall.

“He’s at a friends, escaping the chaos of the house. We even have the guys building a gazebo out back. The party will be taking place in a little town square a few blocks away. Such nice weather for it.”

I fell back and tuned out her babbling when I felt Becca bumping against my legs. She was being awful quiet all of the sudden. I half-wondered if her mother and brother were ignoring her in the midst of all the hoopla and suddenly I felt sorry for her.

She took her eyes off the hamster for an instant to smile up at me, and the little monster made a beeline out of her arms and for the nearest doorway.

“Potato! Come back here.”

“Here. I’ll help you get ‘im.”

Chasing Becca’s hamster from room to room was certainly a more entertaining way to see the house. And Becca seemed to be enjoying the attention. Now and again I would hear Donna calling from some further room:

“Anita, don’t fret over that hamster! Come join us.”

“No. I’m okay. I’ll catch up with you.”

It had already looked like she and Richard were getting along like two pees in a pod. Bonding over her display of geodes most likely.

“He went that way, ‘Nita!” shouted Becca, and I pushed through the swinging kitchen doors and saw him jam toward a back door that was left ajar.

A dark garage. I stepped through and immediately heard the door shut and lock behind me. I stood there swearing heavily until my night vision adjusted and I saw Potato go for the underneath of Donna’s Honda.

I dropped to my hands and knees and crawled forward. "Oh no you don’t! Get back here you little -”

A pair of jean-clad legs and cowboy boots suddenly barred my way.

“Hello, Anita.”

My gaze traveled up Edward slowly until our eyes met. Slightly humiliated but trying for indignant, I blew a few wild strands of hair out of my face. The man had an affinity for sudden stealthy appearances, yet somehow I would’ve never expected him to catch me on all-fours.

I quickly sat back on my heels and dusted off my hands.

“Edward,” I acknowledged. I finished standing up and avoided the amusement that was alight on his face. “I can’t believe you of all people would have a wild monster loose in their garage.”

A small smirk appeared. “Donna’s garage,” he corrected.

I threw a narrow look at him. “Yours too in a weeks time.”

He gave a slight shrug, the smile lingering. A narrow slant of light from a garage  window fell across half of his face, his blue eyes twinkling at me.

I thought about how we’d left things in that hospital room months ago, but knew instinctively that a hug was still out of the question.

Instead I settled for, “You look well.” Which he did. The tight white t-shirt contrasted well with his lean muscles and tan.

“So do you.”

“… Thanks.”  And because I’d suddenly found myself alone with him, and in a receptive mood, there were so many things I wanted to question him about. How were he, and the Parnells, really handling the aftermath of that horrible night at Riker’s? Had it made them stronger? Were they rushing the wedding because of their brush with mortality? Had he really thought this through?

I don’t know why I was having a hard time accepting this. He had seemed to convince me of his noble intentions a few months ago.

But standing here looking at him now, maybe there was a part of me that didn’t want to accept it. And not just because I was jealous of his theoretical white picket fence.

I heard commotion coming from inside; from the kitchen, and knew our comfortable silence was about to be broken.

Lord help me, but I would’ve given anything if I could have heard him say that an emergency had come up, and would I like to go off and hunt real monsters with him? That was the kind of social situation that Edward and I were made for.

Our relationship was not made to handle weddings and the like. Especially not his wedding. To Donna. If I was the only one, out of the two of us, that shared that point of view, then I was in serious trouble.

I did not need to be thinking about another man in my life.

The door bounced open, and I jumped. Becca called out, “Anita? Did you find him??” And I came back to my senses a little. I wondered how much Edward had seen on my face, because I sure felt like I wasn’t hiding things well.

“Not yet,” I replied without turning. “Just Ted.”

Becca ran to him and he swept her up in one solid motion like he’d been doing it forever.

“How’s my pumpkin?” he asked her in Ted’s drawl.

“Fine. Potato’s a-wall.”

I covered my mouth with my hand to keep from laughing at that cute little kid vocabulary. “We’ll find him,” I said.

To Edward she said, “’Nita’s been helping me chase him down.”

“Yeah…She’s good that way.”

Then, out of nowhere, “Yeah. And she’s real pretty too. Don’t you think?”

My smile vanished as he stared me. His drawl was slow –and did I imagine it? Soft? “Yep. Real pretty.”

Thank god Donna called from the doorway just then, because my face was suddenly hot.
 
 

o….o
 
 

By way of greeting, Richard and Edward exchanged  a very brief, noncommittal handshake and left it at that. Then Richard proceeded to excuse he and I to the back porch for a private little chat.

I could tell by the look on his face that this might not be enjoyable.

The porch was largely decorated with flowerbeds and patina-colored garden stakes in the shape of animals. A barbecue stood lit, it’s coals ready and simmering. But I had a feeling that we may not be staying long enough for hot dogs after this conversation.

Richard was just standing there looking at me.

“What??” I finally said. Although I could only imagine what with the sweet pictures of Donna floating around in his head, clashing with what he knew of Edward.

“Anita,” he began, and started pacing. “Please. Please tell me that man had nothing to do with her husbands death.”

It honestly took me a minute to respond. My hesitation was aided by the fact that I kept forgetting to tell Richard important little facts. Like Donna’s husband was killed by a werewolf.

Oopsy. How was I supposed to know she was going to spill her life to him in the thirty odd minutes they were alone together?

But I held my ground. “No,” I replied, trying to stay calm. But my voice had a slight ‘hiss’ to it. “Edward did not kill her husband, for fuck’s sake.”

He winced at my choice of words. “You really think you know him that well?”

…No. But I came back with; “He would never lie to me.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

I crossed my arms. “Did she tell you how he died?”

Richard paused, towering over me. His jaw was set. But I think it was in empathy. Ever the Boy Scout. “Yes,” he admitted. His voice went real low. “A werewolf … Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Would it have mattered? It just would have made you uncomfortable. Like you are now.”

He growled low in this throat and rounded on me. “That’s besides the point!” He pointed at the curtained screen door. “Edward does not belong with this family!”

Well, I could never call him stupid. It must’ve shown on my face that I agreed with him, because he smirked at me, which just made me angrier. “Will you keep your voice down! You’re about to do more damage than good!”

“I hardly think that’s possible. Why’d you ask me to come with you in the first place? Is this some sort of test to see if I can handle your lifestyle??”

He’d said ‘lifestyle’ in such a way that it made me want to hit him.

After a long pause and counting to ten I said, “At the moment, I have no idea why I asked you here.”

“Well, I’ll give you time to think about that,” he replied with mock sincerity and went back into the house, leaving me alone.

I could hear him making excuses to Donna that he’d gotten an important page and had to go. But not before promising her he’d be back tomorrow to help set things up for the party. Like I said; Boy Scout.

I had just slipped back inside, unnoticed, when one of Donna’s friends, a pretty Asian woman closer to Donna’s age, pulled me aside.

She introduced herself as Asuka, her voice a hushed whisper. “Look. We’ve put together an impromptu night out on the town for Donna tonight. She doesn’t know anything about it. Would you like to come along?”

“Oh,” I said, “I don’t really do the bachelorette party thing.”

“It’s not really a bachelorette party. You’re not really supposed to have one on top of a Jack and Jill, too. This is just a girl’s night.”

Sounded like a bachelorette party to me. Hell, I hardly did the ‘girl’s night’ with my own friends.

But suddenly I realized my alternative was to go back to the motel and face Richard and our ensuing problems.

“Sure. Why not.”

“Great,” Asuka squealed. I tried to look excited for her benefit.

Hey, this was supposed to be a vacation. Of sorts. If I wanted to ignore my problems, that was my prerogative.

… Hopefully we were going to stay clear of the male strips clubs.
 

o….o
 
 

~~~~