Chapter 13

Scott - Chapter 13

Chloe moved around the house, touching things that she'd not thought of in years. Scott and Randal were in the garage, the lure of the cars there making them a little insane to explore. The blanket that had laid over her and her dad's feet when they'd watched television together was still there. Pretty much everything had been left exactly where he had left it that fateful morning.

His ashtray was no longer filled with mints. Her dad had given up smoking when she'd been born, but hadn't gotten rid of the collection of ash trays that he had. Some were older than he had been, having been given to him by his own dad.

The television was gone, as well as his computer. Her father was the only person she knew that only had a cell phone because she'd made him. The phone that had hung in the kitchen when she'd been living there had been replaced with a cordless, but even that was out of date now. She made her way to the kitchen, just to see if things had been done the way he'd wanted.

The kitchen had been outdated, he told her when he bought it. And as he worked a lot of hours, it had taken him a long time to get things going. Just before he'd been killed, her dad had decided to have some professionals come in and finish up. It was the last time she'd been in the house, and the last bit of work that had been done on it.

The cabinets were beautiful in this room. They weren't the open glass kind that some people preferred. Her dad had said that he didn't want anyone knowing his business. If he wanted them to see what he had there, he'd just open the doors. The stove and the fridge were state of the art ten years ago, but were now as outdated as the rest of the house. She looked over at Randal and Scott when they entered the house.

"My dad loved this house." Randal told her he was sorry for her loss and she nodded. "I'd like to gift it to you. It's going to need a lot of work and updates, but I think my dad would love for someone like you to have it."

"I can't let you do that, Chloe. I really like the house and all, but I can't let you give it to me." She asked him why not. "Because it's your house. That is more than likely what your dad would have wanted you to do."

"No. not my dad. He would have told me that I need to move on. Not just move on, but to get busy living." She grinned. "Did you know that at one time he was going to be a teacher? He was going to retire from the job and try his hand at teaching. I think he would have been great at it. But my dad had a special place in his heart for teachers. My mom was one."

Chloe could see that he was interested, but when he looked at his brother, she knew he was going to turn her down. Scott shook his head at him before backing her up.

"This house needs someone to come in and enjoy it. It's been sitting here long enough. If you don't take it, Randal, then someone else will. Someone that won't appreciate the things done to it now. Nor will they understand that the person who lived here was a great man." Randal looked at her as Scott continued. "She and I talked it over. And when she asked me which of my brothers would enjoy this house—not buy it, not want to purchase it, but enjoy it—I thought of you. You need this place for a lot of reasons, but I think the house needs you for just as many."

"Look, just look around with me. Let me tell you things about the house that no realtor will tell you about. Like the little cubby hole in the bedroom at the top of the stairs. The panic room that was here when he bought it, as well as the wine cellar that few would care about." Randal said he would look but that didn't mean he was taking it. "All right. Let's start right here in this room."

Going to the door that served as a pantry door, she opened it up and then closed it tightly. Pressing the button on the top of the door, she opened it once again, and this time the hidden safe was revealed.

"He wanted a place that would be okay to put his guns. By the time this was added I was out of the house, but he also didn't want neighbors or other children finding his gun. Dad took gun safety very seriously." She moved into the pantry, and when they were both inside, she showed them the place in the floor that opened. "Not much use for this anymore, and I'm sure it's not on any plans, but the previous owners put in a bomb shelter about ten years before they sold to my dad. I would go down there and play house when he was at work."

They didn't enter the large area, but she told him of the kitchen, living quarters, as well as the hydro gardens that still worked as far as she knew. She also told him that the place was heated by a separate heating unit from the one on the house, and the power down there was all solar. Her dad had done that part.

"He wasn't what you'd call a fixer upper sort of person, but he could read instructions and follow them to get the job done." She took him to the dining room, one of her dad's favorite rooms. "The cabinets were brought from a couple of old farm houses. They were just alike, which I don't think would have mattered to him, but he was thrilled when they were installed. The fireplace in here is the same thing, salvaged from the farm that used to be where the mall is now."

"You mean Dickerson Mall?" She nodded. "I never saw the farm there, but I heard it was a big one. They raised pigs, didn't they?"

"Yes. Along with an assortment of other things. There are pictures of the old place out in the barn should you like to go through them. That's another thing my dad liked to collect was old pictures. He said they were a statement in time and that we wouldn't be able to go back and get them like you can now."

"I think I might have liked your father." She told Randal that everyone did. "Okay, let's see the rest of this place. And so you know, I think it's mighty tricky of you giving me this kind of history before I say yes or no."

"That's the plan."

They went through the rest of the house tougher. Chloe pointed out things that she remembered about the place, the things done to it, and even a few of the old pieces of furniture that she wanted to take out. Randal was nodding his consent even as he was telling her it wasn't a done deal. By the time they were going through the last room in the house, she knew he was going to take it.

They ended up back at their home. Randal and Scott had loaded up the few pieces of furniture that she'd wanted. There were still a couple more…a cradle that had been her dads, some things that her mom had knitted before Chloe had been born. A couple of larger pieces would also make the move; the desk in the office, the chair that had been her grandda's, and the pipe collection that her dad had inherited from his grandda.

The trip through the house and shopping beforehand had been exhausting. Not just physically, but mentally too. When dinner was ready, she moved into the big room that Benton had completed only hours before, he told them, and saw that not only had Trent and Joe joined them, but so had Christina and TJ.

"I heard that you're going to get rid of your daddy's house. You know, at one time I had my eye on that place. I'm sure glad to know a fine man got it to live in." She thanked TJ and told him Randal was taking it. She was pleased when Randal didn't deny it. "Those women at that school will go nuts when they find out he's domesticated now. A homeowner with a job. They'll be all over him like turkey with dressing."

She was still laughing about the man's odd saying after everyone left. Chloe stood on the deck after the last of their taillights were gone and had a sudden thought. She wanted children. Looking up at Scott, she told him what she wanted, and he picked her up and swung her around. There would never be a dull moment with this man.

And Chloe was looking forward to the rest of her life laughing with and loving him.

~*~

Sterl wasn't sure about the piece of furniture he was looking at. It was nice, almost too nice to be as old as he'd been told. Walking around it a second time, he could see marks on it, some of them old, but they looked to him like they'd been put there on purpose. Like someone was trying to make the piece look distressed.

"Well, you gonna pay for it or stare it to death?" That was another thing he didn't like…how rude the little shit was that was selling it. "Like I said to you when you came in, I got three other people that want this particular piece. But I'm into a first come first serve kind of thing. And money talks."

"I don't think I want it." He felt better already after saying that. "It's a nice piece, but not really what I want for our home."

He and Noelle had decided that they'd get better deals if they didn't tell people they had a shop. Mostly it was to keep people from hitting on her and him, but it was working out for them so far. As he made his way to the door to leave, the kid called him back. Sterl turned but didn't go back to the area, and instead waited on the kid.

"You can't get a better deal than what I'm offering you, mister. You should really buy this piece off of me." Sterl felt his wolf stir along his skin. "I'm telling you right now, this is the real deal."

"I'm sure it is, but I'm not interested." He started walking backwards, keeping his eye on the kid. "I'm sure that those other people, one of them, will buy it off you."

"I don't think you understand." He nodded and knew he was close to the door now. His shadow was longer, what with the sun shining in from behind him. "I want you to come on back here and look at this piece again. You might decide that you like it."

Danger, his wolf seemed to scream at him. And when the kid pulled his shirt up and showed him the gun, Sterl knew that there was going to be bloodshed. His or the kid's, he wasn't sure, but he'd bet his last buck that Sterl might be the winner. He'd be hurt but he'd not be killed, like what was going to happen to the kid if he tried any shit with him.

"Look, I don't want the piece and I certainly don't want any trouble with you. I'm going to go away now, and you're going to stay where you are. I don't have time for your shit." Wrong tone and words, he knew that the moment that they left his mouth. "I'm sorry I can't give you what you want, but I don't want any trouble."

"You got yourself into trouble the moment you walked into the store when we weren't finished here." The word we had his wolf snarling at him. "You see, this is a robbery, and you went and fucked things up for us when we were about to pop us an old couple and take off with their goods. You're just about to be a statistic, buddy."

Sterl reached for Noelle and told her what was going on. Then he told her to call the police, but under no circumstances was she to come into the shop. He should have known that would get her dander up, as his dad was fond of saying.

I will not stay away. If you're hurt I won't sit around while it happens. Tell me why it is that you think you're any better at handling this situation by yourself than if I come in and help you. Is it because you think you're all special because you're a man and a Calhoun?

No. It's because if you come in I'm dead. She asked him why. If you even so much as bump your toe against a piece of this furniture that is older than the two of us together, then Elijah is going to murder me. If you come in and I have to protect you from this idiot, then I'm going to die.

Oh. A good answer, yes, but I still want to help you. The police are on their way. He thanked her. Don't get hurt. I don't want you to get hurt or die, so please be careful.

I promise you that I will. He told her what was going on. How the kid, whatever his name was, he was still trying to get him to follow him to the back of the store. I think he's killed someone in here.

Oh Sterl. I'm coming—

When he was hit from behind by the door, Sterl figured it was her. He nearly let his wolf go when he was tossed to the floor and shots were fired. Sterl thought for sure that they were both going to be hurt badly when the police came in with guns blazing.

Sterl was still sitting on the floor of the shop when his brother Trent spoke to him. If he'd said anything before that, Sterl wasn't sure. He was still trying to deal with the fact that he'd been shot and that the kid, a man really, was dead. The two people that the man had come there with, one his sister, the other his friend, were also dead.

"Are you all right?" He nodded and Trent told him to look at him. "Sterl, are you all right or do you need to go to the hospital?"

"I'm fine." He lifted his arm up to show him the bandage that had been put there when they declared it wasn't life-threatening. "It just scared the shit out of me is all. I was terrified that Noelle was going to get hurt."

"Yeah, I think Elijah was nearly ready to pick the dead man up and kill him again when he found out what had happened. They found the owners of the shop. They're both dead too." Sterl had already figured that out when he saw the body bags being taken out. "The police are thinking you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"No shit." They both laughed a little, and Sterl finally felt like he could get up. Standing, he hugged Trent to him. "I have to tell you, I was scared out of my mind. Immortal or not, no one likes to be fired at."

"No. I wouldn't think so. Chloe is working with the men who are left in the department. She's really short staffed. Believe it or not, Dad and Grandda are volunteering to help her out by answering the phone and keeping an eye on the station while she gets things settled. She's not happy with me." Sterl asked him what he'd done now. "Why are you assuming this is my fault?"

"Because for whatever reason, you love aggravating the women of this family. I think you like being in the dog house with them." Trent grinned. "See? What did I tell you? What did you do to piss off Chloe?"

"She's going to be paid to work for the city." Sterl asked why that had pissed her off. "Because she's being paid by the pack to take care of the police department and the city. She's not happy with that. I told her that we have to pay her, it's part of the pack laws, and now she wants me to find them for her. I told her I'd look."

"I don't think there is a law." Trent only grinned. "Don't call me when she takes your head off. You're all on your own."

"I figured that it would make her mad at me just enough that she'd forget about all this other shit around her life." Sterl thought that might not help at all, but said nothing. "Anyway, if you're all right now, I'd like to get you home. Mom and Grandma want to pamper you a bit. I think Grandma thinks I'm lying to her about the extent of your injuries."

"She does. I've spoken to her and Mom." He had too, spending most of the time hearing his mom tell him how much she loved him and assuring her that he loved her as well. "Trent, do you think I'll spend the rest of my life with people trying to kill me? I mean, Christ, I've had a shitty life so far."

"You have, but it'll get better. Someday you'll meet your mate and she'll make it all worthwhile." Sterl wasn't so sure about that. "The good news is she won't be able to hurt you, so you can mark that off your list of scary shit."

"Thanks."

They made their way outside, where the truck that he and Noelle had been using was surrounded by yellow tape. Sterl didn't want to know why, but he thought he saw a plastic sheet over something near it.

When he crawled into bed just after midnight, he let his mind drift over the last several years. He'd been injured more than most, nearly killed more times than he wanted to think about. A she-devil after his seed, a demon that had to be killed, and then today. Sterl thought maybe he might find him a house on about a thousand acres and hide out there for the rest of his life. Grow a long beard, grow his own vegetables, and eat whatever came his way in the form of meat.

You'll do no such thing. Sterl sat up in bed and looked around. I'm not there but I can feel your pain. What is it? Should I come there?

Myra? She said of course it was her, who did he think it was. Well, I have no idea. How the fuck can you feel me?

I took a bit of you when we healed you. It's common to do that. Now, what is going on with your life, young pup? He asked her if she already knew. Of course. But I should like to hear what you think about things. You're a survivor, young Sterling Calhoun, and I think that is what makes you so special to me.

I don't want to be special to someone who can pop into my head whenever they want. She assured him that it wasn't like that. Oh really? Then how did you know that I'd been in a funk? Instead of answering him, as if he thought she would, she changed the subject.

Someone is coming your way soon. A person that, while I cannot see clearly, is coming all the same. He asked her if it was another devil or demon. No, you've been promised that you are safe from both those monsters. No, this person will come to mean a great deal to your family. And to you.

My mate. She said that she didn't think so. She thought it to be a male. Okay, so this person is coming, and what am I supposed to do with him?

I don't know that either. I'm only telling you what I've come to see. Sterl laid back down, sure now that he wasn't going to sleep. Alta tells me that you've put on a little weight, and that your wolf is doing much better as well.

She's wonderful, and I think you knew that when you sent her here. Myra only laughed. I need to know something. Do you only dress the way you do for shock value, or do you actually enjoy looking like you do?

I celebrate my life in color and design. You should try it sometime. She laughed again when he said nothing to her. About this life that you're so ready to hide from…Sterl, you are much needed in this world. And to your family. They love you a great deal.

Yes, they do. And I love them. But I'm sick of being beat to shit. He rolled to his back, still ready for the pain that was no longer there. Maybe this man who comes here will want to run away with me as well.

I should think you'd have to wait to see. Just as I will. He closed his eyes, knowing that he'd not sleep. Rest, my young friend. You're going to need it.

And just like that, Sterl felt himself fall to sleep.