Page 72 of Freak Camp
Roger inched closer, like Jake was a wild animal that might bite if startled.He wasn’t going to touch him yet.Not until he knew what the hell was going on.
“Who cut you off, kid?”he asked again, easing down into his chair.He needed the answer to that question.And he needed whiskey.As soon as he got the one, he figured he’d get them both the other.
Jake didn’t look up, and when he spoke, the rage was gone from his voice.Roger hadn’t noticed before how much of what made JakeJakewas his humor, anger, and swagger.Now, with Jake’s voice void of emotion, Roger had to stop his hand from twitching toward the holy water again.
“Who do you think?”
Damn you to hell, Leon, Roger thought.Couldn’t you have just ...The thought ended there, because he had no idea what Leon could have done differently.Leon could have done so much better, but Roger knew that Leon would have only one response.
“Fuck,” he said.Now it was his turn not to look at Jake.“But ...I’m here.I’m not ...”going to be an asshole like that bastard who calls himself your father, “...going to say a damn thing.I mean, I practically ...”He took a deep breath.It was a day for breathing carefully.Too many things were too close to shattering.“It’s good to see you, kid.You’re welcome here, just as you’ve always been.”
Jake’s shoulders shook, and for a second Roger thought he was crying.Then he realized that it was laughter, the closest thing a Hawthorne could get to weeping on someone else’s patio.
“Thanks,” Jake rasped at last, when he’d stopped shaking and looked up again.His eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, but Roger couldn’t see any sign of tears.Jake forced a smile onto his face, and it was one of the most horrible things Roger had seen recently.Not in his lifetime—demons and werewolves and shifters and ghosts had given him some pretty devastating memories—but perhaps in the last week or so.
“So,” Jake said.“You’re okay with the ...with Toby.And me.Getting him out, I mean that’s ...”He shook his head.“I’m all fucked up, Roger.And it’s not Tobias’s fault!”
“Didn’t think it was,” Roger replied.“Yeah, I’m okay with it.”Would I have called you if I didn’t think that kid deserved better?
“Good.”Jake dropped his hands to the paper again, smoothing it over and over.Roger figured that Jake was going to have to print a new form before he turned it in to anyone.“Then, would you be okay with ...I need another couple signatures to say that I’m ...sane, and shit like that, and I’m not sure ...I mean, there are a few other people, but ...”Jake stopped.“If you don’t want to, I’ll understand.The ASC and the Dixons can be ...fucked up.I know that some people don’t want to get on their radar.”
Like Leon, Roger thought.Yeah, he didn’t want to mess with the ASC either.But then again, he also wanted to boot them in the ass, so maybe this could count as both.“Sure.No problem.Hand me a pen.”If I wasn’t such a coward, I would have done this myself when I realized how bad it had gotten.And when I realized that that kid wasn’t the worst monster in the room.Not even close.
“Good.”Jake nodded, and his expression turned into something closer to an actual smile.“Good.”
He still looked messed up, but he had a bit more sanity in his face, and that made Roger feel easier.Last thing they needed was two crazy Hawthornes.One—fuck you, Leon—was more than enough.“You can stay here, if you want.And pull the Eldorado up.You’ve still got her, right?”
Jake’s mouth quirked.“Yeah, she and I made a fast getaway.”He stood, stretching like he’d been in a cramped position for far too long.“I’ll bring her around.Then we can start on the paperwork.Fuck, Roger, you should see the forms I need to fill out.And I can’t even forge them, because the ASC is going to background check everything.Fucking bureaucracy.”
Roger thought that worrying about a little paperwork was better than Jake thinking about his life crashing down around his ears.And he could remind the kid that he had more people in his life than Leon.
“I’m a big bundle of excitement,” he said dryly.“You can crash in the guest room as long as you want, and I’ll do my best with the paperwork.And if you need more than just my signature, let’s call up Alex Rodriguez.I’m sure she’d ...understand too.”
Jake looked up, frowning.“Who?”
“An old friend over in Tucson.Another old-school hunter who works part-time like me.She runs an old mission.”
Now that the whole thing was rolling, he was a little nervous thinking about Jake getting a monster out of the camp, taking charge of another life that had been fucked up that much—and might still be dangerous, after all, the kid had been inFreak Camp—but it was too late to retreat now.
He’d do his best to keep everyone sane and off each other’s throats.Oh, he could see fun times in his future.
Maybe he’d finally shoot Leon.
That shouldn’t have sounded as appealing as it did at the moment.
***
Crusher ground Tobias’sface into the wall, twisting his arm behind him, and pushed his hips into Tobias’s ass.
“You think you can disrespect me, freak?I saw that look on your face.”
Tobias felt Crusher’s erection, felt the hand that wasn’t holding him against the wall sliding down his hip, and he wondered, almost idly, when he would have to take the next step and break the guard’s arm.Not that that was a smart idea, or an idea that would let him live past today, or even an idea that would actually stop anything, but Tobias knew that he wouldn’t be able to control the freewheeling panic spinning under the surface of his careful, blank calm for much longer.There was no way Tobias would let Crusher be his first.He would, quite literally, rather die.
Crusher’s hand found its goal, clamping around his groin, and Tobias ground his own face into the wall, twisting his cheek against the rough plaster to keep his whimpering under control.
“You know how long I’ve waited for you, Pretty Freak?”Crusher hissed.“For fuckingever.Too goddamn long to fuck open your tight ass.”
It wasn’t like Tobias deserved anything more than this.He simplycould notlet Crusher do what he wanted without trying to stop it.
