Page 30 of Stevie
* * *
“Stevie,” I say softly, trying to break the silence in this vehicle. “I’m really sorry about that.”
“Why don’t you have a duck on your Jeep?” she asks abruptly as I pull into the driveway. Putting the Jeep in park, I turn and look at her in confusion.
“Because they’re stupid,” I huff, probably a bit too defensive. She cocks her head to one side while squinting her pretty eyes.
“No one has left you a duck, huh?”Fuck.Rubbing the back of my neck, I look away while shrugging.Jeep Duckingis something that started a couple of years ago where you leave rubber ducks on a Jeep with a nice note, and the owner is supposed to display them on their dash.
“The whole thing is ridiculous. So what, a random person leaves a duck on my Jeep, and I’m then forced to showcase it forever?” I grunt out before looking back at her and sighing. “No, okay, I’m large and intimidating, as is my Jeep, so I don’t fit into the Jeep Duck community.”
“You could buy yourself one, so people knew it was okay.”
“That defeats the purpose,” I mutter, getting out of the vehicle. Something feels off, and I’ve been in my business too long not to trust my gut. I reach into the door and pull out my holstered gun, slipping it into the back of my jeans before catching up to Stevie.
“Well, how are people supposed to know you’re a marshmallow!?” she asks, still on the duck thing.
“They’re not because I’m n– Wait,” I stop her from moving. Something definitely is off. Why didn’t my motion lights go off when we walked up to the door?
“Brooks, it’s not–”
“Stevie,” I hiss, bringing my finger to my mouth to tell her to hush.
“Puppet.” At the sound of a male’s voice, I draw my gun from its holster while pushing Stevie behind me.
“Do not come any closer,” I snarl. My lights decide now is the time to come on, and there he is. Vincent, Stevie’s old mentor and ex-boyfriend. “Back the fuck up,” I warn, leveling my gun.
Vincent holds his hands up in mock surrender. “Easy there. I just wanted to see how she’s doing. Cher,” he purrs in his thick Cajun accent, which grates my nerves. “Comment ça va?”
“Don’t you talk to her!” I snarl, “Baby, go inside, lock the door behind you.” I whisper, but Stevie is frozen in place and has a death grip on my shirt.
“Baby?” Vincent chuckles. “Puppet, you got yourself a new man? Here, I thought I ruined you for others. Ça c’est bon!” I’m going to put two in his skull on fucking principal alone. “Alright, I see I’ve come at a bad time. So, here’s the thing: our Puppet here has created quite a problem for me. I’ve lost three apprentices in the past month, and I had a spot on a panel for a convention here, but somehow I was removed due tounethical practices.” Tsking, he shakes his head and stupidly takes a step towards us.
“Bud, if you think for one second I won’t shoot you in the knee, you have another thing coming. Now, get the fuck back.”
“Cher,” Vincent snaps, and I feel Stevie flinch. “Are you going to fix the issue, or will I have to?” Vincent spits on my sidewalk before looking at my gun. I move to go towards him, but Stevie lets out a cry of protest. Smirking, Vincent lazily waves his hand before turning. “See you around, Puppet.”
Once he’s gone, I turn, holstering my gun and wrapping myself around Stevie’s shaking body.
“He’s here, he’s here.” She whispers again and again into my chest.
“Shhh…” I kiss the top of her head. “Listen to me, baby. I won’t let him get you.” That’s a fucking promise, no matter what I have to do.
Stevie
CHAPTER TWELVE
“You know what they don’t make enough of?” I sigh as I lie on Brooks’ lap, staring at the television.
“What’s that baby?” He asks softly. He’s being so sweet today. I mean, Brooks is always good to me, but tomorrow is surgery day, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. So much so that I nearly had a freak out online when some people were commenting with hateful things about me and my family. Brooks had to take my phone away, and we’ve been lazing around on the couch since. But now it’s late, I can’t sleep, and I’m wanting to stress eat but can’t because I’m not allowed to eat until after surgery. Which only makes me want to do it more.
“Monster romance shows,” I say simply and smile when I feel his hand rubbing my back stop midway through a stroke.
“Oh god, not this again.” He groans while laughing. “I mean, they have Dracula and Frankenstein.”
“Mmm… No, more like… okay, what if there was like a wolf shifter… eh, no, overdone. Oh!” I bolt up and stare at his apprehensive face. “A Kraken!”
“A Kraken? Like the sea monster?” I watch his nervous smile as I nod.
