Page 26 of Fight
Bill was silent for a moment, before I heard him sigh."What did he do this time?"
"He caught Devon and I out by the pool, he confronted us out in the open."
"Did he endanger us?"
I thought back for a second."I wouldn't say so, but I'm rather glad it was so public.It kept him from being too obnoxious, or turning violent again."
"There is that.What happened exactly?"
I recounted the whole event, only leaving out what Brandon had said about being able to smell Devon on me.I probably should have told Bill that part, but it was embarrassing.I wrapped the story with, "The whole time I talked to him, I was careful to stay out of his reach and I left him outside the pool fence.He would have had to work to hit me again."
Bill was getting angry."I've had about enough of this.He's defied me again.I told him to stay away from you again after the last time we talked."He was frustrated and venting more than expecting me to say anything."I'm going to handle this, once and for all."Bill said, calming some."You shouldn't have to worry about him anymore, Nickie.I'm going to see to that."
"While I have you, I had something else I wanted to talk to you about."
"What is it?"
I told him about the vandalism of Devon's truck, and my suspicions that Brandon was behind it.As I expected, he said that without some kind of proof, we couldn't punish him for it.
"But if there is any more property damage I want you to contact me right away."He said.
"I will, I promise."I meant it.I wasn't going to let it go on anymore."Do you have any leads on non-shifters for me yet?"I asked.
"I've been looking into a few, but I really don't know where I'll be sending you yet.I'll let you know as soon as I do."
"That's all right, I was just curious.Thanks for your help with Brandon."
"No problem."Bill said."Thanks for keeping me informed about what's going on."We said our goodbyes and rang off.I was left feeling relieved.From what I understood, Bill was going to put an end to the harassment, and I honestly couldn't say I would miss it.
Chapter 8
Devon and I were sitting in my apartment one evening.We'd been watching programs on the screen together, but we'd run out of new shows.He'd already turned off the screen but we hadn't moved to get up.We were snuggled together on the sofa, enjoying being close to each other too much to move.
"Have you heard anything more from Bill, about you going out of town?"Devon asked.
"I asked him about it a couple of days ago.He said he has a few leads but doesn't know where he's gonna send me yet.Why?"
"I've been thinking about it.I would never ask you not to go, but at the same time, I'm having a hard time with the idea of it."I felt the tension in his body growing, as I leaned against him.
I was silent for a few seconds, trying to find the words."What makes it so difficult?"
"It's not any one thing; it's a lot of them added together.Big part of it, is this crap going on with Brandon, and I just can't get past the thought of another man going with you."Before I could speak, he continued."It's not that I don't trust you, I know I can.I think it's another symptom of our mating instinct.I just want to growl and rip off the head off any man who gets too close to you, especially if I'm not around."He took a deep breath and let it out, and I felt his body relaxing against mine."And on top of it all, there's the fact that we have a hard time staying apart for more than forty-eight hours.A re-con trip, like he's suggesting, could take a week or two.I'm not sure about you, but after about day four apart, I'll be worthless for pretty much anything."
"Shit."I muttered, realizing he was right.Devon was quiet for a few minutes, letting things sink in."What do we do now?"I asked.
"I have an idea, but I wanted to run it by you before I took it further."
"All right."I waited for him to explain.
"It's occurred to me that I can go to Bill and see about becoming an enforcer.That way, when he sends you out of town, and I have a feeling this won't be your only trip, I can go with you.I can be your enforcer."
"I like the idea of you going with me, a lot more than some stranger assigned to guard me.I don’t understand, how are you gonna qualify as an enforcer though.Gabriel once told me that he trained for nearly a year before he was able to make an enforcer team."
"It's true, it usually takes a lot of training, and skill, to qualify as an enforcer, but I have the advantage of ten years in the Army.A lot of the training I got there, will help."
"Hmm.That didn't occur to me."
"So you like the idea?It's all right with you if I go talk to the Anikitos?"
