Page 9 of Cuddles for the Bear
“The name itself is a dead giveaway, right. Wren. Small bird. Perfect. My snake’s not fussy. Feathers or fur, it makes no difference to my other half. But the damn boy never shifted.” Michael grimaced. “I really got a dud one there.”
“Lack of shifting aside, from what you say, you’ve had this one a long time.” Devon was curious about that. “Is there a reason why you need to get rid of him now?”
“Need, no. As I say, I’m bored. He’s not scared anymore. I think he’s given up on ever getting free or having a life of his own.” Michael shook his head. “I’m pissed off, if you must know. It’s going to be annoying getting rid of this one. If he can’t shift, then yeah… well, you don’t need to know what’s going to happen to him, unless you happen to have a department for that sort of thing.”
Keeping his mouth clamped shut, Devon shook his head.
“Damn, that’s a shame,” Michael said. “Never mind. If you can help with the replacement side of things…” A series of beeps came from inside his jacket’s pocket. “What the hell?” Michael fished out his phone. “Oh my God! That little shit! He’s going to ruin everything.”
“What do you mean? What’s going on?”
“That little shit’s tampering with the windows. I can see him on the cameras.” Michael flashed the screen in Devon’s direction. Devon couldn’t see too much, but the broken window was obvious on the live feed Michael had.
“I’m sorry. We’re going to have to finish this meeting another time. If he jumps out that damn window…shit, no, he's climbed out. He’s on the ledge in public for everybody to see… Shit. Shit. Shit.”
Michael slammed his now empty bottle on the table. “I’ve got to go. I’ll be back tomorrow night if you’re open to meeting then.”
“You need to do some serious damage control. I’ve got experience with that.”
Devon jumped to his feet, following Michael as the snake shifter speed walked through the casino and out onto the street. He expected that Michael would have a car, but he didn’t. Instead, he turned left and started striding down the road.
“I don’t live too far, only a couple of blocks,” Michael said. “I’m beyond fucking pissed. How could he do this to me? My gods, look.” He pointed to a group of people that Devon could see who were clustered around a building, all looking up. “He’s drawn a fucking crowd already. Damn it, he’s gonna get me in trouble.”
“Tell me the apartment number,” Devon said urgently, his eyes fixed on the frail figure on the ledge four stories from theground. “Tell me the apartment number and I’ll get up there and get him inside.”
Michael stopped. “Shouldn’t I be the one doing that? He’s my boy, and it’s my apartment.”
“You’re not thinking clearly,” Devon said, keeping his voice low. “You need to go and stand on the street with the other people. Show concern and worry. Make sure your boy can see you. He won’t dare jump down if you’re standing there.”
“But…but…” Michael scratched at his head.
“Look, we don’t usually do this, but let me go up there. I’ll take care of your little problem for you, all right. You go and show your concern, so no one calls the police. I’ll grab the boy and ‘disappear’ him for you. Give it as long as you can after he disappears from that ledge – placate people, make a big spectacle of how relieved you are. I’m sure you can do that. Once everyone is happy, you go up to your apartment, and your little problem will be gone.”
“You’re a damn miracle. You can be sure I’ll be using your services again. My apartment takes up the whole of the fourth floor.”
“Perfect. Go play act. Make it fucking plausible.”
“I’ll win an Oscar for my performance, you’ll see.”
No, I won’t.Devon was already running for the apartment steps, taking the stairs to the fourth floor three at a time. He could hear Michael yelling, “Wren, baby, oh, my goodness, are you all right? What’s happening? Please don’t jump. I know you’ve been a bit depressed, but we can talk about things. Please, baby, don’t jump.”
Reaching the fourth floor, Devon was barely winded, but he let out a long fucking breath when he saw the door to Michael’sapartment. The door was basic. The door handle wouldn’t be an issue for his bear. But the long, thick slide bolt at the top of the fucking door drilled into the door frame…Wren would never be able to get out of there. What if there had been a fire?Michael would probably see that as a hellish intervention to his boy problem.
Sliding back the bolt, Devon pulled on his bear as he kicked the door off its hinges. His bear was incensed. He’d had to sit and listen to Michael’s shit, and knowing Wren was now in danger was fueling them both.
Devon ran through an immaculate but very sparse living room and kitchen space, looking for the open window. Through the living room, he spotted a small room, the shadow of a man’s legs framed by broken glass in a window frame.
“Hey,” he called softly, running into the room. “Wren, I’m here to help you. Come back into the room, please.”
“You called me Wren. You must be a friend of Michael’s. I can’t live like this anymore. I just can’t. Please don’t make me.”
Devon’s heart jumped a beat when he heard the low voice. Wren sounded impossibly tired, more than that, it was the sound of a man who had given up and saw no other option than to take one more step.
“I’m no friend of Michael’s, Wren,” he said, keeping his voice low and as calm as possible. “Is it possible that you’re also known as BlueKnight64?”
There was a gasp. Devon heard it as he moved into the tiny bedroom. It was immaculate, like the rest of the place, and smelled of cleaning fluids. But wafting through the smell of citrus cleaners was something else – something much more enticing.By the Fates, it is the same as Storm and Pax.Although Pax had never tried to end it all, the way Wren clearly did.
“You asked me to help,” Devon moved around the single bed. “Remember your message? The one that was half written before the connection was lost? You were telling me about how bad things were, and I got worried. I needed to know you were safe. BlueKnight64, it’s me, Bear. You asked me to come, and I did.”
