Page 45 of Stray

“Did she tell you you could do that?” I hang my head in shame.

“No sir, I just… I had to know, and now, I don’t know how to look at her and not see those images. I don’t know how to look at her the same way.” I see something out of the corner of my eye and look up. “Oh no,” I breathe out as I stare into the teary brown eyes that belong to Ozzy.

“How could you?” She hisses, looking between me and Pops before her eyes fall back to me. “How could you!” She screams before turning and walking away.

“Fuck!” I growl, standing up and running outside to catch up to her.

“Ozzy! Ozzy, wait!” I step in front of her and go to touch her shoulders, but she shoves me back.

“Do not touch me!” She warns before walking down the driveway.

“Where are you going?” I say, running after her. “You can’t leave Pops!” She spins on her heel and glares at me.

“How could you betray me like that?” Her cold words break my fucking soul. “I was trying to open up and trust you and you…you–” She curls her lip in disgust before shoving past me and walking back to the house just as Theo, Derek, and Jensen walk over to the porch.

“Ozzy!” I call out as she hits the steps. “Please, come on, talk to me! You know I didn’t do it to hurt you!”

She ignores me and looks at my siblings. “If you want me to continue to care for Morris, you’ll keep him the fuck away.” She walks inside, slamming the door behind her. I go to walk up the steps, but Theo and Derek block me.

“Move,” I warn under my breath, causing Derek to laugh.

“You going to fight me, little brother?” He taunts, and I shove him to get by. Derek grabs my shirt and throws me back to the ground. I land on my ass with a grunt as he jumps off the steps. I watch him take off a bracelet he’s wearing and toss it to Theo before looking back at me.

“I beat your ass when we were kids. I’ll do it now, Jackson. You stay away from that girl.”

“Fuck you,” I spit, squaring off. “She and I need to talk!”

“What you need to do,” Theo calls from her spot on the porch. “Is fuck off. Go work on something and leave her alone, lessen you want to get you ass handed to you.”

“You gonna deliver it, Jr?” I taunt, needing to fight or talk to Ozzy. I need this anxiety rushing through me to calm down. Theo frowns, and she’s about to come at me when Derek stops her.

“Stitches,” he warns, and she scoffs.

“Fuck them stitches. I’ll beat his face in, and then we can both go to the hospital.”

“Awful big talk shortbread. Tell you what, how about you leave the fighting to the ones with real dick–”

Ozzy

“Well, that was stupid,” I mutter. Morris and I watch Theo punch Jackson so hard in the face that he fell unconscious. Theo jumps up and down, cursing and crying while gripping her fist to her chest while Derek doubles over, cackling. “I really don’t want to go back out there,” I say, and Morris laughs weakly.

“No need to.” Morris waves his hand as I set his sandwich down on his tray. I grab half of it and some chips before sitting down. “Those kids have been beating the piss out of each other since they were in diapers. Ain’t the first time Jackson’s been knocked out.” I stuff the chips into my peanut butter sandwich before taking a bite. “That’s disgusting,” Morris says, and I shrug.

“One more thing for everyone to be weirded out by me.”

“Listen,” Morris sighs, and I’m about to tell him to save his breath, but I like it when he talks to me. I wonder if this is what a relationship with a father would’ve been like. Quickly, I bury that thought and those feelings before biting into the sandwich again. “Jackson is as stupid as the days are long sometimes.” I nearly choke on my food and reach over to swallow some of his water.

“Wow,” I croak out. “How sweet of you.”

“I love him. But he is a fixer. He wants all the information so he can make a plan. When I was diagnosed,” he takes a shaky breath. “It killed them all but him and my Dorothy. They went into fix-it mode. They made plans, medication, new age shit, diet, experimental drugs, surgeries. They did all this while transforming how the ranch was run, without anyone’s input. Right now, my wife and her bad hip are down at the barn making orders for feed to last over the winter.”

“I wish she would let me help some, so she has more time with you.”

“Ah!” He waves his hand. “Dorothy and I had our tearful goodbye already. She has a ranch to run, and those boys out there need to see her moving. She is the glue holding everyone together.” I hear the sadness in his tone, and it kills me. I hate that this man is dying. And I hate that he doesn’t want to leave them behind. “Jackson had no right to look up whatever he found, and I mean none. But you know he didn’t do it to hurt you, right?”

I shift uncomfortably and look out the window. Jackson is sitting on the ground, his long hair out of his band and shielding me from seeing his face as he stares down at his knees.

“I do,” I say softly. “I know he didn’t mean to hurt me. I just… I wasn’t ready for him to learn what I’m sure he did.”

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