Emerald Eyes (22 page)

“I’m listening.”

“Gawd! Gloria…I feel rotten.”

“Dammit! Chuck! Just say it!” She gulped down the rest of her beer and sat the bottle down rather hard. There was no doubt that she knew she wasn’t going to like what she was about to hear.

“He wants me to marry Tickling Feather.”

She gasped and stared at him. “He wants you to…marry Tickling Feather?” Her voice went off key and her eyes suddenly glistened with tears.

He nodded yes.

“Dammit! I don’t believe this!” She jumped up from her seat.

“Gloria! Wait!”

“You can go to
hell!”

“Please!”

“I have stood by you,” she said, visibly shaking. “I have been there for you. Me! I have listened to your complaints and troubles. I have taken you back more than once when things didn’t work out for you with other women. Now this! Go to hell!” she screeched and stormed away from him.

He tried to follow her but she disappeared through the crowd on the dance floor.

“Dammit!” he said, turning up his beer and drinking it down. Then he saw she had stopped at the bar where Madison sat with Debra Jean. “Oh…shit!” He left his bottle on the nearest table, even though it was occupied by two couples and headed towards Gloria.

Madison looked up at Gloria, who was obviously very upset. “You want to talk to me?”

“I just want to tell you how sorry I am that I tried to slap you the other night.”

“Apology accepted,” she said, face suddenly concerned. “Are you okay?”

“No! But I’ll be all right. Just be glad you chose the right man…And congratulations on the baby!”

Chuck was calling out to her and making his way over.

“I’ve got to go!”

“Okay…You be careful!” She and Debra Jean shared concerned glances.

“I will!” she disappeared into the crowd again just as Chuck got there.

He stood there looking over the crowd, but didn’t see her immediately.

“I think she wants you to leave her alone, Chuck,” Madison said.

“Shit!” he breathed. “I was just trying to explain things to her. Dammit!”

Alex came up to where they were. “Madison is right, Chuck. Gloria doesn’t want you to follow her.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “All right! All right!” He stood there for a minute while the others stared at him. “Shit!” he dug in his hip pocket for his wallet, pulled out a twenty and slapped it on the bar. “Can I get a cold beer?”

“Sure,” Alex said, took the money, got the beer and brought it back with the change.

Chuck thanked him and strode out the front door.

“You know,” Alex commented, “I almost felt sorry for him just then.”

Both women looked at him like he was crazy.

He shrugged. “Well…He’s obviously not enjoying the evening.”

“Guess you’re right,” Debra Jean replied.

Madison didn’t bother to respond.

Gloria sat in her car, too shaken to drive, crying her heart out. “Dammit! Chuck!” she yelled and pounded the steering column with her fists. “I have loved you since the day I first saw you in the store! But you just use me! Use me! I was understanding when you were hurting over Madison. Now, she’s having your baby! And you’re marrying a young Indian girl! Crap!”

She pounded the steering wheel again and then realized that Chuck was calling to her from outside her window.

“Go away! I don’t want to talk to you!” she yelled, sobbing.

“Please, Gloria! I never meant to hurt you! I really had no intentions of marrying Tickling Feather – But I have no choice! Indian Joe has done too much for me!”

She let her window down. “And I haven’t?”

“I’m not saying that. Look! I hate this. I really do. You’re a great woman. You really are. I just have no choice.”

“Seriously? You expect me to believe that?”

He stood there for a moment and then replied, “No. I really can’t expect you to believe it. Still, I simply cannot tell you why I have to do as my friend asks.”

“Just get out of my face, Chuck. I don’t want to see you ever again.”

Sighing heavily, he replied, “All right.” Then stepped back from the window. “I’m sorry Gloria. I really am.” He turned and headed back for his truck.

She started her car and peeled out.

He stood beside his truck watching her taillights disappear around the corner. “I really am sorry, Gloria. You are one hell of a woman. If I didn’t owe Indian Joe so much, I would probably be faithful to you.” He knew she couldn’t hear, but he wanted to say it anyway. He opened his door and got in. Just as he went to pull out, he noticed Sam staring at him, along with one of the barmaids that had just come out for a smoke. “Hope both of you get your freakin’ eyes full!” he hissed. And then he saw Devin Knight walking up to the front door of the club. “Guess he doesn’t need a car,” he quipped and pulled out.

Devin stepped up to the bar where Debra Jean and Madison always sat, but the stools were empty. He assumed they had gone to the lady’s room.

Alex saw him and came over. “They’re in the powder room.”

“Figured as much.” The stool beside Madison’s on the right was also empty, so he took it.

“What can I do you for?” Alex asked.

“Cold beer.”

“Tap?”

“Sure.” He surveyed his surroundings. “A big crowd tonight,” he observed, as Alex filled his mug for him.

“Sure is. Our little band is getting more and more popular.” He nodded at the band up on the stage. SHOE-INS was written across the face of the big drum. “They get much more popular, I’ll probably lose them to the bigger clubs. Won’t be able to afford them.”

“Even with the crowd they bring in?” Devin asked, taking his beer and paying for it.

“Well…For now, I’m still making a pretty good penny off of them.”

“I’d say,” Devin grinned.

The women walked up then, and Devin greeted Madison with a kiss on the cheek before she sat down.

“You missed it,” Debra Jean said.

“Yeah you did,” Alex agreed, but then walked off as he was being hailed from the other end of the bar.

“What did I miss?” Devin enquired.

“Chuck Smith and Gloria Mendez. Guess he tried to talk to her about something,” Debra Jean said.

Madison added, “I think it had to do with his marrying Tickling Feather. She apologized to me, though. I felt sorry for her.”

Debra Jean let it be known that she felt sorry for the both of them now that she’d had time to think about what Alex had said about Chuck not enjoying the evening.

“Interesting,” Devin noted, eyes meeting Madison’s.

Suddenly there was a crash and yelling on the far side of the club and the band ceased playing. A fight had broken out. Alex was over the bar in a leap and Sam dashed in to assist. Two men were going at it. One guy was knocked down, and then a couple of others joined in. Alex grabbed one of the men and Sam grabbed the other. But several men were still going strong.

“Shit!” Debra Jean moaned, standing from her stool. “Dammit! I hate fights!”

The man Alex was holding was giving him too much of a hassle, so Alex spun him around and decked him, sending him sailing across the floor.

“That’s my Alex!” Debra Jean stated proudly.

Sam made the man he had sit and went to help Alex in trying to stop the others, and just as it looked like the brawl was quieted, a big man, as husky and tall as Alex, moved in and grabbed Alex from behind in a choke hold. Alex fought furiously to free himself, but the man had him at such an angle that Alex couldn’t pull free.

Debra Jean cried out hysterically. “He’ll kill him!”

Devin’s expression was ambiguous as he observed the fight, but he showed no inclination whatsoever to intervene.

Madison saw Debra Jean was afraid for her man, so she tugged on Devin’s elbow. “Devin, can you please help?”

His attention went immediately to her. Her eyes were pleading. “Sure, my sweet. Anything for you.” He finished off his beer, stood and straightened his shirt.

Debra Jean tore towards Alex, snatching up an empty beer bottle from the bar and was about to slam it over the man’s head, when Devin caught her wrist.

“I’ll take care of it. Go sit.”

Breathing heavily, she nodded gratefully.

Devin was instantly in front of Alex and the man. Yelling profanities, the man swore he’d kill Alex and then take care of him, if he didn’t get out of the way. “Really?” Devin replied, appearing somewhat amused.

“Really!” the man retorted with a feral snarl.

Then Devin had the man’s wrist so fast no one actually saw it happen. One second the man was choking Alex and the next he was screaming out in pain and holding his arm with the other, his hand dangling loosely from his wrist.

“
Shit!”
He screamed. “You broke my freakin’ wrist!” He fell back against the bar, his hand hanging in an unnatural position.

Devin helped Alex over to a stool and Debra Jean ran up to him.

Sam was still fighting with one of the men so Devin flitted around again, this time effortlessly lifting the assailant off of Sam and sending him against the wall so hard that one of the beer signs fell and crashed to the floor. Seeing this, everyone immediately got very still and quiet, all eyes staring warily at Devin. Devin smiled cordially as though he were on an afternoon stroll and headed back over to where Madison sat, eyeing him proudly.

The band stood on the stage gaping, including the lead singer. Devin told them that he believed they could continue now. The lead singer nodded all right and they immediately started off with a slow ballad.

A few minutes later an ambulance crew made their way in the door. The man with the broken wrist was immediately tended to. And though Alex had some bruises on his neck, he was okay. The man that had been slammed against the wall suffered a couple of broken ribs.

The police arrived just as the ambulance was finishing up. All witnesses attested to the fact that Devin had injured the men in defending Alex and then Sam, the bouncer. But neither of the injured men wanted to file charges against Devin. They were too afraid too. They didn’t verbalize it, but it was in their eyes when they dared to look his way. Satisfied, the police left.

After things quieted, Debra Jean came over to Devin and looking up at him gratefully asked, “Can I give you a hug?”

“My pleasure,” he said, responding with a gentle squeeze.

“Gawd! I’m glad you and Devin came tonight,” Debra Jean said. “Otherwise, I might not have my Alex anymore.”

Alex heard. “It wasn’t that bad, babe. I would have broken free of him.” He looked over at Devin. “But we owe you! Thanks!”

“No problem.” He turned to Madison and gave her a loving hug, as she was standing with him now. “Ready to go home?”

“Anytime.”

“Okay.” Then speaking to Alex and Debra Jean, “You folks have a good evening.”

“You too!” Alex said with an uncertain smile.

Arm-in-arm, they departed around the dance floor and out the front door.

Fannie walked up and Alex asked her to take over for a bit. She said she would, and he and Debra Jean went to their living quarters in the back.

Alex had his arm around Debra Jean as they went into the kitchen. He released her and sat down at the table and turned his eyes warily over to her. She took a seat too. “Don’t get me wrong here, Debra Jean, ‘cause I am more than grateful for Devin’s help, especially tonight.”

“Thank God!” Her eyes filled with tears. “Don’t know what I would have done if you’d been really hurt…or worse!”

“I still think I could have eventually gotten loose, his grip was weakening. But he was choking the hell out of me.”

“You looked like you were about to black out to me.”

“Maybe I was and maybe I wasn’t. And again, I am glad for Devin’s help. But—!”

“But what, hon?” What’s the weird expression for.

“He’s not natural.”

“Huh?”

His strength…His speed…Debra Jean. He is not like normal men.”

“What are you saying, Alex?”

He breathed out heavily. “Having worked as a lumberjack for a few years, I learned that there are some things that go on in the forest that most folks don’t know about. I’ve seen animals…large animals…drained of their blood. Their throats torn open. And I’ve seen mutilations that can’t be explained. Not even something a cougar or bear would normally do.”

“What does all this have to do with Devin Knight, Alex?” She tilted her head slightly, questioningly.

“Can’t say for sure exactly. But sometimes we talk. Lumberjacks. Keep it amongst ourselves. We figure as long as it stays in the woods there’s no reason to alarm the populace.”

“What has this to do with Devin?”

“When he grabbed that guy’s wrist…Debra Jean…He moved so fast I didn’t see it at all. Just the guy was suddenly screaming with a broken wrist. I overheard a few of the other folks talking amongst themselves. They didn’t see him do it either. But we all know he did.” He sat forward. “Debra Jean – Humans don’t move that fast! They can’t!”

Debra Jean let out an exasperated grunt. “You saying Devin isn’t human?”

His expression couldn’t have been more serious. “Yes!”

Her jaw dropped. She frowned, puzzled. “Then what in hell is he?”

He breathed out heavily. “One of two things I’ve heard of in these parts. He’s either a werewolf…”

“
A werewolf?”

“Let me finish, Debra Jean. Or he’s a vampire.”

She stared at him as though he’d lost his mind. She stood. “Alex! That guy must have cut the oxygen off from your brain too long. I think you need to go to the hospital!” She snatched her car keys off the table and stood.

“Sit down, babe. And put your keys back. I haven’t lost my mind. Most myths are based on some reality. I have heard that the Indians protect a werewolf that lives among us. Who he is, I have no clue. But I do know that they let him run on the reservation here during the full moon.”

“You’re freakin’ kidding me! If this is true, why haven’t you told me before?”

“Because…Why tell you if there was no danger? The Indians are more knowledgeable in these things than we are. Recognize them as facts. White men walk around with blinders on, wanting to believe what they are taught from birth, and God help anyone who tries to teach them different. They want to live in their narrow-minded, safe little universe.”