The Mercenary Read online

  Heavy hearted, Jodie nodded. The necklace didn’t look salvageable but she wondered if the pendant might be saved. Reaching into the box, Jodie picked it up and dropped it again with a hiss. Bubbling and blistering already, the burn on her hand stung. Jerking her gaze upward at Eddie, her olive eyes became round with horror.

  “You wore silver?” His incredulous tone made her feel even worse. “You went to a Therian dinner and you wore silver jewelry?”

  “I didn’t think much of it.” She murmured, averting her eyes and hiding her hand in shame. “This has never happened to me before.”

  “Well you’re one of us now, so you’re going to have to be more careful. Let me take a look.” Eddie grabbed Jodie’s wrist and turned her palm over. “Ouch, that’s nasty.”

  “Is there anything I can do? Should I cover it or leave it exposed?”

  “It’s not seeping fluid so leave it exposed; it will heal faster that way.” Eddie said.

  Eddie studied her for a moment, Jodie almost thought he would say something more but he went back to his meal.

  Sitting in the living room for the rest of the afternoon, Jodie lounged back on the couch reading a novel she’d found in her bag of clothes, awarding extra brownie points to Adam for having the insight to look for a book on her nightstand.

  The relief of losing herself within the pages came as a blessing, doing wonders for her stress levels. At times the guys sauntered in and out as they went about their day, Jodie had become ‘one of the gang’ so nobody felt the need to strike up conversation. That suited her just fine too.

  For dinner, Mark cooked a delicious roast lamb with all the trimmings. Belying her usual appetite, Jodie ate like a horse. Though the amount of food she’d consumed left her feeling very unladylike, nobody else seemed to think anything of it.

  Danny chose to eat his dinner at the kitchen counter, Jodie wondered if he’d done it to ensure an available seat for her at the table or because they were still not speaking to one another. She hated the way that things were but at least she could be in the same room as him now, it was a start.

  After the meal, Danny, Rufus, and Eddie left for work. Jodie helped Mark and Jarvis clean up the kitchen, then for lack of anything better to do, she went back to the living room. The novel she’d been reading earlier lay closed on the coffee table, the idea of immersing herself in someone else’s life no longer appealing to Jodie. Just when she began to wonder what on earth she might do for the next several hours, Jarvis and Leon walked in.

  “You can watch TV or something if you want to,” offered Jarvis.

  “You have a TV?” Looking around the room, Jodie thought for certain she’d gone mad. The room boasted nothing electronic at all.

  “Of course we have TV,” Leon rolled his eyes.

  Jarvis opened a drawer in one of the coffee tables and pulled out a remote control. At the touch of a button, one of the paintings on the wall slid aside, revealing the largest flat screen TV Jodie had ever seen.

  “It’s like being at the movies,” she breathed, feeling incredibly stupid a split second later.

  “Kinda,” chuckled Jarvis. “What do you want to watch?”

  “Never give a woman control of the remote!” Leon groaned.

  “Do you have a movie channel?” Jodie dismissed Leon’s protest with a grin.

  “Sure, we have all the channels.” Jarvis pulled up a TV guide on screen.

  Jodie could tell that her choice had surprised them both, though neither commented as they settled in to watch the horror film. When the movie had finished, Leon raided Danny’s cabinet and made them all drinks. Cocktails weren’t Jodie’s specialty; therefore she had no idea what they should have tasted like. I don’t think he has the mix right, she thought. No drink should taste like this on purpose. As her grandfather would have said – enough to put hairs on your chest. After just two of the silly things Jodie felt quite tipsy.

  The evening seemed to drag on forever. At some point Mark and Doug joined them and out came the cards. More liquor appeared, relaxing everyone enough to provide plenty of laughs. Jodie had never spent much time around Doug, she didn’t avoid him per say, but he always left her feeling on edge.

  Being proven wrong came as a pleasure in this instance.

  He had quite a dry sense of humor. When Jodie first met him she’d been under the impression that Doug didn’t like her, that initial analysis had been wrong. Doug was just different. While his sharp wit could be a little abrupt and his silent and expressionless gazes unnerving, it opened Jodie’s eyes to how she perceived people. She hadn’t realized how much she relied on a person’s countenance to interpret the tone of their conversation.

  With Doug, offence came often to those didn’t know him. The fact that he treated everyone else the same way he treated Jodie helped, knowing she hadn’t been singled out made it seem less insensitive. Moreover, she suspected his casual indifference to be a façade. Jodie believed he saw far more than he pretended to, closeting away snippets of information for future use.

  Between Doug’s card counting and Leon’s cheating, Jodie had to keep her wits about her just to stay in the game. She had no chance at all of winning but felt determined to at least keep up. By the time Mark and Leon were ready to go to bed, Jodie’s words were slurring and she had to lean on Mark just to make the walk to the bedroom. She had a random lucid moment where she wondered if they had gotten her drunk on purpose to try to relax her, though it passed quickly. How can happy and relaxed be a bad thing?

  They chose Mark’s bedroom after he refused to sleep in Leon’s room. He offered no explanation why and it made no difference to Jodie. Momentary concern passed through her mind at there being only one wall between where she slept and where Danny would sleep, however she concluded that the distance between Eddie’s room and Mark’s, in relation to Danny’s wasn’t that different. Eddie’s room had felt safe enough.

  Mark’s pictures had all been reframed and rehung. Seeing them brought to mind how they had become broken in the first place, which Jodie didn’t want to be thinking about right now. She tried to push the thoughts out of her head, standing near the door and shifting the weight awkwardly from one foot to the other.

  She felt drunk enough that she hadn’t started stressing out, but she was still Jodie. How to proceed appropriately eluded her and therefore she did nothing. Uncertain whether she should wait for someone else to get into the bed or just dive right on in, Jodie dithered about and chewed on her lower lip.

  Unlike with Eddie’s room, Mark’s bed could be accessed from both sides. Nobody had to scoot across to make room for each other. Even if she did get in first, Jodie would have to choose which side to sleep on. Damn it, why couldn’t she just make her legs move? One foot in front of the other, take a step you dimwit! The liquor induced fog lifted leaving Jodie far too coherent. Damn it.

  “Well I’m not standing around all night waiting,” declared Leon as he stripped down to his boxers and climbed in.

  Jodie stole a glance at Mark searching for something in the closet and got in beside Leon. He’d rolled over so his back already faced Jodie. As her legs slid between the sheets, her eyes fell upon a twisted line of flesh. Leon had an enormous scar that she’d somehow never noticed. It began small and narrow near the base of his left ear, widening as it ran down to the base of his shoulder blade. An impressive battle trophy and one Jodie supposed must have earned him a globe. From what she’d learned about Therians, it would have had to come from a silver weapon, the only thing that could leave permanent scarring.

  She made herself comfortable and waited for Mark to come to bed. He said nothing as he lay down and put his head on the pillow. Facing away from her, both men fell asleep in no time but Jodie couldn’t relax. Regardless of the amount of suspicious cocktails she had consumed, Jodie couldn’t have been more alert.

  She’d gotten to know Eddie quite well, so while it felt a little weird sleeping in the same bed as him Ainsley and Adam, there came a degree of co
mfort and familiarity with them. Between the ‘almost’ changes, she’d actually slept.

  Jodie didn’t know Mark or Leon well at all. It had nothing to do with safety, she knew they could and would protect her if she needed it. Jodie felt like she’d violated her own personal code of honor, being in bed with two unfamiliar men wasn’t something she’d ever imagined herself doing.

  Jodie’s first episode came at 2am, the second at 4am. The disappointment over not managing to make it through the entire night without drama crushed her. Logically she should have been proud, having lost it twice as many times the night before. This should have been a sign of improvement. It didn’t placate her and if anything, she grew more frustrated.

  Jodie felt relieved that Mark and Leon had enough energy between them to halt her change, but she longed to have her privacy back and couldn’t wait for the day when she could control herself enough to spend the night alone.

  Eddie looked up from his newspaper and smiled at them as the trio shuffled into the kitchen the next morning. Jodie could smell mushrooms and hash browns over at the stove where Rufus stood at a skillet.

  Oh God, I’m so hungry. Almost salivating, Jodie flew over to the table to sit down with Eddie. Mark wandered over to the stove to give Rufus a hard time and Rufus chided him for sleeping late enough that somebody else had to cook. As the familiar banter fell into play, Jodie’s comfort levels rose. Content to let the guys dominate the conversation, she ate her meal in silence.

  “How was last night?” Eddie asked, forcing her to participate.

  “Okay I guess,” Jodie shrugged, exhibiting little enthusiasm.

  “You did fine,” Mark insisted as he wolfed down his breakfast.

  “Two incidents and both resolved without too much drama.” Leon added.

  Eddie grinned. “That’s great Jodie!”

  Still unconvinced, Jodie became engrossed with the surface of the table top. Running her finger along the grain and curling the tip around a small knothole, she attempted to stay tuned in.

  “We should go to the beach today,” suggested Rufus.

  “Isn’t it a little cold?” Jodie frowned, though she appreciated the subject change.

  “Tell me, do you actually feel cold, or is that your brain talking?” Mark asked.

  “It’s only just the start of spring.”

  “Your body temperature runs hotter now,” Eddie said and gestured to his shirtless torso. “Why do you think we avoid clothes whenever we can? It’s much more comfortable, besides why create unnecessary laundry?” He put on his killer smile and shoved his meal aside in favor of some coffee.

  Jodie thought about that for a minute, her brows drawn into a perturbed expression.

  “I’m not in the mood for the beach.” Leon announced. “If she doesn’t want to go I’m sure that between Doug, Adam and I we can keep her safe.”

  “Thanks,” Jodie said, “but I think I’d like to go.”

  Leon shrugged, accepting it without argument and went back to eating his breakfast. Jodie hoped she hadn’t upset him. The past few days he’d made a few concessions with her and the last thing she wanted to do was throw it back in his face. Offering a smile as she collected up the empty plates, Jodie hoped it would be enough.

  As they cleaned the kitchen, they discussed the details of the outing. Two vehicles became necessary when Eddie decided to invite Ains and Laura. Jodie chose to ride with Mark, Rufus, and Jarvis, leaving Danny and Eddie to swing by to pick up the other women.

  On the banks of the Pohutukawa River near the Heads, Redcliffe boasted a small beach. The harbor always teamed with fishing boats and other leisure craft, making the swimming zone rather small. The river ran quite close to the bluffs as it met the ocean and the crowded strip of sand technically flanked the river, not the open sea. Its beauty held a certain charm, but would not be ideal for a great ‘beach experience’.

  A twenty-minute drive away, Kohi Beach posed a stark contrast. The road to get there snaked over a large hill and wound its way down to the coast below. The amazing view that waited at the crest of the hill was postcard-worthy. The vast expanse of water, all blue and green, stretched out unblemished from coast to horizon.

  Native forest dotted the hills overlooking the beach and some large pohutukawa trees grew along the grass verge next to the road. Jodie loved the way their majestic branches twisted upward to the sky, while their enormous red flowers hung from the branches like soft chunky pom-poms. The flowers that granted the pohutukawa the title of The NZ Christmas Tree were absent right now of course, with it only being September.

  While they waited for Eddie to catch up, Jodie kicked off her shoes and tossed them over by Mark’s truck. Without a second thought, she leapt up into the lower branches of one of the nearby trees and shimmied her way to the top. Jodie had never been good at tree climbing so she felt somewhat euphoric at being able to do this with such ease.

  Sitting in the topmost branches looking out over the white capped waves, Jodie breathed in the clean salty sea air. However temporary, it felt soothing and all Jodie’s problems seemed to melt away.

  “She’s such a cat,” Jarvis said to Rufus, shaking his head.

  “Well bro, she’s sure better at climbing trees than last time we saw her do it,” Rufus responded with his trademark booming laugh.

  Rufus and Jarvis leaned against the truck, arms folded over their expansive chests as they watched Jodie. Dressed in beach shorts and wife beaters the two men looked out of place for a crisp spring morning, it would be a couple of months before it got warm enough for most beach-goers.

  Mark retrieved two large cooler bags and a backpack from the rear of the vehicle, handing them to Rufus and Jarvis. Going back to the truck, he emerged a second time laden with sports equipment and towels. Towels? They were really going to swim today?

  “We’re heading down to the sand now Jodie, are you coming?” Mark called.

  Scrambling down a few branches, Jodie sailed gracefully to the ground and ran to catch up. The speed in which the guys set up the picnic gave hint to how often they did this. Though there were just three of them, they had it all down to a military precision. The beach tent had been erected, the towels and picnic blanket were laid out, and all the equipment stacked up alongside in a tidy pile.

  Just as Jodie started helping the guys set up a volleyball net, Eddie’s green SUV pulled into the parking lot. Ainsley came bounding over and threw her arms around Jodie.

  “Hi!” She exclaimed with a typical ten thousand watt

  Ainsley smile. “How are you doing?”

  “Pretty good,” Jodie smiled back, toying with her braid. “Did last night go okay?”

  “I had two incidents, so slightly better than the night before.”

  “That’s great,” Ainsley beamed

  Touched that Ains would show such an interest in her predicament, Jodie wanted to hug her all over again.

  “Ains, did Eddie tell you about your dress?”

  “Yeah, it’s okay, I know it was an accident.” Ainsley waved away the concern.

  “It must’ve been an expensive dress, I’ll replace it.”

  Shaking her head, Ains dropped her gaze, still smiling. “It’s an original; I had it made for my cousin’s wedding last summer.”

  Okay, now I feel even worse. Jodie sagged in defeat. “Can I take you shopping and buy something else to replace it?” “Honestly Jodie, it’s just a dress.”

  Making a mental note to think of a way to make it up to her, Jodie nodded and decided to let it go. “Thanks for being so good about it... and thanks for all your support these past couple of days. It means the world to me.”

  “Hey you,” Laura had made her way over at last. Unless it involved exercising, Laura didn’t run and she most definitely did not ‘bound’ like Ainsley did.

  “Hi.”

  Jodie felt frustrated at herself for the silly shy tone. It’s Laura, there’s no shy with Laura. What am I doing? Ainsley’s ostrich radar must have
gone off because she smiled and made an excuse to go and talk to Eddie. Jodie watched her go, conflicted about her departure.

  “So your life kinda went off the charts the past couple of days.”

  Jodie nodded. That was Laura-speak for ‘give me all the juicy details’. So Jodie gave Laura her version of events. She knew that Ainsley had probably told her most of it, Jodie just confirmed specifics and gave Laura a bigger picture. She seemed most unimpressed with what Danny had done, clicking her tongue in disgust. Slinging an arm around Jodie’s shoulders, Laura squeezed a little when she listened to the recount of the awful moments before her first change. The gesture had been enough to let Jodie know that Laura validated the trauma suffered.

  Somehow Jodie got through the whole thing without bursting into tears. She needed to change the subject fast, asking Laura how Ainsley was coping didn’t make much of an improvement but had been the first thing that sprang to mind. A brief silence followed as Laura chose her words. Ainsley had held it together long enough to go to her dentist appointment, then she’d come home and fallen to pieces.

  The night with Eddie, Adam and Jodie had been the scariest thing Ains had ever been through. Jodie wished with all her heart that she could undo it. Poor Ains, I’m so sorry. It made Jodie even more proud of her for coming to the beach and being brave enough to ask how things had been going.

  Laura’s blonde ponytail whipped about her neck as she turned to look back at everyone else. As soon as Eddie had arrived with Danny and the girls, everyone had congregated around the picnic blanket and the food. Danny had been watching them both and after she’d exchanged a brief eye contact with him, Laura turned her attention back to Jodie.

  “It must be hard being around him after what’s happened.”

  “It is. At first I couldn’t bear it, all I wanted to do was go back home. Well, until I realized how dangerous that would be. I’m fitting in well at the Fortress, the awkwardness between

  Danny and I is all that is spoiling it.”

  “The Fortress?” Laura raised an eyebrow.

  “Did I say that out loud?” Giggling self-consciously,