Toy Wolf

Chapter 34: heading home

A couple hours later, Grant and I were sitting on the front steps each with a bag in our laps. Neither of us spoke. Grant wore a black long sleeved shirt despite the heat. Still, he shivered as if he was cold, holding the bag he had packed tightly between his hands.

"I wish you would have killed her, Conor," Grant told me, breaking the silence. "I wish I could have killed her."

"She would have torn you limb from limb," I scoffed. "You saw me yesterday. Neither of us would have had a chance in a fair fight."

"It wasn't a fair fight," Grant pointed out. "You had her. Who knows what she'll do now?"

Ralph pulled up to the manor in a familiar pick up truck. I smiled at it and rose from my seat on the steps. Ralph emerged from the truck, rushing to me. Aidan and Keith hopped out a moment later, eyeing Grant warily.

"Are you..." Ralph began.

I hugged him fiercely. Grant cleared his throat.

"There's a fuel pump around the corner of the garage," he said, pointing. "Gas or diesel?"

"Diesel," Keith replied.

Ralph tossed Keith the keys and they took the truck around back. Ralph sighed.

"How are you?" he asked.

"I don't want to talk about it. Can we just go home?"

He clapped me on the shoulder. "Is Grant coming with us?"

I nodded. "I'll take care of him. He has fully turned through."

Ralph pulled me into another hug. I closed my eyes, feeling weary. My chest hurt like had been stabbed. Was this what being heartbroken was like? I didn't care for it.

Aidan grabbed our bags and we walked around the side of the manor. He slung the bags in the back and I helped him fold down the seat.

"I'm glad we were able to get fuel here," Ralph said. "I was telling the boys that we were going to have to get out and push it back into town."

Keith and Aidan chuckled. Grant and I tried to manage smiles, but didn't quite succeed. Once the truck was full, Grant took a length of rope, opening up the gas tank and lowered it in. Ralph frowned but didn't say anything. Grant had suggested this earlier and I couldn't think of a better solution.

"There's too much evidence," I explained. "And everyone's dead. This is the simplest way."

"Well then," he sighed. "Do what you need to. I can't say that I'm very sorry."

We lit the rope on fire and clambered into the truck. By the time we made it off the driveway, we heard a large explosion behind us. Grant put his head in his hands and I wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Hunting was my whole life," he whispered. "What do I do now? I'm a..."

He couldn't say it. He wasn't so much older than me, I reminded myself.

"You'll still hunt," Keith told him. "Boar if you're not a pansy. Squirrels if you're Susie Lynn and still cry over Bambi."

"Or steaks and barbeque sauce when your brother can't remember to put them in the correct freezer," Aidan teased. "I hunted for days for those T-bones."

That elicited a smile from Grant.

"Have you called Mel yet?" I asked.

"Not yet," Ralph admitted. "I want to get farther down the road. She's going to find out about a gas explosion in New Mexico and assume that it was our fault."

"It was our fault," Aidan pointed out.

"I know that, but I don't want the lecture quite yet."

"If we call her now she won't know," I maintained. "I'll talk to her."

Ralph fumbled with his pockets and passed me the phone. I dialed Mel's number and waited for her to pick up.

"Ralph?" she inquired.

"It's Conor," I said. "We're headed home."

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