2 - The Shack
The blathering idiot doesn’t know how to shut oop. – Nessie
When they went inside the large building ironically called the Shack, the Cajuns and Renegades were greeted by a Scottish beauty who Darkness felt a kindred spirit with. Her gentle eyes and understanding smile told him all he needed to know.
“I thought that yeh might be hungry. The girls will take yer bags oop if yeh’d like to follow me to the dining hall.” The Scottish beauty said and the others started to move forward.
Darkness was staring at the bar, listening to the ghost complain about how he was wronged. The large man jumped slightly when the small arm touched his arm.
“Would yeh like a drink?” she smiled up at him.
“No, it’s…” he shook his head, she might think he was crazy. “Never mind.”
She gave him an understanding smile and he understood why he was drawn to her. She could also speak with spirits.
“He doesna know when to shut oop. The others are much more quiet.” Nessie, the beauty with red hair and a similar gift to his own, told him.
“Good.” He returned her smile and held out his hand. “I’m Darkness.”
“Nessie. Yes, just like that Nessie.” She took his hand in hers and traced his palm lines without looking at them. She gave him a knowing look.
“Do you see or hear?” he asked curiously.
“I see. But some will let me hear, if I’m wise enough to listen. I guess that you hear.” She said and he nodded, wondering if she would look at the lines that she was tracing, or if she even needed to. “Yer looking fer someone.” He nodded again. “They’ll find yeh when it’s time. They’re not ready yet. But soon.” She closed his hand into a fist. “Yer not ready yet either.”
“I need to find my light. I’m losing myself.” He quietly admitted.
Nessie nodded in understanding. “Take comfort in knowing that they are out there. When it’s time, she’ll find yeh.”
Darkness thought that it was nice to be around someone else who was also sensitive and could hear the voices. His brothers no longer questioned Darkness about his spirits and their voices. The other Cajuns just accepted that he could hear what they could not.
But meeting someone else who could hear them made him feel a little less crazy.
The problem with hearing the dead was that sometimes, you wanted to ignore them. Turn them off. Tell them to piss off. And no amount of distraction would work.
His distractions from earlier lay on the bed asleep. They were both pretty girls. Early twenties. Busty. One brunette. The other a blonde. And most importantly, willing.
They were willing to do a lot. He could just see the bruises on the blonde’s hips from where he had held her.
There was a dark corner of the room and he had pulled the chair over to it avoiding the little bit of light from the window that was illuminating the two forms on the bed. The security lights outside were shining brightly in the parking lot, and through a one-inch gap in the blackout curtains.
Darkness sat in his element watching the two women sleeping. One shifted in their sleep and then the other moved to accommodate the new position of her bed mate.
No matter what he had done to the women, the voices remained.
They still remained.
They loudly called to him. Bid him to follow. Promised him the only thing that he wanted. What he craved. The light that his dark soul needed.
The promise of finding his light that would guide him out of his own personal hellish darkness, caused him to silently move across the room to pull on his jeans and boots before slipping out of the door. He wasn’t sure where he was going. The soft voice guided him down the wide staircase and through the main room.
He went around the corner and the voice went silent. He started to leave when a pale sliver of light caught his attention. Following the light that promised him salvation, Darkness found a small alcove with large bookcases at either end of the small room and a couch beneath a small wall sconce between them. Curled up on the red couch with a book was a beautiful young woman.
Dirty blonde hair which was long enough to lightly brush her practically bare shoulders, had just enough curl that it was not straight. Long, long legs ending in cute little feet with blue nail polish and a toe ring. She wore cartoon character pajama shorts and a coordinating spaghetti strap shirt. Her arms were just as long as her legs.
She wasn’t toned and fit, but she wasn’t plump and soft. She was perfectly in between. Her heavy breasts were bare under her shirt and if she moved just right, he would see them. He found himself wondering if she would have soft pink nipples or dark brown.
The woman moved to turn the page of her book and he barely caught a glimpse of a light brown areola. Just that little bit made his jeans feel tight. Adjusting himself, he must have caught her attention.
“Sorry, I didn’t think I would wake anyone tonight.” she said softly as she marked her place in the book and looked at him.
He swallowed before he could speak. Never before had he ever thought that glasses were sexy. Those soft green eyes behind the lenses had him seeing the error of his ways.
“You didn’t.” he said in his deep baritone with his Louisiana accent.
“You’re one of the Cajuns.” She smiled and his heart stopped.
Oh, that smile! So sweet and innocent. Full lips and straight white teeth. And adorable dimples in her cheeks.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She blushed prettily and looked away to remove her glasses. “Were you lost?” she looked back up at him.
“Put them back on.” He mentally kicked himself. Why the hell did he say that?
Slipping the thin black frame glasses back on she smiled at him. “Better?”
“Yeah. You’re pretty with them on.” She blushed at his compliment. “I mean you’re pretty without them. But… I’m going to shut up now.”
In his thirty-three years, he had never been like this around a woman before. In the past decade and a half, give or take a few years, he had seduced hundreds of women. And this young woman had him forgetting everything.
Darkness cleared his throat and nodded his head to the book in her lap. “What are you reading?”
She laughed and blushed in embarrassment. “Encyclopedia F. I get insomnia and the doctor recommended reading something boring.”
“Does it help?”
Shaking her head she gave another small laugh. “No. But I always win Trivial Pursuit.”
He chuckled, ignoring the ding of his phone. “I go for a ride to clear my head.”
“Does it help.”
“No.” he smiled.
“Do you drink tea?” she slid her feet into her flip-flops.
“Ever put whiskey in chamomile?”
“Nope.” She stood up and walked past him into the hall. “But I can get schnapps for hot cocoa. You coming?”
His phone was digging again. This time he pulled it out of his pocket. Frowning slightly, he shook his head. “No, darlin’. Can you show me where the chapel is?”
“Yeah.” She took him to the passageway between the two halls. “Go down there and it’ll be on your right.”
“You’re not going to walk with me?” he teased.
She shook her head no and whispered softly, as if she feared being seen. “It’s best if I don’t.”
“Are you with someone?” he asked and hoped to God she was not.
“No.…” The blush was light, but he saw it clearly, even in the darkened hallway.
With a large dark knuckle, he tipped her face up and brushed a kiss across her lips. “Maybe we should change that.” He murmured against her lips before kissing her again.
She blushed darker and looked at him with fear and desire. Before he did something stupid, he pulled back. “Good night, little one.”
Darkness ran his thumb across her bottom lip before leaving her there. He walked down the hall and into the growing crowd in the large chapel. He was surprised to see a sheriff’s deputy in the room.
The deputy was introduced as Dawg and told them that the woman who shot Evie was dead.
Once they were released, he went back to the little alcove. The book was gone. The sconce was dark. There was no sign of his little light.
Undeterred, he turned on the light and was drawn to a black leather-bound book with gold lettering. His fingers tingled as he pulled it off the shelf and opened it. Inside he found a personal inscription from someone named Grams. Sitting down on the red couch he began to read until his eyes finally grew heavy.