Chapter 18

Things had finally fallen into place for me. It is such an intangible thing to describe. There is no possible way to even begin to describe the way I felt. It's something that one can only relate to if it happens to them. Amber, Claudette, Mark, they were all part of me. Amber and Claudette were the pieces of the puzzle that had never fit right, and Mark…well Mark was just finally with me and part of me as well.

So many years had passed in my life which I chose to push out of my memories, so many years of raw suffering with a hatred for Mark riding with it. For years all I could think of when I saw Mark, even if we were friendly, was darkness and hatred and evil. But after Claudette was born and we really came together all I could think of was light, and happy things. And he was like a second father to Claudette and the second husband to my wife. He was there for them and he was there for me, all past things behind us. And that was what struck me so hard.

But then was a hideous reunion. He came.

How he found Amber's address I don't know. If he weren't so fuckin' fat I might call him a snake in the grass…but things being as they are maybe a whale in the grass or at least an elephant. But anyway, about a week after our wedding anniversary, we were at Amber's and she had gone out grocery shopping while I was home with Claudette. She was getting bigger, of course, and giggled almost constantly. The day that it happened I had been feeding her as she sat in my lap, and at the same time I read to her. I was on page 80 of The Queen of the Damned.

" 'I'm not hungry, let's get out of here,' Daniel had answered weakly. Yet suddenly dish after dish was being placed on the table; everyone was staring.

" 'I didn't know what you wanted,' Armand confided, the smile becoming absolutely ecstatic. 'So I ordered everything that they had.'" I laughed as I read, though I'm sure that Claudette didn't understand what I was saying. Or what Anne Rice was saying really. But as I was reading there came a knock at the door. I put the book down and stood, holding Claudette and walking to the door. I opened it and my stomach twisted.

I put my free arm protectively over Claudette, holding her in both arms, which I rarely did due to my size. I spoke in a low voice. "What the hell do you want?"

Paul smiled up at me, that evil, twisted grin that I hadn't missed at all. It hit me painfully. "Can I come in?" he asked. His voice still had that high sounding whine to it.

"No," I answered coldly and bluntly. "Answer me. What do you want?"

He sighed, nonchalant as he leaned against the doorframe and smiled some more. "Now Kane, I'm here to be friendly. I didn't expect such coldness from you. I just came by to say hello and tell you the good news."

"Well you fucking should expect coldness," I said, and then paused. "What news?"

He laughed. "Didn't Vince tell you? I got a new contract. We'll be seeing each other often now."

I shook my head, looking away from him. Thinking of Mark. "Why do you do this?" I asked him, the anger in my voice melting only because I was feeling hurt and swallowing too many memories.

"Why do I do what? Make a living?"

"There are plenty of other things you could be doing," I snapped. "Why do you have to do this? Haven't you had enough of fucking up my life?"

Mock hurt covered his face. "Why Kane, what do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean! You fucking killed my parents and turned my brother against me and took away the only innocence I ever had! Don't give me any of this bullshit I know why you're here and you can't get to me anymore! I have a life now and I'm not going to let you ruin it you fat fuck!"

Claudette let out a little whine, disturbed by the volume of my voice and I rocked her a bit and kissed the top of her head. Paul let out another one of his malignant chuckles. "Calm down. You can be so gentle with that child, you should be gentle with me."

"No!" I snapped at him. "Don't you fuckin' even acknowledge this child. You will never come in contact with her as long as I'm around or Mark."

"Mark…" he sighed. "That boy has some problems too…he's been talking about you awfully spiteful-"

"Oh would you shut the fuck up? That worked when I was ten. I'm not a kid anymore that doesn't work. Why don't you crawl back into the hole you came from."

"Kane I'm not going to play with-"

"Hey," I said sarcastically and angrily, "I know something you can play. Hide and gofuckyourself."

He just stared at me for a long moment. As he started to say something I heard footsteps coming up the steps and looked up to see Amber with an armful of paper bags. She stopped when she saw us standing there and glared at Paul, knowing fully well who he was. After a moment of glaring she walked to the door, pushed past him and walked inside, putting the bags down and then reappearing beside me. I didn't even seem to notice when she took Claudette from me and held her as my eyes were locked on Paul.

Amber glared at him as well. He looked to her and grinned. "What the fuck are you doing here?" she hissed.

"You, too, huh?" he sighed. "Well I figured that you two would be happily married."

"We are," she stated, and leaned against me as she held Claudette to her chest. "And that doesn't concern you." With that she closed the door, locking it and turned around to walk into the foyer. I followed her, happy with what she'd done, feeling a bit foolish because I'd never had the courage to do that myself.

She walked into the living room and sat down in one of the armchairs, letting Claudette lay in the crook of her arm. Her head tilted to the side as she looked down at her daughter and with her free hand rubbed some of her fuzzy hair back. "What did he want?" she asked, quiet, distracted as she concentrated on Claudette.

I walked in and sat down on the couch, facing them from across the room. I picked up The Queen of the Damned and closed it, making a mental note of the page. "I don't know," I said to her. "He just wants to taunt me. He says that he has a new contract…I'll have to yell at Vince about that. I don't know what the hell Vince's problem is. Eh. Shit I have to call Mark."

I walked into the kitchen and grabbed the phone off the counter where I had left it, dialing Mark's cell. He picked up a few moments later. "Uhloh?"

I laughed, recognizing the Jerky Boys impression. "I fell down the stayas and my shoes fell off." We both laughed for a moment. I sighed. "Dude Paul just came by…"

He was silent for a moment. "What did he want?"

"He came to tell me that he had a new contract…"

"Shit…okay. Well I have a match. I'll talk to Vince. I'll call you later, okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

We hung up. I made myself useful and unpacked the groceries that Amber had left on the counter. As I did this I heard from the living room the familiar sounds of Libera Me and shortly after Brad Pitt's quiet voice saying "So you want me to tell you the story of my life…" Amber was watching Interview again. I didn't blame her. Neither of us seemed to get enough of that movie. It was late afternoon then and I started to cook dinner, putting something on the stove before walking out into the living room and sitting down with her. Claudette had fallen asleep on her and she looked a bit uncomfortable, wanting to shift but not being able to. I laughed softly and picked up the child, bringing her carefully into her room where I set her down in the crib. She didn't wake, and when I walked back into the living room I found that Amber had moved to the couch, lying down and watching the movie, subconsciously mouthing the words as they poured out of the speakers of the television.

"…1791 was the year it happened…"

I sat down with her, watching the movie, every few minutes getting up to go check on the cooking food. By the time Louis had attacked Yvette it was done, and I served the food and brought the plates into the living room to put them down on the coffee table. Amber seemed very tired and melancholy.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

She sighed. "I…I don't know. I'm just a little stressed out."

"Why?" I asked softly, not meaning to press her but just be calm.

"Paul…I was hoping that he'd never come. I just feel like…I'm feeling everything that you told me about and I'm having bad feelings about him. I don't want him traveling with us. I don't want him anywhere near Claudette," she sighed. "Can we get a restraining order without like a real cause? Like a cause of something that happened recently?"

"I don't know…listen, I don't like this either but let's just give it a few weeks and see how everything is. I don't think he'd even try to get to Claudette. If he did I'd kill him. Or Mark would. Trust me on that one. Just calm down. We're leaving tomorrow night. Just be calm. Rest. We have a big week."

"I know, Kane, I know, but I just don't feel good about this."

"Amber I understand. I told you that. Don't think I'm not feeling this. But just be calm. I promise I won't let anything happen to either of you."