Chapter 9

While Jeeves petted and chortled happily over Bandit, Lester made a cup of tea for Red, which Tsugi brought to her along with another beer for Darwin. He cracked it open with a deft hand, his blue eyes on Red while she sipped her tea.

"So how long you been on the run, girl?" Darwin demanded.

"About…about three years."

"You should have gotten better at it by now."

Red ducked her head slightly, rubbing her scar, and didn't quite know what to say to that. Darwin leaned back on the sofa, relaxed and confident. But even at rest there was something indescribably menacing about him. They all had it, all three of the brothers. Like the blue eyes they shared and the soft country-boy accents, the palpable sense of danger and even ruthlessness adhered to them like perfume to a rose. Red jumped slightly when Tsugi touched her shoulder.

"I'm going to make up the guest room for you. It's at the very end of the hall across from the stairs to the basement. I'll put a pan of cat litter in there, and some food and water for your pet. And I'll add a few extra blankets to your bed. This old place is a bit drafty. I have a feeling the rains aren't finished tonight. If you get too cold, feel free to come out here to the living room and sleep on the couch. It's the warmest spot in the whole house."

"I can't thank you enough."

Jeeves hugged Bandit to his chest and tickled his furry belly, then looked at Red.

"Kin I have him in ma' room someday fer a night? Dar won't let me have a kitty."

"Last thing we need is for you to roll over and kill something else in your bed, Jeeves. No means no."

"I ain't that bad. I wouldn't hurt a kitty even by accident. Yew juss have a mean, Darwin." Jeeves grumbled, sulking. Lester patted his shoulder, and Red felt a small stab of pity in her heart. She reached up and rubbed Bandit's head lovingly.

"Jeeves, would you be very, very gentle with him?"

The huge man looked at her guardedly, then nodded. His bottom lip quivered slightly.

"Yeah. He's real nice. I kin be gentle with fuzzies."

"You ain't never read 'Of Mice And Men', did ya." Darwin interjected. Red ignored him.

"I believe you. Of course you can sleep with Bandit in your room. Just please leave the door open a crack. And we'll need to move the litter pan and food and water from the guest room to yours." Red said softly, worry giving way to compassion.

This time, Jeeves's face didn't just light up…he glowed. So much joy lit his features that it broke her heart to see the expression. He hugged the black and white cat to his chest and tears sparkled in the corners of his big blue eyes.

"Yew mean it? I kin have the kitty in ma' room tonight? Fer real?"

"Love of God, here we go." Darwin tipped his head back against the sofa and shut his eyes in mock exasperation. Lester laughed and rubbed Jeeves's shoulder fondly, the way a soldier would pat his favorite combat canine.

"Yes," Red said warmly, and she actually felt a smile lifting her own face. Jeeves carefully set Bandit aside and leaned forward to grip her hand in one of his huge warm paws, hauling her up off the floor and against the broad muscular plain of his hard chest. He gave her a squeeze, and something popped in her back.

"GAH!" she squeaked.

"Jeeves! Be gentle! She's a city thing!" Lester cautioned. Jeeves relaxed his grip, snuffling her hair.

"Thank yew, Red. Yer ma' friend now." He rumbled. And Red, her heart softened by equal parts mortal terror and motherly warmth for the big sweet man-child, wriggled a hand free and patted his side.

"You're welcome Jeeves. You're…you're my friend too."

He tugged Bandit back into his lap after a few minutes, relaxing his grip on Red enough to allow her to shift off of his lap and onto the sofa beside him. Uncomfortably close to Darwin, pressed against his side. She started to get up.

"Stay there. You feel kinda good." Darwin told her, and took another sip of beer. He didn't look at her. There was a very long, awkward silence. Finally, Lester rose to his feet.

"Well. I think it's about time fer me ta get a start on dinner. Tsugi, you wanna help me in the kitchen?"

"Of course, Wild One. You look sexy in an apron." Tsugi teased, and got to her feet as well, giving Red a comforting wink in response to her pleading look. The two of them withdrew into the kitchen, and Darwin turned to look down at Red. This close to him she could pick out the golden highlights in the scruffy roguish stubble on his cheeks and chin. God, those eyes. He smirked, and Red had to fight an urge to sigh and swoon like a schoolgirl.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" she thought to herself, but only for a moment. There was nothing wrong with her. He was gorgeous. But she scooted back slightly anyway. Unfortunately, her escape route was blocked by the immense chuckling bulk of Jeeves, who had Bandit laid on his back across his knees, tickling his small black nose with his own tail-tip.

"Who's a nice kitty? Yew're a nice kitty! Who has the longest whiskers? Yew have the longest whiskers! Who has the cutest feet? Yew have the cutest feet! Ah-hah!"

Darwin reached across Red and swatted Jeeves in the back of the head.

"OW!"

"Stop talkin'. Why you gotta talk, goddammit? Take that thing in your room and make out with it there, this is gettin' hard to watch."

"Oh, now…" Red started, but a look from the eldest Tremor silenced her as effectively as a hand over the mouth. Grumbling, Jeeves heaved himself to his feet and carried her best friend with him to his bedroom. But he left the door open as instructed, and after a moment she heard him quietly resume his playful cooing. She relaxed slightly.

"He wouldn't hurt my cat, right?"

Darwin shook his head.

"Probably not. He does love his animals. Got about a hundred of 'em all over the damn place. He thinks I don't know that he feeds them all the stuff he don't want from dinner, but I ain't stupid and he ain't stealthy."

Red was quiet then. She turned back to look into the fire, and scooted away a few inches. This time he let her. He took another sip of beer and sighed.

"Tomorrow if the weather's decent I'll have Lester take a look at your place, see what needs to be fixed and how much it's gonna run. Then I'll have Jeeves cut you enough wood to keep you and the cat warm. I don't want you messing with that hatchet anymore, understand me? We will provide you with fuel."

"Y-yes sir. Thank you. I won't touch the ax again, I promise."

"See that you don't. I'll send a two-way down with Les and Tsugi so that we can communicate whenever we need to. That thing beeps, you answer. I do not care what you are doing at the time. Got it?"

Red nodded. Darwin turned and leaned back against the armrest, lifting his legs up onto the couch, and he unceremoniously draped them across her thighs.

"Rub my feet." He told her. There was a mischievous gleam to his eyes, nearly impish. Red suppressed an urge to pinch him. She gingerly reached down and began to lightly rub the slightly damp be-socked feet in her lap. She said not a word, but when he impatiently sighed and wiggled his toes she rubbed a little harder.

"That's better, girl. Put your back into it." He smiled, and shut his eyes. For a split second, sheer murder flashed through Red's heart. She bit down on the tip of her tongue hard enough to draw blood.

"Dick." She thought sourly. But she kept rubbing, even after she realized he'd fallen asleep. With his eyes closed, his chest slowly rising and falling, strands of wheat-colored hair falling across his forehead…he looked almost sweet. Just a simple country boy resting after a long day. Red's hands stilled on his feet. Stealthily, she reached for his hand and touched it, slipping her fingers underneath his warm, calloused palm. He shifted slightly, grunting in his slumber, and then was still. Red turned her hand over and rubbed the underside of his palm lightly, feeling a not unpleasant warmth in her stomach.

Lester cooked steaks and whipped potatoes while Tsugi quietly laid out the plates and silverware, brought a jug of whiskey to set beside Darwin's place at the head of the table, and filled a large plastic Spongebob cup with grape juice from the refrigerator. As she moved to add another log to the fire, Tsugi glanced over at Red and Darwin on the sofa in the dim light.

"Is he asleep?" she whispered. Swiftly, Red jerked her hand from under his and went back to rubbing his foot, blushing hotly.

"He, I think, I mean…I think so. Yes. He told me to rub his feet, so…"

Tsugi smiled, seeing her discomfiture, and laid the log on the hearth.

"It's a far cry from having you shoot someone in the face, Red. I wouldn't lament it if I were you. Dinner's ready. Slide on out and freshen up in the bathroom down the hall there if you like. I put a pair of Darwin's pants and a t-shirt on your bed. Some warm socks. Get comfortable and come have dinner."

Red didn't need to be asked twice. She carefully scooted to the side and off the couch, gently dropping his feet to the cushions. Then she headed down the hall, past Jeeves's open door. He lay on his stomach on a ludicrously small double bed, watching Bandit wash himself on his pillow. His room was a fascinating mixture of little boy and cold-blooded killer. Crayon art adorned the walls, and an assortment of axes, chainsaws, machetes, sledgehammers, and assault rifles lay propped here and there, or hung from hooks right next to smiling suns over vivid green meadows full of smiling flowers. A large poster of Patrick Starfish and his best friend Spongebob hung reverently over his bed. Kevlar body armor stood on a rack in the corner beside a net of stuffed animals. It was the room of a hard core sociopath, and it gave Red the creeps to the middle of her soul. She paused. Jeeves turned his head to the side, seeing her there. He grinned.

"Hi."

"H-hi. That's a nice….picture of a happy frog."

Jeeves heaved himself up into a sitting position and looked at the picture.

"Yeah, thass one of my favorites. I like how his legs turned out." He said, rubbing his nose. They looked at one another silently. And then Red did something totally uncharacteristic and foolish and brave. She walked into his room and sat down on the bed next to him. Jeeves seemed surprised by this. And as Red realized what she'd done, she was surprised too.

"Bandit seems to like you."

"He's a real nice kitty. Dar won't let me have a kitty. But I feed the ones outside an' also I feed the squirrels an' thangs. I love animals. I feed the mice too but that drives Lester crazy an' then he has a big mad."

His voice was deep. Soft. And those eyes were so blue that they looked like the noon sky. Something about him was so familiar. The childlike speech pattern, the emotional simplicity, the easy shift from anger to joy to sorrow to delight. And then it clicked.

He reminded her of her younger sister.

"Jeeves, do you know what Autism is?"

The massive body shifted beside her, bed springs creaking as he turned to look down at her, and his voice dropped slightly.

"What did yew juss call me?"

Red felt her heart suddenly stop beating in her chest. It came to her that maybe calling a six foot seven, roughly two hundred twenty pound killing machine Autistic in his own room might not be the best way to make nice.

"No!"

"I ain't retarded." He had a hint of a growl in his voice, the sound a grizzly bear makes when it's just waking up. He stared at Red.

She shook her head vigorously and put one hand on his knee.

"Oh God no! Jeeves, no. It does NOT mean retarded! It's…special. You're gifted. It means you're gifted in ways other people aren't. I…shit, I'm doing this wrong. I'm sorry."

He tilted his head, watching her, and then looked down to where her hand rested on his leg. After a moment, he sighed.

"No one's ever said sorry ta me before."

"I am. I mean, being Autistic isn't bad, if you were. My own sister is. Glory. She's a doll, an absolute delight. She's just special. Different in a good way. Jeeves, I never meant to hurt your feelings. I like you."

A big grin broke out on Jeeves's face, and he put his arm around her.

"I like yew too. Thanks fer sayin' I'm special. I like bein' special. Thass nice."

Red relaxed finally, as much as she could relax while pinned between his python-sized arm and his bodybuilder's torso. She looked up at him and patted his chest.

"Absolutely. Now I need to change into something comfortable. And dinner's ready. Are you hungry? I think Lester made steak."

Jeeves got to his feet and stretched, towering over her. He headed for the hallway.

"Thanks, but I don't eat meat. Imma vegetarian." He said brightly, taking a fluffy bathrobe down from a peg on the wall between a serrated bone saw and a set of prison-issue shackles. Then he wandered out. Red blinked, a little stunned by the irony, and went to get ready for dinner.