The Chronicles of Beast and Man (22 page)

“And payment?”

Rod had wished Xerxes had not mentioned anything about a payment, especially not with deputy Dolgen in the room.

“Yes of course. Everything is taken care of.”

Xerxes then nodded and excused himself out of the building.

Once alone, Dolgen rushed over to Rod’s desk to speak to him. “What the hell was that?”

“That might just be the way we are going to put an end to this entire freaking mess.” Rod said with a scowl.

“That guy? I’ve seen him around town, he seems strange.”

“You have no idea, but like I said, he might be just what we needed…in some odd way.”

Thomas did not say anything after. For a minute he stared blankly at Rod, he could not believe how strange things had become but he himself could not think of a better possible solution.

Sitting there in disgust that he had to resort to paying some strange wanderer to help him, he felt empty. He felt alone, and then a feeling began to stir from within his loins. He had a need to reach out and touch someone. He understood that after the next night he might not be able to do it again. The chances of he or the other men surviving were slim. He needed Marcy, he didn’t care what Matthew had said. He needed her now…

He brought his cell phone out from his pocket and sent her a text message.

She would not reply. When she received the message she immediately deleted it.

-

Rod hadn’t sent her a text message in over two months, but now he does out of the blue? He certainly did not have very good timing, especially now that she was working hard to keep a healthy relationship with her husband. After she deleted the new message she thought about going ahead and texting him back, telling him yes. She wanted to drop everything and run to the motel as fast as she could. It took everything she had to not do so. She was going to have to be strong.

It was amazing that even after the confrontation with her husband, and the thought of losing her family; she could still feel this way for this man. He had an unrealistic amount of control over her. She hated him for this but loved it at the same time as well. The entire situation was very much unfair to her. Months ago, when Rod had asked her before about regrets, she had lied. She definitely had regrets, but those were hers to live with. She could only hope that as she grew older and her children grew up that her regrets could become next to nothing.

-

The rest of Rod’s day was riddled with thoughts of Marcy. He decided to take off early,
leaving his duties in the hands of Deputy Dolgen. Before leaving, he also confided in Dolgen that he would not be coming in to work at all the next day, he was going to need Dolgen to assume his position. But because of their activities to take place later that night, he would not need to come in until two or three in the afternoon. Part of Dolgen was excited by this but he was also a little confused. The unusual leave of absence on Rod’s part surely meant that he was more than a little worried about the hunt about to take place. Everything was beginning to feel all too real. Dolgen could only hope that they were not getting in a situation that they were not prepared for.

It was four o’clock in the afternoon now, Rod could not help himself, he text Marcy again.

I know things are screwed up. But I really need to see you!!!

Again Marcy would not answer him. As much as she might have wanted to, she would not answer.

-

She had not expected him to be so persistent; she was puzzled by his sudden renewed interest in her. Within the last few hours she had gone from not hearing anything more than a sentence from him, to getting two text messages asking her to meet him. She hadn’t spoken to Matthew about what had exactly happened between him and Rod, but she was certain that it was not pleasant.

For a moment, she debated on answering Rod’s message only to tell him to leave her alone. But it was far too hard for her, she could not do it. She could only hope that silence would be enough of an answer to get her point across.

What Marcy did not know was that Rod had just finished his first bottle of beer and would soon start his second. The more alcohol he would consume the more he would want to see her.

The clock moved ever so slow as Rod sipped on his beer and surfed through the cable channels. He had hoped of finding something on that might steer his attention away from thoughts of Marcy, or the insane hunt about to take place the next day.He got up from his recliner and retrieved a new beverage. He stopped at his back door before going back to his living room. He looked out at his snow covered back yard, then up to the stars and at the waning moon staring back down at him in a most foreboding way. He cursed the moon; he cursed the beast and life itself.

He was desperate for a way out, so desperate that he had asked for the assistance of a complete stranger. Perhaps he had made the wrong decision; maybe he had been making the wrong decisions the entire time. He didn’t know, didn’t care, as long as the ones he made tomorrow were the absolute right ones. There was no perfect way to handle an imperfect situation such as this. He would have to expect the unexpected and see what is left after the smoke clears, in a matter of speaking. He had no more time for regret, he already regretted too much in his life. He then reached into his pocket and began to text Marcy again.

C
ome out and see me!

This was the message Marcy read when she opened the new text message. She was busy now attempting to cook supper for her family. She could not deal with this message right now. She closed the phone and went back to preparing the lasagna for the oven. She was not sure what was going on, she had never experienced anything like this from Rod, other guys in the past, sure. But, Rod was never the type to bother a girl. He was far too confident to do something like that.

Quickly she stopped what she was doing and typed up a message.

I can’t

Yes you can.

It did not even take a minute for Rod to reply back to her.

Marcy looked over her shoulder toward the front door which she could see perfectly from the kitchen. If Matthew happened to walk in the door at that moment she would have to face the possibility of explaining who she was texting.

You know I can’t
.

After sending the message she carefully turned her cell phone completely off in fear that Matthew might walk in the door at any moment. She was not interested in
having her cell phone buzzing every two minutes.

Fortunately,
she made the right decision, because it was not long before Matthew did in fact walk in. As she set up the table for dinner she could not get Rod Truex out of her mind. She was so consumed by his unusual behavior that she excused herself during the meal, and went to the bathroom to check her phone.

You can do anything you want!

She read Rod’s words and began to consider what all this meant. She was having serious thoughts of meeting with him. She could not lie to herself. She had been yearning for it with a thirst comparable to that of a man lost in the desert. The longer she remained in the bathroom staring at the message, the more she began to pine for him.

OK, pick me up outside my house at midnight!

She sent the message and almost immediately wished that she hadn’t. Her mind had not changed about wanting to see Rod. She just could not believe that she did not have the self-control to stop herself. She was putting her relationship with her husband and family in question, and she couldn’t do anything about it.

-

When Rod read the text he was amazed. He placed his beer down on the kitchen table, changed out of his uniform and took a shower. His excitement was growing so much, that he was afraid that he might not be able to wait until midnight. He wanted to rush right out the door and steal Marcy away from Matthew and her family. This thought confused him, because as guilty as the thought made him, it was true. He wished that he could change things and make her love him as much as he knew she loved them. That was not to be…but he could have her all to himself tonight, and perhaps maybe somehow if he is lucky the night would never end.

The beast was still out there. Somewhere it was lurking in the back of his mind, waiting, stalking his every breath.

Rod did his best to push his thoughts of the savage beast out of his mind. He was going to deal with it soon enough, for now he only wanted to concentrate on Marcy.

-

When it was finally time he drove slowly through the snow covered streets until he came to the Russell family home. He parked and waited, he remembered that he had a pistol under the seat, it had been there for two years. He had completely forgotten about it, but now he was glad it was there. If Matthew decided to take matters in his own hands, he could counter act any such attack. But he was not really worried about that, he did not believe anything was going to happen. Then he saw Marcy walking across the yard through the furiously blowing snow. He smiled as she began to run to him. She opened the door to his truck, gave him a satisfying smile in return, shut the door and they drove away.

Marcy thought that her plan to sneak away had been completely successful. She had done everything just as she always did, she fed the kids, helped them brush their teeth, read them a bedtime story, and waited to go to bed until they were asleep. She then went to bed with her husband and waited to leave until she was sure that he was completely asleep. She dressed herself in a long coat to hide the fact that she was wearing nothing more than her night gown. But, as she ran across the front lawn, she had no idea that Matthew was watching her from the upstairs bedroom window.

Matthew could not believe it, she had done it again. Despite his words and his actions, she had done it again. Just as he was about to get dressed and follow them he glanced up to the sky. He saw the moon peering down upon the entire town, no secrets could be hidden from the moon. She saw and knew everything, it was then that Matthew decided to take a different course of action, he would not follow them. Instead he would wait.

-

With great excitement Rod drove as fast as he could. He turned down Randolph Street, than down Maple. He was shaking with excitement now; it was as if he were a teenager about to have sex for the first time. Not even two blocks from Marcy’s house they came to a stop sign, an old familiar song came on the radio. Rod shifted the truck into park, their eyes met. They began pressing their lips against one another. As their lips locked in a long drawn out moment his hands began to wander, he moved his left hand to her hip, his right moved down her legs. Their bodies were afire with a passion that they both had been yearning for. She then opened her coat to reveal her silk night gown. She then locked on to the back of his neck and pushed her breasts up against his face. The energy and excitement was overtaking her as it coursed through her body. She then moved her right hand down to his groin. She could feel the heat swelling through his jeans. She only felt it for a moment. He quickly pulled away and removed his jeans in record setting time. As he did this she also removed her red silk panties and threw her leg over his midsection and felt him slide inside her. Their bodies began moving up and down, in a rhythmic pattern, each time more gratifying then the last. She wrapped her hands around the back of his head and pulled him close as she moaned with pleasure. It was still hard for her to believe how good sex with him could be after all those years.

-

An hour later they pulled up outside of her house, both felt satisfied, but this was different than the other times. There was a feeling of fulfillment that had never been there before.

Marcy undid her seat belt, went to give Rod a smile and leave, but suddenly he reached out and grabbed her by the arm. She turned to see him looking at her intensely.

“I love you.” He said softly.

There was a time in her life when she could have quickly replied to this statement. She wanted to feel the same way that he did, but she simply could not. Yes, she desired him. She had even yearned for him, but love him?

She did not.

“I don’t…” She whispered back.

He smiled, “and I always will.”

With that said, she opened the door and left, she walked across the front lawn and into the house, and out of Rod’s life forever.

-

When Marcy walked in the house she found Matthew sitting in the dark, waiting on her.
Somehow he had found out,
she thought. She could not believe it, what could she do? What could she even say?