Page 7 of Stag

Fucker. I unclenched my fists and pressed them against my thighs.

“I just wanted to keep her safe,” I said finally, and he groaned.

“So you were following her?”

I turned and glared out of the window at the side of the police station building. Those fuckers all had me wrong, but how could I prove otherwise? Nobody ever gave me a chance to find out I’m not such a dick.

“She’s deaf. She won’t hear predators coming at her, so I watch over her.”

Harley was silent, so silent that I finally turned to look at him, and what I saw on his face was surprise. Would it have killed him to look a little less shocked at me doing a good deed? Was I that much of a dick that it seemed so implausible?

“She? I need more details, brother.”

I sighed, looking down to find my fists clenched on my thighs. Jesus. I was wired so fucking tight that my heartbeat was buzzing in my head.

“She’s… she needs protecting. I don’t bother her. I don’t even go near her. I just keep others away.”

“She says you attacked her.”

My fingers felt like they were going to snap, they were clenched so tightly.

“She’s such a fucking cunt.”

“Brother.”

“She is. I didn’t touch her. She shoved me.”

“It doesn’t sound like she wants your help, Stag. You can’t follow her if she’s told you to stay away. I mean, you shouldn’t anyway, but I see what you’re-”

I shook my head, cutting him off midflow. “She’s the sister of the girl I’m watching over. Mouthy bitch. I wouldn’t protect her if she was on fucking fire.”

He blinked, a shocked laugh filling the silence.

“I mean, if she’s the sister of your girl, she might want you to save her if she’s on fire.”

“You get what I mean. I’m watching over her, but this bitch is playing it like I’m some monster. Like I’m following her to be a creep. Like I’m the predator! She’s the one stalking her own fucking sister. Hiding in the shadows, watching her everywhere. It’s twisted.”

Harley shook his head at me. “Brother, listen to yourself. That’s no different to what you say you’re doing. No. Listen for a moment. I get it. You like this lady and you want to watch out for her, but you can’t do that without her consent. She’s not yours because you just blithely decided it from a distance. You get to know her. You let her know you want to protect her, and see what she says. Deaf or not, she gets to choose who’s in her space, right?”

I banged the back of my head against the seat back.

“You’re really annoying when you make sense, VP. Can you just be irrational for a bit?”

“Like you are?”

“Fuck. She’s never gonna want me, is she? It’s not like that bitch will even let me get close.”

“Maybe stop referring to her as a bitch, brother. You gotta start mending fences somewhere.”

Fuck her. I’d find a way to get her out of the picture, so my way to my sweet lady was clear for me. There had to be a way to get rid of her.

Claudia

My sister was in a pissy mood when I got home from teaching a late afternoon class, so I stupidly asked her what was bothering her, and immediately wished I hadn’t. She was trying to sign as she spoke, and I gave up trying to follow her flying fingers, because they were moving so erratically it was as bad as slurring your words, and tried to follow her lips instead.

Finally I grabbed her hands, and held them steady. She was breathing hard, panting almost, I mean, she’d be breathing literal fire if she was capable of it. What the hell had her so pissed off?

“Speak slowly,” I said, my voice feeling so alien to me, since I spoke so rarely. Mostly only to her. We shared a flat, and were together probably way too much, but she was so certain I needed her help that she’d insisted. I mean, I only can’t hear. I can literally do everything else she can.