Page 35 of Jacob Michaels is Dead

At the end of the night, in the wee morning hours, as everyone was leaving the club and my handlers were trying to shove me into my waiting vehicle, Shepard had proposed that we carry on the festivities. He could come to my hotel, or I could go to his. As soon as this suggestion met my ears, a vision of green eyes flashed through my mind, and I couldn’t think of anything else but how nauseated the thought of sleeping with Shepard Bachman made me. Instead of answering, I merely stared at Shepard as though he was the most disgusting thing I had ever seen, and as the remnants of my Ecstasy induced euphoria coursed through my veins, I allowed my security to shove me into the waiting SUV.

As we drove away, Shepard staring after my car quizzically, all I could do was lower my head so that I wouldn’t be sick.

“Fine.” Oma shrugged, as though the world wasn’t literally falling down around us. “Let’s get down to business.”

Oma turned to head into the house, as though this one sentence was enough to make us trust her enough to enter the house with her.

“Excuse me.” I raised my hand, though her back was turned. “Crazy person? Yeah. You?”

Oma turned to glare at me, her hands going to her hips again.

“Last time I was in that house with you,” I reminded her, “you tried to make sure I could never leave again. What on God’s green Earth makes you think that I am going to step one foot in that house again?”

“Do ya’ think you’re safer out here, wise ass?” She asked sharply.

“Rob.” Lucas grabbed my hand.

“Hold on, Lucas.” I tried to stop him as nicely as possible. “Oma…Lady…how do we know that we’re safe going in there with you? I don’t trust you any further than I can throw you right now.”

“Do you feel safe out here?” She barked.

“Absolutely not.” I shrugged. “But at least I can see what’s coming out here in the open. How do we know you don’t have Jason and his wolves in there waiting to jump us? Or Bloody Bones himself.”

I felt Lucas shiver next to me, his hand clenching mine tightly.

“Lord,” Oma rolled her eyes, her neck rolling back so she could look up to the heavens for guidance, “you’d think with your memory gone, you’d still have common sense, Robbie.”

Lucas squeezed my hand, stopping me from answering before he could.

“Meaning what?” He asked quickly.

“Meaning that if I wanted either one of you idiots dead,” She waggled her head at us, “you’d be dead. I didn’t protect y’all from them idiots of Jason’s pack just to have them kill you tonight. And I didn’t fuck with your memories just to prolong your sufferin’. But if you ain’t gonna come in the house like a couple of sensible people, you ain’t gonna know nothin’ else than what you know right now. You can stand out here until Bloody Bones shows up and kills you both deader than shit. I’ll stand here and watch. Might even make me happy to see it, the way you’re treatin’ me now.”

“You just confessed to fucking with our memories, Oma.” I snapped at her before Lucas could stop me. “How, exactly, are we the ones treating you poorly?”

“Let it go, Rob.” Lucas shook his head.

“Listen to your boyfriend.” Oma snorted.

“No.” I stammered and pulled my hand out of Lucas’.

Oma watched me as I took a step closer towards the porch and looked up at her. To Lucas’ credit, he didn’t try to stop me from getting closer to Oma, nor did he tell me to watch what I said to her either. He knew that I had to do what I had to do, so he didn’t try to intervene. Bonus points for Lucas. Oma just crossed her arms over her chest again and stared down the steps from her perch a few feet above me as I approached the porch.

“Tell me why you messed with our heads first.” I jabbed a finger up at her, making her wince. “Tell me that first. I thought I understood what was going on with why we didn’t have our memories—or we didn’t have the right memories…or whatever—but now I don’t know that I know anything that’s correct. I need you to tell me why this is going on before I’ll trust you enough to go in that house for even a second, Oma.”

“I think that’s fair.” Lucas sighed from behind me. “And I’d really like to know myself.”

Oma sighed, her arms dropping to her sides.

“Because, ya’ damn fool,” She tried to hiss, but her heart wasn’t in it, “I was trying to keep you out of this fight until you had a real chance of winnin’ it, wasn’t I?”

“How would I know?”

“Well, that’s the truth.” She nodded firmly. “You forgot a lot of shit because of your own doin’. Not mine. Maybe I put the idea in your head, but it was still your own doin’. But, okay, so I’ve intervened since you got back. It was obvious that you being back here was undoin’ your piddly ass magic and wishes, and something had to be done. I’ve done all I could to run you back out of this town. You shouldn’t be standin’ here right now lookin’ up at me with all of this sass. You should be off gettin’ stronger—just like I thought you would. I figured if we kept you alive a little bit longer, maybe if your magic developed a little bit more—you got a little more mature and less careless—you might live to end up in a nursing home before you hit the grave. But you came back—and it was obvious that threw a wrench in the works. So…I’ve done what I’ve had to do to try to get you back on the right path. The one that doesn’t end in more death than necessary.”

“Well,” I shrugged, though I felt chastened for some reason, “Here we are. I’m back, and there’s no leaving now. What does that mean?”

“Ask him.” Oma jabbed a finger at Lucas. “He’s seen it.”