The Unfortunate Story of Roddy Mayhem, Julie Steimle [i can read book club TXT] 📗

not following me. I looked to Rick who was oblivious. Him. It was him they were following.

They were watching him carefully. Rick’s imps, of course, were shouting at him to bite people who annoyed him. But those imps were as starved in that regard as ever. Yet those death angels watched Rick with prejudice—like they believed he would run amok and ravage the crowd.

We walked along the road, me following rather than us entirely side by side. I felt awkward—just like in LA when he just asked for his Bluetooth device to be returned. All polite like and casual.

“Are you having a hard time at school?” he asked.

I was about to shrug it off, but then with a glance at him who somehow understood just by looking at me, I said, “Yes. It sucks.”

He nodded silently. Heaving a heavy sigh, he nodded more. “Yeah… I wasn’t sure if you would transition well. You California types seem pretty resistant to coming eastward. Eve out and out rejected it, and Jessica hated moving to Middleton Village.”

I wondered who this Jessica was. Rick said her name with intense respect, and the people he respected usually turned out to be amazing folk. I also liked how he just called us ‘California types’ as if the imp thing was irrelevant.

“Do you wat to tell me about it?” he asked.

“No.” I shook my head.

We continued to walk in silence, him taking me at my word. His imps urged him to tease me into talking though, but he never did.

“Fine,” I finally said. “The kids at the school are jerks. They have been bullying us since day one. And….” I stiffened, thinking about Wipsy. Did I want to tell him about that? But when I looked at him, he appeared surprised as if to say, ‘How can anyone possibly bully a half-imp?’

His mouth said, “And?”

“How did you not end up as a jerk, going there?” I snapped, my anger returning.

He laughed, entirely good naturedly with a shake of his head. “Are you sure I am not?”

I shot him a chastening look. I didn’t like being teased like this. Not now. “I can see your imps. You’re normal.”

Rick smiled at that, pleased (I think) that I had just called him, a werewolf, normal.

He then drew in a thinking breath, angled his head a bit to the side as he walked and said, “Maybe it is due to Matt.”

I blinked. I had heard of this Matt before. I was trying to find a face with the name, but all that came up was that cop who had said he was Tom Brown’s best friend.

“Matt hated lies,” Rick said, strolling on, just waiting for me to keep up. And I did, listening intently. “He could tell when people messed around and cheated because he could hear both the lie and the true though at the same time. He… he brought everyone to a level playing field because Matt was normal in all other respects.” He then halted and said, “You know, he was there as a mafi and not as a ghoulie. The mafia had killed his father, and he had found out how during court. And he blurted out what lies were being told right there.”

I thought about that cop again. It was him.

“Matt had a unifying effect on the school,” Rick said. And he grinned to himself. “He was like the big brother I needed just after my parents got divorced. And as far as Tom’s concerned—Matt became his anchor to reality. Matt kept Tom honest.”

I stared.

And Rick laughed, seeing my looks. “Ok. About as honest as Tom can be at least.

“Tom’s actually a really great guy,” Rick continued to say. He then shot me a sidelong look and said, “You know, he joined the CIA to protect me.”

I stared more. “But you said in California that it was to protect ghoulies like you.”

Rick grinned at me more, flustering at little. “I did? Well, technically that is correct too. But really, Tom didn’t have any ambition to work for the government until after he had snuck into West End Prep to see what they were really about. He told us all about it. The place has got martial arts classes, foreign language classes, and a room where you learn how to shoot guns. West End goes all out for brainwashing their agents, Tom said. I had a friend who ended up going there. Keenan Goodrich. I haven’t seen him since I left New York, but he was a mafi recruit there.”

“They want Piranha,” I said.

Rick cringed, nodding. He closed his eyes. “Yeah…. I had a feeling West End would move in with recruiting after you four got settled in.”

I peered at him. “You did?”

He shrugged. “There’s nothing I can do about it. Gulinger also relies some government funding, as we house a lot of mafis. It is their agreement that keeps hunters from knowing the school’s many locations.”

Many locations. Then I remembered what Tom has said to us on the first day. The school moved a lot for the protection of the students.

“So, you are having trouble with bullies.” Rick brought the subject back to the point. “You’re standing up to them, right?”

Halting, I stared at him. He expected me to fight back? “Tom said we should just dodge.”

Rick hung his shoulders and rolled his eyes. “Tom is an excellent dodger, but even he fought back when kids went too far.”

“But Mr. Wilderman told us to never go full Tom Brown on anyone,” I said.

Rick burst out laughing. And he laughed hard. It almost sounded like barking. And he was wiping tears from his eyes. “He just doesn’t want his office trashed!”

I stared.

“Tom would turn the school upside down on a regular basis,” Rick chuckled through. “I’m sure Mr. Wilderman likes the peace and quiet. But Roddy, you have to stand up for yourself. Nothing nasty, but enough to let people remember that you are a dangerous person whom they should not mess with.”

This time I really stared. Was he serious?

“Look,” Rick said, “I knew this guy—Chen—who was a powerful shapeshifter. When he arrived at the school he was picked on incessantly as he had an embarrassing side effect of his gift that people liked to mess with. But the dude could become a tiger. And a dragon. He could eat anyone alive.”

“A dragon?” I couldn’t help myself. It sounded impossible.

“Yes,” he said, nodding vigorously. “He’s now living in China with his ancestor, the Monkey King—long story. But Chen had to stand up for himself and stop being the victim.”

“But what if the girls at school have accused you of sexual harassment?” I blurted out.

He stared at me, blinking. “Really? They’re saying that?”

I nodded bitterly.

His eyes raked over me. I watched him think for a moment then nod to himself. Then he said, “Be honest with me. Did you do it?”

“No!” I protested emphatically. “I have been trying to avoid those girls!”

Rick nodded, then sighed heavily. “Yeah. And unfortunately the current cultural climate of these days is to believe the female accuser without listening to the accused, simply because he is a guy.”

I felt uncomfortable there, standing with him. I wondered if he had ever been accused of anything like that.

He looked over to me after some thought and said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll call my friend Matt and have him come to the school. He can sit in on whatever disciplinary hearing they might have to put you through, and he can tell who is lying and who is telling the truth. Agreed?”

I nodded, hope rising. If it was that cop I had met at the hospital, then that was the best news ever.

And yet, I thought of Wispy at the hospital. I got closer to Rick and whispered, “But that’s not the worst of what has happened.”

I immediately told him everything about what had happened to Wispy, from beginning to end—including the stuff about the Unseelie Gang and what they had done to her. He paled, listening to me. I told him whom I had met at the hospital. I also told him about how Piranha reacted to the news and all about the meeting with the teachers. All that. After I had finished, he looked like someone had punched him in the nuts.

He then grabbed me into a hug. “I’m so sorry. Had I known…”

My eyes burned, but I did not cry this time. I was so weary. So warn out.

“You were thinking about running away today,” he murmured, still keeping me close.

I nodded my head, bonking it a little against his shoulder.

“I can’t blame you.” And he pulled me onward to where he had planned to have lunch.

With an arm now around my neck, Rick steered me to the near café. He did peek in, but he did not ask about the girl—at least not openly. But someone from inside recognized him and laughed, then said Such-and-such Bruchenhaus was preparing to go to Africa. The name Bruchenhaus stuck in my head because there was a Neo Bruchenhaus in Wispy’s class who had made eyes at her when she was with Lorelei three days ago. And Moyra was making snide remarks about him yesterday morning with nasty hints about him wanting to buy some ‘time’ with Wispy.

“Who is Bruchenhaus?” I asked.

Rick flushed, his eyes twitching toward me like a wolf caught. “Just a girl I know.”

But his imps were screaming she was a vegan he liked to tease. I also could tell he thought she was attractive. His imps were shouting other things though. More stuff about Daisy. Looking for her, as at least Daisy wanted him whereas the other gal really didn’t.

His eyes flickered quickly to me in panic.

I raised my hands, amazed he was that self-aware. “All secrets are safe with me.”

Coloring, patting me on the shoulder, Rick breathed a little heavier. He nodded. “Thanks.”

Everyone had secrets.

As we sat down and he ordered lunch for us—looking for food that did not have honey or garlic in it—I wondered about him. He knew women. He probably knew something about how their minds worked. Maybe he could explain the other things to me that were really bothering me.

“Can I ask,” I said, whispering, “What do you do when a girl leaves you?”

He turned his eyes to me, blinking. “What do you mean?”

I shrugged.

Understanding rested within his eyes and he nodded. “Your friend Piranha. That’s right. She’s going to West End. Was she your girlfriend?”

I wished I could nod, but I just shook my head. “More like a daydream.”

He chuckled, nodding to himself. “Yeah. I’ve had my collection of those.”

I peeked to him, “Who’d you dream about?”

But then I already knew the answer. Eve. He had dreamed of him and her together. He met my gaze and I knew that he knew that I knew. 

Smiling, Rick said, “Eve is amazing. When I first met her, she was frightening and beautiful all rolled up into one fantastic package. She saved my life from hunters, you know. And the best part was she had a family which she loved—or loves, as they are still in her life. But I’m afraid I am also guilty of crushing on my best friend’s girlfriend—Jessica.”

I chuckled at that. This Jessica had to be amazing to compete with Eve. That best friend had to be also. Rick seemed to be the type of guy who chose among the best for his associates.

“Not a good thing to keep up when you know they are going to get married on day,” Rick murmured wistfully, still thinking about his best friend’s girlfriend. He then sighed. “Actually. I was the one who finally got him to take their relationship seriously and pop the question. My friend Abey can be such a dunce sometimes.”

My mind flickered to that lady cop with the wedding ring. I had to ask, “Is that girl Jessica a cop?”

He looked to me, nodding with wide eyes. “Yeah. How’d you—”

“She was at the hospital yesterday,” I said.

Rick nodded, thinking more. He continued to