“Maybe you guys need to talk it out now that he’s sober.” I lay back against the sand and turned to face him. “He’s obviously changed since you last saw him, so maybe you can find some common ground?”
“That ship sailed years ago, Cody.” The werewolf gritted his teeth for a moment before relaxing. “Just thinking about his face makes me want to rip something apart. But werewolves can’t dwell on shit like that, or it gets dangerous. I put it out of my mind for so long, but then he showed up with you, and everything came flooding back.” He shook his head, his smile a little sadder than before. “My dad was one hell of a musician when he was alive. There wasn’t an instrument the man couldn’t master, but the guitar was what he loved the most. Some of thatmusta rubbed off on me, because when I held his guitar, it felt like I was holding a piece of myself.
“My dad noticed and started teaching me when I was about seven. Mom died when I was a toddler, so I never really knew her—just have flashes of memories now and again. Dad was my world, and he taught me a lot about bein’ a man. The guy was a chain smoker, but he wasn’t a werewolf. It eventually caught up to him, and he died when I was seventeen. He left me a guitar that was passed down through generations, and was worth more than most luxury cars. That was the only thing of value he owned. Of course, I’d never sell it, and I kept it safe for years until I met Roscoe.”
“Oh no.” I whispered, already knowing where the story was going.
“One night while I was visiting the city with him, we were both fucked up pretty bad, and I woke up the next morning to a missing guitar and no Roscoe. I immediately put two and two together, and that was the first time I actually howled. It was the most painful feeling. Not only was I pretty hungover, but my best friend fucked me over, and I lost the only thing left of my dad. It was the second worst day of my life.
“I eventually tracked him down and beat the ever-living shit out of him. I’d never lost control like that, and I almost killed him. But he was so out of his head that nothing I did mattered—it was like hitting a ragdoll. He blacked out on the sidewalk and I left him there for good. I went to every pawnshop in the area looking for that guitar, and I did eventually find it.” He shook his head. “The guy at that shop knew exactly what he had, and Roscoe practically gave the thing away. There was no way I could afford to buy it back, so I left it and left him in that shithole of a city. I hopped on a bus, came back here, and threw everything I had into surfing. Then I became a lifeguard, quit most of the drugs, and I have it pretty good now.” He sat up and grabbedhis guitar. “It’s not Dad’s, but I realized later on in life that I never lost the most valuable thing he left me.” He strummed out a gorgeous riff, gently tapping the strings with his claws. “When I hit my full turn, it was harder to play with these hands, but I adapted a new way… the Darryl way.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said, swaying in time with the music. “It seems like you’ve got a lot of friends now.”
“I do. All walks of life, werewolf and human. I met a lot of people on this very beach, even met someonereallyspecial, but I’ll save that for another time.”
“Do you have someone?”
Darryl stopped playing and let out a deep laugh. “Sure do. He’s not much of a swimmer, though.”
“Lucky guy,” I said, pushing myself to my feet. “You gonna stay out here for a while?”
“Yeah. Got a lot to think about. Looks like Roscoe’s been gone all day.”
“I don’t know where he went. He didn’t say anything to me.”
“You’re better off without him, but since he gave you the kuu—”
“We’ll have a talk about things when he gets back,” I interrupted, turning toward the direction of the small beach house. “If he ever starts back up old habits, I’ll get out of this.”
“If you need a place to stay, my house is always open.”
I leaned over and gave him a hug. “Thanks, Darryl.”
Sleep didn’t come easy, and Roscoe still hadn’t come back. I thought about what Darryl told me earlier, and despite it all, I wanted to believe Roscoe had changed. Given how I was still up,lying on the beach while worrying meant I actually cared about him.
“Yer gonna get fleas again,” Roscoe said, his footsteps close enough that I could hear him kicking up sand.
I turned toward the lumbering werewolf, silhouetted by the moonlight overhead, his eyes glowing a fiery orange from inside the hood he had pulled up over his head.
“Where the hell have you been?”
“Out,” he replied, sitting next to me. “Here.” He took my hand and pressed a wad of cash into it.
“What’s this?”
“You’ve really been helping me out, and I wanted you to have some spending money.”
I glanced down at the wrinkled twenty-dollar bills, then up at him. “I like this Roscoe. Where the hell did he come from?”
“He was here. Ya just didn’t notice him yet.”
“We’ll save this for groceries.” I slipped the cash into my pocket and smiled at him.
“Nah, you’ll use it for fun. Let me worry about the food.”
“Where’d you get it?”
“Apparently, aside from Darryl, there ain’t many werewolves in this town. Got offered a job at a nightclub nearby as a bouncer. The pay was nearly double what I made in the city, and they pay under the table, too. I love this little town.”
