The man was certainly more talkative toward Rocko since the accident.
“It’s Frank running the place, but his daughter Mary helps out when she can,” Renee said.“She’s a single mother.Her daughter, Asher, is three.”
“What happened to Asher’s father?”Rocko asked.
“Bastard did the dirty and took off,” Ace growled.
“Yeah, up and left her and the kid.Haven’t heard anything since,” Hendrix added.
“Asshole move,” Rocko agreed.
“Yeah.She came back here to live on the farm with her daughter.Frank’s been all by himself since his wife died a few years back,” Griffin said.
“I’m sure he’s glad to have them around,” Renee said.“It’d be awfully lonely out there by himself.”
“Anything I can help with?”Rocko asked.“I can come along to Frank’s and lend a hand.”
“Sure,” Apollo answered.
“Maybe see if the Fitzgeralds want to come out?”Ellen said.
“Not sure that’s a good idea,” Apollo said.“We can’t risk anyone seeing something they’re not supposed to.”
“I’m sure we can all control our abilities for a couple of hours,” Renee commented.“It’d be nice to have friends.”
“Friends open us up to danger, sis,” Griffin said to Renee.“You never know when they can turn on you.”
“I’ll think about it,” Apollo agreed.“But no guarantees, okay?”
Ellen and Renne both smiled widely.
“Thanks.”
Within an hour, Rocko, Apollo, Griffin, Jagger, and Hendrix were in one of the trucks headed to Frank’s farm, which wasn’t more than five minutes down the road.
As they’d been headed to the truck Hendrix pulled Rocko aside.His face was pale and the man looked as if he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a while.
“Hey, man, um…I haven’t had a chance to talk to you one on one.I’m real sorry about leaving those bundles on the edge of the roof and you getting hurt.If we hadn’t had a healer nearby…” His words trailed off, his tone reflecting the guilt he so obviously felt.
“It was an accident.”Rocko smiled at him.“I know you didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Yeah, well all the same, it happened and it’s my fault.If I hadn’t been so fucking careless in the first place, you wouldn’t have been hurt.”
“I don’t blame you—honestly.Shit happens.”
“Yeah, well, I blame myself enough for the both of us.”Hendrix bowed his head.
Rocko placed his hand on Hendrix’s shoulder.“You know what?It all turned out for the best.”
“The best?How can you fucking see it that way?”Hendrix’s face was the picture of disbelief and Rocko chuckled.
“Well, Griffin’s been nicer to me lately, or at least I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to gut me anymore.”
Hendrix grinned.
“How do you do it, man?”
“Do what?”
