Beau - Chapter Two
#10 of Beau
© All characters and storylines involving said characters belong to me: Eben Black.
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I pulled up outside my mom's house to the sound of a welcoming family. Mom was the first one out and practically slammed me into the side of the Jeep. I thought I was short, she was shorter. Standing at five two, she was sleak, slender and looked up at me with big lavender eyes. The same eyes I'd inherited. She was wearing a white summer dress and hiking boots. Something told me that the heating was on inside, and she'd donned the boots when her ears had heard me pull up outside. Her long head fur fell in gentle waves, and I realised that this tigress hadn't changed in over twenty years. She looked like she was in her mid-thirties, but her fifty-fourth was coming up in March and she'd forbidden anyone of us from talking about it.
"Did you have trouble on the way down?" she asked.
"I'm fine, mom, promise." I grinned down at her.
"Its been all over the news, that murder on your campus. Did you see anything when you left?" she asked, eyes wide and fearful.
"Mom, I didn't know anything about the murders until I heard about it at a diner."
"Hard to believe some insane bastard was cruising the dormitories, eh?" a deep voice called from the front door. I grinned, knowing who it was.
Lian stepped off the porch and padded through the snow towards me, he hugged me and gave me that man-on-man shoulder slap that males do so well. He was one year younger than me and one foot taller. How did that work? He was slender, but had a bit more muscle than I did. It didn't surprise me, my career so far had surrounded education, while his had been none stop sports and excercise for the last year and a half. He played professionally and in the last three months had started coaching some cubs down at the community centre. He was broad through the shoulder, and slender through the waist, his fur, like mine and mom's was that mixture of white, blue and black, the same pale pink nose, but deep, dark chocolate brown eyes that he'd inherited from dad. He was dressed in a white tank top and denim jeans, he padded through the snow barefoot and mom hissed at him for it.
"You'll catch your death if you don't put something on out here!"
"Your one to talk, ma. Your wearin' a summer dress!"
"Yes, but I'm not walking around barefoot. Go put some shoes on and help your brother with his things!"
Lian sighed and smiled over her head at me. Mom was always like this from time to time. Best thing any of us could do was ride it out until she was done nagging. If you argued, it got worse.
Mom turned back to me as she shooed my brother away. "You look tired, Beau. Did you get much sleep last night?"
I shook my head.
"Out drinking again with that Luka?"
I nodded and grinned. "The hangover is a pain, but the drive and the fresh air has helped. A good night's sleep and I'll be fine."
She frowned at me and then nodded as she turned and bustled back inside. Lian returned with a pair of sandals on. Mom tutted and he grinned as he walked passed without a word.
"So where's Nathan anyhow? You'd have thought he'd have come out and said hello?" I asked with a grin.
"He's down at the court house, working on some big case. He's had to take some of the slack off of dad for the next few months."
Nathan was my other brother and the youngest. Not as tall as Lian, but still taller than me. He was a lawyer and worked for the same firm that our father worked under. Dad was a lawyer, a big-time lawyer, he'd sent down more of the countries criminals than I'd ever thought possible. But in the last four years he'd become stressed and unable to perform in court. Luckily around that time Nathan joined the firm and their boss seemed to believe Nathan could help bolster our dad's reputation and performance back to what it once was. Nathan was trying hard but our dad wasn't being a big help in the meantime.
"He's still slacking?" I demanded.
"Still slacking," Lian replied as he popped the boot of the Jeep one-handed. He swung a suitcase onto his shoulder and grabbed the duffel under his other arm.
"So if Nathan's down at the firm, where is dad now?" I asked as I followed with a suitcase and box of my own.
"Down at Pete's place, he'll drink himself stupid and Pete offered him the couch for the night so he doesn't have to get a cab back in the dead of night drunk." Lian frowned.
"He's avoiding me then?"
"Something like that, your what sent him off on this four year binge, and that's not your fault by the way, but there's loads of other things that have added to it."
"Like what?" I asked.
Lian stopped at the porch and glanced back at me. He peered inside the house and when he was sure we were out of earshot he turned and whispered, "He and mom have been fighting."
I went wide-eyed and repeated, "Fighting?"
"Yeah. In the dead of night you'll hear them argue in hushed whispers, then they'll go downstairs and rant at one another for hours at a time."
"What do they argue about?"
"You. Dad's lack of determination. The fact he's shouldered all his work on Nathan....and some personal stuff I'd rather not repeat."
I winced and shook the images from my head. "So I'm just the tip of the iceberg then?"
Lian nodded and headed inside without another word. He walked down the hallway and stopped at the door under the stairs. He opened it and stepped down into the basement. My old bedroom and Lian's had been combined. It should have upset me, but it was because Lian was married and had a live-in wife. They needed the room and I wouldn't begrudge them that. But as I walked down the staircase into the lit up basement, I realised how much more room I had down here. Mom, Lian and Nathan had cleaned the entire place out and set it up as a spare bedroom for me for the next month, rather than sleeping on the couch. A huge double bed, wardrobe, dresser, and a desk. It even had a small arch that lead into a large alcove that they'd had renevated into an en suite bathroom. The place looked amazing.
"Wow. You guys really worked your asses off down here," I said as I dropped my suitcase and box onto the floor beside the bed.
"Dad fronted the bill, but he said he owed you that because he forgot your birthday last year. He wouldn't help though."
"Well at least he tried to appear sincere."
"He just appeared as he usually does, like an asshole."
"What do you think?" a cool female voice asked. I looked up and found Lian's beloved walking down the staircase looking happy as usual.
Dakota was tall, almost as tall as Lian. She was slender and curved where it mattered. Her auburn hair fell in a cascade of waves down her back while her golden eyes glanced over me. She was a Siberian tiger, orange, red and that distant flourish of yellow here and there too. She was dressed in a simple red tank top, chequered blue shirt and denim short-shorts. Everyone here seemed to be dressed for summer, but the heating had been cranked all the way up so they could walk around like this. She went to Lian and hugged him as she looked me over.
"We've never spent too long together before, Beau. I've heard alot about you from Lian and Nathan."
"Yeah, same here. I'm glad someone's finally tamed this dickhead," I said playfully.
"Tamed? Oh please, he's still a big kid when he wants to be," she replied.
"Um, excuse me, can we not stand here and rip into me please? I do have feelings. Don't let the big muscles fool you." Lian grinned as he flexed.
"Big...muscles...?" I murmured with a disatisified look.
"Fuck you!" Lian smiled as he turned and headed back up for another set of suitcases and boxes.
"So are you glad to be home?" Dakota asked.
I nodded as I sat at the end of the bed. "Yeah, I'm really looking forward to sleeping at home again for the first time in months."
"When was the last time you were here?" she asked as she crossed the room and sat down beside me.
"Seven months ago for Nathan's birthday. Haven't been home since, examinations and such."
"Oh? Lian said you were going to be a forensic photographer?"
I nodded and replied, "I have a thing for photography and wanted to use that to help people."
She smiled and said, "Its a noble profession."
Lian returned with more boxes in tow. He placed them on the floor and grinned up at us.
"What?" Dakota demanded.
"Nothing."
"No, no, go on, you were thinking about something," she smirked back.
"I was just thinking, your barking up the wrong tree, flirting with that one," he smiled.
"I wasn't flirting!" she blushed and looked at me with wide eyes, "I wasn't flirting!"
I grinned back and replied, "I don't know whether I should be offended or not?"
Dakota stood up and playfully punched Lian in the shoulder, before turning and heading back upstairs.
"I love it when she gets like that." Lian grinned as he flipped open one of the boxes and peered inside.
"She's a nice girl, where'd you find that one?" I asked.
"A burlesque bar in town."
The statement stopped me dead. "E-Excuse me?" I stammered.
"A burlesque bar downtown. You know what I mean? The places where the girls strip for entertainment and never reveal anything."
"I know what one is, but I always figured you were more of a strip joint kinda tiger?" I asked.
"True, true, but one of the boys on the team recommended this place, we went, we drank. I met Dakota and things kind of spun out from there."
"Does she still dance?" I asked. He nodded. "And that doesn't bother you that other males are gawking at your girl all night?"
He shrugged and said, "She comes home to me every night, so why would I be bothered?"
It was a sound argument I suppose. I shrugged and followed Lian back up to get the last of my things. We brought everything down and then Lian left me to unpack everything. I stored clothes in the wardrobe and dresser, and I'd even set up the laptop on the desk. I cleaned up, tested everything the bathroom, hot water ran smooth without issue. I looked around the bedroom and for the first time in four years felt at home, regardless of the fact it was not the bedroom I'd once had. I grinned as I looked over the bedroom once more and then caught the distant smell of lasagne. Mom had cooked my favourite dinner. Did I feel special? Yeah, a little. Dad was nowhere to be seen and I was being treated to homemade lasagne. Life was good. For now at least, sooner or later dad would have to return home. I wondered how long we could avoid one another as I climbed those stairs into my old home.