Loman by Kathi S. Barton

Chapter 5

Loman didn’t move. Not that he could stop himself from blinking, but he was nearly too afraid—not afraid but freaked out to do more than stare at the…whatever it was across from him. It seemed to be comfortable to be just sitting on the shelf and swinging its little legs. Loman was trying his best not to run out of the room screaming.

It was about a foot tall. It had wings, so he knew it had to be something magical. Actually, he didn’t know that for sure until it pulled a feather duster from the air and wiped down the books it was leaning against. It even tisked at him. Like it was disappointed in him for having a dusty shelf.

The ears on it were high and pointed but not really out of proportion to its body. There were piercings on both of them too. Or maybe it had been born with the shiny objects in its ears. Its body was blue. Which, to him, was a lame way to say what color it was. He thought of ocean waters at the deepest point he’d seen on some of his expeditions. Or a sky when a small cloud burst was about to happen where you could actually see it coming toward you from a distance. She tisked at him again.

“I’m not an ‘it’ but a female.” He nodded, not sure if it had spoken or not. “If you think of me as an ‘it’ once more, I’m going to smack you. And it’ll hurt too. I’m a female. Fae. I was sent here by Lord Jasper and his queen mother. Several days ago.”

“Why?” He giggled a little when the female tisked at him again. “Look, I’m trying very hard to believe that you’re here and that you’re real. I was only sitting here, minding my own business, when I sighted you out of the corner of my eye. And you’re tisking at me. I don’t know that I care for a creature around that is going to take me to task about a little dust.”

“‘Tis more than a little dust, and someone should have been cleaning it up before now.” He asked her if that was her job. “Nay. I’m not a dust bunny to clean up after the likes of you. I’m a companion.” He wasn’t entirely sure what a companion might be to her way of thinking, but he nodded at her. “Look here, Lord Loman, I was told to find you and make myself known to you several days ago. But you were gone. I’ve been here, sitting on my bottom, waiting for some word that you were to return. Now that you have, I’m testy.”

“Testy? I’d say you’re a bit more than just testy. You’re very rude. So, now that we’ve established why you’re here and your job description is—well, I guess some of it, perhaps it’s time that you tell me your name.” She told him that he’d have to give her one. “No. I won’t do that. If you’ve had no name before coming here, then you’ll have to give yourself one. If you’ve had one before today or whenever you were about, then that’s what I’ll call you.”

“I was called Amerdan when I was brought to the castle to serve the queen.” He said that he liked that name if she did. “What do I care what my name is when you call me. So long as you continue to call me—”

He whistled to shut her up. “You will have to take your rudeness down a few notches when we’re speaking. If you have no desire to be here working with me or for me, then I’d rather you went back to where you came from. I’ve no time for someone nipping at me every time you open your mouth. Now. Do you want to be here or not?” She said that she was here, wasn’t she? “Yes, you are. But that isn’t anything near what I asked you. Do you want to be here, or should I send you home? I don’t want to have to sort through your anger all the time to figure out what it is you need to tell me or ask me. It’s very taxing on a person to have a pissed-off person around them. Either we get along, or you go home. That’s final.”

“I’ve only been this angry since I arrived three days ago. I don’t know why. Do you?” He didn’t have an answer for her and said as much. Then asked her if it was because she had to wait on him. “Perhaps. It would have been nice if you had told me that you weren’t going to be here when I arrived.”

“Since I had no idea that you were going to be here at all, I couldn’t have done that, now could I?” She told him that the queen was to tell him that she was coming. “No one told me anything. When you—I haven’t any idea how you came to be here, but seeing you was the first time that I knew of you. I’m still in the dark a bit about why you’re paired up with me. Or why anyone would think that I’d need a companion. I have a very large family, and now my wife and her mother and sister. That’s usually more than enough for a person to be around. So, again, I ask you, why are you here?”

“I’m to be a companion to you, is what I was told. Your mate, she’ll have a fae too. His name is Mitar.” He asked her to define what she thought she could do for him as a companion. “I can go and get things for you that you might need. I have noticed that you take a great many pictures. I can help you with that by having things ready for you should you need them. If you are hungry for a certain food, I can get that for you as well. I will do things for you that will save you time and energy. I’m magically enhanced so that I can see to your every need.”

“All right. That clears things up a little. While here, where will you stay? I’m assuming that you’ll be around all the time.” She said that she only needed an hour a day to rest on him. “I’m sorry? Rest on me?”

She flew at him and up the sleeve of his shirt. As she moved around under his sleeve, he could feel the pinch of her hands as she used her fingers to climb up his arm. As if she were searching for a place to tear off his skin. Then, just as suddenly as she stopped moving, he could feel her under his skin.

Pulling off his shirt, he could see that a smaller version of her was on his arm just above his elbow. But it was her wrapped around his arm, like a tattoo, that freaked him out again. He tried to pull her off, digging into where her body was at his muscle, but there was no budging her. When she moved, crawling up his arm to his shoulder and to his back, he stood very still while she aligned herself with his spine. Christ, he could feel her breathing. Her heart beating with his. Loman looked up when Lindsley came into the room with her T-shirt off and a male version of what he had on his back on her arm.

“It’s on me.” He cautioned her about calling it an it. “That’s all you can say to me right now? That not to call whatever this is an ‘it’? What the hell is going on?”

“Don’t freak out more than I am right now. One of us needs to be calm, or I’m going to lose my shit. So today, you’re the calm one. Okay? How about you sit down with me and—wait, take a picture of her. Her name is Amerdan. Your fae is Mitar. Anyway, take a picture of her so that I can figure out why I can feel her wrapped around my spine. Please?” She did what he asked. While she was busy taking the picture for him, Mitar moved up and over Lindsley’s shoulder to her back and did the same as Amerdan had done. Wrapped around her spine. “I have a feeling that this is something that we’re going to have to get used to.”

“I don’t think so. This creature…Mitar, he just appeared while I was in the kitchen and slammed his body into my arm. I could feel it moving over me, Loman. Under my fucking skin.” He nodded. “You’d better have more to say to me right now than the rattling of your fucking head. I’m fucking freaked out here.”

“Andonna was supposed to let us know they were coming. I’m not sure what happened there, but I saw Amerdan there on the shelf, and she was pissed off because I wasn’t here when she arrived. She’s somewhat of a bitch.” Now she nodded at him. “I’m assuming that Mitar was as well?”

“He didn’t speak but just became a part of me. I don’t know that I like this, Loman. Why are they here?” He told her what Amerdan had told him. “Companion? All right. I guess…no, I don’t understand. Andonna come here now, please?”

Surprising the shit out of him, the queen appeared in the room. She was holding a cup in her hand and as well as a few cookies in her other hand. When she smiled at them, he didn’t think she looked all that happy to be summoned to them.

“I was in the middle of a meeting with some of the other magical creatures that help me keep up with the world. I do hope that whatever you need is important…never mind. The meeting wasn’t going the way that I wanted it, so I’m happy for the intrusion. What is it I can do for the two of you?” Loman turned around and showed her his back. Lindsley did the same. Her face went from looking mild annoyance to surprise and embarrassment in seconds. “Oh my goodness, I didn’t tell you about them. Oh, Loman and Lindsley, I am profoundly sorry for that. You must…I was going to say that you must forgive me, but you shouldn’t. I should have let you know. I’m sure you have a great many questions about why they’re here.”

“I do. We both do. They’re under our skin, Andonna. Under. Our. Skin.” She laughed, and he felt his anger surge up a great deal more than he thought he’d ever been before. “This is not a laughing matter. What the fuck is happening to us?”

“Let me give you…no, that would take too long. Here, let me give it all to you at once.” She only touched her fingers to their heads, and he fell back on the sofa behind him. His head felt like it was going to explode. “You’re going to be just fine, both of you. Just let it sort around for you, and you’ll know all there is to know about having my fae helping you.”

Loman woke in his bed with Lindsley beside him. She was on her phone, talking to who sounded like her sister. Once she noticed that he was awake or conscious, it was difficult to know right now. She told Andi that she’d call her back later. Once she put her phone away, she turned to him.

“We were given a download on this shit. That’s the only way that I can describe it.” He asked her what she’d figured out. “Everything. I mean, that’s not really true. I’ve figured out that when I need information on anything, it’s right there for me to, I guess, sort of upload like where something is on a computer. I just have to ask myself what I need to know, and it’s right there. Also, Mitar is able to retrieve anything that I need, like you too. If you’re out on a site, and you need, I don’t know, extra film or something, she can get it for you. Or extra blankets. Whatever you need.”

“I can see where that would be helpful. But film? I’ve not used film in a decade. But I do understand what you’re talking about. I can almost feel that the information for anything that I want is right on the tip of my tongue.” She said that she’s already had Mitar help with some of the projects that she has going on at the gallery. Like the need for more display items. “Good. I guess you’d have to tell him what you’re looking for, and he produces it? Or does he go out and find it?”

“Both. If he can replicate something that I need, then he will. But if it’s something that he doesn’t understand, then he’ll go and find something like it, and we’ll work from there. Also, and this is something that we have to get used to. They have to connect with us daily, like they did today, so that they can be in sync with us. Know all the things that we’ve been thinking about.” Loman asked about sex. “I’ve not broached that subject yet. We’ll have to figure that one out as we go. I’ve already told both of them that the bedroom is off-limits unless we call out for them. I don’t want them around when we go to bed.”

“I love that idea. Yes, it would just be too much to be coming out of the shower, and there they are.” He knew other things that they could do for them too. “Like fixing our car should be stranded.”

They talked about all the different things that could be helpful with the fae around. The two got up and made their way downstairs to find the two faes in the kitchen. Meggie, Lindsley’s mom, was there talking to the little people. She seemed less freaked out about them than he had.

“They were just telling me that I need to have a fae with me too. I’m not so sure that I’d like to have to worry about someone else right now. I’m on the mend, sure, but I don’t want to let someone down right now.” She smiled at him. “Loman, dear, my ex-husband, the murdering son of a bitch would like to talk to me. I was wondering if you could go there to the jail and set him straight. Or murder him. I don’t care which right now. But the thought of you having to go to jail makes me think I need to put up with him until he—hopefully, sooner rather than later—dies of old age. The man is nothing but a pain in my backside.”

“I can do that for you, no problem. In fact, I’ll go this morning and get it over with. I have some work that I have to pick up for my brothers, so it’ll be no trouble for me to go there and see him.” She thanked him. “I hope that you and Andi are settling in all right. My mom said that the two of you had lunch yesterday and that she enjoyed herself very much.”

“Your mother is a hoot, I don’t mind saying, but I like her very much. She can cut you to the quick without raising her voice and never use a single curse word. I just love that about her. And that grandda of yours? I’d love to just bundle him up and keep him around for getting me out of a funk. He seems to know when I am in one too.” Nodding, Loman told her that he more than likely did know. “He’s a sweetheart and a better man than I’ve ever met. It’s easy to see where you boys got all your charm too. He’s a charmer, that one.”

“He’s always been a charmer. When he was in trouble with my grandma, he’d go out of his way to make it up to her. Grandda didn’t do things by halves either. When he was in trouble, every shop in town would be in the black by the end of the day.” They all laughed. “Grandma, she really would have loved all the women in this family. And the children here? My goodness, she would have been right on the ground with them when they played outside too.”

Loman ate a sandwich with the women in his life and headed to the jail, enjoying it the entire time. Amerdan followed along with him, peppering him with questions about Allen all the way there. Getting things set up with the men on duty, he made his way back to the cells to see what the hell the man wanted now.

~*~

Allen didn’t care for being in jail. Although he didn’t think that anyone would enjoy being locked up with the minimal amount of getting what he wanted. He shouldn’t be here. It was his family’s fault. Once Loman was seated across from him, asking him how things were going, he wanted to come through the bars and knock the ever-loving shit out of him. When he mentioned that he was his son-in-law now, Allen didn’t believe him.

“None of my daughters would stoop so low as to marry while I’m rotting away in here. I didn’t even get an invite to the wedding either. And I know for a fact that it would have been a lavish wedding with the kind of money—well, the kind that I used to have before they stole it all from me. No, I won’t believe it.” Loman told him that he didn’t care if he did or didn’t. “You’re very uppity, aren’t you, young man? Well, since my wife won’t come to see me, I’m going to have to depend on you to get things rolling in the right direction so that I can get back to my gallery. You’re going to do that too. If, in fact, we’re now related.”

“No. I’m not doing shit for you. And it was never your gallery, Allen, but Meggie’s. And just so you’re aware, they’ve made some wonderful changes to the place. When the grand opening happens, it will draw in a great many people. But the best part is, every one of the artists will get their money too.” Allen asked him if he was stupid. “I’m not. However, if you think that you’re ever going to get out of here for any other reason than going to prison, then you’re stupid. You tried to kill your wife. Not to mention all the money you stole and thought you could keep by stashing it away overseas. That’s mail fraud, you idiot. Then there is the stolen artwork that was found in the storage unit that was in your name. Is there any low that you won’t stoop to?”

“She didn’t die, now did she? Besides, if I had wanted her dead, she’d be dead. I just wanted to scare her a little. There isn’t any harm in a man taking his wife to task when she does what she did to me, as for Mail fraud. I didn’t mail a single thing through the mailbox. I did it all online. Now, who’s the idiot. You have to put a stamp on something for it to be called mail. Did you know that she and my daughters took all my money and gave it away? That nearly had me having a heart attack. I’m going to have to talk to them about not touching things that don’t belong to them.” Loman asked him if he thought it was all right that he didn’t kill his wife. “Of course, it’s not all right. But I got her attention, didn’t I? Besides, she deserved it for treating me the way—did you know they took away my credit cards too? And not only did they empty my bank accounts out without my permission, but they also took all my stash money from me. I’m going to be able to get all that back, too, when my family gets the rod out of their collective asses and let me out of here. I want you to talk to Meggie and tell her that I want her to drop the charges against me that I tried to kill her. As I said, she’s not dead, and that should make her happy. Also, since we’re related, I want you to find me a good attorney too. I’m going to sue Meggie once I’m out of here. My daughters too.”

“You just don’t get it, do you? You’re not going to get out of here.” He said he was if he would do what he told him to do. “In the event that it hasn’t crossed your mind yet, I’m not going to find you an attorney, as I’m helping my brother Cass file a large suit against you for all the shit that you’ve done in the name of making you wealthy. You’re also in trouble with the IRS for not reporting the income you stole from the artist you were supposed to be helping. And if I have my way about it, you’re going to be charged with the death of David Windermere in his suicide because you robbed him of not just his work that you sold off but the money that should have gone to him. You’re a piece of shit.”

“I’m a man trying to make it in this world. Unlike you, everything wasn’t handed to me on a silver platter, young man.” He said that he’s worked hard for his money. “Sure you did. By taking pretty pictures? I no more believe that than I do that you’re married to my daughter. Which one is it, by the way? Andi? Lindsley? I doubt that you’d get Lindsley to say yes. She’s nothing but a workaholic. I shouldn’t have allowed her to go to college. Though now that I think on it, I’m not even positive that they went. But something made her uppity. But then, I guess the two of you are well suited if it’s her. Which one? Not that I’m going to believe you either way.”

Loman stood up, and he told him to sit down. He wasn’t finished with him yet. Instead of doing what he told him, he came closer to the bars. When he reached out his hand, Allen thought for sure that he was going to shake his hand, tell him that he had his back in this. Instead, after taking his hand, he fucking clawed him with what appeared to be a large lion’s paw.

The cut wasn’t deep, but it was painful. Even as he started to bleed, his blood dripping to the floor, Loman spoke. When he didn’t hear him, his body still in shock from what he’d done, he jerked him to the bars and told him to pay attention.

“Are you listening to me now?” Nodding, Allen said that he was hurting him. “You’re going to be hurting a good deal more if you ever call my home again. I will come here and destroy you so that they’ll be cleaning bits and pieces of you out of this cell for the rest of my life. Which is going to be a hell of a lot longer than you’re going to be alive. Stay away from my family, Allen. That would include Meggie, Andi and Lindsley. Or so help me, I’m going to put such a hurt on you that you’re never going to recover from.”

“Did you just threaten me? Mother fucker, I’m not someone that you should be fucking around with. Do you hear me? Let me the fuck go.” He was shoved across the cell, where his head hit the wall behind him. Sliding down the wall because the pain made him weak in the knees, he sat there. Stunned to the point where he was seeing double, he couldn’t get his mouth to work. Sliding to his left, he hit his head a second time on his commode. Christ, nothing was going according to the way he wanted right now.

When he woke up, he was in some kind of curtained-off room. Listening to the things going on over the loudspeaker, Allen figured out that he was in the hospital. Raising his head up, he puked all over himself when the pain in his head made him sick. A nurse was suddenly in front of him, telling him that he was going to get stitched up soon.

“That man, Loman, something Foster, he hurt me. Threatened me too. I want to press charges against him. My wife and daughters—he never did tell me which one of my stupid daughters he thinks he’s married to either.” She told him to shut his mouth about the Fosters. “I will not. Damn it all to fuck and back. Doesn’t anyone care that I don’t want to be in jail? I need to get home to make some more money. Christ ole mighty, I fucking hate everyone right now.”

“The Fosters have donated a great deal of money to this hospital, and you’d better watch yourself in saying that you want them arrested.” He was going to sock her in the mouth when he realized that he was cuffed to the bed like he was some kind of animal. He even told her about Loman being some kind of lion. “We all know that, dummy. Loman’s brother is the king of all lions. You don’t get around much, do you? I suppose it’s because you’ve been trying to kill off your lovely wife. She’s a good woman and deserves better than you. I’m glad that she was granted a divorce from the likes of you.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. And I’ll tell her when she’s divorced or not.” That made more sense in his head, but right now, he wanted out of there. “Look, I’ll slip you some cash if you just look the other way and let me go. Fifty bucks should do that, don’t you think? You can buy yourself a nice new haircut with that much. I don’t know what you’ve done to your hair, lady, but it’s not a look for you.”

When she left him lying there, without so much as an idea when he was getting out, the doctor came in and said he was going to stitch him up. Allen asked him if he was going to give him something to knock him out.

“I’m not, as a matter of fact. Linda, the nurse that you just insulted, said that you didn’t deserve anything. So brace yourself, Mr. Benson. This is going to hurt.” He didn’t believe he’d be so cruel as to actually stitch him up without so much as an aspirin to take away the pain. Didn’t he have to take some kind of oath saying that he’d not stitch someone up like this? Something about no harm to humans. The first time he stuck the needle in his head, Allen screamed in pain.

Fifteen stitches. He had to have fifteen stitches to put his head back in one piece. Allen was sure that he was just stabbing him with the needle when he was finished up so that he’d be in more pain. Not only had he pissed himself, but he was sick again with the pain of it. And he’d sweat like a hog out in the sun all day. If they’d not had him chained down, he would have killed the mother fucking doctor.

They wouldn’t give him anything for the pain even after they were finished making him suffer like they had. Once he was fit to go, they told him he’d be taken back to his cell and given something for the pain. He had a feeling that whatever it was, they weren’t going to give him anything good. Probably some expired drug that didn’t work when they invented it.

It took them what felt like an hour to get him cleaned up after he’d made a mess of himself. There wasn’t any way that he was going to make it until next week before he was able to shower again. No amount of begging would even get him a wet cloth so that he could at least not be sick to his belly every time he smelled himself.

If he had some paper and pencil, he’d be making a list of the shit storm that he was going to be bringing down on some heads when he was out of jail. And he would be too. They didn’t have shit on him after Meggie did her duty by him and dropped the charges she’d pressed about him not killing her. After all, it wasn’t his fault anyway. She was the one that kicked him to the curb. Literally too.

Thinking about how he was going to be able to generate some sympathy for himself, he thought about the newspaper. He hadn’t any idea if this town had a daily rag or not. But he knew there were big names he could call in a couple of favors for. When Meggie gave him control of the gallery, which is what he’d be getting returned to him soon, she also gave him a list of phone numbers for the large newspapers around the country. He’d never used them before, and not wanting to spend money on advertising when he could just pocket it on his own, he decided that he was going to do it now. All he had to do was get one of his daughters to bring him the list. Christ, they’d better too. He’d beat them if they tried the shit on him that they’d been doing lately.

By the time he was back in his cell, he was sicker than ever. His head was pounding, and he was nearly sick to his belly every time he moved. Just lying on the cot that he hated, Allen begged for what seemed like hours for someone to come give him the promised medication.

“I’ve brought you some food. You can’t take the medication without food in your stomach. It’s dangerous, it says here.” He told the guard that he was just too sick for anything to stay down. “Then you can’t have anything for the pain. I don’t care one way or the other, but I have to make sure you eat something before I can give you this.”

“This is just ridiculous. Why can’t I, for once, have my own way about something? Why is it always everyone else that is making the rules that I’m supposed to follow?” The guard didn’t say anything, but he did laugh. “Laugh it up, kid. Once I’m out of here, I’m going to be making sure that all of you are out of a job.”

He was able to keep down a handful of chips and two bites of the cheese sandwich that was with it. Not the best choice of food, he discovered later when he threw up the chips and the undigested sandwich and the medication. He was tempted to rinse them off and take them again. By golly, he was going to do it too.

After dragging his ass to the sink with the nasty-looking drugs cupped in his hand, he rinsed them off, careful of not making them too melty and the drug not working. He’d done that once, and he’d been sick. Back then, he’d cut the medication up into smaller doses so that he could get them down better. That lasted only long enough for him to get back to his bed before it all came up again.

Taking the medication as soon as he cleaned them off, he laid back on the cot so that he could get his head to stop hurting. The pills seemed to be working a little for him, and he was glad that he’d been able to outsmart someone today. He was going to mark this up as a win for himself and not think of the rest of the day’s shit show.

He was just dozing off when he felt his chest hurting. It didn’t bother him so much now that he was feeling less pain than before. Even as his body started to numb up, taking him under, Allen had a finger of fear that he’d made an error in judgement about the medication that he had taken without food.