Freedom Series: Chasing Butterflies

Chapter 17

Nova thanked Maddox repeatedly for letting her use his car as she drove to Abbott County at a slightly elevated speed. She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw a sleeping Neil in his car seat. She had had to switch cars because Nigel had needed the car for work and they couldn't afford to take a day off. So here she was making turning this hour-long drive into a thirty minute one.

As she pulled up to a shifty looking bar located in the back streets of Abbott County. She scrunched her nose up at the name, the Crazy Gorilla Bar and Pub. Glancing around she sighed in relief when she saw that Anderson's car was still parked in one of the cracked parking spaces of the slightly vacant parking lot. Good, he hadn't been allowed to drive as the bartender had promised her. She got out and grabbed Neil gently from his car seat, rocking him as he stirred slightly. She walked into the quiet pub and was surprised at the warm and comforting feeling it gave off, completely different from the outside appearance.

It wasn't hard to find Anderson, who was currently slumped over the bar a glass of amber liquid clutched in his unconscious hand. She walked over to him and swiftly sat in the bar stool next to him trying to decide what to do.

"I would be careful touching him, ma'am." A young bartender murmured softly, eyeing Anderson like a wild animal. "He growls every time I try to wake him up, even tried to bite me. My first week on the job and I already have a story to tell." He chuckled softly.

As he walked away she turned back to Anderson, growled? How peculiar, people were a bit unpredictable drunk but growling? She decided that shaking him gently was the best approach.

"Anderson?" She murmured softly. Leaning in closer she shook his unresponsive form again. "Andy," She whispered, shaking him again. When she got no response she groaned and looked around, trying to see if she could enlist anyone's help in carrying him to the car when she felt a warm hand cover her hand on the bar. She looked down and saw bright golden eyes staring back at her. She almost fell off of the stool, his eyes were not that color.

He smiled at her as he kept playing with her fingers in silence, then he spoke. "You're pretty." He slurred. She rolled her eyes at him.

"So are you. Now come on we need to go, can you stand?" She questioned him.

"Why are you screaming?" He groaned letting go of her hand and covering his ears. "And don't lie to me, I'm hideous." He moaned, sliding out of the chair bracing some of his weight on Nova.

"Why would you say that? You're gorgeous." She exclaimed, grinning as he covered his ears in pain. She figured in his mix of piss poor drunk and sobering up that he probably wouldn't even remember this conversation.

"Oh please!" He slurred, raising his voice as she struggled to hold up his wild movements and hold Neil's sleeping form. Abandoning Anderson on the side of her car she strapped Neil in the back seat and then returned to him.

She walked him over to the passenger side door and helped him to open it and sit down safely.

"I know what people really think about me when they see me. They think I'm weak and unfit to be a leader, that I'll be the biggest failure this pack has ever seen." He mumbled, looking so close to breaking down.

She furrowed her brows and squatted down in front of him, grabbing his face that had lulled to the side. He faced her in a drunken sadness that broke her heart.

"My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak." She recited to him softly.

He stared at her in confusion, "Is that a song?"

She almost burst into laughter but held it together. "No silly child," She reached over and began to do his seatbelt for him. "It's a bible verse, about a man who feels like he's being attacked from all corners but is reminded that in his weakness, he is made strong."

"That's nice." He said with a dreamy, alcohol-induced, smile on his face. "Do you think God cares about me?"

"Absolutely."

<8>

Thoughts? Feelings?