Page 86 of His Hungry Wolf

With his bag packed, he turned to me coldly.

“If you don’t know, I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Please don’t go, Claude. I’m begging you, don’t go,” I said as tears filled my eyes.

That didn’t stop him. Marching towards the door, he was about to walk out when he pulled something from his bag.

“Here, you can have this. I won’t be needing it anymore.”

I took the flat package from him and froze with it in my hands.

“Bye, Merri.”

“You’re just gonna go?”

He looked back at me. Then, without another word, he left.

I stood staring at the door, stunned. What had just happened? I didn’t understand.

Turning to the package he had given me, I searched it, looking for answers. Inside was a card and a large picture frame. Opening the card, it read: ‘For your first day back at work. You got this. I believe in you. I always have. And now you have something for your wall. ;)’

Flipping over the picture frame, I found a collage of our life together. On the top left was a picture from football practice our freshman year. Below that were pictures from our camping trips. On the right were parties where we were being silly. And in the center was from the 4th of July, the night we made love.

Staring at it, I cried. What had I just done? Had I finally ruined things forever?

Chapter 14

Claude

I couldn’t do it. It was too much. How many times could I push past what felt comfortable and keep going?

I had overextended myself. I didn’t want this anymore. There were only so many ways I could open myself up for Merri.

I had a hard enough time admitting to myself how much I wanted to play football. It was painful to see myself in that pathetically desperate way. Yet Merri wanted me to beg a bunch of rich white guys for just the “opportunity” to try out for a team? Merri might think of me as nothing more than a demon that didn’t deserve to live, but I wasn’t about to beg for some rich guy’s scraps.

I had to get away from all of this. I needed to get back around my family. So, taking a taxi to the airport, I booked the first flight available and made my way home.

“Can you pick me up?” I asked Titus as I approached the end of the bus line.

“Claude? Where are you?” He asked, surprised to hear from me.

“I’m at the bus stop. I’m back in town.”

“Of course. It might be a few hours, though. I’m just about to take a group out for a tour. I have another one scheduled after that.”

“That’s fine, I’ll call someone else.”

“I could ask Lou if he can do it. Though he might need to watch the shop in case anyone arrives early.”

“That’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“I wish you’d given me a little more notice. I could have arranged something.”

“I’ll call you tonight.”

“We’ll catch up then.”

“Definitely,” I said, ending the call.