Tracked by Trouble (Bad Boys Need Love, Too #3) (21 page)

On Tuesday afternoon, a cloudy day with hints of sun, Zed drove to the Marine Mammal Center, located at the water’s edge in Fort Marshall, a former military stronghold turned state park. Rickie’s class had scheduled a field trip to the place to see how Murphy and his mom were doing, and look at the sea life tanks, posters and other interesting things at the center. The center stood at the base of tree-dotted headlands, a few feet out from shore, suspended on large pilings. A huge deck, twenty feet above the water, surrounded the wooden building. Tanks for recovering animals and rescued mammals not fit for release were beneath the deck.

Early for the event, Zed parked the truck and grabbed his phone off the dash. He left a quick, dirty, sexy text for Beck, knowing she wouldn’t answer until her last break. He only wanted to let her know he was thinking about her…a lot…more like, he always thought of her. A constant hum in his head now—
okay, both heads
, he thought, smirking, he wondered how anyone could get anything done when in love. He smiled at the thought, not giving a shit what he got done or didn’t get done.

He glanced in the rearview to see his sister’s white sedan behind him. She pulled up next to him and parked.

Her hair back to her natural dark brown, she waved at him. He lifted his hand in response, and prepared to exit the truck. He strode toward the back seat of her car to assist her in getting the little ones out of the car.

Caitlin got down to business, as usual, pulling a bag full of kid supplies off the floor, unhooking Tiffany’s child seat buckle. “You get Cerise, I’ll get Tiffany. She’s pretty fussy when she wakes up. I’m putting you in charge of these two. I’m supposed to be one of the parental monitors. That’s my job today.”

“Roger, copy that, sis,” Zed said. Nothing could spoil his mood today.

“And my babysitter came down with something. Right in the middle of a cut and color, can you believe that?” The baby fussed and whimpered. “Shhh, shhh, little one, mommy’s right here.” To Zed, she said, “Get the stroller out of the trunk, will you? Or would you prefer the backpack? Tiffany likes both. Cerise, well, you can’t get her to hold still for a second. Jeez, I wish I had a bigger car. I wish we could afford an SUV.”

Cerise held her arms out to her uncle. “Out. Out. Out.”

“Hold on a sec, Ms. Muffin.” He sauntered to the back of the car. “Pop the trunk, please.”

“Oh.” Caitlin fished the key fob from her pocket and pressed it.

The trunk lock snicked and the back of the car floated open.

Zed lifted free the blue, gray, and white stroller. The green and gray baby backpack lay crumpled underneath. He chose that.

“Gosh, I hope the frame didn’t bend. Does it look all right to you?” she asked Zed. “Come on, love,” she said to the baby. “You’re with Uncle Zed. You, too, Cerise. Be good for your uncle.”

“Out! Out!” Cerise wailed.

“Coming, I’m coming. Crouch down, Zed, I can’t reach. Damn, you’re tall.” She fitted Tiffany in the backpack, popping a pacifier in her mouth and a soft toy in her chubby hand. Next, she hustled toward Cerise.  She got the chubby child out of her car seat, smoothed her tiny purple sweatshirt and green pants, and finally took a moment to really look at Zed. “What happened to you? You look fantastic. It’s that new girl, isn’t it? Good lord, Zed, I’ve never seen you look so happy.”

Zed grinned at her. “She’s amazing, Caitlin. We seem to click. It’s a pretty seamless fit.”

“Wow, Zeddy. I’m…I’m so happy for you. It’s a nice switch.”

A big yellow bus careened into the parking lot.

“Looks like the kids are here.”

A teacher got out first, holding a clipboard. “Okay, everyone, one at a time, proceed off the bus and stand in a line on the side.”

“Right,” said Zed. “Like that will happen.”

“I’m going to go help. Come with me. You can pitch in if you feel moved.”

“And where should I leave your kids?” Zed smirked at her.

Her mouth opened, as if a smart-ass retort lay ready to launch from her tongue. She looked at him and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I’m a little stressed today.”

“Do ya think?” Zed said. “Calm down. Your kids are fine and you are
not
in charge of this outing. All you’re here to do is assist.”

She took a deep breath and said, “Thank you. I
am
being a little manic.” She looked at Cerise, clutching Zed’s hand and the baby, calmly sucking on her pacifier. “How do you do it? How do you get my kids so calm?”

“I’m not their mother, that’s how.” Zed stepped toward the cluster of small students, all pushing, talking, laughing, excited.

Rickie spied his uncle. “Look! There’s my uncle Zed! He’s the one we made a movie of! He’s helping to save Murphy.” He broke free from the group of children and ran toward his uncle, along with several others.

“Children, please!” the harried teacher yelled.

Rickie hugged his uncle’s hips. “Uncle Zed! You should see the movie Daddy made! It came out super good.”

The other children circled him, making him feel like a rock star. “I think you should all be focusing on your teacher. Let’s listen, okay?”

The teacher gave him a grateful look, saying, “Thanks for all you’re doing for this event. It’s going to be a big success, in part, thanks to you.”

“It’s my pleasure,” Zed said, feeling as if he could tower over his King Kong brother right about now. He loved the adoration of Rickie and the other children—he loved Rickie, period. “This guy’s a pretty special kid.” He ruffled Rickie’s hair.

Rickie beamed, unabashed pride and pleasure scribed all over his face.

“Me,” Cerise said, her lower lip a pouty frown.

“Oh, yes,
you
are your uncle Zed’s princess,” Zed said. He gave her hand a squeeze. “Who wants to see Murphy?” Zed asked. “Isn’t that what we’re here for?”

The kids cheered and turned toward their teacher.

“Okay, everyone hold hands and let’s go.”

They tromped down to the lower tank area, following the wooden slatted path. Caitlin and Zed followed.

The sun, as if pleased to see the kids, pushed aside the clouds to shine on their eager faces.

An otter, not in captivity, glanced at them and slid into the water, heading away from the center.

“Look!” One of the children yelled. “An otter!”

“I’ll bet he lives way over there in the rocks,” their teacher said, pointing to a distant rock pile. “Let’s look at the sea lions.”

One tank ran in a large circle around a small building in the middle. Several small harbor seals swam in zippy circles, their heads popping up from time to time to stare at the onlookers.

A smaller tank stood to the side, enclosed with cyclone fencing.

“Is that him? Is that Murphy?” Rickie asked excitedly, clutching the sturdy silver chain fence. He pointed to a smaller, sleek chocolate brown sea lion, swimming next to a larger one.

“Yes, that’s Murphy and his mama,” a pleasant looking volunteer said. Her nametag read “Anna.” She wore the Marine Mammal Center uniform of a dark blue polo shirt with a tiny logo, jeans, muck boots and a light rain jacket. “His mother’s finally doing okay,” she said to the adults. “She got hit in the abdomen. Luckily, vital organs were missed.”

“Looks like Murphy took a hit in the right flipper,” Zed said, eyeing the mammal.

“Yes, that’s correct. We hoped he wouldn’t lose the use of his flipper, and as you can see, he’s doing great.”

Another smaller sea lion swam past, nose above the water.

“There’s Little Bit. He’s blind.” She looked at Zed and Caitlin, cupped her hand around her lips and whispered, “Shot in the face.”

Zed made an involuntary shudder, thinking of his brother in the hotel room. He nodded.

“There’s been a lot of shootings lately. Fishermen, no doubt, trying to protect their catch. It’s a dog eat dog world out there. Unless something’s done, these guys don’t stand a chance.” She waved a hand at the sea mammals.

Zed wanted to move the topic away from guns and shootings, his good mood beginning to teeter totter. “Uh, how’s he get around? Sea lions don’t use echolocation, do they?”

“Good question. The answer’s no. They rely on sight, sound, and smell. Since Little Bit lost his sight, we give him lots of audible cues to navigate, but honestly, you should see him on his own. He does great.” Sensing the restless children, she turned to the kids. “Who’d like to feed him?”

All the kids raised their hands and jumped up and down.

“Okay, we’ll let you, you, you, you and you, give him a fish.” She pointed to several kids. She pulled open the gate to the enclosure and they all shuffled inside. “And then we’ll feed Murphy.”

Rickie held up his hand.

“Yes?” Anna said.

“I should be the first to feed Murphy since I named him.”

“Perfect. Everyone, line up right behind that yellow line.”

The kids did as they were told.

She reached inside a big bin and retrieved a stick with a small plastic red and white fishing float on the end and another rod with a metal clip. She pressed the handle at the end. The clip opened and closed around a lifeless fish, resting in a bucket with other fish. “Here,” she said to a little girl. “You tap this ball against the side of the pool like this.” She made a few taps against the tiled wall.

Little Bit, Murphy and his mom quickly swam toward them.

The girl tapped the ball tentatively. The sea lions remained at the edge, mouth open.

“Take this stick,” Anna said, handing the fish to Rickie.

“Got it,” Rickie said.

“Press this button right here when I say go. I’m going to help you hold it in position.”

She guided the fish toward Murphy’s waiting mouth. “Ready?” she said to Rickie.

“Ready,” he confirmed.

“Go.”

He pressed the button and the fish dropped into the pinniped’s mouth. “Wow, Uncle Zed, did you see what I did?”

“Sure did.”

Cerise whimpered, “Me, next. Me!”

“No, Ms. Muffin, that’s for the older kids.”

“No, me!”

Zed crouched beside her. “This is a school event. You and I aren’t in school. We’re here as special guests. I can’t feed them either.”

The girl nodded shyly.

Zed stood, smiling at both his sister and the teacher, both staring at him with admiration.

“He’s a child whisperer,” Caitlin said to the teacher.

“I can see that. Is he taken?”

“He can hear both of you,” Zed said smiling. “And yes, he’s taken.”

“New love,” his sister said conspiratorially.

“Pity,” the teacher said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Zed grinned and shook his head, wondering if he’d ever received such positive attention—first, the kids, now this teacher.
More like, if it came my way, I never noticed, too busy looking over my shoulder.

“Okay, kids,” Anna said. “Who wants to see Louise, our octopus?”

“Me! Me! I do, I do.” A chorus of excitement rippled through the group.

“Okay, hold hands, everyone. Say good-bye to Murphy and his mom.”

“Bye! Bye, Murphy!”

They marched, pushed, and shuffled up the stairs.

Zed stood in the doorway, watching the kids race from touch tank to touch tank, expressing their joy, disgust and wonder at touching the various creatures in the tanks. Tiffany had fallen asleep on his back. Caitlin had taken Cerise to touch the anemones.

As the event continued, Zed began to experience unease. That same feeling of looking over his shoulder he’d thought about and dismissed, grew stronger. A prickling formed at the back of his neck, making him rub it with his palm.
What, you can’t handle a good mood?
He tried to focus on the kids, on the sea life…anything but this sense of dread forming in his head.

He glanced around at his surroundings, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. A light flashed in the headlands. He cast his gaze toward the distant hills, seeing nothing.
Probably someone taking a sweeping vista camera shot from the viewing spot up there. Hell, it could even be Jace. He’s always trying to get the right angle, the perfect light.
His thoughts and conjectures drifted away as he studied the hills.

A child’s hand swatted his head, while another tugged at him from the side. He came back to the present, seeing Caitlin staring at him with concern, her mouth agape, her eyes fraught with concern.

“Zed, I’ve been trying to get your attention for like, five minutes. Snapping my fingers in your face, shaking your shoulder,” she hissed. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing. I heard you,” he lied. “Preoccupied is all. Don’t worry about it. What’s up, Ms. Muffin?”

“Pee-pee,” she said, clutching her pants.

“I’ll take her,” Caitlin said. She cast a worried look at Zed, took Cerise’s hand and said, “Want me to take the baby, too?”