I bolted from my seat, choking back tears.
No. No tears.
A switch flipped. Anger boiled within me.
That fucker doesn’t deserve tears.
Dana reached out for me with what might’ve been a comforting arm. I wouldn’t know. I fled from her office and stormed through the waiting room, determined to get anywhere else but here.
~ 37 ~
BODIE
I was on the couch when she came home, enjoying a rare, solo night of warmth and relaxation. Of course, the whiskey probably had something to do with it. That, and the fact that the house was dark but for two things: the television, and the fire.
“Hey, Angel.”
Hayden’s cheeks were pink with the November evening as she stepped inside. I watched as she stripped off her jacket and boots without saying a word, then stared at me over the back of the couch.
“Want company?”
“Always.”
She slumped over. Something was clearly wrong, but by the look in her face, I didn’t dare ask what. Still lying sideways, I lifted the blanket for her. Hayden shimmied out of her jeans, and accepted the invitation.
“Thanks.”
God, she was socold!Like she’d been out walking, instead of riding around in a warm car. Wherever she’d been, she’d tell me when she was ready. Until then, I just folded my arm over her body and wrapped myself around her.
“Mmmmm…” she purred, squirming the backs of her naked thighs against the front of mine. “Sorry.”
“For what?”
“Stealing your hotness.”
I flexed, locking my arm more snugly around her.
“You can steal my hotness anytime, baby.”
Baby.Wasn’t quite sure why I’d said that, but—
“So, what are we watching?” Hayden sighed, settling into me some more as I closed the blanket around us.
“Land of the Lost,” I told her.
Her eyes followed the claymation dinosaur as it roared across the screen, chasing live-action teenagers through a strange, spongy jungle. A pang of nostalgia hit me, square in the gut.
“The Marshall family goes river rafting, and they fall through a time doorway,” I explained, matter-of-factly. “They end up in dinosaur times, but not exactly.”
“What do you mean not exactly?”
“Well there’s a whole lost city of Sleestak — basically, lizard people — and they’re out to get the Marshalls. Plus there are pylons with all these crystals that you shouldn’t mess with, because they can fuck shit up.”
“Let me guess,” she chuckled. “They mess with them?”
“Oh yeah,” I confirmed. “They mess with them all the time.”
“Stupid Marshalls.”
