“Yup.” Fiona leaned against the tree she’d been using to restrain the man.“Are you guys from here?”
“I moved here last month, but I grew up spending summers and holidays here. She’s from here.”I gestured toward Ari. “Why haven’t we seen you around before?”
“I’m usually at home. I mostly hang around with my sister and parents.We’re new in town, so I don’t have a job or shit to do yet. No friends.” She seemed indifferent. “I’m still not used to this small town thing. I hate it.”
“Tell me about it. I love it here‘cause Ari’s here, but the town itself is awful.”
“Yeah…”Fiona trailed off before asking,“Who are your binds? I can tell you have one too.”She nodded at Ari. “I wonder if I’ve met them yet.”
“That’s not really your business,”Ari said.
“Fair enough.”
An awkward silence followed, so I took the moment to take her in. I’d been so preoccupied trying to save the man that I’d barely looked at her. She seemed around the same age as us. Light brown hair that fell to mid-chest. She had vibrant brown eyes that almost sparkled, long lashes,pink tintedlips, and an adorable pink and white dress with shoes to match. Even her nails matched the dress. It was safe to assume her favorite color was pink.
My thoughts strayed back to her eyes. They seemed familiar. I gave them another glance, only to realize they were looking right at me.
“Are you checking me out?”
“Huh?”I snapped out of it. I didn’t know how to answer. Normally I would’ve been shameless about it, but for some reason Dennis was sticking in my head.“No,”I stammered.
“Sureyou weren’t.” Her voice was teasing as Ari stifled a laugh.“I need to go drink. But maybe I’ll see you guys around?”
“Maybe. It was nice meeting you. Even if it started off violent.”
“Yeah.” She laughed and looked me over. “Nice meeting you, too.” And then she was gone, leaving a faint scent of gourmand perfume.
“That was interesting,” Arisaid.
“You think?”
“Definitely,” she said. We started walking back toward the park. “Weren’t you paying attention to her whole ‘I wanna get my human before the good ones are gone’ thing? It’s basically what the man who almost kidnapped me was ranting about. And what the guys warned us about.” She waited a few seconds for me to respond. “Do you not remember?”
“Of course I remember. That entire conversation was alarming as shit.” I shuddered as we emerged near the playground. “Do you think we should mention this to them? Do you think they’d even care?” I sidestepped the sandbox’s curb,avoiding an array of noisy children, and continued toward the car.
“Probably. We trust them now, right?”
“I think so.” I actually hadn’t thought about it in a while. I was so used to them by now that it was kind of a non-issue at this point, which might be an issue in itself. “Yeah, I guess I trust them. Dennis, at least. You know Sean better than I do. Do you trust him?”
“He hasn’t given me reason not to. And Dennis has actively given us reasontotrust him. Or you, at least.”She glanced at me as we got in the car.“Pretty sure he hates me still.”
“He doesn’t hate you. He literally said so yesterday.” I kicked my feet up on the dash, then lowered them at her aggressive side eye.
“Do you want me to drop you off at work before I take my stuff home and change?I’m sure I’ll be fine on my own for a few minutes.”
“Yes, please.”I peered out the window at the dreary sky, which was filled with dark clouds.
“Don’t think this means I’m not still pissed you almost made us crash.” She made a left and headed for the bar.
“Yeah, yeah.” I waved a hand at her lingering annoyance. We drove for a couple of minutes before she pulled into the parking lot.“Thanks, best cousin ever.”I blew her a kiss and got out.“See you in a few minutes?”
“Yeah, whatever.”
I waved as she drove away. I spotted Benji across the parking lot and was about to go say hi when someone pulled my hair. I yelped and whirled around, ready to fight, but saw it was only Dennis.“Dennis!”I jumped on him.
“Did you miss me?”Heeasily caught me.
“I actually kinda did.”I let go to take him in.
