Not sure if Arlo was seeking information about whether he had a boyfriend, Taggart was quick to answer. “I live alone, just meon my lonesome, and I work for myself, so there's only me to please.” How many ways did he need to point out what a loser he was?
There was a glint in Arlo’s gaze, and it sent a shiver through Taggart. The good kind that made his body feel all tingly and warm. “Good to know.”
“Why is that good to know?” Romy asked, looking confused with his brow wrinkled.
“Just that I ain’t gonna have to explain my presence at Taggart’s,” Arlo explained to Romy while his gaze never left Taggart. “I got the rest of the equipment at mine, when do you want me to drop it off?”
Right now. Then I want you naked and sprawled on my bed so I can jump all over you. Nibble on the thick chords of your neck and claim you.
None of that came out of his mouth, thankfully. “Whatever works best for you guys,” he hedged, “I’m easy.”In every conceivable way, for you!
Chapter One
Soren
Four miles to Cookietown, just four, and then the rental car he needed to turn in, before he had to pay for another day, developed a flat on the loneliest stretch of road he’d ever had the misfortune of driving on.
With no one to call, he pulled up a video tutorial on how to change a tire and watched it several times before he realized that everything he owned was packed in the trunk on top of the tire and jack. With a groan, he leaned against the side of the car androlled his eyes to the heavens, noting the clouds gathering in the distance.
“Really? Just how much more shit am I gonna have to wade through before you give me a fuckin’ break?” he howled at the sky, tempting fate, and sure as shit the heavens answered with a threatening rumble.
Yeah, yeah, it was fixing to storm on his head if he didn’t get his ass in gear and the trunk unloaded. Hurrying around to the back, he muttered under his breath the whole time he removed his things, verbally kicking himself in the ass for taking this leap into the unknown.
How did he know he’d even find a welcome in Cookietown?
Just because there was a symbiont relationship between oxpeckers and rhinos in the wild, didn’t mean that rhino shifters would welcome a lone oxpecker shifter into the midst, especially a coward who’d hid while the rest of his flock had been slaughtered.
To this day, he held out hope that others had done the same, and for weeks he’d lingered around the site of his people’s demise, hoping another would dare peek out of hiding and show themselves. In the end, he’d been scared away when the fresh scent of death had marred the grassy plains around the site, like they’d returned just to ensure there had been no survivors.
With the sky continuing to darken, he watched the video again, located the proper tools and got to work fitting the jack in the spot the video indicated. So far, the only bit of good luck he’d had was that he’d pulled over on a level patch of land. According to the video, that was important so the jack wouldn’t slip out from beneath the tire while someone was attempting to replace the wheel.
Who the fuck knew changing a tire could actually be dangerous?
Of course, the universe had to hammer that point home when the tire iron slipped while he was attempting to loosen one of the lug nuts and rapped him across the knuckles. Howling, he clutched his hand, rocking as he sat back on his heels, whimpering. The tears that had immediately begun stinging his eyes when the metal hit him spilled over as the sky unleashed a torrent of water on him and his things.
At that point, he just buried his head in his hands and wept at the hopelessness of it all. He didn’t even have a place to go when he got to Cookietown, and with everything sopping wet, who the hell was going to want to let him rent a broom closet, let alone a motel room? And why shouldn’t everything suck?
It was what he deserved for the way he’d fled instead of staying with the others. His siblings had stayed, his parents and cousins had banded together inside their home. While he’d hidden deep in a hole in the wall of a dried-up wallow, head tucked beneath his wing as he’d shivered in silence, listening to his universe burn. It would serve him right to drown out here, or better still, get struck by lightning and fried right on the spot. Maybe then everything would be right with the universe once more. At the very least, he’d be free of the misery of having it take a dump all over him.
Rain pounded on his shoulders, soaking his clothes to his skin. So cold he shivered, but with the cold came a dose of clarity. It was four miles, only four miles to Cookietown. With how far he’d already come, how could he not finish the journey, even if it was only to be told that he wasn’t welcome there?
Arlo
What the hell was he supposed to bring along when he was going to sit with a hacker to go through a bunch of files that may further damage everyone's already fragile mental health? It wasthe question Arlo kept asking himself as he headed back into town to go to Taggart’s place.
He’d hoped to beat the storm, but the sky unleashed with such unexpected ferocity that it blinded him for a moment and forced him to slam on the breaks, one hand reaching to protect the paper bag that was riding shotgun. Good thing this stretch of road was deserted, or he’d probably have been rear-ended for his actions. As it was, he remained in the middle of the road for nearly half a minute while he waited for the windshield wipers and the defogger to work their magic so he could see to drive. Even then it was slow going, with the wipers struggling to keep up as the rain pelted his car.
It was only the intense training he’d received to become an enforcer for his Crash that allowed him to spot the flash of hazard lights on the side of the road before he passed them, and he slowed. Guiding his vehicle onto the shoulder, he pulled up behind the stranded vehicle and put his flashers on too.
The last thing he expected to see when he got out of his car was a drenched man, barely five feet tall by his estimation, struggling to loosen the lug nuts. A semicircle of totes and boxes, getting drenched, provided a bit of an obstacle course for him to maneuver around.
“Hey, can I give you a hand?” Arlo bellowed over the roaring rainwater that had already left his jeans clinging to his legs.
The man nearly fell over, he jerked back so fast, startled eyes blinking rapidly as he struggled to wipe the water away. It was almost comical how fast he held out the tire iron after he’d taken in Arlo’s size.
He scrambled backwards as Arlo stepped up and easily loosened the nuts. Rather than turn the task back over to someone who clearly wasn’t up to it, Arlo jacked the car up and finished the job of removing the flat and replacing it with the spare.
“Thank you!” The man said when Arlo finished, his voice barely a whisper above the wind.
