“Suit yourself.” He let go of Adam’s kuu before nodding toward Darryl’s beach house. Adam led the way as Austin followed close, occasionally looking back as if something I’d said confused him.
The red hue faded from my vision when they disappeared into the house. I felt bad for Adam, but there wasn’t anything I could really do at that moment. He was obviously in an abusive relationship, though I didn’t know to what extent, and the kuu seemed to be making it worse. Adam never had any bruises or cuts, but he was also a rapidly healing half-turn. Regardless if it was physical or emotional, abuse was abuse, and I wasn’t going to sit by and let it keep happening.
The sun was halfway below the endless blue horizon. Darryl and Roscoe were swimming in the ocean while I was jogging along the shore. They seemed to be playing around, but when Roscoe went under and Darryl disappeared after him, I grew concerned. I stopped running and waited for someone’s head to pop back up. When neither emerged after a minute, the real panic sat in.
What was I going to do? I could barely swim in a pool of stagnant water, and now my werewolf was drowning. I paced back and forth, shouting their names over the crash of the waves, growing more hysterical by the minute.
Out of the corner of my eye, much farther out than before, both of them emerged, struggling to pull something along.
It took them a good five minutes before they were close enough to shore to be able to stand. Their disappearance made sense when Roscoe slung a heavy blue marlin over his shoulderand hobbled along, Darryl keeping him steady in the turbulent water.
“What the hell are you guys doing?” I asked, running closer to get a better look at the fish. There was a huge gash along the underside of its head where Roscoe or Darryl’s powerful jaws made contact.
“Dinner’s here,” Roscoe said, giving the fish a slight shake. “Want some sushi?”
“You guys scared the hell out of me. I thought you were drowning.”
Darryl threw his heavy, sodden arm over my shoulder. “No one’s ever drowned on my beach, and Roscoe’s an okay swimmer when food’s involved.”
“I’m so hungry, I could eat this whole thing,” Roscoe said, drooling.
Darryl snatched the fish away and tripped Roscoe, who fell face-first onto the dry sand.
“Don’t even think about it, fatty.”
Roscoe climbed to his feet, shaking the sand out of his wet fur. “Oh, come on. When have I ever done that for real?”
“Christmas of ’86, when we went camping, remember?”
Roscoe scratched his head. “Uh…”
“You volunteered to cook up that stag we killed that would have fed the ten of us, and everyone was so excited about it because you were the only one that knew how to actually cook.”
Roscoe opened his mouth as if to object, but all that came out was a meek, “Ohh…”
“Yeah. And because you weremyfriend, we were both not invited to any more campouts. And need I bring up Thanksgiving at Jessie’s?”
“All right, you made yer point. That was all in the 80s, and I’m just… hungry like the wolf.”
“I’m honestly surprised you haven’t gotten any fatter,” Darryl added, poking Roscoe’s muscle gut with his free hand. “If you weren’t a werewolf, you’d probably be in one of those electric scooters, taking up an entire aisle at Walmart.”
“You make it sound like it’s a problem. We’re big monsters with big appetites.”
“Yourproblemis you take everything to excess.” Darryl’s tone went from scolding to lighthearted when he looked over at a frustrated Roscoe. “At least you’re not as bad as you used to be.”
We approached the porch, and Darryl slapped the fish into Roscoe’s hands. “I’ve gotta build the fire in the barrel. Can I trust you to prepare this thing without it disappearing into your bottomless gut?”
“Of course! I bought the right spices and everything.” Roscoe walked into the house but quickly reemerged. “You expecting company, Darryl?”
“Are they still in there?” I asked, looking up at the confused werewolf.
“I don’t really wanna interrupt the fun.” Roscoe looked down at his crotch. “Er, maybe I do.”
Darryl threw open the door and stomped inside. “What the hell?” That was the last coherent thing I heard as the door slammed shut behind him.
“Four hours,” I said, rather impressed and a bit worried for Adam.
Roscoe let the marlin fall to the table before sitting next to me.
