The two walked into a separate work room with a bench and more cabinets and drawers for storage and a staircase. Moose strolled right inside with Inari behind him. Starting up the steps, he removed his coat, and she did the same. When they reached the top level, she took in his open space as he kicked his boots off near a rug that read “Wipe Your Paws”. Inari listened to the little tapping against his hardwood floors, and a large, chocolatebrown Cane Corso stampeded down the staircase beside the one she’d come up.
“Oh, shit!” Inari squealed when the large dog paused at her feet and sniffed her.
“Chill, Elan.” Moose voiced with a slight French accent when he called the dog by name.
“Elan?” Inari repeated.
“It means Moose in French.” He padded over to his kitchen and stopped at the rectangle island where his stove and oven were positioned.
Three bar chairs lined the counter as she approached and dropped her purse on top.
“So, his name is Moose, too?” Inari simpered. “How cute.”
Elan strutted over to the living room and stretched out across Moose’s rug with his head resting on his paws as he watched them. She inhaled the clean, masculine aromas lingering in the air and took in his open space. The dining room, living room and kitchen were all basically one room, and there was a hallway beyond her left. Instead of a table with chairs, Moose had a pool table arranged with a counter lining an entire wall and four more bar chairs aligned in front of it. His eggshell walls were bare except for a few gold framed mirrors and above the couch a large oil painting of him and his brothers when they were teens with Audiemar and Jane seated in front of them.
“This place is nice.” Inari raised her head to examine his high ceilings as she swept her hand across his counter.
“Kong designed it,” Moose replied.
“He’s got some serious skills. It’s very you.” Inari smiled.
“Cut the bullshit, Nari. What’s going on?”
“Moose.” His name rolling off her lips made his dick hard as she closed her eyes.
The situation was frustrating as hell.
“I really don’t want to drag you into this. It’s so much and?—”
“And what?” He inched closer, staring down into her face and searching her weary eyes. “Hmm, you don’t trust me?”
“It’s not that. I just… this goes back so far, and it’s not just about me.” She turned away from him and tried to walk away, but he grabbed her upper arm and pulled her back in.
“Don’t do that.”
Inari gently pulled away from him.
“I’m not doing anything. I barely know you. We’ve spent a few good times together, and what does that make this?”
“So, you gon’ downplay it to a good time? That’s what this is to you?” Moose sneered.
“I don’t know what it is!” Inari screeched, throwing her hands up. “I’ve sat and asked myself that for six fucking months. Because I can’t stop thinking about you or wanting to pick up the phone and call or text you to see how you are. Wondering if you’re okay because when we were together, I noticed times when you would get quiet and wonder where you were in your head.” She took a breath, eyes connecting to his. “I’ve never had as much fun as I’ve had when I’m with you. You’re hilarious. Now I can’t even see my sister like that because I don’t want to run into you at the house.”
“How can I be all that, and you don’t want to be with me?”
“Because I can’t have it all,” Inari mumbled. “And I’m not who you think I am, Moose.”
“You blowing me with this shit, baby. The fuck you even talking about?”
Inari pulled away from him and padded toward his living room. Hot tears sprang to her eyes as she thought about her past and all the dirt she’d had to do in the name of survival. Lately, all she’d been doing was moving weight and looking over her shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop. She couldn’t shake the sinking feeling that if anybody got caught this time, it would be her. In the corner, Moose had a cart lined with bottlesof liquor decanters and empty glasses. Inari grabbed what she assumed was tequila and poured herself a double.
“I told you my parents died when I was fifteen.” She faced him with her glass in hand.
Moose remained across the room, waiting. He wasn’t going to push or pry. This was obviously something she had to divulge at her own pace.
“I didn’t know what to do.” Inari’s voice cracked when she shrugged.
A single tear slipped down her cheek, and she quickly reached up to wipe her face. “Chantel, my mama’s younger sister, ended up moving in. I didn’t tell her I was pregnant. We weren’t close, and I didn’t all the way trust her, neither did my parents. She was in and out of rehab all my life and known for being a fuck up and a thief. She’d stolen so much from my mama that she stopped claiming her and banned her from our house. She blew into town for the funeral, and since we didn’t have a legal guardian, she offered to step in. I’m pretty sure it was just so she could have somewhere to lay her head.
