“Yeah,” I lied.
“Cool, cool.Take a sip of your tea.”
I did.It was good.It was my hands that were all shaky.“How do you know Christie?”I asked without really wanting to know.
“We dated for a little while in high school.She’s fun, and she blames me for stealing Linc before she ever had a chance with him.”
“You dated a girl?”
“More than one.”
“Oh.”
Dom grabbed the paper bag.“Your brownie’s the smaller bag.Do me a favor and start eating.”
“How’d you end up with two guys?”I took the bag and did what he’d told me to.
Dom grinned at me.“This is all it takes to distract you, Little Red?It’s three guys now, with you.Linc came here for a vacation.We met at the bar and hooked up.We never stopped hooking up, you could say.We met Ell in the woods one night.We didn’t really have a set territory back then, and as we said, we were all loners first.”
I found the brownie and bit into it.It was divine.Fudgy and chocolatey and sweet, but not so sweet it made my teeth hurt.
“You had sex, erm, doggy style in the woods?”
Dom threw his head back to let out barking laughter.“Wouldn’t you like to know!”He looked at me, a mischievous smile playing around his lips.“You’ll need hiking boots if you really want to know what goes on in the woods.”
I frowned.“Do we really still have to do that?”
Dom’s hand came to rest on my head, carefully avoiding the stitches.
“Yes.That guy’s not making you turn tail and run, Marcus.Not ever again.”
That was one way of looking at it.I considered that viewpoint as I silently devoured my delicious brownie and regretted not asking for a cranberry cookie after all.
17
The place to buy shoes and a jacket was at the other end of town, a few minutes of driving away.I was still too agitated to take in much, except that Pleasant Peak was small, so much smaller than the city with its comforting snugness, with enough people around you that you could vanish and not stand out.
Here though?No real chance of anonymity, at least not to the degree I’d known, which…made me wonder why I was thinking about that.It wasn’t like I was staying here.This, I reminded myself, was just a vacation.Not the one I’d planned for, but a vacation nonetheless.
Dom pulled into a parking lot outside the Pleasant Peak Hiker’s Abode.An ominous name if ever there was one.I had to stuff the rest of the brownie into my mouth, which was why Dom managed, once more, to open my door for me.He was casually guzzling down his coffee while giving me a once-over.
“Better?”
“I’m fine,” I told him.I was shook, yeah, but pissed also.More pissed.I could handle Steven, I just didn’t want to.Ever again.
As we walked toward the entrance, Dom put his arm around me once more, and there we were, looking like a couple who hiked with our to-go cups in hand.Couple’s hiking.Now there was a reason for concern.
Inside the store, I spotted a climbing wall at the far end, one of those with the colorful fake rocks sticking out like too-tiny handles and footholds.A salesperson spotted us from behind a backpack display to our right, brightened, and speed walked toward Dom.Jeez.Small towns.
“Dom!”she said, and Dom lifted his arm off my shoulder to give her a hug.“You don’t come by often enough.”She pointedly looked at me.
“There’s always stuff to do at the house.Sophia, this is Marcus.Marcus, Phia’s my little sister-in-law.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said.I wasnotready to do this, whatever this was.Meeting family was what it was.Oh my fucking hotpants.The werewolf had ambushed me.
Sophia crossed her arms.She had short brown hair and clear blue eyes.“Wait.Wait.Did you break up with the guys, or is it four of you now instead of three?”
“We didn’t break up, and Marcus is just here for some shoes and a jacket,” Dom said while looking at me with that obvious fondness that made even the divine brownie appear sugar-free in comparison.
