by Chase Connor
Flashes of the things we had done sent a shiver down my spine. The smell of Lucas’ skin was stuck in my nose, I could taste him at the back of my throat. Sure, it was pleasant and enticing…but it also concerned the hell out of me. It made me want to do more things that were against my nature. Right then. Right there.
“Yes,” I replied evenly. “I enjoyed it.”
“Do you want some breakfast?”
“I want to go home.” I shrugged. “I need to get away from here. For now.”
“Home…where home?”
I thought about that.
“I just want to go back to Oma’s.” I rose to my feet and shuffled over to the pile of clothes our sexual encounter had formed. “I need to…I don’t know…clear my head or something.”
I bent down and sorted through the clothes until I found my underwear and pants and pulled them on quickly, though I tried to not look as self-conscious as I felt at that moment. Lucas rose to his feet and joined me at the pile of clothes, and he pulled on his underwear as well. My eyes rose to take him in, and my mind screamed out that he looked nearly as amazing in his underwear as he did nude. I wanted to pull him into me, feel his bare skin against my bare skin once more, press my mouth to his. Devour him.
Shivering, a shaking off of thoughts, I reached down and snatched up my shirt and pulled it on over my head. Lucas mimicked me as I went through the motions. In silence, occasionally exchanging awkward glances, we dressed, covering up the evidence of the previous night. Of course, feelings, memories, and thoughts can’t be covered up with something like a shirt, so the awkwardness continued as Lucas found his keys and we left his house. The sun was climbing into the sky, even though it was chilly, and the brightness of the sun made me feel a lot safer after the night I’d had.
I climbed into the passenger seat of Lucas’ truck as he jumped into the driver’s seat, his eyes darting over to me. Doing my best to ignore the questioning look, I just fastened my seatbelt and tried to ignore the scent of sex and regret coming off of my clothes. My tongue and teeth felt furry, and I knew that my hair had to look absolutely tragic. I just wanted to get back to Oma’s house, where all of my fresh, clean clothes were, get a shower, get redressed…and then…I didn’t know.
“Are you sure you want to leave?” Lucas asked softly. “Right now?”
I turned my head to look at him, to consider what it truly was that I felt and wanted. Lucas’ eyes did not meet mine; instead they were fixed on a point somewhere past the windshield.
“What did you mean when you said Oma is a witch?” I asked.
Lucas turned to me.
“You’re more concerned about that than your date being a werewolf?” His eyebrow raised precipitously.
I motioned toward the sky. “Sun’s out. I figure that one can wait for a few hours. And a lot of things have me concerned right now, Lucas.”
“I meant she’s a witch.” He shrugged. “But I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell her I told you that.”
There were a lot of things I could say to that.
“I must be going out of my fucking mind right now.” I sighed and turned my head back to look straight ahead again.
“You’re not crazy, Rob.”
“I’m not exactly in a good headspace.”
“I promise that you’re not crazy.” He reiterated. “I know this is all a lot to take in all of the sudden…even for someone like you.”
“I think I’m in shock.”
“That would be understandable.”
“Andrew is a werewolf,” I said it as though we weren’t fully aware of the fact yet. “You hit him with your truck. Oma is a witch. And we just fucked like a couple of horny teenagers.”
“Fucked?” Lucas frowned.
“What is wrong with me?” I shook my head. “I mean…what is really wrong with me? I came back to Point Worth to…rest and eat and be with my grandmother. And…I managed to fuck that all up within the course of fewer than two weeks. I mean, that’s gotta be a record, right?”
“How did you fuck it all up, Rob?” Lucas turned, kicking his knee up onto the bench seat between us. “How is anything fucked up—and even if it was—how is that your fault?”
“I don’t have an answer for that.” I shrugged, my hands falling limply into my lap. “I just…I feel what I feel, okay?”
Lucas stared at me as I sat there, wallowing in self-pity.
“Did you really fuck me, Rob?” Lucas asked lowly. “Is that what you thought we were doing when we…did what we did? Because that wasn’t how I felt about it at all. It was the best sex of my life, sure, but it just felt right to me. It didn’t feel like fucking, Rob. It felt like…home.”
I turned my face to him again.
“Do you want to do it again?” I asked.
Lucas nodded.
So, we got back out of his truck, went back into Lucas’ house, and repeated the previous night’s activities. Except we didn’t repeat them on the living room floor. We used the actual bed.
Chapter 2
Oma was in the kitchen, talking to herself again when I walked in through the front door hours later. It was mid-afternoon, and I hadn’t so much as gotten a text or call from her on my cell phone in the entire time that I had been gone since the previous afternoon. I closed the door gently behind myself, barely making a “clicking” sound as it shut. Standing in the entryway, I was barely breathing as I listened to the sounds coming from the kitchen. I could hear Lucas’ truck slowly pulling away from the house. And Oma was talking to…herself?
Lucas and I had had sex again. Okay. We had had sex again twice.
I don’t know why I had wanted to have sex with him again. Twice. But it felt right, so I did it. And it felt so very right both times. Then we had dressed again, got in his truck, and he drove me home in silence. He had tried talking to me about what it meant for us now that we had done all of the things we had done, but I was in no mood to dissect this new development. Lucas was a nice guy. I thought so, anyway. He was certainly fun to hang out with. And I…liked him, I thought. But there was no way that I was going to delve any deeper into it than that. So, that’s what I told him. I just wanted things to be as they were for now. I needed to go home and just be alone to think. To not be inundated with anyone else’s questions and concerns.
Quietly, I slid my shoes off next to the door and stepped away from them, sneaking across the entryway, past the stairs, through the living room, and towards the kitchen entryway. What was Oma talking about? Was she actually talking to someone else? What exactly was going on? And, could I even ask her about it without bringing up what Lucas had said about her? I had made a promise as Lucas and I had laid in his bed after having sex twice more. I had told him that I wouldn’t say anything to Oma about him saying that she was a witch. So…I would do my best to keep that promise. But that didn’t mean that I couldn’t do other things to show her that I was onto her and whatever it was going on inside of her house.
“He better be home safe and in one piece soon, ya’ little shit.” I heard Oma hissing. “Every second I wait is one more check against you. I’ll have your ass if there’s one hair out of place on his fuckin’ head, ya’ hear me?”
I frowned to myself as I stood just outside of the entryway, trying to figure out who Oma was talking to—if anyone at all. Was the old bag as crazy as I felt?
“I swear he’s fine.” I heard a familiar voice. “I’m not sure where he is, but I know that I didn’t hurt him.”
It was Andrew’s voice.
My eyes closed to slits as I listened.
“You better fuckin’ hope so.” Oma snapped. “How in the whole steamy pile of hell did you think it was okay to take my fuckin’ grandson out on the full moon in your condition?”
“I usually have myself under control, Mrs. Wagner.” Andrew peeped. “I don’t know what came over me.”
“I’m pretty sure you know what the hell came over you, ya’ fuckin’ moron,” Oma growled. “Of all the
fuckin’ idiot shit I’ve seen in my near seven decades. You oughta be ashamed of yourself.”
I did nothing to muffle my footsteps as I stepped into the entryway, finding Andrew seated at Oma’s kitchen table, his back to me. Oma was standing by the sink. When she saw me step into view, her eyes grew wide.
“What…exactly…came over him, Oma?” I asked, cocking my head to the side, smirking as Andrew jerked in his seat and spun to look at me. “A case of the handsy, furry douchebags?”
Andrew’s face was one big bruise. He had a cut along his lip, and I was confident that, if it weren’t for the fresh clothes he had on, I’d see several bruises and abrasions smattered all over him. Getting hit by a truck will do that to a…werewolf…I supposed.
“Rob.” Andrew swallowed hard.
Before I knew what I was doing, I had crossed the space between myself and Andrew and punched him in the face. He fell out of the chair onto the linoleum floor and started scooting backward and away from me. Oma threw her hands up in the air.
“Oh, just fuckin’ great.” Oma huffed. “Those kitchen chairs are older than any of us! Don’t you assholes break nothin’!”
“Really?!?” Andrew looked over at her as he backed into the wall, fear pouring off of him in waves.
“I care more about that kitchen set than you!” She put her hands on her hips and waggled her head. “It belonged to my grandmother.”
I turned to Oma as Andrew cowered against the wall. She twisted up her mouth in a half-frown as she examined me.
“Well…you look fine.” She said.
I stared at her for a very long time.
“Get him out of this house,” I stated firmly.
Oma gave me a look as though her first instinct was to tell me that she’d be damned if I told her what to do in her house and whom to do it with, but she finally rolled her eyes and looked over at Andrew.
“Ya’ heard him!” She shouted at Andrew. “Scat! Get the hell out of here. I’ll talk to you at the center, ya’ little shit. This isn’t over!”
Andrew scurried to his feet and dashed out of the back door, somehow managing to close it gently behind himself as he got far away from us. He must have parked near the back of the house because I hadn’t seen his car when Lucas had pulled up to the house. But I heard a car start up shortly after he ran out of the house, so I knew that he had to have his car nearby. Oma and I stared at each other as we stood in the kitchen, her with her hands on her hips and me with my hands clenched in fists at my sides.
“You. Crazy. Bitch.” I finally spoke once the sounds of Andrew’s car were in the distance.
“What did I do?” She threw her hands up.
I glared at her.
“Okay.” She rolled her eyes as her hands went back to her hips. “So, he’s a werewolf. I didn’t exactly know that now did I?”
“So…we’re just throwing that word around like it’s not crazy as shit, huh?”
“Which word?”
“Don’t play dense with me, you crazy old woman.”
“Where was you?”
“Where was you?” I snapped back.
“Oooooh, sassy today, are we?” Oma leaned against the sink edge. “Go on one bad date, and suddenly you’re full of piss and vinegar and out to blame me for all of it?”
“Are you insane?!?” I practically shrieked. “You set me up with a goddamn werewolf. In the history of all dates set up by meddling family members, this takes the goddamn cake, Oma! And…werewolf! A fucking werewolf! Andrew is a goddamn werewolf, and fucking werewolves are real! And you knew they were real!”
“Well, of course, they’re real.” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t get your pressures up. It’s not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. There’s all kinds of things some of us know nothing about. No reason to give yourself a goddamn stroke, though. You’re perfectly fine, ain’tcha?”
“I can think of a fucking mile-long list of people who would disagree with everything you just said.”
She shrugged.
“Lucas is gay.” I spat.
“Well, yes.” She shrugged again. “I suppose he is.”
“You didn’t think that was information you should have shared with me?” I bellowed. “I made a goddamn fool of myself acting like he was just this cool dude I was going to be friends with…and…”
“Really?” She smirked. “You almost got ate by a werewolf last night like you was wearing a red cape on your way to grandma’s house and you’re worried about making a fool of yourself in front of Lucas?”
“Fuck you, old woman!” I pointed a finger at her.
“Don’t you jab your goddamn finger at me.” She actually jumped back, putting her back against the sink.
I lowered my hand but didn’t back down. “After what happened to me last night, I should be jabbing every fucking finger at you.”
“Oh, calm down.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re fine. Well, fine-ish. Andrew’s gone, he’s learnt his lesson, and life goes on. Tra-la-la. He won’t be bothering anyone for the rest of the full moon, so just relax, damnit.”
I glared at her.
“What’s in this fucking house?” I asked firmly.
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Oma.” I shook my head angrily. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. I had a dream last night and…”
“Where exactly did you have that dream?” She waggled her head at me.
“On Lucas’ goddamn living room floor after we fucked!” I spat the words out like they were bullets.
Oma’s eyes grew wide as she laced her arms over her chest and stared at me from across the kitchen.
“Well…that’s…that’s something, isn’t it?”
“What does that even mean?”
“Well, Lucas…he’s not exactly promiscuous, is he?”
“How the hell would I know?”
“Because I’m telling you, ya’ shithead.” She snorted. “For a while, I suspected the little shit was a damn virgin or something. Especially after he got all pissed off when I tried to set him up down at the center. Then a week after you come to town, he’s gettin’ some strange on his living room floor from ya’. I mean, I knew he talked about you a lot whenever we watched your movies or saw you on the T.V., but who knew he was wanting to play ‘Hide the Sausage’ with you?”
“Is this real right now?” I shook my head and looked up towards the heavens. “This all has to be a fucking coma dream or something. I must have fallen and hit my head, and I’m in a hospital ward somewhere.”
“Stop being so damn dramatic.” She waved me off.
“Dramatic?” I snorted. “Try apoplectic, lady.”
“I don’t even know that word.” She snorted. “There you go, being all fancy again.”
“It’s in the goddamn dictionary, Oma.” I snapped. “Look it up. Suffice it to say, you should be glad you’re not Andrew right now because I am far from happy and I’m about a day’s hike, a canoe ride down the river, and a helicopter ride over the mountains from calm.”
“Was he good at it?” Oma leaned slightly forward.
“Are you for real right now?”
“Just curious.” She stated defensively. “Not like I got a lot of people to talk about these things with.”
“I’m sure some of the ‘boys’ at the center would love to carry on with you.” I rolled my eyes. “But, yes. He was very good at it. All three times.”
“Three?!” She practically squealed. “When was the other two times?”
“Before he brought me home today!” I shouted. “I fucked him twice more trying to forget about goddamn werewolves and…”
I trailed off, stopping myself from saying what it was that I really wanted to say. Consciously, I gathered myself up and walked over to the kitchen table, picking up the chair Andrew had knocked over when I had punched him, then plopped down into it. I put my head in my hands and rubbed my bleary eyes, then ran my hands through my hair as Oma saunter
ed over and sat across from at the table. She folded her arms over her chest and watched me as I had my internal debate over what my next course of action should be.
“Well, I guess a good fuckin’ did ya’ good.” She said.
“Don’t start with me, Oma.”
“Well, when’s the last time you had a little strange, Robbie?” She shrugged. “Maybe that’s part of what you needed? You said you came here to find some love…and I guess you found it.”
“I don’t love Lucas.”
“Hm.” She appraised me. “We’ll see. Funny what a little tickle will do to a fella after all.”
“I’m nearly twenty-seven years old, Oma.” I sighed. “I think I’d know if I was in love, right?”
“You think he loves you?” She asked.
I looked up at Oma. Before I knew what I was doing, I slammed my fist down on the table. She didn’t so much as jump. I guess a finger jab is unsettling but a fist slamming into a table isn’t.
“Don’t,” I growled at her. “Don’t act like this is settled, Oma. You lied to me, and…”
“I didn’t lie about shit.” She spat. “I didn’t know that the little shit was a werewolf, so that’s not my fault.”
Rapidly, my conversation with Oma the previous day before Andrew had come to pick me up rushed through my head.
“But you suspected it.” I snapped back. “You were worried about me getting home after dark because you knew it was the first night of the full moon. Don’t try to lie.”
“Fine.” She relented. “Maybe I suspected that he got a little hairy ‘round the full moon. But it wasn’t like I could just ask him. The were-community is notoriously tight-lipped about their status and for good reason and…”
“The...were…community?”
I knew the disbelief and shock were painted all over my face.
“Well, yeah.” She replied. “Andrew ain’t special or nothin’. Surely you figured that out for yourself already.”
I frowned at her. I didn’t know if I was shocked, scared, dumbfounded, or resigned to the fact that things were even crazier in Point Worth than I had initially understood. Growing up in the small town there on Lake Erie, I knew that the place wasn’t exactly…normal…but I thought it was just because it was full of country people. Obviously, other things were going on in the tiny little town that I had absolutely no clue about. Or…had I just chose to ignore those things when they drew my attention?