“A wolf or... oh, God, I don’t know what the hell that was!”
“Calm down, all right?”
“Calm down?! I almost died back there! That wolf tried to kill me!”
He cocked his head to the side. “Wolves don’t attack people.”
I couldn’t believe he was going to argue about this. Did he not hear me? Did he not see the fear in my eyes? “That one just did!” I screamed back at him. He attempted to move me to the side and go to the door, but I stopped him. “Don’t you dare open that door! It could still be out there!”
“I’m not gonna open it. I want to take a look.” I slid my body that was up against the door to the right so he could take a peek from the other side of the window. He had glass right at the top of the door in the shape of a triangle. It was taller than I was, so I hadn’t been able to see through it, but he could, no problem. “There’s nothing out there.” I could have exploded with relief at that moment. “Whatever it was must have left.”
“Oh, thank God.” I pressed my hand to my chest and, for the first time, felt just how fast my heart was beating. I felt like a little hummingbird.
“Couldn’t have been too eager to get you if it wandered away so easy.”
I knew where this was going. I could tell from his casual tone that he didn’t quite believe me. That or he thought I was blowing it out of proportion. “It was trying to kill me.” I was still out of breath, so making my point was hard to spit out. “I could feel it on me the whole time. It chased me all the way down the street. I thought I was going to die until I saw your place.” I hovered over, still breathing hard. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
“And what exactly was it, again?”
“I don’t know. It was tall and hairy and... it looked right into me. Like right into me. Oh, God, it scared the hell out of me...”
“It was probably just a dog.”
I’ll give Max this; that ridiculous comment made me forget my fear for a whole five seconds. “A dog? That was not a dog.”
“I just know how city people are. They go long enough without seeing an animal, they start mixing them all up.”
My mouth dropped open. “Do I still occupy planet Earth? I know what a dog looks like! A dog doesn’t stand up like a person and howl at the moon.”
Max mockingly laughed at me. “Howled at the moon? It howled at the moon?”
“Yes, yes, it did.” I hadn’t thought of that tidbit until that very moment, and saying it out loud felt just as weird to me as I imagined it sounded to him. “And what is this city folk talk? Is this Nebraska or something? People own dogs in the city, too, you know.”
“Calm down. No need to get your panties in a twist.”
I felt like such a stereotypical feminist throwing my hands to my hips as I scolded him. “Please don’t tell me to calm down. Some large animal just tried to kill me and you’re accusing me of being too dumb to know what a dog looks like. I had a dog for ten years when I was a kid.”
“Okay, okay,” he said with his hand raised. He didn’t want to hear me go on. I was quickly remembering why our first meeting left such a sour taste in my mouth. “What am I supposed to think exactly? You come charging into my house in the middle of the night claiming some howling monster tried to eat you. What do you want me to say, that I’m sorry a werewolf just tried to kill you, would you like some tea?”
I should have laughed, but I didn’t. I realized Max was only kidding when he said it was a werewolf, but my God, that was as close to an accurate description as I was going to get. That animal looked like a goddamn horror movie werewolf.
“Well, it looks like you’re in the clear now. You can go home.”
My heart sped up again. “Home?”
“Yes. It’s like my house only not.”
“You’re actually going to toss me out there?”
Max pointed to the door casually. “I already checked. It’s not out there.”
“You didn’t check. You glanced out a window. Those are two completely different things.”
“Would you like me to check again then?”
“No!” I yelled and practically ripped his arm out of his socket. I didn’t realize just how terrified I was until the mere thought of a stranger being out there made my body involuntarily protect him. “That thing was fast, but it could still be lurking.”
“It probably thought you were a coyote or something and then found something else to eat.”
“Wait, there are coyotes out there?”
He smirked at my wide eyed terror. “This is exactly why I think you’re blowing this out of proportion.”
I whipped his arm from my grasp like it was a deadly weapon. “I am not blowing this out of proportion! I saw something out there! I don’t know what it was or where it came from, but it was not normal. It looked like some kind of mutated wolf. And if you think I’m going back out there, you’re not playing with a full deck of cards!”
“You’re not staying here.”
“Humor me for a second. Even if what I saw was just a bear, you’d really make me walk home knowing that it’s in an aggressive mood?”
His brow narrowed. “Walk? You walked here?”
“More like ran, but yes, I was out for a walk.”
“What the hell are you doing going out for a walk at night?” I don’t think he was waiting for an answer, but more wanted to slam the idiocy of it in my face.
I tried to explain. “I was at Molly’s.” It was so fleeting, but I saw him flinch at the mention of her name, like he smelled something rancid in the room. “I had to meet her for an interview and I guess I lost track of time.”
“I told you to stay out of the woods.”
“I thought you were just being an ass. I didn’t think there was any real danger.”
He exhaled deeply and leaned against the counter from his kitchen that acted as separation between it and the living room. It was the first time I had even noticed details of his house. “So, what you’re saying is you need me to take you home.”
“Not right away,” I replied with a slow shrug.
“Even better then. Why don’t you move in?”
“Hey, I didn’t ask for this to happen. But if you can live with yourself knowing you kicked me out and let me get eaten, then you just go right ahead and do it.” I paused. “But I would highly recommend you didn’t.”
“Jesus Christ...”
“I don’t know what he has to do with any of this...” I mockingly said under my breath.
“Fine,” he blurted out angrily. “You can stay here for a little bit. But as soon as the coast is clear, you scoot your ass out the door.”
“I’m touched.” He flung his hands in the air and took off toward his hallway. “Where are you going?” I asked.
“Bed.”
“Wait, you’re just leaving? Like that?”
“Just like that.”
“What if I was a robber or something and tried to jack your stuff?”
He stopped walking. “Are you a robber or something?”
“No.”
“There you go. Goodnight.”
“You’re not going to stay up and keep me company?”
Max had this strange smile on his face and chuckled as he went to his bedroom. I was left alone in his dark, unfamiliar, and small living room, unsure of what I was supposed to do. Do I sleep? Do I stay up? Or do I agonize over what I had seen? Yep, I already knew the answer to that.
I curled up on his leather couch and pulled a small throw blanket over my legs, trying to do my best to get comfortable, but it was useless. I didn’t know the place or the guy that it belonged to, and the only thoughts going through my mind were the sharp protruding fangs hanging from my attacker’s mouth. Every creak that came out of the wood paneling of the floor, every whistle noise the wind created from outside the windows put me into a heightened and alert state. How was I supposed to get any sleep? Lifting the house with my bare hands felt more probable.
I closed all the curtains, locked the front door, and paced the living room for a good hour. I even checked to make sure the door hadn’t somehow become unlocked through some freak occurrence. I had been awake for so long, memorizing every corner of the living room to make sure that there were no places the animal could get through, that I began to get disturbingly familiar with the layout. By the end of the night, I anticipated this would be like a second home.
Oh, God, home. How I wanted to get there so bad. I just prayed that Grandma didn’t wake up before I could get there. I’d have a lot of explaining to do. Hell, I still felt like I did. But what was I to say? A mutated animal in the forest chased me down the road until it mysteriously vanished without a trace? I’m pretty sure I read kids’ novels with less holes in the story.
The hallway light flickered on, startling me, and Max came waltzing back in, half awake, dressed in a white t-shirt and boxers. He caught me pacing and said, “You’re still awake?”
“Resistance is futile.” He snickered at my comment and headed to the refrigerator. “You’re still awake, too.”
“I don’t sleep much.”
“Why’s that?”
“Guess I’m a night owl,” he said with a shrug as he chugged down a carton of milk. I stood on the other side of the counter to be within a decent distance to hear him. He wasn’t my favorite person, but he was a human being that could take my mind off what was outside. “Still afraid of the boogeyman?” he teased, but I did not find it funny.
“Don’t make fun of me,” I responded sternly. “You don’t have to understand what I saw, but the least you could do was respect that something did attack me.”
He closed the refrigerator door. “As long as we can meet in the middle.”
“Gee, I didn’t think you believed anything I said.”
“I let you stay here, didn’t I?”
He had me there. “And I am thankful, just so you know. If I came off pissy it’s because you acted like you didn’t believe any of it. I’d never been more scared in my life and it felt like you were making fun of me.”
Max curled his lips in and set the carton of milk down on the counter. He almost looked apologetic. “It’s how I am. You have to learn not to take offense.”
“Or you could just be nicer?”
He chuckled loudly. “You’d have an easier time convincing me what you saw was a werewolf.”
“I never said that...” My voice trailed off doubtfully.
“Point is, you can’t take it personal. I’m this way with everyone.”
“Is that why you live out in the woods? You hate people?”
“What makes you think I hate people?”
“Your general cheerful disposition.”
Max took a seat on one of the stools behind the counter after getting a glass from the cupboard to fill with milk. I followed suit, and we ended up looking like we were sitting down for a game of poker.
“I don’t like people bothering me, it’s that simple. I hate the city because there are too many assholes inhabiting it, and here in the country, people tend to leave you alone more.”
“Even if you live right down the road from Molly?” He cocked his eye at me when he realized I knew the juicy gossip. “Yeah, Owen told me,” I added.
He exhaled, annoyed. “Of course he did. Had to win brownie points.”
“Owen’s a good guy.”
“You have known him for all of about ten minutes, so yeah, I’m sure he comes off that way. How bad could the prince be if he gives his time away to you every single day?”
“You stalking us now?” I teased.
“Gossip goes both ways, you know.”
“Somehow, I can’t picture you gossiping with Priscilla.”
“You just have to be within the vicinity. Besides, I do a lot of hunting and I see you two out there every morning. Him doing his wonderful guy act.”
I folded my arms. “I find it ironic you calling him a bad guy as you watch from your killing animal zone.”
“You do realize killing for food doesn’t make you a bad person, right?” he asked in a very preachy tone. “You think it’s something I get off on? I sell the food and make a living at it. It’s what has to be done. Life isn’t always about doing what you want to do, but doing what needs to be done.”
“But people can survive without butchering defenseless animals.”
“And watch the world get overrun with deer?”
“I’m just saying we can survive off plants.”
“Well, you go ahead and get the world to convert to the vegan lifestyle.”
If my arms weren’t folded already, I’d be doing it again. “Why do you have to be so confrontational? You have a beef with Owen because he’s nice, and you’re somehow annoyed because I think we shouldn’t be firing rifles in the woods at animals who have done nothing wrong.”
“I never said either. I don’t care if you’re a vegetarian, and my beef with Owen is because the guy is a jackass.”
“You did dump his sister after her parents died.”
“Is that really all he said?”
“More or less.”
Max drug his fingers through his long brown hair (which looked too perfect, considering he had just been in bed), and then leaned back slightly. “He’s simplifying it.”
“Then un-simplify it.”
“You’re a little reporter tonight, aren’t you?”
“You keep acting like Owen is in the wrong here, yet I’m not seeing it.”
“Okay,” he began and leaned forward across the counter. He actually got quite close to my face. “Molly and I hung out for a little bit, yes. She was a sweet girl and I thought she was cute. It was never anything serious.”
“Was she aware of this or is it an oblivious guy thing?”
“I told her I wasn’t looking for a relationship and she was fine with it. I was actually about to call things off with her when her parents died in that fire. It was shitty timing, so I decided not to say anything and wait a while. But then she got weird. She was manic depressive and loopy as shit.”
“What do you mean loopy?”
“Like she’d start laughing and crying in the middle of a conversation. Just weird, weird shit. I figured her brain was all out of whack because of her parents dying the way they did, but I don’t know, it didn’t seem like a normal response to death.”
“It was both parents at once.”
“You don’t think I thought about that? I even talked to Owen and told him maybe he should take her on a vacation, that way she could, sort of, phase me out. He blew up and said if I was a decent human being, I’d wait six months before I left her.” Max scoffed really loud. “What kind of shit is that? He wanted me to lead his sister on just so she didn’t have a meltdown. As far as I was concerned, I found that way crueler. Her parents had just died—I doubt some guy leaving her would even register. With his way, she’d finally be getting on with her life just so I could dump her.”
“I mean, I see your point.”
He nodded proudly.
“I see Owen’s, though, too. That is a lot of loss all at once.”
“Molly and I were never together. Shouldn’t she be going to her brother for comfort? I mean, she was throwing all her emotions my way and I didn’t think we were all that close. I don’t know why she couldn’t have just turned to her brother.”
“I don’t know, people deal with that stuff differently,” I replied with a shrug.
“That’s why I did things my way. I told her to focus on her remaining family and we needed to cool off. Of course, she flipped out and called me every name in the book mixed in with a few new ones. Then her dipshit brother had the gall to show up at a bar, drunk off his ass and threaten to beat me up because I didn’t do what he wanted. It’s my life, not his. He needed to mind his damn business.”
“Is it true that she stalked you afterward?”
Max had been so stern and intense this whole conversation, but at that moment, h
e eased up like he was going to excuse her behavior. “That’s what some people said, but I never saw anything.”
“She is a little bit...different. I was over at her house earlier and she shifted between emotions pretty quick.”
“You were over there for an interview, you said?”
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
My cheeks got red. “For the, uh, dating auction.” I expected him to explode into uncontrollable laughter, but instead, he stared at me like I had completely lost my mind. “I promised Owen.”
“Right, right,” he replied with a very slow nod. “And I’m sure Owen didn’t goad you into it one bit.”
“Hey, come on, don’t twist his actions into something ugly.”
“He’s making you do it, right?”
“No.”
“But did you volunteer?”
I stammered. “Well...”
“See?”
“But he told me I could back out, whenever. He’s doing nice things for me, so I’m going to do something nice for him as well. Doing favors for someone isn’t terrible, you know? If you weren’t living out here alone like some crazy snake man, you might even join in on the fun.”
“Crazy snake man? What does that even mean?”
I sunk down in my seat. “It sounded funnier in my head.”
He tilted his head to the side and stared me down. “You’re special, aren’t you?”
“I would say yes, but something tells me you don’t mean that as compliment.”
“You said it, not me.”
“My point is, we all have things we’re illogically angry about. Mine is animals, Owen’s is obviously his sister, and yours is... I don’t know, common decency?”
“Oh, that’s cute,” he replied sarcastically.
“They’re all each other has. Cut the guy some slack.”
“I would if he weren’t actively trying to kill me every time we came into contact. I try to show restraint, but one of these days, I’m going to deck him.”
“Fair enough.”
He looked surprised that I would relent so easy. “And you wouldn’t stop me?”
“Now, I never said that,” I responded coyly. “Guys are weird. My dad told me a story about him and this other guy who hated each other for years, and all it took was a punching contest outside of some shady bar and everything was suddenly a-okay. I never understood how the most intense, passionate act of hate could make guys almost like each other.”
Lunar Rampage (Lunar Rampage Series Book 1) Page 9