Claimed by the Pack

Hell in a handbasket. Of all the overused phrases he regurgitated several times each week, this had to be one of the worst.

“That’s probably because I hate this place,” I’d told him.

He’d scoffed at me for that. “You used to love it.”

“Not anymore.”

We’d been together five years, married for three. As far as I knew, everything had been going great. We’d bought a house, adopted a dog, even talked about having kids. Then, over dinner one night, Garrett simply announced he wasn’t in love with me anymore.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “That’s just how I feel.”

It was like getting punched in the gut. Hard.

The best part was that in the very next breath, my not-so-loving husband also told me he wanted to see other people. Effective immediately, apparently upon completion of dessert.

“So you’re fucking someone else,” I remember snarling. “Obviously.”

He denied it of course, but I knew he was. And the more I pressed, the less he tried to hide it. First there was Debbie, the girl he worked with. After that came Melissa, followed by some other tramp I never got a name for, and then finally his current girlfriend, Chastity.

Yes, that’s right. Chastity.

You really couldn’t make this shit up.

At first I tried throwing him out, but he flat out refused. He wasn’t leaving “his house,” no matter how much we didn’t get along anymore. We slept in separate bedrooms while the details were worked out, and the details went quickly since we had no assets, no children. But the more we lived together while being apart? The more furious I became. And the more I hated being around him.

“You can always leave,” he’d tell me with a shrug. “You don’t really like this place anyway.”

I was immediately defiant whenever he made the suggestion. As if in leaving, I was somehow surrendering something. Losing, even though there was nothing left to lose.

Besides, I just couldn’t afford a place of my own. Not as an adjunct. Not until I got hired full time.

But maybe, after saving all the extra money I was getting paid for renovations…

I turned into the driveway of the old frat house and instantly stopped short. A huge metal container took up most of the driveway. It was already half-filled with garbage.

I was totally speechless as I parked my car along the curb and made my way across the overgrown front lawn.

“Who ordered the dumpster?” I asked incredulously.

“I did.”

I turned to my left and there was Hunter. He was dressed in pair of torn jeans and a tight white T-shirt. Or at least it used to be white. Right now it was covered — along with his face and arms — in a powdery layer of what looked to be sheetrock dust.

“Ummm… well, thanks.”

“No need to thank me,” he said. “The house needed it. Besides, my uncle’s still billing you for it. He runs a construction company not far from here.”

“Oh.”

“I got you a discount though,” he added. “Friends and family. That sort of thing.”

I nodded appreciatively. “Very cool of you.”

“Like I said, the house needed it.”

We both turned as Colin and Brandon walked out of the open front door. Colin had a bag of garbage dangling from each hand. Brandon however, was carrying something much, much bigger.

“What the hell is this thing anyway?” he asked.