Who We Are (The Seafare Chronicles 2)

YEAH. So that’s happening.

“DO YOU even know what you’d wear?” Anna asks me the next day. “You don’t really have… clubbing clothes.” She looks at me disdainfully, as if my wardrobe is something cognizant and will bite her face off.

“And you really do need to go all out, especially if it’s your first time going,” Isaiah points out even as Anna shoots him a dirty look. “What bar are you going to?”

We’re sitting at a metal picnic table waiting for our psych class to start.

Isaiah had sat down without being invited, and Anna clearly is not in an invitation kind of mood. Isaiah doesn’t seem to mind. I don’t, either. He seems to be okay, especially when he’s not pressing me up against walls or kissing me. I’m sure Otter will just love that he’s sitting on my side of the table even though there’s more room on the other side. I know Anna sure does.

“PDXers,” I tell him. “Sounds… neat.”

“That place is huge!” Isaiah says, laughing. “You’ll have fun, I’m sure.

Hell, maybe I’ll even see you up there.” He gives me an appreciative leer that I don’t quite know what to do with. So I just stare.

“Yes,” Anna says, her voice hard. “Maybe I want to go too, just so I can see what happens when Isaiah meets Otter for the first time. I wonder how that would go.”

Isaiah waves his hand in an easy dismissal. “Walrus will love me,” he says, pretending to pick a hair off my shirtsleeve, but really just rubbi

ng my arm with his finger, a long slow stroke. I pull it away. “He’ll probably end up angling for a threesome. Then I’ll have to get my animal name so I can be a part of the group. So Native American of you white boys. I’ll probably go for something like Falcon. Or Wolf.”

“Jackass suits you better,” Anna intones. “The noble donkey. And you’re white too. Pale and pasty white. Rather sickly looking if you ask me.

Do you do drugs? You look like you do drugs.”

“I’m going to win you over,” he tells her with a laugh. “One day, you’re going to say my name without an ounce of contempt.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“We’re not going to have a three-way with you,” I tell him, even though my dick thinks it’s a fantastic idea. Hormones that move independently of the brain are the bane of my existence.

Right. Hormones, it chuckles. That must be it. I almost believed you.

“Maybe a two-way, then, huh?” he grins. “You and me, and then me and Walrus. I don’t mind going twice.”

This causes me to see red for a moment, and I have to grip the table before I grab him on the back of his head and smash his stupid face down on the stupid table to get him to shut his stupid fucking mouth. My jaw starts to ache from how tightly I’ve got it clenched, and holding onto the table is almost not enough to stop me.

Anna sounds pleased when she says, “You see that look on his face, Jackass? That’s the face Bear makes when he thinks about anyone touching Otter but him. Otter makes the same face about Bear. So, please. Go on. I dare you.”

He cocks his head while studying me. “Looks more like a Care Bear to me than a Grizzly,” he finally says. “But I hear you loud and clear. Hands off in front of Walrus.”

“Hands off all the time,” I remind him.

He plays offended. “You act like I have some disease that you’re going to catch.” He pauses and then looks at Anna. “I may not have thought what I just said through, and I hope you’re woman enough to take the high road.”

She shrugs. “Doesn’t bother me in the slightest. You look like you’re diseased.”

Isaiah sighs and looks at me. “Are you going to let her talk to me like that? It would be nice to have someone here to protect my virtue.”

I roll my eyes. “Something tells me your virtue is no longer a problem.”

He sniffs delicately. “Well, I never! And here I was, going to be all nice and let you borrow some of my clothes for your Grand Gay Adventure. I think I have some stuff that would fit you that I used to wear before I got all buff and hot. You’ll look so fucking gorgeous Walrus won’t know what hit him.”

“And I suppose you want Bear to come over to your house to try clothes on in front of you?” Anna says dryly. “Subtle, Jackass. Real subtle.”

He grins and it’s wolfish. Maybe Wolf isn’t such a bad name for him after all. If you were into that sort of thing. Which I’m not. “Subtlety is not exactly within my nature. What’s the point of dancing around a situation when you can just tackle it head-on?” He winks at me. “Isn’t that right, Bear?”

I wince. “Are you always on? You could dial it back. Just a little.”