Summer Cursed

We stared at each other. Everything got quiet, as if even the crickets were waiting to see what I did next.

“Isaac, can I crash at your place?” I asked without taking my eyes off Liam.

“Yeah.”

“Thanks. Do you mind going on ahead? I’ll catch up to you.” He nodded and started walking, leaving Liam and me alone.

“You don’t have to leave,” he said closing the distance between us.

“Yeah, I do.”

I knew I needed to get out of there, but I didn’t protest when his arms slipped around my waist. Or when he pulled me against him. Or when his lips met mine.

“I’d rather you stay.”

“I bet you do. Then you can get your dick sucked without having to invest anything real in the relationship.”

He jerked his head back as if I’d slapped him. “You’re right, you should leave.”

He stepped back, his arms slipping from me, leaving me feeling exposed and raw. As I walked by him, Henry made a small sound making me look up at him. He nudged Walter and made the sound again.

“You can stay with your new friend, it’s okay,” I said before following Isaac’s path back to the house. I grabbed my laptop and some clothes and met him in his truck.

Neither of us spoke until he pulled into his driveway. He killed the engine and turned to me. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I guess. I’m just done with today. This week. This fucking year.”

“I don’t want to overstep, but it is possible he just didn’t think to tell you about his guardian,” he said.

“It’s more than the owl. He skirts around questions better than a seasoned politician. I’m not sure I want to get close to someone else who might be lying to me.”

He grunted. “Okay. Yeah. That’s understandable.”

He thankfully didn’t say anything else as we got out of his truck and headed into his house. It was small, but it was bigger than mine had been. It was way smaller than Liam’s, but that just made it homier.

“I think I’m just going to crash. Thanks for letting me stay.”

“No problem. You know where everything is.”

I went to his room first to grab a t-shirt to sleep in before heading to the guestroom. He’d equipped it with a queen-sized bed with nightstands on either side. I changed into his shirt, it smelled like him, making me smile as I slipped under the covers. I stared at the ceiling for a while unable to sleep. I was about to get out of bed to see if Isaac was still awake when my phone dinged.

It was a text from the shifter with the pink curtains.

Hey, thanks for the warning. My Alpha already contacted me. I’ll be careful. Thanks again.

I replied telling her to reach out if she needed anything and put my phone back on the nightstand just as an alert came through on Ivan’s phone.

What happened at Cherryhill? Meet me at the spot in 30 minutes.

“Spot? What spot?” I muttered to myself. I moved across the hall to Isaac’s bedroom. “You still up?” I asked as I opened his door.

“Yeah. What’s up?” Passing him the phone, I climbed into bed next to him. “What spot?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. The only spot I know of is the old carnival where we saw Stella.” I paused, looking at the clock. We had plenty of time. “Want to go for a drive?”

He debated with himself for a few moments. I could almost hear him struggling between protecting me and his curiosity.

“Sure, let’s go.”