Page 10 of Hot Summer's Prey

“My dog, please,” I request as sweetly as I can. This isn’t the time to use my magic, even if she was flirting.

She jumps at the proximity and turns to me, her eyes tracking up and down my body. Her lips twitch with a smile. Her teeth drag across her lower lip to stop it from escaping.

“Does he have a name?” she asks, turning her attention back to the dog.

“He never told me it.”

She laughs. “Is that why it looks like he’s never been to a groomer? Men, honestly.”

I do not know what that has to do with me being a man.

“You really didn’t name him?”

“I just call him slug,” I say, trailing off at the end.

“I’m sorry, Slugger?” she clarifies with a laugh.

I don’t have time for this.

“Can I have my dog?”

“Grumpy,” she laughs, turning to present the nudibranch-dog in her arms. Its hair is wild and featherlike, slightly reminiscent of its feathery gills, though completely white.

“Naked,” I counter.

Her eyes drop across my form again, snapping up as I lean forward to take the small dog from her. Giving up on human modesty, I hold the dog at my chest and walk away. There’s a time and a place…

5

DRUNKS IN THE LIGHTHOUSE

TERESA

“It’s cold as shit in here, huh?” Zephyr says from the spiral staircase.

From one of the staircases. Because this is a multiple staircase house. Once again—not a cottage.

The rest of us have piled on to one couch—there are three total—for warmth.

“Ya think?” Anelisa scoffs from between Dawn and Taara, clutching a blanket close.

We’ve all been fighting for the blanket as each of us came downstairs to convene. As the blanket is hers, Anelisa has been fighting the hardest. Taara and I have cuddled up regardless, trying to warm each other up from the cold.

“Please tell me there’s a heater in this house,” I beg.

“Oh yeah, you know the deal in beach cities: heat yes, AC no,” Zephyr says, idly stepping down the stairs.

“Okay… and? Ya gonna turn it on?” Anelisa pushes.

“Mmm, I guess I could,” Zephyr muses.

All four of us turn towards Zephyr and glare them down until they walk to a beautifully decorated grate.

“It’s a thermostat!” Dawn exclaims.

“What did you think it was?” Zephyr asks, pulling the grate open, punching the buttons, and shutting it again.

“I dunno. A button to a secret passageway? Just decorative? I had hypotheses.”

---