Page 13 of Hounded

Loren

The earth was coldwhen I stepped back into it. I shivered, and my teeth chattered as steam wafted off my skin to dissipate in the afternoon air.

The portal closed so quickly that I almost caught my bootheels in it. I didn’t want Whitney to see where I’d taken myself since what I admitted was damning enough. The line between my two worlds was hard and fast and not to be crossed by anyone but me.

I was late. Forty-five minutes past noon and counting. The edifice of Hopeful Horizons stood across the road and a parking lot away from where I’d emerged from the wide trunk of an oak tree.

Straining my eyes against the sun, I half-expected to see Indy sitting on the front steps with his duffel bag, waiting for me. But the lot was empty and so was the entry as I hurried toward it.

My hound wanted to race, and bound, and leap with joy that became almost palpable the closer I got to the facility. If Indy wasn’t outside, he would be in there. I could see him, smell him, hold him…

Whether from the rush or excitement, my cheeks were warm, and I was panting lightly by the time I arrived at the double glass doors. I steeled myself into tenuous calm before stepping inside.

The waiting room glowed white and blue. It was as quiet as it had been the last time I was here. As vacant, too, and the emptiness alarmed me. Turning toward the wall between the receptionist and me, I found her seat equally empty. A knock on the Plexiglas lured her from behind a bookcase in the back of her office space. She frowned as she looked me over. Most of her uncertainty appeared to be directed at my outfit, which was unchanged from the gala and definitely out of place here.

If she remembered me, she didn’t let on. Though, after two months, I hardly expected her to.

“I’m here to pick up my… friend,” I said, already struggling with the words. “His name is Indy. He’s being released today.”

With a soft grunt, she replied, “He left a bit ago.”

“Alone?” Panic edged into my voice.

She dropped into her chair and began clicking away on the keyboard. “We called the number on file.” She squinted at the computer screen, then read off my phone number. I was cringing long before she glanced up and verified, “Is that you?”

I coughed to clear the sudden tightness in my throat. “My reception is spotty.”

The woman clasped her hands on the desktop and looked at me. The compassion I’d garnered during our last encounter had been replaced with quiet contempt. I deserved that, and I expected more of it from Indy whenI caught up to him.

The clock on the wall read 1:00 PM, which made me fully an hour late. I groaned.

“Is there a restroom I can use?” I asked.

She gestured to the corner of the room where a door was marked with a gender-neutral sign.

I muttered my thanks and hurried toward it, then slipped inside. The motion-activated light barely had time to register my arrival before I’d drawn a portal on the wall and ducked through it.

I jogged from the bathhouse down the hill toward the Airstream. Sunlight glinted off its aluminum exterior like a beacon calling me closer. Unlike this morning when the trailer park was a ghost town, neighbors now milled about, hanging laundry on drying lines and watering potted plants. I scarcely saw them, focused instead on my destination as my hound tasted the air, searching for Indy’s honeyed amber scent.

It was here, wafting on the breeze and growing stronger. My hound yipped with delight, and a smile teased my lips when I spotted the figure leaning against the white picket fence that bordered the Airstream’s tiny lot. An oversized sweatshirt hung off his shoulders, and a pair of ripped jeans snugged around his narrow waist. The duffel bag I’d packed lay on the ground at his feet.

The rehab facility had called me. I wondered if he had,too. The thought of him waiting, dialing, and getting no response made my stomach twist. What if something had happened? What if he’d needed me? I shook those fears away as I closed the distance between us, slowing my pace to an amble.

When I came into range, Indy glanced up. Minky brown hair curled at his brow, and his golden eyes widened as they flicked over me from head to toe.

“Look at the legs on you.” He gave a wolf whistle that almost stopped me in my tracks. “Damn things go on for days. Anybody ever call you that? Legs?” His smile faltered as he seemed to rethink before adding, “It’s not very creative.”

I stood before him, so close I could have grabbed his hand and pulled him to me. This was the part I hated most: the distance that shouldn’t have been there. Because when I looked at him, I saw the man I’d known and loved for a hundred years, but he saw a stranger.

So, I did reach for his hand, but only to offer a shake.

“I’m Loren,” I said and silently cursed the way my voice cracked.

Indy’s smile flagged again. “As in the Loren who was supposed to pick me up an hour ago?”

My lips fell apart, and my hand hung in the air between us until Indy clasped it.

“Don’t sweat it. I managed,” he said. “I’m Indy, but I guess you know that.” He pumped my arm up and down, then released me. His glittery eyes skimmed over me once more. “You look like you had a fun morning. Had better things to do than spring a junkie from rehab?”

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