Page 2 of Claimed By The Orc

“Thanks, Tanner. Have a good one.”

The other male left, but I was transfixed. Tanner. My human’s name was Tanner.

CHAPTER 1

TANNER

“That man is in the parking lot again,” Mrs. Kennedy whispered to me as I rang up her gas and cigarettes.

I didn’t need to look through the windows of the convenience store to know exactly who she was talking about.

“I know. It’s fine.”

Mrs. Kennedy looked skeptical. “Maybe you should tell the sheriff? No good comes from an outsider lingerin’ around here.”

I forced a smile. The last thing we needed was Sheriff Johnson snooping in my business. He’d never liked me ever since I punched his son in the 10th grade for harassing this girl. He tried to sweep it under the rug, and I wasn’t gonna let that happen. After that me and my whole family had been on his shit life. I sure as fuck didn’t want him messing with the guy in the lot.

“No, really, it’s fine. I think he’s just lonely. There’s no reason to get the sheriff involved.”

Mrs. Kennedy raised an eyebrow and studied me, like she was trying to get juicy gossip that didn’t exist. But I guessed that was what happened in a small town with a person who’d known you since the day you were born.

“If you say so. Just be careful.”

I managed to avoid the eye roll. “Always, ma’am.”

That got a smile out of her before she picked up her pack of smokes and walked to the door with a wave. “You take care, Tanner!”

“You too, Mrs. Kennedy.”

I didn’t move until she got in the car, glaring at the poor man, and then drove off.

He waited until her headlights disappeared and then walked into the store, his hands shoved into the pockets of his sunset orange pants.

“Hi, Mark!” I said too brightly, but I couldn’t fucking help it. There was something about the guy that had gotten under my skin since the first time I’d seen him watching me by the drinks cooler a couple weeks ago.

He startled like he always did when I said his name. “Me?”

This was always how our conversations went. I’d say hi to him, and it would somehow surprise him even though he was the only one in the store.

“Yeah, that’s your name, right?”

He blinked, those long lashes framing those beautiful eyes. “Oh, um, yeah. Right. That’s me. Mark.”

I grinned. “How are you today? You’re a little later than usual.”

“Oh, I had . . . a business associate to follow up with. I got here as soon as I could.”

I hummed politely, purposely ignoring his odd choice of phrasing. That was pretty much standard when it came to Mark, so I’d learned to just roll with it.

When he first came into the store, I’d kind of figured he was homeless. He was clearly new to the area, and his eclectic clothing had me thinking that maybe he didn’t have much choice in his style and had taken what he could find or what was givento him. He wouldn’t be the first person who’d camped out in Forest Glen when they had nowhere else to go.

Now, though, I wasn’t sure. Obviously, you could have a job and still be unhoused, but I didn’t get that feeling from him. The way he talked, it seemed like he did have a home, but maybe it was far away.

I probably should’ve been more freaked out because I was like 95% sure he was stalking me, but, and this is fucked up—if anyone called me on it, I’d deny it with my dying breath—I kind of liked walking into work every day and knowing that this adorable man with blue eyes so dark they were almost purple and ridiculous, out-of-season, brightly colored outfits would be there, waiting for me, watching me.

It made me feel alive for the first time since I’d moved back to Destiny.I got here as soon as I could.

Gah.

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