Page 37 of Earth-Bound

“No!”

“No.”

Three voices shouted immediately. I blinked at them. O…k. That was weird.

“It’s just that… you have a job. We don’t want you doing extra work,” said Randall, but it had the ring of falsehood to it.

Terrund moved closer to me again, though he didn’t touch me this time. I got the impression that he was getting ready to restrain me, as though he thought I’d sprint back into the house and down to the basement before he could stop me. I wasn’t about to do that. It wasn’t as though I actually wanted to touch any of that creepy shit. I just didn’t think Randall should have to touch it, either.

Randall said, “I’ll call someone. To clear it out, I mean.”

I shrugged.“Fine.”

That seemed to solve that problem.

Randall plastered a grin onto his face. I could see he was trying to look happy again, to get that feeling of excitement back that he’d had before we’d come across that cult altar.

“You know what? Marcia is going to go nuts when I tell her you asked me to move in with you. She thought it would never happen. Said you liked your own space too much.”

Broadmire grunted. “Not around you.”

Randall beamed. “Let’s go and ring her. She can help me decide whether I want a fireplace in the lounge or not.”

It was sweet, that he was including his sister in the decisions since she’d gone away to deal with her emergency. Whatever it was, she could probably use the distraction.

Broadmire grabbed Randall’s hand and held it in what looked like a death-grip, but Randall didn’t complain. “We can just go home if you want. We don’t need to go to the picnic.”

“There’s a picnic?”

“Yes.” Broadmire glowered at me, as though it was my fault for suggesting it in the first place.

Randall lit up. “Can we have our picnic? Is that why you were going back and forth across the fields earlier?”

“Yes.”

“Is it to celebrate us moving in together?”

“Be a while before we can move in there.”

“Yes, but we can plan it. And we can still live together in the meantime.”

Broadmire nodded. “Sorted. That’s worth champaign.”

“There’s champaign too?”

Randall really did sound as though he’d never had a nice surprise before. I could believe it, considering what I’d seen of his grandmother.

Broadmire said, “Yes. It’s a romantic surprise.”

The way he said it was as though he were daring any of us to disagree with him. I wouldn’t. Itwasa romantic surprise. The man had out-done himself, in the end.

Chapter 17: Terrund

Ihad been so unsettled by the whole experience of going into that basement that I followed Joe around like a puppy and it only occurred to me several hours later that perhaps he didn’t want me there. I hadn’t even considered it until that point. I’d just been afraid for him and for me and uncomfortable with the memories that suddenly washed into my mind like the tide coming in, that I’d practically clung to my mate.

He'd let me.

We’d walked around and I’d watched him work and I’d felt it was a shame that I couldn’t properly enjoy spending time with him but I was trying to keep my head above the water of those memories.

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