Page 24 of Wolf Cursed
“I don’t have a car or a trunk, so I’ll have to carry the bags on foot.”
“That’s ridiculous. Here.” He pulled a set of keys off the hook behind him and held them out to me.
“What’s this?” I asked, worried it belonged to a motorcycle, which would be a serious problem considering I’d never even touched one before.
“See that Honda parked at the curb?”
I looked over, scanning the cars through the window. When I didn’t answer, Oscar sighed. “The blue one,” he added.
“Oh. Yeah,” I said, spotting the four-door sedan with relief.
He shook his head. “Take it.”
“What? No, I can’t just—”
“Trust me, it’s worth having someone else grocery shop for me,” he said, waving off my protests. “Just be back by noon.”
“What happens at noon?” I asked.
“I have to be somewhere. And I need you home.”
I frowned. This was about his conversation with Kai. About keeping me locked inside this place.
Whatever. I’d play along.
Wait until Oscar left. Then maybe follow him. I was sick of secrets. And if Kai wanted to play “town badass,” I had no problem finding out what he was so intent on protecting about this place.
Then again, some alone time with Oscar’s computer and the internet was more in line with “Operation Temporary.” More than once, I’d entertained the idea of asking Oscar what he’d meant about my dad, but something held me back. If he wanted me to know, he would have told me about it. Besides, if I asked him, I’d have to admit to eavesdropping. And I couldn’t afford to piss off the guy currently offering me food and shelter.
“Okay,” I said. “See you by noon.”
I took the keys and double-checked that I had my ID, and then headed out. Thanks to Oscar’s directions—and the fact that this town was too small to get lost in—I found the grocery store easily. In fact, everything I could have possibly needed was right here on Main Street. Okay, it was actually called Southbend Turnpike or something like that, but it had that “main street” feeling. Right down to the open stares and outright whispers I noticed from the others around me in the store.
I pretended not to notice any of them until someone spoke directly to me.
“Ash, right? Fuckin A, the rumors left out that you’re hot.”
“Excuse me?” I looked up at the face of a handsome guy with messy brown waves and sparkly green eyes that seemed to lure me right in like some kind of pied piper. His words slowly dawned, and my eyes narrowed, but he only grinned bigger.
“Isaac, you can’t open a conversation with something like that.”
A girl stepped out from behind him. Bright red hair, obviously dyed considering the unnatural flame color, and braided down to her stomach. Her green eyes looked like they’d come from the same DNA pool as the guy.
“Sorry about my brother,” she said as she strode up to me. “He has no social skills.”
“I blame the Falls for being so socially stunted,” he declared with a hair toss that had me smiling in spite of the weirdness the two exuded.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I mean, it’s not like I couldn’t tell people were talking about me.”
“Exactly. At least we came and said it to your face,” Isaac said.
The girl rolled her eyes. “That does not make it better,” she insisted. “Ugh.” She turned back to me. “I’m Idrissa, and this is my twin brother, Isaac.”
“Twins, wow.”
“Yeah, I know. I really should have eaten him in the womb or something.”
My expression must have shown the insult because Isaac waved it off.
