Page 30 of Anything for You
Silence practically echoed around me and I found myself leaning against the bathroom counter and staring at my own worried face in the mirror. “Hawk, is that you?”
“Yeah. It’s me, Sis.”
Like a shot of lightning, energy zapped through me. “How are you?Whereare you? Is everything okay? Did you leave?—”
“I’m calling to say you need to stop acting like a slut.”
A gasp caught in my throat, and I blinked like I’d been punched, my eyes watering as I whispered, “What?”
“You heard me.”
And the line went dead.
I stared at the electronic block, the cold materials feeling foreign in my hand. Or maybe that was the heartbeat that’d slowly moved into my ears. Or maybe it was my brain desperately trying to process that my only living relative outside of Nan, a person I hadn’t heard from in years, had just called my phone and accused me of something nonsensical, then hung up.
Sinking down to the floor with the device still in my hand, I closed my eyes and rested my forehead on my knees.
Funny how I’d thought maybe we could talk. But I wanted to talk to my brother, my friend. Yet, he’d grown into exactly the man he’d been trained to be, the way all the men from the cult came out… and certainly not someone I knew anymore. It niggled at me, this thought, but I couldn’t brush away the suspicion that Hawk wasn’t anything close to my beloved brother any longer.
I spent the night crying, as I tended to do when things were stressful or hard or I was exhausted, and then I made myself get up and go for a walk. It was a beautiful cool morning and the September air was lulling me into a fallish mood I couldn’t help but delight in.
I was exhausted, yes. But feel that breeze!
My crap brother had proved himself to be unchanged and maybe even worse than the last time I’d heard from him? Get a load of that autumnal scent in the air.
My career felt like a dead end and I didn’t know what to do about it?I have tea with Dorian this afternoon.
Well, okay. That last one wasn’t fall’s fault, but I was so grateful to have something to look forward to. Yes, we’d have book club next weekend and I’d already marked myself as completely unavailable on all of my various schedules, so I’d be there.
But tea with my mysterious and kind of cute next-door neighbor?
Why, don’t mind if I do!
After my walk, I did some boring adult chores like laundry and tidying up. I’d made a habit of avoiding going into town on days off since I spent days at work in town and could easily do groceries or other errands then. The more time I spent tucked away at this little cabin in the woods, the more I wanted to be here.
Especially if I had a decent chance of running into my landlord.
By two-thirty, I was pacing around in a blue tea-length dress and flats. Wearing a dress was overkill, of course it was, but I couldn’t help myself.
I tended to dress up whenever I wasn’t working or truly grunge-ing at home. I loved sweatpants as much as the next girl, but I spent most of my days and sometimes my nights in scrubs, so occasionally dolling up and feeling a little more… human, or something, was key to my mental health.
My long hair was pulled back into a ponytail with a cute blue ribbon to match the dress, and I’d applied lightmakeup—again, just enough to make me feel like I’d done more than crawl out of bed.
Nervous energy tumbled through me as I rang his doorbell. Why did this feel like a date? It wasn’t, obviously. We were becoming friends and that merited nerves, too. Totally normal to have some antsy feelings.
“Hi, welcome. Bear—” He swiped for Bear’s collar, but his big beast of a dog was already out of the house and trotting around in a circle at my feet. “He loses his mind when you’re here.”
I bent down and told him what a good boy he was, petting his head and loving his wolfish face with that bright smile. “I don’t mind being met with enthusiasm.”
When I stood up, Dorian was watching with a patient, pleased expression.
“Ready to come in, or do you two need a little more time?” he asked, failing entirely to sound irritated, especially when he had a half-smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.
Straightening to my full height and with chin high, I nodded. “I’m ready if Bear is.”
A breathy laugh escaped as he shook his head, then stepped back and gestured for me to enter. Bear blundered past me and trotted inside, and I followed. Dorian shut the door behind me, and I lingered in the entryway, taking in every detail.
Much like the cabin, this appeared to be clean and stylish. I could see beadboard paneling and cool tones in a dining room to the right, but when Dorian murmured, “Just through there,” I followed the trail Bear had blazed into an open kitchen and living room.
