Page 37 of How to Flirt with a Hellhound
By the time night rolled around, we were all itching to get out, and when the last bits of daylight had faded, we all headed out the back door, in sync on running as our hellhounds. Jude and Corbin started to strip, but I took a moment to look over at Toby’s house, breathing in deeply. His downstairs light was on,and all was quiet. I stripped out of my clothes, my eyes on his windows, hoping for a glimpse of him.
I let my hellhound form out, shaking myself out and looking over at my packmates. They were grinning their hellhound grins, flames lightly emanating from their dark fur coats. Jude was the first to bound off into the night, and Corbin and I followed, running through the forest and occasionally bumping into one another playfully.
We made a full circuit of the town in very little time—our hellhound forms were even faster than our human forms, but it wasn’t long before I was ready to head back. Corbin gave a little huff at me as I broke away, and Jude gave a low, eerie howl that I knew would probably freak out anyone close enough to hear. I simply chuffed at them and turned to race back toward home.
I was called to Toby, and I wanted to be close to him. Surely a little peek in his window wouldn’t hurt.
Chapter 15
Toby
Iwas pulled from my writing by the distant howl of… I didn’t even know. It didn’t sound like a dog or a wolf. It was kind of eerie, but in a cool way. I moved my laptop to the side and stood up, stretching. I think my back cracked in about eight places. Writing sitting on the couch probably wasn’t the best spot, but I felt more comfy there than at my desk.
Not that I’d only been writing. There were promos to make, a website to update, a newsletter to send out… and email to check. Although I hadn’t done that. I was letting Amy take care of the email for now, and I had sent her Dex’s email address so she could just forward any emails to him. So far, there hadn’t been anything. I wasn’t sure whether to be nervous or thankful about that. Maybe the guy had just given up?
I wandered over to the window in my living room, looking out into the night. Dex’s front light was on, but I didn’t see any movement in his window. I’m sure he was catching up with his brothers.
I had been a little jealous when I’d first seen them, I had to admit. They were fucking hot. They were both built similar to Dex, and I was definitely not the definition of a perfect body. Dex didn’t seem to have any complaints, and I hadn’t felt self-conscious when I was with him, but being faced with two such sexy friends right after our moment had been a little awkward.
The weird pause before Jude had said friends had totally made me wonder if they weremorethan friends. I had no idea what Dex’s dating life was like. Or hook-up life. But he hadn’t seemed to want to let me go, and I admit I was still a little giddy that he’d called me his boyfriend. I wouldn’t have labeled us that yet—we hadn’t even gone on a date—but I wasn’t going to complain. I mean, we were neighbors and chatted all the time, and I knew if I asked for a date, Dex would totally give me one. He was so sweet.
And apparently he had grown up in some kind of foster care situation. I didn’t want to push and ask too many questions, but I thought his quirky ways (not that I was one to talk) totally made more sense now. He’d obviously found a family of similar “brothers,” joined the military or something like that because it gave him structure (even if he tortured people or whatever), and now was settling down for a quiet life in the country. Only maybe the government still occasionally called on him to take care of things, which was why he was out at all hours of the night.
Yeah, I was backstorying again—perils of being a writer.
I moved away from the window, obviously not able to get a glimpse of Dex or his sexy as fuck brothers, and decided to give Josh a call.
He picked up on the first ring, and he sounded… tired when he answered. I was worried about him.
“Hey! What’s cooking?” I asked.
“Hopefully not you, because we all know how that turns out,” he joked.
At least he could still joke around. “Hardy har, Josh. Seriously, you sound tired. All ok?”
Josh gave a grunt. “Yeah. I’ve got some shit going on, but I’m ok. I’m sorting it out.”
“You need any help? You know Sebbie and I are always here for you,” I responded.
His voice softened. “I know. And I’ll fill you guys in. It’s just… a lot right now. I’d rather talk about something else. So distract me, literary genius. Is the little old lady in the other house really a witch? Or a harpy? Something good, I’m sure,” he joked.
“Patricia?” I asked, playing along. I thought about it for a second and hummed. “Nah, she’s totally a vampire. I don’t think she’s aged at all since I moved in.”
“But she’s old! Aren’t vampires all young and sexy?” Josh joked.
“Nah, they’re the best versions of themselves at whatever age they were turned. And she’s in great shape for an older lady. She’s probably selling her house because we’ll all start to notice soon that she doesn’t age,” I answered, playing around.
“She’s selling? Really? Does she have a buyer?” Josh asked.
I thought about filling him in on the stalker situation, but Josh seemed to need light and fun right now, and I didn’t want to worry him with that shit. “She does, apparently. Although I don’t know who,” I answered.
It occurred to me then that Dex seemed like hedidknow, and his brothers had walkedpasthis house initially, over towards Patricia’s house. Huh. I wondered if his family was buying the house next door? That would be pretty cool, I guess.
“Dex has two hot as fuck sort of brothers,” I said. The train of thought totally made sense in my head, and Josh was used to my conversational leaps, because he just went along with it.
“Oh yeah? Are they serial killers, too?” he joked.
“Nah,” I answered, heading out toward the back porch. It looked like a nice night, and I could use a little fresh air. I opened the back door and stood on the back step overlooking the forest as I chatted with Josh. “The one is way too sweet to be a serial killer. He’s all curly-haired golden boy. I bet he’s got some crazymagical power like teleportation or something. Maybe a super powerful warlock who everyone underestimates.”
