Page 99 of A Broody Mate for the Human
Dave shakes his head. “Every memory sends you into a frenzy of worry for your sister. Even if you believed your father’s lies, even if you fell for his brainwashing, even if you wanted to force her into a marriage… you still worried for her. This”—he pokes my chest—“didn’t happen overnight. You’re not suddenly worried for your sister. You always have been. That’s why I know you wouldn’t have killed her.”
“Even if that’s true, I think part of me was ready to hurt her… to… I might not have done it in the end, but the thought was there.” I pause, feeling a shiver going down my spine. I was a monster. My father formed into a soulless creature without any empathy.
“I’m not saying it’s good what you did,” Dave points out. “Actually, I think it’s been a really shitty situation you put your sister into. You were a real jerk to her. But…”
I raise my brows at his words, but I’m glad he doesn’t sugarcoat his words. “But?”
“You tried to help her in the end, and I want to think that this counts more than what you did beforehand. Esme was smiling at you in your last memory. No matter if you think you deserved her smile or not, she still did.” He pauses. “You were a victim too. Don’t forget that. Own up to your shit, but don’t allow your guilt to eat you up entirely.”
I take a deep breath, but before I can answer him, my stomach rumbles… so loud it makes my face flush.
Dave doubles over in laughter. “I got it.” He grins. “Let’s make sure the big bad wolf gets something to eat.”
I let go of him begrudgingly, but before he can turn away to grab our stuff, I take him by his arm. He looks at me, surprised. “Thank you,” I say.
Dave looks at me, flustered. “It was nothing,” he stutters.
When I look into his eyes, I can swear that Nero’s presence swirls in my mind, a bit stronger again. I try to reach out to him, and for the first time in a long while, it seems like he wants to talk too. He isn’t there yet, though, and before I can meditate further, a rustling reaches my ears. I perk up, turning my head to look in the direction the noise came from. Is someone else here?
“Is something wrong?” Dave asks.
A squirrel jumps through the bushes towards a tree. Seems like my paranoia is kicking in once again. “No,” I tell Dave. “I was just distracted.”
I don’t elaborate further and instead follow Dave back to the little bed-and-breakfast. Sugar is snoring somewhere in the corner of the garden, making me frown a bit. Where are his survival instincts? Does he even have any? All he does is sleep and eat. He wags his tail though when Dave approaches him, the both of them quickly engulfed in a cuddling session.
Well, okay, it’s kinda cute to watch Dave with the sleepy drool-monster. When Sugar decides he wants to greet me too and pats towards me, resting his huge head on my lap, I can’t help but grin a bit while brushing through his fur.
“You smiled.” Dave beams. “Finally, the both of you are bonding.”
I want to argue with him about it, but he looks so happy that I decide to swallow down my pride. Fortunately, lunch distracts us, the landlady once more providing us with something both filling and tasty.
“I’ll make sure to write her a great TripAdvisor review,” Dave says towards me.
“Should I know what that is?” I frown while secretly dropping a piece of chicken on the ground so that Sugar can have some of it.
Dave just rolls his eyes. “You really are a caveman.” He grins.
“I just shaved today,” I point out.
He smirks. “You can’t shave off the caveman mentality.”
I raise my brows. Two can play this game. “The list,” I warn him with a grin, noticing how he blushes slightly.
“You can spank me in a cave if you want to,” he mutters.
I almost believe I misheard this. “W… what?” I stutter.
Dave blinks innocently at me. “What?”
When I furrow my brows, he just flashes me a smile.
“You two lovebirds should visit the fair tonight,” the landlady interrupts us all of a sudden.
At the mention of lovebirds, I feel the palms of my hands getting sweaty. I’m not that obvious, am I? Dave and I aren’t flirting… it’s just… Dave is just a nice guy and probably just indulges me!
I nod to myself, trying to convince myself that the man sitting next to me doesn’t get under my skin at all, when I notice the look in his eyes. He looks… sad. “What’s wrong?” I say, appalled and forgetting about being embarrassed.
“Nothing,” Dave mutters. “The last fair I went to didn’t turn into a pleasant experience.”
