Page 11 of Shrouded in the Dark

“I’ve been texting her. She’s spending the summer here too. Her family has a cabin near us.”

Axel grunted. “No shit? Is Felicity with her?” His eyes lit up.

I rolled my eyes at him. “It’s just Becca.”

“Ah. Well, that’s cool.”

Seth just looked at me from where he leaned against the wall. “You like this girl?”

I shook my head. “Just as a friend. Met her at a party last weekend. She’s the best friend of the girl Axel’s been crushing on.” My fox scoffed at me. He liked her.

Cody plopped himself down on the couch, almost hanging upside down. “Aw, Axel has a crush!”

I’d stepped out of the way when Axel had rushed at Cody. When Becca’s barbeque question popped up, I’d looked over at Seth.

“What do you say about a barbeque at her place? Give us a breather from the car ride here. We can order groceries tomorrow?”

Seth was silent for a minute as he contemplated the request. He was always so serious these days, I was hoping that the time here would loosen him up and get his mind off other things.

“Yeah, alright. Let’s do it.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’m going to change.” He turned, leaving me with the other two.

“Alright, guys, get ready!” I grinned as I sent the text to Becca. She’d given a two hour time frame, which worked out perfectly. We had some soda and beer in the car that we’d brought from the house.

Cody yelped from the floor where Axel had him in a head-lock. I rolled my eyes as I went up to my room to change out my shirt.

* * *

Becca

I’d just finished putting away most of the groceries, when the doorbell rang. It was a little after three in the afternoon.

“It’s open! Come on in!” I yelled over my shoulder from the kitchen as I poured one of the bags of chips into a large bowl. It gave me a second to take a deep breath to prepare myself to meet new people.

“Hey, Becca!” Jasper’s chocolatey voice rang out. “Thanks for letting us come over!” His voice got closer as he came into the kitchen.

I turned around toward the center island with the bowl of chips when he came in carrying a large case of beer over one of his shoulders. He looked relaxed with a soft smile on his face. His blond hair was rustled, like he’d been running his hand through it all day. He wore black jeans with a loose dark red V-neck shirt.

“Hey.” The grin that spread across my face was real. “Talk about a small world, huh?”

He set the case of beer down on the island as he threw his head back and barked out a short laugh. “You’re telling me! We’re literally down the road from you. Maybe a neighbor between us? How many acres is it here?”

I passed him the bowl of chips as I opened up the dip. “Twenty, give or take? It’s been part of my mom’s side of the family for a little over a hundred years. The original cabin was one of the first on this side of the mountain.” The next dip was giving me issues. The top just wouldn’t come off. “What about your house? Do you four own it? Belong to family?”

Jasper set the chips by the case of beer as he pulled the glass jar from my hands, easily popping the top off of it. “It’s ours. Seth bought it a few years ago, but since we’ve all lived together most of our lives, he just put it in all of our names.” He handed the dip back to me. “There you go.”

I eyed his arms again. “Must be nice to be a boy sometimes,” I grumbled as I turned to the fridge to pull out the hamburger patties I’d already formed and the steaks.

“I don’t know about that,” Jasper chuckled. “Hey, Cody. This is Becca.”

My back froze up at the sound of another person walking into the kitchen but I just counted in my head before turning around with a strained smile.

“Hi.”

My eyes roamed over the newcomer. He was only a few inches taller than me. The word that popped into my head for him was delicate. He had porcelain skin that was a beautiful contrast to his hair that was so black, it looked like it absorbed light. His eyes were grey, so light that they stood out against his face. He had blue jeans on and his hands were in the pockets of his overly large black hoodie. He had a stud piercing in his right eyebrow. He offered me a grin that showed off pearly white teeth.

“Hello there. Thanks for inviting us over.” He came forward to shake my hand. His hand was warm and almost as big as Jasper’s. His voice reminded me of when you ran your hand over water in the pool. I found myself staring into his eyes for a long moment. The grey seemed to reflect the light.

“Would you stop griping about the car? I already said I’d pay for the window.” Axel’s annoyed voice filled the area as he walked inside. He had circles under his eyes and his jaw had scruff. He looked pretty handsome with the scruff. I wondered if I could get a picture for Felicity. He was talking to another person behind him.