Page 9

Sully

When I woke, I knew I couldn’t let go of what had happened. I also felt terrible. Like absolute dirt. Adrenaline crash coupled with a twisted ankle and a lack of sleep meant I wasn’t at my best. Giving up on being awake, I drifted off for another nap. There was no pressing need to be awake.

I felt somewhat refreshed after my second nap. I was glad I’d gotten a little sleep, but wished I’d thought to wash my face first. It felt all gritty, and I badly needed a shower!

Dad had plugged in my phone and it was lit up with messages from Trisha asking how my date went with Orson. There was even a text from the man himself apologizing for ditching me and pleading with me to continue our ruse. My mom had given me his number after giving mine to him .

I texted Trisha back with the bare minimum before turning to Orson’s texts. Maybe I’d get away with putting Trisha off until I had more details about what happened to me. She was super busy with cases. It would buy me some time.

Orson’s situation proved to be as complicated as I suspected. Nice to have my instincts proven correct after all the doubts about me.

Orson

I’d like to take you on another date, but it would be a platonic situation.

Sully

Look, I know you have someone and that’s fine with me. We can pretend our date went well enough for a second, but you need to come clean to your parents.

Orson

I just need some time. Be my cover until then? I swear it won’t be for long.

I was grateful he wasn’t denying there was someone special in his life. Vaguely, I wondered who it was. My curiosity nearly got the best of me. Before I knew it, I’d typed out a message asking who they were, then thought the better of it and deleted it, instead sending:

Sully

I’m in.

Being Orson’s cover worked for me as well. If my parents thought I was out with him, then they wouldn’t suspect I was out in the woods tracking down the dingo I’d seen. He meant something. While I didn’t understand the pull I felt, I knew I had to track him down, preferably still in daylight.

“Sully, you’re up!” Mom said from the doorway. “I was just coming to check on you. Hungry?”

“Starving!”

“I’ll go order a bunch of your favorites. Do you need your dad to carry you back down?”

Testing my weight on my foot, I hobbled over to my attached bathroom. “Nah, I’m good. Need a shower, though.”

“Okay, yell if you change your mind.” She left me to get washed.

The hot water was heavenly. I got lost in running the washcloth over my skin, daydreaming about what I thought the dingo looked like in his human form. In my imagination, he had such dark eyes they were nearly black. I could get lost in those eyes, I was sure. His lips were obviously going to be full, and I wondered what kissing him would feel like.

I was all pruney by the time I got out of the shower. My parents were waiting for me to have lunch with them, my favorites laid out and ready for me.

My parents were happy to have me home, where they could bug me about my date with Orson. They were disappointed I wasn’t madly in love with the man I’d met once, but what could I do about their wild expectations?

We hung out, something we hadn’t done for a long time, and just relaxed all day. My parents were scaling back on their hours at the hotel now both my brother and sister were increasingly involved in the day to day running of the place. It meant they had more time for their pet project: mating me off.

If they weren’t going to listen to me about the dingo in the woods, I wasn’t going to take their pushing towards Orson. Besides, they didn’t know it was pointless, and I couldn’t exactly tell them. Orson’s secrets would be revealed when he was ready, and not before .

Lying to her about Orson didn’t feel good, but I reasoned we did walk for a little while. I said he got a business call he had to take and left not long after. Close to the truth, at least.

Both of them steered any potential mention of the woods back to safer topics. Still, I knew in my heart he existed, and I would be damned before I let this go.

My parents were called into the hotel around dinner time. I made use of the time alone to wrap my foot and head into town to make sure I had the supplies I needed before venturing out.

I had a scooter and used that to travel to the beach. The main stretch was busy, with barely anywhere to park.

“Hey, Sully!” people greeted as I walked past Rosie’s to the camping goods store. Plenty of tourists like to camp out on the east side of Haenvale, where there were a couple of really beautiful waterfalls.

“Hey!” I called back .

“Sully!” Orson gave me a start when his hand landed on my elbow. Really, I could stand to pay better attention to my surroundings. It felt like he just appeared from thin air, but he had to have been in one of the stores and seen me walking by. “Could we talk for a moment?”

“Sure. Rosie’s?”

“Works for me.”

We headed back to the café where Orson stood patiently next to me while I ordered my usual. He made a skeptical face at my drink.

“Have a sip,” I offered.

Holding out the glass straw to him, I held the cup steady so he could try it. His sip was tentative.

“Hmm… that’s nice. Actually, could I get one of those, too, please?” he asked Taylor.

“Sure thing.”

Once we both had drinks, we found a table in the corner. I was aware of people watching us together and gossiping.

“Thanks for talking with me and for being so understanding about my situation,” Orson said quietly, with a faint blush on his cheeks. Objectively, he was attractive. Being mated to him wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. If it had to be someone, I could cope with it being him. Unfortunately, both of us were focused on others.

“No worries. We can be friends, right?”

He looked at me gratefully. “I’d like that. It’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about. Drawing boundaries. The person—“

“Don’t tell me about them, just in case. Must be hard being on the other side.”

“We… we’re making some difficult decisions. I want to know if…” Orson leaned closer to speak at a lower volume. “If you’ll be okay if we leave town?”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

“Because everyone thinks we’re dating. I don’t want your reputation to be damaged. Not after—“

“Right,” I cut in. We didn’t need to go over the story once more. “At this point, it’d probably do me a favor. I can wait for my fated to show up instead of getting mated off to whoever will have me.”

Orson winced. “If it helps, I picked you. My parents had put you on the no list.” His face flushed, and he reached for my hand. “I didn’t mean to tell you that.”

“Oh.” I let him hold my hand in his. This time, it wasn’t clammy. This was the touch of a friend, comforting me. “Why did your parents go for it, then?”

“Well,” Orson cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. He didn’t let go of my hand. “Your parents are very successful. They don’t need all that much put into the hotel. A bank would lend them the money for an expansion with no conditions. I also looked into you. The degree you attained is compatible with our interests—“

“You would have let me work?” My voice rose in shock.

Orson smiled, sadly. “Yes. Likely part-time because my parents want grandchildren. My mother wanted to take some of the childcare duties on.”

“Wow! That’s a lot to take in.”

“Mom also thought we would make cute babies.” Orson sounded wistful.

“Baby talk already?” a new, unwelcome voice cut into our conversation. Orson’s hand tightened on mine. His expression darkened. “Must be serious. I mean, I heard the rumors, O, but I thought nah, he can do better than dingo boy here. Sully’s family must be paying yours to take him off their hands.”

“Thank you, Cress, but I am the one who picked Sullivan. Not the other way around.”

I turned my head to look at Cress. He hadn’t changed all that much since graduation. I heard he hadn’t gone to college. There was no need for him to with a well-paying job ready for him, with his family. As the source of my humiliation, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to him.

Unfortunately, he was still as ridiculously handsome as he was years ago. His body was wiry with muscle, his hair grown out. It suited him.

He reached out with slender fingers to play with a lock of my hair. “You got pretty, Sully. You could always ditch O here and have a night with me. What d’you think?”

I knocked his fingers from my hair with my free hand, threading my fingers with Orson’s. “A night with you or a lifetime with Orson, someone who respects and understands me? I’d pick Orson every time.”

“Your loss,” Cress snarled, red-faced.

“No,” I shook my head and grinned. “It really isn’t.”

Buoyed by my coffee with Orson, I got all the things I needed for my next adventure. I parted ways with Orson soon after Cress left, with an understanding of the man. We were both getting things out of this arrangement, giving us an equal footing.

For this adventure in the woods, I was armed with a fully charged phone, some string and a pocket knife, along with a flashlight, the little battery crystal fully charged.

There were hours before it got dark, so I’d have time to fully explore the area before I had to truly worry about getting lost.

I ate a bean burger on my way into the cover of trees, my scooter parked so it was hidden from the road. The crunchy, flavorful treat was exactly what I needed before going for a hike.

The sun was still pretty high in the sky, making me wish I’d worn a hat and some sunscreen. I began to sweat as I picked my way through the brush to the dirt road I’d once traveled down.

Things got a little strange when the path widened. My vision went blurry, and I made a turn, certain I was going the wrong way.

Once more, I found myself completely lost in the woods. My phone didn’t want to work, either. I felt a burst of panic until I thought about things.

I had supplies. I could be methodical about tracing my way back to the road.

It was tempting to shift and use my quokka nose to find any scents to help me. I thought about trying to make a call, though my signal was spotty.

No, the only way out was through.

Wandering the woods for another hour, I felt myself growing despondent. I was so far from where I wanted to be.

My feet moved automatically, just drifting through the old fallen leaves and broken branches until I came to a part which felt familiar to me.

I paused to take a drink of water. All the walking had tired me out. I was not built for lots of activity! Taking time to rest, I found a stump to sit on while I gathered myself.

It could only have been minutes, suggesting wherever he lived, he was nearby, when the dingo came trotting into view, his tail high, eyes sharp.

His footsteps paused when he saw me waiting for him.

“Hello, I hoped I’d see you again.”

The dingo stopped and just stared at me. I didn’t sense any aggression or fear from him. Just curiosity, the same I felt for him.

“Why is it I feel so safe around you when the other one scared the living daylights out of me?”

Honestly, I hadn’t expected him to answer, so when he shifted, revealing himself as the man of my recent fantasies, I fell off the stump I was perched on.

“Fuck!”

“Is that a curse or request?” came a delicious, rumbling voice.