Page 19 of The Wolves of Forest Grove

Itold Thompson I was sorry for making a scene on our way out the door. I also told him that if he saw Jared to tell him I was leaving with Viv and Layla. I was about done with the stupid party. I could explain to Jared later.

I hadn’t even had a single drink and yet somehow, I still managed to ruin the whole night.

It was law in my life; that every good thing had to be paid for by at least one bad thing. It was like I wasn’t allowed to be too happy. Not able to be relieved for any length of time. The beef karma had with me would be everlasting. To be paid in installments over the course of my existence.

It was only fair, since I’d taken life, I had to pay for it with great big awful chunks of my own. I’d accepted this a long time ago.

“You’re sure nothing happened?” Layla asked for the second time as she rubbed warmth into my arms in the backseat of the uber. “Someone said Devin heard you screaming.”

I shook my head. “I just freaked myself out,” I lied. “I thought I saw something in the woods.”

“It’s wolves,” the driver chimed in. It wasn’t the same one as earlier. This one I didn’t know. His eyes flitted to meet mine in the rearview. He was old with silver eyebrows and crinkled brown eyes.

“Wolves?” Viv asked with a raised brow from the front seat, her tone doubtful.

“I saw one out there last summer. Giant sucker,” the driver said, his tone now defensive, knowing he was being mocked. “I saw it. I know what I saw. Best you young girls stick indoors.”

“Right,” Viv replied to him, drawing out the word. “We’ll definitely watch out for those giant wolves.”

She twirled her finger against her temple when he wasn’t looking, and Layla stifled a giggle. I, however, was paying attention. I was about to ask the guy where he’s seen the wolf, what color it was, when Viv’s hand snaked into the backseat and patted my lap. “You sure that’s all it was?”

I nodded, unable to utter another lie tonight. I just wanted to go to sleep.

The driver pulled up in front of Viv’s house and I heard a loud groan that made me squint out the window to see what she was so upset by.

Her dad’s truck was there. And by the look of the smashed rear left taillight, he’d driven it home drunk.

“You can sleep on my couch?” Layla offered with a shrug. None of us ever talked about Viv’s asshat of a sperm-donor, we didn’t have to. It was universally acknowledged that he was a dick no one wanted to be around if they didn’t have to. We didn’t need to hash out the details.

“Can I come too?” Viv whined as the front door creaked open and her father staggered out onto the front step.

“Hey, get out of my driveway,” Mr. Cole yelled, shaking a fist at our uber.

“It’s me, dad!” Viv called. “Vivian?”

A pause.

“The hell you been? Get in before I let all the hot air out,” he hollered, taking another swig of his beer as he swayed back into the house.

Viv bowed her head. “I better go before he gets pissy. There’s no stopping him once he starts ranting. You going to be okay at Layla’s?” she asked me, the spark in her eyes suddenly diminished.

“Yeah. Of course.”

“That may not be necessary…” Layla trailed off as her and I stepped out of the uber and the driver sped away from the house with the crazy drunk guy.

I followed Layla’s gaze and found a white Jeep was pulling to a stop on the opposite side of the street.

The window rolled down and Jared’s face appeared as he leaned over toward the window.

“Want a ride home?” He called, and my heart lifted at the sight of him, and at the prospect of not having to wake up with Layla’s seven younger brothers and sisters crawling all over me on my Sunday morning off work.

“Did he follow us here?” Layla whispered harshly. She squeezed my hand, holding me back where he couldn’t see. “And is he actually going to give you a ride all the way back to the city right now? It’s after midnight.”

I batted her hand away playfully. “I told Thompson to tell him I was spending the night at Viv’s, remember?” I purposefully ignored the second part of her question.

But even the first part wasn’t entirely true.

I had only said I was spending the night with Layla and Viv.

I hadn’t told him which house we would be sleeping at.

And I definitely didn’t tell him where Viv lived.

But it was a small town and wouldn’t be so difficult to figure out.

Viv and her family had always lived in the small bungalow on Glenwood Drive.

“Just a sec!” I called to Jared, who nodded before turning back to the front and rolling up the window.

“You really don’t like him, do you?” I asked Layla, tilting my head to better see her expression under the single street lamp set ten yards away on Viv’s street.

“Do you?” she asked me.

I fumbled for a response, glancing back at the idling Jeep.

“Oh my god, you do!”

“I—”

“I say go for it,” Viv chimed in, already making her way to the ajar front door of her house so her dad didn’t have a reason to come back out and embarrass her even more in front of her friends. “He’s hot.”

“Vivian!”

She turned and ran up the last two steps, hollering back, “Later bitches,” before she vanished inside.

“Come on,” I told Layla, jerking my head toward the Jeep. “I’ll ask him to give you a ride home, too.”

Layla didn’t live far from Viv, but I didn’t want her walking alone, not tonight.

I could already tell she was about to refuse, so I rushed to add. “It’s freezing out here and I’m not going to let you walk.” I took her hand and dragged her over to the Jeep and opened the door to the backseat.

She was positively rigid, but when I told Jared he needed to give her a ride home too and he didn’t bat an eye, she reluctantly hopped into the cab.

I jumped in the front seat and rubbed my hands together, trying to get some warmth back into my prickling fingertips.

Jared cranked the heat and positioned the heaters to point at me. I shivered as hot air rushed over my icy hands and began to thaw my bones.

“Thanks,” I muttered as he pulled away from the side of the road.

He didn’t respond, instead tilting his head back to Layla. “You still live on Brown?”

Layla cleared her throat. “Um…yeah. 34 Brown near the corner of Stanley.”

She didn’t seem to be surprised that he knew where she lived, and I wondered why. I looked between her and Jared, thinking I could sense something off between them, but not sure exactly what it was I was sensing.

Jared took Stanley down to Brown and turned left onto her street. The air in the Jeep was stale and quiet as we drove. In an attempt to make conversation, I swallowed past the hard lump in my throat and lamely said, “Well that was an interesting night.”

“Yeah,” Jared replied.

“Mhmm,” Layla murmured, then she inhaled sharply, and I saw her shift in my peripherals. “So,” she began, drawing out the word and I thought I knew what she was going to say, but I wasn’t fast enough to stop her. “What exactly are your intentions with my friend?”

“Lala!” I barked, whirling to give her a pointed glare. Her old nickname had just slipped out of habit.

Jared’s hands tightened on the wheel. I was too worried to look at the expression on his face. “Uh…” he said. “Well I—”

“Oh, look, we’re here,” I said interrupting him as we pulled up to Layla’s house. The moment the Jeep stopped, I unfastened my seatbelt and climbed out, ripping Layla’s door open, ready to drag her from the vehicle if I had to. “Time for you to go home, mom.”

Layla got out without a fuss, but not before she turned back to Jared and said ominously, “I’ll be watching you.”

I made a strangled sound in the back of my throat and dragged her the rest of the way out of the Jeep and slammed the door. “Can you be any more embarrassing?” I said in a high-pitched tone as I walked her up to her door.

“It’s not too late you know. My couch is just inside.

You can stay—”

I groaned. I’d almost rather stay here now if only to avoid the awkward ride back to the cabin. But… “No. I should go home. The buses don’t run tomorrow. But thanks for making sure I have a super awkward ride.”

She shrugged innocently, brushing her long dark hair back from her doe eyes. “Your welcome.”

I tipped my head back in frustration, but when she came in for a hug, I hugged her back.

I wanted to tell her that Jared wasn’t the enemy, that if she got a bad feeling about someone, it should’ve been Devin.

But I couldn’t tell her that. She would blame herself for not paying closer attention. Her and Viv both would.

“Night,” she said just as a light turned on inside the dark house. I really hoped it wasn’t our fault that one of her siblings had woken up.

Layla sighed. “I should get in and get whoever that is back to bed before they wake up mom and dad.”

I nodded. “See you Monday.”

She eyed the Jeep one last time before she stepped inside. “Text me when you get home?”

I shook my head at her but nodded. “I will.”

Like a total creep, she put two fingers up to her eyes and then pointed them at Jared in a silent reminder that she would be watching. I shoved her hand down and pushed her inside, hoping Jared hadn’t been looking.

She giggled as I pulled the door closed and I blushed like a maniac on my way back to the Jeep.