I was dressed and walking back toward the Bennett house ten minutes later.
I could hear them all, including my mother, in the backyard. Elizabeth was laughing. Carter was yelling at Kelly. My mother was talking with Mark.
Before I could round the corner of the house, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I didn’t even need to turn to know who it was.
But I did anyway.
Joe stood behind me, eyes concerned, fingers trailing down my arm, gripping my elbow lightly. We were standing so close to each other, inches apart. I could feel the heat of him, his knees bumping mine.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi,” I managed to say back.
“You okay?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Fine. Everything’s fine.”
“Uh-huh. Want to try that again?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Ox,” he said in that tone of voice that we both knew could get me to do anything he asked of me, and now that I was aware of what exactly that could entail, I could barely breathe.
“The wolf,” I blurted out.
“What? What wolf.”
I scowled. “The one you gave me.”
From this close, I could see the faint flush spreading up his neck. But his eyes never left mine. “What about it?”
“I just… I’m. Thank you? For it. I guess.”
“You’re welcome? Why are you—wait. What did you and Carter talk about?”
“Um. Nothing?”
“Really. That’s what you’re going with.”
“Nothing,” I insisted.
“You’re acting weird.”
“You’re acting weird.”
He rolled his eyes. “The smell thing, the going off with Carter in the woods, bringing up the wolf out of nowhere. Don’t even get me started on walking into the side of the house when we came back from….”
He trailed off, and I knew that expression on his face. I knew what that meant. That was the look he got when his mind started racing into overdrive, putting all the little bits and pieces together.
“We should probably go eat,” I said hastily. “We don’t want to keep everyone waiting. It’s very rude.”
His eyes widened.
Well fuck.
“Ox,” he said, a hint of his wolf poking through, eyes flashing. “Anything you’d like to tell me?”