He said, “Hey, Ox.” He cleared his throat and looked down. “Hi.”
It was weird, that disconnect between the boy I’d known and the man before me. His voice was deeper and he was bigger than he’d ever been. He radiated power that had never been there before. It fit him well. I remembered that day that I’d really seen him for the first time, wearing those running shorts and little else.
I pushed those thoughts away. I didn’t want him sniffing me out. Not yet. Because attraction wasn’t the problem right now. Especially not right now.
I cleared my throat, and he looked back up at me.
Our eyes met like a car crash, colliding and breaking away.
It was awkward in a way it’d never been before.
But it was something. More than we’d had in a very long time. I couldn’t help but think of the single kiss we’d shared, the driest brush of his lips against mine as we lay side by side. I will come back for you, he’d said, and hadn’t I believed him? Hadn’t I believed every single thing he’d told me?
I had.
And he had come back. Like he said he would.
It’d just taken longer than we thought.
“You—” he said as I said, “There’s—”
We stopped.
He coughed. “You first.”
I nodded, because it had to be me. “Tomorrow. It’s the full moon.”
“Yeah? I guess it is.” He knew, but he was humoring me.
“What are you doing for it?”
He shrugged and scratched the back of his neck. “Hadn’t really thought about it.”
Which I thought possibly was a lie.
“If you’re not busy. We could. Run. Your pack. And mine.”
He looked surprised. “You’d do that?”
“You were here first, Joe. It’s your land.”
“But it’s—”
“Just. Will you do it?”
He nodded furiously. “Yes. Yeah. I can. We can. It’ll be—”
“Good,” I said. “It’ll be good.”
And I didn’t know what else to say aft
er that. Because I had too much to say.
So I said nothing at all.
We stared at each other for a little while. Taking each other in. I tried to force myself to take a step closer to him, just to… be. But I couldn’t.
“Okay,” I said finally. “Tomorrow, then.”