Chapter 4
chapter
four
Vivian
I stare at the door where my host had just left, not quite understanding what had happened. He’d seemed almost offended or disappointed somehow.
I fall back on the sofa to mentally recount everything that had happened to me since I’d driven into Screaming Woods. The half deer, half man I’d sworn I’d seen peeking out at me from behind the dilapidated population sign on the outskirts of town.
Then, just as I was trying to access the keys to the cabin I’d rented, I was attacked by the giant bug man.
Like a moron, I dropped my car keys. Since I couldn’t get back into the car, I’d run into the woods.
Only to be rescued by the hottest man I’d ever seen in my life… who just happened to be a damn zombie.
Maybe none of this was real. Maybe I had a car accident on the drive in and I was unconscious somewhere or in a coma. Maybe I’d died.
I pinch my arm and wince. Nope, definitely felt that. I should probably call reinforcements. I hit the call button on my best friend’s face and wait for her to answer.
“Did you make it to wherever mysterious location you were traveling to?” Harriet asks in lieu of a usual greeting.
This is the way it is with us. There’s never a basic ‘hello, how are you?’ Instead, whomever speaks first just jumps in with a ‘You will never guess what I saw…’ or ‘Do not eat past the sell-by-date on the tuna fish no matter what the internet says…’ or ‘my sister tried the pineapple and oral sex trick with her new boyfriend and said it totally works…’
Harry has been my best friend since we roomed together our freshman year in college. She’s the closest thing to a sister I have. The closest thing to a family I have, for that matter.
For most of my life, it was just me and my mom.
We moved around a lot, going from one big adventure to another.
Until she got sick, that is. After she passed, I spent two years living with a distant aunt until I went off to college.
While I was grateful to have a place to live for those years, it never felt like home.
Since college, I’ve reverted to the lifestyle I had growing up.
Moving from city to city. I alternate between gigs as a long-term house sitter and short-term rentals.
It works well, since I make my living writing novels.
As much as I love my nomadic lifestyle, I do miss Harry, even though we talk nearly every day.
So yeah, I pretty much tell Harry everything, but I did not tell her where I would be living for the next few months. First of all, there would have been zero possibility of me getting here without her either stowing away in my car or following me.
I still haven’t decided if I should tell her where I am. I mean technically we found out about Screaming Woods together.
“Yes, I’m safe.”
She sucks in an audible breath. “Oh my God, you met someone!” she shrieks. “Already? Are you on a singles cruise without me?”
I laugh. “No. You know I’d be vomiting my intestines out if I were on a ship. I barely made it through the boat tour we went on with the bats that one time in Austin. Remember?”
She snorts. “Oh yeah. So, tell me more.”
“I did meet someone.” I don’t even bother asking how she knew. That’s just the way it is between us. We know each other that well. “Barely. I don’t know, it’s weird.”
“Details, Viv.”
I loosely give her the information without describing the actual monsters I’ve met. Merely the situation I was in.
“So like did that first creep mug you or whatever? Do you need me to wire you money or something?”
“No. He just… uh, came on really strong.”
“But the guy who saved you, you like him?”
I roll her question around in my mind for a few seconds before answering. I’m sprawled out on his sofa, staring up at the ceiling of his study, searching for the words to describe my experience with Atticus.
“I’m intrigued. Definitely attracted. My lady parts took notice immediately.” I sigh. “He’s just so different.”
“Different is good. Especially for you,” Harry says. “I know what you’re thinking and just stop it. There is nothing true about what Brian said about you. There’s nothing abnormal about you.”
I snort. “I appreciate the support, honestly, I do. But don’t you think it’s a bit weird that I’m as close to thirty as I am and I’m still a virgin?”
“Okay, first of all, you’re twenty-six, that’s not that close to thirty. Secondly, Brian was a twatwaffle who clearly only wanted in your pants and was too impatient to wait to see if you thought he was worth it.”
“Twatwaffle? Where do you come up with this stuff?”
“Irrelevant. The point is, you’re fabulous and Brian doesn’t matter so stop thinking about the nastiness he said when you told him you weren’t going to give him your V-card.”
He had been nasty. He’d called me a freak and a loser. Claimed I was still a virgin because no man wanted between my thighs and that he’d only offered because he felt sorry for me. Well, fuck him very much!
We only went out like three times, but it sucked to realize just how wrong I was about him.
“I know you. And you are neither cold nor frigid. He just said all that shit because when he kissed you it didn’t make you want to rip his clothes off. Clearly it was something he was doing wrong or not doing right. It had nothing to do with you,” Harry says emphatically.
“Not much easier on my own,” I grumble.
“Only because that butthole got in your head. There is nothing wrong with you. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to wait until you’re ready.
Or until you meet someone special. Or until you get married.
Do it however you want and forget stupid Brian.
Why don’t you see if this hot guy who rescued you wants to make out or something?
Maybe he’ll turn you on enough for sexy times. ”
“Oh, should I just ask him when he comes back? Like where are the bathroom towels? Oh and by the way, can you see if you can get me wet enough that I want to do the dirty?”
Harriet cackles on the other end. “Yes! Please do it just like that. And set up a video so I can watch it later.”
“Harry, I’m serious. I don’t do that kind of thing, you know that.”
“So do it. You need an adventure.”
“I haven’t lived in one spot for longer than three months since college. My whole life is one adventure after another.”
“That’s not the kind of adventure I mean,” she chides. “And you know my opinion on that.”
I do indeed.
For the past year—ever since Brian, the last guy I went out on more than one date with—Harry has been badgering me to put down roots. She swears I’m not wandering, that I’m running.
And I’m starting to wonder if she’s right.
I’ve spent a lot of my life drifting. First because of my mother, and then because I didn’t know how to do anything else. I want more. I want a home.
And I don’t understand why meeting Atticus makes me want those things more keenly.
“You should do something wild while you’re there.
Cut loose a little. What’s the point of traveling so much if you always treat it like a chore instead of an adventure?
Why not do something you’d never normally do?
It’s like how when you go to a new restaurant and you try something you’ve never had before. ”
“You’re talking about a vacation fling,” I whisper.
“Exactly.”
I close my eyes and remember being in the woods. How the bark of the tree had felt pressed into my back, how unafraid I’d felt looking into Atticus’s luminous green eyes. Right on the heels of being rather terrified of the giant bug man.
“He licked my neck and growled, Harry,” I say.
“Oh my God, I think I just came a little. Why are you talking to me and not naked with him right now?”
“He left. He brought me to his mansion to keep me safe and then left to do something.”
“Mansion? Girl, I bet he has a sex room!”
Somehow I doubt that. “He seemed upset when he left.”
“Maybe he went back to see that other creep and beat his face in.”
“Doubtful.” Considering the ‘other creep’ had flown away.
“Well, whenever he comes back, strip off your clothes and jump his bones.”
I pause for a minute, knowing I have to ask. “What if he’s not human?”
She screams. “Oh my fucking God! Did you go to Screaming Woods without me? What is wrong with you?”