Chapter Nine
Daisy
After my shower, I put on a pair of pajama shorts and an over-sized T-shirt. I head out the back door and find the guys sitting on the ground in the pen. I stay on the porch, not wanting to walk out into the dirt.
“Would any of you care for a shower?” I ask, hoping this will be the thing that gets me into their good graces. Well, more so Rhett and Wade.
Gus is willing, wanting to be friends. Rhett felt like he was getting there, and then me telling him that I’m not staying pushed him away again.
Wade wants nothing to do with me. I can see how they would be upset with me over what my grandmother did, but I really do want to help.
If only they’d give me a chance to show that I’ll do my best. And if they aren’t going to accept my offers, maybe I need to entice them a little more.
So… first I’ll start with a shower. Next, I’ll flaunt food in their faces. I won’t give them a choice. They’re getting my kindness whether they like it or not, and hopefully, eventually, they’ll all trust me enough that we can work together to figure this out.
“Shower?” It’s Rhett who speaks first.
I grin. “Yeah. I just finished, and I figured you might want to hop in? It’s been a while, right?”
Rhett blinks, then glances at Wade who looks angrier than I’ve seen him so far. It’s going to take my best charm to reel him in.
“Since neither of you are moving, I’m going,” Gus says, jumping up and hurrying toward me.
Rhett gets up, but takes his time, wiping off his butt and watching Wade carefully.
“Leave the door open for them,” Gus says quietly as he passes me.
It takes a moment for me to realize what he means.
Rhett and Wade are having a whispered conversation, so quietly I can’t hear.
“I’m just going to leave this open for you,” I say. “Come in if you want.”
I go inside, and Gus nods his approval. “It needs to be Wade’s idea,” he says.
Good to know.
“The bathroom down here is the only one with a shower. You’ll have to put those clothes back on because I don’t have anything for you to wear.” I look at him carefully. “How are they still so clean?”
He shrugs. “Got to be part of the magic or something. Whenever we shift back to human form, we have our clothes on—which we are grateful for, by the way—and they’re always clean.”
“Are they just random clothes?”
“It’s what we were wearing when we ended up here…”
“You said you were thirteen?”
He tugs on his shirt. “Thirteen when we first shifted, but we weren’t stuck on the property then. That didn’t happen until we were eighteen. On our birthdays, we popped up here.” He opens his arms wide, then slides his hands down his chest. “The clothes grow with us.”
“Weird… Come on.”
Gus follows me into the bathroom, and I show him how to turn it on, because it’s an old faucet with different knobs, where the soap is, and the towels too.
“Let me know if you need anything,” I say.
He gives me a mischievous look. My cheeks heat, and I hurry out of the bathroom and drop onto the couch. I don’t want to go far in case he needs something. There is a TV, but no cable or internet. Old movies it is…
I don’t know what’s in the DVD player, but I put it on and don’t pay much attention to it because my head keeps going back to the fact that there is a very attractive man—naked in my shower.
After some time, the back door opening pulls my attention.
Rhett walks in.
“Hi,” I say with a smile.
He smiles back.
“Is it still okay if I shower?”
“Of course.” I pat the couch. “Sit while you wait. Gus is still in there.”
Rhett sits beside me, resting his hands on his lap. He doesn’t seem uncomfortable, just like he wants to be left alone.
But I’m not giving up. So, I look at him and say, “I really want to help you, you know.”
He just stares at the TV.
“I’m sure it’s hard to believe, but I have no skin in this game. I didn’t even know anything about it until you told me. In fact, it would make me happy if we could figure this out, and I could set you free. I mean, that’d be pretty cool, right?”
“Right. Cool,” he says.
It’s quiet for a few awkward moments, and I have to break it because this is stressing me out.
“So, uh… how old are you?”
He sighs, rubbing his forehead. “I’m twenty-four. They’re twenty-five.”
“So, you’ve been here…”
“Seven years for them. Six for me.”
That is a long time to be stuck somewhere. I understood their frustration before, but even more so now that I can put a timeframe to it.
“And you, uh… age like normal?”
“Yep.” He’s getting impatient. “That’s how our dads and granddads died.”
The bathroom door opens, pulling my attention again. And my jaw drops to the floor.
Gus is leaning out the door, the white towel wrapped around his waist. He has one of those really sexy V-things, with a toned stomach and a defined chest with not much hair.
“Hey, I can’t figure out the shower…” He huffs a small laugh.
“Shower…” I stare at his chest.
“Yeah, I can’t get it to turn off.”
“Okay,” I say, looking at the curve of his shoulder. Down his bicep, forearm, hands…
Someone laughs, then Rhett gets up. When he comes into my line of view, I snap out of it.
Gus is staring at me with a knowing smile. “You okay there, Daisy?”
I clear my throat, my face burning. “Fine. Totally fine.”
“Right,” he says, dragging out the word. The shower shuts off, and Rhett comes back out.
“Hurry up so I can have my turn,” he says, shutting the door behind him. He gives me a curious look, then sits on the couch. After a few minutes, he and Gus are switching spots.
“So,” Gus says. “You like seeing me with my shirt off?”
I groan, hiding my face in my hands. “I’m sorry. That was so rude.”
“Not rude,” he says. “I kind of liked it.”
I peek at him through my fingers. “You liked it?”
“As you can see, women aren’t something we get to experience much. Only other woman we’ve seen over the years other than Agnes is that nosy neighbor. Ellen something or other.”
“Grannie is a catch,” I say.
“Oh, yeah, if you like being cursed. Totally.”
I smile, turning my attention back to the TV.
Wade never comes into the house to shower.