Chapter Eleven
Mars had said to meet at the baggage claim, but Ren had been here for twenty minutes just standing here.
She didn’t even have luggage to grab off the carousel.
She’d just brought a small carry-on suitcase and her purse, so here she stood, awkwardly watching the people from her flight grab their suitcases and drift off.
There was only one family left, who it seemed had lost one of their suitcases and were talking to someone who worked here.
She checked the time on her phone and blew out a nervous breath.
Everything had gone so weird since last night.
Mars had bounced early, and each text he’d been sending sounded strange.
Her instincts were up to the moon, but she kept replaying that kiss at the wedding.
She liked him. Sometimes boys freaked out.
Maybe this was how he freaked out. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking.
She chewed the side of her lip and looked up the hotel information. Technically she didn’t need him to get to her hotel. Technically she didn’t need him at all. Everything was paid for. She could get a ride-share to her hotel and check in and have a good cry out of sight of the public.
She grabbed the handle of her rolling suitcase and headed for the sliding glass doors.
“Ren?” a woman’s voice echoed through the nearly empty baggage claim area.
Ren froze and frowned at the woman who was jogging toward her. She had mouse brown hair flying behind her, and high waisted jeans, and a pink crop top. She looked to be about Ren’s age.
“It’s you!” she huffed breathlessly as she came to a stop five feet away from her.
The stranger grabbed her knees and locked her arms, heaving breath.
“I was…in the wrong…terminal. Stupid Stellan…he…” She straightened up and put her hands on her hips and smiled. “Hi.” She offered her hand for a shake.
Utterly confused, Ren shook her head. “Who are you?”
“Oh! I’m Misty.”
“Misty, Dame’s mate?”
“Yes!”
“Oh my gosh. Okay.” Ren shook her hand and reached into her purse to pull out a bottle of water. “Need this?”
“Oh hell yes,” Misty gasped, unscrewing the cap. And she guzzled that water like she’d spent a week in the desert without it.
Ren couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her. “Cardio day?”
“Good grief, I just realized how out of shape I am,” Misty huffed. She turned and shot the empty bottle at a nearby recycling bin like a basketball, but missed it by three feet. “Swish,” she said.
Ren laughed harder now and walked with her to pick it up. Misty was funny.
“Um, is Mars okay? He was supposed to meet me here.”
“Okay, girl…” Misty turned toward her, and said, “The boys made a big mess, but we will get it cleaned up and figured out.”
“I don’t…I don’t know what that means.”
“Walk with me. We have to trek across two terminals to get to my car. I’ll tell you everything I know.
The boys will be mad, but boys are also stupid, and the Ledger triplets share about four brain cells between them this week.
I’ve learned so much about how reunion week will work moving forward. It has been a rollercoaster.”
Ren snorted. “I don’t think Mars was planning on coming until he roped me into going.”
“Pretty sure Stellan never planned to come to any of the reunions for the rest of our lives either. Literally, only Dame was keeping their pact to meet up. He’s been so stressed.”
“Geez. Why don’t they want to hang out together?” Ren asked.
“The Ledger brothers have a very complicated history. Before they were Turned, they were as close as any triplets could be. After Turning though? Their animal sides are very different from each other. Stellan went off the deep end immediately. Dame became the steady one, which was not his role before he was Turned. And Mars…well…Mars is the runner.”
Ren nodded. That felt right with what she knew of Mars. “Is he at the hotel already?” she asked. “I don’t mean to be rude, but why isn’t he the one picking me up?”
“Ummm, on that part I think you should see it for yourself. He’s fine though! He’s with Stellan and Dame right now. I’m actually going to take you to our house so you can see him and meet his brothers before we do the hotel check-in, if that’s okay?”
“Yeah, that’s perfect. I want to see Mars. I’ve…well, I’ve missed him and something feels like it’s going wrong.”
Misty jerked her attention to Ren’s face. “I’m not a Cat, but if I had to guess, I’d say you were telling the truth.”
They were walking on an outdoor walkway now, and the rattle of her wonkiest suitcase wheel filled the quiet.
“How long ago did you meet?” she asked softly.
“Last week. He started showing up at my store.”
“What kind of store?”
“I co-own a record store with my mom. Oh shit. I need to text her and tell her I landed. She’s probably freaking out.
” Ren pulled to a stop and grabbed the phone out of her back pocket, then sent a quick text to her mom.
Landed safe, headed to meet his brothers! I just met Misty. She’s awesome! Send.
Send me a selfie, mom texted back immediately. I want proof of life.
“Oh my gosh,” Ren muttered, rolling her eyes and turning her camera on selfie mode. “My mom needs a proof of life photo,” she explained to Misty. “She doesn’t like Cats.”
“But…you’re a Cat,” Misty pointed out. “I can tell by your eyes.”
“Yeah. It’s complicated.”
Misty leaned in and grinned, photobombing the picture.
Ren laughed and sent that one. It was cute, and fun, and it would put Mom at ease.
Is that Misty? Is she human? Mom texted back.
Yep. Send.
Good.
Ren shook her head and opened the text thread to Mars. I’m here. I’ll see you so soon! Send.
“Oh,” Misty said, looking over at her phone. “If that’s a text to Mars, you don’t have to do that yet. Stellan has his phone.”
She put the phone back into her pocket, then started walking with Misty again. “Why does he have his phone?”
“Ummm, okay. Storytime. Once upon a time, Stellan drugged and kidnapped Mars, and drove him across state lines, and dragged him to our house, and he used Mar’s slumbering face to unlock his phone and reset his password.”
Ren skidded to a stop as the blood drained from her face. The memory of their conversations since last night ran through her mind. “Come again?”
“Um, Mars has been unconscious all day. Whatever was sent to you was Stellan playing a game that I’ve already lit him up for, and so did Dame. And for sure, Mars will set him on fire when he wakes up.”
“So…Mars is unconscious?”
“Technically, yes.”
“And I’m messaging Stellan?” she asked, holding up her phone.
“Also yes.”
“But he told me he loves me.”
“Oh my freaking gosh, I’m going to kill him,” Misty gritted out.
“But I said it back,” Ren said, her voice raising an octave.
Misty just stood there with sympathy in her eyes. “There’s more.”
“How could there possibly be more?” she demanded, enraged heat creeping up her neck.
“Well, it seems you’re Mars’s Rabbit.”
“Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit. What does it mean? What is a Rabbit?”
Misty pursed her lips. “Perhaps we should discuss this in the car.”
“No, now.”
Misty tilted her head toward a family with two young kids walking this way with their suitcases.
The handle of Ren’s suitcase creaked with the pressure of her grip as she began walking again. Stellan, that motherfucker. She didn’t even know him, but she hated him.
He’d said he loved her. He’d said he loved her! And like a stupid girl, she’d been reading and re-reading that text since he sent it, all mushy like she’d finally found the one.
When they walked the marathon back to Misty’s car and got in, Misty told her what a Rabbit is for Cats.
She told her the story of how Misty had been Stellan’s Rabbit.
About how she’d been clawed by him outside of her home and then hunted for years while Dame tried to keep her safe.
She told Ren about the night at the hospital Stellan had tried to kill her, and then again at Dame’s house, and every word sounded like a horror story.
“Why did he bring me here then?” Ren asked, voice shaking slightly.
Misty shook her head. “We’ve been trying to figure that out.
Maybe to keep you safe? Dame and Stellan can stop Marsden’s tiger if they are together.
Maybe to figure out if you are really his Rabbit?
Maybe because he couldn’t convince his Tiger to leave his Rabbit for the few days Mars planned on being here in Salt Lake City?
I don’t know. I was overthinking about it all on the way to the airport to pick you up.
Do you still want to meet up with him?” Misty asked earnestly.
And Ren thought about it. She really thought about it.
She could change her flight and head back home right now. She could block his number and never talk to him again, but if Misty was right, Mars wouldn’t be able to stop hunting her.
“Is that why he kissed me?” she asked. “Because of the Rabbit obsession?”
Misty shrugged. “Stellan for sure never tried to kiss me. Only kill me.”
“Oh my gosh,” she whispered, rubbing her hands over her face. She felt a hundred years old right now.
“I don’t have to take you to him,” she said softly. “It’s totally up to you.”
“Do you think running from him would work?” Ren whispered.
With her heart in her eyes, Misty shook her head. “They always find their Rabbits. Even if it takes their entire lives.”
“How did you get Stellan to stop hunting you?”
“Mars and Dame nearly killed him, and I saved him. I forced the tiger’s fealty.”
“Fuck,” Ren murmured, feeling a hundred pounds of weight on her shoulders.
“I think that’s Stellan’s plan.”
“What?”
“To kill Mars. And have you try to save him. It’s the only reason I can think of why Stellan got into his phone and brought you here.”
“Do you trust Stellan?”
“Hell no. But I do trust Dame, and I know he wouldn’t let anything happen to you.
Neither would I. I don’t know what it is about these Ledger brothers that makes them latch onto Rabbits like this, but Dame is strong, and I now carry.
” She lifted her T-shirt to expose a handgun in a holster.
“And pepper spray works pretty well on these boys too.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I pepper sprayed Stellan a few hours ago when he was being an asshole.”
Ren giggled. There really was nothing funny about this situation, but she did feel better that Misty had pepper-sprayed the jerk who had catfished her into say she loved Mars.
“He was pissed,” Misty said honestly. “Dame had to spray his face with the hose, but he has a setting that can crank up the water pressure, and you can guess what he did.”
“Pressure washed his face?”
“Pressure washed his face,” Misty agreed.
Well, at least a little justice was served.
“What do you say?” Misty asked. “Are you going to stay, or do you want to leave and go back home?”
Ren inhaled deeply and stared at the parking garage pillar in front of them.
Someone had spray painted I love Ophelia on it.
That graffiti artist had actually meant their words enough to paint them onto a concrete pillar for the world to see, unlike the catfish-declaration she’d received from a freaking stranger via text instead of from Mars.
She’d said it back. I love you too. Ren had texted it back so easily and she knew it was how she really felt. It had all happened too fast, but there was nothing to be done about that now.
Rabbit or not, she missed Mars, and she didn’t want to go home with more questions than when she had arrived. She wanted to understand.
She blew out a breath and nodded, then looked over at Misty.
“I’ll stay.”