by Shea Balik
***
“What did you do to make Axom cry?” Cass demanded when he opened the door.
Reese didn’t bother answering. He was too damn pissed to waste his words on only one of the men who deserved his wrath.
If he hadn’t been prepared to tear into each of the men in that room, Reese might have shrunk back in fear at the looks of loathing in their eyes. But they had no right to stare at him as if he’d done something horribly wrong. They were the ones whose actions had been inexcusable.
Axom looked up from where he was on the couch crying on Anook’s shoulder and wailed even harder. That earned him a scorching look from Cass and Anook. Kip, who was slowly trying to edge closer to a hallway along the side of the room, appeared more worried than upset with Reese. He should be worried. Maybe he hadn’t listened in the previous night, but he’d done it in the past, making him just as guilty as Axom.
But when Kip noticed Reese glaring at him, he stopped in his tracks with that deer in the headlights look. “What?” Kip said, then slapped a hand over his mouth as he realized he’d just popped the lid on a can of worms he really didn’t want opened.
“What?” Reese demanded. “That’s what you have to say?” Then he turned to Axom who was still bawling like a baby. “And don’t think crying is going to help you.”
“Now, wait just a minute…” Anook stood up, partially standing in front of Axom as if protecting him from Reese.
“No.” Reese cut him off. After what they’d done to Spencer, none of them had the right to act self-righteous. “You are sick, disgusting people. Spencer trusted all of you and this is how you repay him?”
“Wait a minute.” Cass had been standing behind Reese, but he came around to face him as he asked, “What are you talking about? What have we done to Spencer?”
“You broke his trust by listening in when he was talking in his sleep.” Reese hadn’t intended to yell as loudly as he had, but he’d been too incensed to keep any control over his tone.
Anook glanced back at Axom. “Please, tell me you didn’t.”
Reese had to admit to being surprised to hear Anook say that. Maybe there was hope that not all of Spencer’s friends were assholes.
Axom nodded. “But in my defense, he was talking about a monster in the woods.” Magically the tears dried up as he put a hand to his chest and said, “You know I’m unable help myself when it comes to talk about monsters in Alaska, that apparently scared the crap out of a husky. I can’t be held responsible when there is mention of what sounded like a Bigfoot sighting.”
Then he spread his hands out as if he were helpless. “If you think about, this was Spencer’s fault for not just telling me about it in the first place. Then I wouldn’t have had to sneak around in the middle of the night interrogating him.”
“You interrogated him?” Anook asked, clearly stunned. “While he was sleeping?”
Axom shrugged. “It’s when he was talking about it. Not all of it made sense… Anyway,” he said shaking his head as if the reason for his blush didn’t matter. “I had to know if it was possibly Bigfoot, right?” he asked as if that should be understandable.
“It’s not as if I was asking him about his sex life again.” Red infused Axom’s cheeks as he glanced at Reese. Obviously, whether he had asked any questions about Reese or not, the man found out about more than just the creature in the woods.
“If you already asked him about what was down at the river, why were you asking him again today?” Not that it mattered, but Reese had to admit to being curious. If Axom had not said anything, Spencer still wouldn’t have known he talked in his sleep, or that his backstabbing friends had betrayed him by listening in. Not that it would have excused their behavior.
Axom threw up his hands. “Because…” Then Axom jumped up and ran to the kitchen table where he grabbed a folded paper. Once he straightened it, Reese could see it was a map. “I needed him to show me where you saw Bigfoot. I mean, I tried to get him to do it last night, but even though he opened his eyes, it was like the map wasn’t there. It was extremely frustrating, as he ripped the only copy I had.”
There was a part of Reese that wanted to laugh. Not because this was funny, but because he was sure someone had to be playing a prank. No way could any of this be real. Too bad it was. Because as bizarre as it was, Reese doubted anyone could have made this shit up.
“Are you fucking kidding me, right now?” Reese had to ask, because as completely unlikely that anyone would have been able to pull this out of their ass, Reese had a hard time believing Axom could actually say what he just said. “You decided not only to hurt one of your best friends by invading his privacy and listening to him talk in his sleep. Then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, you asked him questions while he was asleep.” Talked about being completely insensitive to another person’s feelings.
“But, when you didn’t get what you wanted, you thought it was perfectly acceptable to question him some more when he was awake, which also would have had him believing that I had betrayed him by talking to you when he asked me not to.” Reese honestly wasn’t sure which part pissed him off more. “Did I get that right?”
Axom let out a huff of annoyance. “No. I mean, yeah. But when you say it like that, it sounds bad.”
If Reese thought he could take Axom, he would be tempted to wrap his hands around the man’s thick neck. “That’s because it is bad.”
“But…” Axom tried, but Anook cut him off.
“Reese is right. I can’t believe you are still listening to him talking in his sleep.” Anook shook his head in disgust. Then his hard glare went to Cass and Kip. “You promised you weren’t going to do that any longer.”
“So, you knew it was wrong, but you didn’t what…? Respect me enough to tell me what was going on?” Spencer asked.
All five men whirled toward the front of the house to find Spencer standing there with Sammy pressed up against his leg as if offering the man support. The distress in the Spenccer’s tone and expression sucked all the air from Reese’s lungs. He hated that Spencer had been hurt by his friends.
Anook’s shoulders dropped, but at least he had the dignity to look Spencer in the eye as he said, “I didn’t tell you and…” He let out a long breath as he struggled to find the right words. “It wasn’t because I didn’t respect you. I just wasn’t sure how to tell you without causing a rift between everyone.”
Reese snorted. “How did that work for you?” He wasn’t at all impressed with these men for their behavior. He’d come to Mystic Pines to get away from people who thought it was perfectly acceptable to stab someone in the back. Apparently, there wasn’t such a place.
“Look, I know I screwed up, and I’m sorry.” Anook had the decency to appear to be remorseful. “I should have told you.”
When no one else said anything, Anook elbowed Axom in the ribs. “What?” Axom glared at Anook as he rubbed his side. “It’s not as if I was given a choice but to listen in. Like I said, this started when we were roommates in college. I was trapped in the dorm having to listen to him ramble on and on.”
“Really?” Reese barked at Axom. “That’s your excuse? You were trapped in a room together? Dude, that might have worked the first night, but you should have told Spencer.”
Axom stared at Reese as if he’d grown two heads. “What would that have done? Then Spencer would be embarrassed, the sleep talking wouldn’t have stopped, and I still would have been kept awake those nights it happened. How would that have resolved anything?”
“And after you moved out of the dorm?” Reese asked. “Were you somehow forced to go into Spencer’s room and listen to him then?”
“Well,” Axom exclaimed with a roll of his eyes. “If you’re going to use my actions against me, there really is no point in continuing this conversation.” Then he huffed out of the living room, a door slamming a few moments later.
“I think I’m going to move into the cabin on the east side of town.” Spencer announced. “Maybe we�
��ve just been living together for too long.”
“You can’t,” Anook told him.
Spencer scowled and Sammy let out a low growl of warning as he nudged himself slightly forward to put himself between Spencer and the others in the room. Reese was so damn proud of his husky for feeling protective of Spencer.
“Who gave you the right to tell me what I can and can’t do?” Spencer bit out. The anger that came off the man now overshadowed his disappointment and sadness.
Anook closed his eyes and bowed his head. “That’s not what I meant.” Then he looked back up at Spencer. “I sold the place to an old friend of mine. He grew up in Mystic Pines and wanted to move back.”
“Figures,” Spencer grumbled. “Since I’m not willing to stay here, I’ll camp out at the hotel. It doesn’t have any furniture, but I can rough it.”
“You can sleep with me.” The moment Reese heard the words, he’d slapped a hand over his mouth. The heat that rushed up his neck and flood his face was all he needed to feel to know he was probably bright red. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
Shit. He really didn’t mean that either. He’d love it if Spencer would sleep with him, but Reese didn’t think now was the time for that particular topic. Very deliberately, he made sure to punctuate each word in hopes of not spitting something out he shouldn’t say.
“What I meant was, I have two bedrooms. You are more than welcome to stay with me until you can fix up another home in town.” There. That sounded much better. He hoped.
Spencer nodded.
“Thank you. I think I’ll take you up on your offer,” Spencer said. “I’m just going to pack a few things.” Then he went down the hall with Sammy trotting next to him, with his ears on alert to ensure no one followed.
“Fuck,” Anook said as he sank down onto the couch. “I knew I should have told him. But by the time I’d found out, Axom and these two idiots had been listening to Spencer for too long and I was afraid Spencer would leave.” Then he glanced to the hall that Spencer had gone down. “Which is exactly what’s happening anyway.”
Kip nodded. “Yeah, but at least he’s staying in Mystic Pines, for now. That is probably more than what he would have done if he’d found out before.”
“True,” Cass said as he sat on one of the reclining chairs. “It might not make a difference, but we have a chance to try and get him to forgive us.”
Reese hoped they would try. Spencer needed his friends. If he hadn’t, there was no way he would have moved to the middle of Alaska with them. Plus, he had to admit, he really wanted Spencer to stay so they could find out if there was something between them.
Was that selfish? Probably, but he was okay with that. It wasn’t like he was going to force Spencer to stay. He just wanted the chance.
CHAPTER 11
What was I thinking?
That one thought had been going through Spencer’s head for the past three torturous days. That was the problem though. He hadn’t been thinking. At all. Like, not even a little bit.
All he’d known were two things. First, that he needed to get the hell away from the four people he’d once thought of as loyal friends. Second, and this was where he’d really went off the rails when it came to logical reasoning, his mind had instantly flashed to the previous day with Reese.
Those amazing lips on his body. The way it had felt to be inside of him. The sensations of Reese’s strong hands as he created intense pleasure within Spencer.
The moment Reese had said, ‘You can sleep with me,’ it was as if Spencer’s brain had shut off and his dick had taken over. No way was he going to deny the chance to be with Reese again. Except, they were both doing exactly that.
The longing looks Reese kept shooting his way were mirrored in Spencer’s eyes. It took every single bit of his willpower to stop from reaching out to Reese and kissing him to within an inch of his life every second of the day.
And the nights? Fuck, they were some kind of exercise in the kind of torment no living creature should have to go through. Yet, he did it. Every damn night.
If all that wasn’t bad enough, Spencer was also having trouble remembering why he thoughts pets were a bad idea. It was hard to be against them when Sammy was so easy to love. Every single morning, he was at Spencer’s door to greet him.
He would yip softly so as not to wake Reese, but that didn’t last too long, for Sammy’s antics would have Spencer laughing his ass off, which would wake Reese up. The sight of Reese sleepy-eyed as he came out of his room in nothing but pajama bottoms would have Spencer drooling for another chance to lick his broad chest and defined abs.
Reese was like a walking wet dream and Spencer would end up making a fool of himself to get out of the house before he did something stupid, like pounce. The problem? He wasn’t sure why it was a bad idea.
When he was out of the house, and trudging through the snow, which helped to cool his lustful thoughts, Spencer was able to come up with reasons why they needed to keep things platonic, except even to his more logical brain, the excuses were sounding more and more like… well, excuses.
It was distracting. Something he really didn’t need at the moment. Between trying to come up with a presentation that he was no longer sure he believed in and trying to get the hotel ready for its grand opening, despite the weather that created havoc with his schedule, Spencer didn’t have time to obsess over Reese.
But time or no, that’s exactly what was happening.
As if sensing Spencer’s dilemma, Sammy came over to him, putting his head right under Spencer’s fingertips, even as his body pressed in tight against Spencer’s legs. It was the damnedest thing. Like Sammy was giving him a hug.
“You know you’re getting fur all over my jeans, right?” Spencer tried to sound stern, but he didn’t think he managed it, for Sammy rubbed his body against Spencer’s legs, coating him in white and grey fur.
It was difficult to be mad at Sammy, when he tilted his head up and nudged Spencer’s fingers. “I take it you want to be petted,” Spencer said as if the dog understood him perfectly. The weird thing was, he was sure Sammy could. This wasn’t the first time he’d thought that, either.
“I must be losing my mind,” Spencer whispered to no one. “Dogs don’t know language.”
“Of course, they do,” Reese said as he walked into the kitchen with nothing but those sexy pajama bottoms, just like every morning.
It wasn’t fair that Spencer was forced to endure Reese’s sinful body looking so damn delectable. It they were a couple, Spencer would be tempted to take the man back to bed, but they weren’t, nor could they be. If only Spencer wasn’t finding it challenging to remember why.
“Sammy here understands everything I say, don’t you, my sweetie?” Reese ran his fingers over Sammy’s fur on his way to the coffee maker, which had him brushing against Spencer, since Sammy was still leaning against his body.
A shiver of need shook his body. It was getting harder and harder to think of those reasons they shouldn’t get involved when Reese did things like that.
Thankfully, someone knocked on the front door before Spencer decided he no longer gave a shit if it was a good idea or not to take Reese to bed. “I’ll get it,” he said, rushing from the room and the way too tantalizing Reese.
A cold blast of air rushed in, causing Spencer to wish he had put on his coat first. Standing there, in a pair of dark brown pants, matching hiking boots, with a red checkered fur trim along the upper edge that matched his red checked flannel shirt, stood Axom. A frown had formed on the man’s lips instead of the typical smile and tears fell from his red-rimmed eyes.
“I’m so sorry I listened in on your sleep talking,” Axom said before Spencer had even gotten the door all the way open. “I swear, I stopped doing it a long time ago. It was just I heard you say something about a monster in the woods and you know what finding Bigfoot means to me.”
Then Axom shook his head and added, “Not that it’s an excuse. It was wrong and I’m sorry to h
ave hurt you.”
Not even giving Spencer a chance to respond, Axom threw himself at Spencer, wrapping him up in a huge, bone crushing, bear hug. But that was Axom. It never occurred to the man that someone wouldn’t forgive him. Then again, since Axom couldn’t hold a grudge, it made sense that his friend always assumed that was true for others.
And the fact was, Spencer did forgive him. How could he not? They’d been friends for far too long for him to resent Axom, especially when he did know how important Bigfoot was to the man.
“Of course, I forgive you,” Spencer told him, hugging him back just as hard. Well, not really, since Axom was by far stronger than Spencer, not to mention his friend outweighed him by nearly a hundred pounds. Still, he held onto the one man he’d come to depend on since he’d been kicked out of his family for daring to be gay.
It had been Axom, as well as the man’s over affectionate family, who taught him that not everyone had ‘rocks for brains’ or ‘coal where a heart should beat’ like Axom’s mama, Adalynn, liked to say. She was his mother now, as well as Axom’s father, Kingston, his dad.
Until he’d met the two of them, as well as the rest of Axom’s crazy family, he hadn’t even known a family would do anything for each other. And when he said anything, Spencer meant it. One of Axom’s cousins, Karter, went to jail with his sister, Elisa, because she’d caught her boyfriend having sex with another woman and started chucking firewood at the pair.
When the cops had arrived, Karter made sure to throw a piece of the firewood even though the cheating pair was too far to possibly hit, just so the cops would take him with his sister. According to Adalynn, that’s just what family does for one another.
Spencer still wasn’t sure that was true, since no other family he’d ever met went as far as Axom’s did, but he appreciated knowing they had his back. Even living in Alaska, Spencer would just have to call, and half the Boone clan would drop everything and arrive on his doorstep.
