Lunar City

by Samantha Cross

  ‘But what you’re doing now is honorable?”

  He was silent for a long time and couldn’t even look me in the eye. Lincoln just kept playing with the handkerchief in his hands, twisting it around his fingers and then letting go and watching it unwrap slowly.

  “I don’t know what you want me to say,” he said very quietly.

  “I don’t want you to say anything. I just want you to rethink things. I feel like you guys have all been living in your own bubble for so long that you’re not seeing why this is all so…”

  “Weird?”

  “Sad,” I responded in the gravest of tones. “Everyone is putting the fate of an entire species on the shoulders of Brinly. She’s not even allowed to make her own decisions or live the life as she wants to. That’s way too much pressure for a girl as young as she is.”

  “You don’t know how much I wish that her spot was filled by anyone but her, but I don’t have the power to undo thousands of years of tradition.”

  “But you love her. You’d be willing to let all that go?”

  “Willing? Willing makes it sound like I have a choice.”

  I leaned in close to him so I could speak as quietly and seriously as I could. “You would follow a leader who would rather stand by some outdated tradition than fight for a chance to be happy?”

  Lincoln’s dark chocolate tinted eyes raised to mine, and for the fleetest of moments I swore I saw the shine of a tear.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, am I interrupting something?” I heard a cartoonish voice call.

  It was Travis, standing in the entrance of the garage, big gums and all, smiling like he had caught us in an intimate moment. I’ll admit, Lincoln and I were leaned in close and speaking softly to one another. I could understand how that could be misconstrued.

  “I thought you were Max’s woman,” Travis said.

  “I’m no one’s woman,” I rebutted.

  This Goofy-type laugh escaped him as his eyes darted past me and over to Lincoln. “I love when girls are feisty. Just don’t let Max know what you’re up to or he’ll tear you a new one.”

  “Nothing is going on, Travis,” Lincoln assured him in a tone laced with exasperation. “I’m fixing up her car. It is possible for a man and a woman to talk in private without jumping into bed.”

  It would figure. Lincoln and Brinly were the ones in the midst of a torrid affair, and yet it was I who was on the end of an accusation.

  Travis shrugged at what Lincoln said. “I wouldn’t care if you were porking her, anyway.”

  “Can we not talk about who is porking me?” I asked nicely.

  “Is that an invitation?”

  I scrunched my nose, confused. I noticed Lincoln was making the same expression. “No, and what you said makes absolutely no sense,” I replied. I’m not sure Travis knew how to naturally transition into sexual innuendos. He hadn’t quite mastered the art of being a pervert, or at least an intelligent one.

  Lincoln was mid smile when he asked Travis, “What are you up to, buddy?” I could sense he wanted to change the subject just as much as I did.

  “Not much,” Travis answered with a shrug and then began strolling about the garage, playing around with the tools hanging from nails on the walls. “Paul is in one of his moods, so I went for a walk. We decided that was for the best.”

  “We?”

  Ashamed, he clarified, “Well, Paul decided, but whatever, man, I got shit I can do, too.”

  “So, Paul is off sulking somewhere because the milk in his cereal was too cold?”

  “I don’t know. Corbin wanted to talk to him and I wasn’t invited. If it weren’t for Brinly, I’d swear they were butt fucking.” Travis quickly looked at me. “Sorry.”

  “Oh, don’t mind me,” I said with the wave of a hand. “Just the other day I was wondering how we could incorporate the topic of anal into the morning conversation.”

  He chuckled with his gums out on display and bits of spit flying from his teeth. He looked like he was trying to decide if I was serious or not and figured awkward laughter was the best response. It didn’t look so much awkward, just creepy as shit.

  Travis raised his head and pointed his chin in the air like he had a realization, and then began bouncing his shoulders up and down a couple times like his body was laughing. His mouth, however, was permanently lodged into a strange drunken grin.

  “So, your sister—she single?”

  “You mean my cousin, Melanie?” I knew exactly what he meant, but the fact that he transitioned from talk of intercourse and then to my cousin left a sour taste in my mouth.

  “Yeah, her.”

  “She’s technically single, yeah.”

  “Do you think she likes me?”

  I narrowed my brow. “Have you two even spoken to each other?”

  “Does that make a difference?”

  “That’s kind of an important aspect to liking someone, so, yeah.”

  “Well, could you let her know I’d like to take her out?”

  “You’re not going to ask her yourself?”

  “Asking babes out isn’t exactly my thing.”

  “Maybe you calling them babes is why it’s not your thing?” Lincoln asked with a very innocent looking shrug that masked his very, very patronizing question.

  Travis rushed toward me and placed both hands on my arms and said, “Couldn’t you put a good word in for me? Tell her all my good traits and all that.”

  “I would, but… I don’t really know you, Travis.”

  “Oh,” he responded, sounding both surprised and let down. “Well…what did you want to know?”

  I looked to Lincoln, who shrugged, and then back to Travis. “Okay, uh… what are your hobbies?”

  “Hobbies? Like, stuff I do?”

  “That’s usually what hobbies entail.”

  Travis stroked his chin for a moment. “Shit, I can’t mention the weed, because let’s be honest that is 90% of my day,” he said and then chuckled so hard he snorted. He nudged my arm with his elbow, waiting for me to join in on the laughter, but all I could muster up was a fake smile. I’m not sure why his pot smoking was supposed to be hilarious.

  Just then I heard, “Knock, knock,” and saw Max poking his head in through the garage entrance. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” he asked.

  Travis’ mouth was opening to speak, but I promptly cut him off. “Absolutely not,” I said and then walked toward Max. “I was actually getting pretty hungry. Did you want to go and get something to eat?”

  I enlarged my eyes at Max, hoping he understood that was my signal for: I don’t want to talk to Travis anymore. Max stared at me quietly, on the brink of laughter, pretending he was confused, even though I knew damn well he understood me.

  “I don’t know, maybe we should invite Travis,” he responded to me. My face went hot.

  “I like food,” Travis said quickly.

  “I don’t think you’d like this kind of food,” I told him, quickly searching my brain for some BS that would sound off putting. “I’m a vegetarian, so I was hoping Max would take me to… Grass-Mart. It’s what all us vegans are into these days, chomping down on a nice bucket of grass.”

  “Straight up lawn grass?” he asked, repulsed.

  “You smoke it, I eat it.”

  “For real?”

  “Us vegetarians are fucking weird.”

  Max nearly choked on his chuckle.

  “Well, see ya later. Thanks again, Lincoln.” I grabbed Max by the arm and dragged him out of the garage, fuming that he had not helped me make a much less embarrassing escape. “Thanks for the help back there.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t really going to invite him.”

  “Only you did.”

  Max was laughing as we walked away. “What’s with you? I thought you liked everyone.”

  “I don’t know, he started talking about anal and my cousin and I just…”

  He stopped walking. “He what, now?” he asked, like he was trying to make sure he hea
rd me correctly.

  “Don’t ask. Can we change the subject?”

  Max shrugged and continued walking. “Why was Lincoln looking at your car?”

  “Somebody broke my headlight last night at the bar.”

  “No shit? They steal anything?”

  “That’s the weird part. Everything else was left untouched, like someone just waltzed up to my car and smashed it for no reason.”

  “It’s a town crawling with moody werewolves. There are times I feel like launching a small child into the lake just because someone looks at me wrong.”

  “Admit it, you would have felt that way even before the werewolf thing.”

  He rolled his eyes and did his best not to smile as he quickly continued the conversation. “I wouldn’t worry about it. Shit like that happens. Not much you can do if you didn’t see who did it.”

  “To be honest, I have an inkling of who might have done it.”

  “So, you did see them?”

  I hesitated to speak, and then very quietly said, “Can we go to the beach and talk?”

  “Yeah, sure,” he answered nonchalantly, and then we headed that way.

  The only thing I had in mind was the waves canceling out the possibility of one of the werewolves overhearing our conversation. I wanted what I was about to tell him to stay between just him and I.

  Once we arrived at the shore, I slipped my shoes off and let the water crash into my ankles and bury my feet in the sand. Max did just the same.

  “Now that you got me alone, you wanna spill?” Max asked. The waves were so loud, I almost didn’t hear him at first.

  “I think it was Paul.”

  Max nodded. “Still don’t trust him?”

  “I just happen to be very good at knowing when someone hates me.”

  Max laughed loudly. “Actually, you’re terrible at it. But forgetting that, Paul hates everybody. He’s just a naturally pissed off guy, I doubt he’d actually do anything about it. Besides, why would he follow you to a bar and kick in your light? Seems kind of pointless, doesn’t it?”

  “Not if he’s trying to mess with me. If it were a stranger, wouldn’t they have taken something from my car? Seems kind of weird to do that without some form of theft being involved.” I swallowed hard. “And it’s not just that. Dana showed up in town.”

  “The bloody blonde whose face you knocked in?”

  I made a sour expression. “Nicely put, Max, but yes. The girl who is also being hunted down by some shady man showing up in my hotel.”

  “I wish you’d forget about that.”

  “Max, Dana had a warning for me this time.”

  His playful blue eyes went still and intense. “A warning?” he asked.

  “She said she heard the werewolves in this area talking about me, saying I was a threat to them. She said they wanted to hurt me.”

  “Well, that’s not going to happen,” he said in the gravest of tones. There was no uncertainty in his voice, like he knew no matter what threat would pop up that he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me. It was comforting.

  “Do you believe her?” he asked me.

  “What reason would there be for her to lie? I think she was returning the favor since I went to her place to warn her about the guy at my hotel. She’s a recluse and she came out all this way just to tell me.”

  “Look, I think we both know you have a pretty big target on you, so it’s not that unbelievable to think someone was talking smack about you behind your back, but we can’t go jumping to conclusions based on something a seemingly suicidal hermit has said.”

  “You’re the last one to be judging rantings of a reclusive werewolf.”

  “I’m not saying she was lying, but she doesn’t know what our situation is, either.”

  “Is this going to be our shtick—I tell you something and you half believe me?”

  “I do believe you. I also know what it’s like to be a pissed off werewolf who has a million negative thoughts running through my head, and I’d hate for the other guys to use that shit against me to make me look bad. Odds are, Dana heard them talking right after you arrived here, back when no one was giving you a chance.”

  “And they are now?”

  “Come on, Cora, for the most part, everyone likes you, and you practically have Brinly wrapped around your little finger.”

  “I wouldn’t say that.” I don’t know why, but I was blushing. Brinly struck me as someone who was one of the popular girls back in high school, with her forty dollar pair of jeans, her perfect skin and her quarterback boyfriend. Basically, someone fourteen-year-old me never would have hung out with. Sure, I’m older now, and I’ve become friends with all types of people, but a part of me will always have the mindset of the geek with braces who practiced the clarinet, unable to accept that someone infinitely cooler than me enjoyed my company.

  Then again, I was standing on the beach with a man who looked like he’d be a cover model for a 90’s grunge rock band, so maybe I should be used to this by now.

  “You think we ought to head back?” I asked, gesturing away from the beach and to the compound. “I never know how bad I’m pushing the boundaries when I’m out without supervision.”

  “You have supervision—me.”

  “So, you’re my babysitter now?”

  He swiftly placed both arms around my waist and pulled me in toward him, smiling. “Would that be such a bad thing?”

  My heart raced. “Now that you mention it…”

  Max grinned seductively, and I was thankful the crashing of the waves filled in the silence, so I didn’t have to speak. Whenever he got flirty, I was a fumbling fool and usually said something horribly moronic.

  “Why don’t we hang out here for a while?” he suggested. “We spend enough time stuck inside that crusty ass compound. Some time away couldn’t hurt.”

  “Won’t we have eyes on us? With how little they trust me, I know they’re watching me like a hawk.”

  He shrugged. “Let them watch. Maybe we’ll give them a show.”

  I detached from his body and swatted at his shoulder. “Don’t be a pervert. I know you periodically walk on all fours, but I’m not a show dog.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I slammed my eyes shut and groaned. “That joke was in poor taste. Shoot, I’m sorry.”

  Max was already laughing. “Don’t be so damn sensitive about it. I’m not.”

  “But I always say the wrong thing about touchy subjects like this. And then I get self-conscious and I start rambling and soon—”

  As fast as a bolt of lightning, Max’s lips were on mine, taking me by such a surprise that my eyes were still open as he swooped me up in his arms. No doubt, this was a way to shut me up, and quite frankly, it wasn’t half bad. My arms reached up and tangled around his neck, feeling the tips of his gorgeous hair tickling my skin as the breeze from the water blew on us. I felt so warm from the sun and his body against mine, yet cool from the water crashing into our legs and splashing on my shorts. It was so perfect, it was like a scene out of a goddamn Nicholas Sparks movie.

  ***

  We spent the rest of the afternoon among other beach bums, lying on the sand together and talking for hours—the subject never lingering on one topic for too long. I’ll admit some of that was my doing, as a conversation with me can often feel like Trivial Pursuit, changing categories whenever I felt like being a little more brazen. Max took them all in strides, smiling—whether at me or with me I can’t be sure—and answering each and every one of them.

  I lay down on my stomach, letting the back of my legs get the attention from the sun, and watched from the corner of my eye as Max removed his t-shirt. His body was drool-worthy. While Lincoln had mass of muscles that made him look intimating and impressive, Max was svelte; with a defined stomach and a gorgeous back that curved outward and then sucked in tight at the waist. Like Priscilla had said in the past, it was the kind of back you want to drag your nails down.

  I did not need that image in my brain at
that moment. I was trying to do my best not to have my mind in the gutter.

  Hours passed, and before I knew it, the sun was setting. Max, thankfully, put his shirt back on and we headed back to the water for one last splash.

  My arms were wrapped around his waist, my hands locked together just above the hollow of his back, and I used his firm chest as my own personal pillow. We gazed out at the dying light of the day together, watching as the cloud streaks in the sky turned a shade of dark blue, and the air turned cool. The sun created a streak of pink across the water of the lake, which no longer had any waves or ducks swimming, leaving it still and quiet. In that moment, in Max’s arms, I experienced tranquility for the first time.

  So, this was what it was like being in a couple with Max. Who would have thought dating a temperamental werewolf would bring me so much bliss?

  I didn’t want to leave that moment behind, but it was getting dark and cold and Max insisted we head back before someone came looking for us and ruined all the fun.

  We were bumping shoulders as we walked up the stairs to my bedroom, and even though I knew nothing would come of it, I did feel my heart speed up when I let my brain linger on the suggestive nature of the two of us heading there together. This wasn’t our home and nothing too risqué was going to go down.

  “This almost feels like a date, you walking me to my room all gentleman like,” I said as we reached my door.

  “Sure. I walked you all the way from downstairs to upstairs. I really go all out, huh? Make sure to go into detail how I kicked mud off my shoes in your letter to your mom.”

  “Yeah, sure, I’ll get right on that.”

  He stopped walking and cocked his head. “You saying you never told your mom about me?”

  I stammered. “What? Well… I never thought about it because I didn’t know what I was allowed to say.”

  Max grinned at my awkwardness. “I’m pulling your leg.”

  “Oh,” I said, and then nervously tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Well, my mom would be happy just to know there’s a guy I could even bring up.”