by C. M. Owens
It seems like a lifetime ago at this point.
I forget why I hate coming to town…until I come to town.
The music gets louder and louder, spurring us all into action. According to Bill, this is a manly challenge. But as the violin plays and men come rushing out of the shops to start river-dancing alongside me, Piper just stares in…is that horror? Is she horrified?
“W-w-what are you doing? W-what’s going on right now?” she asks loudly, her voice barely carrying over the music as I try to keep from tripping myself with my own moves.
Bill comes through like he’s Lord of the motherfucking dance, a big-ass smile on his face. He said he wanted this for Penny, but I’m starting to think he enjoys it more than her.
“It’s a river-dance,” I tell Piper when she starts scratching her head, still waiting expectantly for an answer.
“I sort of figured out that much. Why are there men rushing outside to river dance?” she asks, only sounding more confused.
“Because they don’t want to swim the lake in a tutu while singing some girly song,” I explain, finally tripping over my own feet and barely righting myself before I go down.
I straighten abruptly, trying to recover by showing off some of my better moves. Bill swears it was his dancing that won Penny over, after all. There’s no way in hell he couldn’t have gotten her fair and square, otherwise.
Wild Ones Tip #349
If you don’t understand what’s going on, it’s because you haven’t been in Tomahawk long enough.
Chapter 7
PIPER
*******
I haven’t seen a pair of eyes yet that aren’t looking directly at me like I’m the only interesting thing in this town. I’m not interesting at all. I’m standing on a sidewalk while all the men river dance…
All the men are river dancing. Like it’s normal. Some are even competing and talking smack. None of them can dance. At all. Like…not even a little.
They all seem to think they’re wonderful at it, though…
I can’t even describe the level of befuddled I’ve reached in less than twenty minutes.
First there’s a crazy man who throws a hatchet—a freaking hatchet!—out of nowhere, with zero explanation, and immediately turns flirty when he notices me. Then there’s a public argument between a crazy stalker and her apparently rich, damn good looking object of obsession. Now…river dancing…
Why is anyone at all staring at me?
Being normal is weird in this town.
Blending in is not an option. There’s no way I can summon the confidence to dance like an idiot in the street.
“Flash mob?” I ask Kai, still trying to make sense of things.
“Flash mob? Is that where a bunch of chicks get together and flash their chests for guys or something? Gotta say, that’s a little off-putting. I don’t want a girl showing all the other guys her goods. What if that woman has my kid one day?” he asks me…
My mind keeps pausing and trying to process all the illogical things at once, but it’s overwhelmed. His answers only lead to more questions. It’s almost like stepping into a time warp in another dimension.
Shaking my head from all the many distractions that just lead to more questions, I ask, “Why would anyone have to swim in the lake with a tutu?”
“Because if you don’t do the manly challenges, you have to suffer the consequences,” he informs me, still horribly dancing.
I’m not sure what he thinks he’s doing, but it’s not river dance. Not at all. It looks more like one of those Hillbilly comedy shows where they all dance bad on purpose…
Running a hand through my hair, I lean back on the wall just to watch.
The song plays for what seems like forever, and people laugh, clap, dance, and sometimes even slap high fives as they show off their…moves.
My lips curve in a reluctant grin when I watch one older woman visibly swooning, following around the guy who danced in front of us earlier on his way through.
The music cuts out abruptly, and people move along like it never happened and I made it all up.
Kai’s arm drops around my shoulders again, and I work damn hard not to smile. As off-beat and confusingly abnormal as this town is, it’s also charming and unique. I’ve never been anywhere like this.
I’d be really uncomfortable if Kai was, but he seems at ease and laidback about all the quirks.
“How did river dance become a manly challenge with such dire consequences?” I ask, unable to help myself by this point.
He tosses a thumb in the direction of the old couple who are now making out on the sidewalk.
Wowza.
“Bill’s a romantic. Penny’s nice. We do things for Bill and Penny because they look out for the Wild Ones.”
I clear my throat, wondering how he says such random things so casually…
That last bit strikes me as odd, mostly because Gran wrote a bunch of books about shapeshifters who were called the Wild Ones…
“Do you shapeshift?” I ask automatically.
He looks down at me like I’m the one who’s crazy. Got it. No shapeshifting.
I guess Reese was right about one thing—these guys were Gran’s inspiration. The town is more cheery than morbid, like in the books, but it’s still just as outrageously unbelievable. No one will ever believe I watched a town full of men attempt to river dance to avoid wearing a tutu while swimming across the lake and singing a ‘girly’ song.
Instead of overthinking things, I lean against him, since he’s clearly an affectionate sort of guy.
He guides me into the diner, and I swear there’s almost a record screech that seems to happen. The lively chatter comes to an abrupt halt, and like one of those creepy horror movies about small towns flicks through my mind when everyone jerks their attention to us at the same time.
Kai moves through the silent crowd like it’s no bother that they’re all openly gaping at us. Clearing my throat, I follow him to a table in the back, sitting down right beside him in the booth because I’m a little scared of these people now.
What’s wrong with them? Why do they keep staring?
I suppose, by comparison, he’s the most normal person I’ve met in this town so far. Everyone else seems a little bizarre.
Wild Ones Tip #583
To be or not to be a Wild One. That is the question. That’s right. We know Shakespeare too. The pen is a fabulous weapon.
Chapter 8
PIPER
*******
Sitting in the town gazebo, I flip the next page on the final book of Gran’s series. I’ve been reading with a little more vigor since yesterday. Also, I’m worried about my sister who hasn’t come home yet. She’s not answering her phone, but I finally got a message from a random number telling me that she was alive and that she’d meet me here at noon today.
Noon was two hours ago; hence the reason I’m worried again.
Putting the book down, I glance around the town, spotting a bunch of guys hurriedly jerking their heads away, like they were just caught looking.
There are a lot of beards in this town, I’ve noticed. None of them look as good as Kai’s.
I really have to stop thinking like that. It’s been too long since a guy occupied so many of my thoughts. He’s got a cougar for a pet and dances in public with no shame.
I almost wish I had kissed him yesterday when he dropped me—
A body drops to the seat beside me, jarring me from my thoughts.
Reese grimaces, and my eyes widen on the cast on her arm.
“What the hell?!” I snap, dropping the book to the ground.
“Turns out, sledding is more extreme when you do it with the Wild Ones, who are also known as the four corners of crazy in a town that apparently has an addiction to acid-laced shrooms or something,” she deadpans.
Her cast is filled with signatures already. There’s only one spot left. Idly, I notice Kai’s name is also signed.
“When the hell did you
see Kai?” I snap.
“He came over to Hale’s after he apparently went out on a private date with you. I lost my phone on the mountain, and there’s not a lot of cell signal…anywhere. You have to be fortunate to make a call or get a call, it seems,” she adds with a firm nod.
I want to say something, but I’m just not sure what to say.
“Oh, and Kai outlined this spot for you to sign so that I didn’t run out of room before I met up with you,” she tells me, pointing to the spot. She grins at me. “They’re a little out there, huh?”
“Says the girl smiling with a broken bone after spending a day with them. Cheese and rice, how reckless are they?”
Her smile falls. “Seriously, though, they took me sledding down a mountainside. It would have been fine if I hadn’t had a panic attack and flipped us off the sled. I wasn’t prepared for that level of insanity.”
Her smile returns, and she sighs as she relaxes in the seat, her eyes crinkling at the corners.
“But Hale was so worried that he hurried me to their town doctor—”
“Town doctor?” I ask because I can’t help myself.
“Consider this the modern middle ages,” she inserts, not missing a beat. “Anyway, after I got my cast, he introduced me to all of the Wild Ones, getting them all to sign my cast as they shared their first broken bone stories. Apparently, I’m the oldest person they’ve ever known to break a bone for the first time.”
“Why are they called the Wild Ones?” I ask her, lifting the book back up from the ground.
“Because out of this town full of crazies, they’re supposedly the most recklessly crazy,” she answers, her smile growing like this is a good thing. “That Kylie chick is constantly boasting about being a Wild One. Hale told me it only gets worse when she’s drunk. All the Malones seem to be obsessed with Wild Ones pride.”
She talks like she’s known these people for a while.
“Don’t get me started on the Nickels. They have Native American heritage, and their very Caucasian, non-Native American mother is over-the-top with representing that. As cool as it was to learn a lot of things about their culture…they’re sort of scary, to be honest, because they’re very in-your-face. Still, though, I liked meeting them.”
“On your second date, he introduced you to all his friends?” I ask in slight disbelief.
Nickel…
Like that Lenny guy?
Her smile stays fixed, and she crosses her legs as she stares out at the town.
“I’m gonna stay a while longer. This is surprisingly the most fun I’ve had in a really, really long time. I can work remotely. Hale showed me the best spot in the house to sit in order to use the wifi, and he taught me all the tricks to using it. I don’t think I’ve ever met a guy so desperate to keep me around and make me happy. I’m almost positive I’m the closest thing he’s had to a girlfriend in his life. It’s too adorable not to enjoy,” she confesses quietly.
My sister has hearts in her eyes.
Reese Kline, the ball-busting bitch from hell who will steamroll over someone for cutting line at her favorite coffee house, destroy a guy for being five minutes late for her date, and can’t stand puppies, is smitten after two dates, even though she ended up in a cast and had to eat Bambi with a drug dealer.
The water supply is undeniably tainted.
“What are you doing, Reese?” I ask with a sigh as I pinch the bridge of my nose. “What if this guy falls in love with you? Are you really going to stick around or drag him back to the blue blood, cutthroat world we live in?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. He may call what we’re doing dating, but it’s only because he doesn’t seem to know better. However, I like having a friend who doesn’t want to use me. He hasn’t even put any moves on me, and he sticks to respectable boundaries he thinks I have. I’d have sexed him up on night one, but he’s too sweet for all that.”
I peer over at her, wondering just how much she actually does like this guy. It’s starting to worry me, because Reese doesn’t usually like people at all. Two dates and this guy has her looking into sticking around indefinitely.
Something’s not right.
“I’m not used to being surrounded by so many genuine people. They all like talking about themselves, and they love one-upping each other’s stories, and they get loud, laugh hard, and act ridiculous when they feel like it,” she goes on, stating all this like it’s a good thing as her smile grows more. “It’s a nice change of pace is all I’m saying.”
She stands abruptly, waving at someone, and I glance over. My eyes widen in horror when I see Kai and Hale crossing the street, both smiling in our direction.
“What the hell?” I hiss, grabbing Reese’s unbroken arm.
“That’s why I wanted to meet here. We’re going to Lilah and Benson’s place, since they’re cooking for everyone. Apparently they like showing off their married life or something,” she tells me, sounding less and less like herself.
“Damn it, Reese! You should have warned me,” I whisper yell. “I’m still wearing his sweatshirt,” I add.
She glances down at me, eyeing the sweatshirt, and smirks. “Sounds like someone has a crush she doesn’t really want to admit aloud. I don’t blame you. He’s hot, and he did save your life and all.”
I don’t get to respond, because Kai leaps over the gazebo’s railing, and he comes to drop down on my other side, letting his arm fall around my shoulders as he continues to smile.
“You making sure the town knows you’re mine?” he asks, tugging at the sleeve of the sweatshirt I really wish I wasn’t wearing.
“I washed it! And I showered! I’m not still wearing it from yesterday,” I assure him, the words bursting from my lips to rush to my defense.
His grin only grows.
“That just makes it worse,” my sister whispers against my ear. “You look lovesick now. You should have just looked like you’re too lazy or too busy to worry about hygiene, while looking and smelling fabulous.”
Someone kill me.
Kai leans over, sniffing me, and I stiffen. “You do smell good. So does my sweatshirt. Probably the first time it’s been washed in a while.”
“Worst thing to say, dude,” Hale groans, while I silently think of the many ways I want to kill Reese.
Kai shrugs, dragging me closer to his side. It’s then I realize we’re all being watched once again.
“For the record, the way they always stare is hella creepy,” Reese states a little too bluntly.
“Don’t mind them,” Hale says, blocking her view as he gently examines her cast. “Sorry again.”
“It was my fault. Besides, I busted your eardrum with my screams, so we’re even.”
Kai shudders next to me. “Damn glad we didn’t come after all.”
These guys are just so overly familiar so quickly that it’s off-putting and ensnaring at the same time. I don’t know how to deal with people like them.
“So we’re going to your friends’ house?” I ask when it gets quiet.
“Yep. Don’t judge us based on…any of them. Also, we have to be careful not to be caught,” Kai adds as he stands, pulling my hand in his as though it’s a natural thing.
I’m worried about the fluttering in my chest that accompanies such a simple action. The fluttering intensifies when he threads our fingers together, casually strolling with me at his side.
I can’t even remember the last time a guy held my hand. Middle school? Maybe high school. It’s a lost art among the guys I’ve tried to date since then.
Reese is right. I like him way more than I realized.
Surely it’s only because he saved my life.
Regardless, this isn’t smart for either one of us, considering this is a vacation on the other side of the country.
Hale’s phone rings loudly, and he answers. Almost immediately, he holds out his phone.
“It’s your ma,” he tells Kai.
My eyebrows lift, wondering how normal it is for her to know
where he is and who he’s with.
Kai curses as he grabs the phone. “Ma, this isn’t going to help me at all, you know? You can’t just keep stalking and calling me.”
Reese looks over at me as though she expects an explanation. I don’t have one.
“Don’t do that. I’m hanging up…Ma, I mean it.”
He snaps the phone shut and tosses it back to Hale, who catches it midair.
“You realize I’m not staying in Tomahawk long?” I ask him as he walks me toward his Jeep.
“Nothing wrong with making friends and enjoying it while you’re here, is there? It’s not like I’m planning to put a ring on it. All that baby talk is just Ma. She’d be saying it about any girl who stood too close,” he states, immediately bursting my cocky bubble that I’m somehow a rare creature to his family.
I didn’t even realize there was a bubble like that, so I feel a bit like an idiot for now being self-aware.
“What about your dad?” I ask in quick deflection.
Only after the words leave my mouth do I regret it, because his smile slips ever so slightly.
“Me, my brothers, and my sister spread his ashes in the lake when I was twelve.”
This is why I should never ask personal questions to anyone. I never know what to say after I’ve unintentionally stepped in an insensitive shit pile.
“It was a long time ago. No worries. He was a self-centered drunk who didn’t hang around much, so he was only doing more harm than good before death. After death, he brought my family closer by showing us how short life can be,” he adds.
I climb in on the passenger side of his Jeep as he holds the door open for me, and I idly push my hands into the front pouch of his hoodie that I’m wearing.
“Sorry,” I tell him as he climbs in.
“It was a long time ago,” he tells me as he cranks the Jeep and starts driving us off.
