Page 190 of Bride of Choice

It would be too weird to just show up at Dorothy’s. It would be obvious something was up. Things had grown awkward with Gopher and Odix earlier, fast, and they had the hunt to prepare for. Boog and Khri and Mal were honeymooning. Rosa would totally be wrangling kids at this hour and this close to bedtime it felt kinda intrusive. Standing there shuffling from foot to foot, I fumbled as to what my next step should be.

Turning around to eye my door, a thought occurred to me. It wasn’t the best thought but…

Stalking off towards a certain sock monkey’s recently renovated abode, I was a bit shocked it opened right up. He hadn’t even bothered to lock it?

The door creaked as I stood there in the doorway, hesitating. Did I dare?

When it came down to it, I found I couldn’t.

There was already so much going on between us, I just couldn’t add fuel to the fire, or the rumors already possibly circulating about us no thanks to him.

Closing the door, I grabbed a few pine needles from the tree in his backyard and swept them over my tracks.

My gaze kept darting to that stump out back.

It was still our lil love shack, wasn’t it? That made me partial owner.

I’d just pop down there for a minute. Eat, a quick dip in the hot springs pools, then I’d be off.

Bending to feel around for the stump latch, I jerked back and tumbled to my ass as a large shadow fell over me.

“What the fuck do you want?” I snapped at Bum-bum as he loomed over me, silent and frowny faced.

Dipping down, the fool grabbed my arm and slipped it over his shoulder, the rest of me swiftly following, and then straightened and started walking off with me hanging over his shoulder, like I was just going to go quietly into the night or some shit.

“Hey! What the fuck, asshole?! What happened to all that no want bullshit, huh? I no want you either!”

My shrieks went unanswered. My legs kicked at him and my hands beat his back, but he pinned my legs and took the pummeling to his back with ease.

As we drew closer to tightly clustered huts, he slid me down his chest, chest rumbling with the action, and easily clamped his hand over my mouth. He just kept walking, the image we presented reminding me a of a toddler throwing a tantrum in the middle of a store, sans the hand over the mouth thing, while their parent just calmly carried on.

My teeth sank into hard, calloused flesh. I tasted blood. Not even a wince!

Realizing there was no fucking point to any of this and, frankly, I already had a monster cramp in my ass and a hitch in my side, I slumped down defeatedly.

His purr of approval at my acquiescence had me shooting daggers at him.

Like there was no fuckery abound, he walked to his place, setting me down right in front of it to pop inside. Returning just as I started to run off, he grabbed me up by my hoodie, jerking me back to him to watch as I tumbled to my ass. “Fucker,” I muttered, glaring at him as his eyes glinted off the light peeking in from inside his little hut.

Without a word, he shoved a long, wooden box at me.

It was either take it or drop it. My automatic reaction was to catch it and curl my fingers around it protectively.

“What the fuck is this? A sword?” I muttered skeptically.

Without a single fucking word, he stepped back inside his place and shut the door on my stunned face. A growl left me as I heard him turn the lock.

“What the hell is this?!” I shouted at the door.

A peek inside didn't tell me much in this lighting. It was too dark out here. Lugging that stupid thing all the way back to my place, cursing his weirdness to the other side of the village and back, I scowled at my door, paused in front of it for the longest time, but my hand finally reached out for the handle.

Like this nightmare just wouldn’t end, Rek opened the door.

As if we had some sort of preplanned date, he grumbled, “You leave. It late. Where Jojo go?”

“Suck my left titty,” I muttered, shoving past him to dump that stupid box onto the table with a thud that rattled the two place settings. Tea ready, food plated, it all sat there untouched. The fool had actually waited for me. My gaze darted from him to the table. “You’re mental!”

Rek closed the door and retook his seat.

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