Page 55 of As The Shifter World Turns

Now I felt like absolute shit. I’d let my friend down. “He came after coaching practice?”

“N-No. Another day,” he stammered. “I went downstairs to pick up a delivery and he was there.”

The poor guy was losing it and I was worried he’d need a doctor. “Did he hurt you?”

“No. Yes. No. I don’t know. He was on the porch and I ran into him.”

I placed my hands on his shoulders. “What did he say?”

“It was his fault. I said sorry and he told me it was his fault.” Those were the last sensible words I got out of him as great hacking sobs wracked his body and I wrapped him in my arms. We stood there for I don’t know how long until Neil stopped crying.

“I’ll order in food and then I’m staying here tonight.” I didn’t want him to be alone but I should have been here when it happened.

“You think he might come back?” His frightened eyes flicked to the window where the curtains were closed. “It’s been a while since he was here.”

I led him to the sofa. “Neil, I’ll do anything to make you feel safe, but Ithink Martin was here to see me. I saw a message from him saying he wanted to speak to me. But we never connected.” That was my fault I hadn’t texted him back.

“Maybe, but I don’t care,” he sniffed. “If he comes to see you again, tell him to stay away from me.”

21

SAYING GOODBYE IS GONNA SUCK

Micah

“Are you ready?” Archer asked. “We gotta go.”

He was adorable and it was all I could do to keep packing and not pull him in for a searing kiss and possibly more… definitely more.

“Just because you’re able to throw a weekend bag together in two point five seconds doesn’t mean I can too.” I had a feeling he forgot more than a handful of things.

When I got the call that my friend’s vacation rental had a cancellation for the weekend and he asked if I wanted it in exchange for some advice on staging it, I was all in.

I loved the idea of spending the weekend mountainside with Archer where we weren’t going to be bothered by reality. Just the two of us—together. He had a bag packed within minutes. Me? I was hoping not to forget anything so I wouldn't waste time running out to buy socks or toothpaste when I could be knotting him.

“I’m just excited.” He was bouncing on the balls of his feet. “I’ve never been before. I heard they have all kinds of activities apart from skiing.

“We can look up what to do when we get there.” I zipped my bag up, fairly confident I had everything we needed and threw it over my shoulder. “Ready to blow this taco stand?”

He grabbed his bag. “I don’t eat meat.”

“I seem to recall from our shower this morning that you do.” His cheeks pinkened. “And you eat it with enthusiasm.”

“Fine. I’m not completely vegetarian.” Archer’s eyes settled on my junk. “But there’s only one type of meat that will get past my lips.”

“And now I get to walk out of here with a hard on and everyone will notice.”

“They’ll see that being around me makes you aroused.” He rolled his eyes. “How horrible that will be.”

We did not, in fact, end up running into anyone. Shame, because if I could get him to blush saying little things like that in private, I could only imagine what I could do in front of our friends without those people being aware.

“I’ll take this.” I grabbed his bag and stowed both his and mine in the back seat as he climbed in.

It wasn’t a long drive. It took longer to get out of town than to reach the mountain where we were staying. There were larger and more attractive places for skiing during the season, but this one was close to the city making it popular in its own right.

I drove and we both chatted about work and gossip in the manor and even our favorite television shows. It was perfect. Until it wasn’t. His stupid phone interrupted us.

“I gotta take this.” He apologized and quickly turned on his professional voice, answering, “Archer speaking.”

---