Page 11 of The Outsider

She wasn’t sure how she felt about him being intuitive to her mood. Maybe intuition hadn’t been required. Maybe her discomfort was obvious and she’d just so profoundly forgotten how to be around another human.

She’d thought any feelings she had about people judging her had vanished a long time ago. But the idea of going in there... to see his family, who were probably all as clean and beautiful as he was, looking like a raccoon that had just been dumped out of a garbage bin was a hit she didn’t think her pride could take.

He’d already looked and seen something was wrong. So, she might as well just swallow said pride now and ask for what she wanted.

“Is there...? Can I have the shower before we see anyone else?”

His face relaxed, and the pity she saw there was wounding. She didn’t like to be pitied. But right now, she was a bit pitiful, it had to be said. So maybe she just had to own it. Take what she could get.

Raccoons from garbage cans couldn’t afford to be choosers. Or something.

“Let’s drive over to my place. I thought that you would maybe want a little more security... you know, to not be alone with me.”

“To your point,” she said. “You had a gun on you this whole time.”

“True.”

He pulled slowly away from the farmhouse and drove her farther down the dirt drive. “I got my own place just down here. Denver lives in the farmhouse, but the rest of us live on the property.”

“Denver is?”

“My oldest brother.”

“Oh. How many siblings do you have?” She wasn’t really used to making small talk.

“Three brothers and one sister.”

“That’s a lot of siblings.”

“It is. How many siblings do you have?”

She snorted. “No fucking idea. I’ve got bros in different area codes.” She stared at him as if she expected him to react to that. “Anyway, I’ve got one half brother that I lived with and know pretty well. But I can’t actually be sure how much seed my dad has sowed out there.”

“Well. In total fairness, I suppose I could have some half siblings out there.”

She looked at him, frowning. “Really?”

“I don’t really know what my parents are up to either.”

She sat with that, uncomfortably. Because he did not seem like the type to have wayward parents.

He seemed like the type to have it all together.

Especially given the way that he talked about the family all being together for dinner.

Her family had eaten together sometimes. Usually chili out of a can on a TV tray.

He’d successfully surprised her with the revelation that his family might not be normal.

“Do you smoke?” Since he was going to be a whole surprise and everything. She might as well see if she could get a little nicotine out of the deal.

“No,” he said.

“Rats.”

They pulled up to the front of a neat-looking cabin. This looked like the kind of place he should live. It was woodsy and clean. Respectable, but somehow rugged.

She was putting way too much thought into him.

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