Page 30 of I Hate Myself for Loving You
All your feathers and little beak gone.
A family’s love will join you there.
They’re a strange lot so have a care.
Avery’s mind raced, thwarted only by Lassiter shoving against the door.
And she was naked.
Lovely.
“Avery?” he roared, sticking his face through the wedge he’d made in the bathroom door.
Avery forgot she was naked for a moment before she grabbed a towel hanging on the rack with her free hand. Sliding across the floor, she rose on unsteady legs, clutching the letter in her hands. “All this time, Lassiter. All this time you had this secret and you never told me. Why? We were best friends. I told you everything. Everything!”
Lassiter glared at her, eyeing her with angry, glowing eyes. “Well, apparently, you didn’t tell me everything, Avery.”
She winced. There was that.
She tugged the towel around her with a tight fist. “This is not the same thing and you know it!”
“You’re a dog, Avery. It is the same thing.”
“I’m not a dog, smart ass. I’m a werewolf, thank you,” she corrected, backing up against the bathtub until she felt the fiberglass touch her calves.
“Yeah, I know.”
“You know?” How could he know?
“Yeah. Now give me the letter, Avery.” His warning was followed by the tic of his jaw, clenched and tight.
She shook her head. “Explain it.”
His eyes narrowed.“Why? So you can call me a meat murderer? An animal killer?”
“That’s soooo not fair, Lassiter. I had no idea. None and it wasn’t as if you were telling me. So tell me now,” she pleaded.
“You’re right, but what is fair in this life, Avery?” he remarked with dry sarcasm.
Tilting her head, she gave him a narrowed look of her own. “Don’t woe is me, Lassiter. You didn’t have to keep this a secret. You didn’t. I would have helped you! I would have helped you figure out whatever the fuck that letter means. Fair? Don’t talk to me about fair, Lassiter Adams.”
His big hand swiped at hers, grabbing for the letter. “Give me the letter, Avery.”
She shook her head. “Nope.”
“Avery…” he hissed the warning.
“Nuh-uh.”
“Don’t make me come get it.”
“Don’t make me bite you,” she threatened.
Lassiter’s smile was sly. “Don’t make me bite you back.”
Oh, sure, threaten her with his big fangs. Nice. “You wanna have werewolf versus vampire? A little trailer park rumble?”
His eyes opened wide in surprise.
