Page 17 of Just Dare Me
Hillerman hunches her shoulders, clearly uncomfortable with what she’s about to say. “I will admit…”—she shifts her weight from one foot to the other—“that after seeing the way the Agency has accepted Russo and Brenner, I couldmaybesee how my problem with the underworld is…is mostly due to my own attitude.”
This time, there’s no sarcasm in my surprise. “Are you saying you might be wrong about us?”
She quickly jumps to her own defense. “I was never wrong about you, Shayne. From the very start, I knew you were somebody…” She stops herself, probably because she’s aware of how dangerously close she is to saying something nice about me.
“That I wassomebody…?”
“Somebody that I…” Her voice trails off. She huffs in frustration.
Sensing that she needs help, Russo says, “Somebody that you…liked?”
“No, that was Matt. He liked her. As for me, I just thought she was somebody I could work with.”
Russo beams proudly at me. I mouth a bigWowback at him. As if I can talk. For the first time, I can totally relate to Agent Hillerman. In fact, now that she brought it up, isn’t this one of those times that I should give release to my dominance by letting others know how I feel about them? My face suddenly feels hot. “Russo, let me ask you something.”
“Shoot.”
“Do you know how I like my eggs?”
“Between two rib-eye steaks, like a sandwich.”
“I see. So, it’s just me that’s, like, the worst friend in the world?”
“Say what?”
“Because I don’t have any idea how you like your coffee or your eggs.”
“So what? I don’t even think I have a way that I like my eggs.”
Hillerman answers immediately. “Scrambled, with bell pepper.”
Russo thinks about it, then breaks into a huge grin. “Well,nowI do.”
I groan. “That’s what I’m talking about. You guys know shit about each other. You remember little details because you…care about each other. And I don’t want you to think that I don’t.” Both of them give me puzzled looks. Total disaster. I don’t feel any soothing or calming effect. Great, so my own dominance doesn’t even know what the hell I’m trying to say. “Look, would you guys please just read my mind already? I’m trying to say that I hope you know where you stand with me. Like, if I were to draw a circle around myself, that circle would be pretty small, but both of you would be inside it.”
A slight thrill pulses through my veins. I’m surprised to realize that what I just said makes sense. I know it, because both of them react. Russo squeezes me tight against his side, and Hillerman says, “I mean, personally, I assumed that it goes without saying.”
“Right? Thank you! Why do we gotta say this shit out loud? Can’t we all just assume?”
Charlotte nods. “Agreed. Let’s never have this conversation again.”
“I wish. But it turns out I’m coming into some dominance, which, apparently, thrives off these sorts of conversations. I’m not supposed to let things go unsaid.”
Russo squeezes me again. “Dominance? It’s about time. Does that mean we can’t look you in the eye?”
“No, there’s no possible behavior from a human that could ever be perceived as a threat by the dominance of a shifter. You guys are just too low on the food chain to matter.”
“Brutal honesty. Loving that.”
“Just remember that if I say cheesy, emotional crap about how I love you guys, it’s only because if I don’t, I might have to rip your faces off. That’s all.”
Russo chuckles. “Hey, man, whatever you have to tell yourself.”
With a high-pitched squeal, Elvira Harrington suddenly bursts from the crowd and bowls into me with a fierce hug. She’s so short, her face presses right into my boobs. She gives an exaggerated sigh. “Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow.”
“Well, Agent Hillerman has much bigger pillows. Why don’t you squeezeherto death?”
“But your body type is so perfect for fashion. Shayne, you know I’m totally in love with you, right? Like, if I wasn’t biologically, emotionally, and in every other way obsessed with penises and facial hair, I would so chain you up in my closet and dress you in my most luxurious fashions, just so I could undress you again and again.”
