Page 71 of Wandering in Darkness
“You’re so much better than that dog,” Grayson assures me.
“That’s debatable,” I say. “It was a really nice dog.” I glance back at the dog following us. “He certainly looked better than that thing.”
“I’m sorry that everyone got distracted, but we were definitely going to kiss,” Eddie says as he puckers up his lips again.
And for some reason that may or may not have to do with me wanting to see if I can spark some drunkenly buriedmemory out of Grayson about kissing me, I step forward and kiss Eddie right on the lips. I was going for just a simple peck, but Eddie’s all in, and I soon find out exactly why Eddie should be dubbed the worst fucking kisser I’ve ever encountered.
Grayson grabs Eddie’s hair and jerks his head back, pulling him away from me. “You’re not drunk enough for this.”
“He’s not? I’m the one who’s not! Why do you do that when you kiss?” I ask.
Eddie pretends to twirl his mustache. “Skills.”
“Skills, my ass,” I say. “Tate, you haven’t tried it yet; let’s see what you think. I really think we should get another opinion on it.”
“Nah, nah,” Eddie says. “I filled my curiosity up to the brim. I think my issue is that every time I kiss a guy, my tongue is trying to get out of the situation.”
“What the fuck was your excuse for me, then?” Audrey cries.
“It’s because you smell like a man.”
“Because I use men’s bodywash, your body rejected me? But strangely enough, you’re the only one here trying to kiss all the men in our party,” Audrey reminds him.
Devon, who’d been ahead of us on the phone, comes back, oblivious to the hell we’ve been subjecting ourselves to.
“Devon feels left out,” Tate says as he flips a coin. Supposedly, it’s his lucky coin that will keep him safe.
Devon hurriedly shakes his head. He doesn’t even know what’s going on, but he’s prepared to stay out of it. “I don’t know what I feel left out of, but I’m going to guarantee that if it involves Eddie, I’m not interested.” Of course this makes everyone laugh while Eddie still pretends to twirl his mustache.
“All I’m interested in is how fast Grayson pulled me off Cal. Like what the fuck? You want him for yourself, then kiss him yourself,” Eddie tells him.
“Let’s stay out of matters that don’t concern us,” Audrey says.
“Listen to Audrey, Eddie. And… why the fuck is that dog following us?” Devon asks. “Go on… shoo.” He tries to wave it away, but the dog has no interest in wandering off. He’s staring at us with such sad eyes that I want to scoop him up and take him home, but the state of his skin makes me decide I’ll love him from afar.
“He’s fine,” Grayson says.
“We can’t have that thing following us around,” Devon complains as he tries again to shoo the dog off, but he quickly gives up and sighs. “Whatever. Is everyone ready? We have all the info we need. It looks like making the exchange for the gun is a go. We’ll follow from a safe distance, understand?”
The plan is simple, or at least Devon has claimed it is. In order to get an idea of the route that a group of weapon traffickers is taking, we’ve agreed to a deal. We’ll pass them money which contains a tracker, and they will sell us a gun. From there, the information will go to someone more specialized and we’ll have done our part. Simple… supposedly.
When we get to the correct road, we head out to the truck Devon made us cram into on the way over here since having multiple vehicles would give away that there are more of us than there should be. When Grayson reaches down and grabs the dog, which he throws into the bed of the truck, Devon gives him a look of disbelief.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“It’ll be fine,” Grayson says as he creates a makeshift collar and ties it up so the dog can’t jump out of the moving vehicle. Exhausted and sick, the dog lies down, not seeming to care much about life or what happens to him.
“What the fuck happens when it barks?” Devon asks.
“You think a half-dead dog is going to give our position away? Like do we plan on parking right next to the exchange? It might be a setup, but we still have to look legit.”
Devon sighs, and I know that if any of the rest of us tried this, he’d immediately shut us down, but Grayson seems to get away with more than anyone else.
“You’ll be alright, buddy,” Grayson tells the dog before getting into the truck. I nervously look into the back, worried the dog will panic and hurt himself or try to jump out, but there’s no way he’d fit in the front of the truck with us, and if we leave him on the streets, he’s going to die. At least he has a chance with Grayson.
Noticing my concern, Grayson looks over at me. “He’s alright. He’d die out on the street. At least we’re doing something.”
“That was sweet of you. I didn’t know you could be sweet,” I tease as I get in the vehicle with the rest of them.
