Page 10 of Destined Prey
“And just how are we going to do that?” Ben finally asked.
Casey tipped his chin toward Ben. “You.Youare going to do that when we see your crush at the grocery store in about ten minutes, so make yourself pretty.”
“How do you know they’ll be there?” Ben asked, but he shouldn’t have bothered.
Casey just smirked at him. “It’s his crystal balls,” Robin said.
“Is that a dirty joke?” Anne inquired. “Because it totally sucks.”
“We can’t all be smartasses like you,” Robin snarked, and they were off, arguing and snapping at each other, with Emil and Lacey commenting and adding fuel to the fire.
Ben took advantage of the squabbling and slipped away to get ready to meet the man he couldn’t stop thinking about.
And he hoped, he really,reallyhoped he didn’t fuck things up, though if he did manage to have a relationship with Jack, something he dared to hope would happen, then he might have to make one of the most difficult decisions he’d ever be faced with.
He’d have to tell Jack the truth about what he was, a hybrid shifter hated by the three species that he was made of— well, four, he corrected.Coyote, wolf, shifter and human. And not one of those do I fit in with.
And maybe that was why Jack mattered so much already. Because when those eyes had met his, even for a heartbeat, Ben hadn’t felt like a mistake of nature. He’d felt seen. Desired. The craving for more of that nearly scared him to death. Nearly—but not enough to stop him from chasing it.
Chapter Seven
“Does it feel like people are looking at us weird?” Jack whispered to Rhett as they poked through the pathetic-looking avocado choices. “Like…like as soon as you glance their way, they’ve just averted their eyes so you can’t quite catch them at it?”
Rhett grunted and held up one avocado. “This one’s not mushy.” He put it in a plastic bag. “And yeah, people are looking askance at us. Probably because Aldan Weathers has a big fucking mouth.”
Jack tried not to cringe. “He said something to you about me?”
“Nope. Ernesto told me Aldan and Vince thought I should know my brother’s a fag,” Rhett said in such a low, angry voice it made Jack’s gut cramp. Rhett cracked his knuckles. “Seems that Vince had heard gossip about you being gay. I don’t know the details, but…” He trailed off, pressing his lips together.
“I can go back to New York. It’s not a problem.” Though Jack didn’t want to go back. He wanted the security and safety of the familiar, of the only family he had left.
Rhett shook his head. “This is your home, too, and it always will be. Fuck those two assholes.”
The words hit Jack harder than he expected. He’d braced for judgment, even from his brother, and instead Rhett had stood firm at his side. A lump clogged Jack’s throat, part relief, part guilt, because he knew Rhett was putting himself in the line of fire just by defending him. He wanted to say thank you, but the words stuck like barbed wire.
“Rhett Tucker, you watch your mouth, young man!” Mrs. Elgiers, who had to be a hundred if she was a day, shook one bent, arthritic finger at him. “Your mama would tan your hide for using that kind of language out in public, where any child or true lady could hear and be offended.”
Jack almost laughed. He knew plenty of women who were ladies, true ladies, and capable of out-cussing him or Rhett. He wasn’t going to argue with Mrs. Elgiers, however, and besides, it was Rhett getting his ass chewed out by her.
“And you quit smirking at your brother’s misfortune, Jackson Tucker,” Mrs. Elgiers snapped as she narrowed her rheumy eyes at him and jabbed that finger in his direction. “The things people are saying about you would make your parents turn in their graves!”
The barb sliced deep. Jack’s breath caught, shame flooding him even though he knew it shouldn’t. He’d spent years trying to believe Mom and Dad would’ve accepted him, that their love would’ve been enough. But doubt gnawed at him now, mean and relentless, and it burned worse than any insult from a stranger.
“That’s enough,” Rhett barked, stepping between Jack and the elderly woman. “My parents would love and accept us both,and my mama sure wouldn’t stand for anyone being rude or judgmental to her boys.”
Jack’s heart had ached with Mrs. Elgiers’s barb, and that ache had yet to fade. He rubbed at his chest, as if he could actually wipe out the doubt growing there. He’d wondered if his parents would have accepted him, thought they would have, albeit slowly for his dad, but still… What if he’d been wrong? What if their lovehadbeen conditional?
“What are you saying about yourself, Rhett Tucker?” Mrs. Elgiers demanded. “Stop talking in circles.”
“Is there a problem here?” asked a man walking their way. He was wearing a name tag proclaiming him to be Greg Manning,Manager.
Mrs. Elgiers harrumphed and gestured at Jack and Rhett. “These two boys are causing a disturbance.”
Greg glanced at them, then Mrs. Elgiers. “Ma’am, with all due respect, I heard you raising your voice, not them. Please remember that you’re in a public place and making a scene could cause someone to question your abilities. I know you’ve been arguing against Chris putting you in a retirement community. What would he think if he heard about you shouting at people in grocery stores?”
The pointed barb seemed to have hit home since Mrs. Elgiers recoiled. “You wouldn’t dare. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Greg shrugged. “You were all over Mrs. Canton last week because her little girl spilled juice on aisle three. The week before that, it was the bagger you went off on because she didn’t ask paper or plastic—although she says she did. There seems to be a pattern of you accosting people in my store. I would think you likely behave the same way in other places.”
