Page 101 of Bad Wolf (Wild Men 4)

I just tug on his hand again, and request an Uber on my phone. “Let’s just go.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jarett

I can’t remember what happened. One minute I was with Mom, and she was trying to talk to me, but she couldn’t find the words, and then…

And then I was out in the rain, and Gigi was there, her small, warm hand held in mine.

It’s like a time jump, back to school when she used to walk beside me, chattering about everything and nothing, soothing my angry, bitter thoughts. She’s like warm, golden syrup, molding over my hard edges, calming me down, shoring me up.

Making the bitter sweet.

Even though I can’t remember where she said she’s taking me. Not that I care. I’d go anywhere with her. Do fucking anything for her. But as my senses return, as I start to shiver and notice where we are—a car, an Uber?—I wish I knew the answer.

To where we are going, to why she’s here with me, and where my life is heading. Nowhere good, I guess.

But she’s here now, and her hand is still in mine, so I wrap it carefully in my fingers, like the precious thing it is.

“Almost there,” she says, and I look up to find her smiling at me.

I smile back, uncertain. “Okay.”

I feel I skipped time. Or is this a dream? It’s damn warm in the car, and another shiver wracks me. I’m soaking wet, cold water running from the ends of my hair into my eyes. If it’s a dream, it’s a good one, despite the shivers. She’s looking at me without anger or regret, and I’m happy. Happier than I’ve been in a very long time.

Better not poke the dream too hard, or it might burst like a soap bubble, and right now it’s all that’s keeping me from going off the fucking rails.

“Here.” Her slender fingers squeeze mine, and the car stops. She climbs out, never letting go, so I have no option but to follow her out.

I don’t want options. I just want her to stay with me, now, later… for as long as she’ll have me.

She’s my only option, my only choice, and… I don’t wanna remember now all the reasons why I shouldn’t be here with her.

Even when I’m standing beside her in front of a house, and realize it’s her house.

She brought me to her home.

It shouldn’t matter. It shouldn’t hit me like a ton of bricks, but this trust after today’s fucked-up ending, after realizing Mom is getting worse so fucking fast… it’s about to break me. I can’t be here. Can’t do this.

But she smiles up at me again, and tugs once more on my hand, and I follow her.

I’ll always follow her.

She’s my bright light.

We climb the steps to the porch. The door swings open before we reach it, and yeah, this definitely feels like a time loop. Or dream.

Because I know the guy standing at the opening. Barely, as I’d never been to Gigi’s house back when we were neighbors, but I remember her brother from school.

Merc.

He gives me a long look, obviously caught by surprise at my presence on his doorstep. If I’d realized what it meant to visit her home…

But then his expression clears. “Jarett, right?” he says, as if we’re old friends, and opens the door wider, a grin spreading on his face. “Come on in, man. Damn, you’re all wet. Your lips are fucking blue. Were you walking in the rain?”

“Something like that,” I say through chattering teeth when it becomes obvious he’s waiting for an answer, and Gigi is yanking on my hand to get me inside.

“How about making us all some hot chocolate, Merc?” she says, and he nods, as if that’s normal. That she’d ask her brother for hot chocolate, and he’d make it.

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