Page 6 of The Orc That Got Away

“Well…” I begin, not really knowing where to start.

Our relationship was something I thought was better kept a secret at the time and not even Gorlag and Kroth knew about him. But if ever there was a time to tell the truth, it would be now.

“We were together, back then. I didn’t want anyone to think I’d gone soft by getting into a relationship, and so I didn’t tell anyone. Not even you guys.”

I’m not sure how Gorlag will respond to this, but his brow simply remains furrowed.

“Go on…” he says, gesturing lazily with his hand.

I take a deep breath. “When high school ended, so did we. But I always kind of regretted it. We really had something deep — I guess I just didn’t value it at the time. I was too focused on what would happen once we got to college. I was more interested in sleeping around than having a relationship. But now he’s here, in Green Haven. And I have his phone number.”

Gorlag’s face doesn’t change. But he does get up off the chair he’s sitting in and walk over. For a second I wonder if he’s going to give me a hard time about being queer, but instead, he does something much more surprising. He pulls me into a bear hug — not something that’s ever been par for the course in our friendship.

I guess Green Haven really does get to people.

4

BRADFORD

“Don’t look at Ragnar,” I mutter to myself. “Don’t even look in his direction. Don’t think about Ragnar.”

“Dude, what are you mumbling about?” the guy to my right asks me, and I blush. I thought that I was whispering, but apparently I’m not as quiet as I thought.

“Sorry,” I hiss, trying to focus on the event. But it’s difficult, since I’m backstage with a bunch of other models, all of us milling around as the MC gets the crowd hyped up and ready to spend money.

What the hell is Ragnar doing in Green Haven? I would have thought that this was the last place on the planet he’d deign to set foot. The Ragnar I used to know was all about the biggest and best and flashiest.

Green Haven is precisely none of those things, which is a large part of what I love about my town. Even though I didn’t grow up here, the minute I set foot in Green Haven for a photography gig, I was hooked on its laid-back vibe and small-town charm.

In some ways, Green Haven reminds me of the best parts of the boarding school I attended. It's close-knit and inclusive, welcoming to every kind of human and monster. Everyone looks out for each other, and knows what's going on in everyone’s lives.

Of course, that was also the downside of boarding school. At least when it came to the … whatever you want to call it between me and Ragnar. Ragnar was terrified that anyone might find out what was between us.

And it wasn’t because he was ashamed about being attracted to another male. Honestly, if that had been the case, I might have been more sympathetic. That kind of fear makes a kind of sense in my book. My family was so large that no one really paid attention to me. But I could understand how, if your parents actually did care about you and even thought your life was going to go in one direction, it could be scary to tell them that actually, you wanted something else.

No, Ragnar was afraid to be open about our relationship because he thought that caring about someone made him weak. And that kind of close-mindedness was something I couldn’t live with.

Not that I didn’t try. And not that it wasn’t almost worth it sometimes. As the audience applauds and cheers as the first model struts the catwalk, I drift into a reverie about the first time Ragnar and I made love.

We attacked each other with a raw passion that I’d never felt before and, if I’m being honest, that I’ve never felt since. We were in the horse stables, in an empty stall at midnight. The one time, and the one place, we were guaranteed of being alone.

I can still smell the crushed hay under my back. Can still feel Ragnar’s firm mouth on mine. If I close my eyes – which, I tell myself sternly, I amnotgoing to do – I can see the passion in his hazel eyes, turning them a rich, golden color.

It was those eyes that first attracted me to him. And it was those eyes that snagged my heart earlier in the grocery store. Did he mean it, that he’d call me? Do I want him to?

“Bradford, you’re up soon,” one of the other models says.

I shake my head and look at him. “Huh?”

“You’re, like, a million miles away,” he chuckles. “I said that you’re up soon. You should get in the lineup.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks,” I say, trying to smile.

“Sure. What were you thinking about, anyway?” he asks as we walk over to the line of models.

“Nothing,” I say lamely, and he rolls his eyes.

“Sure. That’s what I look like, too, when I’m not thinking about anything,” he laughs.

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