Page 58 of The World She Never Knew Existed

“What’s next?” Dillon asked himself.

They hadn’t had a conversation about their feelings for each other, their relationship, or where they thought that their relationship would go. On one hand, Dillon thought that maybe they should sit down and talk about it. On the other, he thought that maybe they should just let things progress and see what happened.

He wasn’t sure what would come next. Neither of them was seeing another person, so saying that they were in an exclusive relationship would be redundant. He certainly wasn’t ready for the next step, whatever that might look like.

There was also John to consider. If Dillon and Clara decided that they were going to put a name to their relationship, John would likely have a conniption. His already bad behavior would get even worse, and he would direct it at Dillon as well as Clara.

“I don’t think that I’m ready for that kind of drama in my life,” Dillon said. “I think it’s best to just leave the relationship where it’s at for now.”

Although he made the statement aloud, he still didn’t feel as though he had really settled the question.

Ethan was still asleep when Dillon got home.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Dillon said.

He headed to his room, undressed, and went back to bed for three hours. He thought that it was still too early when the alarm woke him up at eight thirty. He groaned as he thought about just giving Ethan the keys and letting him open the store.

Instead, he forced himself out of bed and pulled on some clean jeans and a t-shirt.

“Rough night?” Ethan asked.

“Not rough. Just a late night,” Dillon said, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

“How do you want your eggs?” Ethan asked.

“Over medium,” Dillon said.

Ethan put the plate of bacon and eggs on the table in front of Dillon.

“How are things with you and Clara? Are you serious about her?” Ethan asked.

“To be honest, I don’t know how I feel,” Dillon said. “As soon as I figure it out, I’ll let you know.”

“Fair enough,” Ethan said.

Later that morning, Zeke and Reno paid him a visit.

“I made you something,” Zeke said.

“What did you make me?” Dillon asked.

Zeke shyly handed him a piece of paper. It was a thank you card for saving him.

“Thank you for saving me yesterday. I could have died, and you risked your life to jump in after me,” Zeke said.

Zeke had drawn a picture of the river on the front of the card, with himself floating down stream. There was a picture of Dillon jumping in, as a human, to save him.

Dillon was glad to see that Zeke had taken his warning seriously about keeping Dillon’s identity as a shifter a secret.

“This is very nice. I love it,” Dillon said.

After Zeke left, Ethan said, “You never told me that you were a hero.”

“It was nothing. The boy slipped and fell into the river, and I jumped in after him and pulled him out,” Dillon said.

“As a human?” Ethan asked.

“No. I shifted in front of Clara and Zeke,” Dillon admitted.

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