Page 38 of Riot

Chapter Nine

Calvin

“Okay. I can process this.” I paced Riot’s bedroom, the enormity of his revelation finally hitting me. I was trying to fit werewolves into my existing understanding of reality and failing spectacularly. “Completely. One hundred percent. Totally can do this.”

My socks made soft sounds against the floorboards. Riot’s bedroom was bigger than I’d expected with dark wood furniture and a dresser that looked older than my grandmother. The bed was massive, covered in a navy comforter that looked incredibly soft.

“This is a nice room. Very masculine. Very wolf-appropriate.”

From his spot near the door, Riot leaned one shoulder against the wall, arms crossed. He’d been watching me wear a path in his floor for the last five minutes without saying a word. His mouth kept twitching like he was hiding a smile, which only made me pace faster.

“So you turn into a wolf.” I waved a hand in his general direction. “That’s a real thing that happens to people I’ve kissed.”

“Twice,” he said.

“What?”

“You’ve kissed me twice. The second one in the driveway counts as a separate incident.”

“Are you keeping a tally?”

“Maybe.”

I pointed at him without breaking stride. “Don’t distract me with your charm. I’m having a crisis. I might appear calm on the outside, but that’s very, very deceptive.”

Spinning on my heel, I headed back toward the dresser. My reflection caught in the mirror above it. I looked like shit. My hair was a mess, my face flushed, and my eyes were a little too wide. I looked like someone who’d just discovered his maybe-boyfriend was a mythological creature.

Because that’s exactly what happened.

“I have questions.” I stopped pacing long enough to shake out my hands, fingers tingling with leftover adrenaline. “So many questions. Are there others? Obviously there are others. I met the others. I ate with the others. Oh god, I ate food prepared by a wolf. Is that sanitary? Do wolves have good hygiene?”

Riot made a noise like he was highly offended.

“You broke me, so I’m allowed to ask any question I damn well please.” I resumed pacing. “And the club. The Howlers. Oh my god. Makes complete sense now. You don’t have to hide the truth, because who in their right mind would think the name is literal?” I spun around. “Are Ollie and Spencer wolves? I liked them so much. How can any of this possibly be real?”

“They’re human.”

I laughed so hard it actually felt like I was losing my grip on reality. “A motorcycle club. Nope. A wolf club.” I laughed again, thinking of wolves trying to ride motorcycles.

Why did I find that so funny? None of this was hilarious. I’d gone from battling plastic in a dryer, daydreaming about Riot’s handsome face, to…this.

I couldn’t make this shit up even if I tried.

Between my brother, Miguel, the laundromat, and Riot, the pressure on my shoulders was beginning to cause cracks.

“You’re all wolves. Every single one of you. Except the smaller men. Spencer’s human. Trent’s human. Ollie’s human. I’m—” The words caught in my throat. I stopped walking and stared at the far wall. “I’m human.”

“Yeah.” Riot’s voice had gone softer. “You are.”

Running both hands through my hair, I tugged at the roots until my scalp protested. The sting grounded me, kept my thoughts from spiraling completely off the rails. “How long have you been a wolf? Wait, don’t answer that. Stupid question. You said you were born this way. So your whole life. You’ve been a wolf your whole life, and I’ve been a human my whole life, and somehow, we ended up in the same orbit, and now you’re telling me supernatural creatures exist, and I’m supposed to just—what? Nod and accept it?”

Two completely different lives colliding.

“If you want.”

“I don’t know what I want!” The words burst out of me. My arms threw themselves upward without permission. “I want to be calm about this. I really do. But calm is currently in another zip code, and I don’t know when it’s coming back.”

Riot hadn’t moved from his spot against the wall. His arms stayed crossed, his posture relaxed. Like he’d wait forever for me to work through this.