Page 5 of Carver’s Craving

I pulled out once I found a break in traffic. You’re just revved up because of last night. You’re certainly not going to get lucky with Styx. True…but a man could daydream. And if he was really lucky, that dream might come true.

Or he’d just go around with blue balls until his guest left.

Being who I was, that was more likely.

Chapter Two

Styx

Ikept trying to figure out the odds of meeting someone I knew when I was four and a half thousand klicks away from home. In this small town in British Columbia.

Astronomical came to mind.

Running into Carver? The guy I’d obsessed over for years?

Incalculable. Like, my brain kept breaking.

But shit like this happened, right? Two people randomly went on the same internet forum and found a long-lost sibling. Or someone applied for a job and the person doing the hiring was a high school buddy. I was pretty certain I’d heard stories. Life was full of weird coincidences. So running into Carver was just one of those improbable things. Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Somehow that’ll make it less creepy, right? What if he thinks you’re stalking him?

That brought me up short. Surely he wouldn’t think that. After all, how was I supposed to know he’d be on First Avenue today, of all days? And Baxter, my supposed best friend, really had abandoned me in this godforsaken town. In the middle of nowhere.

Now you’re just being melodramatic. The town is just over an hour’s train ride from the metropolis of Vancouver. The train that’s coming Monday morning. True. Except I had nothing waiting for me in Vancouver. And fucking Baxter had my guitars and amp. So getting a gig in the big city would mean singing a capella. Not fucking likely. Truthfully, I had few other skills. I could run a cash register in a convenience store. That said, with the economy the way it was, finding retail work might prove difficult. Vancouver was the most expensive city in Canada.

“Are you okay?” Carver’s deep voice broke through my reverie as he turned in at a parking lot.

“Uh, yeah. Of course. Is this the grocery store?” I didn’t recognize the name.

“Yes. They’re only in western Canada. A bit more expensive than some of the other chains, but I can order online and pick it up here. That’s convenient.”

“You don’t want to go into the store?”

He shuddered. “I don’t like shopping if I don’t have to. Never have and never will.” He tapped his phone. “They’ll bring the order out. I always help them load it.”

“I can help too.” Because that felt like the very least thing I could do.

“Sure.” Yet he sounded anything but.

Does he doubt my ability to help, or is he regretting his decision to invite me to stay? “Hey, you probably didn’t anticipate a guest. Or hell, maybe you did.”

“I did not.”

“Right. So maybe you won’t have enough food. I should run in and—”

“I buy several weeks’ worth so I don’t have to come into town more often. I’ll do a run when we start getting low on things. Plus, my pantry is stocked. Here she comes.” He hopped out of the SUV.

How long does he think you’re staying?

Hell, how long are you staying?

I jumped out as well and spent the next few minutes helping Carver and the nice grocery store lady put the bags in the SUV. Carver wasn’t kidding—he really had stocked up on just about everything he might need, plus more.

All this for one guy? He must really hate coming into town.

And, for the record, just far is his place? Will you be able to walk, or will you be reliant on him for transportation? Probably questions I should’ve asked half an hour ago when Dickens’s offer was still open.

Once we had everything stowed, Carver thanked the woman, and she headed back into the store. He eyed me. “You need booze? I don’t have any in the house, but we can stop at the liquor store.”

I shook my head. “I don’t drink as much as I used to. Didn’t have a drop the entire—" I scratched my chin. “Nope, I take that back. We had beers in a bar in…what the fuck was the town’s name? In Alberta? Swift Current?”