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Parry grits his teeth. “You shouldn’t be here, OB. This duh-uh-esn’ttt concern a Brambilla.” He turns to Zoey. “This wasn’t part of the deal.”
Parry. I roll my eyes with an exasperated huff.
I used to tell Amelia that Parry is just a golden retriever. Deathly loyal. “To garbage,” she’d reply. I would cast a glare, but she’d mock shrug with a snarky, “What?”
She knew I was fond of Zoey. She never understood why because I couldn’t explain how or why I was drawn in her direction. Just that I liked her.
And Parry might be the golden retriever who protects the Durands, but I’m the arctic wolf that has always circled Zoey. The kind of wolf that’s rumored to have killed his parents.
Parry dislikes me.
Greatly.
So our goals might be the same, but we couldn’t be more different.
Zoey makes a confused face. “Did we have a deal, Pear? I thought I was here to help. And October is here to help too. Three heads are better than two, right?”
He exhales through his nose and glares at me. “For the record, I am trying to protect her.”
Hot rage pours through my ice-cold veins. “By asking her to come back?” I growl. “How is that helping?”
“It’s a risk, but I’m looking out for her.” His smoky voice doesn’t bite like mine. “I have done that.”
“Where did she sleep last night?” I ask him.
“At home,” Parry says like there is no other answer.
I cock my head. “Try again.”
The phrase oh fuck drops his face. He whirls around to Zoey. “Zoey.”
“Ugh.” She shuts an eye and bites her lip. “About that. Brian kinda threw me out before I could even crash there.”
“Of course he did,” Parry says angrily under his breath. He drags his hot gaze across the ground. “You should’ve told me.” He lifts his eyes to Zoey. “You could’ve stayed with me.”
“She was fine with me,” I retort.
He glares. “So you let her in your house with your Durand-hating aunt?”
I hate admitting this, but I’m not choking on my pride. I understand that I can make mistakes. That I’m not perfect. That I can even be worse than wolfish. I can be monstrous. “You know I couldn’t.”
Parry looks murderous. “Where’d she sleep, OB?”
“A warm, comfortable place, Parry.”
“Where?”
“Okay, let’s just focus on Colt—not on me,” Zoey cuts in while Parry and I are eye-locked. He never rips his glare from me.
“The shed,” I answer him.
“A shed?” His brows rise. “Like she’s some broken kayak—”
“She came to me,” I snap. “I’m helping her the best way I can. She’s not my broken toy.” I love her! I scream the words in my head. My chest rises and falls heavily, and I’m uncertain what breaks through my features—what just broke through me. It scares me. The sudden burst of emotion—but whatever Parry sees is enough to divert his gaze.
More calmly, he asks Zoey, “Why didn’t you tell me you needed a place to stay?”
“You would’ve offered, and I’m not messing things up between you and Brian.”
“They’re already messed up!” Parry yells, frustrated. He kicks a stone on the patchy grass. The sky rumbles above us. He rakes a hand through his shaggy golden-blond hair. “Last night, he came by my place. To apologize.”
Zoey’s mouth drops. “Brian? As in Brian Durand? Apologizing?”
“For what?” I ask curtly.
“For kicking me out of the Pelican when he saw Zoey,” Parry clarifies, glaring out at the rough lake. “And he so conveniently forgot to tell me that Zoey didn’t have a place to stay…and he kissed me—or maybe I kissed him. We kissed each other—I don’t know.” He pinches his eyes.
Zoey is horrified. “Parry…”
“I know…” He cringes. “It was a mistake—a lapse of judgment. For a second, I thought Brian had a soul.”
“I’m just…” Zoey gapes. “You and Brian?”
“You do know he’s…bi, right?” Parry says in worry.
“Uh, yeah…I think he dated some fisherman when I was fourteen…fifteen. I can’t remember. He didn’t last long.” Her face twists in more emotions. “But Brian is…mean. And you’re nice. Better than him—Jesus, you can do so much better than Brian.” She grimaces into a gag.
Parry exhales exhaustedly. “I could say the same about you and October.”
He’s not wrong. She could do better than me. She’s just figuratively hypnotized, but I should break the spell.
Zoey bristles. “October is the most—”
“He’s right,” I say to her, then quickly, I tell Parry, “We’re not together.”
“And I’m not with Brian,” Parry explains.
“I don’t care about what you and Brian do,” I say bluntly, probably bitchily too. “And we all saw this coming from a hundred miles away.”
“We?” Parry frowns.
“The town.” I give him a look. He can’t be that obtuse. “Brian Durand is the notorious loner who somehow only spends time with you.”
“At work.”
“You’re the only one who has accepted the role of employee.”
“Because Colt is my best friend,” he refutes.
