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Probably still out on that stupid beach, wondering what in the hell I was going to do.
The arm that was still wrapped around me squeezed tight. “Then I’m glad I came.”
We left it at that, and I was all but carried up the stairs a few seconds later.
By the time we made it into the house, I was dripping—though only my hair—and he was damn near soaked.
There was a long, silent pause and then, “What the absolute fuck, asshole! You can’t just walk off like that in the middle of a goddamn hurricane and not tell us where the fuck you are!”
I turned at the sound of the voice and found a woman standing there with her hands on her hips, glaring daggers at the man that was still holding me.
Was this his wife? Girlfriend?
“Cannel,” the man holding me said. “I will explain later. In the meantime, I’m going to go change clothes. Cannel. Sophia. Iris. This is Sabrina. Sabrina, this is my sister, Cannel. The one who called me an asshole. On her right is Iris. On the left is Sophia.”
Before anything else could be said, another gust of wind hit the beach house with a ferociousness that was downright terrifying.
“I’ll be back.”
With that, he left, leaving me standing there with three women staring at me curiously.
And I was in a trash bag.
Excellent.
“Um.” I hesitated as I plucked at the bag from the inside. “Do y’all happen to have a towel I can dry my hair off with? I have dry clothes on underneath this.”
There was a moment of silence and then, “Fucking men.”
With that, the angry sister left, leaving me staring at the other two women curiously.
“Iris,” the one on the left says. “Nice to meet you, Sabrina. So you’re crazy like we are?”
I would’ve said more, but Cannel came stomping back into the room with a towel.
She helped me get the trash bag off, then took it to the trash while I dried myself off, then slipped the sweatshirt on over my shoulders that’d been tied against my waist.
“How is it that the Crow men find women everywhere they happen to be?” Iris asked.
I looked at her. “I can’t say that I know the Crow men really well, but I’m inherently happy that that particular Crow man found me today.”
They all three looked at me with curiosity, and I knew then that I wouldn’t be getting out of any of this without telling them what had happened, and why we’d met.
I swallowed hard.
The sister of the man that’d helped me crossed her arms over her chest, not quite glaring, but definitely unhappy that I was there.
I wondered if this was normal for her—the resting bitch face—or if she was just giving it to me because I was an outsider who’d stolen her brother away on their family vacation.
“My best friend wanted to see the ocean and the beach before she died,” I told her.
The two others that were on the side of Cannel hissed in a breath.
“I drove twenty hours to get here,” I continued. “After spending the last week trying to find a place that I could afford. When I realized that I couldn’t find a place that I could afford, I started to look for any that had available openings. Despite every single person in my life trying to come with me, and failing because of work or health, I drove it alone with my best friend. All the while she got weaker and weaker and weaker.” I swallowed hard. “We got here, and all she kept saying was how she wanted to feel the ocean breeze on her face, and sand between her toes.” I felt a bubble well up in my throat at how my day had gone. “She was my only friend, and she died today.”
There was a long, shocked silence and then, “Cannel, how about you back off?”
I turned to find a man standing there that hadn’t been there when I’d started my story.
He was looking at Cannel like he wanted to spank her ass.
There were other men with him as well.
They were all gathered around the opening that led out to the back deck, staring at me like I was something new and shiny they’d never seen before.
“I-I didn’t know. I’m sorry, Sabrina,” Cannel said, drawing my attention once again.
I shrugged. “You didn’t know. And I kept your brother away when it was really scary outside. It’s understandable.”
I was in need of an escape.
I wasn’t exactly the most social person in the world.
In fact, when it came to large gatherings, there was one word that I used more often than not: nope.
And this was a very large gathering, with a wall of large men at my back.
I felt something inside of me start to stir: my fight-or-flight response.
It wasn’t that I’d ever experienced anything truly bad when it came to men. It was just that they intimidated me. Any time I was at gatherings with them, I felt off.
