Page 280 of His Hungry Wolf

Nero replied.

“Are we not supposed to pull over here? I’m sorry, officer. I was feeling a little tired and I thought it was better to pull over than risk it.”

The cop bounced his light between the two of us, then around the inside of the truck. When he didn’t find anything, he turned it back towards Nero.

“You boys been smoking anything? You know, that stuff’s illegal in the state of Tennessee.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, officer.”

“Then why does your truck smell like weed?”

“Does it?” Nero turned to me. “It must be on our clothes. We just left a friend. I don’t want to get him in trouble, but we were in his room for a minute and there you go.”

I couldn’t tell if the cop believed Nero. The good thing was that Nero was telling the truth. That must have come across because, after only a few more dirty looks, he said,

“There’s a rest stop five miles up ahead. If you need to rest, you should do it there. It’s dangerous to pull over on the side of the highway like this. And, parked on the line like you are, you could cause an accident.”

“Sorry about that. I didn’t realize. We’ll keep it moving from here on out. I just needed a minute to wake up. I’m better now. I can keep driving.”

Still not hinting whether or not he believed us, the officer nodded and said, “Use the rest stops if you have to. Otherwise, you two have a good night, ya hear.”

“You too, Officer. Thank you,” Nero said as if he were the most polite person in the world.

“Thank you,” I said as the officer walked away.

When he was far enough out of sight, we laughed. It had been a crazy night. We both knew to get home before anything else happened.

Just like the drive to Nashville, the drive back to campus was a quiet one. Probably for different reasons. Driving there my mind swirled about whether Nero was serious and what it might feel like to watch Evan get what he deserved. Driving back I couldn’t stop thinking about seeing Nero turn into a wolf and then having his lips on me. And what did Evan mean when he talked about the way I smelled and it proving that I was different?

“Should I drop you off at your dorm?” Nero asked as we approached campus.

“It’s pretty late.”

“I reckin’.”

“Maybe we could talk about things tomorrow.”

“We could do that.”

“Maybe we can grab dinner together again. You know, without the six-hour drive and other stuff.”

“Without all of the other stuff? Because some of the stuff we did was pretty fun,” Nero said blushing.

I couldn’t deny that.

“We should talk tomorrow,” I said leaving it at that.

“Okay. Just let me know if I can do anything for you. I’m more than happy to lend a hand.”

“Or a few other body parts?” I asked blushing.

“Whatever you need,” he said dropping me off in front of my building.

“Tomorrow?” I asked not really wanting to leave.

“Tomorrow.”

I stared at him getting lost in his eyes. Perhaps I should have just opened my door and left, but instead, I leaned across the cabin, kissed him on the lips, and then hurried out.