Page 457 of His Hungry Wolf

I eased across the bench seat and slowly pulled him into my arms. He came without resistance. He wanted to be there. It gave me a glimmer of hope.

“Lou, whatever it is, you can tell me. I think, maybe, you’re trying to protect me. Thank you for that. But, if there’s one thing I know, it’s that the two of us work better when we’re together. Whatever it is, we can figure it out together.”

Lou listened and sniffled. I pushed my fingers into his hair and scratched his scalp. He chuckled.

“Now you’re just not playing fair,” he said with a smile.

“I play to win,” I joked. “You can tell me, Lou. I promise we’ll figure it out together.”

Lou wiped his face on my shirt. I don’t know why, but I liked it. It felt intimate.

“He threatened to hurt you,” he said with his cheek on my chest.

“Who? Your brother?”

“No. Sey.”

“He… What? How?”

“His family has a lot of friends in the Tennessee state office. He said you have a state grant for your tuition. He said he could take it away.”

“Sey did?” I asked confused.

“Yeah,” he said pulling away and looking into my eyes. “And he could. He said it would be easy for him.”

My mind swirled. Yeah, Sey was right. My entire tuition was being paid for by a grant from the state. If I lost that, it would hurt.

“If he took that away, then I would apply for a federal grant. Or maybe I’d get a loan. That’s how most people pay for college, right? I could do that. It’s not a big deal.”

“That’s not all he said,” Lou admitted disappointed.

Despite what I said, losing my grant would be a big deal. It would throw my life into a mess that it would take me all summer to work my way out of. The thought that there could be more sent a chill down my spine.

“Oh? What else did he say?”

“He said he would reject your petition to get your town incorporated.”

“He can’t do that.”

“He can. I didn’t even have to tell him about the petition. He knew. He said he saw your name on it.”

“He can’t do that,” I said seeing my future slip away from me.

“That’s not all.”

Hot prickles washed across my face.

“What else did he say?” I asked hesitantly.

“He said that he could get the government to build a highway through Snow Tip Falls. He could destroy your town. That’s why I left. I couldn’t let him do that to you, not because of me. I wouldn’t let you risk it.”

I couldn’t believe it. I knew Sey. We weren’t friends but we were teammates. How could he consider doing such a thing?

“Does he love you that much?” I asked grasping for answers.

“No. I don’t know if he cares about me at all. He wants to merge our families and to have me on his arm. He doesn’t love me.”

“I don’t understand this.”