"Guess so. You?"
"I just ate."
Nash smirked. "That's what I like to hear." He kissed my nose before jumping from the bed and pulling on some pants. "Want anything? The guys are still out there." He went silent and angled his head to the side. "They're wondering if you like pickles."
"You do have super hearing!" My mouth dropped open as I thought about all the things he probably overheard me doing. Mostly, I worried he listened to me going to the bathroom. "Pee sounds are private!"
Nash laughed and smacked my ass playfully. "No one here wants to listen to that. You're safe."
He'd meant it playfully, but I couldn't help but ponder. Was I finally safe? Had I found the place I could stay? The only reason I had for wanting to believe I wasn't was because I knew how much more it would hurt when it turned out the curse was stronger than the Walkers.
***
Since it was night by the time we got up from our naps, and definitely night once we'd finished eating dinner with the others, I spent the night. The next morning, everyone acted as if my presence in the Walker home was a normal occurrence and not an odd by-product from yesterday's drama.
I was glad to see Riley, both at dinner and breakfast. His skin didn't have a mark on it, and I couldn't help the pride I felt. Yeah, it had hurt, but if the trade-off was having Riley healed, the pain was worth it. Nash and I would just have to disagree there.
Nash had something to do with Wyatt at his bar, fixing a leaky pipe or something, and I had my own work to do. I didn't want Nash thinking I was into him for his money.
Though I wasn't even sure if Nash had money. I assumed from the house and how they all lived.
Nash didn't want us to stray too far away from each other, so he went with me to my apartment, where I picked up my computer. Then he dropped me off at Rise and Grind before heading across the street to the Greasy Stump. I'd have to ask Wyatt how he came up with that name one of these days.
There it was again. Me, making plans for the undetermined future.
I cracked open my laptop, appreciating the familiar hum before my Battlestar Galactica emblem screensaver popped up. I smiled. Normally, the characters I watched and read about had lives so much more exciting than my own. But here I was, healing wolf-men. Shifters. I hadn't wanted to nerd out too hardcore in front of everyone, but I had only about a billion questions for each of them.
I was still smiling when I opened GeekGab, finding several notifications for pings and PMs. One was from Reg, and one was from Bun, and the rest were from Chuck. I scanned the first few lines of each message. My smile dropped as his obviously panicked tone increased.
ChuckShurley: Where have you been? Neither of the girls have seen you.
ChuckShurley: Should I call the police where you are? Phin? Answer me please.
ChuckShurley: You've been acting really strange, Phineas. I'm worried. Please message me.
I was acting weird? This was a level of friendship I hadn't seen from Chuck yet, and I didn't like it. When Nash was clingy, it was silly and sort of hot, but just the virtual version from Chuck was enough to make my skin crawl. I began to type out a reply. Been really busy, nothing to worry about… Did I want to reassure him? Maybe it would be better to not answer his questions about where I was and address the creepiness factor. But we'd been chatting for years, I wasn't going to let our friendship go down the drain because of a few weird messages. I deleted what I wrote, deciding to ask Bun and Reg about it instead.
"Phin, there you are." Mrs. Boxer was the last person I expected to walk toward me, but she was, along with another old woman in a thick brown coat, her silver hair pulled back in a braid. "You weren't home last night."
I closed my laptop, letting my virtual problems stay where they belonged. "Mrs. Boxer, hi. Are you okay? You're right, I wasn't home last night. Did you need me?" When had I become so very popular?
"Oh no, just keeping an eye on you. Us single people have to stick together." She gestured to her friend. "This is Phineas Peters, the nice young man I was telling you about."
I was overjoyed to see that Mrs. Boxer did in fact have friends that weren't her children. That was one less thing I could worry about. The woman with him was a little odd, though. She hadn't spoken a word, but she stared at me like she was peering into my skull.
"You might actually know my new friends, Mrs. Boxer. Remember Nash Walker?"
The other woman pulled out one of the chairs at my table and sat down.
"Uh, please, sit…" I pulled the other chair out for Mrs. Boxer.
"Oh, I know Nash Walker," Mrs. Boxer said with a blush. That man's charm knew no bounds. "This is his great-grandmother."
Though I hadn't taken a drink, I began to cough like I had and it had gone down the wrong tube.
"Nana Walker," the other woman said, sticking out her hand.
I shook it, surprised by the firmness with which she gripped my fingers. "Hi, Mrs… Ms…?"
"Nana is fine, child."
"Nana." I smiled. I could see where Nash got some of his brashness. But the family I'd heard of from Nash hadn't sounded like great people. Grandmother included?
"I was wondering who had my great-grandson's head in the clouds." She looked at me for a long moment. "I like you."
She didn't seem like a bad person. I remembered what Nash had said about his Nana giving them the land to live on, and my face relaxed. This was a good Walker. "Thank you. I… like you too."
"You don't have to say it back," she laughed. "Where is my great-grandson right now? I can't imagine he would let you stray very far away."
That should have made me more uncomfortable than it did. She spoke with an intimate knowledge of her great-grandson and me. Coming from her lips, it sounded… almost expected. Was she a wolf too? I couldn't imagine the woman in front of me dropping to four legs, but she would have to be, wouldn't she? Maybe shifterism was hereditary, and it skipped a generation. Wait, was shifterism a rude term? I pressed my lips together, afraid I'd suddenly say the word on accident now that it was on my mind.
"What are you two up to today?" I asked, paying careful attention to each letter as I formed it.
"Just going for a stroll," Mrs. Boxer replied. "Nana makes sure I get out of the house at least once a week."
That made me happier than I thought it would.
"You've got a dark cloud over you," Nana said.
That made me less happy.
"I do?"
She peered at me some more. "It follows you, like a shadow. You stick to my Nash. He'll take care of you." She reached out and grabbed my hand, holding my fingers as tightly as she had before. "You're important to him. To them all."
Had someone told her what I'd done for Riley? That was the only reason I could think of for her cryptic message. Unless… she could sense my curse? That would definitely be like a dark shadow. And it did follow me. I licked my lips. It would have been so easy to pacify her, making promises I wasn't sure I could keep, but for some reason, I felt like she would know if I wasn't completely honest. "I'll try. I like being around him."
"Don't try, son. Do." Nana stood, and Mrs. Boxer copied her. "We better be on our way. Don't want our muscles cooling down. Need to keep our slim figures."