Don't Whistle Past the Graveyard

Ch. Seventy

"Does he ever say more than two words at a time?" Shane muttered, and I looked up from where my head had been resting on his chest. I raised an eyebrow, and he clarified, "Foley."

I snorted, tracing the wing of an eagle, and said, "Well gee, Shane, I don't think you'd be so friendly if he was constantly glaring death daggers at you."

Shane huffed, and I continued, "Maybe he just doesn't have a whole lot to say. We're new. You're hostile. I wouldn't say more than two words either."

"I'm not that hostile," Shane said, sounding a little petulant. He rolled us over, propping himself up on an elbow as he looked down at me.

I smiled, the expression small. "Shane, I love you, but you're hostile."

He opened his mouth to retort, but I put a finger over his lips, making him narrow his eyes at me. With a tired sigh, I closed my eyes and said, "I'm not saying it's not understandable. But he's trying really hard. He has been for the past four days, and you know it."

Shane moved his head, making my hand fall away from his face. He wound a strand of my hair around a finger, and said, "It's kind of hard to be best friends with the guy when every time I turn around you're standing there with a bruise on your face."

He gently touched said bruise, and I scoffed, "Aaron didn't put it there." I raised my voice when he opened his mouth. "And don't say that he was with the guy who did. Don't do it, Shane. Not unless you want me mad."

Looking away from me, his mouth pressed into a thin line, he said, "I can't help how I feel about the guy. I can't stop being pissed about what happened."

"And he can't stop feeling guilty." Placing a hand on his cheek, I turned his face back to mine and said, "You're like two Marine peas in a pod, you're both just too blind to see it."

Shane's expression darkened, and I sighed. I pulled him down into me, until I almost couldn't breathe from his weight crushing into me. He buried his face in my hair, and I gently scratched my fingernails down his back. He made a small humming sound of pleasure and I said, "All I'm saying is maybe it wouldn't be a terrible thing for you to maybe talk to him. It might shed a little light."

"Talk to him about what?" he muttered.

I shrugged. "I don't know. The weather. Baseball. That one obscure movie only the two of you have seen."

He laughed and I smiled. When he looked up at me, I said, "You don't have to like him, Shane. You just need to give him a chance."

"That's easier said than done, honey," Shane sighed, but nodded.

I exhaled, closing my eyes when he pressed his lips to the hollow of my throat. He kissed up my neck to my jaw, and I murmured, "Maybe you can talk to him about how he's the only one quiet enough for Cas to take him hunting."

That suggestion was more to satisfy me own personal curiosity than anything.

It was one of the more baffling things that had happened while we'd been at the barn house. Cassidy had told one or all of us that she was going to see if she couldn't find some sign of deer. It seemed logical that we wouldn't have been the only thing enjoying the fruits from the nearby trees and fields. The only reason she told us was so we wouldn't get jumpy if she ended up getting a shot at something.

Well an hour or so later, Viktoria had asked where Aaron was. No one had known.

I'm ashamed to admit that it hadn't taken much for me to be suspicious of him not being here with us, or not telling us where he was going. I'm not sure I thought he was up to anything malicious per se, but I will own up to the fact that it made me very uneasy, the fact that he had just up and disappeared.