Shaney’s need to stay with the burly man competed with his need to help Todd. But clearly, Todd needed him. “Seven a.m. tomorrow?”
Hudson seemed to contemplate something as his blue eyes perused Shaney’s face. The depth of that stare stripped Shaney bare and bore straight into him. Unexpectedly, Hudson’s large, calloused palms rubbed at the bare skin of Shaney’s arms. The contrasting warmth of Hudson’s palms on his chilled skin sent a shudder racing through Shaney’s frame. Shaney called up every ounce of fortitude he possessed to stop from falling against the massive man’s chest and clinging to him.
“Are you cold? You’re shaking,” Hudson said in that gravelly whisper that curled Shaney’s toes.
Power of speech fled as Shaney pictured laying kisses and nibbling along Hudson’s hard, sexy, stubbled jaw, running his tongue over Hudson’s dimples, tasting those seductive lips. Then, all rational thought fled as Hudson’s raised a thumb and, in the most intimate gesture ever in Shaney’s short span of relationships, he deliberately ran the pad of his thumb along Shaney’s bottom lip. Pre-cum leaked into Shaney’s boxers. Did Todd’s words about his faulty gaydar have some truth to them?
Before Shaney’s brain caught up with his cock, Hudson dropped his hands and stepped back. Shuttered eyes and an austere, detached expression signaled that the cold, distant Hudson was back.
“You gonna to be okay? Todd seemed pretty upset,” Hudson asked.
Shaney sighed, baffled by Hudson’s personality swap. “Yeah. He gets worked up sometimes if something’s bothering him.” That was a lie. Actually, the total opposite was true with Todd, which freaked Shaney out as well.
Hudson pursed his lips, and then nodded. “Seven a.m.” He turned and went back into the barn.
* * * *
As Shaney rounded the house and headed toward the driveway, he spotted Todd pacing by his car. His shoulders hunched up over his ears, his gaze cast to the ground, fists clenched at his sides. The sight of his usually calm-in-the-face-of-disaster best friend halted Shaney in his tracks. Oh, Jesus, what if something really bad had happened? What if his mom…? Or one of his sisters…?
Shaney ran to Todd, who jumped when Shaney touched his shoulder. Without hesitation, Todd stated gravely, “We have to go,” and turned to get into his car.
“Todd, what’s going on? Did something bad happen? My mom…”
“What?” The confusion was apparent as Todd shook his head. “No. No. I mean, yeah, something bad happened, but not to your mom. No one got hurt.” He huffed as he got into the car. “Not yet anyway.”
Shaney closed his eyes, breathing deep to calm his racing pulse. Todd started the car and waved impatiently for Shaney to get in. Shaney obeyed, settling into the seat and pulling on his seat belt. Todd didn’t speak as he sped down the driveway and then took a left instead of the right back to town.
“Where are we going?”
“Just for a ride so we can talk,” Todd stated matter-of-factly as his hands clenched the steering wheel.
“Todd, what’s going on? You’re really freaking me out.” And damn if his hands weren’t starting to shake again.
Todd rubbed his palm on his thigh. “Fuck, Shaney. This is bad.”
“I got that part. Tell me what’s going on,” he demanded, the tremors filling his body yet again, his gut knotting. He couldn’t deal with that right now.
Todd licked at his lips. “That cabin, the symbols...I told you they were powerful. Way more complex and powerful than anything I’ve seen.”
“What about them?” Shaney rubbed at his twisting gut. Focus.
“I showed them to a guy I know from the community.”
“From Tupper Lake?”
“No. The occult community. He’s been mentoring me for the past year. Has shown me shit I can’t find in any books. Really knows what he’s talking about. I showed him the pictures from the camp, told him what happened, and...” Todd paused. His mouth continued to move silently, as if searching for the right words.
What wasn’t he saying? “And?” Shaney prodded, trying desperately to ignore the crawling under his skin.
“And what happened there, to you…”
“Spit it out, Todd.” With the continued silence, Shaney raised his voice. “What, Todd?” Shaney’s voice shook as the vibrations in his body grew.
“When you stood in that circle, it set off a reaction. Something entered your body.”
Shaney scowled. “Not that possession shit again. You know, I’m really getting tired of you trying to exorcise crap from me. What is it this time, an evil spirit?”