Amanda's Wolves(12)

Curiosity drove Amanda to haul herself off the couch. “I’m going to get ready to go. So nice chatting with you. What are you doing this evening?”

Someone knocked at the door as soon as the words left Amanda’s mouth. She strode over and opened it to find Jazmine out front. “Hey.” Amanda stepped back to let Mary’s friend in, the growing belief that Jaz was not heterosexual in the front of her mind.

She left the two of them in the living room and went to change clothes, deciding to put on her best jeans and a tight tank top. She tugged on her favorite short boots and grabbed a light cardigan before she left her room. The days were unseasonably warm this late in the year, but the evenings could get chilly.

Jazmine was sitting on the counter, and Mary was leaning into the fridge when Amanda emerged from the hall. “Try not to get so crazy that I have to pick you up from jail later tonight,” Amanda teased as she stepped into the kitchen. “It will be so hard to explain the alien invasion of your body to Mom and Dad tomorrow.”

Jaz pursed her lips and stared at Amanda with a confused expression.

“Here.” Mary handed Amanda a slip of paper. “The address. Stick it in your GPS. It’s easy to find.”

“Got it.” Amanda waved over her shoulder as she left.

Ten minutes later, she found herself gripping the steering wheel and pondering Mary’s vague explanation about how Laurie’s family lived. The idea of Laurie having two men was oddly titillating. Who would turn that down?

The scary crazy thing was those dreams Amanda had been having for weeks, ever since arriving in Montana in fact. How was it possible she would actually meet someone who lived with two men?

She had no idea where the concept had originated or when. All she knew was she hadn’t had more than a few hours’ sleep in a row in so long she was starting to nod off in the day. And even then, two hunky men leaked into her psyche.

She’d had the vision so many times she could actually describe both of them. They were huge, but one was even larger than the other and muscular. They had dark hair—though not as dark as her own nearly black locks—and dark eyes.

At first she hadn’t thought much about it. Fantasy. But then each dream progressed until her men had their hands all over her body. And waking up to find her hand inside her panties rubbing herself in her sleep was disconcerting to say the least. Who did that? Subconsciously.

She hadn’t told anyone. Hell, who would she tell? Mary?

She laughed out loud in the silent car at the visual. Mary would probably have a coronary. Then again, maybe not. Mary was the same woman who nonchalantly informed Amanda that her friends lived in groups of three with two men.

What irony.

»»•««

Caleb Parker licked his lips and fidgeted in his seat across from Pastor Edmund. Why the hell had he bothered to tell his parents about the woman being hired by the college to study the effects of racism on continued education?

He was twenty, for God’s sake. He needed to grow a set of balls and stop finding himself repeatedly in a position of town nark.

He should have learned his lesson last year when Laurie Hamilton moved to town and hooked up with Zachary Masters and Corbin Archers. Who cared? But no. He had to go and run his big mouth, bringing all sorts of trouble to those people’s doorstep.

And here he was again.

Same scenario. Different players.

Sitting in Pastor Edmund’s office at the Church on the Hill, wishing he were anywhere but there.

Even the paint made him nauseous. The walls were a pale lime green. The furniture was new and made with the finest local wood. Caleb had no idea what type, but he had heard his parents complaining about how much it must have cost and where their hard-earned money was going with the tithe. Apparently, Pastor Edmund had commissioned the desk and bookshelves from a local craftsman.

“Your mother says the junior college is hiring a woman to put an end to segregation in this area.” Pastor Edmund furrowed his brow. In fact, as far as Caleb could remember, the man’s wrinkled brow had become one of his permanent facial features.

Caleb cringed at Pastor Edmund’s use of the term segregation as though it were intended and legal. “Yeah. It would seem that way.” Caleb was currently taking Anthropology at the college. His professor, Dr. Burnhart, had spoken excitedly for weeks about the grant she’d received. In fact, she had also told the class she would be hiring some of them to help with research.

What Caleb should have done was apply for a position. It would look good on his résumé. Instead, he sat in Pastor Edmund’s office spewing hatred. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He wasn’t spewing anything. He was simply the messenger. But the position was one he wished he hadn’t taken on.