Page 31 of Moody as a Minotaur

Did I have antacids in my desk drawer?

No. I couldn’t get them now. I needed to get through this first. Once I was sure I was in control again, I knew I had to respond to him.

“Oh?” Not much of a response, but it was all I couldmanage. I’d only spoken one syllable, and my voice still cracked over it.

He rubbed his forehead harder. “This is going to sound so ridiculous.”

“Hey. Don’t say that.”

“Nana called me late a couple of nights ago. I was already asleep when she called, and I was groggy, and I said things I shouldn’t have.”

I lifted my eyebrows and waited for him to continue.

“I said that sometimes I got a weird feeling, particularly when I was at the pub.” He grimaced. “I feel like such an ass repeating that. And, please, don’t think this means I don’t like it here. I love Willow Lake. I feel like destiny brought me here. Which is all very woo-woo and stuff, but I can’t think of a different way of saying it.” He glanced at me. “Did I ever tell you how I ended up here?”

His gaze caught on mine. His eyes were so damn beautiful when he was looking at me like that. I wanted to keep staring into his blue eyes, but that wasn’t why he was here. I shook my head.

“Uh, no. I don’t think so.” What a lie. I remembered everything he’d ever told me, and I knew for a fact he’d never mentioned this before.

“It was like I saw the real estate listing and knew it was meant to be mine. That I belonged here. It felt like magic, like a fairy godmother had intervened to bring me here. That’s weird, I know…” He averted his eyes.

I wanted to reach over and touch him, to reassure him that he did belong.

I didn’t move because I sensed he was about to say “but” and I really needed to know what his concerns were.

“But,” he whispered, confirming my thoughts, “sometimes I get a weird feeling, like I said. And it is probably just that, even after living here for a few years, I’m comparatively new to town, and small towns can be quirky about newcomers. But the thing is… I said something to Nana the other night that piqued her interest and now she’s here. And she decided to bring Fin and his friends because they have, in her opinion, useful surveillance equipment. And she’s going off spying on people in the middle of the night…” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “And… I don’t know what to do. I can’t lock her in my apartment. And Fin and his friends are snooping around too. It’s out of control.”

I sucked in a shaky breath and let it out slowly as I processed what he was saying. Okay. We could salvage this. It might not be as bad as I’d originally thought. The hunters might not know anything.

“I know there are secrets here, and I know I’m an outsider,” Parker said in a soft, dejected tone that nearly broke my heart. “I’ve never really had friends who trusted me with their secrets. Not really. Not the important ones. So, it isn’t like I’d expect to suddenly be worthy or whatever…” He flapped his hand in the air as if his words were on a whiteboard and he was wiping them away. “You don’t have to tell me anything, obviously. But Nana is relentless, and Fin’s friends seem really nosy, and they are all here because of what I said. I want to fix this. And I want you to know I’m sorry. But also…” His words trailed off.

“What?”

“And that I really hope you aren’t running drugs or have a BDSM club around here that I don’t know about.” He blurted out the words so quickly they merged.

“Huh?”

“My grandmother…” Parker started. “You know what? Never mind about that.” He winced.

“Just tell me,” I encouraged.

“Please tell me Willow Lake isn’t a Mafia headquarters and that Van isn’t a crooked cop.” He squirmed. “Those were my questions, but do I need to know the answers? No. Because I’d probably have to be initiated, or whatever Mafia types do to new recruits, and I’m too old for that kind of work. I’d be a terrible mob enforcer.”

“There are no drugs. There is no Mafia.”

Although, maybe I shouldn’t protest so much. If the paranormal investigators thought we were criminals, they might not notice the supernatural activities. But I hated that Parker had such horrible suspicions about the community. Willow Lake was magical. In a world where magic was slowly dying, Willow Lake was a beacon of hope.

And, truthfully, I didn’t want Parker to think badly of me either.

“Okay.” Parker winked at me in an exaggerated way. He attempted a smile, but it wasn’t one of the easy ones he usually cast in my direction.

“No, seriously…”

Parker was watching me closely now, as if I held all the answers.

My heart thudded hard in my chest. If I ever ran a marathon, I doubted it would beat as hard or as fast as it was now. I tried to swallow, but my mouth was too dry. I wiped my shaky hands on my pants.

Then the strangest thought hit me.