“Don’t say that.” His hands clenched onto my face. “Never, ever say that.” And then he kissed me. He moved in slowly, giving me a million opportunities to stop him, yet it still shocked me when I felt his lips against mine. These lips were completely unlike the ones last night. They were hesitant and gentle, coaxing mine to respond. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to be lost in the sensation, in the warmth spreading through my body.

I don’t know who broke away first. Maybe Charlie pulled back to catch his breath, or perhaps my consciousness sent a message to my body before it screamed awareness in my brain. All I know is the moment his lips left mine, the spell was broken. I didn’t even say anything. I just pushed him away and left. No crying. No running. No drama. I simply got up, walked into the living room, and nodded an acknowledgement to the guy I vaguely recognized from my afternoon shooting sessions at Randy’s. Then I promptly walked to the nearest bush and purged the entire contents of my stomach.

For the record, Long Island Iced Teas taste even worse the second time they touch your taste buds.

Once I could move again I had to face my next obstacle: Transportation. The keys were probably sitting in the ignition of Charlie’s truck since no one would ever even think about stealing a rusted old Ford pickup truck, but taking it would have been a bit harsh. I could’ve called for a ride, but as far as I knew my cellphone was still sitting in McGuire’s. Since phone booths only exist in old movies and there appeared to be no stores in sight, I was screwed.

I considered turning around, but couldn’t force myself to go back into the apartment.

I had been walking about fifteen minutes towards the general direction of home when a maroon grandma-style car slowed beside me.

“Scout? Is that you?” Joi asked. I started to make some crack about being Scout’s long lost evil twin, but stopped myself since she might actually believe me. “Why are you walking down the street in that little fancy dress?”

I kept trudging along. “It’s called the Walk of Shame.”

“Is that a Baptist thing?” came the voice from the car as it kept pace with me.

“Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“Of course. Of course I’m kidding.” A pause. “Was it funny?”

I stopped walking and shielded my eyes against the glare of the early morning sun.

“Don’t give me that look. Geez, how am I supposed to know? I’m Catholic, remember?”

“You’ve heard of a Walk of Shame before, right?”

“I do read and watch television, Scout.” She leaned across the passenger’s seat, making no attempt to disguise her critical perusal of my face. “You look awfully pale. Like, paler than normal. Are you okay? Do you need a ride?”

I didn’t hesitate before pulling open the passenger’s door and crawling into the wonderfully air conditioned car. The hem of my dress rose to an inappropriate level, but I didn’t waste the energy to fix it since Joi had a pair of female legs of her very own to look at if she so desired.

Joi remained silent for a record breaking thirty seconds.

“So, who did you hook up with?”

I threw a hand over my closed eyes, but the sun still managed to somehow stab through to my brain. “I didn’t hook up with anyone.” Well, Charlie kinda, but she didn’t need to know that. “My Walk of Shame was a variation on the original.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“Absolutely not.”

Three whole breaths of silence.

“You’re moving around really good. I guess your stomach is better.”

“Yep.”

Four breaths of silence.

“John and I are back together. Did you hear?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Oh yeah. That whole break-up thing was a total misunderstanding. He’s like the sweetest guy ever. He’s always sending me the sweetest text messages and leaving the sweetest notes on my Facebook wall and even bought me some of the sweetest looking daisies the other day for absolutely no reason at all.”

“Sweet.”

“I know, right? And you know what he’s started doing?”

“Something really, really sweet?”

“Totally sweet. He’s been coming to The Farmhouse and hanging out while I work every shift. Like, the whole time. Even when I have to open, he is waiting at the door when it’s unlocked at five in the morning.”

“That’s not sweet, Joi. It’s crazy.” Who wakes up at five in the morning? “Sweetie, I think we need to have a talk about obsessive behavior and establishing boundaries in a relationship.”

“It’s not like that.” I opened one eye and immediately regretted it. Why couldn’t I have a hangover on a cloudy day? “Stop looking at me like that,” she said. “I’m not an idiot, you know. He’s there because of this guy who keeps coming in and wigging me out. My manager thinks I’m overreacting, and I can’t afford to quit, so John has been playing bodyguard.”

I still wasn’t sold on John’s nobility, but… “You have a creeper harassing you at work and your manager won’t do anything about it?”

“He doesn’t actually do anything, he’s just…” Joi turned the car off the main highway. “He’s like a Disney villain. He’s got this Rasputin accent, his face is all mangled, and he does this whole evil leering thing that gives me goosebumps, and not the good kind.”

I felt as if I’d been stabbed in the gut with an icicle. “Rasputin accent? Like Russian?”

“Is there a non-Russian Rasputin?”

“And his face, is there a scar that runs from here to here?” I asked, tracing a line from my temple to the corner of my mouth.

“So you’ve seen him too? He’s got a bad aura or something, right?”

“Or something.” I could still see the man who approached me after Alex’s funeral. Three minutes. That’s how long Stefan stood in front of me, yet he left a lasting impression, and not just because he suggested that Alex wasn’t who I thought he was. No, there was something about him - maybe that aura Joi was talking about - that made me want to turn tail and run. “Joi, do you know what he’s doing in Timber?”

“Besides scaring the bejesus out of me? Not really. He comes in everyday, sometimes twice a day. If he’s alone, he just sits there staring at everyone as if he’s plotting their death. But most of the time there are three other guys with him. One of them is kinda cute, but they stay there forever.” The car stopped in front of my house. “It used to really bother me, but now John is always there to protect me because he’s the bestest boyfriend ever.”