Peace (21 page)

BOOK: Peace

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Carney twisted to face Ivan, his dark green eyes so earnest. “It’s my birthday, and they told me I should go out and celebrate. It’s the weirdest thing. My father handed me some money and said I was old enough to go out and have fun. My cousin was supposed to meet me here, but I should’ve known he wouldn’t show.”

Ivan didn’t like the sound of that. It was as though Carney wasn’t important to anyone. What family sent their kid out to celebrate his birthday on his own? That was horrible. Hell, Ivan’s birthday was always a huge, three-day celebration with the herd going out to the Cleveland National Forest to run among the trees. They’d camp out and stay out of sight of the humans when they were shifted.

“Well, how about I take you to dinner for your birthday? I know we just met, but I really am a nice guy.” He motioned to Wilma. “You can ask Wilma. She’s known me most of my life.”

“I don’t want your pity. I’m good just sitting here and watching people.”

Carney did seem happy to just stay where he was, but Ivan found himself wanting to take Carney out and show him a good time. Treat him like a king instead of someone whose family couldn’t be bothered with.

“I don’t pity you, Carney. I think you and I might have a chance to be friends, and I’d like to get to know you.” Leaning close to him, Ivan brushed a quick kiss over Carney’s cheek. “Maybe I want to be the guy who takes you on your first date.”

“How do you know I’m even into guys? Maybe I like girls.” He winked.

“You’re right. I don’t know if you like boys or girls. And you might not know either, considering you’ve never dated anyone. We could go out as friends and you can work on deciding.”

Carney squeezed Ivan’s leg. “I don’t need to decide. I might not have any experience, but I’m pretty sure I’m a six on the Kinsey scale.”

“Listen to you. Your family must be pretty intelligent to homeschool their kids on the Kinsey scale and shit like that.” Ivan was impressed.

“Oh, Dad just taught us the basics.” Carney shrugged. “I wanted to know everything, so I went to the library and checked out every book they’d let me. I know a little bit about a lot of different things.”

Nodding, Ivan said, “I think that’s a good way to be. Rather than so focused on one thing that you can’t see anything else.”

“What do you do?” Carney shifted closer to Ivan as though he could feel the pull between them as well.

“I work as a translator. English to Russian. Russian to English. I get a lot of jobs over the internet, and it pays the bills.” Ivan sipped his beer. “I just finished a large project that I’d been working on for a couple weeks. Needed to get out of the house.”

“That sounds like an awesome job. I can speak French fluently, but that’s the only foreign language I know.” Carney’s stomach growled, causing them both to chuckle. “Sorry. I didn’t want to stick around to eat, in case they changed their minds.”

Ivan slid out from the booth then stood, holding out his hand to Carney. “Then I think I should take you out for your birthday before you starve to death.”

Carney studied him for a minute before taking his hand. “I’d like to talk to Wilma really quick before I make a decision.”

“Sounds good to me.” He was glad Carney wasn’t just going to walk out of the bar with him. Ivan wasn’t a psycho, but Carney didn’t know that.

He led the younger man up to the bar. “Hey Wilma, can you tell Carney that I’m a good guy?”

Wilma shot him an amused glance. “Now why would I want to lie to the kid like that?”

Carney smiled. “Ivan wants to take me to dinner. I want to make sure he’s not going to kill me and toss my body in a dumpster.”

She motioned for Carney to move closer. When he did, she patted him on the cheek. “Don’t worry, honey. He won’t hurt you. Ivan’s one of the good guys. Nothing like some of those wolves that come in here late at night.”

Ivan felt his eyes widen. Would Carney think she was joking, or did he really know about paranormals? Was that why he liked Unconventional so much?

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About the Author

There is beauty in every kind of love, so why not live a life without boundaries? Experiencing everything the world offers fascinates T.A. and writing about the things that make each of us unique is how she shares those insights. When not writing, T.A.’s watching movies, reading and living life to the fullest

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T.A. Chase loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at
http://www.pride-publishing.com
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