Page 38 of Last Call at the Doghouse

The two women at the bar, different as they were, had both stood beside her, cried with her, and cursed with her. She owed them the truth. “That’s not all.” Might as well go all the way. It had to happen sooner or later. Armi looked at a curious Stella. “Tyler is a werewolf. All the Milhouse brothers are.”

“That can’t be…” Nothing shocked Stella, except maybe news like this.

“It’s true. I wish it wasn’t.” Eventually they’d get the full explanation about Mystic Springs, the barrier that had fallen, and the trickle of magic seeping out into the world. For now, she kept it simple. “Duncan can shift into a big dog, so it’s not like I’ve gotten off scot-free.”

Stella took a step back. “I’ve seen this huge dog hanging around.”

“That’s him. I’ve been calling him Goliath.”

Mary sat on the nearest stool, seemingly deflated, showing her years in a way she normally did not. “So a werewolf, a man who turns into a dog, and a wizard who likes to drug women. I shouldn’t believe you.”

“But you do,” Armi said kindly.

For a few long seconds Mary looked this way and that, avoiding making eye contact with either of her friends. Was she afraid of what she’d see in their eyes, or of what they might see in hers?

“I don’t know when he could’ve slipped anything into my tea, but after he left I kept thinking about him. For days I looked for him around every corner, thought about him all the time, wondered where he was and if he was thinking of me at all, like I was a thirteen-year-old girl smitten for the first time. I dreamed about him,” she added in a whisper. Mary finally met Armi’s gaze. “When he showed up at my door…” Tears filled her eyes. “I wanted him so bad that I couldn’t help myself. He’d been in the room thirty seconds before I was stripping off my clothes. The sex was great, unlike anything I’d ever even imagined, but it was more than that. I… loved him, so deeply. After, when he was gone, I felt guilty and alone. More alone than ever.”

Armi hugged her friend. “I’m so sorry.”

“I haven’t… not since Danny…” Mary stifled a sob. “This doesn’t mean I didn’t love Danny, it doesn’t. Sonny is just different. Now he shows up at my door, we make love, he leaves, and I bawl my eyes out because all I want is for him to come back.”

“Why did he ask you to keep this to yourself?” Stella asked. “The asshole had to know he’d get caught.”

Mary sighed. “I wanted to tell both of you, I did. But every time we were together, Sonny told me to keep our relationship secret for now. He didn’t think y’all would understand. He also spun the secrecy as romantic. Something just for us, he said. The two of us against the world.”

Armi snorted.

“I wanted to tell you, I decided that I had to tell you. It didn’t feel right not to. But after that you were never here. You were gone more often than not.”

They’d heard enough shocking news for one night. Sorry, I was distracted trying to build an army to fight evil would have to wait for another time.

Stella held her glass of whisky high. “Men. Screw ‘em all.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Armi said.

“Werewolf, huh?” Stella added. “I shouldn’t believe it, but it makes a weird kind of sense. So does Duncan as a dog.”

The truth still hurt. It hurt more than she was willing to admit. She really had thought Duncan was different. She’d quickly developed feelings for him. She wouldn’t call it love, but there had been something powerful. If only he’d told her the truth. If only he’d trusted her, the way he insisted she trust him. She could’ve told Lovell to take a hike if she’d known. She wouldn’t have felt blindsided, betrayed… alone.

“Christmas is right around the corner,” Armi said, “and I already know what I want.”

“Murder is illegal, but maybe we could make it look like an accident?” Stella said.

“Armi would never!” Mary said. “Let’s see…” She leaned on the bar. “I’m thinking something practical.”

“Yep,” Armi said. “Definitely practical.”

Mary turned and looked at the room before her. It looked the way it always did at the end of the evening. “I don’t think I can afford to hire you a full-time maid.”

“I’d chip in for that,” Armi said, as Stella nodded in agreement. “But that’s not it.”

Her friends looked at her. Armi lifted her glass high. She couldn’t confess this to anyone else, couldn’t say these words to just anyone. Goodness only knows she couldn’t ask her kids for what she wanted.

“I need a vibrator.”

Because no way was Mitch Duncan or any other man getting that close to her ever again.

Her friends both laughed. Heaven above, she loved them. They’d saved her again. It was Stella who said, “See if you can find a three-pack!”