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Trying to be sensitive to Kip’s request, Rogue went around the edge of town, which was a lot longer since Kip’s house was almost on the other side of Mystic Pines. He wasn’t entirely sure why he was going out of his way considering Kip didn’t seem to like him very much.
But then there was that brief moment when Rogue had kissed those lush lips. No doubt Kip had been surprised by the move; so had Rogue if truth be told, but there had been an instant when he felt Kip kiss him back. Nothing much, since it hadn’t lasted long, but Rogue swore he felt it.
Then again, it could have just been wishful thinking. Rogue hadn’t had many dates and even fewer boyfriends. But not once when he’d spent the night with any of them did he feel the kind of peace he had holding Kip. The problem was, Rogue wasn’t sure if that was, again, nothing more than fanciful thinking, or pure exhaustion on his part.
When it came to Kip, nothing about the two of them meshed. That said, Rogue found himself enamored of the man. From the first moment they’d met, Kip had been full of passion. Sure, it had been against Rogue, then again, Rogue had been the one to antagonize him from the start, but it still had entranced him as no other man ever had.
If only there was a way to know if what he felt could ever be reciprocated. Kip was an enigma. One that Rogue wanted to discover every aspect to get to the heart of the man. For he was sure he’d seen that heart more than once or twice, but something, or possibly, someone, had hurt Kip enough to make him hide the parts of him that were real behind the same façade he’d used for those ridiculous brochures.
If only he could figure out a way to get to that part...
Woof.
Rogue glanced to the right and saw Sammy, Reese’s husky, come bounding over to him, tail wagging and a happy grin on his face. It always stunned him how many expressions Sammy had. Rogue had never been one to own a pet, not that he minded them, but with his constant traveling, he thought it cruel to either leave the animal behind with someone else, or take the pet with him in the freezing Alaskan temperatures.
Not that it was always cold, but their summer wasn’t exactly long. The pets he’d been around never showed a tenth of the expressions Sammy could convey. It was as if the dog could speak with nothing more than a sideways glance or that grin that always seemed to be plastered on his face.
“Good morning, Sammy,” he said when the dog came right up to him and landed his front paws on Rogue’s chest. He wasn’t quite as tall standing on two feet as Rogue, but it didn’t stop Sammy from licking his face in happy kisses.
Laughing, Rogue said, “It’s nice to see you too, Sammy.”
“Sammy, what are the rules about jumping on people,” Reese called out as if Sammy understood every word he said. Knowing Sammy, he probably did.
To prove that, Sammy did hop down but when Reese came up to him, he did the same to Reese, although when he was giving Reese kisses, Sammy’s whole body seemed to shake with excitement, not just his tail. It was obvious Sammy loved Reese.
Reese rolled his eyes and laughed as he shoved Sammy down to all fours. Then he stood over the dog and tilted his head as if he were about to lecture him. Sammy, clearly not wanting to hear it, turned back to Rogue and leap back up on him.
Rogue couldn’t help it as he laughed. Sammy was one of those animals who had the ability to make the sourest person smile. Maybe he should bring him home for Kip. If he could get Kip to laugh around him, Rogue might have a chance to show the man he wasn’t as bad as Kip made him out to be.
Reese let out a long sigh. “You are hopeless.”
Sammy turned his head to Reese, who was just close enough for Sammy to lick before he got down off of Rogue.
“You know, I swear he disobeys me just to prove that he makes the rules,” Reese said. “Just a few days ago, Spencer told Sammy he couldn’t come with him to the hotel because the construction crew would be there and he didn’t want to risk Sammy getting hurt by stepping on something sharp.”
Sammy sat on his haunches and let out a snort that Rogue would swear meant, ‘Yeah, right.’
Reese pointed at him. “See? He’s even telling you he didn’t listen. Once Spencer left, Sammy went out the doggie door to the back yard, pulled his toy box to the fence, and climbed over it. The next thing I know, Spencer called me to tell me to come get Sammy.
“When I got there, Spencer was lecturing Sammy, who not only looked extremely proud of himself, but I swear was lifting each paw as if to show Spencer he wasn’t hurt.” And damn if Sammy didn’t sit there preening as Reese talked about it.
“He even came over to me and showed me each of his paws.” Reese shook his head. “I swear, Sammy is smarter than all of us.”
“How is he with helping a stubborn man see I’m not a terrible person just because I hunt?” Rogue had no clue why he said that. He hadn’t planned to. It had just come out. That was the thing since meeting Kip, Rogue was doing and saying things when he normally had been a much more reserved person.
Reese’s eyebrows lifted nearly to his hairline in surprise. But Sammy? Sammy cocked his head and damn if the grin that reminded Rogue of pure mischief appeared.
“I take it you and Kip are still fighting?” Reese said.
That was an understatement. “He called me a killer.” Again, the words seemed to just slip out. Rogue must have been more frustrated with how Kip viewed him than he’d thought.
“I wish I could help, but to be honest, I don’t know Kip all that well.” Reese hadn’t lived in Mystic Pines for long, although it had been enough time to meet and marry Spencer, who was one of Kip’s best friends. “Spencer told me that Kip was closer to him and Cass, than Axom and Anook. Kip has never really been able to accept that the other two hunt. Spencer knows how, he just didn’t do it very often, so Kip didn’t know.”
Then Reese said the one thing Rogue nor Kip had thought of when they’d decided Rogue should sneak into the man’s house and get him clothes. “By the way, no one has seen Kip since yesterday morning. Anook and Axom are getting ready to go search for him. I don’t suppose you’ve seen Kip today, have you?”
Of course, Kip’s friends would have been worried when he hadn’t come home. This was Mystic Pines, population maybe fifty with the recent newest residents. More than half either weren’t gay, or were in a relationship. With few options for hooking up for a night it would have alarmed Kip’s friends when he hadn’t come home.
“Yeah, he, uhm, well, I found him out in the woods yesterday and had to help him home,” Rogue said, hoping to keep it vague.
Apparently, that hadn’t been the right thing to say. “Is he hurt? Do we need to get him to the hospital?” Reese said rapidly.
“No. He had some hypothermia but he’s fine. It’s just his clothes weren’t salvageable and so I’m heading to his house to get him something to wear.” Still not the right thing to say.
Reese’s eyebrow went up and Sammy let out another one of his ‘yeah right’ huffs. “Kip is in your house, naked?” Reese said as if he needed to make sure he got it right. “All night.” he added.
Not about to let anyone think Kip had done something he hadn’t, Rogue said, “He had hypothermia. It wasn’t like we were fucking. And please don’t tell everyone. Kip didn’t want anyone to think he was hooking up with me.”
Reese’s eyes narrowed and damn if Sammy’s didn’t also. “Got it. Well, we better head over to the house so we can call of the search party and you can get him those clothes.”
Suddenly Rogue remembered why he needed to hurry. “Shit, I was supposed to be back. There’s no way that bath water is still warm and Kip probably won’t be able to get out without my help.”
Rogue thought he heard Reese make a choking sound, but he didn’t have time to worry about it. Rushing to Kip’s house, he prayed no one would delay him in getting back to Kip.
He might as well have wished to go to the moon.
Either way, there was zero doubt in Rogue’s mind that Kip would hate him. This time, Rogue couldn’t exactly blame him. It wasn’t what he’d planned on happening, but the need to get back to Kip as soon as possible had things coming out of his mouth that... well, if Kip punched him, he would deserve it.
“Rogue, thank God you’re here,” Axom cried out as Rogue opened the front door, since he figured it would be open if Kip’s friends were indeed home. “Kip is missing and since this weekend, I haven’t exactly been very forgiving. If he went out to the woods to meditate and didn’t ask me because he thought I wouldn’t take him, I’ll never forgive myself.”
The longer Axom spoke, the more he started to wail, as if the end of the world were upon them. Not wanting to take long, Rogue had walked into Kip’s room, which he knew instantly it was the right one with all the candles, crystals, and even several yoga mats leaning against the wall.
He opened the third drawer down and grabbed a pair of sweatpants Kip had told him would be there. Then he went to the fourth drawer for a pair of yoga pants. In the second drawer, he pulled out two long-sleeved t-shirts.
“Um,” Anook said from the doorway. “Any reason why you’re stealing Kip’s clothes?”
That was the moment Rogue made his mistake. The point which he really wished he could have stopped himself from opening his mouth. But it was already too late. The only thing he’d been thinking about was getting back to Kip before his muscles suffered any more than they probably already were.
“I need to get back home to Kip before he tries to get out of the bath without me and ends up hurting himself more. After last night, his muscles have to still be really sore and I’d hate to have him fall. If he tries to navigate that tub with how weak he is, it will only make it worse after the night we had.” It wasn’t until he’d grabbed a pair of long johns from the top drawer and pulled two sweaters and a coat from his closet that Rogue turned to head back out only to come face to face with Axom, Anook, Cass, Reese, and Spencer.
All had their jaws dropped, eyes wide and shock etched into the faces. It was then that Rogue realized what he’d just said. But before he could try to correct himself, they all broke out in laughter.
Not having time to deal with them, Rogue could only pray Kip would forgive him.
