It's still light when we return back. We spent all day in the woods but it paid off, we did manage to track and kill the two deer I wanted. I took down also three hares. Two I'll offer to the butcher, one we'll have hopefully for dinner.

Once we are done with hanging the deer in the cooler I leave Wade to finish skinning the last hare and go for Lana. Her car is here, so she must be around too.

"Hey, Lana!" I call for her as I enter the house.

I don't see her anywhere in our shared space so she's probably in her room. I go closer to it and raise a hand to knock but then I realize it's still bloody, so I let it fall again.

"Lana, are you there?"

The door cracks open and there she is.

"Yeah? What do you need?" She peeks out just a little at first but when she sees me her eyes go wide and she hurries to open the door fully.

"Oh my God, are you okay? What happened?" She sounds panicked and her eyes keep jumping all over my body. She makes a move as to touch me and then quickly pulls away. "I'm gonna call the hospital! You should sit down. I can take a look before they come..."

What the hell is she talking about?  Confused, I look down but then...Of course! She doesn't know we were hunting and I got blood all over me. I wave my hand a little to get her attention.

"I'm fine! It's not my blood."

Her eyes go even wider.

Oh fuck. "It's deer blood! I've been hunting today!" I wait for her to wrap her mind around it and I don't have to wait too long.

She takes a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Oh God, don't do things like this to me. You could leave a note or something. Don't you take some spare clothes with you? It can't be comfortable to walk around like this..."

Right, I forgot, she's a nervous talker.

"Hey." I try to interrupt but she's not stopping so I raise my voice a bit. "HEY! Calm down, nothing happened."

I watch her getting herself under control when a thought comes to me. "How the fuck are you going to be a nurse when you get all worked up over a bloody person?"

She shuts her mouth tightly for a moment. "I am not getting all worked up over a bloody person! Excuse me for not expecting my new roommate to show up at my door covered in blood."

Okay, time to change the subject!

"I didn't come to argue, okay? I just wanted to show you something." I turn to walk out and motion for her to follow. "Come on." But when I turn to check I see she hasn't budged from her spot so I stop too.

"What did you want to show me?" she asks, she doesn't seem nervous though just confused so I motion for her again to walk with me.

"You'll see, come on."

And she moves then.

As we walk around the house she keeps giving me strange glances so I decide to explain now. "We hunt often enough. And since you said you wouldn't mind cooking for me now and then, I thought I would keep some meat for us. For you to use I mean. I can't cook for shit."

We are almost there by then, I nod towards the shack. "This is where I keep the meat. I'll show you around so you'll know what you can take."

"Okay, cool!" The smile on her face freezes suddenly. "Wait, what do you mean we?"

Before I get the chance to say anything Wade comes out shouting.

"What the hell is taking you so lon- Oh, hello there! My my, if I knew you were this pretty I would have come to introduce myself sooner. Name's Wade and you are...?" He has a grin from ear to ear as he walks to her but Lana takes a small step to the side putting me more or less between her and Wade.

He, of course, notices the move and stops in his tracks, looking as surprised as I feel. But he recovers quickly and starts walking again.

"Oh, come on sweetcheeks! You wouldn't be scared of old Wade? I am the nice brother. Actually, it was my doing you got this nice place to live in, you know? So, how about you stop hiding there, maybe you could come here and thank me nicely instead. We could have some fun." He turns his eyes to me with a smirk. "Jackson won't mind, right brother?"

I glance behind me and see her already starting to back up from me quickly. Her expression is hard to read, something between angry and spooked. Obviously, that wasn't the right thing for Wade to say.

Her eyes jump from me to him then to the blood on the ground then to the shack behind us as she speaks. "Oh yeah? I don't think so, no! I think our understanding of the meaning of having fun is quite, no, is very different! I also think I'll go to my room now." Fucking Wade and his fucking big mouth!

He's absolutely oblivious to her distress as he continues with that big grin back in place. "Well doll, you won't know 'til you try. Ever heard of Monroe charm? Let me tell you all about it, or I give you one better! Let me go with you to that room of yours and I'll show you instead."

"No!" She turns and marches back to the house.

At least I hope it's to the house and not far, far away from us to never come back.

"Shut the fuck up, Wade! She saw all of your charms the other night at the quarry. You stay here!" I see her rounding the corner and hurry to catch up. "Hey, Lana?" She turns her head and quickly looks behind me when she sees no one she stops and crosses her arms. "He doesn't mean anything by it! He just talks shit! Come on, I'll show you inside."

But she shakes her head. "If you think I'll go anywhere near that bloody shack with him there, then think again!" She wants to turn again but I grab her arm to stop her.

She jerks it away from me and I let go quickly.

"Don't be ridiculous! What do you think will happen there?"

She looks down with a frown. "I don't know, but he makes me uncomfortable so I don't wanna go and find out I won't like it." She answers while still studying the dirt under her feet.

She looks up when a shadow covers her view as Wade silently stands beside me.

For fuck sake! Is it physically impossible for him to do as I say at least once!? I feel like facepalming myself.

They stare at each other for a few moments, he's staring at her face and she at his chest and I'm trying to think of something to smooth things out, but I'm coming up empty-handed. Wade's a dick, always has been, always will be so I can't promise her shit.

When all of sudden Wade sticks his hand out to her saying. "Hey, sweetheart! I'm Wade, Jackson's asshole brother. And you are...?"

I can't believe my ears. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he's apologizing. I shift my stare to Lana whose stare is on Wade's outstretched hand now. She's fidgeting for a bit but eventually to my utter surprise she puts her hand in Wade's and shakes it.

Then she looks up to his eyes. "I'm Lana."

And Wade smiles, actually smiles at her. "And what a beautiful name it is. Beautiful name for a beautiful woman, right?" I shoot him warning glare and he changes the topic. "Okay then, it's hot as fuck. I'm tired and I feel like I've been swimming in blood all day. So, why don't you two go see the damn shack and I'll take a quick shower." He doesn't wait for a reply and heads back to the house.

That was weird.

I look back at Lana. "You good?"

"Yeah, yeah I am."

"Can I show you now?"

She swiftly looks after Wade who's just disappeared around the corner. She lets a breath out slowly while shaking her head. "Okay, lead the way."

So I do. I show her the inside, the freezers and which one is for us. I show her the cooler too, but when she sees the deer inside she tells me quickly that she's letting that part to me.

When the short tour is over we grab the hare she agreed she would roast for dinner.

It didn't go as smoothly as I hoped, but it could have gone worse too, so I just hope Wade won't ruin the truce in the next two minutes.

  I hope you enjoy the story. If you do, feel welcome to push that little star to let me know, or better yet, leave me a comment ;)