Hare Moon

Brace Yourself

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Is this a good idea?

Probably not.

I swallow and stare at the dark yellow wood of the door; the thresh-hold of the unknown. I'm not sure if I should be here. Or maybe I should, just for a different reason. Erin assured me that Sunny was fine, but he's ignoring my attempts to contact him. I managed to keep away all of yesterday but now I'm freaking out a little bit.

What will happen if I enter this house? Because I've offended a lot of people on the other side of the door. I guess I could leave. Take Erin's word for it and avoid all McKendricks for the rest of eternity. Plus they have a murderer locked up in their basement, so not entering is a win all around.

I knock.

After a minute the door opens to reveal Clarice. His face is bloated and bruised. He holds himself stiffly. I dread to think what other injuries he has. Why? Why was he hurt too? Did Milton go on a rampage?

"Oh, it's you." He huffs and swings the door open before striding away. I close the door against the icy wind and speed after him.

"Hey," I call, "Are you okay?" I catch up to him in the kitchen, where he's boiling the kettle. He turns a glare on me, narrows his eyes and turns away with a sneer. He looks worse in the light spilling in from the giant windows. I want to say I feel bad, but...this is Clarice. This is probably overdo. "Was it Milton?"

No answer.

"Please. What happened?" I shuffle closer, steadying myself on the counter, tensing. By his coiled energy I know he's going to blow up at me, but that's got to be better than this silent treatment.

"You tell me," he hisses. "What happened, Bunny? One brother not enough for you?"

I flinch and shake my head. "It was a bad idea, okay? I admit that. But Milton wants nothing to do with me, so why am I not free to go off and make all the mistakes I want with my own damn life?"

He stops his angry stirring and whirls on me, indicating his face. "This," Clarice hisses, spit flying, "is why."

"You didn't kiss me," I hiss back, "Why is he beating you up? Sunny didn't even kiss me. I kissed him. If Milton wanted to punish someone, he should have just come after me."

Clarice returns to clashing about, spoon clinking so hard against the cups I'm sure they are going to shatter. "That's probably why Sunny told him, the idiot, to take the brunt of Mill's anger before he shouted bloody murder at you. Also, Sunny is literally the number one fan of the Bunton ship, and to keep it from sinking he decided it was a wonderful idea to take the blame off of you. Sunny is good like that. Too good for you." He gives me a look, daring me to argue. "He's also weak. A runt. No match for an out of control Alpha, so I stepped in. We fight all the time anyway." He shrugs like it's no big deal.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done it. I'm just tired of being used. I'm sick of having to sit back and watch him hit on my friend while I'm not even allowed to talk to other guys I might be interested in. Milton chose Georgia. If he's so invested in her now, why does he care what I do?"

"He chose you, Bunny. He realised he could live without being Alpha, but not without you." He sighs and leads me to the table, pushing a huge mug of tea in front of me. It looks handmade and has 'Drum HERE' written on it with some drums painted underneath, and on the other side 'NOT here' over a stylised picture of Clarice with a winning smile on his face.

He sits next to me with a small teacup of his own. "When Mill dropped you off after your field trip he had a panic attack. He had to pull over and called me to come get him. He said he couldn't remember how to drive. But he hadn't. He was just driving in the wrong direction. As soon as he made the decision to turn around and go back for you, he managed to start the car."