Whispers of the South Wind

Chapter 11

"You stupid motherfucker!" Anthony yelped loudly, hauling ass over the paddock fence once again as Loki charged behind him. You laughed, watching him just manage to get over as Loki whinnied and stomped in agitation behind him. He grimaced on the ground, glaring up at the large stallion before spitting on the ground in frustration.

"Asshole," he hissed at him, though Loki didn't seem to mind the insult, quickly shaking his mane out before lazily trotting back across the paddock where Lady was patiently waiting for him.

"I don't know why you insist tryin' with him every time you're over here," you finally managed to say between your giggles, reaching up and wiping tears from your eyes as Anthony stood and dusted off his jeans. "You know he doesn't like ya."

"Well, he's a damn idiot," Anthony said, shooting Loki a dirty glare before making his way over to you with a scowl. "I don't know why the hell he won't let me touch him, but he let Luke? I don't get it."

"Must be the vibe ya give off," you said, shrugging as Anthony rolled his eyes in response. "Now ya gonna tell me what you really dragged your sorry carcass up here, 'cause it sure as shit wasn't to see Loki." You smiled at him, unable to hide your amusement.

"Well, at least your demon spawn is taken care of for the day," he sighed, grabbing his cowboy hat from the post next to you before flashing a large smile. "Now get in my truck. We're headin' to the fair."

"Anthony, no–"

"Eh!" He said, cutting you off and grasping your arm, "You're goin', and that's the end of it. You seriously need to get out and have some fun. Watchin' you isolate yourself like this is fuckin' killin' me." He shook his head before giving you a sad smile. There was nothing worse than the look he gave you. You were so goddamn tired of people's pity.

"I am not isolating myself," you argued, scoffing in offense. Just because you chose to spend most of your time between your house and the graveyard did not mean you were isolating yourself on purpose. Who the hell did he think he was to try and dictate how you spent your free time? "Don't you have a girlfriend to be draggin' to things like this? It's a wonder Mary hadn't been up here tellin' me to back off ya."

"Mary would never do somethin' like that. She understands what you and Luke mean to me. It was honestly her idea to get me to come up here and get ya," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "She's gonna meet us down there a lil' bit later. Now just get in the truck; I got one more thing I gotta get before we start the day for real."

You sighed but didn't argue, quickly hopping into his truck as requested. Despite your sulk, you would be lying if you said you weren't grateful for Mary not taking Anthony away from you. You knew you used him as a crutch, but if you lost him too, you weren't sure what you would do.

You sighed as he started the truck, resting your head against the window as he turned on the radio and pulled out of your driveway. You frowned as you recognized it as the song you'd both sung the night of the bonfire, and Keigo quickly came to mind. You still hadn't seen him since that night, but Anthony had taken him out to the bar the night you'd asked about him, yet strangely enough he hadn't given you any type of update on anything that happened.

"You talked to Keigo?" You asked, hoping you didn't sound too overly interested. "You took him to the bar, but you never told me what happened."

"Oh," Anthony said, and you watched with interest as he clutched the wheel of the truck tightly. "It was fine. Nothin' crazy happened, so I didn't think it was worth botherin' you over." He let out a chuckle before raising an eyebrow at you. "I think it's 'bout time I gave you his number since ya keep askin'. Might be nice if he saw someone else was worried about him too."