A Hero's Secret

eight

..

The wind brushed back Dray's hair as she stared at the empty patio of Posies. She didn't feel like solving puzzles, it was a party after all. Sighing, she turned around and almost knocked into someone, sloshing her drink onto her hand.

That someone revealed to be the culprit of her irritation. "Hey," she said in a deadpan manner, shaking off her beer droplets on her fingers and then wiping them on her jeans.

Wells just smiled and started walking away. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and casually maneuvered through the crowd.

Dray shook her head and followed him. "Didn't want to hang in the usual spot, then?" She struggled to keep his pace. His ability to dodge people greatly exceeded her own. Once Wells stepped into some open space, he waited for her to catch up.

"Figured it'd be better for you if the whole town didn't see us alone together," he said.

Dray figured it'd be better if he stopped using that flimsy excuse, but she pushed down some negative words and spoke softly. "Why is that, Wells?"

He caught her eye, but quickly looked straight ahead. "I think you know." His face dropped with his words.

They walked to the edge of downtown, out towards the lake. The music muffled and made the silence a bit more stifling for Dray. Trying to navigate Wells feeling like the villain and trying to figure out the ways of the actual villain proved to be something she unsurprisingly had no idea how to handle. So, she took the easy way out and changed the subject.

"I kind of roped myself into checking out lost and found tonight."

Wells slowed his pace. "Okay." His eyebrows lifted and a corner of his mouth flicked upward.

She cringed with her next words. "With Porter."

He grabbed her arm and pulled her into a nearby alleyway. "Porter?" His demeanor fell back into a usual scowl. He stood close to Dray, so close she could feel the tension wrap around him.

"It was kind of an accident?" She scrunched up her nose. "I was with his friends and they started asking me the standard new girl questions. I rambled, mentioned checking out the police station, got weird looks, and panicked." Her words ran together. "I said it was a good thing I did, though, because I found a watch. Porter offered—well, more like told me he'd walk me later. He also told me he'd walk me home."

Wells released her arm and leaned on the wall over her. He glanced at the ground and sighed. "That complicates things a little bit. You're going to have to get away from him and look at the log alone. He's buddy-buddy with the sheriff, too. Probably want to convince him to stay outside."

Dray took a deep breath, both to regain it after spitting out the explanation and because she'd never been this close to him. "Yeah, I don't know how easy that's going to be. Porter seems to be quite," she struggled for the right word, "hands on."