Page 51 of Tiger Bitten

“Look, you don’t know everything,” Stellan barked, heading back this way.

“Here we go,” Mars muttered, his face shutting down immediately as he angled his marshmallow over the fire.

Stellan stomped onto the concrete pad of the porch and stood by Mars, glaring at him in fury.

“Want a s’more?” Ren asked, just to break the awkward silence.

To her surprise, he bent down and snatched the bag of marshmallows and a metal rod, then began loading a half dozen marshmallows onto it and sat next to Mars.

“Want me to message Misty?” Ren asked. “I can invite them out here. They might still be awake.”

“I can’t do any more kumbaya shit today,” Stellan grunted.

Mars snorted. “Same.”

“I thought y’all had fun at the dinner,” Ren said, licking dripping marshmallow off the edge of her s’more. She was a sticky mess.

“Do you even know how to eat?” Stellan deadpanned.

“Not with this facemask on,” she admitted, unoffended.

“You look stupid,” Stellan told Marsden.

“At least I’m getting laid, buddy.”

“Oh geez,” Ren muttered.

“Who says I’m not getting laid?” Stellan demanded. “Maybe I’m getting laid more than you.”

“Dude, why is there truth to your tone?” Mars asked. “Do you have a lady?”

“Maybe I have four hundred ladies.”

“Lie,” Mars said blandly as he sandwiched his melted marshmallow.

“It’s hard being here,” Stellan said suddenly.

Genuinely curious, Ren asked, “Why?”

“Because.” He inhaled deeply and glanced at her over the flickering fire. “I did a lot of stupid stuff here that I didn’t know was happening, but now I can reach my tiger, and now I have all these memories.”

“That sounds overwhelming,” she said softly.

“I don’t want your pity,” he gritted out.

“Well, then go fuck yourself, Stellan,” Ren said lightly.

He narrowed his eyes at her like he wanted to spew venom at her, but she interrupted him.

“If you put a powdered donut in the middle, it’s epic.”

His gold glowing eyes narrowed even more. “I don’t know if I like you or not.”

“Same,” she said blandly.

Mars was biting back a smile as Stellan reached for the powdered donut bag. Mars cast her a quick glance and winked.

The timer on her phone went off, and she shoved the last bit of donut s’more into her mouth and pulled the facemasks off them. “Want a facemask?” she asked Stellan as she made her way toward the door to go warm up a washcloth to wipe off the excess collagen from Mars’s face.