Sensitivity warning: details in Author's note.

There was a new man--to Vance--sitting where Anise had the first day. "How are we doing this, Ann?"

She shrugged, looking distracted. "Take your same seat, we will have it sorted around you, alright?"

This was a self-serve meal. Three dressed fresh ground burgers were all Vance could do on one plate while in the kitchen. He shrugged, leaving the sides behind to sit next to this stranger. "Hello, sir."

The older man laughed, teeth shining through his short beard. "Don't sir me. I remember you as a freshman."

"I don't remember anybody having beards when I was on campus." Vance wondered if he was one of his teachers or coaches when he walked in his first year. He didn't remember anyone just shy of his own size being over him like that, back then. Coach Williams--the basketball coach and American History teacher--came into their community somewhere around Christmas, Sophomore year. None of the other men were quite this tall.

"Name's Bill Mather, but everyone called me Cotton."

That put everything into place--one of the Senior players his first year, defense. "What brings you here?"

"I've worked on this farm since middle school, with my father. And Shane let slip that Baby Girl is bringing home a boy and a hellcat, so I've been thinking, What would Shane consider a hellcat? and had to visit."

"My little cousin." Vance didn't think anything of introducing his cousin. He did it because he was sitting down before much of Anise's family. That Baby Girl rubbed him the wrong way. So did Honey and Floof back with Maliq, and he didn't butt in then, so he wasn't starting now. "Harley, this is Cotton Mather."

Harley smiled her sunshine grin. "Oooh, spooky name."

"Yeah, I didn't much like it growing up. Kind of miss it now that everyone calls me Bill."

"Don't let him fool you into thinking he's some hired hand." Anise placed a basket of fries between Vance and Bailey's old seat--who was sitting across from his mother. "Bill's daddy owns half the woods between the creek and our farm. They always have had the right to hunt on our side as they're some sort of distant cousins. Bill comes in most often when Shane needs a hand, like the butchering today."

Bill shook his head. "It's no hardship to come in for beef and company, Anne. You make it sound like work to get to see you. I get tired of rabbits and Pa's nagging about finishing college and finding a woman to cook for him. Keep telling him to marry Miss Coda so I can go back in peace. But she doesn't want to be over there at night."

"His dad is not doing well enough to keep the property going," Shane explained further, as he sat down with his plate.

It was light, easy banter where Bill explained what he had been doing with his life. Afterward, when the younger ones decided that the kids would go to the den to play board games, Bill joined them.

Anise sat next to Vance, all but on his lap the whole time. At first, it felt like Ann being Ann. It wasn't the excessive affection she gave him away from her home, which he got right off the bat. It wasn't the stiff lack of attention she gave in front of her parents. Something about it bothered him, and he couldn't tell what.

Two games in, Bill stood, stretching. "Well, I've left the old man alone long enough. Anne, can I talk with you for a moment?"

She stood after nodding, with no hint of unease. Vance felt like he misunderstood something. Baby Girl and her sitting on his lap...

John started shuffling the card deck for another round, he stared intently at Vance, instead of dealing. "Go ahead and go. Ma should be at the door, but you're not here right now, Vance."

Harley broke into brighter-than-usual antics for the two younger ones.

Whatever the hell was going on, Vance wasn't alone in seeing it. John never struck him as the sensitive type. His cousin certainly as hell was. Neither one of them was acting like their world was right.

Vance stood up and walked through the house to the front door. Mrs. Finley was not far from it. He leaned down to her and whispered, "What are they doing?"

"Shhh..."

"It has nothing to do with him!" Anise could be heard through the door, close to losing it completely. Bill was much quieter. "No! You didn't even ask me what I want to do with my life but it's for damn sure not to rescue you from yours!"

Mrs. Finley backed up before her daughter stormed through. She muttered at the boy beside her, "Get her out of here," then went to speak with Bill.

Vance wondered what the hell he had stepped into, but it looked more like a bad breakup with the family involved. That thought bothered him on too many levels. He'd been so assured of her not having much interest in other guys. The thought never occurred to him that she could have all the company she needed at home--although it looked like she chose him, and not Bill.

But he did catch her going out the back of the den, keys to The Rustbucket and purse in hand. She glanced at him, tilting her head with a glare that meant, you coming? Not a tear shone in her eyes, but that look on other girls went with bursting into tears. Honestly, she looks too enraged to cry.

He nodded and she stomped off to the truck. Anise started before he was in, moving before he was buckled, and hit every damn pothole she could find. Vance had recovered from practice, and here she was trying to kill both of them by leeching the HP out his back before giving them a critical hit.

Somewhere along the way, he had the feeling she took a turn that lead them away from all he knew. It had been a quarter of an hour and they were still on back roads.

The last turn was down a rutted path through short grass into a stand of trees, when she killed the truck.

"What was..."

Anise unbuckled and crawled across the bench seat to cup his face in her hands. She stared at him like the burden she was under made it necessary to memorize the curve of his jaw, the quirk of his lips. She leaned in and kissed him like he was precious, the type of soft kiss girls romanticized drowning in. Anise gifted him with that level of longing and wasn't asking for it in return. He only had to hold onto her.

Vance didn't know he needed to be treasured like this. His hands found her waist and he couldn't help his smile as she kept it delicate. It said far more about what she meant to him, in a moment of stress.

He let her take her fill of him. It felt like an eternity before she pulled away and bowed her head in the dim light of the night, as if ashamed. "Sorry. I just wanted to feel something."

He didn't bother to ask what she meant but waited for the meat of the matter. "What happened back there?"

"The inevitable. Only girl close in age to him and no way out that he's willing to take. He wants me to move in and help take care of his father."

"Like a roommate?"

"A wife, Vance. He doesn't love me. Hell, he's not really interested in me." She bit back on a sound he'd never heard before--a sob? Whatever it was, it killed him to hear it. "I'm numb---I've been numb over this for a while."

"How long?"

"I've known for months that he'd eventually ask." Anise sighed, sinking back into the tough façade she always kept up. Usually, it was far more natural, but not in this moment. "Asking me to help them out over everyone else. Staying a while with me on Thursdays before going to enjoy his one night of freedom. Coming in smelling of the local bar and cheap perfume, looking me over like I might do at the witching hour. I just...I didn't even know that a kiss could mean so much to me."

Vance's chest felt like a stone had been placed on it. Did she lie--and was it to protect herself? He could remember how the truth didn't protect him, viscerally. "So, you've kissed him?"

"No, I already told you that it's just you." Anise shuddered.

"...and masturbation."

"Shut up." She growled out as she butted her forehead against his chest. She had expected that interjection. He wasn't going to forget that confession, ever. It was almost enough to make her laugh, but not enough. "He thinks I said no because of you. I don't care how you make me feel--if I loved Bill, I'd say yes. I don't. He's not touched me at all. If he had--it would have been over with months ago. We're supposed to be family."

"Did you ever tell him about what you wanted?"

"No. He doesn't matter enough to have a real conversation with that I'd not had with my own parents. He hadn't planned on saying anything until after graduation. The best competition ever walked in and sat between us, forcing him to confront me sooner than he wanted to. I guess he was waiting for me to grow up."

Vance couldn't help the smirk over being the best, but it didn't last. One part of this bothered him a great deal--she saw this guy as family. "Didn't you say he is a cousin?"

"Some ancestors of ours married. A kid from a previous relationship inherited my ancestors' land. We're something like 7th cousins on paper, but no relation at all."

"Is this part of why your dad wanted you to go with me Thursday?"

"Probably--but we got home early enough for me to go over, so I did." She laughed, but it sounded hollow, "But in all honesty, a drunk guy sizing me up at 3 in the morning does not need that. I had enough. Whomever he's been doing at the bar can watch over his dad."

It was enough for Vance. He started to pull her into his lap.

"No, I stopped here to show you something." She reached across him to open his door. "Get out and carry me."

Vance shook his head, but he did it anyway. She'd demand him to carry her to the ends of the earth because he once proved he could. He didn't want it any other way, in spite of how it echoed her reminder that only the insecure did this. It wasn't the same as a sprain, faking it, but she was leaning on his strength. He hoped he could live up to it.

Anise directed him to the base of a tree with a large treehouse built in it. Vance stared at it in confusion. "Huh...who built this?"

"Pa did. There's a day bed with outdoor cushions up there."

"So you won't do it in a barn, but you'll do it up in a tree?" Vance quipped as he helped her down and on the steps.

"I'm not doing anything here, either. I thought it would be more comfortable than fooling around in the truck."

He laughed and followed her up. At first, she sat down, expecting him to sit next to her. As it was an actual twin, Vance got in behind her and laid out and helped her to lean back into him. He was uncomfortable as he was too tall for a regular mattress, "Now what?"

"I don't know." It was the most open answer Vance had out of Anise the whole night. He didn't believe she lied. It was the feelings she showed that were somewhat false. She tried to hide behind her rage too much while confessing secrets that he wished she wouldn't have held to herself. This was a tough enough confession for a week in.

"How about you tell me everything in as much detail as you're comfortable with? When you need to let go of it, you let me distract you until you can pick it back up? No stress, no fighting with yourself, just give and take what you need, Ann." He didn't know if the details would make it all understandable or worse. He hoped it had been more like a slow boil instead of Cotton Mather's bad behavior being awful from the beginning. The fact that this girl took no shit from anyone and still accepted him was a miracle--as far as Vance could tell. Just how the hell did this one guy slip in between her shield like this?

"Do I have to?"

"No, but I want to know everything, Anise. I need to know if I've got enough of a reason to deck him or not."

"Well, Bill and Maliq used to hang out when I was little. I used to jump off the stairs at them both because they were my big brothers. Then Bill went to college, and Maliq eventually convinced me to start thinking like a little lady, to keep personal space personal. By the time he came back to take care of his Pa, I had become a bit more responsible and...I guess reserved? I wasn't a little kid anymore. He was busy and I started training under Maliq. We didn't run into each other much, until last summer...."

This would be another night where he didn't quite make it back in before curfew.

And another night Vance would have to take care of matters himself if he wanted to get any sleep. The stress of another man lurking in her life wasn't something that should ease them into their first time together. He wasn't even riled all that much. The frustration of wondering how so many people--including Anise--missed what this guy was doing was what killed him. She saw most of it clearly--but some things she said didn't add up. He feared telling her what he saw in the behaviors, in case it upset her more.

He still couldn't wrap his mind around waking up to a grown drunk man at the foot of the bed he slept in and going back. Family. She had so much trust in her family.