EIGHT
Zed shutthe door behind us unceremoniously, but I wasn’t nervous about being alone with him. Wolf-Rocco had already agreed to eat anyone who tried to mess with me.
“Here.” Zed handed me the impact driver. I took it, and was surprised by the weight. That thing was heavier than it looked.
“Thanks.” I followed him to the bed frame that looked like it was pretty much already put together. The gray wood headboard would cover part of the wall, then stretch under the bed and around to the front of it. It was pretty, and the mattress would be massive compared to the twin I was used to sleeping on. I’d had my own room for three of my four years in college, but if I wanted a bigger mattress I would’ve had to pay for it myself, and that wasn’t in the budget in any way, shape, or form.
“You just fit it into the screw and pull the trigger back. It’ll turn on, and screw it in.” Zed gestured to a few screws that had already been set into the bed frame.
I kneeled beside it, grimacing, and started to pull the trigger. The thing whirred to life, and I dropped it on its mechanical ass, standing quickly.
“Nope,” I said, shaking my head as my heart pounded. “Not interested in impact drivers after all. Give me the crappy tools the furniture people tossed in the box.”
Zed snorted, grabbing some tiny wrench off the ground and handing it over. “Start tightening the bolts over there.”
I jerked my head in a nod as if I knew what a bolt was, heading over to the place he’d gestured to.
My gaze swept the furniture.
Bolt, bolt, bolt…
Rocco bumped his nose against a weird-shaped screw without a line or star built into the top of it.
Ah.
Bolts.
Made sense.
Sheesh, there were a lot of them.
I spent the next twenty minutes tightening bolts (Zed probably could’ve done it in two, but I was calling it a win) while mentally running over possible names I could call Wolf-Rocco.
Licorice…
Popsicle…
Apple…
Shit, why was I thinking about food? Guess that steak dinner had reeled me back into the land of humanity, and most humans liked food.
Nope, food names were a negative.
I went over human names next.
Bob…
Robert…
Dick…
That last one made me snort.
Hard pass.
Get it? Like, hard as in—alright, I’ll stop while I’m already behind.
I ran over a few newer human names.