“Never.” He reached for me, but I slipped to the doorway. “When will you be home?”
“I have a busy day, and won’t be back until dinnertime. Didn’t you have a lot to do as well?” He’d recently opened a security company, and although he was working on keeping me home, he’d be there all day. He was a hard worker. “You know. Work?”
“I suppose.” His sigh came from deep down. Then his eyes lit up. “Can you come by at lunch?”
My cheeks burned. “You know what happened last time. That couple who came in for information found us in the back room. We almost got caught. “This is a small town, and you don’t want to get a reputation for debauchery.” I studied his mischievous grin. “Or do you?”
“It sounds interesting.” He lay there with the sheet at his waist, his impressive upper body on full display. “How about if I promise not to make any moves. Will you come? I’ll order sandwiches.”
I belted my robe and searched for my slippers. “Okay. But they’d better be good, and I will hold you to your promise.”
He did manage to get in a few more kisses before I escaped, his affection and enthusiasm making it hard for me to go. If I didn’t know how devoted Tris was to his new enterprise, I’d have believed he really intended us to spend all day and all night in bed for the foreseeable future.
But once I was at home and standing under my steamy shower, another face replaced Tris’ in my mind. The one topic that hadn’t come up this morning was the one he knew would end in an argument. Tris didn’t see any reason for me to pay rent for this little house when we were already mated.
He believed we should live together, and so did I. But I feared the action would end any chance of resolving our differences with Samson, the pack alpha and my other mate. My wolf was adamant, and so was I. Tris made me very happy, but I was always aware of the missing element. We belonged together. They were brothers destined to share a mate. And he’d told me he cared. Took one step closer and another back.
How long could I expect Tris to wait for me to live with him?
With those thoughts in mind, I climbed into my car and drove toward school. Nothing was going to be resolved today, and bio was a class I struggled in. Unlike Wendi, my bestie who was working toward medical school, I was more a liberal arts girl. But the college had a science requirement, and biology for the non-major had sounded like an easy way to meet it.
Wrong. My whole GPA and, therefore, my scholarship hinged on my getting at least a B in a class in which I currently hovered around a high D.
Focus on school, Christie. If everything else in your life blows up, at least you’ll have a degree.
So, why were my priorities not there?
Chapter Two
Picking up my books for the new semester. Parking in the campus lot. Even sitting at a desk and listening to the professor—it all seemed harder with what was going on in my life. Especially as we got into the semester, and I was struggling with some of the classes. But such was life, I supposed. Doing what you had to while the hurricane continued to blow.
Kelli and Laney hadn’t said much. They’d been blindfolded and gagged most of the time since they were kept. Kelli, in particular, said she could hardly stay awake while she tried to get the scents of her captors and maybe pick something up from their conversations, which meant they were probably drugged the entire time.
Samson and the others thought that fact in particular pointed right toward Rattlecreek, but I knew better.
This was the work of someone else.
Didn’t scent of Rattlecreek, and honestly, the explosion with the shed? Way too smart for those assholes.
I had barely made it on time with Tris’ antics which I enjoyed more than I was willing to admit.
A short car ride later, I arrived at Wendi’s and my favorite spot, the diner. They had the sloppiest, gooiest cheeseburgers in town. And it was’ just what a girl needed when she was plagued with romance, kidnapping, and school issues.
“Hey”.” I slid across from Wendi in the red-vinyl booth. She was typing away at her phone, probably texting one of her mates. A job all in itself.
She glanced up and smiled. “Hey, how was class?”
I shrugged. “It was class. Bio lab first then lecture. I took notes, but they’re all a mess. Good thing I recorded the professor. I’m having to do that a lot lately. Listening later is like attending class twice, but I’ll do what it takes to get a better grade.”
“I had to do that a few times as well. What are you ordering? Like I don’t already know.”
She was right. While she held the menu and surveyed the options, I never looked at it.
“What are you getting?” I asked. Wendi hadn’t eaten much of late, and it was written all over the way her clothes were fitting. Dark crescents hung below her eyes and, though it had improved, her color was still off.
“What’ll you two have?” Dot, the waitress, popped her gum and tapped her pen on the order tablet. She gave me a wink and, without a word from me, jotted down my usual.
Wendi saw the exchange and shook her head. “I’ll have… You know what? Just double whatever this one is having.”
Dot narrowed her eyes. “You sure you can handle it, hon?”
