How could Jeb stand the smell? And Everest? Didn’t it bother them?
She walked back into the room and then headed toward my bedroom door, clutching the jar to her bosom.
“Lucy, can I work tomorrow instead of today? Please? I’ll put in a double shift.”
“You might not be physically competent to work tomorrow. Besides, Saturdays are always busier than Sundays. You should know that by now.” She leveled her hazel eyes on me, daring me to complain again.
She wasn’t being fair, but perhaps this was the reason she was making me work. As I donned my gray uniform, I called Everest to ask him if he was still taking me to the meeting, but he didn’t answer.
I texted him.
No answer.
An hour into my morning chores, I texted him again.
The headquarters was a good fifteen miles away from the inn, up mountain roads where driving faster than twenty miles per hour was downright treacherous. It would take me close to an hour to get there, and it was 10:30, which meant I would need to leave in thirty minutes to make it on time.
At 10:45, I finished cleaning the bedrooms and loped to my own room to change back into shorts and a t-shirt. I called Everest again, my patience dwindling. When five minutes later he still hadn’t answered, I jogged toward his suite and then banged on the door.
No answer.
Fuck. I ran to the front desk, ready to grovel with Jeb to take me, but Lucy informed me he’d left with Everest on an errand.
“An errand?” It came out shrilly.
“Keep your voice down.”
“Everest promised to bring me to-”
“He must’ve forgotten. Why don’t you borrow one of the vans?”
A breath snagged inside my throat. “I don’t have a license.”
“You don’t say.” From the lilt in her voice, I gleaned she knew this.
The clock on the wall behind her ticked so loudly I felt it inside my chest. “Could you drive me?”
“I might not seem busy, but I have a business to run. I can’t just get up and leave to take you to a silly contest.”
Heat pricked my eyelids. “This isn’t a silly contest.”
“Isn’t it?” She leaned over the checkin counter. “You’ve set your expectations on an unreasonable goal. Women don’t lead packs of men; it’s emasculating.”
My scudding heart came to an abrupt halt. I blinked at my aunt, stunned to silence.
“Did you expect me to pat you on the back?” She shook her head. “You should’ve contented yourself with being their equal. Or married one of them.”
I backed away because my fingers had closed into tight fists, and my nails were elongating. Before I started howling at my aunt or slashing at her tubby throat with my sharp claws, I pushed through the inn’s revolving doors.
I dragged in lungfuls of air to calm my flaring anger and contemplated running, but racing fifteen miles before running a marathon was nonsensical. Besides, there was no way I could cover fifteen miles in one hour, even in wolf form. I whipped out my phone so fast I almost dropped it, and then scrolled to the saved number of a taxi company. I was put on hold before a woman informed me that my ride would arrive at the inn in ten minutes. It was already 11:05. I would never make it.
Never.
I wrote Everest a dozen hurtful text messages but deleted them all. Mom once told me communicating whilst angry was a terrible idea. Considering the things I’d written-things that could irreparably damage my relationship with Everest-she was right.
Finally, a yellow cab drove up the winding path. I tapped my foot. Before he’d even stopped, I lunged into the backseat and gave him directions. We were halfway through the drive when I realized I hadn’t taken a bag, which meant I hadn’t taken a wallet. I decided not to mention it until we arrived.
As the yellow cab climbed the mountain roads at a cautious fifteen miles per hour, I stared at the red digits escalating on the meter. “Could you drive any faster? I’m a little late.”
The needle rose to eighteen miles per hour. How I wanted to jump in front and jam my foot on the gas pedal. I’d told Liam I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but at this moment, I knew-I wanted to get a driver’s license.
I researched this, since watching the minutes and dollars tick by was wreaking havoc on my fraying nerves. At 11:58, the Boulder headquarters rose before us like an oasis in a desert. The squat gray stone structure surrounded by the rusted fence and sunburned grass hadn’t changed an iota.
“Word around town is that this place is crawling with wolves.” The cabby was gazing at the large wooden sign carved up with the words: Private Property
“I heard, but I also heard they aren’t aggressive.”
He grunted-obviously not sharing my belief-then turned in his seat. “That’ll be forty-eight dollars.”
“About that…I forgot my wallet. Can I pay you tomorrow?”
“What? No.”
“But I don’t have cash.”
“Maybe your friends can pay me.”
“My friends?”
He jerked his bearded chin toward Matt, who’d stepped into my line of sight. He glowered at the cab. Liam and Lucas came to flank him. Relief flooded through me when I noticed they were all still in skin.
“I’d rather not ask them, but I promise-”
“I got a family to feed, insurance to pay, not to mention taxes and schooling fees. If I accepted promises as payment, my family would starve and get evicted.”
Geez.”Do you take PayPal?”
“No, I don’t take PayPal, but even if I had an account, I wouldn’t accept electronic cash.”
“Fine.” Cheeks heating up, I kicked the door open, then trekked toward my welcoming committee.
“You’re late,” Lucas chirped, chewing on a toothpick.
“Why isn’t the cabbie leaving? Did you invite him to watch?” Matt asked.
Without taking my eyes off the overgrown grass that smelled like piss, I mumbled, “I forgot my wallet. Can anyone lend me a fifty?”
“Already spent all that hard-earned cash of yours, huh?” Lucas drawled.