“Marrying her?”
“Of course not,” he snapped.
It shouldn’t have brought me any relief, but hearing him say this filled me with hope that he might just wait for me to grow up. “How did you find out anyway?”
“Same way I find out about everything . . .” He tossed me a hurt look as he stalked away. “Through other people.”
His words sliced past my ribcage, cutting deep. What else had he found out about? Was he talking about the dinner tomorrow night?
“So you don’t find out about this through other people, I’m going to dinner at Tracy’s tomorrow with a couple Boulders and their girlfriends.”
He paused on the threshold of the house. “Are you telling me or inviting me?
I folded my arms in front of me. “Do you want to come?”
He looked at me long and hard before saying, “No.”
And then he was trampling the unkempt front yard and climbing into his car. I felt his anger agitate the tether long after he’d gone.
“Hey, bitch,” Sarah said, flinging her front door wide. “Hope you like Chinese food, ’cause we’re having Chinese food.”
“I like Chinese food,” I mumbled as I entered her marble-and-stainless-steel palace.
“Do contain your enthusiasm.”
“Sorry. I’ve just had a crappy few days.”
“Crappy? Try my life right now. I had the pleasure of being convened to a Creek assembly yesterday. Lori, who’s apparently her mother’s spokesperson, commanded us to fraternize with our new packmates and learn the fifty or so rules of the Creek way of life.”
“I broke up with August on Monday,” I blurted out.
Sarah’s brown eyes broadened. “Okay, your crappy trumps mine. But only by a fraction . . .” She followed me over to the couch and sat daintily while I just dropped onto the seat cushion. “Spill.”
“Both Liam and Evelyn think I shouldn’t date a guy who’s a decade older.”
“Liam’s your ex, and Evelyn isn’t a shifter.”
I glanced at Sarah, at the wild blonde corkscrews framing her delicate face. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“He’s totally biased, and she doesn’t understand the importance of mating links.”
“What she doesn’t understand is what a twenty-seven-year-old man sees in an eighteen-year-old girl.”
“Did you tell her about the link?”
“I did, but that’s not why I’m with . . . was with August in the first place.” Ugh.
“I know, but maybe you could’ve used it to convince her that you’re incapable of not being with him.”
I snorted. The sound reminded me of August, which made my heart feel black and blue. “Like she would ever have fallen for that.”
“She’s not a werewolf. She doesn’t know how it works.”
“I don’t want her to think I’m with him because I’m incapable of being without him.” I burrowed deeper into the couch. “Doesn’t even matter. I got in a fight with him this afternoon because he found out I shared a cabin with Liam when I was out East, and he’s convinced something happened.”
“Did something happen?”
“No!”
She raised both her palms in the air. “I was just fact-checking. I like to get all my info before doling out advice.”
I leaned back into the couch and threw one arm over my eyes a tad dramatically.
“Just explain something. If you broke up with him on Monday, why are you having a jealous row two days later?”
“Because something almost happened between us this afternoon.”
“I think I might be more confused now than a couple seconds ago. Start from the beginning.”
And so I did. I told her everything in such detail that when I was done, the food in the little white takeaway cartons was cold.
“You do realize you’re ridiculous, and he’s ridiculous. Just fucking call him and tell him you lied, and tell Evelyn that you love August, graying hair and all.”
“His hair isn’t graying.”
She smirked. “Life’s too short, hun. You know this better than anyone else. You’re here today, but you might be gone tomorrow, so just focus on making yourself happy instead of pleasing everyone else around you.” She toyed with a diamond ring that looked a lot like the one which used to grace her uncle’s pinkie.
“But I don’t want people to pass judgment on August.”
“He’s a big boy. I’m sure he can handle it. I’m sure he’ll be happy to handle it if it means getting you back.”
I wasn’t so sure he wanted me back after this afternoon. “I asked him to dinner tomorrow night, and he said he wasn’t interested.” I didn’t clarify that I told him about it before inviting him because that would’ve won me an eye-roll, and I didn’t want an eye-roll.
I wanted a hug.
I settled on dumplings and fried rice.
A lot of dumplings and a lot of fried rice.
While I ate, we talked about the Creeks, because one, I was done talking about myself, and two, I was hoping Sarah had uncovered something we could use.
“Cassandra didn’t run with us during the Full Moon.”
Alphas always ran with their packs during the Full Moon. “Why not?”
“Lori said her mother was feeling under the weather.”
“Did Aidan Michaels run?”