“Was that a question or a statement?” he asks, shuffling through the papers.
There is a whole fucking stack of them, and he doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to open the shop even though it’s nearly nine.
“A statement.”
He shoots me a rapid glance. “Then why are you looking at me as if you’re waiting for an answer?”
“I’d like to know why you were hugging my mate.”
He finds the paper he’s looking for, places it on top, and then gets to his feet. “She’s not your mate.”
I clench my jaw. “She’llalwaysbe my mate.”
“In this case, no. And stalking is a crime.”
“I wasn’t stalking. I was watching out for her.”
He moves to leave the room. I block him. “What were you talking about?”
“You don’t have a right to that information.”
My hand slashes up, fingers wrapped around his throat. But loose. I don’t squeeze yet. “She’smine.”
He lifts his chin, eyes challenging me. “Shewasyours until you broke her heart. If this was the way you treated her, I understand why she’d nearly kill herself getting away from you.”
Hating myself, I drop my arm, and he steps around me.
I trail him, watching him open up the shop.
His day has just started, yet he moves slowly, as if it’s the end of a long day rather than the beginning. I don’t know why I’m not killing this guy. Alphas are possessive, especially over omegas. I should be choking this guy out, not feeling sorry for him.
Finally, I ask the one question I hadn’t wanted to admit to myself was the driving force of this visit. “How is she?”
“Hurting. Trying to hide it.” He glances at me. “It’s hard for her to move on with you inserting yourself back into her life. And she needs to move on. You put her through enough.”
Guilt is a spiked ball in my belly. “You know nothing.”
“I read the papers and watch the news just like everyone else. Apparently, you abandoned her at a party, and there were rumors of cheating. Since June turned her back on everything to start over, I’m going to assume you did more to her than cheat.” He flips the sign on the door from closed to open. “It would take a lot for an omega to reject her scent match, least of all three of them. Did you put your hands on her?”
“No,” I snarl. “And we didn’t cheat.”
He doesn’t look like he believes me. Given that the first thing I did was put my hands on him, maybe he’s right not to believe me. I look away. “I didn’t put my hands on her. I was not kind or even nice to her. We have enemies, and we thought she was one of them.”
When he doesn’t respond, I look at him.
He’s staring at me, incredulous. “Are you telling me that in the entire year where it sounds like you did everything to make her unwelcomenoneof you thought to actually confirm she was one of your enemies?”
I don’t say a word.
With every word that comes out of his mouth, he makes me feel like a bigger fool for not seeing what was right in front of my face. This guy couldn’t have known June for that long, yet he seems to know her better than we ever did, and we’re her scent matches.
“Three grown men and not a single brain cell between you,” he mutters, and I watch his estimation of me sink even lower. “Get out of my shop,” he says on his way to the counter.
I want to ask more about Juniper but I face an uphill battle. He has no interest in telling me anything about her new life, and I can’t say I blame him. I was an idiot in more ways than one. If she’s found a friend in this guy, I can’t hate him for that.
I consider leaving him my number in case Juniper ever gets into trouble, but I figure the first place that note would end up is the nearest trash.
I leave his shop. On my way to my car, parked a few feet away, I stop, staring into space as I think about a few things. I take my phone and send a quick text. After it vibrates with a reply, I put my phone away and walk back to the hardware store.
