“What are you talking about?” he asked, throwing up his hands likeIwas the crazy one.
“Oh please,” I growled. “North would get on his knees and beg for you to give him a chance if you wanted him to. He’s loved you since we were teenagers. And you can lie to me and say you don’t love him, but I’m not stupid. I saw the way you were together. You were never like that with me or any other friend. You two were always different.”
“No,” he started, but I shook my head.
“If I walked up to hug North, he’d freeze. If any other person did, he’d freak the fuck out. But you never had that issue.”
“Only because I’m not the ‘hold myself back’ type and he knows that and accepts it,” he tried to protest but I snorted.
“Oh, and you don’t find him attractive?”
“What?” he whispered, face going pale.
“He stares at you like you’ve hung the moon. That man orbits you, and you’ve kept your distance. Do you not feel the same?”
Jack blinked, scrubbing a hand over his face. He was fidgeting now, like he could barely stop himself from moving. He didn’t answer, but he also didn’t protest.
“You got up the moment she and North shared a moment. Was it jealousy?”
Jack growled, glaring harder now.
“Are you going to let her steal him away? How does that make you feel?”
From the way his face and neck flushed and fists clenched, he hated it. I didn’t know how else to broach this subject.
“Come on,” I said after giving him a chance to talk and he let it pass. “Let’s go to the gym. We can work this out there.”
“What is there to work out?” he demanded. “What did she tell you?”
“I’m not letting you get in your own way anymore. Our omega deserves a cohesive pack and that starts with us and you working your shit out with North.”
“I’m not sure why you’re acting like you give a fuck now,” Jack snapped.
I’d let all his bullshit comments roll off until now, but that one hit hard.
“Of course, it matters to me,” I yelled back. “You and North were my best friends for most of our lives. And yeah, things were different between you two because you had feelings getting in the way. But I thought you felt the same about me. I reached out more than once when I left. Just because I had dreams bigger than Pine Ridge doesn’t mean I didn’t care. But, apparently, no one cared enough to keep in contact with me, either.”
“What, a text now and then?” Jack challenged.
“Try again,” I bit out. “It was more than that. I called for weeks on end. I tried to arrange trips home, and you didn’t wantto make time for me. Why do you think I stopped trying? When things get one-sided, it hurts. I’m not going to beg you to want to be around me.”
I exhaled a breath, trying to push all my anger out. This wasn’t going in the direction I intended but I, apparently, had my own buried feelings.
“We always talked about being a pack someday. And then you both cut me out the moment I had to leave.”
“Because I’m not going to be in a pack with someone like our dads,” Jack growled. “You and Mom can say what you want, but I’m going to doubt Aspen wants a pack that only sees her a few times a year.”
“You’re right,shewouldn’t want that. Aspen and I work in the same company, though. I will see her.”
“And how does that factorusin?” he demanded. “You’ll just go back to your job in the city and North and I are expected to follow? We have lives here, too. North owns a bakery and I work for the town.”
“Those aren’t decisions we make this early in a relationship. We’ll figure it out when the time comes. I hear you and I’m not dismissing it, but we aren’t exactly at the point of asking where she wants to live yet.”
“So, it’s just going to hang over us the whole time?” he demanded.
“What did Aspen tell you when she came in here?” I asked instead of answering.
“That she wasn’t going to let us turn this into a competition.”
