“Anything is better than my current job.”
“You’re not going to end up at the Bowl. You’re stronger than you think.” Stella picked her paint brush up again. “And we all know Ethan would never kick you out.”
“He’d sooner beg you to stay,” Abby put in.
He’d sooner buy me multiple rainbows of dishes than kick me out, actually. Ethan didn’t really beg.
“He’s going to want to do something about Dr. Ben. Threaten him, at the very least,” Stella said. “Otherwise, this is going to happen again.”
“Knowing Ethan, he’ll probably come up with a super convoluted plot, like registering as a student and harassing Dr. Ben until he does something unprofessional, then reporting him repeatedly until he loses his job for it.” Abby spoke faster as she developed “Ethan’s” plan.
“You’re strangely excited about the potential of this plan,” Stella said.
“He deserves it. If he’s this touchy with Maya, I’m sure he’s worse with the students.”
I went still.
I… hadn’t thought about that.
Why hadn’t I thought about it?
Guess I was going to have to let Ethan do something to get that bastard fired.
“We’ll come up with a plan,” I said.
“Take notes. We want to hear all about it,” Abby said with a smile.
“What are you painting?” I asked Stella, turning the conversation away from me.
She tossed me the print of a photo Connor had taken, explaining how she’d started paying him to use his pictures a few months earlier.
The conversation flowed easily. When their mates came home from work, I made my escape, driving back to Ethan’s place.
Walking around to his back porch, I sat down on a bench and watched the sun go down, forcing myself to face my emotions.
If Ethan and I looked each other in the eyes and weren’t mates…
My throat swelled and my heartbeat picked up at the idea of it.
I would be upset. Really upset. Hell, I’d bedevastated.
Would I walk away from him, if that happened?
I had to think about it, and honestly?
No.
I wouldn’t.
I’d stay, because I like being with him. More than liked it.
Fuck. I really was in love with him.
I dragged a hand over the top of my hair.
Being mated to Ethan would be… well, it would be like what we already were. But more. Maybe even better?
We could live together all of the time instead of driving back and forth. Meet up for lunch every day if we had time. Get ready together in the mornings.
