She places her hands between her thighs, that damn knee still shaking frantically.
“The proper way?”
“A courtship,” I reply easily and her eyes go wide.
“Oh, well. I mean, I can’t quit my job.”
“No one is telling you to quit anything. This means we want to date you, see if this is a good fit. For everyone.”
She bites her bottom lip, and she takes a moment to sneak a look at all of us.
“I haven’t dated a pack before. I’m not sure I’d be any good at it. I’m not like my mom,” she says the last bit quietly, and it’s clearly directed at Nate, who’s now standing with me and Hayes, hovering over this poor woman.
“You not being anything like her is why I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. Not since the day I left that house or since you came back into my life. I can’t help but to feel like it’s fate,” Nate says earnestly.
She shifts in her seat. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Hayes repeats, his breath hitched like he thought he fucked this all up.
“Yeah, okay. We can go on a date. I have to finish my shift,” she says abruptly, and stands, making us all take a step back to give her space. She gives us a soft smile before leaving the small VIP space.
As soon as she’s gone, Nate and I turn to glare at Hayes.
He has a grimace on his face. “In retrospect, I realize this was not the best way to go about this. But it did work out in the end.”
“You better make right by her. She’s been through enough,” Nate says, a finger pointed at Hayes’ chest before he leaves the room as well.
“I fucked this up,” Hayes says, sitting down in the chair Hailey just left empty. He runs his hands through his hair and I sigh, taking over and petting his head.
Hayes is brash and impulsive, but equally just as complicated.
“If you actually like her, if you want to keep her, you can’t do anymore of this bullshit. No more secrets, no more going behind our backs. Do you understand?”
He nods and I scratch his scalp; he begins to calm down.
“Now, let’s go home, fuck the disobedience out of you, and plan this date.”
“Okay,” he replies with a shaky breath.
It’s going to take an endless amount of patience to keep us all in one piece.
CHAPTER 10
HAILEY
The night feelslike the longest shift of my entire life. I’m not sure why my first instinct was to think the worst of Hayes, Nate, and Sterling, but at that moment, it seemed like the most logical answer.
Hayes seemed too good to be true, and Nate never tried to contact me, not that I would have reached out on my own.
I have to just take a chance and hope that they aren’t lying. When Sterling caught me on stage, I felt safe with him, even though I was completely mortified. His scent is refreshing and heavy, and I felt wholly safe as he tried to explain the situation.
Doesn’t make me any less on edge. It’s not that I’m embarrassed about working at Lavender Moon, it’s just that any time it’s come up on dates, that’s usually when things head south.
All these men know what I do now, and they’re still interested in me?
I use a makeup wipe to remove everything from my face and Riley sits down next to me.
“I wasn’t eavesdropping…no, actually I was. What happened tonight?” he asks as he gets dressed.
