“Okay, I get it. For the record, I’m not sure I could ever hate you.”
“But that’s the other thing, Tynan—you don’t know me. You’re all caught up in a beautiful dream a little girl left you with.”
Though I don’t want to hurt him, my words have an impact. My hand rushes out to grab his. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t being cruel. If you believe it so much, then respect her, me, and yourself enough and get to know me.”
“You talk as if our pack won’t work out.”
“You guys haven’t given me much to work with, though, have you? There are heaps of book babes out there who would swoon over the way you guys basically kidnapped me, but I’m more of a romance girly… I want to get to know people. Surprise dinners, walks at midnight, find out things we share in common. You know, the whole swept-off-my-feet thing.”
He doesn’t instantly dismiss me or argue back, which I take as a win.
“I thought we could give things a chance and talk like normal people about me working, which is not asking for your permission, by the way. Perhaps if Keegan knew where I was, he wouldn’t go to such extremes when I go out the next time. If you guys are all busy and don’t have time today…”
“It’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
He shrugs. “I’m surprised, is all. We all expected a fight.”
“I’m sure we’ll fight at some point during the conversation we need to have. Keegan’s too hotheaded.”
“He’s actually not.” Tynan stops talking, like he’s carefully thinking over what to say. “Look, he has a very short fuse if anyone threatens our pack. The event where we found you, was a complete shit show from the get go. Throw on top of that, you and Rafferty were injured, and he’s got a lot of pent-up anger and energy. But it’s not directed at you, although you seem to know how to push his buttons.”
“I didn’t say anything, and he threw his phone across the wall.”
“Well, Ronin was winding him up.”
“About?”
Tynan stops talking, and I see his thoughts ticking along loudly, which only proves my point.
“Alright, then, how about I leave my suggestion with you, and someone can get back to me. But I am working at the bar. I gather you know which one?”
The sharp nod is all I get. Interestingly, his subtle scent ghosts away to nothing, which means something about what I said upsets him. I turn around, heading back down to my bedroom, stopping at the door.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve got my days right and only slept one day away. I start at three-thirty today and am working until close, which is eleven-thirty. So, thanks for the offer of a work out but I won’t be able to today. Now, you or any of your pack are not coming to sit in the bar while I do a shift, that’s beyond ridiculous. Besides, I’m sure you’ve got more important things to do, like find out who the guy that snatched Daisy works for.”
I start to walk back to my bedroom, but stop and return to where he’s still standing. The desire to hug him is strong, but Ilock my hands behind my back, not knowing if he’d even want a hug from me.
“Thank you for looking after me, just now. I really appreciate it. I like that I can talk with you, and now I’ve explained why I was so weird at the gym that night, I hope we can spend more time together.”
He’s quiet, and I wonder if I’ve said something wrong, but his scent lets me know I haven’t. It’s back to normal again, driving me nuts with how much I like it. And then, when I think he’ll turn away and leave what I said unanswered, he doesn’t speak, but he brushes my hair behind my ear.
“Thanks again. I am going now,” I whisper, explaining myself for no reason, but he gets me muddled up by how easy and nice and simple it is being with him without the crush of designations.
God, a girl could fall for this pack if she wasn’t careful.
I let the door close behind me, but it doesn’t shut, nor do I lock it. It’s not like either of those things would keep them out. They’d just cut another hole in another wall as an entry.
Grabbing my phone, I sit in the small window alcove, looking over to Rafferty’s room as I check my emails and send a text to Walsh, triple-checking my start time. He replies almost straight away, but I get a second message asking to work at another private gig the next night. It’s an easy yes, and I let him know.
Next is working through the endless emails that seem to have come from nowhere. Seriously, I was offline for twelve hours, and it’s insane how many emails I have. Once I’ve worked through and deleted most of them, I flick over to a new book. Instantly, I’m transported into someone else’s drama, and I lose track of everything.
A light flicks on over in Rafferty’s room, and like the first time, I scuttle backwards away from the window that looks into his apartment like a cockroach on the run. I crash intosomething behind me at the same time as Rafferty starts searching my window.
A warm arm snakes up my T-shirt, the hand nearly covering my whole tummy. Keegan’s scent wraps around me like a snake, too, choking me. Cinnamon sugar is a nice way to die, though.
Keegan pulls me so my back is to his chest. “He’s worried about you. Wants to see you. He’s concerned you think we don’t want you because we have him.”
