Matt went back to rubbing his jaw. “No. But I think you guys should talk. You don’t have to get back together or anything, but he’s real miserable, Ness. And his temper’s gotten evenshorter.”
“Not myproblem.”
“He’s your Alpha, so it sort of is your problem. It’s all of our problem. If he flips a switch, he could do something that could endanger thepack.”
“I’m not a shrink, Matt. Liam needs therapy. And I’m not saying that out of anger, but because his father really screwed him up. There’s nothing I can say or do that can fix that sort ofdamage.”
Matt screwed up his lips. “Tamara’s sniffing around himagain.”
“Did she everstop?”
“I guess not, but she’s really coming on strong thistime.”
I stared out the window at the rolling mountains flecked with evergreens and grass. My heartbeat slowed as I pictured Liam’s red-haired ex and the sneer she’d directed at me the night I’d gone out to Tracy’s with the pack. The night she’d all but called me ahooker.
“She can have him,” Isaid.
“Are yousure?”
I finally dragged my gaze back to Matt. “Yes.”
He studied his dirt-flecked work boots. “Is it because ofAugust?”
“August is like an older brother to me.” One who’d stopped visiting since our lakeside picnic. Not that he’d promised to come every day, but it would’ve been nice to see his face or hear hisvoice.
“I heard you two aremates.”
“Just because we’resupposed to bemates doesn’t mean we’re attracted to eachother.”
Matt snorted, which made mebristle.
“What?” Iasked.
“Nothing.”
“Why did yousnort?”
“Because you’re hot, and August’s a guy. And even if he might feel like a brother to you, the fact is, heisn’t.”
“So?”
“So he shot Sienna’s advances down the other day. And then this waitress, who he used to hook up with before Sienna, asked if he wanted a nightcap, and he rejected hertoo.”
I could see how him turning down girls could be misconstrued, but he was probably worried about his mother. Her surgery was on Monday.Iwasworried.
“He’s got a lot going on,Matt.”
“No unattached guy hasthatmuch going on that they turn down easy lays,Ness.”
I sat up and placed my mug down on the glass coffee table. “I might have atheory.”
“I’mlistening.”
This isn’t going to be weird . . .Then again this entire conversation was weird. It was the sort of conversation I should be having with Sarah instead of Matt. Not that Sarah and I hadn’t had it already. Sarah had been picking me up most afternoons to give me driving lessons in her red Mini, so the subject had comeup.
Jeb said she was probably trying to squeeze information about Everest and the Creeks out of me, but I doubted it. One, she could’ve gone to her uncle for information, and two, we didn’t discuss pack dynamics all that much. We mostly listened to music while discussing UCB and the courses I should take. I hadn’t gotten my acceptance letter yet. I imaginedit, as well as my tuition, were contingent to a talk with Liam. I hadn’t been ready to face him, but I was slowly gettingthere.
Next weekperhaps. . .
