“Calder!” Kady nudges his shoulder. “Professional boundaries, remember?”
He clears his throat. “Sorry, of course. Maybe we should get back to the questions I prepared?”
“I have some questions of my own.” Kady steeples her fingers under her chin, leaning toward me.
“This is why I didn’t tell you about this meeting,” Calder speaks through gritted teeth.
“Look, I may as well tell you that I didn’t only come here for the interview.” I decide I have nothing to lose. “I was hoping to speak to you.”
Kady meets my stare with an icy one. “Perfect, so we can skip past the bullshit.” She slams her small fist on the table. “Did you come back to torture Delilah some more? It’s bad enough what you did last year, but now you sent her on a date with one of your packmates!”
I didn’t expect her to come at me with accusations right away.
“Tae didn’t know anything about Delilah.” I wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans. “Them meeting was an accident.”
“You really expect me to believe that?” she scoffs. “I can’t trust anything you say.”
“He’s telling the truth,” Nash chips in. “He didn’t tell us about Delilah until after her date with Tae.”
“So he lied to you too?” Kady laughs bitterly. “Lying seems to come so easily to you, Jagger.”
“Kady.” Calder rests a hand on her wrist, her temper seeming to be reaching boiling point. “We’re in the office, remember?”
She slaps his patting hand away. “I’m perfectly aware of where we are.”
“I want to speak to Del,” I tell her. “I have to explain myself. I owe her an explanation.”
“An explanation?” Her nostrils flare. “What you did was unforgivable. No explanation could justify the damage you’ve done.”
“She has a point,” Calder agrees. “Leaving an omega after heat like that...” He shakes his head. “Not cool, bro.”
“He’s not your bro,” Kady snaps.
I suspect he’s going to be in trouble later.
“I know what I did was wrong.” I bow my head in shame. “Really fucking wrong. She deserved—no,deserves—better.”
“You told her she was your scent match,” Kady practically growls. “Do you realize how big a deal that is? Delilah’s not one of your Fireflies. She’s the sweetest, kindest person I’ve evermet, and you…” For the first time, her anger seems to temper down, but the sadness on her face may be even worse than her wrath. “You… broke her.”
“I…” I wring my hands, fear creeping in that I’ll never have the chance to win back Delilah. “I know what I did was terrible. Fuck…” I rake my hands through my hair. “But I didn’t lie to her. I meant what I said. Sheismy scent match. I still believe that. I?—”
“How could you leave your scent match?” Calder’s hand strays to Kady’s knee, and surprisingly, she doesn’t shrug it off this time. “I can’t imagine leaving…”
“I want to make it up to her, Kady.” My voice comes out stronger now.
“She’s too good for you.”
Her harsh words hit me like a drumstick bashing a cymbal.
“I know,” I agree in a choked whisper. “But I have to speak to her, even if it’s just a chance to apologize. I’m not the same guy who left last year. I have a pack now.” I glance at Nash. “A pack that has made me a better person.”
“At least his pack knows how to fix radiators and make decent coffee,” Kady mutters to Calder, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Nash snorts. “Ouch.”
The atmosphere is so tense that I’m seriously considering burying myself under the mountain ofThe Valley Voiceissues stacked in the corner.
“Besides, I don’t know why you think I would help you speak to Delilah.” Kady drums her fingers on the table. “To be frank, I told her to stay away from you. And if you thought giving her tickets to your sold-out show would change anything?—”
