Page 132 of All Packed Up

With a chuckle and something that sounded suspiciously close to sarcasm, Nic made his way up the stairs. And Griffith followed him with his gaze the whole way.

What was it about sweatpants?

Chapter 32

NIC

Retreating to his room seemed like the best option. But when he got upstairs, all he could scent was Wendy and himself and Tate. Their scents swirled together in the room and were strongest by the bed.

It made him even more confused that they mixed so well together. Visions of last night flickered through his head like a late-night pay-per-view, and he tried to shut it down before his sweats got any tighter. But he was sure they’d be on repeat for a few more days, just like another forbidden thought.

That damned hope, the crazy idea that in a perfect world, Nic could have Wendy and reconcile with Griffith, and eventually things would just… work out. But now Tate was worming his way in there too. Which meant Arlo.

He hated to say it, to set himself up for failure but…

They’d make a great fucking pack.

But that was… it’d been like, a week! It all seemed so fast to be throwing around thoughts beginning with the P word.

There was still so much uncertainty. Between him and Griffith especially. Nic couldn’t deny that he fucking missed the alpha. Having him so close and so far away was plain frustrating. But at the same time, every time they were face-to-face, Nic blanked. He never had any idea what to say around the alpha, it was like he was a fucking virgin or some shit.

With a grumble, Nic pulled out his laptop and sat in the chair in the corner next to the window. The light from the window painted a glare across his screen, and he sighed as he scooted the chair around until he could see.

It just so happened that the angle now viewed the backyard, which included Griffith looking at that damned fence.

Nic shook his head and loaded up his email, seeing nothing… yet. Pulling out his phone, he intended to dial the gym, but a new text message caught his attention first.

It was from his landlord, well, his and Tate’s and Arlo’s.

“Good afternoon. I don’t want to cause alarm, but wanted to inform everyone of the events from last night. The building was broken into, so please exercise caution. No apartments were compromised. Contact me or the authorities if you see anything suspicious around our building. Stay safe.”

Oh fuck.

So the Sterling Pack was making progress, getting more desperate if they were willing to break the law. But at least no one was hurt, no apartments were actually broken into, and it seemed like the landlord wasn’t even that worried.

But Nic was.

With a curse, he dialed the gym.

“Good morning, thanks for calling All Jacked Up. How can I help you?”

Nic recognized the too sweet voice of his manager Ashley and shook his head. “Hey, it’s Nic. I wanted to call and check on everything.”

“Oh, hey! It’s been good. There’s been no schedule mishaps or anything, and we’re running smoothly.”

Oh. Well, that was good, right? That his business could stay standing even if he wasn’t there?

“Anything that needs my attention?” he asked.

Besides paying the bills for the place and making the next week’s schedule, he wanted to make sure he wasn’t missing anything.

“Uh, wait. Actually I think there was a voice mail for you, let me find it…”

The sound of shuffling came over the line, and Nic waited patiently. And waited some more.

He began tapping his fingers on the desk when Ashley put the phone down with a curse. The shuffling intensified.

“Ah-ha! I found it,” she exclaimed as she came back on the line.