Chapter 14 #4
to another girl. A pit forms in my stomach, and I feel silly because of course he’s going to talk to other girls. I was just
trying to matchmake him a second ago. He’s probably trying to show me he doesn’t need me to matchmake him. The ass.
Not that it would be a good idea to set him up anyways. He says he’s not planning to be in America long term, and he’s not
a relationship guy. Those are two ticks that would get him booted off my list of matchmaking hopefuls real quick.
Claire excuses herself when she gets a call, telling me that her girlfriends are lost and she needs to guide them to Hilow’s
place. She’s still super-close to her friends from band and choir, so I wave her off and maintain my spot in the kitchen to
do some people-watching.
After finishing my drink, I realize I’m being antisocial, so I push off the counter and make my way over to join Wolf in the
corner when I see a familiar face walk in the front door that causes my stomach to drop. It’s not Claire and her sweet band
friends. It’s Taya Donalson, the girl from my high school who crushed me with very little effort.
And she’s walking in like she owns the place. So very on-brand of her.
My pulse quickens, thrumming in my ears, my neck, and my fingertips, so I beeline across the room right over to Hilow, who’s
in the middle of a conversation. I yank his arm so he’s forced to look at me. “Did you invite Taya here tonight?”
Hilow’s eyes widen. “Oh, yes. Is she here?” He stands up tall to look over the mob of people currently separating me and her.
“What the hell, Hilow? You know I can’t handle her,” I hiss, my tone acidic as my shoulders tense.
Hilow looks down at me in confusion. “Isn’t that old high school stuff? Surely things have changed now, haven’t they?”
“No, nothing has changed.” I seethe and turn on my heel to walk away from him, ignoring his pleas behind me. Hilow is one
of the only people who knows the horrors that girl bestowed on me, aside from Taya, who I’m sure remembers things very differently.
I head back to the kitchen, my eyes landing on the counter of booze in front of me. Booze is what I need to be in the same
room as fucking Taya. I’ll figure out how to get home later. I’ll call my dad for a ride if I have to.
I grab a bottle of Fireball and pour myself a double shot and down it in one fell swoop, relishing in the burn of cinnamon.
I pour another and take it, sniffing loudly as the flavor blasts through all my senses.
“What the fuck are you doing?” a deep voice booms behind me.
“What does it look like?” I reply, not looking back.
“I thought you were only having one. We have to get back up the mountain.”
“Things change, Wolfy. Keep up.” I prepare to pour myself another shot, but Wolf’s warm hand grips my arm and halts me in
my tracks.
My shoulders drop as I sigh heavily and shake my head, my eyes swimming with rage. I turn around and lean back on the counter,
my lips taut as I look past Wolf to the familiar brunette across the room, slowly making her way inside.
“What the fuck is going on?” he asks, his tone harsh.
My throat tightens as I notice Taya’s with the other two mean girls from my high school days. Three girls who made my life miserable. Girls who I thought were my friends but . . .
Wolf’s fingers clutch my chin as he forces me to look up at him. “Start doing that babbling thing you do because I need to
know why I’ll be fucking punching a guy out.”
“Who would you punch out?” I ask, my voice rising in pitch.
“I’ll start with Hilow.” He shrugs like it’s the most obvious answer.
“What did he do?”
“I don’t know, but he fucking irritates me. And I hate his shirt.”
I balk at that. “He didn’t do anything. Not really. Some girls just showed up that I didn’t know were going to be here. I
can’t believe Hilow didn’t tell me. He should have told me.” I blow out a long breath and feel my chin quiver with emotion.
“Maybe you can punch him.”
“What did they do to you?” Wolf asks, his voice low and threatening. His brown eyes lock on me with concern and anger. Anger
that I don’t fully understand because he still doesn’t know me all that well to be this protective.
Then again, he has a sister. This is probably the big-scary-brother bit he must be doing. Maybe as her best friend, I get
adjacent big-brother privileges. The alternative is just too ridiculous to imagine . . . right?
“They made my life hell.”
“How?”
“By making me feel pathetic.” I sigh heavily. “I am pathetic.”
“No, you’re fucking not,” Wolf growls. “Don’t talk about my sister’s best friend like that.”
My eyes snap up to his, and the concern I see is so touching it brings tears to my eyes. “I don’t want to look like a failure
to them.”
“What do you need from me? What can I do?”
“I don’t know.” I inhale a trembling breath as they begin moving toward us, my heart hammering in my chest. “I just . . . I went to Dublin to get away from them, from everything. From feeling like a pathetic loser. And now I’m back, and literally nothing has changed.
I cut my hair, like that was somehow going to make me look like a new person.
But I’m not. I’m not. I’m still just me.
This over-the-top nuisance who all of them only pretended to like. ”
“Let’s fucking bugger off, then,” Wolf grumbles under his breath.
“No, I’m not leaving,” I snap, my chin jutting out defiantly. “I’m going to face those fucking assholes and not let them think
they still have power over me.” An idea strikes me, and I reach up to grab Wolf by the shoulders. “I know what you can do!”
“Anything,” he whispers, and I can’t help but jerk my head back at the desperate look on his face.
I blink and refocus when I ask straight up, “Will you be my boyfriend?”
“What?” Wolf’s eyes flare with horror that makes me want to cry or laugh. See? Pathetic.
“Just for pretend so I don’t look like the same old Everly they fucked with,” I add with urgency. “Will you do that, Conri?
Just for an hour. Then we can get out of here, and I will owe you the most massive favor ever. Please, please, please?”
A deep grumble vibrates in his chest, but he nods stiffly.
“Thank you, I love you, thank you.” I grab his arm and yank him around to stand beside me just as Taya closes in.
Wolf
“Everly Fletcher?” a brunette girl calls out from across the room as her eyes slide up and down me and then right over to Everly, who’s currently shaking with anxiety and wriggling to wrap my arm around her.
I feel bad she’s struggling with my embrace, but I can’t exactly make my limbs work on command at the moment. A lot has transpired
in the last sixty seconds. More than I was prepared for. I guess I need a few more seconds to absorb the fact that I’m going
to be Everly Fletcher’s fake boyfriend for a moment.
Never mind that I’ve never been anyone’s real boyfriend, but sure, let’s start here as a fake one at some random party house
in America. Sink or swim time, Wolfy.
Wolfy. I can’t help but mentally repeat what Everly fucking called me. I would have her arse for it if she didn’t look so despondent.
It’s shocking, really.
Sure, Everly Fletcher isn’t exactly known to be Miss Social, but she always carried herself with so much confidence in Dublin.
She walked around like the world was made just for her.
This Everly that’s being revealed tonight is the exact opposite of that. She’s nervous and withdrawn and fighting back so
many emotions I’m not sure which one to react to.
Then again, if I had to go back and face all my past classmates from secondary school, I’m not sure I’d fare much better.
I blow out a long breath and relax my hand around her waist, allowing my fingers to clutch her outer hip in the possessive
sort of way a boyfriend might hold his girl. I loop a finger through one of the belt loops on her jeans and drop my shoulders
a bit, my jaw brushing against her hair. I can do this. I can pretend to want Everly Fletcher.
“Great to see you, Everly. Your hair looks amazing,” the brunette with a high, slicked-back ponytail says as she walks over
to us like she’s floating. The words she said sure sounded like a compliment, but the look in her eyes make me think it’s
all bullshit.
“Hi, Taya, it’s been a while,” Everly says, her voice sounding weak and unsure. I hate it.
I turn my head and bend my neck to kiss her bare shoulder, willing her to do better. Her skin is warm and salty, and I fight
the urge to run my tongue along her flesh just for a better taste.
She sucks in a sharp breath at my touch, and I feel a shiver run through her body. My own shudders in response. Maybe the
kiss was a bit much, but I’m just going on instinct here.
“Who’s this?” the annoying girl asks in a smacking tone that grates on my fucking nerves.
“This is Wolf,” Everly replies, holding her chin up a bit higher as I pull her in closer, setting my body on fire like I do
it all the time. Our bodies are flush next to each other, my cock pressed against the side of her waist, and I hate how much
I enjoy this kind of touch.
“Her boyfriend,” I add, the word strange and unfamiliar on my lips, but I think I pull it off.
“Wolf?” Taya laughs, looking back at the two girls behind her who look just as evil as their ringleader. She licks her lips
and steps closer to me, her eyes full of sex as she adds, “Why do they call you Wolf?”
I blink slowly at her, shocked that I’ve somehow been plunked into the middle of an American film where the cliché mean girls
go after the awkward, unfortunate girl. It’s a tired fucking story and one that sadly happens in Ireland as well.
But little does this girl know, I’ve been on the receiving end of far too many of these moments myself, and I’ve well and
properly outgrown them.
I force a smile and answer, “Because my name is Conri, and it means King of the Wolves . . . and also because I bark like
a dog.”
She jumps back when I aggressively bark.
“Fucking asshole,” she snaps, her eyes turning lethal on me and then sliding to Everly.