Chapter 4 - Kaleb
I tapped my fingers on the table, still going over the conversation with Nora.
I could see the anger in her eyes and how she didn’t want to listen to what I had to say.
I didn’t know why I expected her to. She was right.
Just a month ago, I was telling her that her feelings were one-sided, and yet now I wanted her to play pretend for me.
She had every right to get mad and demand me too leave. Which meant I needed to think of something else to get my father off my back.
I sighed, and Brandon turned to me. He crossed his arms, giving me an annoyed expression. Asher and Westley both looked away from their phones. “Okay, you’ve sighed like ten times since you sat down. What the hell is your problem?”
“Nothing,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “I’m fine.”
“You look like you have a stick up your ass that you need yanked out,” Asher said with a smug smile.
I rolled my eyes. “Just have a lot on my mind, is all.”
It doesn’t help that my father has been questioning me about Nora. When did you guys start dating? Why didn’t you tell me you guys were together? What did I see in her? How serious were we? He had hounded me with questions when I got back home that night.
I couldn’t admit we weren’t together, but I knew I only had a few more days before he was going to start calling out my bullshit, and I would really need to come up with a story. I would need to either come up with an even better lie or the truth.
“If you don’t want the position of Beta, I’ll gladly take it,” Asher offered, running a hand over his dark black hair. I glared at him.
“Brandon would never give it to you.”
“Yeah,” Westley elbowed Asher with a head nod. “He’d give it to me.”
Brandon snorted as he shook his head. “Are you guys done?”
I looked at Brandon, my best friend since I was little. The guy I told all my secrets to, the man I leaned on when times were tough. He was my brother.
Brandon had changed a lot since we arrived back in town. I had always been close with him, but since he got with my sister, I’d seen a gentler side of him. I saw him turn into a father, soften up for his daughter, and protect like I’d never seen before.
I glanced at Asher and Westley, who were looking down at the schedule we had printed out. I considered them like my brothers as well. We had all seen things together, fought things together. We had a bond that only came from seeing the worst in each other.
Asher had held my hand when Brandon had to dig a bullet out of my calf just a year into our service.
He promised we were going to make it out, even if he had to carry me.
We had gone out for drinks endless times.
He told me about his family and how he loved what he did.
He did it for them after losing his parents to a murderer.
Westley and I had gone undercover for six months together.
Got into a brawl over milk one afternoon because we were practically living on top of each other, trying to get intel.
We gave each other broken rips and busted lips.
Brandon was ready to kill both of us for acting like animals.
But I learned a lot about Westley during that time, and he learned a lot about me.
“I’m not saying I can’t handle the job,” I pointed out. “I’m just saying I have a lot going on between the house hunting, my father, and my sister.” I waved at the schedule. “Is this finalized?”
“That is the plan,” Brandon said. All of us looked down at the schedule he had made out for us. Since Brandon wanted one of us awake at all times, we had a schedule made up. Asher and Westley had managed to do look out at night, but we could tell it was wearing them out.
“For the next couple of months, we will switch between days and nights. I obviously will not be able to do nights as much as you three, but I will help where I can.”
I didn’t expect Brandon to do overnights at all. Between the Alpha duties he had during the day, he was left with hardly enough time to sleep as it was.
“Are you sure about this?” Asher asked, “You don’t need to stretch yourself any thinner than you already are.”
Brandon shook his head. “I’ll be fine. It’s just for now. Once we get a couple of guys up to speed and trained closer to our level, we can come back to it.”
Brandon leaned back in his chair. “Report on last night?”
“Nothing to tell,” Asher said. “It was uneventful. We haven’t seen one in a couple of days now. Has Jade sensed anything?”
Brandon shook his head. “No.”
I could feel the worry that we were all thinking. We all saw the town after the hybrids were there. It was terrifying. And if we didn’t get something figured out, all the surrounding areas, including us, were doomed.
I left the meeting feeling like I had more questions than answers. I knew that we were all feeling off balance. Asher and Westley were exhausted from staying up overnight. Brandon was feeling the weight of pulling the pack back together. I felt like I’d returned home to the issues I left behind.
I arrived at my father’s house and was relieved when I noticed his car wasn’t in the driveway.
I only had a few things to pick up for the house since I finally put an offer in on a house.
It was just the next day after I spoke with Nora, and now ten days late, I got the keys.
I wasn’t expecting it to happen so quickly, but the owner had already moved out months ago.
The house had sat empty since. I was grateful because I couldn’t handle my father constantly bothering me with questions.
When I first started looking at houses, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to buy. The plan had been simple: come in, save the town, and go back home or die trying. I never planned to stay. Even when Brandon decided I’d been on the fence.
I had an apartment that was a ten-minute drive from the office. I had pulled an entire life together near our base in California. I never set down roots since we were constantly moving, so it felt wrong to try to do so here.
But I knew this was different. I already lost over three years of time with my sister. Didn’t even know I had a niece that I lost time with. I felt a tug to be here.
So, I bought the house and decided to settle down here. But that didn’t mean I was going to get married, have children, and look for that life. I didn’t want to end up like my father. I knew where to draw the line in the sand.
I shook my head, reminding myself I needed to focus. “Just grab your stuff, Kaleb. Before dad gets back.”
I grabbed the last of the things I needed and headed to my house. It was close to Brandon and Jade’s house—just four blocks away. It was a small cottage-shaped house, only a little over a thousand square feet, but it had recently been remodeled and was mine.
I headed inside and tried to focus on getting everything unboxed, but I didn’t have a lot.
I stared at the bare walls. I didn’t have many photos or any posters to hang up.
My bedroom consisted of a bed and a matching dresser.
The living room had an L-shaped couch facing a mounted TV.
The kitchen was even empty. I had a coffee maker on the counter next to my juicer.
I was unboxing the silverware when I heard a knock at the door. I paused, looking across the house, taking in the glass front door. I could see a body’s silhouette, and I knew it wasn’t any of the guys.
I headed down the hallway and opened the door. I wasn’t expecting it to be Nora. She stood with her arms crossed, as if I had interrupted her rather than her knocking at my door. Her lips tightened, and she tapped her foot as she stared at me for a solid second.
“What are you doing here? Actually, how did you even know I lived here?” I had only told the guys, and I doubted she would ask them where I was.
She gave me a shrug. “I have ways.”
Before I could even ask her any questions, she squared her shoulders, suddenly taking on a different look. “I’ll agree to your arrangement.”
I blinked, and then I blinked again. I was so sure she was never going to speak to me again, let alone agree to my idea.
“But I’ll have some ground rules,” she added. “Otherwise, no deal.”
“You’re agreeing to being my girlfriend?” I asked, making sure she understood what I wanted.
“Fake, emphasis on the fake, Kaleb.” She uncrossed her arms. “It’s not real, so I can handle that.”
“What changed your mind?” Something had to have happened for her to agree now. Had I been right about Ryan? Was he doing more than just making her uncomfortable?
She gave me another shrug, not giving me any details with her face. “I have my reasons. Do you want me to agree with this or not?”
I did. I didn’t know why she was suddenly hopping on board, but I wasn’t going to question it too hard. Otherwise, she might change her mind back.
I held my hand out. “Okay, you have a deal.” She looked unsure about shaking my hand, and I raised an eyebrow at her. “I don’t bite.”
She rolled her eyes and reached her hand out. My fingers wrapped around hers, and I felt a sensation go up my arm like electricity. I swallowed, knowing she had to have felt it too. But I didn’t want her to read too much into it.
“Okay.” I pulled the door further open. “Let’s discuss this. I’m sure you have just tooonnsss of demands that you want me to fulfill as your fake man. That and it’s cold out.”
I was trying to get her to laugh, considering what we were discussing, but she didn’t.
Her lips pulled in tighter, and she rolled her shoulders back.
She looked like she was going into a fight rather than discuss something with me.
“No, I have places to be. I can email you everything. If you have any questions after the emails, we can talk.”
I didn’t even have a moment to respond before she turned, heading back to her parked car. I looked at her, confused. Why was she agreeing to this when it was clear that she didn’t want to agree to this? If anything, it was clear she hated my guts and wanted nothing to do with me.
I frowned, knowing this was a terrible idea. How were we supposed to look like we were dating and in love when she looked at me with such contempt?
I shut my door when my phone vibrated. I raised an eyebrow as I took in the email she sent me.
She made a list of dos and don’ts. I could tell she had put a lot of thought into this.
We could hold hands, but no interlocking of fingers.
I could kiss her, but the mouth was not allowed.
I could hold her and hug her, but no longer than ten seconds.
In big letters, she wrote, “No feelings whatsoever.” Everything is emotionless.
I pulled a hand up and pinched my nose. “Fuck.” This was going to be harder than I thought.