Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The sweet scent of arousal wafted from my betraying body. I had to shut down whatever was brewing between us before he thought I was down for a one-night stand. I still hadn't changed my mind about that, and to be honest, if I let myself go there with him, I wasn't sure I'd be able to pick up the pieces afterward.
He had a hold on my mind, body, and soul.
I despised him for it.
A cocky smile appeared on his sculpted face. He knew exactly what he was doing to me.
Humiliated, I pivoted to walk around him, but he countered, staying in front of me. He placed a hand on my waist, and the tug grew even stronger.
"What are you trying to prove?" I asked quietly. "My boyfriend is in the other room."
"Boyfriend?" He stepped closer.
His scent overloaded my mind, turning me into a bundle of nerves. His own sweet scent slammed into me, making it clear I had an effect on him too.
"Hmmm..." he whispered as he placed a finger under my chin, tilting my head upward.
I licked my lips as my brain stopped working. "What?" I couldn't remember what he'd asked.
"Killian is your boyfriend ?" His nose wrinkled as his hands wrapped around my waist.
"We’re exclusive." I nodded my head. He already knew this. Why was he asking the question again?
His face fell, but he was close enough now that his chest brushed against me. "Are you attracted to him like you are to me?"
There was absolutely no way to get out of this gracefully, and he knew that. The asshole was setting me up to admit it either with my words or the stench of a lie. "It doesn't matter." I somehow found the strength to step back, putting distance between us, despite my body and my wolf warring inside me.
"Really?" He chuckled. "Because it kind of does to me." He moved right back into my space and kissed me, catching me by surprise. His lips were soft and warm, so damn inviting. My body hummed, wanting more of him.
When he slipped his tongue into my mouth, his delicious taste overwhelmed my senses, and a moan escaped from my throat. Thankfully, the noise startled me enough to snap me out of the moment.
I pushed him in the chest, hard. "Stop," I said as instinct and emotion warred inside me. A large part of me wanted to kiss him again and let him do things to me that had never been done before, but another part of me felt so much guilt. Even though Killian and I were only friends, we had promised to be exclusive. I'd broken his trust with my momentary weakness.
"Why?" he asked, licking my taste from his lips.
"I'm with your best friend ." He knew why. We had this conversation not even five minutes ago. "You can't kiss me when I'm with him."
Griffin shrugged. "Break up with him."
"And have a fling with you?" Oh, look. His douchebag side was coming out again. This I could handle. I circled him slowly, preparing to get away to help Luna. "You're saying you would do that to your best friend and to Luna?"
I had never despised someone as much as I wanted him before. I wanted to slap him and kiss him at the same time.
"I wouldn't be doing anything to them." He countered my movements, remaining close. "So, I'm going to ask—"
A whimper escaped from the bathroom, alerting us that Luna was stirring.
For the first time ever, I was ecstatic to hear her. I pushed past him and rushed into the bathroom. Anything that would give me distance from Griffin so my mind could focus once more.
She hacked as she lay, head raised, on the plastic floor of the tub. Her brown fur was drenched, and her head bobbed like she was dizzy.
I'd never been in that condition before, but Zoe had, one night when her parents had gone out of town. She’d invited me and a few more people to hang out, and they’d all gotten so drunk they were puking all over the floor. I refused to join them because Dad would've lost his shit—alphas didn't behave stupidly.
Wow, if only he could see me now. Behaving stupidly was all that I'd done, despite not meaning to.
Rubbing a paw over her face, Luna groaned.
"Let me grab you some clothes, and I'll be right back." I said the words, though I doubted she'd care. I remembered what it felt like to almost drown. Maybe being intoxicated on top of it was a blessing in disguise for her.
I hurried into Olive's room and grabbed a pair of black sweatpants that had Juicy written on the ass and a matching top. It looked like an outfit Luna would wear herself, so at least there was that. If I’d had clothes to spare, I would've made her wear mine out of spite, so it was probably a good thing that I had only a couple of pairs of boring pants to my name.
When I turned back toward the door, I found Griffin standing against the wall, watching me. His eyes were so dark I couldn't see any of the green. His smoldering expression sent chills up and down my body.
Focus, Sterlyn. He could break you, and you're already struggling to keep your shit together .
I tried to ignore him as I marched past, heading back to Luna, but it was so damn hard . The tug was now almost a yank , and every one of my cells seemed to be on fire. The need that surged through me nearly overwhelmed me.
Killian's door opened, and he stepped into the hallway. He frowned but didn’t say a thing, which made me feel even more guilty for the stolen kiss.
"You need any help?" he asked.
"Wow," Griffin said sarcastically. "Is that your way of telling Dove that you want to see other people naked?"
"Dude," Killian said as he faced his best friend. "What the hell? I didn't mean that at all!"
"Are you sure?" Griffin lifted both hands. "Because you know she's trying to get Luna to shift and get dressed, so I'm not sure how that could be taken any other way."
Oh, great. They were going to have a pissing match. I didn't want any part of that. "I'm good. Thanks." I was a little shocked that Griffin didn't volunteer to help get Luna changed, but I didn't overthink it. I despised the idea of him being near her anyway.
I left them scowling at one another and entered the bathroom, shutting the door behind myself. I laid the clothes on the bathroom sink and walked over to her.
This time, she was sitting with her wolfish head lying against the side of the cool plastic. When she sensed me, she turned toward me and let out a low growl.
Great. For all I knew, she was going to try to attack me again. "Come on, you need to get some food and water into you. Otherwise, you'll get sick again." I tried using a nice but not over-the-top tone with her.
She huffed and tossed her head.
I had no clue what she was trying to tell me to do, but if I was a betting woman, I'd say she was telling me to go to Hell. "I'm trying to help you."
She growled again in response and stood on shaky legs. Her eyes flicked from the door to me and back to the door.
Of course, she didn't want my help. "Okay, I'll go outside. I put the clothes on the sink in case you want to shift." I pointed to them. "Let me know if you need anything." When I opened the door, she huffed, making it clear that she wouldn't ask for my help even if she needed it.
Fine, let her struggle. I refused to kiss her ass.
When I stepped back into the hallway, Killian and Griffin stood in the living room, still glaring at one another. The drama was getting overwhelming. At this point, all I wanted to do was get Luna out of here and go to bed.
"You can't stand it that I got her first." Killian sneered. "Well, too bad. You need to stop sniffing around her."
Great, they were fighting over me. The last thing I wanted to do was come between the two of them. No girl should ever do that.
"If I hadn't been sniffing, she would've slipped away tonight since you obviously weren't paying attention to her." Griffin lifted his chin, daring his friend to disagree. "So maybe a ‘thank you’ is in order."
Oh, dear God. Did Griffin think that logic would work? If anything, he’d made the entire situation worse. I decided to intervene before things got even more upside down. "Hey, you two, cut it out." I stepped over to them, avoiding Killian's gaze. Each passing second caused more guilt to settle over me. "We have too much going on to be at each other's throats."
"Now that I can agree with." Killian grabbed my hand and pulled me beside him.
Griffin bared his teeth, making it clear that he didn't like Killian touching me.
Dammit. Luna was his girlfriend, and he’d kissed me. Not only had I betrayed Killian, but what did that say about Griffin? He had way too much influence over me. Hell, he got me to agree to stay.
We couldn't let our emotions get the best of us. "The entire day has been a shit show." That was the only way I knew to explain it. "All of our emotions are everywhere, and between me almost leaving and Luna almost drowning, we all need a time out." I dropped Killian's hand, not wanting to antagonize Griffin more than he already was, which was way too telling. I should be more worried about Killian than him, but I'd analyze that later. Right then, I needed space. “I’m going to my room for a second.” I grimaced, realizing that this would lead to more questions.
"Speaking of which." Griffin pointed a finger at the two of us. "If you two are together, why is she sleeping in your sister's room?"
The bathroom door opened, and Luna stomped down the hallway. When she saw the three of us, she sighed with what looked like relief. She weaved over to Griffin and threw her arms around him. "Thank you fur shaving my liiife."
I clenched my hands into fists as I worked to keep myself from grabbing her by the hair. I wanted to yank her the fuck away from Griffin, and I hated that she got to smell his delicious scent.
"That wasn't me." He removed her arms from him and took a step back. He wiped the spot on his shirt that she'd gotten soaking wet from her hair. "You can thank Killian for that."
"What?" she asked and blinked, turning to face Killian and me. When her gaze landed on me, rage filled her eyes. "Thissiz all yur fault." She shook her head hard from side to side. "You attacked me, and yur fur was siiilver."
Great. Even drunk, she remembered that I had silver fur, but not that it wasn't Griffin who saved her. She had it out for me, and I had no clue why. "You think I had silver fur?" I forced laughter, trying to make it sound like that was the funniest thing I'd ever heard.
Her face turned sour, and she ran her fingers through her hair. They got caught halfway through where there was a large knot. "I doan feel so good."
Yeah, I bet she didn't.
"Come on." Griffin walked to the back door. "Let's get you taken care of."
Her eyes lit up at his words while pure rage coursed through me. My breathing quickened, drawing Killian’s eyes to me.
Way to go, Sterlyn
"’Kay," she said eagerly and looped her arm through Griffin’s.
His face twisted, but he didn't remove himself from her clutches.
I wasn't sure if that was better or worse. At least, he didn't seem to be enjoying the contact, but he was letting her touch him. What if he continued to let her touch him when they got back to his house?
My wolf surged forward, howling with hurt and anger, and I clenched my fists so hard that my nails dug into my palm. However, it was enough to cause some rationale to flit back into my mind. What the hell was going on with me?
"I'll come back in the morning," Griffin said as he opened the door. "And I'll let you know the guards’ schedule." He winked at me before leading Luna out the door and shutting it behind them.
The asshole winked at me as he was taking another girl to his house. What the hell ? And why did it enrage me so much? He’d kissed me, and I told him no. If anything, that kind of made this partially my fault, but I’d made a promise to Killian.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Killian asked, and he touched my arm.
Like I would be answering that question. I couldn't admit to him how I felt about his best friend for so many reasons, although, granted, he probably had an inkling based on the scents of our attraction earlier. But Griffin was a player, and I had to remember that.
"Dove?" He squeezed my arm comfortingly. "Are you okay?"
"No." I wasn't okay for so many reasons. "My whole life keeps falling apart. Right when I felt some semblance of normal, I find a painting of me near a dumpster. Then I confirm Rosemary's suspicions while letting some random wolf overhear me admit to everything!" He already knew all this, but I couldn't stop. " Then I try to leave and get caught by that ass-clown—” I pointed toward Griffin’s house “—and then his drunken girlfriend attacks me. There is no part of this that's okay." Not to mention the kiss, which I would have to tell Killian about.
"Look, I get that we're more friends than lovers." Killian placed his hands on my shoulders, making me look at him. "But Griffin isn't good for you. This isn't me being jealous—I’m telling you as a friend. He doesn't want to settle down, and he makes a point to prove it at every opportunity. I don't want to see you get hurt. He has a way of making a girl feel special, and he seems to be focusing that on you, which pisses me off because we're best friends, and you're supposed to be my girl."
His words were like a slap in the face, even though I already knew that they were all true. And here it was. I had to tell Killian the truth. I’d made a promise to him, and I broke it. I had to take the blame and deal with the consequences. I didn't want to ruin their friendship. "Killian, I need to tell you something."
He tilted his head and inhaled sharply. "What?"
"Griffin and I kissed."