Chapter 11
Effie Harlow
“Ihave never seen a place like this,” I openly admitted, my voice tinted with awe. I felt almost dizzy from turning my head to look around so often, my cheeks sore from smiling so much. I’d never been somewhere so unique before, and I felt like I was almost high on excitement.
“Reminds me a bit of the Bahamas,” Ryder mused, staring at me with a smile instead of looking around at the restaurant we were in.
“Wherever it is, that’s where I want to go on vacation,” I decided with a small nod to myself.
Of course, my wolf didn’t agree at all—especially because there wasn’t anything remotely snow- or winter-like in sight…
but she could flippin’ deal with it. They had palm trees in the lobby!
Seriously, everything here was painted in bright colors, and there were these unique animal statues everywhere.
That didn’t even include the little porches and shuttered windows that were randomly placed throughout the lobby, like at the entrance of the restaurant.
I had never been on a tropical vacation before, but with the beach music playing overhead, I began to feel like that was exactly the case.
“We can go there anytime you want.” Ryder leaned back in his chair, sliding his large arm around the back of mine, the two of us sitting next to one another despite having an entire table to ourselves. I turned my body into him, loving how close we were, as I inhaled his wonderfully familiar scent.
“Anytime? We can just hop on down to the Bahamas at any time?” I teased.
I didn’t think I would ever fully get used to that type of wealth, the one that allowed for the ability and luxury of being able to travel anywhere in the world.
It was an amazing thing, but the concept in reality just seemed impossible.
“Or anywhere else in the world.” Ryder’s voice was soft and sincere as he played with my hair where it hung down my back. I was wearing my outfit from earlier, but I sort of wished I had changed into a tank top or lighter shirt so I could feel his fingers against my skin better.
Before I could ask him where he’d want to travel, someone cleared their throat, drawing my attention to a younger man standing across the table, offering both of us a polite smile.
Well, I think it was supposed to be polite, but instead it made me feel on edge.
I found myself leaning further into Ryder, partly to distance myself from the younger man, but also because I loved the feeling of the vibrations that moved through me when his chest produced a rumbling that I found so ridiculously attractive.
I didn’t fully understand what it was about these noises my mates kept making that I loved…but I knew I would never get tired of them.
“Hi there, I’m Robert, your waiter for tonight.
” His light green gaze stayed completely on mine, causing me to feel more than a bit uncomfortable.
Normally I would have looked away, but the more I was around my mates, the less that urge existed inside of me.
Instead, I found myself holding his stare and narrowing my eyes, not liking the aggression coming off of him.
“What can I get you to start?” he asked when neither of us said anything, Ryder’s hand slid from the back of my chair to the back of my neck, his firm hold instantly calming me.
I looked up at Ryder and offered him a small smile, trying to not let it show how uncomfortable I was. But I should have known better—Ryder saw everything.
“A new waiter.”
I frowned in confusion as I looked back at Robert, who was paling into a sickly yellow shade while seemingly caught in the headlights of Ryder’s intense and disapproving glare.
My mate’s voice was dark. “I highly suggest you switch with your co-worker before you lose your job.”
The waiter was gone before the words finished leaving Ryder’s mouth.
Well, that was fast. I leaned forward and grabbed the menus he had left, handing one to Ryder, who was watching the waiter’s retreating form with narrowed eyes.
Maybe it should have bothered me that he had dismissed him so quickly, but instead I felt relief—something about his gaze had reminded me of Gerald’s friends, and I hadn’t liked that at all.
“Sorry about that, kitten.”
“No need to apologize,” I promised. “If you didn’t like him, there was probably a good reason.” Even if he couldn’t explain it, like myself.
“Yeah, the problem was that he wouldn’t stop looking at my fucking mate,” Ryder murmured. My cheeks instantly flushed, absolutely loving that he had used the term ‘mate.’
Then I processed his words.
“Wait, was that really the reason?”
“Yeah, you were uncomfortable also,” he explained, pressing a kiss to my temple before tapping the menu. “What are you hungry for? We could order several things so you can try them all.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say no to more food,” I said as he chuckled softly.
Nearly five minutes later, an older woman with a friendly smile came to our table and took our order, seemingly surprised by how much Ryder said we wanted.
I think it made a tiny bit more sense when he mentioned packaging about half of it to go.
I wanted to make sure the others got a chance to eat, especially once Julian and Dakota woke up from their naps.
My gaze moved towards one of the only windows in the restaurant, noticing that the snow seemed to only be growing more intense, and I felt a surge of hope that we would maybe stay the night. That was followed by guilt—I couldn’t afford to miss any more class.
At the same time, school felt like a toxic environment because I knew I would be living in constant fear of being cornered again. It made me not want to leave my dorm, let alone go to class. I drew my lip in, nibbling on it hard, until Ryder tilted my jaw up to meet his gaze.
“What’s on your mind, kitten?”
“I don’t know how I feel about school anymore,” I admitted.
“I love learning, and I love that I now have a major but… I know I’m going to be nervous going to class.
I don’t want to risk you guys getting in trouble, either, over what happened.
And I really don’t want you to lose your teaching job, so I feel all messed up about going back to campus. ”
“You don’t have to go to Silver Falls.” Ryder’s face was filled with a serious nature that had me hanging onto his every word like a life raft.
“In fact, you can transfer anywhere, Effie. The only reason people are sent to Silver Falls is to find a mate. Sure, they disguise it with other bullshit, but I don’t think you would find any resistance from the others to transferring and starting fresh. ”
I felt my eyes widen. “I can’t ask everyone to do that. Plus, where would we even go?”
“Anywhere, stateside or international,” Ryder stated it as if it was the easiest thing in the world. Didn’t he realize I’d never even thought about attending college, let alone leaving the Midwest? My mind whirled as I tried to piece together what I wanted.
“I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“Where do you want to live long-term?” He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.
“I had always assumed it would be the Midwest…” I hesitated, thinking about our future. About possibly having a family one day. I didn’t want them around any of this or any of the horrible individuals I’d met so far. “But I think I want somewhere else. I just don’t know where.”
“Let’s focus on getting through this semester and then we can travel this summer and figure it out,” Ryder said, his calm and patient tone making me breathe easier.
Then my cheeks lit up as I looked down at the colorful hand-tiled table, beyond pleased at the realization he planned on being around this summer.
“What?” he rumbled, the sound causing my toes to curl.
“I just like that you’re talking about this summer,” I admitted.
Ryder’s eyes lit up as he ran a thumb over my lip, the action causing me to shiver. “I’m going to be around way longer than that, Effie.”
Emotion flowed through me, but before I could say anything back, our waitress came back with several trays and boxes.
I was normally easily distracted, but it did not help when I had food placed right in front of me.
Specifically a burger that I almost immediately began eating.
I felt a bit of embarrassment that I’d dug in right away, but when Ryder did the same, I relaxed.
I hated that I still felt a bit weird about food, but after a lifetime of Gerald and Theresa’s treatment, it was a hard habit to break.
When my stomach made noises because I was hungry, they called me ungrateful.
When I ate too fast, they claimed I was greedy.
When I didn’t want to eat, they forced me.
It hadn’t been a pleasant environment, and yesterday had shown me so drastically how much my life had changed for the better. After only a minute or two of eating, Julian strode down into the restaurant, looking around before finding us and beelining, his face filled with tension.
“What’s wrong?” Ryder demanded, clearly feeling the negative energy coming off of him.
“Dr. Hastain called Caedmon’s father, who then called Caedmon to let him know he expected Caedmon to be on campus tonight. We need to get back.”
My wolf let out a dangerous noise from my throat at the idea of Caedmon’s father.
A fierce protectiveness rose up as I looked towards the door of the restaurant, noticing that the others were standing there, ready to go.
I stood and nearly ran into Caedmon, wrapping my arms around him and burying my head against his chest. I didn’t need to look at his face to feel the anger rolling off of him.
I felt a violent surge go through me, wanting to hurt his father for making him feel this way. For making him ever feel fear.
“We don’t have to go back.” I put my head up and looked right into his eyes, which were a deep emerald shade filled with shadows. “We can go anywhere else. We never have to go back. I don’t want you to have to see him.”