Chapter Seven
Jamie
Cecile waves at me as she comes into the café.
It’s Sunday, the day after Em’s move into our house, and I was honestly half-tempted to stay at home, but Nick pointedly reminded me about my standing appointment.
He might not be keen on the whole supernatural thing, but even he can’t resist Cecile’s charms.
Well, it’s half that. Half the fact that he already knows I’m in way too deep with Em. I need to give him time to settle. To breathe.
“You look pleased with yourself,” Cecile says. She sets her latte down on the table and shrugs off her coat. She got her hair cut a few weeks ago, and now sandy curls bounce around her face as she sits down. “Patch finally get his head out of his arse, or what?”
I huff. I told her about his rejection, of course. I’d already told her I wanted to test the waters anyway, so she was always going to ask me how it went.
“Haven’t seen him since I talked to him outside the pub, so no,” I mutter. “He’s avoiding me.”
“I heard he got a new flatmate. Maybe he’s busy.”
I shrug. It’s only a matter of time before our paths cross again. At some point, we’ll end up at a dinner at Kieran’s flat at the same time. They’re all expecting him to join the pack at some point, anyway. Then I’ll see him whenever I see Vince.
“It’s not Patch. He made himself clear.”
Cecile hums and takes a sip of her latte. She knows more than me—not about Patch, necessarily, since they’re in different packs, but just on account of the fact that she is a wolf.
Doesn’t matter. I don’t want to talk about him. I don’t want to think about him, not with the weird pang I get in my chest when I do.
“We got a new housemate.”
Cecile immediately brightens. “Ooh, nice! Who are they? Has Vince met them yet?”
“His name is Em,” I say, and from the way Cecile’s expression sharpens, I know I’ve given myself away once again.
Oh, well. That’s always been inevitable.
“He’s posh as fuck, I think, but he’s really nice.
And no, Vince hasn’t been by yet. He was blowing up Nick’s phone, but Nick said to give it a week so we don’t scare him away. ”
Even though we’ve already got six months’ rent up front, Nick’s taking the whole thing seriously. I don’t mind that. It’s strangest for him, after all. He and Vince lived together for ages before I moved in with them, so he’s essentially had two new housemates in, what, eighteen months or so?
“Em.” Cecile rolls the word around in her mouth. “He’s cute?”
I flush and look down into my mostly empty coffee mug. “Yeah,” I mutter. “But I do know better than that.”
Except for yesterday, I guess. A little flirting is harmless, surely? After all, Em didn’t push for it to go anywhere.
“What else do you know about him?”
“He’s never put up IKEA furniture in his life.
” I smile when Cecile shakes her head, amused.
“He came to London for work. Says he does customer support, but he moved to be closer to the company because they’re looking to move him into a different position.
He works late—I heard him moving around last night. ”
“Friends? Family?”
“We’ve not really talked about any of that. It’s not even been twenty-four hours.”
“You have a whole interrogation planned?”
I avert my gaze. “Maybe.”
She cackles, which has some heads turning in our direction, but if Cecile notices, she doesn’t care. Her eyes glitter when they meet mine again. “What about the rest of us?”
“The rest of you?”
“Vince is going to meet him, obviously.” Cecile holds up her hand, ticking people off on her fingers.
“That means Dax, too. If Patch ever gets his shit together, that’s someone else.
And you know what Alpha Kieran and his pack are like—one of them will be over to check Em isn’t about to blurt out any secrets, and then they’ll adopt him just like they do everyone else they talk to. ”
“You’re not in their pack.”
“Like that means anything. I got four different texts yesterday about dinner tonight.”
Huh. I frown, grip tightening on my mug. “Dinner?”
“It’s Sunday.”
It is, and I know Drew makes dinner for everyone on Sunday, except on rare occasions when Sam or Adam force him to take a break. He likes having everyone there, everyone round, and I definitely don’t go every week, but still—
Vince usually texts me, at least. Just to ask.
Cecile’s eyes soften. “Vince knows Em just moved in, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So he’s probably giving you space. Be grateful for it. You know he won’t leave you alone come tomorrow.”
True enough. The hurt lingers for a moment, but I push it forcefully away. Nick’s out playing football this afternoon, but I know he’ll be back before dinner. Em said he was planning to go for a walk before I left. Surely, he’ll be back for dinner, too.
We can all eat together. That should work.
“Anyway,” Cecile says. “Plans to tell him everything?”
“Fuck no,” I say. “We only found out because of that shit with Tim, and it’s not like Nick took it well, is it? Besides, I don’t know—I’d have to talk to Kieran, or whoever, and we don’t even know him yet. Not really.”
“So we can’t meet him?”
“You can. You’re right about Vince and Dax, too.” I sigh. “Maybe we should just do it all at once.”
“We could go to the pub next weekend? Does Em even drink? He’ll go to the pub anyway, right?”
“He does and he probably will, but I’ll ask.” I think of him, remembering the way he scowled down at the instructions to make his wardrobe yesterday and then pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Cute. And yet those forearms… I clear my throat. “Yeah. I’ll ask.”
Cecile takes another sip of her latte.
I sigh. “It’s just a crush,” I mutter. “I’ll be over it soon.”
“That what you told yourself about Patch?”
“I’ll be over him soon, too.”
She shrugs and sets the mug down between us. “Maybe you should consider getting under both of them.”