Chapter Twelve
Patch
The last thing I want to do once my shift is done is traipse over there and join them all at the table. I can’t think of anything worse.
I’ve humiliated myself. Worse still, I’ve made both Em and Jamie feel bad about it—albeit for entirely different reasons. Jamie hasn’t missed the way my attention has been on Em all night. How could he? And Em… Em has no idea about any of this at all.
Plus, I’ve been fucking up orders left, right, and centre, so I’ll be lucky if the entire fucking pack doesn’t know about this come morning. Leo’s got some idea, no doubt. He’s been watching me like a hawk since he sat down—I’m never one for attitude or dramatics.
I debate ducking out. I could call Millie. She’d cover for me, say she needed to talk to me about something.
But I’m not a child. I’m not a coward.
And besides, Flynn is standing next to the bar, staring at me.
“I know where you live,” he says. I grunt and toss a towel onto the counter behind me. Billy glares at it, then at me.
“You live there too.”
“So there’s nowhere for you to hide. Anywhere I don’t know about, Dax definitely will.”
“Dax probably wants me to stay well away from the lot of them,” I mutter.
“No, he doesn’t,” Flynn says, and when I look past him, Dax is making full eye contact and shaking his head.
Fuck. Fucking wolves.
“Fine,” I say through clenched teeth.
Flynn’s smile never falters as I emerge from behind the bar. Billy lets out a long-suffering sigh and places my pint on top of it, which I take with a muttered apology. Not his fault I’m in this mess. Not anyone’s fault but my own.
My wolf whines. Well, maybe it’s your fault, I think, and then feel uncharitable again.
That feeling vanishes, overtaken by apprehension as we approach the group. Flynn slots us neatly in between Jamie and Em, which neither of them seems to have been expecting, judging by the startled way they both look at us. Em is to my left, Jamie on Flynn’s right.
“Busy night?” Vince asks, with a shit-eating grin. Of course he’s enjoying seeing me like this, even if his friend is involved.
It’s not that Vince and I don’t get along. We do. He’s Dax’s mate and I know they’re good for each other. I know he treats Dax the way he’s always deserved to be treated. I wouldn’t stand for any less.
But there’s no denying we got off on a bit of the wrong foot, and we’re not exactly the kind of friends who’d hang out of our own accord.
So, of course he’s enjoying this. Why wouldn’t he?
“Not really.”
Vince’s eyebrows lift. Okay, maybe that was a little short, but I don’t need him rubbing it in. At least Dax found his mate while they were in bed together. No matter what happened after that, they had a whole weekend of enjoying each other’s company before reality set in.
I just got punched in the face by my mating bond and reality, thanks very much.
“You okay?” Jamie asks. He looks like he didn’t really mean to say the words, but like me a minute ago, it’s not like he can take them back.
“Yeah. Sorry. Been a weird day. How’s the night going?”
Jamie doesn’t reply, but Dax jumps in to fill the gap, then Cecile, and after a little while, it’s easy enough for me to drop out of the conversation and let them carry on.
Nick is next to Jamie, and Vince next to him, and they soon enter into a chat of their own, catching up with what’s been going on since Vince moved out.
“Are you all right?” Em asks, startling me. “I didn’t ask before. I just assumed…”
“No, you were right. I was being a dick.”
He snorts. It’s easier to talk to him when I’m not looking directly at him, though my lungs are full of his scent, so it’s not like I’m not acutely aware of his presence.
“Yeah, you kind of were.”
I chance a look at him then. His smile is only small, like he’s not sure how the words will be received, but it hits me like a punch in the stomach all the same.
“How… How are you finding the city?” I ask.
“Fine. I’ve only been here a few days. I think I lucked out, finding the place with Jamie and Nick. They’re really helping me settle in.”
I smell the honesty on him. And the attraction. My wolf perks up, but I feel none of the jealousy I’m expecting.
Maybe that’s normal, too. Shouldn’t matter that Em is attracted to Jamie, so long as he’s also attracted to me. And he is. I think.
“Yeah, they’re good people.”
“How did you all meet?”
“Uh, well, I met them through Dax. After he and Vince finally got together, I mean.”
“Finally?” Em asks, incredulous. Yeah, I get it.
Even now, Vince is gently leaning against Dax’s side, though they’re both engaged in separate conversations.
They’ve taken care to cover their mating bites tonight, but there’s no missing the bond between them.
As I watch, Vince’s hand slides against Dax’s until their fingers tangle together.
“It was a little bumpy for a minute there,” I admit. Vince might not be able to hear me, but I’m sure Dax is half-listening as he chats to Cecile. I’m sure she’s listening, too. “But it all worked out. I think it was always meant to.”
“Oh,” Em says with a wistful sigh. “That’s nice.”
“That they’re together, or…?”
He blinks up at me. We’re almost the same height, just enough difference that he has to tip his head a little to meet my eyes. “That you think it was meant to,” he says. He gives me an embarrassed smile. “I guess I’m a bit of a romantic.”
“Really?”
Em rolls his eyes, but I think more in self-deprecation than anything else. Joke’s on him—most wolves are, even if we pretend not to be. We grow up hearing stories of mating bonds and fate and all that stuff. It’s part of who we are.
“So you met everyone after that?”
“Yeah. Kind of. Vince was running some fitness classes, so I met Jamie there, and I’ve met Cecile off and on through the years. We’ve got some overlapping friends.”
“That’s nice, too,” Em replies. “I thought the city was going to be a lot more isolated than this.”
“Why did you move here, then? If you don’t mind me asking?”
Em’s gaze skips away. “Work,” he says, and he’s not lying, but he’s not telling the full truth either. I shrug the thought off. Not my business. “I figured if I came here, it would open up more opportunities in my current job. Didn’t think about the making friends part of it.”
“You left them all behind?”
“I only really have one friend anyway. Cate. She knows where to find me if she needs me.”
I frown, then catch myself and smooth the expression out. How can he only have one friend? Surely, it’s not true. I don’t see how it could be.
Flynn claps me on the shoulder and cool air wafts in as he slips out from between me and Jamie and moves around to talk to Dax and Cecile. I narrow my eyes at him. What is he doing?
Nick has turned away from Jamie, too, drawn into a conversation with Vince, and Jamie takes a long drink from his glass, not looking at me or Em.
“Are you…” I begin, conscious that Em is watching us, a furrow between his brows. “How’ve you been?”
Jamie stares up at me, startled. “Fine. You?”
“Fine.”
How is this so fucking awkward? It wasn’t supposed to be. That was why I said no in the first place—so that it wouldn’t be awkward when we hung out again. Maybe if I’d just—
I get a flash of sensation, skin on skin, a faint moan, and choke on air.
Jamie stares at me again, but now he looks unimpressed. “Fuck, are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I—” I’ve set my glass down, but Em gets to it first. He places a hand between my shoulder blades as he presses it into my grip.
“Here.”
I suck in a breath at that touch, which sets off more coughing, and Jamie looks like he wants to reach for me, too, but he holds back. After a few seconds, I get myself under control.
Em’s touch lingers, but he drops his hand when I stand straight again. My face is aflame. “Sorry. Sorry, I—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jamie says. The grin he directs at Em is brittle and too bright. “Having fun?”
If Em sees what I do, he doesn’t show it. “Of course. Your friends are all so nice.”
Cecile hears that, saving all the awkwardness when she leans over and gives Em a side hug. “You’re too sweet! We’ll have to get you over to the gym some time after it opens. Dax should be running a class, you know?”
“You are?” Jamie asks.
“The gym?” Em says in a quiet, horrified voice at the same time.
“Not a big fan?” Vince laughs. It’s not mean, though, and Em seems to recognise that.
“I’ve never been to one.”
I sweep my eyes over him, and when I turn my head, I catch Jamie doing the same thing. We both exchange an incredulous look—yeah, Em isn’t bulky or anything, but he’s in good shape—and then like Jamie realises what we’ve just done, he scowls and stares into his glass again.
“…played cricket when I was in school, but that was a million years ago, so…”
“And no interest in football,” Nick says with an exaggerated sigh. I’ve missed some of the conversation, distracted by Em and Jamie both, and there’s a sudden itch under my skin.
Something is wrong.
I need to fix it.
Last orders are at half past ten, and Vince and Dax get the final round, which we all drink as the pub clears out.
Leo faintly leers at Em as he leaves, pausing only to wink at me when he sees he’s got my hackles up.
Dickhead. He knows better, but I think he’s trying to wind me up, which is even more annoying.
“Time to go,” Cecile says after she finishes the last of her wine. She raises an eyebrow at Vince. “Don’t you have a class in the morning?”
“Not until ten.” He shrugs his jacket on, and Dax throws an arm around his shoulders. Everyone else is getting their stuff, too, and when he swings his jacket around to put it on, Em brushes up against my side.
“Sorry,” he says, smiling. I hear Vince and Dax leave, Vince still chattering to Cecile, and the change in scents tells me that Flynn, Jamie, and Nick have followed them out.
“Are you, um…”
Em blinks at me. His glasses suit him, but I wonder what he’d look like without them.
“Am I what?”
“Do you want to get a drink?” The words come out too fast, all bumping into each other, but surprise flickers over Em’s face all the same. “Some time. With me.”
“Like a date?”
“Yes.”
“Aren’t you and Jamie together? Or exes.” His eyes narrow. “You’re not the guy—”
“No! Fuck, no. We’ve never—We’re not—” I’m not Tim. Fucking hell. I don’t want him thinking that.
His expression clears quickly, but he doesn’t smile, and he doesn’t say yes. “Let me think about it?”
“Okay.”
“Give me your number.”
It’s a firm statement, not quite a command, but I don’t bristle. I take his phone when he passes it to me, instead, and input the number and my name. My wolf lets out a little huff. Yeah, it’s not quite what we want, but my mate has my number. He has a way of contacting me.
Em pockets his phone again and stares at me for a moment. His expression is closed, and his scent gives nothing away that I couldn’t already assume—some reluctance, some hesitation, but he’s attracted to me too, so that softens the blow.
“Come on, Patch,” he says finally. “It’s time to go.”