Her Lone Wolf (The Stone Pack #3)

Prologue

The first time he met Sage Hall was under rather embarrassing circumstances during their junior year of college.

They’d been neighbors for half a semester, but they hadn’t been officially introduced.

It’d been close to three in the morning, and he’d been working on a research paper with an imminently looming due date when the ruckus began.

He ignored the loud talking. The residents of their apartment building comprised largely of college students. Hearing rowdy, drunken revelers on the weekend was di rigueur. He expected the voices to move on shortly. Instead, they lingered and grew in volume.

When the off-key singing followed by banging on his door started, Matthew Donovan rose with a resigned sigh. His roommates Randy and Tyler were out carousing. More than likely, these women were here looking for them.

Hell, he’d wanted to go with Randy and Tyler, but his mom worked too hard to pay even a portion of his tuition. She couldn’t afford for him to fuck around and linger at the university for a fifth year. And that’s exactly what would happen if he didn’t concentrate on his studies.

Sure, he’d gone a little wild his first semester. Fortunately, he managed to scrape by with only a couple of C’s and a D as a result. The ultimate punishment had been the tired and disappointed look on his mother’s face when she’d seen his grades.

Fuck, that’d almost broken his heart. He’d seen that same expression on her face far too often because of whatever fuck up his drunken cheat of a father had committed.

He never wanted to see that defeated look directed his way again.

Or to be the one to cause it. The next semester, he’d returned to school determined to do better.

And he had. But between work and his heavy course load, the deadline for this paper had snuck up on him.

Matt glanced through the peephole to see two scantily clad girls giggling and leaning on each other for support.

Shaking his head, he opened the door. Swiveling to stare up at him, they both seemed in danger of losing their battle with gravity.

His hands shot out to grip the arm of each girl as they swayed toward him.

“Matt!” They chorused loudly. He winced.

How did they know his name? He didn’t recognize either of them. Not as women he’d dated. Randy and Tyler often brought dates home, but these girls didn’t even appear vaguely familiar. Maybe he’d missed a few? It was difficult to keep up. Their bedrooms had revolving doors.

“Hello, ladies. I’m sorry but Randy and Tyler—”

One of the girls scowled and broke his hold on her arm. “Who are Randy and Tyler? Don’t care about them. We came to see it.” She grinned as she leaned well into his personal space. The stench of alcohol assaulted his nostrils.

“Hey, Bren, we agreed. My turn first!”

Bren pouted. “I’m oldest. I should be first.”

Matt rifled his fingers through his hair, yanking the blonde curls at his crown as their argument devolved into a cat fight on his doorstep.

The door of the apartment across the hall swung open with such speed that it spoke volumes about the irritation of the dwelling’s occupants. It was, after all, now three in the morning and this kerfuffle continued to escalate.

Three justifiably angry women in pajamas glared at him. The shortest of the three had a bat slung over her shoulder. One thwacked her hand with a rolling pin in a regular rhythm. And the tallest of the three….

The breath froze in Matt’s lungs. Though tall for a woman, the top of her head only reached his chin.

Her ebony hair was parted down the middle and pulled into buns on either side of her head.

She had flawless chocolate skin, full lips, and curves that had him tugging his t-shirt down over his burgeoning erection.

As he watched, her sensual lips thinned with disapproval. The bat wielder released a huff. “Slut, are you going to break up your girlfriends or what? Some of us are trying to sleep.”

With all his blood heading south, it took him a moment to realize that he was the “slut” to which she referred. Matt blinked. “I don’t know these women.”

His neighbor with the rolling pin let out a torrent of rapid-fire Spanish too advanced for his three years of studying the language in high school and college.

Setting aside her makeshift weapon, she insinuated her way between the bickering girls—not an easy task as Bren had a fistful of her friend’s brown hair.

Once they were separated, his tall goddess swiftly restrained Bren and he moved forward to intercept the other pugilist.

Big mistake. She immediately forgot about fighting. She twisted in his arms and draped herself all over him. Matt gagged at her fermented odor. Grinning up at him, she slurred, “My name’s Deb.” She frowned before her cheeks puffed out and she emitted a gurgling sound.

“Oh, shit.” He struggled to get her off him before she could blow.

Fortunately, Deb got herself under control. Within seconds, she leered up at him as if nothing had occurred. “Can I see it?”

“See what?”

She wiggled her hips against him, and he hurriedly shifted back before she made contact with his erection.

“You know. It. The monster. The legend. Matt, Jr.”

His mouth dropped open as the women behind her snickered. “What the hell?”

Bat girl’s eyes widened. “Matt Donovan? You’re that Matt?” She turned to her roommates. “Ladies, we’re living across from a celebrity.”

“Again, what the hell?”

His goddess sighed. “Let’s get these girls a ride home and then we can explain his celebrity status to Matt.”

After his drunken fans departed, his neighbors invited him into their apartment.

It was a mirror of his—a large communal area separated from the kitchen by a bar.

Two doors to the right and one to the left led to the bedrooms. The only difference was that it was clean.

The communal area in his shared apartment overflowed with aluminum cans and takeout containers.

“I’m Sage,” his goddess said as she placed a laptop on the countertop. She pointed to the girl returning the rolling pin to the kitchen. “That’s Estrella.”

“And I’m Chandra,” bat girl said, sidling up to his opposite side as Sage opened her laptop.

“Nice to meet all of you. I’m sorry about whatever that was in the hallway.”

“Mmhm,” Sage hummed as she typed away on her keyboard. When she finished, she turned the screen toward him.

“,” he read the banner at the top.

“Scroll down,” Sage instructed.

He followed her directions. “What the—” He stared at a photo of himself taken from the student directory. Clicking on his name led to his profile. “I didn’t set this up.”

“You don’t,” Chandra explained. “Only female members of the student body can create accounts and profiles.”

He skimmed personal retellings from five different women he’d dated. Based on the details they shared, he knew their identities despite the online aliases they’d used. “What do these scores mean?” He’d been graded on reliability, generosity, honesty, snuggling…. The list went on and on.

“Well, according to this,” Sage said, spinning the laptop back in her direction, “you have excellent scores in many categories but….”

“What?”

“Your commitment score is so low that you’ve been given a S as a final rating,” Chandra informed him dryly.

“An S?” He frowned. “That’s good right? S stands for satisfactory.”

Chandra chuckled. “This isn’t kindergarten. S stands for slut. According to this rating, you’re good for a ride, but a girl shouldn’t bother to get invested.”

Matt scowled. “What?’

“You say that a lot,” Estrella muttered, yawning and crossing her arms over her chest.

“I’m not a slut,” he huffed. His lifetime number wasn’t even in the double digits. Sure, he wasn’t offering a commitment. He needed to focus on his education. Between school and his job, that left him with precious little spare time.

“Dude, hello, we live across the hall from you. We’ve seen the parade of chicks marching in and out of your door.”

“I have roommates.” He sighed. This wasn’t great, but ultimately, it didn’t matter as long as his mother didn’t see it. He wasn’t thrilled that his profile included the name of the bar where he worked part-time. That would explain how Bren and Deb found him.

But he was still curious about one thing…. He was almost afraid to hear the answer.

“Why did she want to see my…um….” He glanced at Sage.

Chandra laughed so hard that she bent at the waist. “Whew!” She wiped away imaginary tears. “Dude, you’re wasting your time, thinking you’re getting anywhere with her. Sage is engaged. And you’re a certified slut.”

“Chandra!” Sage admonished.

“What? It’s true. I wouldn’t mind taking him for a ride, but we know you won’t.” She sniffed before grabbing the laptop and making a few clicks. “Look at this.”

Matt felt the blood drain out of his face before it rushed back in a mixture of anger and mortification.

On this new page, his exes had described their sexual encounters in intimate detail.

“Fuuucckkk,” he whispered as he read about the length, width, and girth of his cock.

They’d done everything but include illustrations.

He closed his eyes and ran a hand over his face.

“Hey, at least they were very complimentary about your prowess,” Sage offered.

That shocked a laugh out of him. Sage was the quiet one in their group, but he was soon to learn that it wasn’t due to a lack of confidence. She was honest, and kind, and brilliant—everything that he wanted in a woman. And from the second they met, she had him firmly locked in the friend zone.