Chapter Eighteen #2
Benny lowered his nose in shame and moved closer to Bennett as if seeking his approval.
Bennett scratched under his chin.
“You did not just alpha bark at my puppy,” I said, jaw dropping in horror.
“This is how you train dogs. You make sure they know who the alpha is.” Benny let out a little whimper as Bennett moved to scratch him behind the ears.
“Alpha bark at Benny again and I’ll show you who is in charge,” I said, moving closer to my dog.
Bennett snorted as he squeezed my knee. “Was that supposed to be a threat? That sounded kind of hot. You should work on your threats.”
I intertwined my fingers with his. “Forget it. I don’t know how to be mad at you.”
Bennett pulled the back of my hand to his lips for a soft kiss while Benny resettled, resting his chin on my lap. Bennett smiled at the puppy and shook his head. “Now I’m going to have two of you turning me into a complete sucker.”
I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed contentedly. “Yep, but you love us already.”
Bennett kissed the top of my head. “That I do, handsome.”
Maybe while I’m in town I should reach out to Ryder and ask him to break our bond.
If I was right, and Bennett was my true mate, then technically, his bite would override Ryder’s, but I wouldn’t wish the kind of pain that would cause Ryder on anyone.
We may not have had the healthiest relationship, but there was genuine care between us at one point, and I owed it to him to do this the fair way.
If he breaks our bond himself, it won’t hurt him as much, and maybe he’ll be able to move on with his life too. He deserves something real one day.
“So, let me get this straight,” Clara said, holding her virgin mimosa in the air—which was really just orange juice, but she did not like when I’d pointed that out.
“You told him to stop the truck, jumped out in the middle of Main Street, and rescued this puppy from a cardboard box on the side of the road?”
“Yes,” I said, annoyed with her recap of the story that we’d just told her and Michael. “What part of that is hard to comprehend?”
“All of it,” Clara said. She tossed her dark brown curls over her shoulder. “This story is ridiculous. Who finds a puppy in a box? That sounds made up, like Hollywood shit.”
“Well, apparently it’s also Crescent River shit,” I said.
“I don’t live here. This town’s crazy is not my crazy anymore.
” I turned around in my dining room chair and pointed to the dog on the couch that was visible through the arch connecting the two rooms. “But that is my new puppy, Benny, and I found him in a box.”
Clara turned to Bennett and narrowed her brown eyes at him. “You just let him jump out of the truck? What if he’d been chasing after an old drug dealer?”
Bennett side-eyed me from his spot next to me. “How the hell am I the one in trouble right now?”
“Sisters, remember?” I groaned.
“The worst,” he said, gripping my hand under the table. “I was pretty quick to catch up to him, and I didn’t sense cravings coming from him.”
I turned to face him. “You can sense my drug cravings?”
Bennett nodded. “As far as I can tell, you were right when you said you don’t have them very often. Your scent changes whenever we walk through a back alley or when you talk about Ryder. I assumed the latter was because you associate the heroin with him.”
“Wow, I had no idea you could tell.” Those were precisely the moments when my body wanted me to give in to the desire to find a needle the most.
“You hide it well.” He kissed my cheek. “I like that I can tell. Keeps me alert in case you need my help.”
“I think I like you after all, Bennett.” Clara smirked at him and winked at me.
She definitely likes him.
“I hope I get to see more of you.” She leaned back in her chair and put her hand on her round stomach. “Unfortunately, I have already been out of bed longer than I’m supposed to be. I’m on bedrest until these two future soccer players kindly exit my body.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, as Michael helped her to her feet. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“It’s all precautionary, but my ankles are the size that my thighs used to be, so I’m going to milk this for everything it’s worth.”
“We didn’t have to come today,” I said, standing up to offer my help.
“That’s why I didn’t tell you. I wanted to see you and I wanted to meet Bennett,” she said before turning to him. “I wanted to meet the first person whose made my brother sound like he’s grinning when he’s talking about them.”
Bennett looked down at his lap, trying to hide his smile.
“Stay as long as you want,” Clara said, trying unsuccessfully to brush Michael off as she waddled out of the room and he followed at her elbow. “Michael needs help with the cribs.”
“You just wanted to put me and my hot alpha to work.”
She shrugged without looking back. “If he can fix cars, he can probably assemble a couple cribs.”
“I’d be happy to help,” Bennett said, taking my hand as he stood. “It was nice to meet you, Clara.”
“We don’t have to stay and help them,” I said.
“I want to.” Bennett pulled me toward him for a kiss. “Why don’t you call about taking my truck down to that detailing place? We can help Michael while they clean it and then we can take Benny on his first visit to the pet store.”
I grinned. “Benny’s sticking, isn’t it?”
“Apparently,” Bennett said, looking over my shoulder at the pup currently curled up on Clara and Michael’s couch.
I clapped my hands together and kissed Bennett. “I love his name so much.”
Bennett chuckled and scent marked me. “You better.”
“The car plan sounds good,” I said as Bennett cleared away our brunch plates.
Maybe I can use this opportunity to talk to Ryder about our bond.
Bennett smiled at me before walking out of the room. I fingered my phone in my pocket and pulled it out before I lost the nerve.
Me: Hey. I’m in town today. Any chance we can talk?
Ryder: When and where?
Me: Around the corner from Victor’s Car Wash. In thirty minutes.
Bennett stepped back into the room, and I tucked my phone in my pocket. “I’ll take the truck and then get a rideshare back. That way you and Michael can get to work.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, wrapping his arms around my waist. The way he was looking at me made me wonder if he knew what I was up to.
“Yeah, I have no interest in building a crib, but I’ll be back in time to watch you looking sexy while doing so.”
He chuckled. “Once again, I’m starting to think you create these scenarios for your own enjoyment.”
I scent marked him and rested my head on his chest. “And yet I’m still not clever enough to have manufactured any of these.”
He wrapped his arms tightly around me. “I can come with you if you’re worried the location might be too much on your own.”
My heart skipped a beat. He really can smell the drug cravings.
“I promise to call if I need you, but I can do this,” I said confidently.
He kissed the top of my head. “Okay, handsome. I’ll be here.”
I held on to him for an extra minute, hating that I wasn’t being entirely truthful about where I was going.
But Bennett would never let me face Ryder alone, and Ryder would never agree to what I needed from him if Bennett was there.
It was a small lie, and I was doing it for us.
I’d tell him everything once it was over.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I ignored it until a few minutes later when I was climbing into Bennett’s truck. I sat down behind the wheel and pulled my phone out of my pocket.
Ryder: I’ll be there.
“Hey,” I said, approaching Ryder.
I’d just dropped off Bennett’s truck at Victor’s, whose daughter told me it would be ready in a few hours.
Ryder stood in the back alley around the corner of the garage, a location I’d chosen because of its close proximity to Victor’s, as well as the fact that it was a place Ryder and I knew well.
He’d bought drugs at Victor’s frequently over the years and I’d often waited here for him, anticipation coursing through my veins knowing that the high was coming as soon as Ryder returned.
Ryder pulled his hand out of the pocket of his hoodie and held out a needle filled with heroin. The vinegar scent hit me hard, and I took a step back.
“I assume this is why you’re here?” he said. “Can’t think of another reason for you to reach out after ignoring my calls for years.”
“I’m not here for that,” I said, nostrils twitching.
“You sure?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “You look like you could use it.”
I reached for his wrist and lowered his hand. “Can you please put that away? This is hard enough as it is.”
“What do you want then?” he asked.
“I’m seeing someone, and it’s serious,” I said, releasing a breath. “I think you know that already, Ryder, because I’ve felt you lurking.”
Ryder shrugged.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” I asked with a sigh.
“Congratulations?” he asked before throwing his hands in the air. “What the fuck do you want me to say?”
He took the needle and pressed it to the inside of his arm.
“Seriously? Do you really need to do that right now? Can we have a conversation for five minutes?”
“If you want me to talk about you and your new alpha for five minutes, I’d prefer to be high as a kite, Felix,” Ryder said, shooting up. He tossed the used needle onto the ground. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t the only discarded needle in the dirt.
I shook my head. “You could get help, Ryder. The place I went to was affordable and I finally feel like I’ve gotten my life back. Your moms would help you. Hell, they’d be thrilled.”