Chapter One #2
Irritated, Dodger took a long drink of his cold beer and set down the half-empty glass. “What do you want?”
Delta sighed. “You’re manners are atrocious.”
“You called me at the crack of dawn, telling me you need to talk to me. Telling me it’s important, so I took two hours off work to be here, in this human restaurant, conversing with humans. That feels pretty rude to me.”
“I want to talk to you about the tension between you and Nathan.”
“Oh my God, really?” He chugged the other half of his beer and nodded when the bartender glanced his way. Another, yep. He needed another if he was going to do an emotions-talk with this female. “Tell me what you want to tell me.”
“Well, actually I wanted to hear about your feelings.”
“Shoot me,” he muttered, and looked over his shoulder at the woman near the window. He should’ve asked her name.
She gave him a little wave. He wondered what it would be like to fuck a human. He’d watched a porn about it once.
He slid his glare back to Delta, because she was dancing around the conversation now. “It’s just you never talk to him anymore, and we can all feel the tension every time you are in the same room. And you keep trying to fight each other. And Nathan can’t explain it to me either.”
“It’s still weird that you call him Nathan,” Dodger mumbled, nodding his thanks to the bartender as he set another drink in front of him.
“It’s what everyone in his old life called him.”
“And he’s so different now than when he was treating you like crap?”
“He wasn’t treating me like crap.”
“He barely talked to you for the first two months you were paired.”
“Yeah, well we were strangers. Arrangements can be difficult, especially in the beginning.”
Dodger closed his eyes and counted to three for patience. Nate was his least favorite subject ever.
“Look, I think we need to get it out in the open and talk about it.”
“Talk about what?” he asked.
“You being in love with me.”
He spat the beer he was drinking and had a coughing fit. “You think…” cough, cough. “You think…” Cough, cough, cough. “Fuck, Delta, you think I like you?”
“Well,” Delta frowned. “Yes. Everyone thinks that.”
Dodger just sat there like a bump on a log, staring. “No, Delta, I don’t. Listen to the truth in my voice. I don’t have any kind of crush on you.”
“Oh.” Another deep frown took her face. “Then why were you trying to break us up?”
“Because I don’t like Nate. He sucks. Look, Delta, I have three sisters, and I’ve watched two of them go through absolute hell with males. Nate was acting like my baby sister’s ex, and I hated it.”
“So, you don’t see me as a potential mate.”
“God, no! Delta, you remind me of my youngest sister.”
Her mouth fell open, and her green eyes went wide with realization. “Okay, the sister information would’ve been helpful a month ago, when you were baiting Nathan into leaving me alone.”
Dodger shrugged. “It was partly because he’s annoying, partly because you do deserve better, and partly because he’s easy to bait and sometimes my wolf needs a fight.”
“You’re a monster.”
“And?”
“Do you want to order food?” the bartender asked.
“Sure,” Dodger said at the same time as Delta said, “No.”
She sucked her iced tea down. “I thought I was going to have to let you down easy and talk to you about appropriate feelings and all that, but we’re good. Do you know I watched how-to videos all night preparing for this talk?”
“How-to-overthink videos?” he guessed.
“Ha, ha,” she said sarcastically. “Dodger! Oh my gosh, I feel a hundred percent better. I’m so happy you’re not in love with me.”
“You’re not even my type.”
“Oh, what’s your type?” she asked.
“Not paired up,” he deadpanned. Maybe some pretty blue and brown eyes. Maybe a burgundy beanie and leggings. He looked over his shoulder again, but the two ladies at the window table were getting up to leave. Pity. The human was interesting.
Delta was digging money out of her wallet for her iced tea, but he waved her off. “Go away, I can pay for your two-dollar disgusting tea.”
Delta hugged his neck and pushed him back to arms’ length, then made this annoying squealing sound. “Nathan will be so happy you aren’t trying to bone me.”
Dodger’s eye twitched. Gross.
Delta waved to Rude Server as she left. She didn’t even use her middle finger. Nice people were weird.
He was cool with giving the bartender a huge tip just to prove a point to Rude Server, but he didn’t feel like eating here anymore. “Hey man, can I go ahead and pay out? I need to get back to work too.”
“You’re good,” he said, nodding to the hundred-dollar bill still sitting on the bar top. “That’s way too much.”
“Nah.” Dodger stood and pulled the neck of his T-shirt away. The fabric felt too tight on his throat when he was in close quarters like this. “Rub it in the other one’s face a little though, will you?”
He snorted. “Will do. Name’s Byron. Ask for me next time. I don’t have a problem with werewolves.”
Dodger nodded and left. The table by the window was empty, and when he made it outside, he looked around to see if he could find the pretty human and her mom, but the sidewalk was empty.
It was probably for the best.
Werewolves and humans did not mix.