Chapter Four #3
On her trek to the bar, she dared a glance back once.
Be cool, she thought to herself as she tried to keep her balance smooth.
She rarely wore heels. Dodger leaned back in his seat with his arm draped across the chair beside him.
His eyes were locked onto her eyes. He did indeed look hungry, and God, it had been so long since anyone had looked at her like this.
The butterflies in her middle turned to dragons. Oh, she was in it. She’d been thinking about him too much since yesterday, but now? She was in deep trouble with this one.
Byron was talking to a customer, so she leaned against the bar and waited. Her phone vibrated, and it was her dad asking, Is the wolf being a gentleman?
She knew she could text her dad no, and he would be here in a minute flat, and there would be hell to pay.
She smiled. He was trying to be patient with her dating again after all that heartache. It didn’t matter if she was sixty years old. She would always be his little girl.
He’s very interesting to me. And yes, he’s being a gentleman. Held the door open for me and everything. Send.
Can you text me or your mother when you get home safe tonight?
She smiled. You got it. Enjoy your date night. Send.
You too.
She read that last text from her dad a few times. This wasn’t a date night. She barely knew Dodger. She looked up at him and he was watching her. You okay? he mouthed.
“My dad is worried,” she said at normal volume, holding up her phone. Destiny understood werewolf hearing. He would hear her just fine, even over the steady murmur of the crowd in here, and the music playing over the speakers. It was getting busier in here.
Tell him he should be worried, he mouthed back.
“You’re bad,” she chastised him, pointing her finger at him.
I know, he mouthed, his dark eyebrows arched high as he nodded.
Her mom had sent her a couple of videos.
She clicked on the first one, and it was of Dodger carrying her across the ice.
She thought she had been griping at him, but in the video, she was looking up at him with googly eyes.
Good Lord. She scrolled to the next video, and it was of Dodger opening the door for her and them disappearing inside, chatting easily.
The last was a simple image of them through the window by their table.
They were each leaning forward on their elbows, eyes locked, smiles matching as they talked.
Mom had put some silly black and white filter on it to make it moody and then traced a clumsy heart around them with the drawing tool.
When had she even taken the last two? She must’ve circled back around in dad’s truck.
She really was too much sometimes. Mom had wanted Destiny to start dating years ago, but she hadn’t been interested.
“Ready to order?” Byron asked, pulling her from the picture on her phone.
“Oh! Yeah, and can we order food, and also shots?”
“What kind?”
She tossed a look behind her and Dodger mouthed, Whiskey. Top shelf.
Oh barf, but okay. “Whiskey? The best you got?”
“I’ll be right there.”
“Thanks,” she said.
The blond in the corner was staring, and her boyfriend was glaring at Dodger.
She hoped he wasn’t right about that dude getting a couple drinks of liquid courage in him and then popping off at him.
She didn’t know Dodger well, but she had a feeling he was a fighter.
They should perhaps move to a different location soon.
She tugged at her skirt, because it was riding higher. Byron followed right behind her with a tray of their whiskey shots.
They ordered food and then Dodger pushed her drink closer to her. “I’ll be driving you home tonight. Your fault. You’re the one ordering shots.”
She giggled. “I live two miles away, and you’re drinking just as much as me.”
“I could drink four of these and my body would burn them off in half an hour. Your fragile human system works differently.”
“Are you always going to be pointing out how fragile I am?”
“Yes.”
She cocked her head and knew what she would say. She shouldn’t, but he should know. “I carry.”
His wicked smile grew a little more. “Now why would a crossing guard need to carry a gun?”
“Because my werewolf dad feels I’m safer that way.”
“Let me guess,” he said. “Your dad packs the ammo himself.”
“Yep.” She popped the p.
“And let me also guess what material he makes the bullets out of.”
“Silver,” she offered in a bored tone.
Oooh his devilish smile was so handsome. He was the hottest man she had ever seen. “Atta girl,” he said simply, and lifted his shot glass up for a toast. “To fragile humans.”
“To werewolves who underestimate not-so-fragile humans.”
He liked her. She could see it etched onto his face. She amused him, she could tell.
He took his shot at the same time as her, and yep, she pulled the biggest face as it burned down her throat. “Good gah, why?” she choked out.
He laughed, and she loved the deep baritone sound of it.
“It was your test. You passed but just barely.”
She chugged two big sips of water.
“You like the fruity stuff, don’t you?” he asked.
“Absolutely. I’m not trying to taste the alcohol.”
He snorted. “God, you sound like Delta and Nory.”
“Is Delta the one you were here with yesterday?” she asked curiously.
“You keep bringing her up. Are you jealous?”
“No.”
“I can hear a lie.”
Oh, she’d forgotten that part. Crap. She crossed her legs under the table. “I’m curious about her.”
“She’s paired to the Second of our Pack. Nory is the other female. She’s human and paired to my Alpha.”
“High ranking females.”
“Yep. Actually,” he tilted his head to the side. “You would probably get along with them. They’re annoying like you.”
“I am not annoying.”
“All females are.”
“What have I done or said that was annoying tonight?”
“You exist in that outfit, and I know for a fact that I can’t take you in the bathroom and fuck you in one of the stalls.”
All intelligent thought left her body, and the shot of whisky suddenly hit her, bringing on a nice, warm buzz.
“Why…why not?”
“Because you are human.”
“Nory is human. You said so.”
“Are you advocating for me to fuck you in a bathroom stall right now?” he asked.
“No. No, I’m just asking where your head is at with all of this.”
“It’s in the same place it has always been. You are interesting, and fun to talk to, and a distraction from the running commentary always happening in my head. You’re fun to look at. You’re fun to banter with, but the facts remain the same. You and I are not a match and can never be.”
“But my parents matched.”
Dodger stared unblinking at her for ten seconds before he leaned forward and told her, “If I was Alpha of a Pack, I would never leave it for a woman. I would never leave it for you.”
And she could see the honesty in his eyes. Right.
She inhaled deeply and leaned back for Byron to set her salad in front of her.
“Plus you do things like order a salad at dinner with a werewolf and then have the audacity to order no protein, extra veggies.”
“I had a big lunch.”
“Of broccoli?” he guessed as he cut into his steak.
“No, I had a double hamburger. You were being nice for a minute. Can we go back to that? This is irritating and I know what you are doing.”
“What am I doing?” he asked coolly.
“Distancing.”
“You should be doing that too.”
“Then why did you come here tonight?” she asked. “Why did you show up and carry me across the ice and tell me I look nice in my outfit and mention fucking me in a bathroom stall. What are we doing here?”
“Passing time.”
He said it in a dead voice, and she hated how easily he could flip the switch and turn his emotions off.
“I shouldn’t have told you so much about myself,” she said.
“You shouldn’t do that with anyone. Exposing weakness gives people power over you.”
“You told me about you.”
“I told you I had a good childhood and good friends and a good Pack and a good family and I left no room for you to be curious or ask questions.”
“Was none of that true?” she asked, the fine hairs lifting on her forearms.
“None of it was true. Or maybe it was. Who knows?”
“But you want to drive me home.”
“I don’t want a human dying on my watch.”
“What is this?” she asked, absolutely frustrated at the realization that everything he’d told her might’ve been a lie, and he’d done it easily.
“It’s me satisfying my curiosity. You shouldn’t ask me about fucking. You don’t understand what you are encouraging.”
“A bond?” she guessed. “I do know what those are.”
He set his fork and knife down and flashed his glowing blue eyes up to her. “Why are you here with me?” he asked.
“Because…” She frowned, trying to figure herself out.
“Why, Destiny? Why did you ask me to sit with you yesterday when you don’t know anything about me other than I am a werewolf? Why did you give me your number today? Why did you decide to go out with a man after ten years of not being interested?”
“I…I don’t know.”
“I’ll explain it then. Your human mate was fragile and sick and he died, and now you want something more durable—”
She threw her glass of water in his face. “Stop,” she demanded.
He froze, his fiery eyes on her as she stood up and grabbed her jacket.
“You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to take the personal things I told you when I thought we were getting to know each other and throw them in my face.
I’m not spending time with you just because you are a werewolf.
Do you understand the names I was called as a child?
You don’t. You don’t understand anything about me.
You want to know why I was interested in spending time with you?
I saw you yesterday, and I thought you were handsome, and it has been years since I thought that about anyone.
I thought I was broken, Dodger, and all the sudden my body reacted to a man.
Do you know what a relief that was for me?
For my mom? When I saw you at the crosswalk yesterday, I wasn’t thinking, ‘oh, there’s that werewolf.
’ I was excited because I recognized your truck, and then I got to talk to you.
You, Dodger. Not your wolf. I don’t care if you are human or werewolf.
I would prefer you were human, but my body and my heart don’t give a shit about my logical wants, clearly.
You’re not even nice,” she gritted out, digging in her purse for cash.
“I’ll pay,” he assured her.
“You’ll pay for your half.” She threw forty bucks onto the table and stormed out, her eyes burning with the tears that welled up.
Stupid. God, she felt so stupid.
She wasn’t ready for this at all.
All she needed to do was get home and scrub this night and these feelings from her mind, and go back to her normal, boring life, where no one made her feel uncertain, or insecure, or question her own intentions.