Chapter Three #3
On second thought, he texted a follow-up.
I can track down some red wine. I know you’re a proper human, so I’ll be clear, this isn’t a booty call.
This is friends hanging out only. There won’t be pressure on you.
Except I will pressure you to show up in your messy bun and pajamas. That shit is my jam. Send.
She didn’t respond, and he knew he’d pushed too far too fast. He also wasn’t taking it back. His mom had taught him that women appreciated bold men who made plans, and his texts to Tru felt right.
But as an hour passed, he started second-guessing it.
Had she blocked him? He checked his phone for the tenth time to still no response from Tru.
Crap. He had tried to stay busy bringing in furniture while he waited for a text from her.
He’d left most of it wrapped up and was to the part where he needed to build the bed frame, dresser, and the kitchen table chairs, which had been delivered in pieces.
So, Bayen liked to solo-camp? That was cool. Tabian knew all about camping. Should he tell her what he did for a living? Should he offer to send Bayen some gear? He had a ridiculous amount of camping gear, and some of it was still in boxes.
He tried to remember himself at sixteen. He was partying a lot, and drinking, and getting into trouble in the Pack he’d grown up in, but he wasn’t into camping. That love hadn’t hit him until later in life, when his wolf needed more and more solitude around big Changes.
He checked his phone again. Nothing.
Shit.
He puffed out a long breath. The Pack was beginning to return home. He could hear the truck engines.
Nory was the first one to knock on his door to see the new place. Liam followed just a minute behind. They didn’t stay long, because he was on the floor building a million-piece dresser at the moment, but as Nory headed for the door, Tabian stopped her.
“Hey, you’re a human.”
“Yes?” Nory said, frowning.
Liam was standing on the porch behind her, looking at Tabian like he’d lost his mind.
“So like…what do you like to do for fun?”
“Liam,” she deadpanned.
“Ew. Never mind.”
Liam was laughing behind her and Tabian regretted everything.
“Why are you asking about humans?” Nory asked.
“No reason.”
“Hey, what’s going on?” she asked, the smile fading from her face.
“Do you have any red wine lying around that I could buy off you?”
“Ummm, Delta has some leftover bottles from the wine tour. I can ask her. I’m a white wine girly myself.”
“Oh, then don’t worry about it. Wait, is there a huge difference between red and white wines?”
“Yep. Did you not pay attention at all on the wine tour?”
“No. I was busy trying to track down a beer. Wine is gross.”
She giggled. “Well, if you want to try some, I’ll get some from Delta. I’m on my way to say hi to her anyway.”
“Okay, just let me know how much I owe her. I have cash.”
“Yep,” she said, heading out the door and off the porch.
His Alpha, Liam, was still standing there with his eyes narrowed at him. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“Do you want to talk about anything?”
“Nope,” Tabian assured him.
“Is this about a girl?” Liam asked.
“Woman,” Tabian corrected. “And she’s clearly not interested in me. I’m having to force it too much.”
“Mmm. Sometimes it’s like that if they’ve been hurt. Be patient.” And that was all he said. Liam turned and left without another word, and without a look-back.
Okay. Tabian watched his Alpha and his mate walk back toward the other homes, hand in hand.
He’d thought Liam would freak out about him mentioning a human woman, but what a silly thought. Nory was human and Liam seemed happier than Tabian had ever seen him before.
Not ten minutes later, Delta was at his door with a bottle of red wine and a wine opener, and a couple of red plastic cups for good measure.
“What do I owe you?”
“Being nice to me for a week, and waving back when I wave at you on the road,” Delta said with a grin on her face. “You have been a grizzly bear lately.”
Tabian ducked a smile. “Deal.” She had a point. He had been the king of the distance lately. He wasn’t surprised Delta felt it. She was a feeler.
He stared at the bottle of wine she left beside the door after Delta left, knowing damn-well he wouldn’t ever open that thing. Tru wasn’t going to travel out here. Not in a million years.
He built the dresser and his bed frame and had moved onto the chairs when he heard the engine of an unfamiliar little car.
And oh, the hope that bloomed in his chest was going to destroy him when it ended up not being Tru.
He stood from where he was sitting on the plastic covered couch and made his way to the door, and he stood there in shock as the little black Camry picked its way through the clearing and stopped in front of Liam’s house.
The address included all of these homes here.
Through the un-tinted windows, he could see Tru, clear as day.
She looked uncertain and nervous, and scanned the homes.
“Oh, hell yeah,” he rumbled as he jogged toward her.
She jerked her attention to him and turned the wheel and headed his way. She pointed to his home with a questioning look, and he nodded and gestured her to park in front of his place.
She parked it and pushed open the door, and he couldn’t help his grin as he noticed what she was wearing.
Her hair was in the cutest messy bun he’d ever witnessed, and she wore a pair of navy-blue sweatpants, with a little matching tight top, and a baggy hoodie she had left unzipped, exposing the most perfect cleavage he’d ever seen in his entire existence.
“Hi,” she said, pulling a paper bag out of her car and standing there awkwardly. God, she was so freaking cute. “Um, I can’t stay. I was just bringing you a housewarming gift.” Her cheeks were bright red as she stared at the ground and offered the paper bag.
He could smell the spaghetti sauce and garlic bread from here.
“I don’t know what you like to drink, so I just grabbed one of Bayen’s sodas out of the fridge. I figured you don’t have a lot of kitchen supplies unloaded yet, so I put some silverware in there and a roll of paper towels.”
Heart pounding against his chest, Tabian reached for the bag and then gave into the urge and pulled her along with it and gave her a hug. “You have no idea how happy I am right now.”
She’d gone into the hug stiffly, but the tension eased in her shoulders, and she slowly wrapped her arms around his waist. “Hungry?”
“Starving. I got you a present too. Want to see?” he asked.
“Oh, I really have to get going,” she explained, easing out of his arms. “I have to watch my phone just in case Bay needs anything.”
“You call him Bay for short?”
“Yeah. He’s Bay to me.”
Tabian could hear the love for her stepson in her voice.
Her cheeks were so pink right now. God, her blue eyes were so clear in the waning evening light.
Beautiful woman. Whatever asshole had thrown her away, Tabian bet he was feeling the loss.
Tru was special. This thoughtful gesture touched him more than she could understand.
She’d driven all the way out here just to bring him a housewarming meal.
“Um, maybe I could stay for just a minute.”
It took every ounce of strength he possessed not to reach for her hand to lead her up the porch stairs to his house.
Instead, he clenched his fist to rid himself of the tingling sensation there and led the way up the stairs.
He gestured to the outdoor furniture he still hadn’t arranged in any kind of organized fashion.
“Outside sitting area,” he explained. “I want to get one of those propane fueled fire pits, but I’m going to have to wait until my next payday. ”
“I have one of those and I use it all the time,” she told him, and he smiled at the excitement in her voice.
“There’s something about staring at a fire, huh?” he asked as he pushed the front door open and held it for her.
“A good fire can fix your whole soul.”
Atta girl. They would match just fine.
Inside, he set the bag of food onto the counter and started to unload it.
She’d put more stuff in there, including an entire container of plasticware.
The whole roll of paper towels was accompanied by the orange soda and three bottles of water.
Underneath the plastic container of spaghetti and foil-wrapped garlic bread, there was a pile of granola bars and fruit snacks and treats he hadn’t eaten since he was a kid.
There was also a single roll of toilet paper, a hand towel, and hand soap.
She’d put together an entire move-in care package for him.
“You’re the coolest human I’ve ever met,” he said, stunned as he looked everything over.
She shrugged. “When we moved here last year, I didn’t know anyone, and we moved here unprepared, and I was trying to remember the stuff I needed on night one.
I remember I had Bay with me, and Zane had disappeared and left us to figure out how to blow up some air mattresses, and Bay was starving, but we didn’t have two dimes to rub together at the time, because we’d spent all of my money on first and last month’s rent and all the deposit and fees.
We heated pizza rolls in the microwave that night, but Bay was so hungry that I told him I wasn’t hungry and I just ate five and gave him all the rest. We had no plasticware or plates, or napkins or anything.
Nothing to dry our hands on. No hand soap.
Figured you could use some necessities.”
It meant more than he could express.
He twitched his head toward the front door, and she twisted around to see the bottle of red wine and plastic cups. She looked touched when she turned back to him. “How did you track those down so fast? You’re fifteen minutes from the nearest convenience store.”
“I asked a couple of my Packmates. Delta brought it over.”
“Delta is a pretty name,” she said, but the smile had faded from her eyes. “Are there a lot of females in your Pack?”
He didn’t understand the somber tone. “What’s wrong?”