Chapter 9 #2
“How’d you know I take cream?”
“You’ve got a cream and sugar look to you.”
I pulled out the chair farthest from him. “Most people get that wrong about me. Maybe it’s the tattoos.”
“It’s hard to tattoo shifters.”
I tried not to feel rattled by the rapid change in conversation. “Why?”
“We heal too quickly. Takes more sessions for the design to stick.”
I hummed over the side of my mug. “I never considered that. But if you heal that fast, your sessions can be closer together.”
“There’s no one between here and Fairbanks that does tattoos for shifters. Dustin’s not the only one who would pay for your work.”
What was he getting at?
I sipped my coffee, not sure how to respond. Tyler had spoken barely two words to me last night. Now, he was suddenly interested in tattoos.
“This isn’t a good idea.”
I quirked one eyebrow at him. “What’s not a good idea?”
“Returning that ring. It was bad enough that you dragged him to the cantina last night.”
I bristled. “I didn’t drag him anywhere. We were invited to go, and he accepted the invitation.”
“And you saw what it did to him, being around random unmated males.”
I mean, Rhett was on edge last night, but I assumed it was more about the conflict with Dustin than anything else. How would he even know if the men—um, males—at the cantina were unmated?
“The possessiveness will only get worse until you’re marked. Bringing him to meet a male that you’ve been intimate with is as good as killing him.”
I slurped more coffee because I was still stunned by this confrontational version of Tyler.
“Don't do that to my brother.”
I set my mug on the table, staring into the liquid. “I don’t think you have to worry about that.”
Because I’m not really his mate, and he doesn’t care who I’ve been with.
Tyler set his mug down too. The quality of his movement felt predatory. I swallowed, the urge to avert my gaze growing heavier by the second.
A door slammed, and Rhett’s hand landed on the back of my neck.
I exhaled, leaning into the warmth and looking up with a smile. That was when I realized he was shirtless, wearing only boxer briefs. Did he sleep next to me like that?
I needed to avert my gaze again, or else I might start drooling.
“I didn’t hear you get up.” Rhett was speaking to me, but his eyes never left his brother. There was pressure in the air that felt like a storm coming on, except the sun was shining through the kitchen window.
There was thunder too, rolling off Rhett and vibrating me in my seat.
Was this what Tyler was talking about? I didn’t have a baseline for shifter behavior. This could be a normal level of aggression.
I stood, using my momentum to direct Rhett back. When I angled myself toward his bedroom, he mirrored me.
“We should get going,” I told him, briefly slipping my fingers through his.
Rhett relaxed, looking down at our interlocked hands with an unreadable expression.
“Let me get dressed. I’ll make you some breakfast while you pack your things.”
“Oh, okay.” I started down the hallway, pausing to say, “Thank you.”
Dustin came through the back door while we were eating our breakfast. Tyler and Rhett gave him matching disapproving glares. They might not be related by blood, but they both had the same reproachful look. I would hate to be a teenager under their watch.
Maybe that was why Ross was so eager to hang out with Dustin. They needed to let him be a dumb kid more often.
Cindy and Ross were still sleeping as we left the Maddox house, and I felt a pang of regret leaving without saying goodbye. Cindy was sharp and to the point, but she was kind to me too. My throat felt tight as I realized this would be the last time I would see her.
I started plotting in the car, playing over Tyler’s words about shifters and tattoos.
If I could find the cash to get here, I could open up shop temporarily.
It would be like a work trip. Tattoo a bunch of shifters, catch up with Rhett and his family—we were friends now, so it had to be okay for me to visit, right?
Sooner or later, some hot shifter dude would come for a tattoo and realize I was his soulmate.
I looked to Rhett, who was dutifully adjusting the heat on my side of the SUV again. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to find that in just any shifter.
“Do you know where we’re going?” Rhett had been especially quiet this morning, glancing anxiously at the little red box on the table while we ate scrambled eggs and toast.
He was probably ready to be rid of me.
I showed him the address on my phone.
“He’s a pipeline worker?”
“I guess so. This is the address he gave me to mail the ring.”
“That’s temporary housing for contract workers. How do you know he’s still there?”
“He only asked me to mail the ring to him two weeks ago.”
Rhett nodded, putting the car into drive and turning down the long driveway. “Anything else I need to be worried about?”
“Me embarrassing myself in front of you?”
His lips quirked. “You forget, I saw your dance moves last night. You can’t possibly do anything worse than that.”
“Hey! I’m a good dancer.”
“You’re an enthusiastic dancer. Not the same thing.”
“Look who’s talking. I guess we’re both taking dance lessons when this is over.”
“I don’t know if anyone in Glacier Run offers dance lessons.”
We settled into silence after that. Rhett comfortably in his own thoughts and me spiraling into the pits of anxiety. I was second-guessing myself, repeating what I wanted to say to Evan over and over in my head until I felt crazy.
I wanted to come across as confident and firm. If he didn’t want to marry me, fine. Good riddance. But I still deserved enough respect and decency for him to tell me that to my face.
The problem was that I was hurt and uncertain. What if he had a really good reason? If he could justify himself, what did I do then? There wouldn’t be anywhere to point my anger except at myself.
The twenty-minute drive seemed to take seconds, and suddenly we were pulling past a chain link gate and into what looked like a trailer park. Three dozen single-wide trailers were in rows, their roofs invisible under dense layers of snow.
Rhett followed the sign to number 34 at the back of the lot. I jumped out of the car the moment it was in park, marching to the door with my heart in my throat. I heard the driver’s side shut behind me, a familiar warmth spreading up my neck as Rhett watched me.
You can do this. You deserve answers.
My determination wavered, and I glanced over my shoulder to see Rhett leaning against the hood of the car, expression icy.
I would get two endings today. Maybe after that, I could work on a new beginning.
My hand shook as I lifted it to knock.