Chapter 37
Slater
She swallows hard. “You don’t mean that.” Her words are barely a whisper.
I step as close as I can without actually touching her. “I absolutely mean that.”
She shakes her head, unwilling to accept what I’m saying. “You can’t. Soccer—”
I interrupt her. “Tess, soccer has taken a backseat from the moment you came flying into Evie’s room.” I can’t help but smile as I remember the moment she came into my life with the force of a hurricane.
Her mouth drops open. “But you love soccer.”
I shrug. “I do, but I love you more.” The moment the words are out of my mouth, I curse myself.
Though I can’t bring myself to regret saying them, I could have probably waited for a more romantic moment.
“Sorry, I probably should have waited for—” I stare in horror as her eyes tear up. “Tess, what is it?”
“You love me?”
I go still and study her face. “If it’s really such a shock then I haven’t done a very good job of showing you.” I scowl. “I’m not good with feelings or words; I never have been.”
She closes her eyes tightly. “Please stop.”
I don’t move, trying to figure out how I’m making such a mess of this. “Shorty?”
Her bright eyes meet mine, and the shimmer of tears gut me. “Please, I’m trying not to touch you. I’m trying sooo hard, but you’re making it so difficult.”
My frown deepens. “That’s why you’re crying?”
She laughs. “Yes, my brilliant soccer star. I'm crying because you say all the right words.”
“Tessa,” somebody calls out behind her.
“Go,” I urge her.
She gives me a reluctant look but takes a step towards the door.
“I’ll text when I’m off later, okay?” I nod and force myself to walk away.
If I don't go now, I don’t know if I’ll be able to.
It’s getting harder and harder to walk away from her.
“Slater?” she calls out, and I turn back around.
Her gorgeous eyes meet mine. “Thank you.”
I stare at the door she disappears behind, and it takes everything in me not to seek her out. I clench my fists and focus on one step and then another and another until I’m at the clubhouse. I need a good, hard workout.
The day drags. The guys force me to eat lunch and play baseball with them in the afternoon, and then I’m back on campus.
By the time Tess gets done with work, I’m stuck in a two-hour team meeting.
It’s not a meeting I can miss because it’s the planning meeting for this weekend.
I force myself to focus on soccer and my teammates.
Tessa may mean everything to me, but I’m also trying not to let my teammates down.
My meeting finally gets done, but Coach keeps me behind an extra hour going over more things for this weekend.
By the time I’m finally free, it’s after seven.
I call Tessa the moment I step out of the clubhouse.
“Hey, Slater.” Just hearing her voice soothes something deep inside me.
I smile into the phone. “You know you’re the only person in my life that calls me that, right?”
“Slater?” she questions.
“Yeah.”
“Not true. Your mom called you that.”
“That doesn’t count.” She laughs, and I want to lock up that sound. It’s my favorite sound in the entire world. “She only calls me that when she’s being formal. Besides, she’s my mom; so, it doesn’t count.”
“Okay then.” I can tell she’s trying not to laugh again.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner. We had a team meeting that went three hours too long.”
“Three hours too long? Well, how long was the meeting to begin with?” she asks.
“Two hours and then coach kept me an extra hour.”
She laughs again. “Well, I’m sorry you were stuck in there for so long. Did you eat?”
“No, did you?”
“Yes, but I can meet you and sit with you while you eat.”
“Sure.” I won’t turn it down if she’s offering. “I’ll take any time I can get with you.”
“Oh, wait. It’s Sunday.”
I smile. “It is, Shorty.”
“Shouldn’t you be doing a meal and a sport at the house?”
“The guys forced me to eat lunch with them and play for an hour or two.”
“Aw, I missed it. Nuts.”
I can hear the sarcasm in her voice. “You’re not sorry.”
She laughs. “Nope. Not at all. What sport did I miss?”
“Baseball.”
She groans. “Oh hallelujah. I hate baseball.”
“Why?” I ask, amused.
“Because I can never ever hit the ball, no matter how many times I try. I'm terrible.”
“I’m sure you’re not that bad.”
“Oh. Slater. You have no idea. When we had to play in P. E. in high school, people would beg me to not be on their team.”
I try not to laugh. “That’s terrible.”
“You’re totally trying not to laugh. And that was just when we were batting. The outfield was worse.”
“How was it worse?” I can’t help but ask.
“Because I would get so bored out there. So, I would daydream, pick flowers, do anything to pass the time. Inevitably, the ball would come to me like one time. I’d always miss it, and then the team would get mad. Yeah, baseball and I do not get along. It's the most boring sport on the planet.”
“Can’t argue with you there, Shorty.”
“Where do you want to meet?”
“I’m almost to your dorm.”
“Oh.” I can hear movement in the background. “Shoot.”
“You good?” I ask.
“Yeah. I just have to put clothes on.”
I slow my steps. “You don’t wear clothes when you’re in your dorm?” I force myself not to think about that mental picture.
“Slater! Of course I wear clothes.”
I chuckle. “You’re the one that said it.”
“I meant I have to get dressed for being outside my dorm room, not that I’m just sitting around naked.”
I swallow hard. “You really need to stop talking.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake. I’ll be out in just a minute.
” And then she hangs up on me. I shake my head and pocket my phone.
But as soon as it’s quiet, my mind’s back on the problem.
It’s been circling off and on all day. What to do about the bracelet.
As much as I love the idea of bonding with my mate, I’m terrified it will hurt her.
I can’t even touch her. How in the world would I be able to bond with her?
I’m not willing to subject her to the pain it would inevitably cause.
I would at least have to touch her while my fangs were attached to her skin.
And that’s without touching her or kissing her to warm her up.
Then there’s soothing the bite afterward.
I feel my wolf shift inside me. For all those reasons, I can’t bond with her.
Not yet anyway. I’m also worried it’s too soon.
She’s young; she’s only known about my wolf for a short amount of time.
It’s too soon for her to decide she wants to bond forever.
I’ve had my entire life to prepare for my mate, but she didn’t even know shifters existed until recently.
I will do everything in my power to give her time; I just hope we can.
I’m worried what happens the longer the bracelet is on.
I know Alpha is looking into anything he can find; he’s got a few of the older pack members searching as well.
So far, nothing has shown up about what this bracelet could be, except for a conduit for dark magic.
And we’ve certainly found no way to break its power over Tessa.
Her scent hits me, and I look up to see Tessa walking towards me in sweats and my sweatshirt.
Her hair is piled on top her head. She looks.
..perfect. “Hey,” I say when she gets close.
My voice is deep and gruff with the presence of my wolf.
Her eyes are bright. “Hey.”
“How do you feel about taking a trip to grab some food? I don’t really feel like eating any food on campus tonight.”
She smiles. “Sure. What are you hungry for?”
Her question catches me in my lie. “Okay. I lied. I just want alone time with you.” She grins up at me.
“All you had to do was ask, Superstar. I'm yours for the night. Where do you want to go?”
I suck in a breath and look over at her. The moon shines brightly, illuminating the few freckles on her face, her bright green eyes, and her long blond hair. “You can’t say things like that, Shorty.” I try to play it off, but my voice is far too serious.
She just gives me one of her gorgeous smiles that nearly bring me to my knees every single time. “Where to?”
We’re almost to my truck now. “Not sure yet. Anything sound good to you?”
“Well, I certainly won’t turn down a diet soda wherever we go.”
“Got it.” I open the door for her and wait for her to climb in.
I hate not being able to do something simple like help her into the truck.
I close her door and force myself to be calm as I make my way to the driver’s side.
“There’s a place about twenty minutes from here that makes protein bowls. Does that work?”
She turns sideways to face me. “Do they have a soda fountain?”
I smirk. “Yes, my little addict. They do.”
“Well then, count me in.”
I start the drive across campus. “You don’t have to work tonight, do you?”
“Oh, no. Hallelujah. That would be awful. When do you guys leave for your games?”
I let her redirect the conversation. “Wednesday morning.”
“I’m trying to work on my schedule to get off from work. I've already started the process of getting all my classes excused. I need to figure out a ride and everything.”
“Zane and Evie are coming. You can catch a ride with them.”
“I feel bad though because then Reid or Quint can’t come.”
I glance over at her. “Reid can’t come because he has games this weekend, so there will be plenty of room. I already asked Zane. And you can stay with them at the hotel too. Zane said he’ll bunk with Quint, and you and Evie can share a room.”
“Wow. You’ve really thought this all through.”
I almost reach out and take her hand but remember not to at the last minute. “I really want you to come.”
“Well, I really want to be there. I’m so excited. This is going to be so awesome. I just have to get my shifts covered.”
“You’ll get it.”
She spends the next few minutes thinking out loud about what her week will look like.
I stay quiet and just listen to her talk, offering input when she asks.
Honestly, I could listen to her talk all day, every day.
I make a mental note to reach out to Alpha soon and see what he knows.
I need to get that bracelet off; I need to be able to touch my mate.
I need to know she’s safe. As long as she’s wearing that bracelet, she’s not.
My mind goes back to her sleepwalking last night.
Try as I might, I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.
The stark fear on her face when she woke up is something I never want to see again on her gorgeous face.
That fear that the bracelet might have something to do with it has plagued me all day.
I’m anxious for tonight; I'm hoping it was just a fluke. But something deep in my gut tells me it’s probably not, and I've learned to listen to my gut over the years.