Chapter Eleven
Josie
They had never pushed me to tell them my backstory, the three males who were my benefactors.
I had opened up a little to the residents at the motel, mostly because they were sharing their much-worse pain but also because sometimes it was so hard to hold it inside.
I’d had my aunt to lean on once, but coming here, I’d left her and everything I knew behind.
The motel residents were female and, in my mind, safer than any male could be.
But I’d promised myself I wasn’t going to have anything to do with males, ever, and now, I’d accepted a date with two of them.
Not from pressure tactics or because of pack expectations but because the idea made my heart happy.
And my wolf. She’d never been part of the decision to avoid males.
Or shown any interest in them until the day I met these three.
Still shaken from my close encounter with the creepy guy, I agreed to go back to the motel and rest.
It was amazing to be rescued, but that didn’t fix what was wrong with me.
All it did was show that escaping my pack did not protect me from the other bad alphas in the world.
Somehow, in my mind, I came from the worst of the worst. Something I’d learned was not true while talking to the other residents at the motel, but this was my first personal experience since leaving, and it drove the point home.
Sure, the club was crowded, but if I was treated so shabbily by a customer, it seemed likely other females were also going through it.
Carver accompanied me through the stockroom and into the laundromat.
“I’ll call in another employee and stay here until they arrive. Unless, maybe I should take you home first.”
I considered his offer, and it sounded good, sounded safe…
which was dangerous. How was I going to survive if I constantly had to ask someone to watch me walk such a short distance?
Grown-up shifters did not require a babysitter, and even my wolf, who wanted nothing but to spend time with him and the others, rumbled at the implication we were so weak.
“Thanks, but I feel bad enough to have locked up and cost you customers while I went into the club uninvited.” And now, I needed to tell both of them I wasn’t going on a date with them.
Maybe I should wait and let Diesel ask, if he was interested, and tell them all in a group.
“You are always invited, but let us know if you want to come so we can make sure you’re safe. It can get a little wild in there on a busy night.”
There it was again. Come to the club. On a leash. “Uh, okay. So, I’m going and I appreciate the night off.”
“You’ll be paid for it, of course. I feel terrible about what happened.”
Again…making things easy for me. Paying me when I didn’t even work for it. “That’s not necessary.”
“Yes, it is. Any employer would do the same.”
I twisted the lock on the glass door and opened it. “You’re my first employers, so I’ll have to take your word for it. See you tomorrow.”
As I walked down the sidewalk, I glanced over my shoulder to see the alpha standing in the open doorway, watching me go.
At once both annoyed and relieved, I gave a wave and buzzed the door of the motel, which was kept locked after dark and sometimes before, depending on the situations of those who were staying there.
“Hello, Josie. You’re home early. Everything okay?” Thea sat on the sofa in the common area, a book open in her lap and a pot of tea on the low table in front of her. A few cups, along with a pitcher of cream and bowl of sugar cubes and a plate of shortbread cookies surrounded the pot.
“Fine. It’s all fine.” Shit, prickly much?
Thea arched a brow and closed the book after setting a marker in place. “Want to talk about how fine it is?”
“No. I’m sorry. I am okay. I went into the club and a guy hit on me. He didn’t touch me, but he also wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“Come sit down.” She patted the sofa cushion next to hers. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“You don’t have to. But I could use some company. Won’t you have a cup of tea?”
“Maybe. Yes. I’m sorry.” I plopped down with a sigh.
“Quit apologizing and eat a cookie. Suzie baked them.”
“Suzie?” The most closed-down female in the whole place. I’d never seen her anywhere but on the way to her room or huddled on the chair she preferred here. “She bakes?”
Thea held up the plate. “You tell me.”
I picked up one of the golden-brown triangles, chunky sugar glistening on top. “They’re pretty.”
“Taste.”
The shortbread had just enough crunch and melted in my mouth. “Oh, Goddess,” I mumbled before swallowing. “She bakes.”
“I think it will be a good thing for her.”
“And us!” I finished the first treat and reached for a second. “Definitely for us.”
“One of the things I think are most important with our ladies is finding their gifts and talents. Many don’t think they have any at all.”
“I-I wish I had some.”
“You do.” Thea poured a cup of tea from the delicate china pot embellished with pink roses. “You just don’t see them yet.”
“And you do?” I accepted the cup and waved away the cream and sugar.
“Enjoy your tea, dear.”
We sat in companionable silence for a while, and of course I ended up telling her about everything that happened and about the dates I’d accepted and had to get out of. Thea listened and kept my cup filled and never offered a bit of advice.
That was her super power, I mused, as I headed upstairs to my bedroom. And it was an amazing one.