Page 24 of Tempting Fate

Chapter Twelve

Patch

The last thing I want to do once my shift is done is traipse over there and join them all at the table. I can’t think of anything worse.

I’ve humiliated myself. Worse still, I’ve made both Em and Jamie feel bad about it—albeit for entirely different reasons. Jamie hasn’t missed the way my attention has been on Em all night. How could he? And Em… Em has no idea about any of this at all.

Plus, I’ve been fucking up orders left, right, and centre, so I’ll be lucky if the entire fucking pack doesn’t know about this come morning. Leo’s got some idea, no doubt. He’s been watching me like a hawk since he sat down—I’m never one for attitude or dramatics.

I debate ducking out. I could call Millie. She’d cover for me, say she needed to talk to me about something.

But I’m not a child. I’m not a coward.

And besides, Flynn is standing next to the bar, staring at me.

“I know where you live,” he says. I grunt and toss a towel onto the counter behind me. Billy glares at it, then at me.

“You live there too.”

“So there’s nowhere for you to hide. Anywhere I don’t know about, Dax definitely will.”

“Dax probably wants me to stay well away from the lot of them,” I mutter.

“No, he doesn’t,” Flynn says, and when I look past him, Dax is making full eye contact and shaking his head.

Fuck. Fucking wolves.

“Fine,” I say through clenched teeth.

Flynn’s smile never falters as I emerge from behind the bar. Billy lets out a long-suffering sigh and places my pint on top of it, which I take with a muttered apology. Not his fault I’m in this mess. Not anyone’s fault but my own.

My wolf whines. Well, maybe it’s your fault, I think, and then feel uncharitable again.

That feeling vanishes, overtaken by apprehension as we approach the group. Flynn slots us neatly in between Jamie and Em, which neither of them seems to have been expecting, judging by the startled way they both look at us. Em is to my left, Jamie on Flynn’s right.

“Busy night?” Vince asks, with a shit-eating grin. Of course he’s enjoying seeing me like this, even if his friend is involved.

It’s not that Vince and I don’t get along. We do. He’s Dax’s mate and I know they’re good for each other. I know he treats Dax the way he’s always deserved to be treated. I wouldn’t stand for any less.

But there’s no denying we got off on a bit of the wrong foot, and we’re not exactly the kind of friends who’d hang out of our own accord.

So, of course he’s enjoying this. Why wouldn’t he?

“Not really.”

Vince’s eyebrows lift. Okay, maybe that was a little short, but I don’t need him rubbing it in. At least Dax found his mate while they were in bed together. No matter what happened after that, they had a whole weekend of enjoying each other’s company before reality set in.

I just got punched in the face by my mating bond and reality, thanks very much.

“You okay?” Jamie asks. He looks like he didn’t really mean to say the words, but like me a minute ago, it’s not like he can take them back.

“Yeah. Sorry. Been a weird day. How’s the night going?”

Jamie doesn’t reply, but Dax jumps in to fill the gap, then Cecile, and after a little while, it’s easy enough for me to drop out of the conversation and let them carry on. Nick is next to Jamie, and Vince next to him, and they soon enter into a chat of their own, catching up with what’s been going on since Vince moved out.

“Are you all right?” Em asks, startling me. “I didn’t ask before. I just assumed…”

“No, you were right. I was being a dick.”