She narrowed her eyes but didn’t seem the least bit surprised. “You want me to play a drinking game? With you?”
I leaned forward. “Scared, Princess?”
The taunt of a challenge was all she needed. I knew it would be. She’d felt the need to prove herself to everyone.
Kensey reached for the bottle. “Go for it.”
Now was my chance to dig a little deeper. To find out what made her tick. Sure, she could lie about anything I asked, but something told me she wouldn’t. She was too proud for that. “I’ve never worn a dress.”
She glared at me. “Really? You know damn well I’ve done that.”
I nudged the bottle with the toe of my worn boot. “Exactly.”
She mumbled something and took a short pull. “I’ve never kissed Amy Hallsey behind the bleachers.”
“Low Blow, Princess. Low blow.” I grabbed the rum from her, took a swig, then set it down between us. We’d warmed up enough. Now onto the harder shit. “I’ve never kissed a guy.”
Her scowl grew, and she snatched the bottle. Taking a much larger than necessary gulp, she said, “I’ve never—”
I grabbed it from her. “Whoa. As your fake boyfriend, I feel like I need to know who you’ve locked lips with.” I was messing with her but was also genuinely curious. I’d never seen her with anyone. Very little went on in our community that didn’t hit the line. If she’d been dating someone, I would have heard about it.
Her scowl deepened, and I knew I’d hit a nerve. But instead of answering my question, she said, “I’ve never slept with half my female pack sisters.”
I snorted at her attempt to shame me and took an extra-long pull. There was no reason to correct her. I’d been with Lupe and one other, but reputations had a life of their own. “Yeah? Well, I’m a virgin,” I countered, waiting for her to grab the bottle. When she didn’t, I called, “Bullshit.”
“So you’re calling me a liar?”
I would have, but I could see it in her eyes. She was telling the truth. “Seriously?”
Her expression darkened. “Because who would want me, right?”
“Didn’t say that. Just surprised because, yanno, you’re…you.”
She snatched the bottle from me and took a sip. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
I opened my mouth but snapped it closed before I managed to say something stupid.
Well, stupider.
A swell of something unfamiliar flared inside my chest at the idea of some other guy putting his hands all over her—which was ridiculous. Why the hell should I care who’d gone there?
For some reason, though, my mind started to race. I ticked off the possibilities in my head. Humans I’d seen her around school with, wolves I knew had interest. Kensey Deaton might go out of her way to dress like a dude, but that didn’t matter. She was a stunner even buried under all that crap. Others saw it, too. I’d gotten into a fight with a wolf from another pack when I overheard him talking about her last year. “Who? Who was it?”
She ignored me and rose onto her knees. “It couldn’t be true, because I have no…how did you put it…tits?”
Of course, her words diverted my gaze to her chest. I’d been wrong. Really wrong. “Actually—”
She eased forward a little. “Or is it because I don’t dress trashy enough?”
I didn’t have any complaints about her current outfit. “Well—”
“Maybe I’m just too dull?” She eased down and crawled the rest of the way to me. I held my breath as she positioned her lips up close to my ear. Every nerve in my body raged. “Not sexy enough?”
Holy shit…
I cleared my throat and gently pushed her away.
She resisted, repositioning herself in front of me. “We’re practically fake-engaged, Slade. One kiss won’t hurt.”
She was right. One wouldn’t hurt. We should practice, right? So it looked real?
Uh, shit…
I’d had too much to drink tonight. As wolves, we had a much higher tolerance for alcohol than humans, but I’d hit the bottle hard. Harder than I thought. That was the only explanation for her behavior. “That’s not what you want, Princess.” I kept my tone light and even. “This isn’t you talking. It’s me. I had a really bad night. Drank way too much. I must have flipped my—”
She stared for a minute before scooting back and stumbling to her feet. Unsteady, she slammed her head against the low part of the ceiling and yelped in response. “I can’t believe you—”
There was no anger in her expression, only horror. She was mortified, and for the first time in a long while, I actually felt bad. I jumped up and reached for her hand.
“Kensey, wait a sec. I—”
She jerked out of reach and slipped through the treehouse window, and before I could even get to the sill, she’d disappeared into the night.
Chapter Thirteen
Kensey
I’d been out of bed for an hour, and the relentless jackhammering inside my head hadn’t let up one bit. I barely remembered slipping back through my bedroom window or falling face first into my pillow—but I remembered asking Slade McAlister to kiss me.
I remembered him refusing.
In fact, I remembered pretty much everything about that moment. He was trying his hardest to be a dick—nothing unusual about that—but there was the smallest hint of something deeper just beneath the surface. The slightest glimmer of vulnerability. He’d looked so amazing sitting there across from me, all bloody, bruised, and drunk.
Um, hello McAlister mojo?
I groaned and let my head fall forward against the bathroom mirror. It was cool and comforting, and I wished I could stay there forever. Facing him was not going to be the highlight of my day.
“Your ride is here.” Aden banged against the door. The sound of it echoed like ten thousand drum solos inside my head.
I pushed off the mirror and took one last look. I’d thrown on the first shirt I touched, a T-shirt that said Duct tape can’t fix stupid—but it can muffle the sound, and my favorite jeans. I didn’t have the energy to put my hair up, so it fell down to the middle of my back, still damp.
Out from the safety of my bathroom and down the stairs. I took my time, but it wasn’t that far a walk. Before I could count to two hundred, I was at the bottom and out of room to run.
“Where’s Slade?”
“On the porch,” Aden said. He gave Duncan, the wolf currently glued to his side, a high five. “No way am I letting that mutt inside the house. Probably not house trained.”
“Did you see him? Looks like someone worked him over good,” Duncan said.
Aden snorted and leaned against the doorframe. “Not surprised. The guy rarely comes to school unmarked. He’s borderline feral.”
I rolled my eyes and shoved past them. When I pulled open the door, Slade was sitting on the bottom step playing with his flask.
“Hey,” I said, closing the door behind me. I knew what to expect and tried to play it cool but faltered. It looked so much worse than it had last night.
He had a black eye and a dark bruise that blanketed the entire left side of his face. The knuckles on his right hand were torn up, too. “Don’t look so surprised. You saw this all last night, remember?”
My cheeks were red. They had to be. I felt the heat creeping into my face like someone was hovering over my skin with a flamethrower. I waited for him to get another barb in, but he didn’t.
We walked to the truck in silence, and when he pulled open the door and stepped aside so I could climb in, I almost bolted back to the house.
“So I guess I should apologize,” he said as he slid behind the wheel. “I promised you that I’d never flip my switch around you, and I did.”
The scene came rushing back, and I swallowed a fresh wave of embarrassment. I’d been so ready to throw myself at him, had been so crushed when he pushed me away. The similarities were haunting. It’s what drove us apart when we were younger.
I sucked in
a breath and shrugged. “Not totally your fault. Things got a little crazy. I don’t normally drink, and—”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “I got kind of carried away. I don’t normally break my word. But my wolf was in rare form and I—”
“Why do you always do that?”
“Do what?” He gripped the wheel tighter. He knew exactly what I was referring to.
“Talk about the wolf like it’s something separate?”
“Because it is.” His voice held a note of fury, and I was toeing the line, but his view of things was so totally screwed up. It was no wonder he had such a hard time dealing with it.
“The wolf isn’t a separate part of your personality or something, Slade. It’s you. You are the wolf. Did you ever think that the reason you have such control issues is because you’re fighting your nature?”
“The reason half the people in my life are alive right now is because I fight my nature.”
“I don’t believe that at all.” I wanted to keep pushing, to say something that would make him see he was doing more harm to himself than good, but now wasn’t the time. He’d tensed, and his breathing had increased. His heartrate had spiked. All that would take to push him over the edge was the smallest nudge. “Is that why you drink so much?”
We pulled up to a red light, and he turned to me. The scrutiny had me shifting uncomfortably in the seat. “It dulls the wolf.”
“And last night? The treehouse?”
The light changed, and he refocused on the road, gunning the engine. “I got into it with a couple of pack-mates. No big. Happens all the time.”
So I’d heard.
He pulled the van into the lot and swung it into his usual spot. “So, we cool?”
“Sure, but—” Before I was able to unfasten my seatbelt, the back door flung open.
“Ditch day,” Devo announced as he threw himself into the back of the van. Risa was right behind him, followed by Merrick…and Lupe. I dared a quick glance in the side-view mirror as she closed the door. She was glaring at me.
Slade sighed and turned the key to start the engine again. He glanced at me, and I nodded. What else could I do? I’d be a horrible girlfriend if I didn’t go along.
…
“So?” Risa stretched her legs and leaned back to take in the sun. We’d driven out the edge of town, to the cliffs that overlooked Lake Harvest. I hadn’t been here since I was a kid. My mother brought Aden, Amanda, and me for picnics every once in a while. When my father found out, he screamed at her for two days straight. We never knew why. After that, I avoided the place. Being back sent an even mix of chills and thrills through me. “Things with Slade?”
Merrick and Slade were on the other side of the cliff, locked in a heated debate. “Good, I think,” I said as Merrick threw his hands into the air. Slade responded by flipping him off.
“Ya know, Slade and I have always been close.” She tilted her head farther back and closed her eyes for a moment.
“That’s nice…” I wasn’t sure what to say. “I mean, I knew there were others, but I didn’t…”
She sat up and shifted so that we were face to face. “Slade has seven sisters and one brother.”
My mouth fell open.
“I know, right?” She shrugged and nodded to Merrick. “Merrick is his half-brother.”
“I would have guessed Devo.”
“Eww.” She smacked my arm. “I’ve been on and off with Devo since we were fourteen. That’d make us related. Say what you want about our pack, but we don’t go there.”
“Sorry.” I felt like an idiot for not making the connection. “So, eight siblings? Really? I can’t believe I didn’t know that.”
“Of course you didn’t.” She winked. “You still don’t.”
Slade and Merrick were sitting on the edge of the rocks now. Whatever they’d been fighting about seemed to have gotten resolved. “But can I ask why keep it secret? I mean, what’s the big deal?”
Her lips twisted in a scowl, and for the first time since I’d met her, she regarded me with disgust. “Seriously? How is it not obvious?” She shook her head and gave a slight nod in Slade’s direction. “What did you offer him?”
My body went cold. “What?”
“To do this.” She spread her arms wide and lowered her voice. “To pretend to date you. It had to be good. It had to be huge, otherwise—”
“I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.” The defensive tone in my voice was unmistakable. Every word out of my mouth pointed a flashing neon sign toward guilty.
I made a move to stand, but Risa grabbed my arm and held like a vice. “No judgment, Kensey. I get it.” She pulled me back to the ground. “I figure you must have gotten the same spiel as he did. Pair up or else. I’m just curious what it was you offered to get him to go along with it.”
“Because our relationship can’t possibly be real?” Even though she was right, her insinuation made me furious.
She frowned, and the pity in her expression fanned the spark and turned my anger into an all-out inferno. “No matter how you guys play it up, no way. I’d never believe it, because I know my brother—unlike most of the people who hang around. There’s no way in hell Slade would ever consider starting something real with you…”
With you…
It was the weirdest thing. All of the anger, all of the rage, the indignant fury over the thought that I wasn’t good enough for someone like him—it all took a sharp turn south. I felt the sting in my eyes three seconds after I managed to wrestle free of her grip and stumble to my feet. Her words were like a knife, gutting me, reopening an old wound I was so sure had healed.
My feet were in motion before I even realized it. Away from Risa, along the edge of the rocks and to the small path that led back to the road. We were miles from home, but I didn’t care. I’d walk all the way there if I had to. Crawl, hop—hell, I’d dance the goddamned jig. Anything except go back and face him like this.
Like the ghost of a blubbering thirteen year old crushed by his lack of interest.
Because I’d been there already. Did it and had the T-shirt and matching pin. I was four years Slade-sober, and I was over it. I was.
So why was it bugging me?
I had no idea how far I got before I heard it. The sound of movement in the trees alongside the road. I closed my eyes and dug deep, reaching out to my inner wolf. My heightened senses snapped into place with ease. “Is there a reason you’re skulking around in the woods?”
Slade emerged from the trees and stuffed both hands into his jacket pockets. “There a reason you’re walking down the road all alone?”
“I was bored. Didn’t wanna bother anyone. Gonna walk home.”
He kept his expression neutral, but unlike before, I now sensed amusement. “Thirty miles?”
I started walking again. “Sure. Why not? I’m a wolf. I’ll shift and run.”
“In broad daylight?”
“I know how to not get caught.” But he had a point. The business district was between here and home. No trees at all. Something told me a huge red wolf wouldn’t go unnoticed.
He fell into step beside me. His posture stiffened, and the humor left him, replaced by something like guilt. “That’s it? Nothing else to say?”
“What else would I have to say?” I picked up my pace. Unfortunately, he didn’t take the hint.
“I know you,” he said. It came out softer than usual. “There has never been any point in your life when you had nothing to say. You’re the most obnoxiously opinionated person I know—in a good way, I mean.” He jumped ahead and stepped in front of me. “I saw you talking to Risa. What did she say that bugged you?”
“Just that she knows this is a scam.”
His eyes narrowed. “If you’re pissed because you think I told her, I didn’t.”
I hadn’t even considered that. There was too much on the line for him. He’d never jeopardize his future by telling someone the truth. “She figured it out on her own,
because apparently your hatred of me is just that epic. A scam was the only way this”—I jabbed a finger between us — “could possibly be explained.”
He tilted his head and raised a brow. “Risa said I hated you?”
“Not in so many words, but it was implied.”
“Implied, how?”
“She said I had to have offered you something huge to get you to agree to do this. She said there was no way you could possibly be in a real relationship with me.”
Rehashing this was good. It made me feel better, clearer. Less hurt and angrier. There was nothing wrong with me. It was him!
“I think you’re taking it out of context,” he said, frowning. “I don’t hate you, but she’s right. It’s a hard sell.”
I didn’t say anything.
His frown deepened. “You’re not my type, Kensey. You’re too—”
“Boring?” I supplied, annoyed. “Plain?”
“Nice,” he corrected, equally irritated. “You’re too damn nice. We’re on different sides of the spectrum. You’re living in the help old ladies across the street and run into burning buildings full of kids. I’m sitting square in the middle of kick your ass for smiling at me right before I steal your cash, your car, and your girl. Besides, I don’t do relationships—especially not ones like this.”
“Ones like—” And then I understood. “They know we’re not—”
“It’s early, so we’ve been able to get away with it. Eventually though…”
“I am not going to sleep with you to maintain our cover!”
His eyes widened and his mouth fell open. There, for the briefest moment in history, Slade McAlister was stunned speechless. Then it passed. “That’s not what—although if you’re offering…”
“I’m not.”
“Then we’ll need a way around it. A way to trick them into thinking we’re closer than we really are.”
“And how the hell are we supposed to do that?”
“First off, you’ll have to stop standing so far away.” Inches away from me, he tilted his head to the left. Then to the right. He leaned in and whispered against my ear. “Secondly, I suggest doing something girlfriendy right about now, because we have an audience.”