“And you're all right for money?” he asked.
“I am, actually... I… I guess I don't need your allowance anymore, if that's what you're asking,” I said bravely, praying silently that Nona was right - that everything would work out.
My dad let out a scoff and then chuckled. “You mean, Nona's allowance?”
I stopped in my tracks and looked at him sheepishly. He raised his eyebrows and smirked. “Don't worry about it,” he said. “The only way that my mother would accept support from me is if she thought I was actually helping you. I'm not about to cut her off.”
I let out a relieved sigh and felt a weight lift off my chest.
“Does Mom know?” I asked.
“Are you kidding me?” he let out a loud laugh. “Of course she doesn't! And let's try to keep it that way.”
I chuckled and nodded, but my wolf was whimpering and a deep, sinking sadness washed through me. I didn't like thinking about my parents keeping secrets from each other. I hated the idea that my mother wouldn't approve of my dad helping out Nona, even though I knew it was true. And I even hated that Nona wouldn't accept money from her son, if he told her the truth.
Worse, I was part of the lies. I was acting like everything was fine while Dad asked me more questions about my life. While I felt a little happy that he was finally showing some interest, I couldn’t stop thinking about how we were still lying to my mother. The sinking feeling of guilt got worse with every step I took back to Nona's house. By the time we got there, I felt sick to my stomach and excused myself to head home.
That feeling wasn't going anywhere. I needed to get my mind off it, and I needed to celebrate the hell out of finding my fated mate.
I've got big news. Drinks?? I asked Nash and Owen as I sat on my couch.
I'm in. Nash said immediately, making me frown with curiosity.
Same. Tomorrow night? Tuck's? Owen replied. I raised my eyebrows at my screen, sent a thumbs-up emoji, and spent the rest of the day wondering why the hell it was so easy to organize a drinking session all of a sudden.
“Big news, huh?” Nash asked as he sidled up next to me and jumped up on a stool. I did a double-take, not expecting him to be there on time. I'd been there all of two minutes before he arrived.
“Yeah, I've got some news,” I grinned. “I'll tell you when Owen finally gets here –”
“Sorry I'm late!” I heard Owen booming from the door. I squinted at Nash who just gave me an innocent smile and waved Owen over.
“News, huh?” Owen said as he took the stool on the other side of me.
“Yeah, you’ve got some big news?” Nash elbowed me.
“What the hell is this?” I demanded. “You already know what I'm going to say, or what?”
“It just comes out of nowhere, doesn't it?” Nash smirked, leaning back against the bar with his arms crossed over his chest.
“And it changes everything, just like that,” Owen snapped his fingers, and I was snapped back to the conversation we'd had about fated mates just a few weeks before.
“Oh my god, how did you know?!” I demanded.
“Call it a friend's intuition,” Owen said, patting my back.
“Call it deductive reasoning,” Nash insisted. “One, you've never been this silent on social media for this long. Two, you've never looked or sounded so goddamn happy. Three, Owen told me about your kiss.”
I shot Owen a look as he held up his hands to plead innocence, “I had to tell someone!”
“Four,” Nash continued, “It's obvious that the two of you have been pulled together since you were kids. He couldn't stop picking on you. You couldn't stop baiting him.”
“Hey! I never –” I started, and then stopped myself.
“You would literally call out his name across assembly to annoy him, and you'd literally always throw the ball at him during any sport we played and...”
“Oh my god,” I groaned. “I did...”
Owen laughed and tapped the bar to get Tucker's attention.
“Nothing to be ashamed about,” Nash gave me a hard pat on the back. “Just glad that you can see now that it was fate making you thirsty for that little twink.”
“Tripp's hot,” Owen contributed.
I growled and he laughed, raising his hands in innocence again.
“Don't shoot the messenger,” he laughed.
“Nothing I didn't already know,” I grumbled, but a proud smile spread across my face.
“Celebrating tonight, boys?” Tucker asked as he served us three beers and three whiskey shots.
“Hell, yes, we are,” Nash said, passing out our shots.
“To fated mates,” Owen said, raising his glass.
“To fated mates!” we echoed. I threw back the shot and took a sharp inhale as the hot whiskey hit my throat.
“Whoo!” Nash shouted, and pumped his fist in the air.
But it wasn't long before the mood soured. I was halfway through my second beer when the Tuck It door swung open. All eyes turned to watch the woman in a long fur coat strut into the room. My mother made a beeline towards me, looking like Cruella de Vil, with a tall, lanky guy following at her heels. He was wearing a business suit and looked like a young lackey from Dad's business.
“Decky,” she said as a huge smile spread across her face. “I was hoping to find you here.”
She reached the bar and kissed both of my cheeks hello.
“Uh, hey, Mom. What are you doing here?” I asked, looking around nervously at the entire bar staring at us.
“Just came to see my son, of course. And Nash, so nice to see you!”
I felt a wave of relief wash over me as she turned her attention to Nash. I took a long sip of my beer and tried to catch the eye of the guy she'd arrived with, but he wouldn't stop looking up at the ceiling.
“Congratulations on the twins,” she cooed to Nash.
“Thanks, Charlotte,” he smiled.
“Babies are just darling, aren't they? And it must be so nice to have someone suitable to settle down with,” she gave Nash a beaming smile.
“Uh, yeah, it's nice!” he struggled.
“I do ever-so hope that my son will find someone suitable to build a life with.”
“Well, we were just celebrating that he has found someone,” Nash started, but I stopped him by holding up a hand.
“Tripp is suitable for me, Mom,” I interrupted. “Thanks for coming by.”
“Mhm. Well, then,” she patted down the front of her coat and turned suddenly to face the guy she'd dragged in there. “This is Jamison Howard. Jamison, this is my son Decky, who I was telling you all about.”
“Decker,” I said, holding out a hand. “Or Deck. Just please don't call me Decky.”
The guy laughed and shook my hand. His palm was sweaty, his grip was limp, and he still wouldn't meet my eyes for longer than a second, but he was pretty good-looking. Not Tripp levels of hot, but he was very handsome in a clean-cut kind of way.
“Hey, Decker. You can call me Jamie. Nice to meet you,” he forced a smile.
“I know Jamison's mother, and she was telling me today that Jamison is a dentist with his own practice in Helena,” my mother said in an excruciatingly high-pitched voice.
My stomach turned. That same sinking feeling came out of nowhere and made me feel nauseous. I had to get rid of it. I took a deep breath and, boosted up by that shot of whiskey, I told her the truth.
“Don't even bother trying to set me up with someone else, Mom,” I said bravely. “Tripp is my fated mate.”
My mother did a double-take and her lips parted as if she was about to say something but, for once, nothing came. The feeling in my stomach started to relax, just a little. She looked me over with a curious, peering look and then straightened up. All of a sudden, her face set back into its usual hard expression and she cleared her throat.
“Well, that's nice. I'll leave you two to get to know each other,” she said, and suddenly turned to leave the bar, abandoning Jamie at the bar.<
br />
“Oh, god,” he groaned. “I'm so sorry. I didn't realize you were with someone.”
“It's totally not your fault,” I assured him, taking a big swig of my beer.
“I mean, even if I knew, I didn't have much choice about coming. My mother...”
“Is a lot like mine?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
He let out a laugh and nodded. “They have a lot in common.”
“In that case, we might too,” I smiled. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy, and I could always use more friends. “Want a drink?”
“Yeah, I think I need one,” he laughed.
I grinned, and nudged Nash and Owen who were in their own world. “Hey, guys, this is Jamie. He's a dentist and an eligible bachelor.”
“Oh, yeah?” Owen said, looking him over as he chewing on beer nuts. “We've got some single friends who could use a little mouth work, if you know what I mean.”
“Oh my god,” I groaned. “Please ignore him, Jamie. I'm so sorry.”
Jamie laughed and motioned to Tucker for a beer. “It's fine. Definitely not the worst dirty dental joke I've ever heard.”
“Oh, he's not joking,” Nash said, raising his beer. “Nice to meet you, Jamie.”
“Likewise,” Jamie grabbed his beer and clinked it to Nash's and Owen's.
“Now what's this about your fated mate?” Jamie asked me. “Is that shit actually real? I mean, knotting is one thing but fated love? Seems phony to me...”
Owen and Nash let out a barking laugh and Owen put a hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah, Deck. Why don't you tell us all about Tripp? How'd it happen? How'd you know? That's what you brought us here for, isn't it?” he grinned and took a gulp of beer.
“As a matter of fact,” I laughed. “It is.”
“Tell us about the love,” Nash said.
“Tell us about the sex,” Owen added.
“All right, calm down boys,” I said, but couldn't get the beaming smile off my face. “I'll tell you about the pasta.”
16
Tripp
I unsteadily refilled my wine glass, sloshing it back and forth a bit in the process.
“Looks like we're on our way to a fun night, boys. Tripp's already sloshed,” Sutton said, grinning at Jonah with rosy cheeks.
“I better catch up,” said Jonah, reaching for what I left in the bottle. “This one's almost empty already and I'm not feeling it yet.”
Jonah refilled his glass and took a swig.
“Mm, this is good,” I said, my mouth half-full of spaghetti. “Gia's is the best.”
“Is it as good as Decker's pasta?” Jonah asked.
“Better,” I assured him, laughing. “He may be earnest as fuck, but he's not Italian.”
“It's nice to see you without Decker wrapped around you, but I can tell you wish he was here,” said Sutton, implying I had become obsessed, although kindly.
“I've waited years for him to come around,” I said defensively. “And it's so good to finally be with him. Like, actually so good.”
I sighed. I didn't want to seem clingy and I could see Sutton's eyes start to roll so I repented, “But I'm glad we're doing this. I'll try not to ramble on about him too much. No promises though...”
“I wouldn't expect you to even keep a promise about that,” Sutton scoffed, “Especially after your third glass of red. Besides, I want to hear all about it.”
“Um, you do?” I asked, excited to have the attention focused on me again.
“Yeah, let's hear what it was like when you discovered you were fated,” Jonah suggested with an eyebrow waggle.
“That would be skipping right to the best part!” I objected.
“Well, why not?” Sutton asked.
“Don't you want to hear about Nona's lasagna?” I inquired.
“You and food, I swear,” Sutton declared. “You're eating pasta right now, we already know you love it.”
“Yeah, but hers is like… another level.” Sutton stared at me blankly. “Okay, I get it. Where should I start then?”
“How about after the dinner?” Jonah suggested. “After your contract was up, you’d met the parents and all that. What happened then?”
“Well, after the dinner, Decker walked me out to my car. He's quite the gentleman, really. Then he asked me to dinner the following night.”
“Surely there was some face-sucking in between,” Sutton inferred correctly.
“Yes, there was. It's really unfair that he looks the way he does and he's a good kisser,” I sighed and gazed wistfully out the window thinking about Decker's lips...
“Tripp!” Sutton snapped his fingers in front of my face.
“Hm?” I mumbled. “Oh, right, so he asked me to dinner and of course I said yes. And I felt like I had really passed the test. Not like a school test. Like a knight running the gauntlet or something. I swear to God I almost cried! But I sucked it up and just, like, squeaked out a goodbye and hopped in my car before he could notice. At least I hope he didn't notice.”
“As if he would care?!” Sutton insisted.
“I still wasn't sure exactly what his intentions were! Now I do, but this was before… Ugh, what does it matter? Anyway then we went to dinner the next day, as advertised, and then, uh… well, he fucked my brains out.”
“Wow. Pure poetry.” Jonah nodded, looked genuinely impressed.
Sutton feigned a round of applause. “You skipped the best part! Did he knot you right away or— Hey, speak of the devil—isn't that his mother?”
“Hmm?” I mumbled, still chewing a big bite of pesto-covered pasta. I picked up my napkin to wipe my mouth and looked toward the entrance of Gia's. Sure enough, Charlotte Hayes-Savage was on her way to our table with her husband, Dylan, in tow.
“Oh, this should be good,” I said a little too loudly. “Wonder what it is this time.”
Charlotte greeted me with a sneer.
“Oh, Tripp, hello. I'm so glad I ran into you,” she said, looking glad as a cheetah with an antelope in its sights.
“Yeah, why's that?” I replied, eyeing her suspiciously. “Hi, Dylan.”
Dylan gave me a little wave, and Charlotte bared her teeth as she said, “Oh, I wanted to be the first one to apologize that things didn't work out between you and Decker. You were so sweet together but—well, I guess it just wasn't a good fit.”
“Um...” I started, and stared at her warily. “I have no idea what you're talking about, Charlotte,” I insisted. Dylan did a double-take and stared at his wife.
“I've introduced Decker to a very suitable young man and they are currently out on a date. So it looks like you're out of the picture now. What a shame,” she said in a shrill, cruel tone.
I felt my wolf bark and snap its jaws in her direction. I had to hold myself back from saying or doing anything, lest I open my mouth and my teeth found their way to her jugular.
Dylan frowned at her and demanded, “Charlotte, what the hell did you do?”
Waving her hand in Dylan's direction, she answered, “All I can say is—the last time I saw Decker, he seemed to be enjoying himself.”
She turned back toward me, and waved joyfully as she sang, “Ta ta, Tripp.”
She sauntered off with Dylan following close behind, asking more questions as she walked away.
I kept staring at her back receding across the room as I pored over her words in my mind. Decker was out on a date with someone else? I felt like my chair was beginning to tip over. Hell, my whole world may as well have been turning upside down.
Just then, the second bottle of wine we had ordered arrived at the table and I wordlessly poured myself a glass and threw it back.
“Tripp.” Sutton was going to try and reason with me but there was no use. I felt anger rising in me like a red tide. Hot tears started to fill my eyes. Sutton tried anyway.
“Let's not jump to conclusions,” he proposed with both his hands raised, as if that would calm me somehow.
“Fuck that!” I yelled. “
We're going to Tuck It.”
I had barely finished the sentence before I had thrown my napkin on the table and was already headed toward the door.
“Shit,” I heard Sutton mutter behind me.
“I'll get a taxi,” offered Jonah helpfully. I heard cutlery clanging as they both got up to follow me.
As soon as I walked through the door at Tuck It, I felt that fourth glass of wine start to hit me and I was decidedly more tipsy than sober. I scanned the room and when I spotted Decker, my stomach fell through the floor. A handsome, clean-cut guy who looked like he fell out of a medical school catalogue was falling all over him and they were both laughing. I felt anger start to pulse past my ears and before I knew it I had stormed over to the table.
“Are you enjoying yourself?!” I asked by way of greeting them.
“Oh, hey, babe!” Decker flashed me that broad smile as if nothing was amiss. “What're you doing here?”
“I guess I'm just here to interrupt your date, babe,” I snarled at him.
“What… what date? What are you talking about?” Decker seemed genuinely confused.
Sutton rushed over to the table, panting. He explained to Decker what had happened with Charlotte while I glared at everyone with my arms crossed, including the clean-cut interloper, Decker, Nash, and Owen.
Nash waved at me and smiled weakly. I screwed my face up in response. I would yield to no one. Decker's date looked like he wanted to slither under the table like a pale octopus and make a break for the door, but he was blocked in. Everyone at the bar had betrayed me, as far as I was concerned. No one was innocent and no one would leave until I was done.
“Oh, shit,” Decker said when Sutton finished, realizing that something actually was wrong. I took it to mean that he realized the jig was up, that I knew what was going on behind my back.
“I shouldn't be surprised,” I growled, with both my hands gripping the edge of a stool and my back hunched over like a weird goblin. “I should have known. I should have known you would come to your senses. I guess the spell is broken. You've finally realized that you deserve better than me. Fated mates or not.”
My voice cracked and I slapped a hand over my mouth dramatically, trying to hold back the hot tears that were threatening to wet my undoubtedly ruddy face.
Claimed By My Pretend Boyfriend: Blackwater Pack Book Six Page 13