by Sara Summers
I loved that ring.
Sighing, I shook my head and slid it off my finger. If I was done with Logan and his world, I needed to be done with everything that reminded me of him too.
I dropped the ring in my underwear drawer and closed it, then paused. It would be a shame to leave something so beautiful hidden out of sight, wouldn’t it?
Deciding it was, I opened the drawer and pulled out the ring, placing it on the dresser. Then I turned away, before I could think any more about that decision.
My suitcases were in a line against the wall, thanks to Arthur and my brothers. I didn’t want to go digging through them for comfortable pajamas, so I just pulled off my pants and slipped into bed. The sheets weren’t soft like Logan’s, and the mattress wasn’t squishy. I’d never noticed before.
Rolling my eyes at myself, I turned onto my side and closed my eyes, counting in my head until I fell asleep.
Twenty-Three
“Emma, your phone won’t stop vibrating.” Tanner opened the door to my room, and I sat up quickly. It was still dark out so I was obviously asleep.
I hadn’t been woken up in a long time; I was used to waking up naturally in New York.
“What?” I asked blearily.
“It’s 4 AM and your phone won’t stop vibrating. I can’t sleep.” Tanner gestured to the cell phone on my dresser. He was right, it was vibrating. I was just used to the noise so it hadn’t bothered me. Tanner’s room was right underneath mine so with wolf hearing, there was no way he could ignore it.
My brother was irritated, but when I sighed his frustration disappeared.
He jumped up on top of the dresser, barely glancing down at my phone. He was shirtless and his hair was crazy, but that only made everything feel slightly more normal.
“Where is he, anyway?” Tanner folded his arms.
I yawned.
“Probably in Atlanta. He was planning on leaving yesterday and I doubt me coming here changed that.”
“But why isn’t he here?” Tanner asked. He picked up my phone and easily guessed the passcode. It was 1232, the same as the code on our mom’s phone growing up. He touched the screen a few times and started reading the texts out loud.
“Emma, I love you, come home. I miss you. Please answer your phone. Call me back. I miss you. I love you. Just answer the phone. We’re soulmates and I love you.” He rattled off the texts that I had pointedly avoided reading.
I groaned and fell back to the bed, covering my face with my pillow.
“Go away, Tanner. I don’t want to know what he’s saying.” I said, frustrated.
“Why does he keep calling and texting you instead of just showing up and demanding you take him back?” my brother ignored my feelings, which wasn’t a surprise.
“Because he knows I wouldn’t let him through the door.” I sat up and glared at Tanner.
“Whatever. You’re a mess, Em. He might be an idiot but he knows you’re a sucker and that you’d let him in if he showed up. You want him.”
“I always wanted him, he’s the one who never wanted me.” I snapped. “He ignored my feelings, didn’t ask me what I cared about or wanted, and then he just expected me to stay with him because we were soulmates. He’s the one who didn’t try, not me. Just leave it alone.”
“Now he’s saying he should’ve listened to you when you said you weren’t happy.” Tanner held up the phone. “And he misses you again.”
“Stop reading the texts, Tanner. Go to bed.” I threw my pillow at him, and he caught it easily.
“So why isn’t he here? If he cares about you and you care about him, why isn’t he breaking down our front door right now?” Tanner wondered yet again, folding the pillow and resting his arms on it.
“Because he’s not a shifter. Get out of my room.” I gestured to the door. He ignored me again.
“He is, actually.”
“He’s been fighting off the wolf inside him, which is obviously telling him to chase me down since he’s sending a thousand texts. It’s the same thing he’s been doing for the past month. He knows exactly what the wolf in him wants but he does the opposite because he doesn’t want to be a wolf, he wants to be human.” I sighed but explained it to him, hoping it would get Tanner out of my room.
“Huh.” He nodded. “Makes sense.”
The phone started to vibrate again, and I knew Logan was calling me.
I saw the look in Tanner’s eyes and jumped out of bed, lunging toward him.
“Hello.” He answered it. I reached up and tried to rip the device from his hand, but he fought me off with his free hand.
“Who is this?” I heard Logan’s voice on the other end of the line. He sounded tired.
“Emma’s boyfriend.” Tanner grinned when I slapped my hand over my mouth. Logan snarled on the other end of the line, and I wanted to groan.
“What?” my soulmate demanded, his voice low and growly.
I hadn’t heard him sound like that since the day I all but forced him to shift.
“Who are you?” Tanner acted like he didn’t know.
“I’m her soulmate.” Logan growled. “Put her on the phone.”
“Oh, you’re the ex. Yeah, she doesn’t want to talk to you. Bye.”
My brother hung up the phone.
“What are you doing?” I yanked the device from my brother’s hand.
“Using the stupid human idea of dating against him. You said he’s not here because he’s fighting off his wolf, I just gave the wolf in him a reason to fight harder.”
“You just ticked him off.” I protested, tossing the phone on my bed and covering my eyes with my hands. “That’s not going to make him come after me.”
“No male shifter could retain control after hearing his soulmate is with another man, whether it’s true or not. I wouldn’t be surprised if he runs the whole way here in wolf form.” Tanner folded his arms.
“You’re wrong.” I sat back down on the edge of my bed. “You suck, Tanner.”
“What are you two shouting about?” Cody walked into the room. He closed the bedroom door and sat down with his back against it.
“Emma’s mate called and I told him I was her boyfriend.” Tanner caught him up quickly.
Cody nodded slowly.
“That’s actually a good idea. Nice.” He approved. “He’ll be here as soon as a plane can get him here.”
“He’s not going to come just because you lied to him. If what you said even affected him at all, it’s just going to make him stay away from me even more.” I argued.
“You don’t understand how male shifter brains work.” Cody shook his head, dismissing my thoughts immediately.
“Then explain it to me.” I folded my arms.
“He feels you all the time, Em. He knows where you are every second of every day. That’s supposed to be intense for a shifter who has spent his whole life knowing it was going to happen, which means it’s probably overwhelming for a human. He knew you were in your house for the last however many hours, and now that he thinks you were with another man, his wolf is telling him that you’ve been with this guy all night.” Cody explained.
“That doesn’t matter because he’s not willing to do anything about it.” I growled at my brothers.
“It would be physically impossible to restrain his wolf if he really thought you’d spent the night with someone else.”
“Well he had nine months before this one to learn how to tune me out, so he probably isn’t thinking whatever you guys would be if this happened to you.” I rubbed my eyes. “He’s not coming.”
“I’ll bet you that fancy phone he’ll be here by 4 PM.” Tanner smirked.
“I’ll bet your phone he’s here by 2.” Cody challenged.
“Noon.” Tanner wasn’t about to let his twin beat him.
“I’ll buy both of you fancy phones if he shows up here today, that’s how sure I am that he won’t.” I gestured to the door. “Now get out of my room, I’m trying to sleep.”
�
��Sorry Em, but we have to leave for work in ten minutes.” Cody gave me a small smile, standing up.
I groaned.
“You’re the one who ditched the rich life and came back here.” Tanner shrugged. “However crazy that makes you.”
“It makes me very, very crazy.” I muttered, standing up.
The boys left my room, and I looked at my closet. I grimaced when I saw all of the old t-shirts and jeans. I could’ve put on some of my clothes from New York, but I didn’t want to ruin them at the construction site.
So I pulled on an old pair of clothes and headed downstairs, putting my hair in a messy bun on top of my head on the way.
“You got dressed for the day?” Tanner lifted an eyebrow when I met him and Cody in the kitchen. Cody had a gallon of chocolate milk in his hand while Tanner grabbed a banana.
“Oh. Crap.” I remembered that we had to shift and run to get to work.
“He really did turn you into a city girl, didn’t he?” Cody studied me for a moment.
“Get over it. You both are going to end up with city girls for soulmates anyway, so you might as well get used to it.” I waved it off, stealing the banana out of Tanner’s hand.
“Go buy your own banana.” He complained, still teasing me about being rich.
“You’re a working man, you go buy your own banana. I’m just a moocher.” I opened it and took a bite.
Tanner snagged it and took his own bite before handing it back to me.
“Mooching off a moocher, Tanner? Classy.” Cody downed a glass of chocolate milk.
“We’ve got to go.” Tanner said, breaking off the top 2/3 of the banana and stuffing it in his mouth.
I ate the rest of the banana and followed my brothers out the back door. We shifted and ran together to the construction site, something we’d done so many times that it almost made me forget about Logan and everything that had happened in New York.
Almost.
Twenty-Four
My brothers and I went home for lunch around 1 PM, and there was still no sign of my soulmate.
Artie, Arthur, and our parents were gone, probably eating with some of my parents’ friends. My mom was well known for dragging strangers around town with her until they knew everyone who lived in Mount Edge by name.
“He’ll be here any time.” Tanner promised me, as he made a stack of PB&J sandwiches.
After eating fancy sandwiches with meat and cheese and veggies on them every day, PB&J sounded gross.
I took a bite of one of the sandwiches, though, and tried not to make a face.
“Their city food got to you too, didn’t it?” Cody patted my shoulder sympathetically.
“No.” I took another bite of the sandwich. When I nearly gagged, I put it down and sighed. “Fine, it did. I’m ordering Jimmy John’s. It’ll take a while to get here, but it’s worth it. What do you guys want?” The nearest place that delivered was twenty-five minutes away.
Luckily, my soulmate had told me repeatedly to spend as much of his money as I wanted.
I had to bribe Jimmy Johns to deliver so far away, but when I offered to throw in an extra twenty bucks, they agreed to send a driver all the way to Mount Edge.
Tanner stuck the PB&J in the fridge “for later” despite me and Cody telling him our mom would kill him for doing it, and we hung out in the kitchen while we waited for the food. My brothers decided their time would be well-spent googling pictures of me while I’d been in New York.
“Wow. No wonder Logan keeps blowing up your phone, you look great.” Cody said, and Tanner leaned over to see what was on his phone.
“What?” I looked over the phone and grimaced when I saw a picture of Logan and me. He was wearing a tux, looking way too sexy.
I was wearing a white dress that was all but glued to my figure. It had tight long sleeves, a high neck, and a low back. The makeup painted thickly on my face made me look almost as desirable as the man with his arm around me.
“Don’t look me up.” I complained, trying to grab the phone.
Cody pulled it back to his chest, where I couldn’t reach.
The doorbell rang, and I stood up quickly. I was starving.
“Finally.” I grabbed the stack of cash off of the counter on my way to the door. “I was starting to wonder if you—“
The words died in my mouth when I saw who it was.
“Logan.” I stuck the cash in my back pocket and folded my arms.
My soulmate stood at the door with a box of chocolates in one hand and a bouquet of roses in the other.
“Hi.” He swallowed, and I could see that his entire body was tense. In the entire month we’d been together, I had only ever seen him look like that once.
Logan Lush, struggling not to shift into his wolf form.
I was almost surprised there wasn’t a camera following him around, capturing the moment as it went down in history.
“Why are you here?” I didn’t move to let him in.
“To apologize.” He lifted the roses and chocolates, like I’d missed them the first time.
“We both know you haven’t changed. Go home, Logan.” I started to close the door, but he stopped it with his foot before it shut all the way. That in itself was a surprise. He’d never tried to stop me from shutting a door on him, and he’d never come inside a room when I told him not to before.
And that moment, he did both.
I stepped back and let him in, but didn’t say anything to the man and the gifts he’d brought to try to buy my forgiveness.
He closed the door behind him with his foot.
“Take the presents, Emma.” He warned.
“No.” I put a hand on my hip.
Someone knocked on the door, and I tried to step around Logan. He held out his hand, blocking me from the door.
“Who is it?” I heard the low growl in his voice and ignored the excitement I felt that he might be getting a little closer to accepting that he was a wolf.
“Is it your boyfriend, Emma?” Tanner asked as he and Cody walked out of the kitchen, both grinning. Tanner sat on the back of the couch, while Cody leaned up against it.
Logan snarled, and I shot my brothers a glare before I tried to step around Logan’s outstretched arm again.
He put the flowers and chocolates in my arms and stepped forward to answer the door, his shoulders and arms so tense I could see his muscles bulging. As he opened it, I knew he was ready for a fight. Though he didn’t realize it, he was radiating the manly power called dominance that kept wolf shifter packs from falling apart.
“I have an order here for an Emma Jones?” I’m sure the delivery man felt more than a little threatened by my 6’2” soulmate with his muscles bulging and dominance pouring out of him.
I shoved the flowers and chocolates into my brothers arms before stepping in front of Logan.
“That’s me.” I smiled and handed the delivery guy the wad of cash I’d stored in my back pocket. “Here’s a tip. Sorry for him.” I gestured to Logan over my shoulder and handed him an extra twenty dollar bill. I couldn’t have Jimmy John’s afraid of delivering to shifters, after all.
I took the sandwiches and pushed Logan inside, closing the door behind me.
“Do you really think I had time to find a boyfriend in the twenty four hours I’ve been away from you?” I rolled my eyes at Logan and carried my sandwiches to the kitchen table. “My brothers were testing you to see if the wolf in you was strong enough to want to defend his territory. I bet against you, but obviously they were right. You owe them fancy cell phones now.”
I sat down at the table and pulled out the three sandwiches, unwrapping them until I found the one I’d ordered with turkey and avocado.
My brothers both ordered the same sandwich with tons of meat on it, so they grabbed theirs and sat down next to me. I shook my head at Tanner when I noticed he’d already eaten half of the chocolates.
Cody popped one of the candies into his mouth before taking a bite of his sandwich, and I shook m
y head at him too.
“You shouldn’t eat the pity presents.” I reached across the table and grabbed the box of chocolates, dropping the golden box into the garbage can beside me.
Tanner pulled it out before anything gross ruined the chocolates.
“Pity presents?” Logan took the seat next to me that my brothers had conveniently left open. “Those are apology presents, not pity ones. I don’t pity you.” My soulmate folded his arms.
“I know, you pity you.” I took a bite of my sandwich, leaving him waiting for an explanation.
Logan looked confused, so my brother took it upon himself to enlighten my soulmate.
“She’s saying you bought the presents because you feel bad for yourself since she left you.” Cody explained through a mouthful of bread and meat. When he swallowed, he oh-so-helpfully added, “Basically, you bought the presents to make yourself feel better.”
“I brought them to say sorry.” Logan’s face was red. I won’t lie, it felt good to see him be the frustrated one for once.
“Sure you did.” I wrapped my sandwich up again, half-eaten, and walked toward the stairs with it. I didn’t want to have to talk to Logan any longer.
Despite what my brothers thought when they tricked him into coming to our house, I had left him for a reason and I wasn’t just going to go back to him because he brought flowers and chocolate.
“Whoa, I’m not just going to let you walk away from me again.” Logan grabbed my arm.
“Yes you are, because we both know you wouldn’t be here if Tanner hadn’t answered the phone pretending he was my boyfriend.”
I pulled my arm out of his hand and took my sandwich upstairs to my bedroom, shutting the door and eating on my bed.
Thanks to my wolf hearing, I heard everything the boys said downstairs.
“How did you know I would come?” Logan asked my brothers.
“Eh, it was common sense. Male shifters don’t share. If there’s a girl in your head all of the time, you’re not going to cheat on her or stand idly by while she sleeps with another guy. You’d probably kill him before it got that far.”