Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 151489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
As the conversation abruptly came to a halt and awkwardness filled the air, Taryn knew they had sensed her presence. There went the option of retreating as if she hadn’t overheard. Although the urge to lunge at Trey was great, Taryn had been dealing with asshole Alphas long enough to know that it was imperative that they didn’t believe they had the power to hurt you. They would stomp all over you if they spotted a weakness, just like her dad and Roscoe. She couldn’t afford for Trey to know that she felt anything for him.
Having pasted an easy smile on her face, she walked out of the trees and over to the patio table, examining Trey’s cautious expression as well as Dante’s apologetic one. “Hell, Dante, was it really necessary to needle him when he was already in a bad mood?” she said playfully.
“I, um, we just -”
She rolled her eyes and waved away his attempt to explain himself. “I just came to see if Trey had stopped with the whole brooding thing, but I see he hasn’t so I’ll leave him to sulk some more.”
Feeling like absolute shit, Trey said, “Taryn, wait -”
“I promised Shaya I’d call her so I’ll see you guys later.”
“Taryn, wait.” He reached out and caged her wrist with his hand but when he tried tugging her to him she shook him off like he was a spider.
“I said I’ll see you later.”
“Look, what I said…” Words completely failed him because, as he’d told her before, he wasn’t good with apologies. He wasn’t good with words at all.
“Trey, it doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does.” It especially mattered because he could sense her hurt, could feel it.
“You only said the truth. It wasn’t anything I didn’t already know.”
Trey growled, pissed at himself for saying dumb shit and pissed at her for walking away from him. “Taryn?” His call went unanswered.
Dante sighed. “You fucked that one up.”
For the rest of the day, Taryn kept herself thoroughly occupied. She called Shaya. She went shopping with Grace for groceries. She did a run around the border of pack territory. She showered. She did some laundry. She beat Trick’s ass at Mario Kart. Hell, she even watched a T.V. program about knitting with Greta during which they engaged in a battle of wills. Anything so that she didn’t have to think about Trey or what he’d said or, more importantly, the fact that she…cared about him. She wouldn’t say the L word. It was officially banned from her vocabulary.
She had tried real hard throughout the evening meal to appear normal, but she was pretty sure that no one had bought it because the guys had crowded around her supportively while shooting scowls at Trey. Still she had persisted with the act. When Trey had spoken to her, she had talked to him and when he had pulled her onto his lap, she had let him. There had been a sort of desperation in the way he held her so tightly yet gently. Like the way a person would try to hold a butterfly – careful because it was small and delicate but on-guard because it was flighty. None of his touches were seductive or teasing. All were soft and soothing, kind of apologetic. But it didn’t ease her hurt or make her relax. How could she be relaxed by the touch of a guy she…cared for when to him she could be anyone?
After the meal Taryn had done as she usually did – she lay down on what was, hands down, the most comfortable sofa in the world to watch some T.V. When it had reached the time when she normally went to bed, she hadn’t been able to move.
Maybe it was dumb that she had originally thought that if she just had a little time physically away from him she could somehow build some mental walls that would freeze him out again. Could freeze out the pain. But even as she lay there reminding herself that none of this was real, that Trey wasn’t important, that soon her part of the deal would be over, another part of her was considering just flipping him the finger and leaving. She wasn’t sure she could bear being around him every day knowing he thought so little of her.
Then she took in the wolves in the room and realized that she couldn’t run. This whole thing was about more than just Trey. They didn’t deserve to suffer just because of one asshole. She had always dealt with assholes. What was one more to throw into the mix? He wouldn’t even be the first asshole who she cared about who felt nothing for her.
Still, even though the constricting sensation around her chest seemed to ease, she knew there was no way she could lay beside him tonight knowing that he would snuggle into her and then try to bring her to orgasm as she woke. Not tonight. Tonight was a night for rebuilding her walls, and to do that she needed distance. So instead of saying her goodnights and making her way to bed, she let her eyes drift shut and took comfort in the scents and voices around her until they lulled her to sleep.