Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 137004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
“About what?”
“I just wanted to clear things up. I know the decision I made, leaving you for Blane…I know it must have hurt you and—”
He quickly cut her off. “Laurie, you chose to be with your mate. I can’t blame you for that.”
“I heard that you stopped dating after I left you.”
And that had flattered her, he realized. “What happened made me hesitate to get involved in a relationship again, yeah.”
“But you’ve made an exception with Jaime?” She didn’t sound too happy about it. As if she thought he should be still pining after her.
“Yes. Look, I need to go find her.”
“Wait.”
“What, Laurie?” he asked impatiently. She flinched at his tone.
“You hate me, don’t you? Please don’t, Dante. I couldn’t bear it if you hated me.” Why did he get the feeling that this was all an act to get him to stay with her and comfort her?
“I don’t hate you. It was a long time ago. Say bye to Leif for me.” He moved away before she could say another word and headed to where Josh stood only a few feet away. “You haven’t seen Jaime, have you?”
He chuckled. “I’m the one person you can be sure she’d avoid.”
“So you haven’t seen her?”
“No. I’m surprised you let her leave your side.”
“You could have warned me that Laurie was here.”
Josh had the grace to look sheepish. “I actually hadn’t expected any of you to come and—”
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter.”
“Well, if you’ve been distracted so much by your ex that you neglected Jaime, you can bet your ass that she’s left by now.”
Dante was thinking the same thing. Nodding, he delved into his pocket and retrieved his cell as he walked away, continuing to scan the crowds. To his surprise, she answered on the fourth ring. Oh.
He’d sort of expected the silent treatment. Maybe she wasn’t pissed after all. “Hey, baby, where are you?”
“What the fuck do you care?”
No, she was definitely pissed. “Where are you?”
“I’m in a cab, and I’m about five minutes away from pack territory.” He picked up his pace until he was practically marching to the SUV. “I’m on my way back now.”
“Oh don’t leave on my account! Stay with your precious Laurie and have a for-old-time’s-sake fuck! I hope she strangles herself with those damn pearls!” It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to tell her that her jealousy was making him hard. “Keep giving me attitude, baby. I’m looking forward to fucking it right out of you.”
“I don’t think so, Popeye! You stay the fuck away from me! We’re done!” He was pretty sure his heart stopped for a second. “What do you mean, we’re done?”
“We’re done, over, finished!”
His wolf growled angrily. “Like hell we are. We’ll talk about this when I get back. I’ll be there soon.” She’d already hung up on him.
He was going to spank her ass so damn hard.
That plan was unfortunately foiled by the fact that she wasn’t in their room. Going by how faint her scent was, it was obvious that she hadn’t been in there since earlier. It was easy enough for Dante to guess where she was hiding. He stalked through the tunnels until he came to her old room and turned the knob. The door didn’t budge, and he almost smacked his face on it. Motherfucker. She’d locked him out. “Open up, Jaime.”
“Fuck off.”
He might have snapped at that if he hadn’t heard the tears in her voice. “Ah, baby, let me in. I know how that must have looked to you, but I couldn’t care less about her. Come on, open up.”
“Just go.”
“Not a chance.”
“I’m pretty sure I already told you we’re done.”
Both he and his wolf growled at that. “We’ll never be done, Jaime. Now let me in so we can work this out.”
“Just leave me alone and go back to that bitch!”
“I don’t want her, I want you. Now open the goddamn door.”
“Look at it this way: you won’t have to divide your time anymore. You can go live, eat, sleep, and shit in your office and there’ll be no girlfriend to call you.” He heard the seriousness in her voice and found himself beginning to panic. She wasn’t just saying this in anger or because she was upset. She genuinely wanted to end this.
Fuck that. In the weeks that they had been together, she had gone from being important to him to being essential to him. He no longer just wanted Jaime, he needed her. He hadn’t even realized just how much he needed her until right then. He didn’t even care if needing her made him weak. “I told you a few weeks ago, nothing and no one—not even you, baby—will keep me out of your life. Open up. We need to work this out.”
“Not in a million years, Beta Boy! Now leave me the fuck alone! ” He might have persisted if she hadn’t burst into tears that very second. It sent a sharp pain zigzagging through his chest. He’d made her cry. He’d hurt his female that badly. “Okay. If that’s what you really want, I’ll leave you alone.”