She runs her black painted nails over my chest and leans up on tiptoe to kiss my neck. “That was fun,” she says, her voice husky.
I force myself to remain still and face her. I do the polite thing and plant a kiss on her lips, giving her a sly grin. No need to piss off the witches unnecessarily by raining on Georgia’s day. “Always fun,” I tell her. “But I gotta run. I’m supposed to meet Rafael after school and”—I check the time on my phone—“school’s already out. I’ll catch you later,” I say, not really meaning it. Coming here was supposed to smooth shit over between us so we could go back to our casual arrangement. An arrangement I’m no longer interested in maintaining.
Her face falls and I hesitate. Tilting her chin up I brush my thumb along her jaw.
“Why the long face, beautiful?” She brightens at the endearment but forces a petulant look on her face. One I can see right through.
“I thought we could, I don’t know, hang out?” Her cheeks turn pink and I stifle a huff, forcing the easy and carefree smile to remain on my face. I need to end this. If the shitty fuck wasn’t an indication, this whole wanting-to-hang-out bit certainly is, but I have to be delicate with shit like this. Georgia is the vindictive type and I don’t need to wake up having been hexed by the little witch over unrequited feelings.
“Georgia,” I draw her name out and tsk.
Her eyes water, and despite feeling like a piece of shit, I force myself to say the next words that come out of my mouth. “We’re not a thing. We’re friends with benefits—without the friend part.”
She sniffles. “And if that’s not enough for me?”
I look up the ceiling. We just went over this. “Then I’m out. I don’t do complicated pussy.” I grab the last of my clothes and head for the door.
“Stop.”
I don’t.
“Jordy Salgaldo, if you walk out that door you are never getting with me again,” she threatens, as if that is enough to make me reconsider.
“Later, Georgia.” This was a mistake. I should have stayed in class.
“Jordy, please.”
I sigh, but keep walking, pulling out my phone to text Zheng.
“I drove you. You can’t just leave.”
Clearly, she doesn’t know me if she thinks a thing as simple as a ride will slow me down. I’m a wolf after all.
Me:I’m going to your place.
Zheng:Why?
I roll my eyes.Come on, man. Get with the program.
Me:Shit with Georgia. I need a lift to Rafael’s.
I could runif I wanted to. It wouldn’t take much effort, but it would take twice as long and I don’t want to deal with Rafe’s high and mighty shit for showing up late.
Zheng:Fine. I’ll drop everything I’m doing and be right over.
I grin.Fucker thinks he’s funny.
Me:Sounds good, friend.
I shovemy phone in my back pocket and cut across the lawn, grateful for once that his pops lives next door and that he’s virtually never home. Zheng is a shifter—a Siberian tiger to be exact—but his dad is human so he has ties on both sides and usually crashes at his place during the week since it’s closer to school.
I make my way to the back gate and take a seat on one of the patio chairs. Zheng’s place is nice. He lives in one of those cookie-cutter gated communities where all the houses look the same and they have to deal with HOAs that tell you exactly how long your grass is allowed to be. His dad does well enough if memory serves. He tried making Zheng go to the human school for a while before his mom finally stood up to him and enrolled him and his sister at Hellbound High. Suppressing your beast is a losing battle, so it’s good he’s at school with other members of the Pack, even if things are still a bit rocky between our clans.
Things have been better with Isa around. Zheng and Rafael made some sort of deal I don’t have all the details on. All I know is that he helped Rafael win Isa back and Rafael decided to drop the beef between them. Personally, I’m not that forgiving. He fucked up and we all got hurt because of it.
We might tolerate him these days, but I sure as shit don’t trust him. Cats are fickle and solitary beasts. They don’t share the same loyalties as the wolves.
My phone dings and I glance down at the screen.
