Page 26 of Desire Him

CHAPTER TEN

Snow softly falls as Draven, Wayne, and Becca drive to the city. It isn’t enough to make the roads slick, however, a fact that Wayne is grateful for as he navigates the car.

Wayne is still trying to process everything that happened last night, but Becca won’t shut up. She just goes on and on about everything. It’s like something pops into her brain, and she has to voice it every single time. She’s driving both him and Draven nuts, and his complete disinterest is seemingly beyond her.

At this moment, he’s so glad that Logan called off his potential mating with Becca. She would have been a terrible alpha, complaining all the time and acting like a spoiled little princess just to get her way over trivial things. Unlike Eme, who has fallen perfectly into the role, she can’t learn to be a decent person. At least, Becca and Eme have found common ground. Well, they avoid each other, or Eme avoids her, but most of the shifters avoid Becca, so that’s nothing new.

“I can’t believe they didn’t invite me,” Becca whines from the back seat. “Don’t they know I like to shop?”

Draven turns in the passenger seat so that he can look at her. He lifts an eyebrow. “You’re seriously upset that you didn’t get to go?”

“Yes!” She slaps her expensive jeans on the thigh. “It wasn’t very thoughtful of them. They should have asked me.”

Wayne snorts and glances at her in the review mirror. “I don’t think they cared to ask you, Becca.”

She crosses her arms and harrumphs, turning her sour expression to the window. Going with Becca would have been torture for them. Not only that, but Logan’s car wouldn’t have had enough room for everything Becca would have bought. Wayne doubts that Eme and Val even thought about inviting her in the first place. She can be a real drag and gets bitchy really fast, as Wayne and Draven are quickly finding out. Well, they already knew this about her, but to experience it firsthand in a closed car is absolute torture.

“You’re taking me to the roughest and scariest part of the city, you know,” Becca mumbles at the window after a blissful moment of silence.

Draven groans and beats his head against the heel of his palm.

Wayne thought for sure she was going to shut up for the rest of the trip, but it turns out he isn’t so lucky. “Yeah, well, that’s where all the rogues are.”

“It’ll be fun,” Draven chimes in dryly.

Becca turns her head back to the front. “Says you. You don’t know what they’re like.”

“Are you saying we can’t handle ourselves?” Wayne asks through gritted teeth. The implication is preposterous. Brook Mountain shifters can handle their own, and Draven and Wayne didn’t get to the top by being wimpy fucking shifters.

“No. Yes. No.” She frowns. “I just think you don’t fully understand what it’s like is all. No one is going to talk to you.”

Draven rolls his neck and pops it a few times. “He already has someone to talk to. We’re going to meet with him.”

Becca’s frown deepens. It makes her caked-on makeup look weird. “You know a rogue?”

Wayne and Draven say nothing. Draven begins tapping his fingers on his thighs while Wayne guides the car to the outskirts of the city.

“How do you know a rogue?” she presses.

Wayne sighs. “I met one yesterday, okay?”

“What the hell?” Becca hisses. “You met one? Like, you’re friends with one?”

“Yes,” Wayne confirms through gritted teeth.

“Who? How?”

He looks at her again through the mirror. “Does it matter?”

She blinks at him a few times like she’s been bitch-slapped and can’t believe he would have the audacity to do such a thing. “And he agreed to meet with you? Today? Of his own free will?”

“Jesus,” Wayne growls. “Yes, his own free will.”

“Why would we meet him if he hadn’t agreed?” Draven asks. “How dumb do you think we are?”

She points at Draven. “He could be tricking you guys.”

“He’s not,” Wayne says.