AllFreeNovel
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“Two shots of whiskey and a long island,” I order without hesitation. She raises her brows but doesn’t argue as she mixes the long island and makes the shots, bringing them over. I pay and tip before taking one shot. The burn of the whiskey slides down my throat and I close my eyes, savoring it.
Don’t disappoint me again.
My mother’s voice echoes in my head and I take the other shot, letting it chase the memory away.
“Can I get three beers?” a deep voice echoes out from a few feet down the bar. The sound of it has my whole world tilting on its axis. Suddenly I’m eighteen years old and staring down at a picture of him and my sister kissing while she gleefully recounts the details for me. Every. Single. One.
This is just the icing on the shittiest cake ever.
Putting my lips around the straw I suck down the drink as I sneak away to a lone empty table.
Not tonight, Satan.
Felix
“Holy shit,” I whisper to myself as I watch a girl freeze, then slink away the moment Roe reaches the bar and orders. Dakota Barnes. The one who got away. Just seeing her again has my chest aching.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Austin laughs as he gives me a gentle shove, breaking me from the trance I’m in.
“I did. It’s fucking Dakota,” I breathe out as I blink over at him. He laughs but it falls away at the look on my face. He pales visibly and swallows hard.
“Where?” I point her out. “I’m going over.”
“Wait. Do we tell him?” I ask.
“Tell me what?” Monroe, our alpha, demands. We’ve been friends since school and of the three of us, she broke his heart the most when she ran. No goodbye, no fuck you, no I’m sorry, nothing. Before I can come up with an answer his phone rings. He curses and gestures to the door, rushing out to answer. Work never stops for him.
“Let’s go,” Austin says as he chugs his entire beer before standing. He’s already gone so I have to scramble to catch up to him. We squeeze our way through the crowd until we’re standing behind her. HIs mouth opens and closes as he fights for words so I reach out before I can stop myself and tap her shoulder.
She whips around, eyes red and a bit hazy, until her gaze lands on us. Realization, shock, horror, pain, then defeat all shuffle over her features before an indifferent mask falls in place.
“Felix. Austin.” But even if her face doesn’t show her feelings, her voice betrays her as she stutters over the words. The scent of jasmine fills my senses and I breathe in deep, the nostalgia of it washing over me. I’ve never encountered another one that hit me quite like hers, intense and overwhelming in the best of ways.
“Why did you leave?” Austin asks. The pain in his voice has me squeezing his shoulder. It’s stupid but even after all of these years we’ve held onto that memory. We were friends for most of high school and spent nearly every day together in and out of school. Going from that to no contact wasn’t easy. But even worse was that we considered her pack. We’d all dated senior year and I thought she would be the girl I’d marry one day.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to catch you guys in the crossfire, but I wouldn’t ruin your friendship… not after… everything.”
“Everything?” Austin says but I can see the stubborn set of her jaw. She was giving us nothing.
“Have drinks with us. You’re here, we’re here, let’s just catch up?” I beg. She considers me for a moment and something in my expression must have convinced her.
“Fine. One drink.” She gestures to the other two chairs and we snag them with a bit too much enthusiasm.
This is our chance. We can’t fuck it up.
