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I tried to hand it to him, but he wouldn’t take it. “I appreciate that you want to do this, but you don’t have to pay me back. We can put this money to good use, Mariam. This is enough for us to rent a place, at least for a month or two, until we can find new jobs. This is enough to start over with, Mare.”
I sighed. “We’ve already argued about this enough for one day. We’re both a little tipsy, and I don’t feel like fighting. Let’s go take a walk or something. I’ve never been to the strip.”
Patrick nodded and helped me to my feet, though he was the one who seemed to have a hard time keeping his balance. I stifled a grin, remembering some of our other alcohol-induced nights together.
Even though it was the middle of a weekday, Vegas was alive with lights, sounds, and people. A man old enough to be my father came out of a casino and gave me an appreciative whistle that made me want to gag. One glare from Patrick had sent the man packing. The exchange seemed to disturb my friend up a bit, and after that, he kept a protective arm draped across my shoulders as we walked. “Tell me how everyone is doing,” I said. “How is Ella? And Lance?”
“I think Ella’s good. I saw her at the pack run a few nights back. She seemed a little closed off, like she didn’t want to talk, so I didn’t approach her. And Lance is the same as always. He was pretty fucked up when he found out that you called me and not him.”
I frowned, feeling guilty that I didn’t know Lance’s phone number by heart. Patrick grinned at me, making me realize that the only way Lance would even know I called him was if he had rubbed it in.
I elbowed him, once again amazed at the competition between the two men who had sworn up and down that they’d have no problems sharing a girlfriend.
“Do you still have your phone?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Yeah, I needed it for the GPS to get to Flagstaff,” Patrick said. “Why?”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Jeremy put all that tracking stuff on our phones, remember? If you don’t want him to know where you are, you should probably get rid of it.”
Patrick’s eyes widened. He quickly fished his phone out of his pocket and took off the back. “What should I do, Mare? Is there something I can just easily remove?”
I shrugged. I wasn’t very tech-savvy either. Patrick sighed and wrapped his hand around the phone, crushing it like it was a flimsy piece of paper. He broke it in a couple of different places until he felt confident that it was completely dead. We continued walking together, and he dumped it in a trash can as we went by.
“How is Jeremy?” I asked. “Did he blame you for helping me get away?”
“Jeremy was pretty pissed for a long time,” Patrick admitted. “I thought for a while he might banish me. I guess Trace Everett was breathing down his neck hard about it, so he mainly just wanted me to tell him where you were hiding. He was bent out of shape when I could honestly say that I didn’t know. What made you go to Tumblewild?”
“I thought maybe I could join a pack and start a new life until it was safe to come home. Tumblewild was open to visitors and I had enough money to get there. Those are the only reasons, really. What are the odds of it being Trace’s pack, right?”
“Yeah, what are the odds?” Patrick said softly.
On our walk, we encountered some street performers and crazy-looking humans. We decided to eat dinner at one of the low-priced buffets, which turned out to be surprisinglygood.
Neither of us had any desire to gamble, but we did stop at the liquor store before going back to the hotel. It felt right to loosen up with some alcohol while we were in Sin City, and I had my own motivations for encouraging Patrick to drink.
An hour later, after he had downed several more shots of vodka, Patrick sprawled out on the bed, snoring. I took a key card and left the room, praying that he wouldn’t wake up until after I returned. Downstairs, I went straight to the reception counter. The same woman from earlier was there, and she seemed to remember me.
“Hi, ma’am. You checked me and my…um,husband… in a little while ago, and I was just wondering if I could make a phone call. It would be long-distance, but I can pay for it.”
Her eyes traveled to my scar again, and for once, I was thankful for the distrustful nature of humans. “I’m not really supposed to do this, but you can use my cell phone,” she said, reaching behind the counter and grabbing it from her bag. “Don’t worry about it being long-distance. It makes no difference on my plan.”
"Thanks so much," I said. I looked at the phone for a moment and then felt extremely foolish. I didn't know Trace's number. I didn't know anyone's number from the Tumblewild pack by heart. I bit on my lip and handed the woman back her phone. "On second thought, I don't need to make a call after all. Thanks anyway, though."
This seemed to concern her even more, but I sped off, not wanting to come up with another lie. Using the word “husband” to describe Patrick had left a bitter taste in my mouth. I was done with all of this. I just wanted Trace tocome and take me home. I'd be able to protect Patrick from whatever rage my mate projected when he arrived.
I found a quiet spot by the indoor fountain and closed my eyes, searching for a way to open the door I had closed on him. Finally, I found it. Part of me expected to see the darkness that had been there when my mate shut me out, but instead, I saw that he was in a car, riding in the passenger's seat.
Trace?
Mariam?I felt my mate’s relief flood through him.Where are you? Why did you leave?
I sighed, knowing that he’d have a lot of questions I would need to answer.I didn’t want to leave. A friend thought I was in danger and came to get me. It was a misunderstanding.
I hadn’t had as much to drink as Patrick, but the alcohol in my system lowered my inhibitions, and I started showing Trace images and scenes of what had happened. Once it started, I couldn’t stop them from coming. The ones where Patrick flirted with me and offered to become my new mate earned him a threatening growl from Trace, but by the end, my mate seemed to understand the situation better.
I’m in Las Vegas, I told him.
I know,Trace answered.Randy and I are almost there, maybe an hour away. Your boyfriend was too dumb to realize that your former alpha could track his phone.
