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He wracked his brain, trying to dig through all her random comments. “Because she wants me to have what I want…the white picket fence, children…my office job.”
At that, he grimaced. She knew he didn’t actually want that. He never had to say it, and she knew. But he had shut her down. Had refused to even think about it.
“She told me to figure out what I wanted in life without it revolving around her.”
“Sounds like a smart girl.”
“A stubborn girl. There’s no meeting in the middle. No compromise. There’s nothing I can do. She is right—we are too different.”
“You’re giving up?”
“There’s no solution.” He stood angrily, leaving his mom on the couch. “It’s over. And I’m done talking about it.”
He stalked from the room, heading straight for the shower. When he was done, he tried to lay down, tried to take a nap, but he looked at his bed and all he could see was her, curled up in his blankets, waiting for him.Instead, he pulled on loose basketball shorts and a sweatshirt, then headed out the door. He had no clue where he was going, no clue who to talk to. His three best friends were gone. Zhair was too young to understand, Makaii was on his honeymoon, and Keoni and Isaiah were doing the mating party today and baiting her kidnapper.
No one else here knew Bailey like he did. No one else understood the inner workings of her mind. Except…maybe one person. He knew who might be able to help. But his uncle had been so erratic, moving between the coven and the two packs, who knew if he was even around.
It was late in the afternoon by then, and starting to drizzle when he stood on the back porch of the old packhouse where Ajax stayed in Tuisa, unable to make himself knock on the door. He had almost turned away when the door opened, and Ajax stood to the side, like he was expecting him.
His uncle didn’t speak, and neither did he, but he gestured to the couch and turned off the TV before disappearing into the kitchen. When he came back into the darkened living room, Ajax sat an almost full bottle of whiskey in front of him and two glasses. When he handed him a glass, he glanced up at his face, a face that mirrored his Alpha, and he shook his head.
“I don’t really drink.”
“You do tonight.”
They sat in silence for hours, and when the bottle was almost gone, he realized he had drunk most of it.
“I know you had somewhere else to be. It’s a Saturday night. You don’t have to be here with me.”
“Ah. This unfortunate incident had already ruined my plans.”
He looked at Ajax in confusion, wondering if the alcohol made his words as jumbled as they sounded.
“Bailey is staying in Rathlin. I was supposed to go there tonight for my weekly poker game. But I was told in no uncertain terms that she didn’t want to see ‘my stupid twin face, and until I found a way to not look like my brother, then we can both rot in hell.’”
He wanted to laugh, to appreciate his mate’s wild mouth, but he couldn’t. Even picturing her saying it made him ache. He should have spoken up. He should have stood up to Axel.Maybe it was the alcohol, but he finally asked the question that had plagued him all day, and all night.
“You’ve known her for a long time. What…what does she want from me? What can I do?”
Ajax chuckled, his smile and demeanor much more calming and laid back than his twin’s. “Men have been asking what women want for a lifetime of lifetimes. But what does Bailey want specifically? That’s even harder.” He paused for a drink, staring into the darkness before continuing. “My guess, knowing her, is that she wants everything and nothing all at once.”
Nassau snorted. That was the truth, but it didn’t help him.
“She wants all the things she wants, but she doesn’t want you to give up the things you want either.”
“All I want is her.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to be good enough for her. Mate or not, Bailey doesn’t want a puppy dog following her around. She’s not like that.”
He knew that. Everyone knew that. “There’s no solution.”
“Maybe not.”
Frustration filled him. Ajax was the one person he thought could give him insight into Bailey. He had walked in, hoping for a solution. And he had nothing. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t live like this.”
“You can, and you will. I’m not saying give up, but maybe give it time. Listen to the things she’s saying and do what she told you to do, not just what you want to do.”
“She didn’t tell me anything.”
