by Paige Tyler
Her mom shushed her and steered Remy over to the counter. “He doesn’t need a hospital or stitches. I used to fix up your dad after he’d get into fights down at the club. This is just a little scratch.”
Triana stood there in disbelief as her mother disappeared into the backroom, coming out with a first-aid kit in a big green canvas bag that looked like something an army medic would use. Inside it were forceps, clamps, retractors, and even scalpels. What the heck was her mother doing with a setup like this?
Triana was even more confused at the calm, confident manner her mother displayed as she pulled out the various pieces of gauze and bandages she wanted. A moment later, her mother snapped on some gloves and went to work, apparently not fazed at all by the amount of blood or the deep cut. Then again, now that Triana looked at the wound more closely, she realized it wasn’t nearly as bad as she’d thought. It wasn’t even bleeding that much now.
She glanced at Remy to see that he seemed as surprised as she was by the sudden appearance of Dr. Gemma, Voodoo Medicine Woman.
“Maybe I should run down to the emergency room and get this looked at anyway,” he said cautiously. “I’m sure it would make Triana more comfortable.”
Her mom made a tsking sound as she wrapped the wound in a thick bandage as though she’d done it a hundred times. “You know as well as I do that you don’t need stitches, Remy. Triana is a big girl, you know. She’ll figure it out soon enough.”
Triana frowned, wondering what the heck that meant, but before she could ask for an explanation, her mother announced she was done and began cleaning up. Triana moved to check the bandage, worrying there might be blood soaking through it, but Remy was already heading for the door.
“I’m going to pay our lawyer friend, Kenneth Murphy, a little visit,” he said.
Triana started to follow him but then forced her feet to stop. “Remy.”
He hesitated at the door for a moment before turning to look at her. She wasn’t sure what she expected to see in his face. Maybe she was hoping there’d be some sign that what had transpired at dinner had all been some big misunderstanding.
There was no such sign, merely a closed-off expression convincing her she’d been right. What had started out so hot and fiery between them had already burned out.
“Be careful,” she finally said, hoping he wouldn’t do anything to the lawyer that would get him into trouble.
Remy gazed at her for a long moment, then nodded before turning away and walking out. With his departure, Triana felt another thread connecting them snap. The pain that caused hurt more than she could have ever imagined.
Turning, Triana walked past the counter and up the steps to her room, ignoring the look of confusion on her mother’s face. She wasn’t in the mood to talk at the moment.
Tears pooled in her eyes, running down her face as she sat down on the bed. She was never going to see Remy again and she wasn’t sure she’d ever get over him.
* * *
The windshield wipers on Remy’s Mustang were fighting a losing battle trying to keep up with all the rain pounding the glass as he and Max drove into the SWAT facility. Ophelia had strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane during the night, and weather experts were now predicting landfall would be around Lafayette, Louisiana, a hundred miles west of New Orleans. But the storm outside was nothing compared to the one raging inside his head. That particular tempest was definitely a Category 5 catastrophe.
He hadn’t slept at all last night. Instead, he’d lain in bed staring at the ceiling with eyes that let him see every tiny detail in the darkness, wondering how things had gotten this messed up. He’d started spending time with Triana because she was a friend, she was beautiful, and he’d been attracted to her more than he’d ever been attracted to anyone in his life—even Jess. It wasn’t supposed to be anything more than a week filled with fun.
But somewhere along the way, he’d been dumb enough to let things go too far, and now everything was screwed up because he’d done the one thing he never intended to do—fallen in love with her.
Last night had been an absolute train wreck. He couldn’t believe some of the shit he’d said to Triana. He’d wanted to make her realize there wasn’t going to be a future between them, but he’d never meant to hurt her. That was sure as hell what he’d done though.
It had been bad enough during dinner when he’d as much as come right out and said he’d been in love once and never wanted to be again. He’d seen how much that had hurt her. Hell, he’d felt the pain in his own heart just like he had felt the twinge in his finger when she’d cut hers. But then later, after the break-in at her mother’s shop, he’d walked away from her even though he’d known how freaked out and scared she was. What the hell was wrong with him? Who walked away from the woman they cared about and left her to deal with all that fear and confusion completely on her own? That wasn’t who he was, dammit. At least not the kind of person he wanted to be. He’d told her he had to leave so he could go after Murphy, but that was bullshit. He’d left because it had been too hard to look at her anymore.
Besides, chasing the lawyer had been a bust. The man wasn’t at the office listed on his website, and when he’d gone to the man’s home address—which he’d found after snooping around the office for a while—it was to find signs of a hasty departure.
Remy shook his head, trying to clear it, which was difficult to do with the way it was spinning.
It had never been like this before. He’d walked away from plenty of women in the past, and it had never been a big deal. With Triana, it was definitely a big deal. He’d never felt this shitty in all his life.
This morning had been even worse than last night. He didn’t just feel shitty; he actually felt sick. Like he was going to throw up, which he hadn’t done since he was a teenager. Werewolves didn’t get sick. He’d told himself yesterday it had been the burgers, then the seafood, but if that was the case, why was he feeling so crappy now? He hadn’t eaten anything this morning.
“Remy!”
Max’s voice jolted him out of his reveries and he looked over to see his pack mate regarding him in concern. That’s when Remy realized they were almost at the SWAT facility. Crap, he didn’t even remember the drive.
“Dude,” Max said. “I called your name three times. You were frigging muttering to yourself like a psycho.”
Remy opened his mouth to crack a joke about talking to himself being more entertaining than talking to Max when his friend leaned over to sniff him. A moment later, he sat back, making a face.
“Are you okay? You’re putting off a strange scent I’ve never smelled before.”
Remy scowled. “Is that your polite way of saying I didn’t shower enough this morning?”
Max shook his head. “I’m being serious. You smell…I don’t know…kind of sick or something. To tell the truth, you don’t look so hot either. You’re sweating and your face is pale. Do you feel okay?”
Remy was about to blow it off, because…well…he was a guy, and that’s what guys did. But he knew it would be useless because Max was a guy too. His friend would keep poking him until Remy told him what the problem was.
“Not really,” he admitted. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Because you were with Triana fixing things, right?” Max asked hopefully.
Remy ran a hand through his hair, then quickly gripped the wheel tighter when the front tires of the car hydroplaned a little as he drove through a big patch of standing water. This wasn’t supposed to be a bad storm, but there were areas of this city that tended to flood any time there was more than a light shower. With this much rain, it was going to be ugly.
“I wish that was the reason,” he said after a moment. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t anything that enjoyable.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Max muttered. “What happened?”
Remy shrugged. �
�Triana and I went to dinner and the subject of relationships came up. Without meaning to, I kind of told her that I’d been in love once and didn’t have any inclination to do it again.”
Max didn’t say anything for a moment. Based on how Max had reacted yesterday, Remy wouldn’t be surprised if his friend punched him, regardless of the fact that he was driving.
“I know we talked about this yesterday and that you felt it could never work between you guys, but dumping her right in the middle of dinner?” Max blew out a breath. “That’s pretty fucked up, even by your relatively screwed-up social rules of engagement.”
Remy sighed. “I know. I cringed the moment the words were out of my mouth, but by then it was too late to do anything.”
“That’s bullshit,” Max said. “Maybe you should have just nutted up and told her you’re a chickenshit who’s simply afraid to fall in love again.”
Remy snorted. “Oh yeah, that probably would have worked. Unfortunately, since you weren’t around to give me advice last night, I went with my own instincts, which seem to be rather impaired when it comes to Triana.”
Max groaned. “Oh hell, what else did you do?”
Remy told him about the lowlifes at Gemma’s shop and how he’d dealt with them, then the strange way Triana’s mother had behaved after seeing him sliced open, and, most important, the way he’d walked out on Triana afterward.
“Damn,” Max breathed. “When you want to sabotage a relationship, you really go all out.”
Understatement there. “Even though I thought I was doing it for the right reasons, I still went to bed last night feeling like a complete shit.”
He pulled into the parking lot of the NOPD SWAT facility when Max hit him with a question that completely caught him off guard.
“You think that’s why you’re sick this morning? Because of the way you treated Triana last night?”
“I’m not sick,” Remy said firmly. “I’m just tired.”
As he parked in one of the visitor spaces at the end of the first row of vehicles, Max leaned in and gave him another sniff. “Could have fooled me. You don’t smell right, dude. I think we should call Cooper.”
Remy frowned. “Why the hell would we call Cooper?”
“Because he always knows what to do about this kind of weird shit. Besides, you remember how screwed up Cooper felt when Everly didn’t want to have anything to do with him. Well, I think you’re going through the same thing, except worse because this time you’re the one trying to walk away from the person who’s The One for you.”
Remy wanted to tell him that was just about the dumbest crap he’d ever heard, but unfortunately, he couldn’t tell Max he was wrong. None of the other members of the Pack who’d been lucky enough to find their soul mates had ever tried to resist the attraction. For all Remy knew, Max could be right. This crappy feeling in the pit of his stomach just might be his body’s way of saying he was making the dumbest mistake of his life.
He remembered Max laughing at his big plans to tell the cosmic forces behind the legend of The One to fuck off. Maybe this was how the cosmos responded to dumb-ass plans like that.
Not that he intended on listening to his body. He might hate the way this was all going down, but he still believed separating himself from Triana was the best thing to do.
Remy was still thinking about that as he and Max walked into the SWAT facility. They hadn’t even shaken the water off their rain jackets when Brooks and Drew met them in the hallway.
“Don’t bother drying off. You’re going right back out,” Drew said. “We have reports of some of the streets in Bywater already starting to flood. I need you and Max to get over there with some of my guys to help people evacuate from the worst of the low-lying areas.”
Remy and Max immediately fell into step with several of the local guys who passed them in the hallway and headed toward the back door. Going back out in the rain was fine with him. It would give him something to occupy his mind instead of thoughts of Triana. Because right then, that was definitely something he didn’t want to think about.
Chapter 13
“You want the T-shirts taken upstairs too?” Triana yelled toward the back room, where her mom was busy packing up all her herbs, powders, and potions.
“Yes,” her mother called. “I want anything that can get water damage moved upstairs. That includes the T-shirts, books, dolls, and gris-gris bags.”
Triana groaned softly. She’d known before asking what her mom was going to say. She eyed the two racks full of shirts, dreading the task of boxing them up and carrying them upstairs, but she understood why her mother wanted the stuff moved. Ophelia was coming in closer to New Orleans than anyone was comfortable with, and even though no one was predicting this part of the city would flood, there was always a chance they’d get water coming in under the door, which it did during bad summer thunderstorms on occasion. If that happened, they’d all be happy they put a little work into saving the shop’s merchandise.
“Those T-shirts aren’t going to pack up themselves,” Kim said as she dumped a pile of empty boxes at Triana’s feet.
Triana smiled. Her friend had shown up an hour ago, saying she’d known Triana and her mom would need some help getting stuff done. That was just an excuse. In reality, Kim had stopped by because she’d known Triana needed a friend this morning. Kim hadn’t asked any questions about what had happened last night. Instead, she’d walked in and given her a big hug. Triana wasn’t sure what she’d done to deserve friends like Kim, but she thanked God she had them.
She and Kim spent the next hour silently loading up the merchandise and moving it upstairs. It was physically demanding and monotonous, but at least it gave Triana something to focus on, instead of all the crap that had happened last night. She’d spent the whole time trying to figure out what had gone wrong between her and Remy and had nothing to show for it. When she’d gotten out of bed that morning, she’d decided she was done wasting her energy trying to figure him out.
Triana had just come downstairs for another load of books when she caught sight of a wet, bedraggled figure standing at the door, tapping softly on the glass. For one insane moment, she thought it was Remy, but the guy wasn’t anywhere near as tall or as big. Her first instinct was to tell whoever it was they were closed, but then she recognized the face under all that dripping hair and realized the morning had just taken a strange twist.
“Kim, you have a visitor!” she yelled up the steps. “I think you might want to come see who it is.”
Her friend came bouncing down the steps a few seconds later, a questioning looking on her face. “Who the heck comes to visit on a day like today?”
Kim stopped cold when she reached the bottom step and saw who was at the door. A dozen different emotions flitted across her face, including hope, anger, and disappointment. Pushing her blond hair back, Kim squared her shoulders and walked over to the door. Instead of unlocking and opening it, she stood there staring at her ex-boyfriend through the glass.
“What are you doing here, Shawn?”
The man Triana had met dozens of times remained solemn as the rain continued to drip off of him. “I was worried about you, with the storm coming and all. I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
Kim didn’t say anything for a long time, but finally she nodded. “I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”
Shawn wiped water off his face. “Can we talk?”
Kim slowly crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side a little. “Sure. Go ahead and talk. I’m not stopping you.”
Shawn lifted a brow, which was rather impressive considering he was about to drown under all the water cascading off the side of the building. “Could I maybe talk to you inside…out of the rain?”
Kim sighed, then turned and looked at Triana. “Could I have a second? This won’t take long.”
Triana nodded, already starting to back up
the stairs. “Sure. Mom and I will be getting stuff packed away up here. Take all the time you need.”
As she headed up the steps, she ran into her mother coming down.
“Shawn showed up,” she said, stopping her. “Kim needs a little time alone with him. I figured we could do some stuff upstairs while they talk.”
Her mom frowned. “We could, but then we wouldn’t be able to hear what they’re saying.”
Triana gaped as her mother quietly slipped down another step before taking a seat. “Mom, you are absolutely horrible.”
Her mother didn’t answer. Instead, she motioned with her hand for Triana to join her. Against her better judgment, Triana sat down beside her.
Downstairs, Kim had let Shawn into the shop and he was currently apologizing, saying he’d been stupid to walk out on her.
“I don’t really have an excuse beyond the obvious fact that I was scared about taking the next step with you,” he admitted. “I got comfortable with the way things were and couldn’t understand why anything had to change. Instead of listening to you, I lashed out, then bailed.”
“Yeah, you did,” Kim agreed. “So what are you doing here now?”
Triana heard a heavy sigh and a rustle of movement. Even though she couldn’t see downstairs, she imagined Shawn standing there raking his wet, black hair back from his face in frustration.
“I went on a three-day bender after we broke up,” Shawn confessed. “I figured since we were over, I was free to do anything I wanted, but I discovered pretty fast I wasn’t nearly as free as I thought I’d be. I’ve spent the last three weeks thinking about you almost every minute of the day, realizing that I don’t want to be free. I want to be with you.”
There was silence downstairs, and Triana leaned forward a little to hear Kim’s reply.
“What are you trying to say, Shawn?” Kim finally asked. “That you want us to go back to the way things used to be? That you want a do-over?”
“No, I’m not saying that.”
