“Actually, you climbed into my bed,” I said, my morning voice was deep and husky, and I saw her respond favorably to it when those big blues finally looked at me.
“I-I would never do that,” she said, sounding surer than she felt. It surprised me that I knew that with certainty. I could just feel it. I didn’t want to stop and consider what that meant.
“You came in drunk as a skunk and climbed in my bed. You had me pinned, leaving me no choice but to stay,” I confessed.
Lily sat up and stretched. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the view. She looked over towards the door and frowned like it hurt to think so hard.
“Maddie told me my bags were in my room at the top of the stairs. Those are my bags, you idiot. What are you doing here?”
I ignored the verbal jab, though I felt its impact. “I didn’t know you were staying in here. I swear. I came in to lay down for a bit and fell asleep.”
She snapped her fingers like things were starting to click into place and turned on me. “You were hiding from Sydney. I saw you run into the house. And you don’t even live here. She told me that last night.”
“Shit, you talked to Sydney?” I said, feeling the walls of my world closing in on me.
“Yes, we went out and bonded over drinks,” she said, and I wasn’t sure anything would have surprised me more. Lily and Sydney together could not happen.
“Lily, please tell me you did not tell Sydney you are my mate,” I said as patiently as possible, trying not to freak the hell out.
I saw tears prick her eyes and she jumped up and ran for the first door she saw, frantically motioning as she leaned down and puked in my closet.
“Great,” I said aloud, getting out of bed and walking over to her. When the first wave finished wracking her body, I scooped her up and carried her to the next door over, which was the bathroom I sure hoped she had been looking for. I lifted the toilet seat as she cradled around it and threw up some more. Three more times and she began retching, her stomach seemingly emptied.
I took a wash cloth from the cabinet and turned the water on, leaving it till it ran warm. I flushed the toilet even though she was groaning and still hugging it, then sat on the floor behind her and pulled her carefully back against my chest. She was miserable and complacent. I gently washed her face and hands as her head leaned back against my chest.
The feeling of holding my mate in my arms, caring for her for the first time, was overwhelming. I breathed in her scent, but was greeted by the smell of vomit.
“Okay, you really need to shower, and brush your teeth. Jesus, what did you drink last night?”
“A fifth of Jack,” she surprised me by confessing.
“Huh, that much to rid yourself of the idea of being my mate?”
“Yes,” she confessed. “But I didn’t need to worry. You already have a mate.”
I hadn’t expected her to answer, let alone feel like she slapped me across the face with her response.
“Come on, slugger. Shower time.”
“I don’t think I can stand. The room’s still spinning, and my head is pounding. Can you make me a bath instead?”
“Sure,” I said. I needed to put some space between us to clear my head, so I left her on the floor to go and draw her bath. When I looked back over, she was crawling out the door. I rolled my eyes, praying she didn’t puke anywhere else. I knew I still had the closet to contend with.
She stumbled back in on two feet and over to the sink, quickly brushing her teeth and gargling with some mouthwash she must have had in her bag.
“I’m never drinking again,” she swore, holding her head in pain.
“Come on, let’s get you settled in the tub and if you promise not to drown while I’m gone, I’ll get you something for that headache.”
“Really?” she asked, looking at me like I was the only life preserver in middle of the sea.
I gulped. “Really. Now come on,”
She quickly removed her bra and panties and I tried to do the right thing and not look, but damn! This was Lily Westin. This was my true mate. And at the end of the day, I was still a red-blooded American male and she had the body of a goddess.
I helped her down into the hot water, telling myself to ignore the way her breasts brushed against my arm. She moaned in pleasure as she sank into the warmth of the bath and I knew I had to get out of there quickly, lest I do something we both would regret. Okay, so my only regret would really be in acting while I was fairly certain she was still drunk.
Once I knew she was settled, I headed downstairs and into the kitchen. It seemed everyone in the house was there.
“Thomas?” my mother said in surprise. “What are you doing here, sweetheart?”
“Slept over last night,” I said honestly.
“Oh, you did? Where?” she asked.
“My old room.”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Liam flinch.
“But I told Lily to sleep in there,” Maddie admitted.
“Yeah, I noticed,” I said as I dug around in the cabinet where I knew Mom kept bottles of medicine, and finally found some aspirin. I also grabbed two bottles of water off the counter before squatting down to reach under the sink to acquire wipes, some carpet cleaner, and a trash bag.
Liam was shooting daggers at me and his hands were balled into fists at his side when I stood and faced him.
“Dude, that’s my sister,” he warned.
A shit-eating smirk crossed my face before I could rein it in. I wanted so badly to say, Yeah, well, you’re doing my sister, guess it’s my turn to do yours, but that was the cocky kid that still resided in me.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop,” Patrick warned.
I smiled and shrugged. “Look, nothing happened,” I admitted. “I mean it was like sleeping with a three ton heater on my chest, but nothing happened. She crawled into bed in the wee hours of morning and passed out.”
“And you couldn’t just move her and do the right thing by leaving?” Liam challenged. The look he shot me would have made a lesser man quake in his boots.
I didn’t want to, I thought, but didn’t confess. Instead, I said, “I was asleep when she came in, and it barely even registered till this morning.” Yeah, that was a big fat lie.
“Where is she now?” Maddie asked.
“Taking a bath.” As Liam started to lunge towards me and Patrick moved to hold him back, I held up the aspirin bottle and shook it. “Think what you want, but even I’m not that big of a douche.”
Liam snorted, realizing I was telling him that she was hungover and I was trying to help. “To hear Lily talk you are,” he jabbed, and I tried not to let the pain it caused me show.
“Is Aunt Lily okay?” Oscar asked, sounding concerned.
I knelt to his level. “She’ll be fine. She just has a really bad headache and an upset tummy. We need to stay quiet so she can relax and she’ll be good as new in no time.”
“Promise?” he asked.
“I promise, Oscar.”
He wrapped his arms around my neck and hugged me tight. “Thanks for taking care of her, Uncle Thomas.”
I watched as the others all shared a look between them.
“I can take them up,” Maddie offered.
“Thanks. You going to clean up the puke in my closet, too?” I asked as I held up the cleaning supplies, and she scrunched her nose up in disgust.
“I don’t do puke,” she admitted.
“I’ll handle it,” Liam said with a huff as he passed the baby to my mom.
“Great,” I said, trying not to let my disappointment show. “I’ll run home and get cleaned up then.”
I headed for the front door. Liam was already at the top of the stairs, but Maddie hung back.
“I know Lily was completely wasted last night, Thomas. It’s honestly not like her at all. I’ve never seen her have more than two drinks at any one time. I’m not sure what’s going on with her, but thanks for taking care of her. I really appreciate i
t,” she said, surprising me when she hugged me.
I was the guy with the sharp comebacks, but this time I didn’t have one. I hugged my sister back. “It was nothing,” I finally said as I let her go. She started to climb the stairs to care for my mate. It should have been me, but if it couldn’t be, I was glad at least it was her. “Mad?” She stopped and turned to look at me. “I’m really glad you’re home.”
She had tears in her eyes as she nodded. I turned and quickly walked out the door. I needed to get home, make a really strong cup of coffee, then take a long cold shower, because the sight of Lily naked in my tub was not an image I would forget anytime soon.
Lily
Chapter 5
What had I done? And why was Thomas being nice to me? It went against everything I knew about him and was only causing me further confusion, but I couldn’t stop to think about it, because it just made my head hurt more. I soaked down a little deeper in the tub and tried to relax.
The door to the bathroom creaked open.
“I’m fine, still alive, as promised,” I said, without bothering to open my eyes.
“Well, that’s good news,” Maddie said.
I smiled, still refusing to open my eye and gave a halfway nod towards the door.
“Rough night?” she asked.
“You could say that.”
“Thomas said you could use this,” she said, shaking a bottle.
I opened my eyes and sat up a little with a groan as the pounding in my head grew. She passed me a couple of aspirin and a bottle of water.
“Thanks, you’re a lifesaver,” I said, setting the bottle on the side of the tub and sinking back into the hot water.
“What were you thinking?” she asked, and there was a hint of laughter in her voice.
“Clearly, I wasn’t.”
“Did you really pass out on Thomas? I didn’t even think you liked him.”
I silently cursed the tingling sensation that shot up my spine just at the mention of his name. “For the record, I don’t. He’s a douche. I just climbed into bed and fell asleep. I didn’t even realize he was there till this morning.”
Lies, all lies. I had been acutely aware of my mate. Not my mate, not my mate, I reminded myself. His scent had stilled all my nerves and confusion of the day, and when his arm wrapped around me and held me tightly, I had sighed and relaxed into him . . . and fortunately passed out hard. If I hadn’t, who knows what would have happened.
All I remembered was my body literally buzzing with excitement. Was it the whiskey? Or was it him? I had never been so turned on in my life as I was just before the world turned black around me. Would I have had sex with Thomas Collier? Would I have bonded with him? The thought made me retch.
“Easy there,” Maddie warned. “You really did have a rough night, huh?” She sat down on the floor beside the tub. “Want to talk about it?”
“There’s nothing to talk about. I guess my wolf was stressed from being in a new territory with so many people crowded around. I met a new friend and we went to the bar. I had a little too much to drink. That’s it.”
“A little?” Maddie laughed. I grimaced as I laughed with her.
“Jesus Lily!” Liam yelled from the bedroom. “I’m never doing that again. Next time you decide to get bombed and throw up a year’s worth of food, you can clean it up yourself.”
My eyes grew wide. “I threw up? I mean I remember throwing up, but in the toilet.”
“Apparently you thought the closet was the bathroom first.”
I covered my face with my hands and groaned again.
“Thomas was on his way up to deal with it when Liam went all growly and protective over you. Serves him right,” Maddie said.
“I heard that,” Liam complained.
He peeked his head in, around the door, looking a little pale. MC closed the curtain enough that it covered me. Not that I really cared.
“Your clothes are literally thrown all over the room, Lil. Tell me you did not sleep with Thomas,” he demanded.
I snorted. “As if I’d remember.” Yeah, I would definitely have remembered, but I was not going to tell my overprotective brother that. “Nothing happened, Liam.”
“He had to have seen you naked. Your underwear and bra are in the bedroom, Lil.”
I laughed. “So what, Liam? We’re shifters. Everyone in Westin Pack has seen me naked a million times. Why do I care if Thomas Collier did, too?”
Oh, but I did care, and I hated that I did. There was an internal war going on. The good guys wanted to push Thomas away and have him never look my way again, and the bad guys had been fully aware of his reaction to my naked body and liked it. I didn’t want to like it.
Liam scrubbed his face with his hands in frustration. “You are going to be the death of me, I swear.”
“Relax,” I told him. “He already has a mate.” I wasn’t a hundred percent sure if I was referring to myself, or Sydney.
“He does?” Maddie asked. “No one told me that.”
I shrugged. “I think it’s still in limbo.”
“Who?”
“Sydney, the girl I was hanging out with last night,” I spit out, a little too harshly, but MC was too excited and curious to notice.
“Wow. I’m so happy for him. Is she his true mate?” she asked.
“No,” I admitted. Sydney was definitely not his one true mate. I sighed and dipped my head under the water, the pain finally subsiding. “Can you grab my toiletry bag for me? I think the meds are starting to kick in. I may even feel almost human again soon.”
Maddie laughed. “Should we be worried then?” Hearing baby Sara starting to cry, she excused herself. “Holler if you need me.”
I lay there for a few more minutes, trying not to think about everything happening to me. The warm water was soothing, but my body was still buzzing from the intimacy of sleeping on my mate. I chastised myself for even allowing that to happen, but I couldn’t go back and change it. I only hoped I hadn’t sent Thomas the wrong signals. I had no intentions of completing a bond with him. I still couldn’t forgive how he’d given up on Madelyn, and I didn’t think I ever could. If a man like that could give up on his own sister, what was stopping him from giving up on me?
I washed up and got out. There was a towel waiting for me on the counter. I grabbed it and dried off, before heading back into the bedroom to dress. Even the scent of puke and cleaner couldn’t mask the smell of him. I lay down on the bed and was consumed by it. He seemed to be everywhere, yet, I knew without a doubt he was no longer in the house. He had left. He would always leave, because that’s how he was. It’s what he did in a crisis and I needed to safeguard my heart with that memory, because I could already feel the pull of the bond. It clouded my judgement and made me want things I consciously didn’t want.
No one had ever mentioned that part of the bond. I felt like I had no control, like some pre-determined destiny was dragging me along against my will. It was not at all the wonderful elation I had romanticized about my entire life.
Sighing, I got up. I needed some fresh air.
Walking downstairs, I could hear voices in the back of the house. I ignored them and headed outside. Once the door closed behind me, I took in a deep breath. Somehow, the entire town smelled just a little like Thomas. He was a Collier—not just a Collier, but the Collier, future Pack Alpha, and I was in his territory, so of course it did, but it certainly wasn’t helping my situation one bit.
I decided a little shopping therapy was in order. I headed back down to the main street of town. Collier was actually the name of the town as well, so most of the stores were Collier this or Collier that. The main street was Collier Street and there were two parallel roads that basically comprised the entire town. Zachary Street to the left, Thomas Street to the right.
I rolled my eyes, wondering if all Colliers were so conceited as to name everything after themselves. I had never really gotten that impression from Zach, but in Thomas’s case I chose to believe it wa
s true.
I passed the bar at the end of Collier Street before turning right. I shook my head when I read the sign above the door, “Collier Steakhouse and Tavern.” I also passed a post office, a drug store, and an ice cream parlor that reminded me a lot of Cold Shack back home, but nothing really grabbed my attention.
Turning onto Thomas Street, I saw one shop in the middle of it all that was painted a bright, cheerful yellow. It made it stand out from the drab wood tones of all the other stores. I was immediately drawn to it, and clapped in excitement as I got close enough to see clothes and shoes in the window.
A bell chimed as I opened the door. I looked towards the back but didn’t see anyone. Unconcerned, I set about shopping, spying a very cute leather jacket. I knew I had to have it. I snatched it off the rack, along with several shirts and a pair of my favorite jeans. I had to order them online or make a trip into the city to find them, and even then only my favorite little boutique carried them. I squealed in delight, unable to believe they had such amazing things in Collier, of all places.
My arms were loaded down with treasures as I made my way through the store.
“Hello?” I called out.
“Just a minute,” a lady called from the back. Her voice was familiar. A moment later, Sydney Parker rounded the corner. She stopped and grinned at the sight of me.
“Oh, hey Sydney. You work here?”
“I own it actually. Wow, you want to try some of that on?”
I hesitated. I really didn’t need to, but it sounded like fun. It wasn’t like I had any place to be, and a women’s clothing store was a safe Thomas-free zone.
“I’d love that,” I said, surprised that I genuinely meant it.
For the next two hours I tried on nearly everything in the store. Syd was working on a new online catalog for her store and asked if I’d mind modeling some outfits for the webpage. I was happy to help, and we laughed and enjoyed a stress-free morning.
“How are you feeling?” she finally asked. “Last night was insane.”
“I didn’t do or say anything weird, did I?” I could clearly remember her tale of love and long-time affair with Thomas. I didn’t think I had confessed that he was my true mate, and I hoped I hadn’t growled at her or anything. I snorted at that thought. Only the bond would have me growling at anyone over him. I didn’t even like him.
Can't Be Love Page 3
