I thanked her and left her office, tucking the proposal folder away in my satchel and feeling pretty good about myself. I set off out of the building, heading back down to Main Street, I was running out of time before the movers got to Frostbites so definitely needed to pick up the pace.
“Hello?” she said. “Who is this?”
“It’s Chasen,” I said.
“Oh,” she sounded surprised to hear from me. She obviously didn’t have my number saved. “I came to Brent’s this morning to take care of the kids if you were checking up on me or something.”
“No, that’s not it at all,” I said. “I have just got out of a meeting with the Mayor and-“
“What? More delays for the reopening of Frostbites already?” she scoffed. “Great. It’s fine, I didn’t want to eat anyway.”
“Will you let me finish a sentence?” I laughed. “I wanted to make you an offer. As a way of compensating you for your time out of work with Tate. Sort of a goodwill gesture.”
She sighed. “I’m listening.”
“Given that you have been put out of work by the construction, I want to cover your rent for the course of the works,” I continued. “As an apology for putting you out.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Look, Chasen, don’t feel like you need to do me any favors or-“
“This is not a favor, Jonica,” I said. “This is the right thing to do. Text me the details that I need and I’ll fix it.”
“Look, Chasen, it’s honestly fine I-”
“Jonica, I insist,” I said. “Let me do this for you, please?”
She took a moment, I could practically hear the cogs whirring around in her head. “Thanks Chasen,” she said. “That’s actually really sweet of you.”
“Great, thank you,” I replied. “Talk to you soon.”
I hung up the phone and arrived outside Frostbites to wait for the movers to collect Tate’s stuff and take it back to my place. But as I waited my mind couldn’t help but wander off down that path, wondering what things would have been like if Tate had taken his medicine that day. Would we ever have found each other like this? Would we have even had the chance? You can’t fight fate, but Tate had certainly done a damn good job of fighting it over the past few years. I had to believe it was meant to be. I just had to.
14
Tate
I probably should have felt grateful for what Chasen was doing, but it all felt like too little too late. Making sure Jonica was okay during the time Frostbites would be closed was fine, and helping me get all my stuff moved out and to his place was great too, but I now sat in his house feeling next to useless.
He came home from the construction site every day and tell me how everything was going, and I’d tell him how little I’d done during the day, and then we’d go to bed and not speak to each other. This had repeated for a couple of days now and it was getting harder and harder to take.
I updated the social media for Frostbites a few days ago, letting all of our followers know that it would be closed until the construction on Main Street was finished.
In super disappointing news, we’re going to be closed for the next two months while our beloved Main St. gets a facelift. But don’t sweat it, we’ll be back before you know it and better than ever. Time to get myself in the kitchen coming up with new treats for you all. Watch this space! – TH
I tried to keep it light, tried to make it seem like I wasn’t completely devastated by the news. That wouldn’t be a good look for the online persona so I had to go with excitable. I hated faking it, but I guess that’s just how it was.
He was supposed to be my friend. He was my friend long before he was my mate and it just felt like he wasn’t on my side right now. Why couldn’t he do anything to make this better? Why couldn’t he make this work? I was still smarting from Chasen keeping this from me for such a long time. I just wanted to walk out.
I blinked.
Did I?
Was that what I really wanted?
I couldn’t face him, or at least I didn’t feel like I wanted to. I didn’t speak to him before he left this morning. I pretended to be asleep. Sometimes it was easier to pretend to be asleep than having to fake that I actually could keep any of this up anymore. He had so much time to tell me what was happening and he chose to keep it from me. Maybe I didn’t want to be around someone like that, fated or not.
Maybe the whole thing was a mistake in the first place. There were so many factors that fed into us even getting together that night, if I had found my anti-heat pills, none of this would have happened in the first place.
I stopped dead. My brain seeming to snag on that thought a little longer than it was on all of the others. If I had found my anti-heat pills that morning, then Chasen and I wouldn’t even have found each other, we wouldn’t even be together and pregnant and in the middle of this fight. I wouldn’t be so horrifically offended that he’d betrayed me with this news, maybe. I don’t know.
I’d still be pining after him, still desperate for him to love me and care for me while hiding who I truly was. Maybe it was better than way. Sure we’d had good times, the sex had been incredible and, before this, Chasen had been the sweetest guy. But ultimately he’d broken my heart, which I was always afraid he would do. Every little bit of me hurt, and that’s what told me that I needed to walk away.
I dialed Jonica, keeping myself steady.
“What’s up?” she said, sounding a little less like her upbeat self. “You missing me so much already that you just couldn’t help but call?”
I sighed. “Something like that.” I took a beat. None of it should have happened. I shouldn’t have hooked up with my best friend’s brother in the first place. It was all such a bad idea. I’d betrayed Jarrett. Chasen had betrayed me. I guess I’d gotten what I deserved in the end. “Can I crash at your place tonight?” I asked.
I practically heard the words hit her, each one of them giving her the rough outline of a story I’d not yet told her. One where I was raising this baby by myself, hoping and praying that the customers of Frostbites would come back to me once we reopened so I actually had a way of supporting myself and the baby.
“Sure thing,” she said. “We can talk about it when I get home okay? You have my spare key?”
I did. We said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone, already feeling a little bit lighter at the thought of not having to stay here tonight, of not having to see Chasen, of managing to strike out on my own. It was a mistake and I was going to fix it by getting out.
I wrapped my arms around my stomach, now weighing heavy with the weight of the baby. I hugged it, rubbed, feeling the little life growing inside of me. We were going to be just fine. I didn’t know quite how we were going to do it, but we were going to make it one way or another.
I was supposed to spend today unpacking my things from the apartment. It looked like instead I was going to be grabbing the essentials and getting on out of there. I packed a suitcase, left my key on the kitchen table and walked out that door, almost certain that I would never be seeing this place again.
Jonica’s place was a hell of a lot smaller than Chasen’s, and smaller still than the apartment that I had over the top of Frostbites. It saddened me to think that I couldn’t go back there, at least not for now. But at least I would have it when the construction had finished. I’d have somewhere to go. I could go back to my old life. I’d be just fine. Maybe if I kept telling myself that, at some point I would start to believe it.
“What’s happened?” Jonica said as she walked through the door, a lot earlier than I thought she would. I was on her sofa having helped myself to a herbal tea.
“I hope you don’t mind,” I said. “I got thirsty and I can’t have coffee, which is what I’d normally have and-“
“Tate, what happened?” Jonica said, sitting down next to me on the sofa.
“You’re back early.”
“I called Jarrett after you called me, he got someone
to cover his classes, called it a family emergency,” I felt my heart lift at him referring to me as family. Jarrett was who I needed to speak to right now. I wasn’t about to bitch about his brother to him, but I could certainly use him as a shoulder. “He’s expecting your call as soon as you tell me what the hell happened.”
My chest felt suddenly tight, my heart broke as I thought about everything that was happening to me, all the things that just seemed to be falling apart around me, the life I’d built for myself, everything.
“I just couldn’t take it anymore,” I said. “It all just became too much. I couldn’t take that he hadn’t told me about it, Jonica. He clearly doesn’t think it’s a big deal when it’s a huge deal. That bakery is my whole life, I’ve poured so much time and energy into it, what the hell am I going to do without it?”
“You’re not without it, Tate,” she said. “It’s temporary. Chasen’s team will do the construction work on Main Street, fix the road, fix the street up a little and make it look pretty, then we can get back in there and make the town go crazy for your bakes again. It’s not the end, it’s the beginning, I promise.”
I sighed. “I really appreciate it, Jonica, but you can’t promise that.”
She grinned at me. “Well, you can’t say I didn’t give it a try.” She kissed me on the cheek and got to her feet. “We need a plan of action.”
I groaned. “Jonica, I don’t want a plan of action, I want food and sleep and-“
“Chinese or Indian,” she said, brandishing takeout menus from a nearby chest of drawers like some kind of ninja.
“You know all of that stuff is online now right?” I said, not able to hide a smile. “You could literally download an app and have all that information. Who the hell calls a take out place anymore?”
“Hey, do you want food or do you want to keep talking about take out menus?” She hit me on the head with them. “You call Jarrett, I’ll call and get us some food.”
“You’re really going to call for takeout?” I said, making sure the arch in my eyebrow was perfect so she knew I was making fun of her.
“Calling to order takeout is a dying art form,” she said haughtily. “Besides, you should hear what they’re like when they get a phone call. They can’t believe it. It’s really entertaining.”
I grinned. I was so glad that I had her to turn to at a time like this. I loved Jarrett, and he was my best friend, but I couldn’t just show up at his house and ask for a place to crash, not when it was his brother I was trying to get away from. It wouldn’t be right. Thank goodness for Jonica. Saving my ass once again.
“Indian please,” I said. “But nothing too spicy, my stomach is-“
“A little tender with the pregnancy?” she mocked. “Jeez, Tate, you haven’t mentioned you’re pregnant, you should bring it up every once in a while.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket and headed out of the living room and to the kitchen. What the heck would I do without her?
I took out my phone and called Jarrett.
“Hello? Tate?” He picked up after barely one ring. He’d been waiting by the phone, waiting to make sure I was okay. I was so touched I started to tear up all over again. “Is everything okay buddy, Jonica said you were in a state?”
I snorted. “I wasn’t in a state,” I said, unable to keep the shake out of my voice. “I was a little bit rattled, that’s all.”
“She said you were staying with her for a little bit,” he said. “Is everything all right with Chasen? Has he done something wrong? If he’s hurt you, Tate, I need you to tell me.”
“No, no, Jarrett, it’s nothing like that,” I gabbled. The last thing I wanted was for him to think that Chasen had hurt me in an abusive way. He’d done it without thinking I guess. Which in a lot of ways was worse. “You know this construction that’s happening on Main Street right now, outside where Frostbites is.”
“Yeah,” he said, a hint of pride in his voice. “Huge contract for him, should be brilliant, make the whole thing look fantastic.”
It was like a dagger to my heart. Was I being a total bitch by not supporting him in this?
“I’m sure it will,” I sighed. “But I’ve had to close Frostbites. And Chasen didn’t tell me about it.”
“What do you mean?”
“He didn’t tell me he’d got the contract, that he’d won it, or that it meant Frostbites was going to have to close for two months in order for the work to happen,” I said, the tears filling my eyes once again. I almost wanted to laugh; I thought I would have been all cried out by now. Or at the very least dangerously dehydrated.
“You had to close?”
“I opened on the first day, but nobody came,” I replied. “Not a single customer came by. You know how busy I usually am Jarrett. I had no time to prepare or anything, less than a week’s notice before they started.”
Jarrett sighed down the phone. “He should have said something.”
“I know.”
“But is leaving really the answer?”
I considered it for a moment. I knew I was probably being stubborn, or maybe a little too sensitive but what was I supposed to do? I didn’t really want to be near him. I didn’t want to look at him. I just wanted us to be apart for a little while. This all still felt like such a gigantic mistake.
“I think it might be,” I said. “At least for now. Look, Jarrett, I’m sorry to do this to you, I know he’s your brother, but I just didn’t want to keep this from you.”
“I understand.”
“The last time I kept something from you it almost ruined our friendship, and I’m not about to do that to you again,” I said. “You mean too much to me.”
“Thanks, Tate,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. “Thank you for confiding in me.” He took a breath. “Now relax, let Jonica take care of you and…” He trailed off, searching for the words. “We’ll see what happens, okay?”
“Okay.” I hung up the phone as Jonica walked back in. She saw me sat on the sofa, tears in my eyes, the phone in my hand, and came over to sit with me. She wrapped an arm across my shoulders and let me lean into her and cry my little heart out. I’d never felt so lost.
15
Chasen
He didn’t leave a note, he didn’t send a text or even call, he just up and left. I realized he’d gone the second I got back to the house. It was empty and even as I called his name, I knew I wouldn’t hear anything back.
I did the only thing I really knew to do in that kind of situation and I called Jarrett. He told me what had happened, how Tate wasn’t sure he could be around me right now and just needed some time, but I wondered how much time he would need. Would I even be there for the birth of my child? Would Tate even want me back at all?
I felt so fucking stupid for not mentioning Main Street sooner. Thoughts of it rattled around my head as I oversaw the construction the next day I felt even worse that he didn’t seem to understand it was an honest mistake. I hadn’t kept it from him intentionally, it had just slipped my mind. I was so fucking in love with him that I’d taken my eye off the ball just for second, and now I was really paying the price. And that price was Tate. Fuck.
I dropped Jarrett and Slater a text asking them to meet me for a beer (or a few maybe) before the moonlight run. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go, but with everything that was happening, maybe I needed to blow off a little steam.
“You look like hell,” Slater said as I walked into O’Leary’s Pub. It was a little bit out of the way but it was quiet and the atmosphere was good. This wasn’t the kind of night where I wanted to get drunk off my face and dance, I wanted to talk to my brothers, catch up, and maybe ask for some advice on what the hell it was I was supposed to do.
“You’ve got paint in your hair again,” I quipped half heartedly. Slater didn’t even flinch. I got a beer and sat across from him in a red leather booth, the dim lights making everything seem all the darker.
“Seriously, Chasen, did you even sleep last night?” he said, ta
king a swig. “You really do look tired.”
“I know I look fucking tired, okay?” I snapped. “Sorry,” I said. “Like you said, tired.” I took a drink. It tasted good. It tasted like I could lose all my problems in it, just for a few hours at least. “How’s business?”
He shrugged. “Business is good,” he said. “I mean, I’m still on a bit of a eighties kick, so it’s a little bit psychedelic and neon but the customers seem to like it. I sold another painting this morning.”
“Business is booming then,” I said, unable to smile with pride at my older brother.
“You could say that, yes,” he said. “People seem to like my stuff so I’m just going to keep on making it until they decide I’m old news.”
“There doesn’t seem a chance in hell of that happening,” I said.
People had been into the art that Slater was making for the last ten years. Sure, he struggled when he started out but once he hit his stride, everybody wanted a piece of him. I was surprised he even stayed in Furbitten Falls after he started picking up traction. He could have been anywhere. New York, London, Paris, somewhere with a huge art scene, not out here in the middle of nowhere. Even Howling Hills would probably be a better fit given the galleries they have down there.
“Well, maybe I’ll change what I’m making soon to keep it fresh,” he smiled. “There’s this guy-“
“Sorry I’m late,” Jarrett said, barreling over to us and throwing his jacket off. “I had to put Emmett and Easton to bed before I came out, Brent had a chapter he wanted to finish and he’s on deadline. All good now.” He grabbed my beer. “This for me?” He took a swig. “Thanks, Chasen.”
I wasn’t in the mood to argue or send a scathing retort his way so I went to the bar and ordered a round, one for each of us. My phone buzzed in my pocket and, I don’t know what made me think it, but I thought it would be Tate. I took it out only to see that it wasn’t and I wished that he was here with me, or that I was with him. I didn’t care which. Being apart from him was driving me insane.
Furbitten Falls Alpha's: A Wolf Shifter Mpreg Romance Bundle Page 22
