Torn Mate by Belle Harper
Ada
It wasweird shopping with Noah. Like, I wasn’t shopping with him, he was just tagging along behind looking all lost with those puppy dog eyes of his. I almost giggled when Lexi called out for them to come and called him Puppy Dog Eyes. It really was the best nickname for him. He looked like a puppy now though.
Every time he saw me looking at him he would perk up, and then I remembered that he was kinda stalking me here. Like, lunch was all good today, I had a great time, maybe the class thing was a bit much, but now… this was odd.
Plus, why would his mom want a stuffed pig? Lexi didn’t believe their shopping story. It was clear I freaked Maverick out with my girl chat and he had to call Ranger to take over for him. Maybe he didn’t want to hear me bitch out his best friend, which was totally valid.
But, because Maverick drove here, it meant that Ranger had to drive us back. I had left my car at the Lovell's house so I had to grab a lift from him. When he had asked for Lexi to sit up front I freaked out and grabbed her hand. I didn’t even have to plead to her to sit in the back with me, she just did it without question. I wasn’t ready to be in the backseat with Noah right now.
My hormones and mind were all over the place. On one hand, he was the nicest guy, sweet, and cared about me a lot. But the other hand… he was just… well, he was Noah. He was young and maybe I was a little naïve like he was. Well okay, the young thing wasn’t about his looks, he looked like an eighteen year old… well, if one was built like that.
I bet he wouldn’t get carded anywhere, he could go out to club and drink without anyone questioning his age. And don’t get me started on those big blue eyes and that beautiful smile of his that just had my insides doing flip-flops every time I saw him. He would be so perfect, I hadn’t stopped thinking about him today… ugh. I still had that stupid fantasy he was my boyfriend. But people would say things, like me being a cougar. Especially Olivia, I knew if I started anything with him she would have something to say about it.
Ranger stopped the car before we got to the Lovell’s gate.
“Thanks for the lift,” Noah said to Ranger, then he turned to me. I sucked in a breath. My chest felt tight and I didn’t know what to say and his face fell when I didn’t say anything, but he didn’t say anything to me either… The whole time we were shopping he didn’t talk. There was this nervous tension between us now, like what we had at lunch was now gone. Now it was uneasy.
I looked out the window to the houses there. The door clicked closed with Noah’s departure and Ranger let out a frustrated sound. Was he upset?
I watched Noah run across towards a huge house. Ugh… of course his house was huge, he lived on Kiba court. I looked down to my phone to pretend I was busy. I wasn’t. I just didn’t want Noah to see me looking at him and get any ideas. I should let him down easy. I knew he liked me… he knew I liked him. Ugh, I should tell him that now wasn’t the right time for us. In a few years maybe it would be, maybe he would meet someone else. I didn’t like that thought. No, not at all, but I couldn’t tell him to wait for me and me not expect him to date other girls.
I was interested in Huxley… like, really interested in him, and we could have something. I wasn’t wanting to wait and see where that could go. That would be hard for Noah to see me with him. But from what I could tell, no packs dated the same girl… at the same time. They stuck to their own packs like how all of Lexi’s mates were from Kiba. Even though Galen was a vampire he was a Kiba vampire.
Why was this so hard? Too hard.
I owed it to myself to see where things went with Huxley before I started to mess it up with trying to add a Kiba boy.
“That’s Nolan, one of Noah’s fathers,” Ranger said from up front. He hadn’t moved the car. I saw he was now waving to the man outside. Lexi did too. When Nolan caught my eyes, he smiled even wider and waved to me. I put my hand up and waved back. He seemed friendly.
I was glad when we finally made it to the gate. It was closed but Jett and Mekhi were standing there. It was funny how they just crept out from around the gate in some expert formation. I waited to see if Saint would appear. I was worried he would be there and delete more numbers from my phone. I gripped my iPhone tightly; he would never touch it again.
Jett looked like he was in no hurry to open the gate. He put his arms behind his back and leaned on the gate like he had all the time in the world, and he was topless… of course. Mekhi wasn’t though. He wore a blue tee and some gray sweatshorts. Wow… the sight of the two of them together made me a little worked up. I wasn’t immune to attractive guys.
Still couldn’t believe Clare had dumped them. They were obviously assholes. And from the cocky grin on Jett’s face, I think I guessed right. Ranger was angry as he growled out at them, rolling the window down.
“Oi, open the gate, fuckers. You know it’s us,” he yelled out at them. Jett though, he was taking his time. A playful grin now spread across his face as he pushed himself from the gate and strode over to the open car window.
“Yeah, we know it’s you. Just gotta be careful is all. Well, well, well… trying to sneak a cupcake in, are we?”
Oh shit… oh boys. I knew all about this. Lexi had told me about the cupcake thing with Jett. How she had offered him one and Ranger being all alpha crazy got jealous of Jett. Like, I get it, Jett was a flirt, but you could tell he was just messing around and being cheeky. Ranger… didn’t see that.
So now Jett teased Ranger, calling Lexi a cupcake or asking for one, just to rile him up and get him angry. It was mean… but okay, it was a tiny bit funny he kept falling for it.
“Jett, you’re never getting baked goods from me ever again,” Lexi shouted, but it was playful. Jett did the same weird mock dying thing Ranger had only hours before to her when he was called out. I held my hand over my mouth to stop myself from laughing. This was funny.
Mekhi pulled Jett from the car and popped his head in the open window.
“Sorry, Lexi. You know how dumbasses lose more brain cells around their own kind,” Mekhi explained, like that was the reason they were acting this way. I couldn’t hold the giggles in. They just kind of exploded.
Lexi started laughing too, and I didn’t think Ranger was happy with that from the look on his face, which made it even funnier.
“Can you tell me where Saint is?” I stopped laughing and looked right at Lexi. What was she doing? No. No, oh shit. I didn’t want to face him. I just wanted to tell her what an asshole he was. I wanted to complain about him, but not to his face.
“Home, I believe. Did you want me to go get him?” Mekhi asked her, having no idea why she wanted him. I started to shake my head no. No, we didn’t need you to get him, we were fine. I was going home and forgetting all about this shitty day.
When Lexi looked to me, I shook my head again mouthing the word “no” to her but she didn’t take the message of no. She turned to Mekhi, and with a huge grin, told him yes, to meet her at Galen’s house.
I was in a panic, my heart racing, and I felt sick. Nope, this wasn’t happening. Why would she do that? I know she was like super tough and strong and didn’t put up with his bullshit. But I just couldn’t do this.
As soon as we stopped, I reached over to hug Lexi goodbye, and without a word I jumped out and ran to my car. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.