Shattered

Chapter 15: Freedom

Kaden's POV:

"Show me the most damaged parts of your soul, and I will show you how it still shines like gold."- Nikita Gill

The amount of glitter that was running down the sink in the bathroom was insane. There was a public bathroom at the park across the street where the house was being built and coming over to use it was showing me just how much glitter really came out of that bottle. I glanced up in the mirror and sighed at the glitter in my hair and on my face. "Yeah that's never coming off," I muttered, turning off the sink and drying my hands before walking out.

I stepped out of the bathroom at the same time Lola came out of the women's restroom and we nearly bumped into each other. I took a step back faster than I probably should've considering I was around humans, but I couldn't help it. It was a reflex.

"Nice dodge," Lola commented, raising an eyebrow.

"Fast reflexes," I grinned. "You okay?"

She was sniffling and rubbing at her nose. She smiled and nodded, sniffing again. "I'm good, just a little allergies. I don't usually spend this much time outside, I'm only here because of Violet," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm really not an outdoorsy girl at all, you know?"

"Can't relate," I said honestly. "I'm..." a wolf. "I spend a lot of time outside."

"Oh I've noticed, that's why you have such nice, tanned skin," she said, setting her hand on my arm.

In any other circumstance, I might've been able to convince myself that touch was meaningless, that she was just being friendly and not flirty, except I had the mate bond now. The beginning of nausea and the way her touch burned in an unpleasant way told me it wasn't just friendly and I took a step back to break the contact.

"Thanks," I said, taking another step to the side, farther away from her. "I actually was just about to go look for her, so I'll see you later."

"She's probably busy obsessively checking everyone's work," she said, stepping closer and grabbing my arm. "We can hang out for a minute, can't we?"

The burning was worse the second time and again I stepped out of the contact. "How about this? We can walk back together and you can tell me how I win her over."

"Win her over?" She repeated.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Kinda got a big crush on her, in case it wasn't obvious."

"Oh it is," she laughed, stepping closer again. "I'm just trying to figure out why."

"Aren't you her best friend?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Don't you know how amazing she is?"

"Oh, she definitely is," she agreed. "It's just... You two seem so opposite. Honestly, you and I probably have more in common. I'm just wondering why you're into someone that doesn't show much interest."

"Actually, I've found Violet and I have a lot in common," I countered. "And I don't know that she doesn't show interest, I think it's just less obvious than what's considered standard."

"You're an incredibly sweet guy, you know that?" She said. "Not everyone would be so patient."

"Well, they're missing out," I said, turning to leave. Being around her was starting to feel worse with every passing second and I did not want to have to reject her then have her get pissed and possibly say something bad about me to Violet.

"Kaden wait," she said, grabbing my arm with one hand, setting her hand on my chest with the other. "You know... Violet doesn't really let people in, but not everyone is like that," she said, sliding her hand down my chest, over my stomach.