Escape | ✓

17

"Personally, I find it kind of fucked up that you only call me when you want something."

I snorted at the words. "Isn't that what you do to Nolan?"

Nixon scoffed at that. "Nolan loves any call he gets from me. You should too, I've been told I'm quite charming."

Now it was my turn to scoff. "Just because Tatum says it doesn't mean it's true."

Nixon huffed, but I knew him well enough to know that there was a smile on his face.

"Note to self, make new friends and kick the old ones to the curb," Nixon playfully said. "But seriously, what's going on with you, E?"

Even though he couldn't see me, my smile dimmed slightly at the question. My mind immediately traveled back to Reuben. Maybe I was overreacting, but I couldn't help but feel upset. I was also nervous—what if, no matter how hard I tried, Reuben still rejected me again? I wasn't sure if I could go through that again.

"Eli?" Nixon called out again, this time the concern was clear in his voice.

"I'm okay," I told him. I didn't want him to worry about me.

"Eli, come on. I know you," Nixon frowned. "What's wrong?"

I bit my lip and sighed. "It's nothing, Nix. I'm just having a bad day. Drop it please."

I knew Nixon and I knew that he'd much rather do the opposite, but he relented with a sigh of his own. Nixon thankfully changed the topic and he told me about how Nolan and Roan were doing. This went on until I heard the sound of someone knocking on the door.

"Hey, Nix, I'll call you back later, okay?"

I hung up the phone before he could respond. I was sure that he'd complain the next time we talked, but I wasn't worried about him at the moment.

I left the comforts of my bedroom and walked toward the door. I opened it, only to see Cronan standing there.

"Hell—" I started to greet, but he shouldered his way past me before I could get the words out and took a seat on the couch. "Or just come right in, sure. What's the point of asking?"

Cronan either didn't pick up on my sarcasm or he just didn't care.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned as I shut the door.

"Waiting for you to get dressed," he responded.

"What?"

"Go get dressed," he repeated. "Unless you're going out like that, but for the record, I wouldn't.

I glanced down at my blue pajama bottoms which were covered in yellow stars and my plain black shirt.

"What's wrong with my pajamas?" I asked but shook my head before he could respond. "Don't answer that. Instead, tell me where exactly we're going again?"

I knew that we weren't checking on the wolf since Callie and Arlo had done so the night before, so where were we heading?

"To get food," Cronan replied as if it was an everyday occurrence.

"Uh-huh, and what's your ulterior motive?"

His head tilted in confusion as if he couldn't understand the reasoning behind my question. "'Ulterior motive'?"

"I was under the impression that you hated me," I elaborated. "So why do you want to go eat with me?"

He rolled his eyes. "I think you're annoying, but I don't hate you. There are people here that I dislike a lot more than you."

I stared at him for a long moment. On any other day, I likely would've declined. The last thing I needed to do was add more problems to the dumpster fire known as my mate bond. However, today wasn't any other day. So, against my better judgment, I agreed.

"Stay here."

...

One thing I learned fairly quickly was that Cronan was a picky eater. With every restaurant we passed by, he seemed to find something wrong with it. I had never met a wolf as picky as him. In the end, we settled—or rather, I begged him to pick something and he finally decided—on Tony's. I had half the mind to tell him to pick something else, but I didn't want to suffer through his decision-making process again. Well, his lack of one.

Once we were seated and waiting for our food, I focused my attention on Cronan.

"So, why did you invite me here?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "You seemed like you needed to get out," he said and when he saw my face, he scoffed. "What?"

"Honestly? I thought being an asshole was all you knew how to do." Cronan scowled and I raised my hands defensively. "What? Can you blame me, you haven't exactly been the most welcoming person."

He didn't argue with me, so I continued. "What did you mean by I seemed like I needed to get out?"

"You're like a puppy; it's obvious when something's wrong with you."

A dry smile fell on my face. That wasn't the first time I'd heard something like that. My Dads always said I never felt anything halfway. If I was happy, I was bouncing off the walls; if I was sad, I was sitting cooped up in my room with a tub of ice cream and the whole pack knew about it. It didn't surprise me that Cronan could tell I was upset.

"So you saw I was upset and decided to take me to get food?"

"Contrary to popular belief, I'm not a complete asshole. Relationships are hard. You looked like you needed a change of scenery."

My eyebrows raised. "Relationships?"

Cronan stared at me blankly. "You don't expect me to believe that there isn't anything going on between you and Reuben, right?"

I hesitated to answer. I knew that Reuben didn't want people to know. I opened my mouth to respond, but he shook his head.

"You don't have to answer. Your face says it all."

I expected him to ask more questions about Reuben and me, but he didn't. Instead, he talked about other topics that likely would've been deemed insignificant to others, but he was trying. I wasn't exactly sure why he cared, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't appreciate it.

I was used to seeing the rude side of Cronan, but this side—the side that had gone out of its way to try and make me feel better—I liked it. I liked it a lot.