James' curly red hair has been tamed down by his use of floral smelling hair products; his blue button up shirt brings out his baby blue eyes; and every inch of him smells warm and sweet.
"You look great," I manage past the lump in my throat.
"Thanks," he smiles, taking my hand, "you do too." I close the door behind me and he leads me down the hall and out side to his car. The dark green Honda Civic sits in the driveway. I get in the passenger door and he in the drivers seat.
How on earth am I supposed to do this? We've been together a year, all four seasons and I'm just going to throw it all away, everything we've built. I have to, I know I have to. With James in the way Tanner and I can't have each other to ourselves. But James, kind innocent James, doesn't deserve this.
"Cade?" James pulls me out of my haze of thoughts.
"Huh?" I start, looking around at him.
"I asked you about your day," he smiles, unperturbed by my absence in the conversation.
"Oh, uh, it was good," I stumble over my words. "How was yours?" I offer.
"Fine, I worked at the shop all day, so if I smell like roses, that's why," he laughs.
"Oh, I thought it was your hair product," I laugh too.
"Ok, that too," he grins at me, glancing from the road a second.
I look away, out the window at the passing forest. This is the Sothern border, we've had some recent activity here so I watch the woods closely.
We reach the restaurant and James leads me inside. The hostess at the desk has our reservation, though I don't think we needed one, the place is almost dead this Tuesday night.
"Here you are sirs," she says after leading us to our table. She passes out menus and promises our server will be right with us.
"So where were we a year ago?" James reminisces, "you took me out driving, right?"
I laugh a little, remembering that night, "and I kissed you with the setting sun in the distance."
He laughs too, "not before saying the cheesiest line ever: I thought this sunset was beautiful before I say you." He mimics my deeper voice and we both laugh.
"God, why did you ever go out with me?" I shake my head.
"I thought you were charming. I still do," he grins at me over his menu. My smile falters and pick up my own menu, hiding my face with it.
How the hell and I supposed to do this? He's going to be so confused, everything was going so great with us...
"Can I get you boys something to drink?" The waitress has arrived.
"Yes, I'd like a margarita," James says after glancing at the drinks list.
"I'm going to need some ID for that, sir," the waitress says politely.
"Sure, sure," James pulls out his wallet and fishes around for his license. He shows it to the woman and she nods, satisfied. Then she turns form me.
"Sprite is fine," I say. She nods, writing it down and says she'll be right back.
"I forget you're still a year younger than me," James smiles. I just shrug and hold the menu up to read. We're quiet a while. "So what looks good to you?" James ask after a minute.
"Huh? Oh, chicken parmigiana is always good," I say assessing the full color printed picture.
"Mmm," he agrees, "I was thinking a salad."
"What? Why?" I look over the menu at him.
"I'm trying to bulk up a bit more, you know, work out, build muscle," he flexes.
"Why?" I say again, not understanding any better.
"I wanna be big and strong, like you," he smirks, "it's hot." I feel his hand squeeze my knee under the table.
The waitress arrives with the drinks then. "One margarita and one sprite," she sets them down in front of us. "Are you ready to order?"
We were almost finished with our meals when I noticed the smell. I heard the door close behind someone and turned around. My nose stung with the stench. Two werewolves stood in the doorway talking with the hostess, the she-wolf cling to her mates arm like an accessory.
"We should go," I turn back around to face James.
"What? Why?" He looks up from his salad, scooping in another mouthful. "I wanted to stay for dessert."
I glance over my shoulder, watching the wolves. The male makes eye contact with me and I suppress a growl.
"What's the problem?" James asks, looking past me to the couple, but of course he wouldn't see anything wrong.
"It's nothing," I lie, facing him, "I just think we should go." He still looks at me puzzled. The waitress passes and I catch her attention, "can we get the check please?"
"Oh, sure," she says, taken aback, then continues down the aisle.
"Cade," James insists annoyed, "do you know them?"
"Not exactly..." I mutter, unwilling to explain completely. I watch the couple get seated at the table across from us.
The girl scoffs as she passes me, "what on earth is that stench?" She asks just loud enough for me and her mate to hear.
"Don't worry, dear, I'll take the trash out if needed," they have these weird posh accents that really gets under my skin and makes me want to hit him.
I get to my feet, holding my tongue just long enough for the check to arrive. I throw a fifty onto the table and speak to James while glaring at the couple. "Let's go, it stinks in here."
James gets up and follows me to the door, when the couple is behind us he leans towards me and asks, "are they from a rival gang?"
James thinks I'm in a gang. That's the only explanation I could think of to excuse my pack activities.
"Um yeah," I agree, that was close enough. "I just don't want any trouble," and I don't want you to get hurt.
We get into James' car and he turns to me, "now what?"
I take a breath, now is as good a time as any. "James, this is going to be--" I hear the sound of crunching gravel underfoot and the smell from before has returned. I turn my head to look out the open car window and come face-to-face with an enemy pack member. He's higher ranked than the two in the restaurant, but still not an alpha.
"What have we go here?" He coos, looking from me to James. "Is this your mate, alpha?" He asks me.
"No," I snarl, "but you should really get lost, this isn't your land," I stare at him with cold eyes.
"Not yet," He teases, over annunciating the 't's.
"I said, get lost," I repeat through gritted teeth. He holds up his hands in surrender.
"As you wish," he says mockingly, "but you might be changing your mind sometime soon." James starts the car. The enemy member waves his hand goodbye to me as James starts to pull away. "See you soon, James."
YOU ARE READING
The Alpha's Choice
Werewolf(Previously titled Well I Don't Give a Shit) Alpha's have a lot of responsibility. They have to make big decisions for their packs, but sometimes those choices are made for them. A decision was made for me, and I couldn't go against it, even if I wa...
