My whole face burns, and my heart has jumped into my throat, making it hard to breath, let alone speak.
"James," I choke, still unable to believe he's standing there. He turns around on his heal and start to walk away. "No, James, wait," I start after him, catching up with a few strides. Tanner stays behind, watching and saying nothing.
"What?" James snaps, "what could you possibly say?" he doesn't wait for a response. "How sorry you are it turned out like this? How badly you feel? How bad it hurts to see me in pain?" He yells, a few tears have overflowed out his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. "Well I don't give a shit!" He spits, more tears spill down his face. "I really couldn't care less about how guilty you feel! You got what you wanted, the pick of the litter. Now just fuck off!" He pushes me back a step, "leave me alone." His voice breaks on the last word and I let him walk away.
There's a long moment of quiet as I listen to his footsteps fade into the distance. Tanner is by my side suddenly, watching the space James disappeared into.
"It's not safe for him to be wondering around at night," Tanner mutters. I say nothing. If I went after him he wouldn't be hard to find. But I really don't want to have to face him. The idea makes my chest tight and my eyes sting again. He's close to home. He'll be fine.
"I'll call him in the morning," I decide, turning from the stretch of sidewalk.
"Do you know how close we are to the southern border right now?" Tanner asks, and I give him a look.
"You know what? You wanted to do it so bad, let's go," I grab a fistful of his shirt and start towing him down the street, "let's stop talking about my exboyfriend and fuck!" I shout, probably too loudly.
We don't have sex that night. But I also don't sleep fully clothed, so that's progress.
I call James' cell the next morning. I have to leave a massage, not that I expected him to pick up. I should have gone after him last night, I didn't think I'd worry this much.
"Hey James, its Cade. I get you probably don't want to talk to me, and that's cool, I understand, I just wanted to make sure you got home alright last night. I get that's probably kinda weird, but could you please just send me a text or something so I know you're alive?" I find myself waiting for an answer before I remember I'm talking to a machine. "Anyway, yeah. Bye." I say and awkwardly hang up. I stare at the phone in my hand, waiting for a text back, which I know is crazy but I do anyway.
I feel Tanner shift in the bed beside me. I hear him sit up and scoot towards me. He wraps his arms around my waist and burries his face in the bare skin of my back. His warm breath on my skin. We sit there a long moment, breathing together, feeling each other.
"Do you have work today?" He asks in a voice horse from sleep, it's incredibly hot.
"No," I reply quietly. We breathe in at the same time, he lifts his face, his nose gently tracing up my back and he breathes a soft breath on my neck, marking me shiver.
"So I have you to myself?" He questions in his husky voice.
"I suppose," a smile twists at my lips. In a smooth motion he moves around my side, to seat himself on my lap, with his knees pressed to the bed on either sides on my hips. He presses his hands to my chest, leaning me back to lay down on the bed.
He leans in close to my face, "so does this mean we can finally consummate our relationship?" He purrs.
I just smile and wrap my arms around his neck, pulling his face down to mine for a kiss.
After, I'm sure you can guess, the two of us go out for coffee. The local coffee shop in our area is called Brewtiful and it is filled to the brim with coffee puns (yes that was a play on words). It's painful.
"Hello welcome to Brewtiful, thanks a latte for stopping in, what can I brew for you today?" The barista says enthusiastically.
"Hmm," Tanner starts, smiling at the menu, "cat-ppuccino sounds good... but a positivitea is so classic... ooo, what about a wtf?" He turns to me grinning madly.
"What's a wtf?" I ask him, wincing at every pun on the menu.
"What the frappe!" He laughs so loudly the barista smiles too.
I roll my eyes at him, "you mocha me crazy," I groan at my own joke. The barista enthusiastically "ayyyee"s and Tanner gives me a slow clap. "Can we just order?" I ask.
"Yeah, sure," Tanner turns back to the counter and we order two black-as-my-soul coffees, mine with cream and two sugars and his with just one sugar.
We take a seat at a table by the window, Tanner still laughing at the puns. "I love this place," he says point to the place mats which read: Coffee is a state of bean.
"I only go here because they're the only place nearby who's coffee doesn't just taste like warm bean water," I say sourly. "The puns stop being funny after like the fourth or fifth time you hear them."
"I don't think I'll ever get sick of this! If you're depresso, have an espresso!?" He reads off a poster on the wall.
"Yeah," I agree sarcastically, "it's great." I take a sip of coffee almost spit it out when I make eye contact with someone out side. I manage to swallow the mouth full before speaking. "Abby?" I choke and Tanner follow my gaze.
Abby after seeing me storms into the shop. Oh shit. This isn't going to be good.
"I can't believe you!" She starts, shouting, "how dare you turn my James into Rosaline!" I flinch at her tone. Is she referencing Shakespeare at me? The bigger question: did she just call me Romeo?
"It's not something I can help, Ab," I keep my voice down, not pleased with the attention we're attracting. "Love isn't something you choose," I insist but immediately regret my word choice when I see her expression.
"Love?" She spits the word, "you can't say that to James after a year, but you're ready to admit it after, what? Three days? Of knowing Martian," she gestures at my mate with such distain it makes my skin itch with anger.
"It's more complicated than that," I start but have to stop. There's no way to explain this without explaining everything.
"I don't understand you, Cade. I really don't," she shakes her head, disappointed.
"I'm sorry Abby, I'm sorry this has to ruined our friendship. I wish I could explain it all to you," I say this with more sincerity than she could understand. I silently curse the Moon Goddes for being so fickle and forcing my hand. Though, I suppose it would be worse if I had to chose between the two.
"Yeah, me too," she says sadly and there is a moment of quiet before her anger returns, "just leave us alone, ok?" She doesn't wait for an answer and marches out of the shop. I wonder is she knows those are the last words James told me last night.
A/N: The stage has been set. The rolls have been cast. It is time for the play to begin.
*Evil laughter*
P.S. If y'all want I can write in smut, I kind of skipped over it in this chapter but if enough of you were interested I can/will write it. I'd give bolded notes before and after the scenes so you could skip it if you wanted, just let me know in the comments.
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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...
