Page 37 of Defeated

“I know you, Chris.” Warren’s voice is somber. “And I’ve known for years that something has been weighing you down. Let’s call them big feelings. Feelings you won’t share with Adela or Aerin or even Mack. I’m guessing it’s the reason Penny has pushed so hard for you to meet someone.”

Guilt. I tried and tried to keep my past in the past, but Warren and I have known each other for a long time, too long to keep silent about everything. I may not have told him everything, but I’ve dropped enough hints over the years. He knows I had a mate before and no longer have one. The guilt would have been easy to spot.

I say nothing.

Anything I said would be a lie. Warren and I both know it.

Warren sighs again. “Don’t stay away too long. And if you need help, don’t be shy about asking for it. We’re pack after all.”

“We are,” I agree, and I hang up because this conversation has already gone on far longer than I hoped it would. Gracie… she belongs in the past, and I have no desire to talk about her with anyone.

It’s only after I’ve tucked my phone in my back pocket that I remember I’m not alone in this house. Zoe would have heard every word of mine and Warren’s conversation.

I hesitate.

Do I go up to Zoe to check she’s okay after I snuck the bear into her bag? Or do I give her space, something she must sorely need after I grabbed her and kissed her?

In the end, it isn’t me who decides the next course of action. It’s Zoe.

Footsteps move over my head. A door creaks open. And then I hear Zoe’s footsteps on the stairs.

Seconds later, she appears in the doorway, her expression blank.

Shuffling from foot to foot, her eyes bounce off me to the window, back to me, and then settle somewhere over my right shoulder. “We missed lunch time.”

We did.

I promised I’d make something for the both of us, yet after the drama during breakfast, and our visit to Zoe’s apartment, which we spent an hour scoping out before we entered, neither of us have eaten.

I move toward the doorway. “Do you want me to start making some?—”

“Uh, no,” she interrupts, still not looking at me. “You already made breakfast.”

I study her, trying to work out the signals of what comes next. Of what is happening now.

I don’t get it.

“Did you want to get something to eat?” I guess.

Her eyes dart from my shoulder to my face and back again, and she clears her throat. “I mean, if you’re hungry. You said there was no race to get everything packed and…”

“Yes,” I interrupt, because I think I know what’s happening here, and it’s a battle to hide my pleasure. “I am hungry. Maybe we could…” I hesitate, still not sure I’m doing this right, “eat somewhere other than surrounded by cardboard boxes?”

Her big brown eyes find their way back to me. They linger this time, and then they warm. When they do, they are… pretty.

No. Beautiful.

She smiles. A shy thing accompanied by a faint blush staining her cheeks. “Okay.”

I think I did the right thing in packing that bear into her bag, and I think she wants to say she appreciates it.

13

ZOE

Ithink I asked Chris out on a date.

Not directly. But I’m almost positive that’s what happened.

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