Page 32 of Warlander Beast Cat

“Why?” Gunner asked again.

“I have a question,” she growled. “Why can’t you ask me this stuff in the privacy of our trailer park instead of in public where we are supposed to be speed-dating?”

“Because you avoid me at our trailer park.”

“Two minutes!”

“What do you want her to say?” Kru asked. “You want her to reach back in her high school memories and figure out why you two didn’t work out while you’re being timed on responses?”

“Gunner,” Jenna called, motioning him over to her and Lucas.

Lucia’s eyes were wary on Gunner.

“If you’re going to wreck a person, you owe them an explanation.”

“I would rather kiss a porta-potty than try to decipher my feelings when I’m one point five cheap beers deep at a speed-dating night, Gunner! Two minutes isn’t long enough for this conversation.”

“One minute!”

“Just answer it,” Gunner ground out.

“Look, ask me this at home, when I can think on it and give you a fair answer.”

“So you can practice your answer?”

Cadence sighed. “My animal didn’t recognize your animal, Gunner. She never settled in to you. I’m sorry for it. I wished it was different, but we weren’t right. I never got butterflies with you.”

Gunner nodded, his eyes cold on her. “Good. I’ve waited a long time for an honest answer from you.”

“Time!”

Gunner stood and jammed a finger at his empty chair. “Switch me.”

Kru narrowed his eyes at him. “There’s a bunch of humans here, asshole. Don’t start something you can’t finish. Don’t tell me what to do.”

“I want to talk to her,” Gunner said, gesturing to the woman who had sat down across from Kru. The caramel-haired beauty perked up. “Me?” She pointed to her chest and a pleased smile painted her face.

“I want to talk to her, and clearly you only want to talk to Cadence, so switch me.”

“Is there a problem?” the announcer asked.

“Nope,” Kru called out. “Just trying to figure out our seats.”

He stood and let Gunner have his chair, then righted the chair Gunner had turned backward and sat back down in front of Cadence. “You okay?”

“I saw a meme once that said, ‘Instead of saying ‘Living the dream,’ let’s normalize saying ‘The horrors persist, but so do I.’”

He snorted. “It’s not that bad, surely.”

She leaned onto her elbow and pointed to Lucas. “Ex.” And then she pointed at Gunner, who was glaring at her from about five feet away. “Another ex.”

“Look, bright side, Jenna is scheduled to punch someone tonight, either for me or for you, Lucia wasn’t specific, but I would say that’s a win. That’s friendship.”

She pointed to Gunner and mouthed to Jenna, Punch him. In the dick. She air-drew a wiener.

Jenna gave her a what-the-F look and cocked her head. What?

Never mind, Cadence mouthed.

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