Page 39 of The Wolf's Bullied Bride

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how pathetic it sounded.

I didn’t want a one-night stand, followed by rejection and her bitterness, to ruin what was meant to be a rewarding experience. I was there to help the community, not concern myself over Cora’s hurt feelings.

“Everything’s fine,” I blurted, wondering if I was only making the situation worse.

“You sure? I thought I heard bickering,” Sienna asked, glancing between us.

Cora nodded. “We just had a slight disagreement about where we wanted everything to go, but we figured it out. It was an accident.”

“All right,” she said, seemingly satisfied with the answer. “Again, if you need any help, just let me know.”

“Of course,” I said, watching as Sienna nodded before walking off again.

With one last huff, Cora adjusted her hair, then got back to fixing the mess she made.

Even if we insisted everything was fine, things were far from it, and there was no telling if things between us would get any better.

***

My muscles strained as I lifted the dumbbell over my head, reaching my maximum weight while Joey stood behind the bench as my spotter.

Music played through the pack gym speakers, further putting me in the right mental state.

“Man, I wish I could pump this much weight without hardly breaking a sweat,” Joey said, watching me despite his role being a bit redundant. “You freak me out sometimes.”

“Good. I’m here to keep you on your toes,” I said, focusing on my breathing and the swell of power within me during each set.

“This is just like old times,” Joey said, grinning as he looked around the gym. “I will say, it’s not like the city, but there’s some serious money in this place.”

“Kai and Zach insisted on having the facility. We need to always be on top of our game,” I replied.

“With strength and skills like yours, you’d think that wouldn’t be a problem.”

“We might be inherently strong, but we can always get stronger.”

“That’s terrifying,” he said with a laugh, grabbing my water as I put the bar back and sat up again.

After pushing past that initial resistance, I could feel myself reaping the benefits of that strain already. Plus, it helped clear my head.

“How have things been with that journalist?” He asked, heading for the nearest treadmill.

“Awful,” I muttered, wiping my face down. “I still can’t believe she started looking into my business just because I didn’t want to jump head-first into going out with her. We were just having fun, and now she hates my guts.”

“You two sound like the opposite of enemies,” Joey chided with a smirk. “Obviously, the sex was great if you’re still at each other’s throats.”

“Be serious for once,” I mumbled, immediately reminded of how often he joked about everything.

It was hard to find the humor in it when Cora despised me, yet we could seem to get away from each other.

“If you want my honest opinion, I think you two need to come to terms with whatever’s going on between you. Like the fact that you’re obviously attracted to each other. At the very least, you should have sex again to get it out of your systems,” Joey said as if he had just given me the most fool-proof advice.

While I didn’t hate the idea, I wasn’t so sure it would fix anything.

I wouldn’t have a problem with her if it weren’t for how determined she was to ruin my reputation. But regardless, she still hated me. I doubted she would even consider getting close enough for us to hook up again.

Shaking my head, I couldn’t see it as a solution. “I’m not sure there’s anything I can do to get Cora to stop hating me or to get her to stop this weird search of hers.”

I couldn’t believe how easily she was able to get anything on me if she wasn’t bluffing. I had bottled everything up so tightly within myself that I wouldn’t let anyone else see it. I couldn’t risk opening up my past again, not while I hoped to keep my future in Rose Valley intact.

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