Page 81 of Sawyer

“What happened after that?” Rumor nudges my shoulder.

“They didn’t stop.” Tears threaten to flow from my eyes all over again. “They—” I blow out a shuddering breath, and one tear falls down my cheek.

Rumor leans in to kiss the droplet away. “It’s okay, baby girl. You don’t owe us a damn thing.”

“Thank you.” I want to get this out. “They scheduled to have a delta team come for me.” I hold up my hand before Rumor can pop off, and Bryn holds Sin back. “I overheard them on the phone one night. They thought I was asleep, but I was sneaking in. The dance studio gave me free classes if I taught, and my parents were far too preoccupied with themselves to even notice.”

“You left.” Rumor looks proud of me, and it settles something within me.

“I ended up at Haven and put myself through journalism classes.” Now I nudge Rumor. “I met you when I interned at Central Daily.” Everyone knew about pack camp, but no one ever got footage. I hoped that if I recorded something, it would make my career.

What I got was a night that haunted me for years.

Sin pouts. “I’m still irritated that you didn’t include me.”

“Sin.” Bryn slowly turns to him. “You passed out drunk and nearly drowned in the spring.”

“That was you?” I gasp, remembering watching a man fall from the rocks and into the water. “You were masturbating the entire time.” My cheeks blaze red with the memory.

“Oh, look at that. I left an impression.” Sin’s excitement is contagious.

“I hate to bring this up, but” —Rumor’s voice drops— “baby girl, have you spoken to your parents since?”

“They signed custody over to my brother.” It doesn’t affect my mood, but it says a lot about how fucked up the situation is. No matter how old a gamma is, someone will always own her or him.

“That’s why he’s looking for suitors.” Sin runs his hand down his face. “Will he follow through with your parents’ wishes?”

“You mean to sell me to a pack as a handmaiden?” I snort. “Possibly. The way Shepard spoke before, he didn’t really want that. He wanted me to find love.” I twist the edge of my napkin to keep myself from overthinking that statement.

Luckily, distraction slams the door open and Freddy sweeps in.

“Sawyer!” he shouts, rushing to our table and nearly falling over a chair in his haste. “There you are! You didn’t return any of my phone calls. Where have you been?” He tugs at the strands of his hair before grabbing a chair and dragging it to our table.

“Freddy. How did you find me?” I ask suspiciously. It’s bad enough that I had to ask the guys to sweep me for a tracker before we left.

“You posted. Seriously, your followers are losing their shit over that post.” His scent turns bitter and makes my nose itch. “Did you talk to your brother?”

I glance at Bryn, who just sips his juice with a raised brow.

“Why?” I feign innocence that Freddy buys.

“Sawyer, I applied to be your suitor.” He looks hurt that I didn’t even guess that.

“Freddy, did my brother call you?”

Annoyed that I’m not jumping up and down with joy, he spits out, “The gamma union’s availability tab on their website. You have a whole profile. Honestly, it has the most hits since it went up last week.”

I hold up a hand. “Last week?”

“Yeah,” he hedges.

“You knew.”

“I thought you knew!” He slices the air with his hand as though that will erase all my hurt. “Either way, my application got through. Thank you for considering me.”

“You came all this way” —Sin turns in his seat, his usual cheery demeanor turning to loathing— “to thank Sawyer while she’s out with her pack?”

Tension crackles between the men.

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