Page 70 of Wolf's Forbidden Curse

“Good luck. And Rory?—”

“Yeah?”

“Be gentle. Even if she isn’t so nice in return.”

He laughed. “I will remain perfectly calm and collected. Even if she tells me to go fuck myself, which is a very real possibility.”

CHAPTER 31

RORY

Ihurried down the steps on the side of the building and rounded the corner with a nervous, fidgety feeling about me. I was simultaneously determined to talk to Nic as soon as I could and totally terrified of opening such a vulnerable can of worms.

Walking back to my car, I passed the front door to Smart Choice and heard a familiar laugh echoing within. I took two steps backward and peered through the doorway to see the very person I was on my way to talk to.

“Nic?”

“Oh hey! I thought I might catch ya.” She waved me over. She sat at the bar with three shot glasses in front of her. Two of them were empty. Al filled a glass of water and put it down next to her drinks with a wary look in his eye. “Have some water.”

“What are you doing? And how did you get here so fast?”

“I left right after you did,” she said. “Ordered an Uber.”

“Is everything okay?” I slid into the stool next to her. “It’s a little early to be throwing shots back, don’t you think?”

“I think that after the last couple of days we’ve had, it’s not early enough.” She whirled her finger in the air. “Al, can you get me and Rory another round?” She then brought the third shot glass up to her lips and drank.

“Alright, but this is the last one for now.” Al poured gin into two little glasses and slid them across the bar to us. Nic held hers up in the air, clearly wanting me to toast her. I didn’t go for mine right away, but then I remembered the conversation we were supposed to have and decided a little liquid courage wouldn’t be such a bad thing. I clinked my glass to hers, and we both drank.

“Bleh. Why are you drinking bottom shelf?” I said, grimacing. “I know we’re not exactly rich, but I didn’t think we were struggling this bad.”

She shrugged. “I think it tastes alright. If you hold your breath while you swallow.”

“It tastes like lighter fluid,” I corrected her. “But whatever. A free shot is a free shot.”

“Who said I’m paying?”

“It’s on the house,” Al said before walking away. “As long as you promise you’ll watch her drink that whole glass of water and order her a ride home.”

I nodded. “You got it.”

“You two are acting like a couple of lame dads,” she said with a laugh. “I can take care of myself, you know.”

“We know that. But we care about you, that’s all.” I pushed the water closer to her, and she begrudgingly took a sip. “I’m actually glad I ran into you. We need to talk.”

“About what?”

“About us.”

She frowned. “What about us?”

I spun the shot glass around a few times on the bar, not sure how to begin. I was hoping to have a little more time to prepare what I wanted to say, but fate had other ideas. “I was talking to Daphne just now,” I said. “We were discussing Cornelius’s decision to go back to the compound, and she asked whether or not I thought you would return as well.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I said I didn’t see any reason you would… She argued that you didn’t have much of a reason to stay… She seems to be under the impression that you wouldn’t be very happy staying here now that so much has changed.”

“She said that?”

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