Page 46 of Losing My Rejection

“Who are you?” my father asked, putting himself between me and Sam as he suddenly went on the defensive. “What do you want?!”

“Stop,” I said, pushing my way between the pair of them. “Sam, this is my father. Dad, this is the owner of the hotel.”

Sam ignored my father’s suspicious looks and stayed fixed on me. “I’ll say it again. What the fuck are you doing, Josh?”

“He’s leaving,” Dad replied. “He’s going back home to where he belongs.”

“Is that true?”

I nodded, unable to look him in the eye.

He made a sort of exasperated snort. “What is wrong with you? You’re just going to abandon everyone here and run back home? I thought you didn’t have a pack or a family to go back to?” He reached out and grabbed me by the shirt collar, forcing me to look at him. “What about Andy?!”

Dad already had his fist raised, but I pushed him away.

“Don’t you dare touch my son!” he barked.

“Dad,” I sighed. “Shut up.” He looked at me like I was insane, but he stayed silent. I turned back to Sam. “I have to go,” I muttered, the emotion threatening to overwhelm me. “I… I fucked it up.”

Sam’s eyes widened as he finally understood what was happening. “You didn’t tell him, did you?”

I shook my head.

“Did you tell your father?”

“Tell me what?!” He was growing impatient. “Josh, we need to get out of here before these rogues lose their minds and attack us. It’s not safe here.”

Sam was still staring at me. “Are you going to tell him, or are you just going to run away? Because if you stay on this current path, you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life. Trust me. I’ve seen it time and time again.” He let go of my collar, folding his arms over his chest. “Are you going to choose what’s easy and familiar or what makes you happy?”

“Sam…” I shook my head. “Every time I try to choose what makes me happy, it blows up in my face. That’s… That’s how I ended up here in the first place.” My father opened his mouth to reply, but I waved him off. “Don’t pretend like that isn’t true. And if I choose to stay here, there’s no guarantee I’ll be happy or that Andy will take me back. I could lose it all again.”

“You’re going to lose it for sure if you leave.”

“Wait, wait,” Dad interrupted. “Are you really that torn up about working in some little dump of a cafe? You could have an entire restaurant back home and all the notoriety that comes with it!”

Sam gave me a stern look. “Is this about the job, Josh? Or something else.”

I shook my head. “I… I’m scared.”

Stepping forward, Sam wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. “I’m right here. Nothing is going to happen to you. This is about as safe a place as you could ask for.”

“What the hell are you all talking about?!”

I looked up at Sam one last time, nodded, and turned to face my father. “Dad… I have something to tell you.”

“I hope it’s an explanation for whatever you two are talking about,” he scoffed. “Because I’m lost. I just offered you your dreams in a silver platter and I don’t understand what’s keeping you from leaving this nowhere town.”

Taking a deep breath, I felt the tears well up again. They were already falling down my cheeks before I even began to speak. “Dad… I… I found my mate here,” I said at last.

“You… You did?” I’d never seen him look so confused. However, his confused quickly morphed into a smile. “Well? What’s her name? Maybe she can come back with us. After all, it’s not like anyone wants to be in this town. Wolves like to be in packs.”

Another deep breath. “His name is Andy.” My voice was shaking so bad I could hardly speak.

“He?” The smile melted away. “Your boss?”

I nodded, pulling my gaze away from him. “I know it’s not what you want or what you expected. And… I’ll understand if you don’t want me to come home now. I know our pack’s stance on male couples. If you need to leave… just go. I know you’re disappointed.”

I started to walk away when I felt a hand on my arm. It was my father’s hand. And instead of the look of disappointment on his face, I saw something else.

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