Page 40 of Semi-Rejected Life

I smiled. “Thanks, Sam.”

“I didn’t do anything,” he replied with a smirk. “Now, how do you like your eggs cooked?”

Chapter Nineteen: Vincent

I was surprised when River called me up and invited me out on a proper date a couple days later. We’d been spending most every night at my place fucking until well passed midnight. In fact, I was starting to look a bit like a racoon from the loss of sleep. But I couldn’t stop myself either. I liked being with him. It just felt… right.

But we hadn’t quite gotten to the point where we were going on traditional dates. Until now, that is. It was my day off and River planned to not only take me north to Mackinaw City for some shopping, but then he was planning a nice dinner on the water for us too. I had no idea what restaurant we were going to, but I didn’t care. It had been years since I’d gotten out of Shifter Grove for more than a couple of hours.

The day was incredible and well worth the drive. We parked downtown as soon as we got there and started to walk. Since it was early September, the tourist season was still in full swing. That meant that everything was open, and the streets were filled with the scents of fresh fudge that brought the out of towners in by the bus load. But they also worked on me. What started out as a shopping trip quickly became a fudge trip with a little shopping thrown in.

But as the evening drew in, River peeled me away from the fudge shops and took me out for some actual food. The restaurant was located on the shores of Lake Huron and our table was out on their patio. We spent the next couple of hours sipping wine, eating the fanciest food I’d ever eaten, and enjoying the warm breeze coming off the lake as the sun went down. Each course was better than the last and I nearly wept for joy not having to eat pizza for the first time in weeks. It was truly a magical experience.

However, all that came crashing down when River took me to a bed-and-breakfast instead of home after dinner.

“Uh… this is really nice and all,” I said, staring up at the Victorian mansion positioned right on the lake. “But I have to work tomorrow.”

“I’ve taken care of it,” he replied with a smile.

“I can’t afford to close the shop randomly,” I argued. “I’ll lose my customer’s trust. It’s not that I don’t appreciate this, I just can’t run a business like that.”

“Vince,” he said softly, placing his hand on my shoulder. “I took care of it. The shop will run just fine without you. In fact, you don’t even have to work tomorrow.”

I eyed him suspiciously. “Who did you get to take over?”

“Cory is taking care of deliveries and Sam is picking up the rest of it as a favor to me.”

“Sam?!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “He doesn’t know how to run the shop!”

“No, but Cory does. And Sam knows how to cook just fine. He made me breakfast the other day and it was delicious.”

“Eggs and toast are not pizza…”

“If I can learn how to make pizza in a single night, Sam can probably do it in ten minutes.”

“I’m not sure you learned how to make pizza…”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” River rolled his eyes at me. “Now will you come on? I booked us the suite for the night and we’re still not done yet.”

“But I didn’t even pack a toothbrush!”

“Yeah you did,” he smiled, grabbing his backpack from the back seat. “I thought of everything.”

“But–”

“Vince,” he said sternly, placing his finger on my lips. “Shh. I took care of it.”

I huffed in annoyance, but really I was just nervous. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him, more that I was feeling out of place. People didn’t do things like this for me. River was going out of his way to make me feel special and that felt… well, weird. Whether I deserved it or not was irrelevant. I didn’t know how to react or respond to such generosity, especially when it came without a price tag.

The house that we were staying in was beautiful and our room even more so. Everything was dripping with heavy curtains, floral patterns, wallpaper, and the richest dark wood I’d ever seen. It was like walking back in time and the house had just been built last week. Once it was just us in our room, I couldn’t tell whether I was staying in a hotel or had walked through a portal to the past.

“Do you like it?” River asked, looking a bit nervous himself.

“It’s beautiful,” I replied, running my fingers along the damask curtains surrounding the bed. “I’ve never been in a place like this before.”

“I’ve been here a few times as a kid back when Mom was still alive. It was one of those few vacations we got to go on since Dad was the Alpha and all.”

“I didn’t know about your mom…”

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