Page 38 of Alpha Chase

I turn back for the door, but Rob’s voice stops me again.

“Chase.”

“What?” I groan, swinging back around to look at him.

“Have you decided what you want to do about your dad’s Lincoln?”

This isn’t the first time Rob has asked about my dad’s vehicle- a sleek black Lincoln Navigator that has been sitting in our garage for the past couple months, collecting dust. I don’t know why he’s obsessing over what to do with it unless he either wants it or is just sick of looking at it. I can’t look at it, so I don’t park in the garage anymore.

“Not yet,” I mutter, staring at the floor as I chew on the inside of my cheek. After a beat, I glance back up at Rob. “Why, you want it?’

He shakes his head. For a moment, something passes between us- the sting of our shared grief over losing someone close. That’s when I know that the sight of the Lincoln haunts him the same way it does me, a cruel reminder of everything my dad left behind when he died.

I fucking hate it; that burn that settles in my gut every time I think about my dad. It hurts like a bitch.

I don’t want to learn how to be Alpha from Gray because that’s not his job. It was my dad’s. I was supposed to learn from him, and he was supposed to be the one to induct me when he decided to step down. It was supposed to be exciting to finally step up as the pack’s new leader, a role I was born to have. It was supposed to be an important moment we shared, the passing of the torch from father to son. Now it all just feels…empty, tainted.

“I gotta go,” I grumble, eyes burning as I turn away from Rob and pull the door open again. This time, he doesn’t stop me from leaving.

It’s check-in time at the lodge, so I have to fight through the thick throng of vacationers in the lobby just to get to the restaurant. I planned on getting here sooner, but the guy at the store kept trying to upsell me on this damn phone, talking my ear off about all the features that the newest model has in comparison to the last. I guess the upsell worked, but only because I was sick of hearing him jabber on and on about it. Armed with the box containing the shiny new cell phone, I pause in the doorway of the restaurant, watching Vienna make her way back around the bar before I advance.

At least the crowd in here has thinned out in favor of the lobby, only a few tables remaining occupied.Good.That means she won’t have an excuse to scurry off every two minutes to wait on them. I cross the room while Vienna grabs some clean glasses and starts stacking them, eyes trained on the task at hand as I slide into a stool opposite her.

“Here.”

Her gaze lifts to meet mine as I toss the box onto the counter between us. Vienna’s eyes flicker down to it, then back up to me. “What’s that?”

“What does it look like? Now you can stop bitching about the crack in your screen. You know, from whenyouran intome?” My lips twitch into a smirk.

Nessa appears from the storage room behind the bar with a case of beer in her hands, her eyes landing on me as she steps over to slide it onto the bar. “I’m gonna take ten,” she calls to Vienna, brushing off her hands on her black uniform pants. “You good?”

“Yeah,” Vienna mumbles, waving her off without even turning around. She narrows her eyes on me, assessing. “You bought me a phone?” she asks carefully, no doubt trying to discern what my angle is here.

I shrug a shoulder casually. “You said I owed you one.”

Her eyes ping between me and the box lying on the bar. Then she just shakes her head, lips pressed together tightly. “I can’t accept this.”

My brows shoot up, irritation bubbling in my veins. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I blurt incredulously. “You’re the one who said I owed you a phone.”

She shakes her head again. “It’s too… I can’t.”

“Yes, you can.” I slide the phone closer to her.

She pushes the box back toward me. “No.”

I heave a sigh. “Just take the damn phone, Tink.”

Vienna cocks a brow, eyes twinkling in amusement. “Tink?”

“Like Tinkerbell? The little green fairy from fucking Peter Pan or whatev…”

“Another short joke,” she snorts, cutting me off. “How original.”

I shrug, leaning my elbows on the bar as the smirk returns to my lips. “I thought it was a good one.”

“If you have to explain it, it isn’t clever.” Her eyes lock on mine, brimming with that feisty defiance I’ve begun to crave. She’s trying to keep her expression blank, but I don’t miss the way the corners of her mouth twitch like she’s resisting a smile.

She’s really making me work for it.

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