Page 60 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

“Me either, but a girl needed a scapegoat for all that booze, and Aunt Maya sat next to me.”

“Fair,” I giggled. “Hey, Bells?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s going on with you and Cade?” I asked and watched her sit up straight.

“What do you mean? Nothing. There’s nothing going on with Cade and me. Why? Did he say something?”

I giggled.

“Outside of how stubborn and overworked you are? Not really. But I’ve seen the looks you guys sneak and you looked like you wanted to cry and kill Ada today.”

“Who’s Ada?”

“The woman that came to the park?”

“Oh. You saw that?”

“I did. What’s going on?”

“I... I kissed him a few weeks back. Well, technically he kissed me. Well, technically we made out and would have probably fucked if his phone hadn’t rang.”

“A few weeks back? What’s happened since?”

“Nothing. I told him it was a mistake and we should leave it before it started. He‘s been a total gentleman since.”

“But why?” I asked. “If you like him and he likes you, why not see where it goes?”

“I don’t want to get involved with another alpha, Violet. Look where that got me the first time.”

“Brandon dying wasn’t your fault. I know Cory and Dad think Nickolas sent the rogues, but there’s no proof.”

“Yeah, well... Let’s just watch the movie. Cade took the news well, and now we’re back to just friends.” Bells shrugged as if it didn’t matter, but that look earlier said otherwise.

“So, if he wants you to be his luna, you’ll say no?” I asked.

“It’s a thankless job, Vi. I don’t know how Mom did it for thirty years. If I can’t be alpha, I’d rather just live out my days in peace.”

We turned back to see the coconuts chasing after Moana and we watched in silence for a while as we started on our third brew, and I opened a bag of spicy peanuts for us to share.

We were back to singing and giggling by the time the crab showed up.

“What about you?” Bells asked out of nowhere.

“What about me?” I asked.

“Adam called you Chris’ mate and neither of you corrected Adam.”

“I—What? When?” I asked.

“When Ada showed up and they brought you back to the table?”

“What did they say?”

“You don’t remember?”

“I wasn’t paying attention. I was trying not to freak out,” I answered, but didn’t add that Ada had started accusing me of taking Cade’s attention when he had a pack to look after. Cade already had enough to deal with. “What did they say?”

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