Page 88 of The Beta's Blind Date

He stares at me again. “I didn’t know that,” he mutters. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

I scrunch up my face. “About the musicals?”

“No, dickhead,” he says, putting his hands on his face and groaning. “About Taryn.”

“Oh.” I swallow and my foot bounces again, my thumbnail between my teeth. “It all sort of… snowballed. I didn’t say anything at first because I was going to reject her. Then it was because I thought she deserved to know before anyone else. And I didn’t know how to ask for help. I’ve never—I don’t—” I shake my head and clear my throat. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m here asking for help now.”

He nods and sits up, glancing at his blanket, the cogs in his brain spinning again. “As far as talking to Taryn—explaining everything to her… That is probably a conversation that is best had in person,” he says.

“I agree.”

“But not tomorrow.”

I nod. Not because I don’t want to talk to her as soon as possible. Because I do. But it’s like Sebastian said—I can’t ruin Wesley and Haven’s big day. They have been looking forward to this day for two years now. Their whole lives, almost, if we’re being realistic. I would be a terrible friend if I caused a scene at their wedding.

“I will… I will tell her I want to talk to her. Ask her to come here on Sunday. I’ll make her breakfast and sit down with her and tell her the truth. Tell her everything,” I say, tilting my head up towards the ceiling. “And pray to Selene she still wants me as much as I want her.”

Chapter 31

REID

Somehow,Imadeitthrough the rest of last night and all of today without unraveling like a scarf caught on a rusty nail. I don’t think I slept at all, though, and it took everything in me to hold back a growl of annoyance when Wesley stumbled into his house at six in the morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after spending all night with his mate.

He should remember not all of us are so lucky.

The ceremony will begin in about thirty minutes, and Wesley paces the shore of the lake, biting his nails, pulling at his freshly-trimmed hair, and sighing and growling every few minutes. He stops on the spot they will say their vows—the spot she stood in the first time she came to the lake, the first time he ever saw her in person—and fidgets with his bow tie, his eyes glazing over as someone mindlinks him. He frowns and rolls his eyes but crosses his arms and plants his feet, muttering I don’t even want to know what under his breath.

“Did Wesley stop pacing?”Haven mindlinks me.

I chuckle and cover my mouth to hide my laughter from my alpha.“Yes, Luna. He did.”

“Good,”she says, sighing.“I swear, that man is making me more nervous with his incessant pacing and growling. I don’t get nervous! I dance in front of thousands of people all the time. It’s my job. A wedding is nothing compared to that. I—”She cuts herself off, and even though she’s in the packhouse, I picture her glare and narrowed eyes honing in on me and my shaking shoulders.“You’re laughing at me, aren’t you?”

“I would never!”

“Just try to keep him distracted. Ask him about cappuccino foam or something.”

“What?”

“Never mind. I need to finish getting ready. And Stella is throwing her flower petals all over the room again.”

The mindlink cuts off, and I approach Wesley under the guise of adjusting his boutonniere. “I went to Brewed Awakenings yesterday,” I say as I straighten the little arrangement of jasmine on his lapel. “I ordered a cappuccino, and—”

“And they fucked up the foam, didn’t they?” he finishes for me. I nod, face serious, brows frowning, but on the inside I’m laughing. “Goddess, we really need to talk to Adele about retraining her baristas. They need to know the proper espresso-to-milk-to-foam ratio. Too much milk, and it’s—” He frowns and looks down at me, at my pinched together lips and the mischievous glint I’m certain is in my eyes. “Haven put you up to this, didn’t she? She’s trying to make me look like a bumbling fool in front of all of you!”

“She said to distract you, and she suggested mentioning cappuccino foam. You did the rest by yourself,” I say with a shrug as I pat him on the chest.

He sighs and shakes his head, but his lips curl into a smile, and he laughs with me. “You don’t need to be nervous,” I say, and out of the corner of my eye, Nolan and Seb nod their agreement. “She’s not going to take off. She knows she’s not fast enough to outrun any of us.”

Nolan groans and covers his eyes. “And here I thought you were going to be serious for once in your life.”

“I am serious,” I say, winking. “Wes’s lycan would chase her down, throw her over his shoulder, and bring her back.”

“You’re terrible,” Wesley says, but he’s still laughing too. “I know I don’t need to be nervous. The logical part of me knows that. But there will always be this part of me that—”

“That’s afraid you’re going to lose her again?” I ask, and he nods.

I know the feeling, I think to myself, swallowing back the words. Seb eyeballs me, but I ignore him. Today is about Wes, about my best friend and his mate, the female he fell in love with before any of us knew what being in love meant.

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