Page 20 of Chased Bear

“Of course, Finnegan. Whatever you need to say, you can.”

The diner was pretty much empty now, and we had the place to ourselves. We could speak freely.

“I don’t think any sort of partnership between the two of us is going to work out.” Thank gods he said something. If I had been the first, the pack might’ve had to deal with backlash. This was good. This was very very good.

“Oh.” I leaned forward slightly and lowered my voice. “You know it too?”

“I’ve known for quite a while,” Finnegan said, blushing. “And honestly, I’ve only been coming to lunch with you so that I could spend time at the diner.”

Things started to tick into place. He rarely even talked to me when he came, always preoccupied with the kitchen. Had we truly wanted to be together it would’ve upset me, but I’d actually been pretty grateful for it because we had nothing to talk about. Not really.

His gaze flicked toward the kitchen, where Patrick was working with his earbuds in. “Ah.” I finally put the pieces that had been staring me in the face together. “That is interesting. Does Patrick know about your… intentions?”

Finnegan shook his head, and a wave of guilt hit me. Why hadn’t I seen this? A good Alpha would have.

“Well, you don’t need to use me as an excuse to be at this diner.”

His eyes opened wide.

“Your job is on the computer, right? You work from home?”

Finnegan nodded.

“I know the apartment you live in is kind of cramped, and right now the best Wi-Fi in the territory is here in this diner. There’s no reason you couldn’t bring your laptop here to work. If you did that, surely a certain bear would take notice.”

“You aren’t giving me false hope, are you, Alpha?” Finnegan’s eyes sparkled. He wanted this, and I wanted it for him. Even if Jayce hadn’t come, it would be true. He was a nice guy, he just wasn’tmynice guy.

I grinned.

“I wouldn’t do that to you. Finnegan, if you think something is there and it’s worth pursuing, then do that. The rest is up to you and him. I’m sorry that I didn’t see it sooner.”

“Thank you, Alpha,” Finnegan said. “I was nervous about saying something and I shouldn’t have been. You and I were both here because we thought it was best for the den, and that’s great and all, but maybe… just maybe it’s time to think about what’s best for us.”

“You are officially much too smart for me.”

He beamed.

“Want me to play matchmaker?”

His body froze, his cheeks redder by the second. “No. That… I don’t think… it would… no.”

“So, no then?” He’d never lost his words with me before.

It was adorable how into Patrick he was. Now that he spoke of it freely, he didn’t even pretend to disguise it. We spent the rest oflunch talking about the alpha, or rather me listening to him talk about him, and then I told him about Jayce.

“Glad you finally told me. But the real question is, are you going to do anything about it?”

“I can’t.” I told him my reasons, and the more I explained my reasoning, the more Finnegan rolled his eyes.

“Don’t ruin a good thing, Alpha,” was the last he said on that, and he was right.

We finished up our food, and it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Now that I was politically unattached, I needed to find Jayce. Finnegan was right. I was ruining a good thing. If fate decided to fuck with me, so be it. I was going to keep what I had for as long as I had it.

I eventually tracked him down at the healing clinic.

When I walked in, Jayce was sitting on the counter, his legs swinging. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for you to be in an exam room?” I asked.

He jumped when he saw me. “You scared me half to death!”

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