Page 51 of Coming Home

I knew they were making her feel uncomfortable so I changed the subject.

“Shelby picked up some new shirts and toiletries for each of us. Use them.”

Will laughed. “Let me guess, deodorant?”

I raised and eyebrow up to Shelby.

“Ms. Shelby goes on a weekly rant about the importance of everyone wearing deodorant. Most of us don’t like it because of the smells and our heightened senses are starting to increase with puberty,” Troy added. His voice cracked on the word puberty and caused me to fight back a smile. I didn’t want to embarrass him, especially in front of Shelby, who they both clearly idolized.

“There is such thing as unscented deodorant,” Shelby said as both boys mouthed her words precisely, like they’d heard them a million times.

“She actually keeps stock in the little trial sizes and if someone comes into the room stinking, instead of calling that person out, she passes it out to everyone one of us and makes us put it on right there in class,” Will informed me.

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “She’s always been overly sensitive to smells, so I’m not surprised to hear that.”

“You must know a lot about her, huh?” Will asked.

“There’s very little I don’t know about my mate,” I said possessively, making her blush. I reached across the table and took Shelby’s hand. “Go ahead, what do you want to know?”

“How old were you when you met?” Troy asked.

I smiled. “Two, I believe? Maybe younger even. The first picture of the two of us has us still in diapers, let’s put it that way.”

“When did you first kiss?” Will asked, jumping to harder questions.

“Eighth grade,” Shelby answered for me.

“Grayson Ward was her boyfriend at the time, and I got really jealous when she told me she was nervous about getting her first kiss at a party that weekend.”

“So you what? Just planted one on her?” Will asked.

Shelby grinned at the memory. “He told me there was no way he was going to let Grayson ruin my first kiss.”

I squeezed her hand and smiled.

“Dude, you had game!” Will said appreciatively. “You know he was lying and really just wanted to kiss you, right?”

She laughed. “I didn’t know it at the time, but yeah, in hindsight, I knew.”

“Caroline and I do everything together, but I can’t imagine kissing her. She’s my best friend. I just don’t see her like that,” Will confessed.

I shrugged. “That’s where you and I differ then, because I don’t think I ever saw Shelby as anything but mine.”

“Then why did you take off for the army and leave her behind?” Troy asked. “You broke her heart. I remember watching her cry, a lot.”

Guilt was a strong emotion. I looked over at Shelby, thinking of everything she had to go through because of that one rash decision I made.

“It’s okay,” she tried to tell me, but I wasn’t sure it was, and I didn’t know how to stop feeling guilty about it, especially knowing I’d left not just her, but our daughter, too.

“I was wrong,” I said. “I didn’t know it at the time. I was told she had mated another guy, and I didn’t know how to stay and live in a world where she wasn’t mine. I didn’t even give her the chance to explain it, I just tried to move on, to survive.”

“Someone actually told you they bonded with Shelby?” Troy asked, sounding horrified.

I nodded, “Yup, and I was the idiot who believed him.”

“What a douche!” Will said.

“Yeah, I was,” I admitted.

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