Page 131 of Verses

He raised an eyebrow, shooting me a half grin.

“How can I ever repay you, Wolf?”

“Like I said before, bird…it’s a gift. You don’t repay gifts.”

“Well…you have my eternal gratitude.”

“ThatI’ll accept.”

One thing was for certain: Wolf had a way of making me feel loved and appreciated—and it was nice knowing he caredenough to give me something I didn’t need but was almost a luxury.

It was nice to feel so loved…and that would make it all the harder when things changed.

CHAPTER 35

Finally, Wolf agreed to one thing I could do to repay him other than just having my eternal gratitude. “Spend New Year’s Eve with me, bird. This is the first time in a long time I won’t be tending bar for it, so I’ll be by myself.”

It was an easyyeson my part.

In fact, we’d been spending so much time with each other, it was easy to imagine our future together. I spent that night with Wolf and celebrated the evening with great sex—and we also rang in the new year with more.

It was even better waking up in his arms. As I opened my eyes on New Year’s Day, I realized I felt more fulfilled and far happier than I had in a long time.

Maybe ever.

Now that my car was fixed, I was able to drive it home from his place—and, after a late breakfast, I did. As I drove home, I let the feeling of gratitude and appreciation fill my heart, because Wolf had given me independence by getting my car running. He could have easily picked me up and taken me home, but it made me feel empowered being able to drive myself.

As I walked up the stairs to the apartment late morning, I made plans to get my laundry done and maybe even do a little studying. Wolf had shown me a website that explained how to read music in detail, but it was less intimidating and easier to understand than experiences in my past.

I was starting off the new year with a bang, because tomorrow was back to the same old grind.

After unlocking the door, I opened it, expecting the apartment to be empty, with Kyle either gone or in bed. But he was sitting on the living room couch, scrolling through some feed on his phone. As I took off my coat, he said, “I haven’t seen you in forever, Hayley. Where have you been?”

Oh, God. I couldn’t tell him the whole truth. “I was out celebrating New Year’s Eve.”

“So you spent the night somewhere.”

I didn’t like the direction this conversation felt like it was going—so I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass out of the cabinet so my face wouldn’t give anything away. “Yeah.”

“Your car’s fixed?”

The way he asked told me he already knew. Where the hell was he going with this? As I poured water into the glass, I decided to tell him the truth—about the car at least. “Yeah, Wolf fixed it for me. It just needed a new battery and fluids.”

Getting off the couch, Kyle joined me in the kitchen. “Good. So our lead guitarist is not only a solid bartender but he’s also good with cars. Interesting.”

“I suppose. When he offered to look at my car, he said he might not be able to figure out what was wrong—but he did.” I refrained from reminding him how the battery had died in the first place. Then, shrugging my shoulders, I took a sip of my water before walking toward my bedroom, hoping to avoid Kyle pummeling me with more questions.

He didn’t take the hint. “This, uh…personyou’ve been seeing. You’re getting pretty serious? Am I correct in assuming that?”

I didn’t like where this was headed…especially on the heels of talking about Wolf. Although I stopped walking and half turned, I kept my back to him. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

“Youguess?” Shit. Exactly what I’d been wanting to avoid—theassholeside of Kyle. But here he was, like it or not. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed that there have been nights that you haven’t come home, nights when you’re doing…whatever.”

I couldn’t contain myself any longer and turned to face him. “Why do you care, Kyle? We broke up months ago, andyou’reseeing people.”

“Yeah, but here’s the problem. It’sdistractingyou, Hayley.”

“What do you meanit’sdistractingme? Distracting me fromwhat?”

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