Page 21 of Cuffed By My Mate

He nods and curls up inside of me. He’s depressed and broken inside of me, and it only compounds my own feelings, making everything so much worse.

How do humans deal with a broken heart?I wonder as I rub at the ache in my chest.

I turn out of the drive and head towards Logan’s house. He lives nearby and is a good friend. He works at the fire department, so we’ve spent a lot of time together.

When I pull into his driveway, he’s sitting on the porch, waiting for me.

“Hey. I figured you might show up here,” he says, passing me a beer as I climb the porch steps.

“Thanks. Can I crash here?”

“Of course.”

I nod and down half of the beer in one gulp. He leads me inside, and I groan as I sink down onto his couch.

“What did she say?” He asks me, passing me another beer.

“That she can explain.”

“Okay, and what was her explanation?”

“I didn’t let her talk. I knew that I would break no matter what she said to defend herself.”

“Maybe she does have an explanation?” He suggests, and I sigh.

“Maybe. I hope so. I just… I need to be in a stronger position before I hear her out.”

“It will work out. You just have to hear what she has to say. Then we can go from there,” he tells me, and I nod.

“Just not tonight.”

He nods, and we sit in silence. My mind is going a million miles an hour, overanalyzing every minute that we spent together.

My mind goes back to before I left to head to the Alphas’ tonight. We had been in bed, and she had tried to tell me something, but I had to go. She had seemed nervous over dinner too. Could she have been trying to tell me then? Or is this all just wishful thinking?

Hear her out, my bear says, and I take another sip of my beer.

“I’ll go talk to her,” I announce. “Tomorrow.”

“Good. Tonight, though. Let’s get drunk.”

“I’m in,” I say, clinking my bottle against his.

I stare at the ceiling and try to ignore the pain as I drink with my friend. For Logan’s part, he does his best to cheer me up and get my mind off things, but it’s no use. All I can think about is Vera.

I doze off at some point, and when I wake, the sun is starting to shine, and I know what I have to do.

I take a deep breath as I push to my feet and stretch.

It’s time for me to go face my mate and find out if I can forgive her or if I’m about to break my own heart.

NINE

Vera

I jumpup from the couch when I hear the knock on the front door the next morning. My bear perks up inside of me, and I know that we’re both wishing for the same thing. We’re both hoping that it’s Crew coming back to give me a chance to explain, but deep down, I know that’s not likely. This is his house. He wouldn’t knock.

Still, I rush over and throw open the front door, hope building inside of me.

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