Page 70 of Why Cruise

“Flings?” Oh to be able to wander through her thoughts and see how she connected all the dots to get here.

“You know. You break up, then you’re supposed to have a fling to get over it?”

“I presume it works for some people.”

“Did you have a fling after Justice?” When I didn’t answer immediately, she added, “That was too personal.”

“I fucked everyone that came within 20 feet of me.” I said with a sigh.

“Did it help?”

“No. But I’m a special case.”

“I’m supposed to have a fling.” She said, almost to herself as she picked at a thread on the pillow embroidery.

“Aren’t you having a fling with Theo?”

“Theo is not a fling.”

I stared up at the overhead light, hoping it would burn away the image of crawling in between the two omegas before it took hold in my brain.

“Are you going to?” I asked instead,

She shrugged. “Most of the alphas I’ve met so far don’t seem like good people. They’re not even nice. Well, except for you, of course.”

I laughed outright at that. “Darling, I’m not nice or good.”

She made a disgusted noise and rolled her eyes.

“I steal cars, and worse. I think that disqualifies me from the ‘good’ and ‘nice’ categories.”

“That doesn’t count.”

I laughed again.

“You said it was like rich people’s pranks,” she insisted.

“What if I was running around Port Haven stabbing people?” The almost-confession rolled off my tongue. And I held my breath.

“When you leave, don’t make me hate you.”

She glanced at me from under her lashes. “I’m not sure that automatically makes you a bad person.”

“Murdering people is generally a no – no. Wouldn’t you say, Sugar?” I licked my lips. The guilt tasted sour.

She crawled closer and pulled “The Booster” between her knees, pushing down on it like she could tenderize it.

“I was really little when it happened. So I don’t remember much. One of the betas in my birth pack…” She shrugged. “Something happened at a bar. She was assaulted, maybe. No one really talks about it, but all the alphas from the pack went down there and, well…” She left me to fill in the details. “My dads are good people and they… probably killed someone.”

It wasn’t abnormal for packs to deal out their own punishments, settle their own scores. And like Justice said, so long as you don’t fuck with the wrong people, no one paid close attention. Unfortunately for me, Nolan was the wrong people.

“So, what makes a bad person, then?” I asked, spinning my ring around my finger.

“I don’t know. Maybe hurting people you love on purpose,” she shrugged and reached for another Functional Pillow product.

“Ah, well, there you have it then. Justice makes me a bad person.”

She cocked her head, inspecting the pillow. “No, that doesn’t count either.” She said, almost absently. She flipped the pillow over and then stood it up on its end.

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