Page 11 of Fire Bound

“Yes, I hear you,” I concede. “I just don’t believe you.”

Before she can slash me with more false, ugly words, I leave the room to let her cool off.

It’s an odd—almost unimaginable—thing when the people you once confided everything in are the ones you keep the most secrets from now. Or the people you once spent the most time with are the very people you now avoid. Or the people who once gave you the biggest smiles now cause the saddest frowns.

Pruitt was—is—my best friend. We shared everything with each other. Every secret, no matter how insignificant, was shared between us. Spending time with her was my favorite thing, but now as she tries to catch up to me on Ransom’s driveway, I’m consumed by the overwhelming need to flee. I don’t want to talk to her, I don’t want to spend time with her. I really don’t want anything to do with her.

“Remi!” The happy smile on her face is a genuine one. Despite the shit show that is headed our way, Pruitt has every reason in the world to be happy right now. “Wait up!”

I contemplate pretending that I can’t hear her for a solid two seconds before I remember that excuse doesn’t work with shifter hearing.Goddammit. After my encounter with Jax, I’m not in the headspace for this. There are too many emotions bubbling up in my body and I’m afraid one of them is going to escape right here in front of Pru.

With a steadying breath, I turn on my heels to face her. “Hey.”That’s a normal thing to say, right?

Pru gives me a puzzled look. “Hey?” she repeats like a parrot. “I haven’t seen you in a month and all you have to say is,hey?”

“People are still saying that, right?” My brows rise in question. “Would you have preferredhelloor maybehiinstead? How do we feel abouthowdy?”

“No, I wouldpreferif my best friend would actually talk to me.” Her light green eyes are full of sorrow, a sentiment I can’t deal with right now. I’m barely handling my own, I can’t take on hers. “You’ve been gone for a month, Rem. You haven’t answered a single one of my calls or texts. I’m worried about you.” She reaches out to take my hand in hers. “I know you’re going through a lot and you need time, but Gage wouldn’t want you to suffer like this.”

Each time I hear his name, my stomach bottoms out and my chest grows so tight I can’t bring air into my lungs. I suffocate on the memory of him.

Harsher than I mean to, I retract my hand from her. “No, it’s—” For a brief second, I almost explain myself, but the words won’t form. The secrets I’ve been carrying, the guilt I’ve been harboring, are stuck inside of me. Stuck there to torment me. But the torment is my punishment, and I must bear it. “I know you want to help me, Pru, but this is something I need to deal with on my own. Your concern is appreciated, but not needed.”

She wants to argue with me, I can see it by the way her eyes narrow and her lips twitch with many unspoken words. “Fine, I won’t push it, fornow, but Remi, I miss you.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” I push the strands of my messy hair away from my face while giving her my best reassuring smile.

Her own smile forms, but hers is more believable than mine. “I’ll see you this weekend, right? Winnie said she should have it all set up by noon, but I might sneak over earlier than that.”

Pru all but bounces on her toes with excitement, meanwhile, I’ve never been more confused. “What are you talking about?”

The happy energy that’d taken over her melts away like a bucket of ice water crashed over her head. Hurt fills her eyes and she takes a step away from me. “You really haven’t checked a single message from us, have you?”

My phone has been off for two weeks. The constant buzzing was making my hangover headaches worse. I’m not even sure it’s charged at this point.

My silence is her answer.

She laughs coldly. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing it’s only my baby shower and not something really important we needed to tell you.”

Her baby shower? Fuck.

When we first learned Pru was pregnant, I had planned on being there for all the important things. I was supposed to get over my shit and then be there for her. I’d intended to be the one who set up her baby shower. I wanted to do that for her, but in my own sick grief, I’d completely forgotten about it.

“Pru—”

“It’s fine,” she cuts off my apology. “You don’t have to come. I know you don’t want to be around us. Like I said, it’s Saturday, and it’s at Ranger and Winslow’s. I’ll understand if you don’t show up.”

Clearing my throat of the emotion that’d bubbled up, I ask, “Do you want me to come?” I wouldn’t want me there. I’m no longer the life of the party.

“Of course, I want you there, Remington. Don’t say dumb shit like that.”

“Okay, then I’ll be there,” I promise her even though when I say the words, I feel like I’m lying.

In my hastyretreat to get away from Jax, I’d forgotten that I hadn’t been the one to drive here. For a minute, I thought about just shifting into my wolf form and running back to the hotel, but it would be a little difficult to slip back into the building while a wolf. That’s a sure way to get animal control called. I could shift back into my human form but walking around in my birthday suit in public is something I try to avoid.

I’d just pulled up the car service app when Isabeau appeared out of nowhere with her car keys in her hand. She didn’t ask, just silently tilted her head in the direction of her parked Jeep. That’s the thing about Beau, she doesn’t talk a lot, but she doesn’t have to. She knows what’s going on at all times, nothing is missed by her observant eyes. I would bet money she knows more about me and what’s going on than she’s letting on.

We ride in silence through the back roads of our Montana home. Pack territory covers thousands of acres around the lake I grew up on. It gives us plenty of room to run freely in our wolf forms without any humans stumbling upon us. It’s our safe haven and soon we will have to protect it with our lives.

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