Page 41 of As The Shifter World Turns

“I got you some veggie sausages. They’re from a new deli near where I was working today.” I really didn’t know what to say. I’d been throwing him mental daggers all week and now he’d gone and done me a huge favor. I’d brought a salad for dinner which was a bit of a yawn though there was a yummy potato salad on the table. “Not sure what they taste like though,” he added.

“Thank you.” My conversational skills needed improving. “I’m sure they’re delicious.”

“I’m sorry about the other night. We weren’t following you.”

“You go to student bars a lot, do you?” I snapped, though I hadn’t meant to.Shit! Reel it in, Archer.

“No, we ate burgers, drank some beer and wanted more, cheaper beer. It’s been a while since either of us were college kids. I’m really sorry. Guessing by your face, you weren’t happy.”

And when I stormed past him at the bar, I hoped he was studying my ass. “No.” He was being sincere based on his expression, the way he was holding his wine and biting his bottom lip. He hadn’t been following me. And I hatedmyself for thinking he had. My anger was more to do with liking him and being unable to be with him. And I took it out on him. “It’s okay,” I admitted.

“Seeing you with those younger guys was hard though.”

“We were just having fun.” Why’d I say that? I didn’t owe him an explanation. This was fucked up. A moment ago, I’d reached a point where I’d made peace with what happened at the bar, and now I was being snarky. “It’s not as though I was going to drag one home.”

“But if you did, it’d be none of my business.” He had his head down, swirling the wine in his glass. His sadness hovered over his head like a little black cloud.

“I miss you,” I blurted out as I downed the rest of my drink.

“I miss you too.” He moved a little closer so we were almost touching. “But I can’t give you what you want.”

“How do you know what I want?”

Stop, my wolf bellowed at me.

He was right. Micah hadn’t done anything wrong. He’d been honest from the start. And it made me unhappy. And snarky apparently.

He slipped his hand in mine and we both gazed up at the moon.

I want you, Micah.

16

TEXT ME, MAYBE?

Micah

A few weeks later

“Work sucks.” I grumbled, not for the first time that week. And it wasn’t even my work I was being pissy at. It was the being away from home. I was out of town and I missed him.

We’d spent the past couple of weeks trying again. We hadn’t made any firmWe’re doing thistype statements, but we were. Part of me was worried I was leading him down the pathway to freaking heartbreak. Heck, I was leading myself down there too, but I was too freaking selfish not to.

I grabbed the pile of delivery menus from the coffee table of my hotel room and shuffled through them. None of the food sounded particularly good, but going out and being social with people from the conference I was presenting at sounded even worse.

“Pizza it is.” I took out my phone and pulled up the app and ordered an extra large, figuring I could have the rest for breakfast. I was staying in a hotel with a mini kitchen that supposedly made you feel at home. It was nice enough, but no part of it felt like home.

I plopped on the couch and turned on the television, flipping through the channels, only giving up when the pizza arrived. I wasted over forty minutes just mindlessly pressing the remote. Great.

I walked downstairs to the lobby because taking the stairs burned off energy and helped my grumpy ass. After tipping the delivery person, I walked back up.At least it was giving me something to do other than sit on the couch and stare into space. If I was home, I could go visit Archer or grab a beer on the roof and wait for him to finish work.

My life was quickly becoming all about Archer and it should scare me more than it did. There was just something about him.

I was going to be home in a couple of days. This neediness was completely ridiculous. What kind of an alpha goes around moping over someone because they had a work thing and couldn’t see an omega as often as they wanted to?

Apparently the kind that was me.

Standing at the counter, I ate my pizza over the box to avoid making dirty dishes. I was the epitome of a sitcom bachelor. Only unlike them, I didn’t want to be. I wanted Archer.

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