Page 20 of This Pack of Ours

We stepped inside and Kit tugged me to the counter. It wasn’t busy, and we were soon grabbing our orders and finding a table.

Kit sat with his knees up, holding his mocha with both hands.

I gripped my black coffee with both hands as well, shifting as my thighs stuck uncomfortably to the grey plastic of the chair.

What was I supposed to say? Would just sorry do? And honestly, Vander was pretty rude too, but I had to ignore that because I wanted to make them like me. ForKit’ssake.

The stupid part of me whispered that maybe it would go well today. Maybe I’d be clever or funny again and Jhin would smile, or I’d say yes when Ez offered to help me, and he’d give me his stunning grin. Or I’d make Adrian blush, even though I think he’d done that quite a bit already. I wasn’t stupid enough to think they’d bond me. But maybe I could still see them again, for heats?

The bell on the door jingled, and I turned around to see Jhin step inside. He looked taller, somehow, in a simple grey tee and jeans.

His eyes met mine, his expression softening and eyes moving down to my outfit. My breath caught in my lungs, my heart speeding up. I looked down at the table, hiding my face a bit behind my hair. I brought the coffee to my lips as I heard the rest of them come through the door. Were they all dressed casually? Their scents drifted over, bringing back memories.

“Thatmustbe them. Aw, Juni, they brought more flowers,” Kit said, bringing my attention back to him. I shrugged, and then he froze suddenly, the mug halfway between his face and the table.

“Oh shit," he said, eyes going wide. I snapped up, on alert, searching for the danger. The pack?

But they were all staring at Kit, just as dumbstruck as he was. Ez had a slightly awed expression on his face. Adrian was simply surprised. Vander looked angry, and Jhin was tense and pale.

There were no obvious threats, nothing for me to hit, so I glanced back at Kit.

His mug slipped from his hands and shattered on the floor, making me jump. What was going on? I glanced at him, then slid down to the mess on the floor, grabbing a fistful of napkins and tugging his arm.

“You alright? What is it?” I asked.

“Nothing," he said quickly, hands visibly shaking. “Just, um, the—they—nothing.”

Something warm bumped my elbow, and the napkins were taken from my hands, the scent of cinnamon and pear sweeping over me. I blinked at Adrian, who was next to me, helping clean up the shattered mug.

He glanced at my legs, where my miniskirt was doing averygood job of being mini andnota very good job of being a skirt. I shifted position, mortified, and to my surprise Adrian gave a panicked look up at Kit and then stared intensely at the floor, his face going completely red.

“Good god, Ez, stop drooling and grab him another coffee.” Vander elbowed Ez, who jumped into action.

“Um, what do you like?” he asked.

Kit was staring at him, his mouth slightly open.

“Mocha. Extra whip,” I snapped, sliding into the chair beside Kit.

It seemed I’d already fucked this up, and I didn’t even know what I’d done. I scooched my chair closer, letting my knee touch Kit’s, trying to push down the stupid disappointment. I shouldn’t be this surprised. His hand found mine and gripped it tightly.

I just had to apologise, and then maybe we could leave. But I was a lot less confident that I could do this with Kit acting so weird. He was supposed to be feeding me happy, calm vibes, not this tense, electrical awkwardness.

Jhin hadn’t moved, still frozen by the door. His eyes darted from me to Kit, and back again, looking deeply pained.

“For fuck’s sake,” Vander said, practically dragging Jhin into one of the chairs, sitting down heavily beside him with a glower. Adrian sat, too, staring intently at the ground.

All of them jumped when Ez returned, setting the mocha down in front of Kit.

“Thanks,” Kit said quietly, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. I sank lower in my seat, moving closer to him.

They lapsed into silence again before Vander tugged Ez down into a chair.

Then Vander snorted and leaned forward, unfolding his arms and giving me a fake smile. His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“Hi. Good morning, Juniper. It’ssolovely to see you again. These are foryou." He tugged the bouquet from Jhin’s death grip and placed them in front of me on the table. My headache was getting worse, and my lip trembled. “Not that it matters now, anyway. Why don’t I save you some time and just throw them right in the trash?”

Jhin and Kit both winced, and I swallowed loudly.

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