Page 35 of Rock Pucking Bottom

There was an even louder pounding on the door, which made me move quicker. If only for the door's sake.

As I sat across Jayden, I looked down at the menu, trying to hide my discomfort.

Out of everyone from the Wild, I was probably the most worried about meeting up with him on this trip. Although not quite as much as I was dreading any one-on-one time with Dino and Theo.

I stared at the menu, despite knowing what I was going to order. It would be my usual rare T-bone steak, a fillet mignon, and potato au gratin with a double house salad.

After five minutes of silence, Jayden pushed my menu down. "Enough stalling."

I forced a smile and said, "I'm not. I haven't been here in a few months. They might have changed out the menu."

Jayden snorted.

Thankfully, our server came up to the table. "The usual for you boys."

I nodded while Jayden said, "Yep for me."

After that, she left and Jayden punched me in the arm. "See, you were totally stalling. Tell me how you ended up hooking up with Kennedi's ex-roommate."

Did we have to talk about how we met? It was just so damn shameful. I wasn't ready to tell everyone, "I fell for my AA sponsor." Especially since there was still a slight chance they didn't know about how leaving the pack, even for a short amount of time, got me drinking.

At first, I thought about telling him we met up at a church group, but that would cause more problems than it would solve. Most guys in the pack, including myself, followed our own form of paganism and prayed to the goddess.

"We met at a support meeting, and she was someone I could really talk to. Hopefully, that's not a problem with you."

His amiable smile grew wider. "Not at all. It's actually kind of nice for you to find someone who has ties close to home. Kennedi didn't get along with her because they kept very different hours."

I snorted. My girl was very much a night owl and Jayden would bitch about how his girl had swim practice at the crack of dawn each morning. I could see how that could create some stress in a small room.

"Although I should give you some shit for scaring Em half to death back in the day."

Jayden at least had enough nerve to look shook by my accusations. His hands were outstretched as he said, "What the fuck did I do to her?"

"Stalking the woods to spy on Kennedi."

"Oh." As he tried to hold in a chuckle but it came out. Once he got himself under control, he looked me dead in the eye. "I don't feel bad about that whatsoever. Although I've gotten better about not getting caught."

I knew the feeling. If I didn't think I would scare Emmy, I would have done the same thing more often. But I felt so much guilt for scaring her that I stopped letting my wolf go to her place.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But thanks to you, I can't show off my wolf or even really figure out if we properly sealed our mating."

Jayden's face dropped. "I'm sorry. That has to be rough. I know my mating was a little unusual but you can still figure it out without, you know…"

He was talking about the telepathy stuff. I didn't realize it would work with non-shifters. Just entering Emmy's mind seemed invasive, so I decided not to do that whatsoever.

"Maybe. But I know I still have to get her more comfortable with all of this."

Jayden smiled. "Well, I know someone she could talk to that might help."

I arched an eyebrow. I hoped he wasn't going to suggest Kennedi or Logan. Okay, Logan wouldn't be the worst choice, since he was a human prior to his mating. I just felt so damn embarrassed around him after he saw my rock-bottom moment.

"My mom."

Okay, I didn't have that name on my bingo card, but it was a good choice. His mom was actually still human, despite being mated to his dad for years. But his dad was a classic lone wolf and moved the whole family to the middle of nowhere after he retired from playing. It was the off season, so it wasn’t like they were in town for a big hockey game.

"I didn't realize she was in town. Why are you here with me and not spending time with her?"

Jayden wiped his mouth. "Well, I needed a little peace. Mom and Kennedi are redecorating the condo and driving me nuts with all the move this, move that. Besides, you're just as much of a prodigal son as my mom."

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