Page 92 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

“Yeah,” he said, and some of that old smile returned. “Starving, actually. Where do you want to eat?”

“Let’s just drive around and see what looks good.”

“A free spirit? I like it.”

Cole pulled the truck out and drove toward downtown. “What about that? Steak sounds good,” he said as he pulled into a steakhouse parking lot.

I looked through the windshield, and even from the outside, I could tell it was a pretty nice place. Even nicer than the restaurant from the night before. If I had to guess, he’d probably want to pay for dinner again tonight.

“We can try somewhere else. Looks a little pricey to me.”

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I kicked myself.Way to be subtle, Avery.

“What does that mean?” Cole asked. A dark thundercloud formed behind his eyes.

“I didn’t mean anything by it. But it might be nice to go somewhere a bit more relaxed.”

“Do you think I don’t want to pay for dinner? I can pay it fine, Avery.”

I sighed heavily and shook my head. “Can you please stop snapping at me? I’m only trying to be considerate. Since you came back from the bank, you’ve had an attitude about money. I didn’t want to make you worry about it tonight.”

“I get it,” Cole said, barely keeping his voice controlled. “But it’s fine. Let’s go eat, okay?”

He got out of the truck and came around my side to open my door. The dinner that followed was delicious, but I couldn’t enjoy it. The relaxed, flirtatious banter we’d had the night before was gone. Now, it was all sullen silences and strained conversation. We didn’t even bother with dessert and headed straight back to the hotel.

The tension was too much. What had started out as a fun getaway had turned into more of a chore.

“Do you want to do anything tomorrow morning? Or in the afternoon after we check out?” Cole offered as we were getting ready for bed.

“I’d really rather just go home as soon as we get up,” I said, my voice clipped and short.

Cole flinched as if I’d slapped him, then lowered his head and nodded to himself. He was probably berating himself for the way he’d acted all day, but I was too exhausted from dealing with himto care. Even if I wanted to talk about it, he was too sensitive to really allow the discussion. If I even mentionedanything, he snapped.

As much as Perry had been lacking in our relationship, he was really good at splitting the finances. I’d bought the house, and he’d bought the cars. I’d paid the electric and gas bills, he’d paid for the water and internet. We’d alternated on groceries. The system had worked for us. Sure, it would have been smarter for me to have bought my own car, but whatever. Cole had more traditional views on providing, and that was fine, but I didn’t need that. I wished he could realize that and not stress so much about it. Because the stress was making him act like an asshole.

“Yeah,” he finally said. “Probably smart to get back. Makes sense.”

We went to bed with very little more conversation, and I fell into a listless sleep that was shattered when Cole’s phone rang. At first, I thought it was only part of a dream, but when it rang again, we stirred. The alarm clock beside the bed said it was almost three in the morning. Fear roiled in my gut as Cole scrambled for his phone to answer it.

“What’s wrong?” Cole grunted sleepily.

Whatever vestiges of sleep vanished as he sat straight up in bed. “What? Right now?” His chest heaved, and even in the faint light of the moon streaming in through the window, I could see the anxiety on his face.

“Christ. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

He jumped out of bed.

“What’s going on?” I asked, tossing the covers off me.

“It’s Ashton.”

“WhataboutAshton?”

My fear escalated, shooting into full-blown panic as a nervous sweat sprang out all across my body.

“That was Trent. He said Ash woke up crying and yelling. He’s not doing well. He thinks the shift is coming. Tonight.” Cole looked at me, heartrending misery written on his face. Another milestone he was in danger of missing.

“Let’s go,” I said, scrambling to get dressed. “We’ll make it if we hurry.”

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