Page 44 of Wolf Tormented
Even if there was something between us then, we wouldn’t have been mates. I wouldn’t have been able to mate with him being exiled.
Could I live without him? Maybe if I never met him, I wouldn’t be begging for whatever scraps of attention he might give me.
Maybe I could have even been happy.
The tears have long since dried hours later when Angela steps back into the room. I haven’t moved from my spot curled up on the bed.
Numb, my mind races with all the arguments, all the times we blew up at each other, and all the times Archer showed me something more.
“There was a time I hoped that he could change and maybe grow to care about me, even in some small way,” I croak.
I don’t turn to the woman, but I know it’s Angela—my oversensitive nose recognizes her scent.
“You can’t lose hope, Jara,” Angela whispers.
I roll over in the bed to face her. How can she say that? She’s seen him these past months. He’s been nothing but a coldhearted ass.
“I can’t? Really?” I raise an eyebrow even though it pulls at my puffy eyes. “Pretty sure I was an idiot for ever having hope in the first place.”
“He’s under a lot of pressure from the pack and the investigation,” Angela says.
“Don’t. Just fucking don’t make excuses for him,” I whisper.
I can’t take it if my best friend sides with him. She’s not helping my mood at all. Why is she even here if she’s just going to stick up for him?
“I just don’t want you to lose hope, Jara. He’ll come around when everything calms down.”
I narrow my eyes. She can’t be fucking serious.
“Things haven’t calmed down since I’ve been here.” I scoff. “Maybe Rochelle was right, and I am bad luck for the pack.”
“Quit it. Things will calm down soon and then everything will be okay.”
She’s so confident in that, but how can she be sure?
“Nothing is okay and probably never will be. I was a fool to think he could ever love me.”
This conversation is pointless. All it’s doing is sinking me deeper into despair. She’s so sure that he’s not the monster everyone thinks he is, but he’s proven it to me over and over.
“You’re not a fool. He’s just a stubborn ass.” Angela growls.
She’s giving me whiplash. One second she’s defending him, and now he’s an ass? I don’t get her sometimes.
I turn back to face her with a raised brow.
“Everything that happened yesterday is a freak accident. I don’t need protection from the pack, but he’s too hardheaded to listen to me,” I say.
“You want to go take out your frustrations on some cardboard boxes? I won’t even hide the box cutter this time.” Angela holds out a hand to help me up.
“There’s no one in the house, right?” I ask.
I can’t let anyone see me like this. Even just the puffiness around my eyes would be a dead giveaway.
“No, everyone is gone.” Angela wiggles her fingers, and I take her offered hand.
Keeping my hands busy and my mind off the disaster that is my life is exactly what I need right now.
We make our way into the storeroom, and everything is just as we left it a few hours ago. I sigh and pick up the box cutter before Angela can go back on her word not to hide it and get to work on the box.
