Page 144 of The Delta's Rogue
I slam my glass on the counter and tighten my fist around it. “I don’t know. She didn’t explain.”
He scoffs. “You mean you didn’t give her a chance to explain.”
I whirl around, throwing my hands in the air. “I gave her plenty of—”
“When? When you were yelling at her? Or when you stormed out the front door and ran around the forest all morning?”
“She lied to me.”
“Maybe she didn’t have a choice. Or maybe she didn’t know what else to do or how to tell you. Maybe she wanted you to feel the bond too.”
His chin drops to his chest, and he rubs his temples with one hand, the other resting on his hip. For a moment, he’s the lost, uncertain, broken male he was almost two years ago when he came to me for help the night before Haven and Wesley’s wedding. For a moment, our roles are reversed, and I’m the one talking to him and reassuring him that everything will be fine, that his mate will forgive him for keeping such a tremendous secret from her for so long.
My throat tightens, and I lean against the counter once more. My hands grip the edge, and my shoulders slump forward. The weight of everything—of the past four years, the past week, the past twenty-four hours—bears down on me, and I let it.
Nothing about any of this is easy or simple. I should have never expected any of it would be.
Reid’s hand falls from his face and slaps against his leg. “Look, Seb, we’ve all kept secrets from our mates.” He gestures towards where our friends sit, chatting quietly with each other as they pretend they can’t hear every word Reid and I exchange. “Wes didn’t tell Haven he was a lycan. I didn’t tell Taryn she was my mate, and she didn’t tell me about Sour Patch. Cassandra didn’t tell Nolan that Pierce was her dad or that she can’t have kids, and I doubt you told Sarina that you own a sex club.”
I scratch behind my ear and grimace slightly. “Actually, she’s gone with me to the club before. Several times. She was with me when Forrest offered me the co-ownership.”
Reid’s jaw drops. His eyes widen. If he’d been holding something, it would now be on the floor, shattered into thousands of pieces.
My lips twitch at the sight, at his stunned expression, and I wish I had a camera to snap a photo of it.
Before the amusement can spread through all of me, dread pools in my empty stomach. “Oh my Goddess.”
I grip my hair at the roots and straighten, pacing in front of the counter. My heart races, my palms sweat, and even my lycan cowers in fear.
Reid quickly switches gears, on alert and ready for action. “What’s wrong?”
My pacing grows more frantic. “I took King Malachi’s daughter to a sex club. I took thefuture queento a sex club.”
Reid stares at me, then his head tips back as he laughs. “I hit on her in front of her dad,” he replies with a shrug.
I freeze and glare at him, waving away his comparison. “He laughed at that. I don’t think he’d laugh if he knew…” I rub my jaw and cover my mouth, my thoughts roaming to every naughty, sinful interaction I experienced with Sarina within the walls of that club. “Oh fuck, if he knew…”
“I still can’t believeyouown a sex club.”
“Sex clubs. As in, more than one,” I correct him. “And I co-own them.”
He chuckles, his shoulders shaking with soft laughter. “I have a lot of questions. They can wait”—he lifts his hand before I can say anything—“but I expect full details when all this is over.”
Ihuff out a half-laugh. “Deal.”
We descend into silence, both of our smiles fading. I drum my fingers on the counter and look everywhere except at Reid. His attention stays on me, and I can hear the wheels turning in his mind and feel him working to piece everything together.
“What are youreallymore upset about?” He lowers his voice. “That she lied to you about knowing you were her mate, or that being her mate means you’re the future king?”
My jaw ticks as I close my eyes, and my finger movements stop mid-drum.
“Well, that answers that,” Reid mumbles.
I growl and turn away from him, my hands flexing and relaxing against the cool countertop.
Reid sighs. “What’s so awful about being the king? Why are you so against it? And don’t you dare try to tell me it’s because you’d have to leave Crescent Lake because I know you were planning on leaving with her already.”
“How—”
