Page 80 of The Pack Next Door
“Of course.” Proud I kept my voice steady, my mind raced, trying to think of solutions, but I came up with nothing. Instead,I focussed on Tom’s expression. The relief there was palpable, smoothing away all the lines on his face. “I’ll be grateful for whatever you choose to sell me and I’m sorry again?—”
“Don’t go apologising for some other dickhead’s stuff up. Just send those boys of yours around next time to collect the crates of pots.”
That twinkle in his eye dispelled some of the rush of negative emotion I was feeling. He might be a grumpy old bastard, but he was honest to a fault about what he thought. I shook my head, my own lips twitching.
“Tell you what, I’ll butt out of your pottery business if you keep out of my love life.” He was about to say something, but I pointed my finger at him. “Every mention of a romantic relationship means you owe me another piece.”
“Alright, alright, if you can’t see what’s right in front of you, it's not for me to point that out.” He winked. “You’ll work it out when you’re ready. So, how do we move forward?”
Action, decisions, do something, that was what my heart beat, but I was still making sense of it. Being in business meant dealing with unforeseen circumstances, but this? I’d never had to tackle a fuck up this epic before.
“Get the insurance claim processed and the money to you.” I nodded, starting to see a way forward. “Then…” He stared at me, obviously invested in the next step, but I was still trying to formulate it. “Then we’ll go from there.”
“Got it.” He eyed the sky. “Well, I’ve gotta go and check one of the windmills. The weather bureau says we’re gonna get some rain, but that never bloody happens. If I don’t keep the sheep watered?—”
“You’ll have failed at your job.” I nodded. “OK, you go do yours and I’ll do mine.”
But the weight of that hit me as soon as we parted. Every step rammed home what I’d done. Pushing Tom to increaseproduction at the expense of his physical and mental health. Got loyal clients buzzed about a product I could no longer offer. I’d fucked up, that hit me right in the chest. My heart? It kept on beating, though, getting faster and faster until I got back to the guest house. Fur sprung up along my arms, claws forming, because in the wolf’s mind, she could fight her way through whatever danger we were in.
But that’s not how it worked.
“There she is…” Jace came out of the bathroom in just a pair of shorts, but his warm smile, his golden good looks, were a slap in the face. I’d been spending my time messing with him and his brothers, when I should’ve gotten into the car and drove over here the minute I heard about the shipment. “Breakfast was delivered this morning. Come and have something to eat.”
“I…”
“Briar.” Gideon strode across the floor, his hands on my arms the only thing grounding me. “Whatever it is, it’ll be OK. Just take a breath and tell me.”
Chapter 39
Jace
I was so far out of my depth, it wasn’t funny.
Because that’s what I did, made people laugh, turned those frowns upside down, but right now I just blinked. Briar broadcast the way she felt with her scent, and right now the room was filled with the rank scent of burnt flowers. I just stood there wondering what the fuck I did wrong, when Gideon stepped forward. He spoke to her in a firm, calm voice, and then it all came out.
“I screwed up.” Her arms went around herself, holding her body tightly when mine itched to take over. “I screwed up so badly. Tom… My customers…”
This wasn’t helping. I shot Gideon a dark look and then forced myself to pull her closer. She resisted, her whole body tensing, but I made clear she wasn’t going anywhere, and that’s when the magic happened. The fight went out of her as her head came to rest on my chest. How bad could it be? That’s what I wanted to ask, but thankfully I took a second to think first.
“Tell us about it.”
Listen, that’s what I’d been taught. Coming up with solutions right away just pissed women off. Not by my dads, they were all about working out the next step and going for it. It was the many, many videos I watched of beta women complaining about their partners that had me shutting my damn mouth and hoping this worked.
“You don’t want to hear about this.”
Briar went to pull away, but I held her tight.
“Pretty sure I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t mean it.”
She looked up at me then, and if we stayed like this for hours, I wouldn’t complain for a second. It was like we were the only two people in the world as she searched my face, trying to work out if I was lying. Of course, that wasn’t how it worked with my brothers. Mads came walking into the room, a frown on his face.
“What happened?” Not bothering to wait for an answer, he looked at Gideon, then back at me. “What did you do?”
“Nothing.” That’s what I intended to say, but Briar got there first. With a rueful smile, she pulled free of me. “I just talked to Tom and he won’t be making any more pieces to replace what was broken.”
“Does he need help around the farm?”
Shit, I was going straight to solutions.Shut up, I told myself.Shut the fuck up.
