Page 23 of Loved By the Wolf

“Definitely not.” I laughed. “I’d never live to see another day. You were saying about the app?”

He opened his phone again and showed me a map of the town. I could see a dot pacing back and forth in what looked like Becca’s apartment block.

“Wow,” I said.

“Yeah, it’s pretty accurate.”

“And creepy that you’re following Becca,” I said, looking at Luc.

“I have not been tracking her,” Luc said, holding my gaze. “I only checked it once to see if it was working. You’ll be pleased to know that once you install the app and assign the tracker to your phone, I won’t be able to see her anymore. Only one person at a time can track her.”

“Okay, that I can deal with.” I slumped in my seat. At least I’d be able to know where she was at all times.

Luc continued, “I don’t understand why you don’t just see her for yourself.”

I swatted him away and got out of the car. He followed suit until we were both standing in front of the car, staring at the apartment.

“Are you ever going to buy the place from Dad?” I asked Luc.

“Eventually. I want to get the house built first.”

“I’m the same. Everything has an order, and I want to find Pac before I see Becca again.”If I ever do.

Becca

I was exhaustedand felt like crap. I leaned against my apartment wall, afraid if I stepped away I would fall to the floor. I had packed up all my things, but you wouldn’t have known it unless you opened the kitchen cabinets or closet doors. The furniture would remain and was here when I moved in two years ago. It was only supposed to be temporary because I’d planned that Brandon and I would be living together by now. How had I read the situation so wrong?

Something ached inside me. I had never felt like this after a boy had rejected me. I had really thought Brandon was the one. We would make such a good team. Every fiber of my being agreed. My body actually hummed when I was near him, like a tuning bar that was right on key.

I slid down the wall and hugged my knees close to my chest. This honeymoon of ours was over. We were not meant to be. I pushed my forehead into my knees and allowed myself to cry.

After the tears had been spent, I found myself staring at the one lone plant sitting by the window. It would stay here for the next occupant. I couldn’t bear to take it with me. When we first met, Brandon noticed my place was devoid of life. There was no fish, no cat, not even a succulent, just the bare bones and a lot of books, mostly about law. He had gone to the hardware store and picked up a tiny bamboo plant. One that was so tiny I could wrap my whole hand around the pot. It had lived on my desk for the last few years, and for someone who couldn’t keep basil alive, I couldn’t believe it was at least four feet tall now.

A knock on my door jolted me from my speculation of the plant, and I unraveled myself and wiped the tears away. It was probably Jill coming to see if I was ready to go. But when I opened the door, Thomas was standing there with his fist raised, as if he was about to knock again.

I did the most silly thing and closed the door on him while desperately wiping the leftover tears from my face, hoping they weren’t too puffy.

“Everything okay?” he said through the door.

“Yes, sorry! Just a second!”

I ran to the bathroom and groaned at the sight of my puffy eyes. There was no way around it. I would have to see Thomas while I looked like a red marshmallow. Either that, or I let him keep standing out there until he realized I wasn’t coming back. But that would be rude, and I couldn’t stay here forever. Jill had only gone to the store to get us snacks for the road while we drove to my new place in San Francisco. She’d be back any minute; I wouldn’t need to be alone with him for long.

I trudged back to the front door, took a deep breath, and turned the knob. Taking another deep breath, I opened the door to see a worried Thomas staring back at me.

“Are you okay?” he asked again.

I swung the door fully open, giving him my best smile. It must have come out skewed, because the look he gave was between a grimace and the beginning of a held-back laugh.

“Sorry,” I said. “I thought you were Jill, and I just reacted. I promise I don’t usually close doors on people.”

“It’s not a big deal. I just wanted to come by to check on how you were doing.”

“That’s nice of you.”

He shrugged. “That’s what neighbors do, right?”

“Right.” Then, as if I needed to justify myself standing here in a sweatshirt and sweatpants while looking as though I’d obviously been crying, I said in a hurry, “I’m leaving today. Have a job relocation.”

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