No, thank you.
Aspen glanced at the other lifeguard. He wasn’t looking at the toddler. He was watching the group of male juvenile wolves who were being a little too rowdy. It seemed to be their way of flirting with the teenage girls who sat at the edge of the pool, their legs dangling over the side.
She was glad her shift was almost over. She was equally glad that she wouldn’t be working at the pool tomorrow. The lifeguard shifts were her least favorite. The pungent scent of chlorine, the thick humid air, the echoing shrieks and yells, the parents who seemed to think they didn’t need to supervise their kids due to the presence of the lifeguards—much like the mother who wasn’t paying attention to the toddler who was potentially having a poop—made it impossible to relax.
Another reason she was thankful she could soon leave was that she’d been on the receiving end of snickers and weird looks from people who’d obviously seen the damn doctored photos. Sometimes she ignored them. Sometimes she asked if they had something to fucking say. All times her bearcat wanted Aspen to fuck up their faces with a blowtorch.
She caught sight of Havana approaching wearing her “we need to talk” expression. Wonderful.
Havana hadn’t commented on the sight of Aspen’s bites earlier; she’d merely raised her eyebrows and then asked how Aspen was doing after the whole Jerome thing. But Aspen had known it was only a matter of time before the Alpha female said something about the brands.
Aspen only spared her a brief glance, intent on keeping a close watch over the swimmers. “Don’t.”
“What?” asked Havana.
“You know what.”
The devil sighed. “All I want to know—”
“Don’t, Vana.”
“—is if he hurt you.”
Aspen felt her brows snap together. “What?”
“Not physically. I know Camden wouldn’t harm a hair on your head. I mean, did he give you an ‘it shouldn’t have happened and I regret it’ speech? I only ask because, well, he can be inadvertently insensitive thanks to his empathy struggles.”
“There were no speeches, though he did make a point of saying it was ‘just sex’ when I mentioned how our future partners might not react well.” Small wet feet slapped the tiled floor as a couple of kids hurried past her. “No running!” Aspen called out. They thankfully slowed to a walk.
“Do you intend for it to be a one-time thing?”
Aspen nodded, rolling back her shoulders. “Yes.” To her bearcat’s total disappointment. The animal was currently having a good sulk about it.
“And do you think he’s on the same page as you?”
“Well he didn’t indicate otherwise, so I’m assuming that’s the case. Not that I’d thought he would consider what happened to be anything other than a mistake.”
“Maybe the mistake would be not exploring whatever’s between you and him. Yes, yes, you worry it could complicate things and that you might later lose him. You’re always so careful not to give the people you love a reason to leave you. But Aspen, you’re not giving him enough credit. He hasn’t left your side since you were kids. Hell, he only joined the Movement because you did,” she added in a whisper. “And he definitely wouldn’t have joined the pride if you hadn’t. Camden would never leave you. Surely he’s made that clear.”
Yes, he’d made it clear. Multiple times, actually. And she didn’t think he truly would walk out of her life. But she also wouldn’t have thought that her mother would try to kill both Aspen and herself. People could surprise you that way.
Havana sighed. “Just don’t close your mind to the idea of—”
“Trying a friends with benefits arrangement?”
“You don’t have to say it with scorn. Granted, those situations rarely end well when it comes to shifters. We can be pretty territorial, and our mates don’t always like it when they realize our friends know us in a biblical sense. But you and Camden are already territorial of each other, and you’ve already had sex once. Where’s the harm in you two doing it again? You’re both adults. You know he’s not going to hurt or screw you over. And I’m guessing he was far from lousy in the sack, because there’s no way you’d have let him mark you that many times if you hadn’t been sex-drunk.”
“Sex-drunk?”
“It’s a thing.”
Aspen couldn’t deny that she’d been all caught up in the moment. “Has it occurred to you that maybe he wouldn’t want a repeat?”
Havana snorted. “No. Unlike you, Camden doesn’t overthink everything. Nor would he fear that sex could somehow ruin your friendship, because he’d never let a damn thing come between you.”
“If he wanted us to have sex again, he’d have said so. He didn’t.”
Havana flicked up a brow. “But if he had, you wouldn’t have agreed to move into his apartment, would you?”
Aspen stilled. She hadn’t thought of it that way.