One of the kids playing outside while the adults meet has come in for a drink.
No.
She lifts her head and shoots me a death glare and my stomach lurches into my ribs.
Rayne.
Fucking Rayne the Runt just heard every lie I spewed about Bailey.
Bailey
“He’ll leave me on my knees,” I repeat back hollowly. I glance at the screen of my phone, where a new message pops up.
Bailey, don’t listen to Rayne. Let me explain.
It’s the third one from Cole. The first two were just that he had to talk to me. Now they make sense.
Rayne sits on my bed, crying the tears that I can’t quite find.
I’m too shocked. Too emptied. Too shattered.
She wipes her eyes. “I’m sorry. I hate being the messenger, but you have to know.”
I nod mutely.
“And the thing about Adriana?” I don’t know why I even care at this point if he fucked her, but I need to know.
Rayne shrugs. “I don’t know. She’s been acting like they were an item since Homecoming, but I don’t think he was into her. Whoever knocked her up must not be as alpha as Cole, so she’s hoping to rope him into mating her instead.”
I don’t ask what mating means. I can barely think above the noise in my head. Cole said those things about me. To people who matter in his life: his alpha, his parent.
Whether they were true or not, that’s how he represented our relationship to them. That’s the way he talks about me in front of his pack and probably his friends, too.
I flop face down diagonally on my bed. “God, I’m an idiot.” I still can’t seem to cry.
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am. Even after we were together I let him pretend to still hate me at school. Not acknowledge me. Not protect me. When the whole school acts like I’m a leper. I must have zero self-respect.” A few hot tears leak out now.
“No. I would’ve taken Cole Muchmore any way he wanted to give himself too. He’s a God at our school. In our pack. He’s the king of the alpha-holes. And something about that brooding bad boy makes you think he might be redeemable.”
“But he’s not.” Bitterness makes the words sizzle against my teeth.
That’s the truth of the matter. Cole Muchmore is not redeemable.
I misjudged him completely.
“Thanks for telling me,” I say heavily. “I just want to be alone now.”
Rayne lays a hand on my back. “I understand. Let me know if you need anything. Ice cream. A baseball bat. Whatever.” She scoots off the bed.
I don’t bother lifting my head.
I thought my accident and Catrina’s death were the worst things that happened to me. And they were; that night definitely ranks worse than this.
But right now it feels like my chest is ripped open wide and everything I cared about is spilling in a puddle around me.
Cole
I get a fuck you text from Bailey, confirming what I already knew: Rayne told her.
I don’t dare go over to her house after the pack meeting because my dad’s keeping his eye on me. He even stayed sober and heated up a frozen pizza for us all for dinner.
Like we’re bonding now. Like I made him proud.
My stomach roils with what I’ve done.
I keep trying to tell myself I did the right thing to throw Alpha Green off Bailey’s trail, and to appease my dad.
But it’s a lie even I know reeks like shit.
I go up to my room after dinner and try texting again. Please let me explain. Can I come over tonight?
Try my window and I’ll call the cops. I don’t need your explanation. I already know what you’re going to say.
I stare at the screen. Fuck. I’ll have to try to explain by text. Adriana lied and said I got her pregnant. I got alpha commanded into saying I’d been with you, not her. My dad went ballistic and Alpha Green started in about the no human rule, so I made it seem like I was just fucking with you. Bailey, you know that’s not true. We hold each other’s secrets, remember?
Yeah, I know. You threw me under the bus to save your ass. I get it. Humans and wolves don’t mix—especially considering our parents. So we won’t. End of story.
The end of story hits me like the worst punch to the gut. Up until now, I clung to the hope that once I reassured her it wasn’t true, we’d be good. She’d understand, just like she’s been cool about keeping us on the DL.
My fingers shake as I hold my phone and stare at the screen. The panic that has been gnawing in the background since I saw Rayne comes out full force now.
Bailey, I want to mix. I’m sorry, I just don’t know how. I fucked up. It was a shitty way of protecting you, but I swear that’s what I was doing. I didn’t want the alpha asking if you knew about us, and I didn’t want my dad to come after you or your mom.