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The door shut in my face and I groaned. No way had she heard about my little brother yet! I lifted my hand to knock again, determined she would hear me out, when the door opened.

Wren had a shawl wrapped around her shoulders, brown of course, and she slipped though the narrowest crack possible before turning and locking her door. “I’d like to meet him.”

“Of course,” I stammered in surprise. “He’s with my Dad.”

“Your father is a kind man,” Wren told me and I nodded.

“He is.”

“You should be proud.”

“I am.”

I opened the office door to, unsurprisingly, a disaster. “Dad – ”

“Bunny! You’re back. Thank God.” There was no mistaking the relief in voice as Monster continued to open drawers and pull papers out.

“Monster,” I said warningly and he paused. “Do you remember what I said about behaving?”

“I’m helping Dad.”

“I don’t think this is the best way to help,” I replied.

Wren stepped forward, her hand out to Monster. “I’m Wren, and you are?”

He stared at her for a second, no doubt trying to decide how easy it would be to manipulate her before shocking me. “I’m Theodore, but my friends call me Monster.”

“Would you mind if I called you Theodore? I like it better than Monster.” He shrugged, almost bashfully, and I had to keep my mouth from dropping open. “That’s settled then. You’ll be Theodore and I’ll be Wren.” She reached down for a folder on the floor. “Now, let’s get this picked up.”

Monster immediately started helping her as I glanced at Dad, who was staring at Wren like she was the Second Coming. I shook my head and tiptoed out of the room.

“Where are you sneaking off to?”

I barely suppressed a shriek as Trent sidled up next to me.

“Thanks for throwing me under the bus with the ladies. A barbeque? Really?”

“Better than a march,” I retorted waspishly, marching back to the apartment. “What do you want anyway?”

“Anna’s phone number.”

I stopped, eyeing him. He gazed back at me unconcerned, the ever present sucker stick poking out of one corner of his mouth. “Do you ever not suck on those things?”

“Habit,” he mumbled around it, reaching for the sucker sheepishly.

“You’re going to rot your teeth out.”

“I brush,” he replied defensively.

“Why do you want Anna’s number?”

“So I can coordinate your little barbeque.”

“And you need Anna for that?”

“Chick seemed a little upset earlier. Figured if she was dealing with Sam and your little party it might be a good distraction.”

“One, she’s not a chick and I dare you to call her that to her face. Two, I’m keeping an eye on you, Trent.” I nodded, wagging my finger at him. “And I’ll give her your number and explain. If she chooses to contact you then, great. If not….”

He nodded. “I can take a hint.”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

Chapter Eight

The next day I dropped Monster off with Wren before Dad dropped me off at school. It looked like Dom, Anna, and Caleb were skipping and I could admit to myself that I was a little worried. The mental link to Dom had been suspiciously silent and while I prided myself on not being one of those clingy girlfriends that needed to hear from their boyfriend constantly, I was a tiny bit miffed.

He could have at least let me know everything was okay between him and Caleb. Or even asked about his sister.

You could always ask him, the little progressive voice in my head whispered. I told her to shut up. He could contact me.

“Okay, so you were surrounded yesterday, but seriously you and Dom’s little boy is so cute,” Leah gushed, coming up beside me as I went up the front steps of the high school. I stopped in shock, since there was no way Leah actually believed?

She grinned and I started walking again.

“You had me there for a second,” I admitted grudgingly.

“I know,” she crowed, throwing a fist pump in the air. She laughed so loud other students turned to look. “It was awesome.”

“Not if it was your life,” I grumbled and she eased up.

“True. He is your brother though. The rumors got that much right?”

“Yeah, he’s my little brother.”

“He’s pretty adorable.”

“Yeah, if you like Chucky.”

Leah stumbled but rebounded quick. “Where’s Coach Studmuffin?”

“No idea,” I growled and she blinked in shock. “Sorry, it’s been a weird couple of days.”

“It’s been weird since you showed up,” Leah corrected, one of the few people at the school in on the fact that Dom and I were actually dating. She’d helped save my life when the Hanleys kidnapped me by getting the message to Dom.

“I won’t argue that.” I stopped again as a thought came to me. “Would you like to come to a party on Friday?”

“Sure, where?”

“At the motel. It’s a celebration. Most of the Pack will be there.”

She looked hesitant at that information. “Do you think I should come?”