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Brielle twirled a piece of her long blonde hair before biting her lip suggestively. She looked down at Beck’s lips. She slowly looked into his eyes, smiling seductively. I stopped myself from laughing when Beck’s eyes opened really wide before going dark.
“Why don’t we,” Brielle said in a sweet tone, but then someone cut her off again.
“Oh gosh,” Cruz said, gripping his hair with both his hands. “Shoot me now!”
But the couple didn’t pay any attention to his comment.
“Why don’t we go to your room?” Brielle suggested, her voice taking on a harsh tone. “So that way, I could suffocate you with all your pillows.”
“Oh come on,” Beck leaned back, still smiling at Brielle. “You know you love me.”
“Shut up, lover boy,” Brielle said, before looking back at me. “Where are Lila and Luca?” They’re taking their sweet time with the dessert, aren’t they?”
At that exact moment, we heard glass smashing inside the kitchen. We all had a laugh when Luca yelled, “Ouch! Oh no, Lila, it was an accident!”
“That was my favourite glass bowl,” Lila shot back. “You’re too short, so you ruined it.”
“Are you saying I’m clumsy?”
I saw Maren, Kieran and Pamela. Maren and Kieran were having a long chat, probably about Knox’s well-being. Pamela looked down at her plate of food, thinking about her options.
“Talia,” Brielle whispered so only I could hear. “I’m sorry about what happened.”
“You didn’t do anything, Brielle,” I said, smiling at her. “It’s all good. If he’s happy, then I’m happy for him.”
“Kieran obviously doesn’t see what a great girl he was blessed with,” Brielle said angrily. “He’s just not right for you.”
“Brielle, I’m the one who wanted to break up. Not him. So he’s not at fault.”
“Still! He doesn’t need to be gallivanting with other girls when he’s found his perfect match, does he?”
I waited a few seconds before asking the question I’d been thinking about. “Does she know about us?”
Brielle shook her head. “I think it’s better that way,” she whispered. She looked over my head, her eyes widening slightly. “Oh, no.”
I looked back and saw Pamela coming towards us. She sat in Lila’s chair – which was next to me – with a friendly smile on her face. “Hi everyone,” she said.
I told my growling wolf to stop. ‘Being jealous won’t solve anything.’
“Hi Pamela,” Brielle said, trying to smile. She was interrupted when a crumpled napkin hit her cheek. Her smile dropped and she turned to glare at Beck’s smug face. “You know, you really are an attention seeker, aren’t you?”
Cruz and Logan groaned as the couple argued again.
“Hey Pamela,” I said, turning back to her with the friendliest expression I could muster. I probably looked like a hyperactive chipmunk, but it was better than being stoic.
“Talia,” she replied. “Great to finally meet you. Your mates had a lot of good things to say about you. I was pretty excited to meet you, based on what they told me about you.”
“Hopefully good things,” I laughed awkwardly.
I know Pamela was being really nice, but I still felt a bit awkward around her. She was dating the man that was made for me – my soul mate. She loved my first love, my current love, and the person I’ll love forever, no matter what.
“From what your mates said about you, I don’t think there was anything bad to say,” she laughed.
“Good, because I would have smacked them all,” I joked.
We saw that Kieran was staring at us. Pamela smiled at him and I looked away. I was wondering if she knew about me and Kieran’s past.
“So,” I cleared my throat. “You and Kieran, huh?”
“Yeah,” she said, sounding like a teenage girl. “We’ve been together for six months.”
I’d prepared myself for her answer, but it still made my stomach do that tight twist thing. My wolf howled at the thought of her mate being with someone else. I ignored the growing ache in my chest and quickly shook off the feelings before Pamela saw.
“That’s great,” I said, trying to sound cheerful even though I wasn’t feeling it.
“He’s the best,” she went on. “I’m so lucky he’s my boyfriend. He’s a really sweet and funny guy, and he’s a total hunk.”
“I’m so happy for you both!” I said out loud. I was half right. I was happy that Kieran was happy. “How did you two meet?”
“As cheesy as it sounds, I was on my way to the store when I bumped into him. That’s where our journey began.” I stopped myself from rolling my eyes at her. She was a real sucker for romance.
I was raging jealous, so I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t going to lie and say I wasn’t jealous. I wasn’t going to lie and say Holly wasn’t a friendly girl just because I envied her relationship with my soul mate. The hard truth was that Kieran had found a girl worth keeping.
“The dessert’s finally ready,” Lila sang, saving me from responding to Pamela. “Sorry it took so long. Luca here didn’t really help at all.”
“I did most of it,” he said, following her. He had a massive cake in his hands and I just about couldn’t resist having a bite. They knew how much I love carrot cake, and there it was, looking amazing on the plate. “I iced it, piped out the letter, and even baked it! Sorry, love, but you’re a rubbish cook.”
“Anyway,” Lila changed the subject, trying to change the topic. “We made Talia’s favourite cake to welcome Talia and Logan.”
“You guys are too kind,” I said, giving Lila and Luca a big smile. I looked at everyone, even Kieran, and thanked them all. “Thanks for the warm welcome back and for being so nice to my cousin, even though he is a bit slow.”
“Hey,” Logan warned.
“I’ve really missed you guys and I’m glad to be here right now. You guys have been amazing friends. Actually, you guys are like my family and you’ll always be my family,” I said honestly while everyone at the table was amazed.
“Is the world ending?” Luca said, blinking. “I’ve never seen Talia be so nice.”
“I agree,” Beck and Cruz said together.
“Hey, we’ve missed you,” Maren said, pushing her platinum blonde hair out of her face to give me a warm smile. “Welcome to Oakmere, Logan.”
“Cheers,” Logan said, smiling. “Thanks for having me.”
“Oh, we’ll take you in anytime, handsome,” Lila said bluntly.
“I agree,” Brielle giggled.
I couldn’t help laughing when Logan blushed and shot me a frightened look when Luca and Beck growled. “Oh, relax,” said Brielle and Lila together, laughing and high-fiving each other.
“Hey Talia, great to see you again,” everyone said as Maren, Brielle and Lila gave me a hug.
“The fabulous four are back together again,” Lila said.
“This is a bit too sentimental for my taste,” I joked, a hint of sarcasm in my voice.
“Whatever,” Maren said. “I know you missed us.”
“You love us,” Brielle chimed in.
“Hey,” I said when I saw that Luca had already started eating the carrot cake. He froze with cream cheese on the corner of his mouth, his brown eyes widening in horror. “You didn’t just get that carrot cake first!”
“Oh, I did,” Luca said smugly, taking another bite of the angelic cake on his plate.
I gave his belly a little poke. “Be careful. You’ve got big,” I lied. Everyone roared with laughter.
“Oh please,” Luca said, not bothered by what I’d just said. He flexed his arm. “The only thing that got big were these muscles.”
Everyone started teasing Luca, and the laughter and conversation just grew from there. It was loud, with everyone fighting and joking with each other. I looked at my friends with a big grin.
It was loud and crazy, but I was happy to be back home.