Page 27 of Coco and the Misfits (The Candyverse #4)

COCO

O f course Atticus accompanies me home. He doesn’t care about me saying I don’t want him to, that I’ll be fine. I don’t want him with me, not after this debacle. I’ve made such a fool of myself.

What did you expect? I ask myself. Honestly, Coco.

Yeah, he pushed me away. I told him I slept with a man and was heartbroken. What would a man do in such a situation?

And what came over me, telling Atticus about my sadness over Ryder’s distancing?

Especially about Ryder. Imagine if I’d let slip the name, if he’d figured out it’s the same guy he almost fought with at the bar.

We walk side by side, never touching. I say goodbye when we reach my building, and he waits under my window, like every time, until I turn my lights on.

I need to move on, don’t I? From Ryder. From Atticus. I should call the girls and meet for a coffee. Haunt the gym with June, if she becomes available again, hunting for hunks.

After switching on the light and making sure Atticus has left, I sink down on my sofa and rub my face. My eyes feel gritty.

I should look for an established pack that might want me.

Or take some time away from people. Away from men. From alphas.

Just then, the intercom buzzes, and I jolt upright. Who could it be? Could it be Atticus? Maybe he changed his mind and wants to talk to me?

My hand shakes as I press the button. “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Zach.”

Zach! Shit, I totally forgot he was coming over tonight.

The truth is, for the past week, I have put off seeing him. I replied to every one of his messages saying I was busy. I told myself that I wouldn’t let Ryder’s rejection affect me, that I’d never hoped for more, but it crushed me.

I blame my strange frame of mind over these past couple of weeks, the fear, the anxiety, and my attraction to three alphas who couldn’t be more different from one another and less in need of me for forgetting.

“Will you let me in?” he asks, and there’s an edge to his voice. “Or do you only let Atticus come up anymore?”

Pressing my lips into an annoyed line, I buzz him up.

Then I proceed to open the door and wait for him with my arms folded under my boobs. “Hi.”

He hesitates, stopping a few feet away. “Are you upset with me?”

“I don’t know, Zach. You are the one who left last week as if someone was chasing you.”

“And you didn’t allow me to come back for another week.”

“Maybe I needed time to think,” I admit.

“About Atticus?”

“That’s enough about him! Nothing ever happened between us!” I realize I’m shouting and stop, panting. “Nothing has ever happened.”

“Disappointed?”

My face burns. “Oh, shut up, Zach.”

He sighs. “I’m sorry. I’m… jealous.” He seems stunned at the realization. “Every time I think of you with another man, I get so damn angry I want to punch their faces.”

I stare at him. “Then why did you run after kissing me? Oh, wait…” I shake a finger at him. “Wait. You’re jealous, but you still don’t want anything to do with me, is that it?”

“I—”

“No pack, no family, no steady relationships. Got it.”

“That’s not why I left last time,” he breathes.

“Then what was it?”

‘It’s… complicated. Coco, listen…”

“I’m all ears,” I snap.

“You’re annoyed right now.”

“No. Really. What gave me away?”

He smiles faintly. “I know you well enough to tell. That, and you not wanting to see me.”

“Don’t exaggerate. It was only one week.

” Sighing, I turn around and he follows me into the sitting room.

Yeah, I’m annoyed, and even more annoyed that I drank in the sight of him, every sculpted part of that perfect body shining through his jogging pants and loose T-shirt, that perfect face drawing my gaze like a magnet.

I’m angry with him, dammit. Disappointed. I’m disappointed with all three alphas I’d started falling for, and with myself for letting it happen. I set myself up for failure and heartbreak, and I got what I deserved.

Zach is quiet, observing me from under those blond lashes of his. “Shall we start training? I’d like you to be ready if anyone tries to grab you again.”

“Sure.” I shrug. “Let’s train.”

“Don’t get too excited,” he mutters. “Think of your heart.”

I give him a grin that’s all teeth. “Do you honestly think any move you show me can help me escape from two huge alphas if they want to take me?”

“Yes!”

“Fine, then. Go ahead.”

“You can escape any situation once you realize what’s happening,” he says. “You can do anything you want to do, Coco. Be who you want to be. I believe in you.”

“You…” I swallow hard, caught off guard, dammit. “Just… show me the moves.”

“Also, a knee to the dick can work wonders.” He winks at me.

That makes me laugh. “I know that move.”

“No, you know how to throw a punch to the heart,” he mutters, so low I wonder if I heard him right. “Okay, let’s begin.”

* * *

“Good. Now lift your arm to block me. Yeah! Good girl.”

The heat suffusing my cheeks is from the exercise he’s putting me through, I tell myself, not because he insists on calling me “good girl” every time I do something right.

Like Ryder had done as he’d fucked me.

But yeah, I shouldn’t get wet because of his comments. That would be indecent. He’s my trainer.

Who kissed you last time.

Whatever. I shouldn’t clench between my legs every time he praises me. Not a good idea, body. We’re trying to get over these men, okay? No sex is happening, FYI. Quit desiring them.

Why does he have to keep putting those big, strong hands on me to correct my movements? And why can’t I look away from the ink peeking through his white T-shirt?

“Did you say that was a phoenix?” I ask.

“Didn’t you take a good look last time? Let me refresh your memory.”

I realize too late he has taken my question as a request to remove his T-shirt. Muscles ripple on his chest and arms as he whips it off and…

Whoa.

Sexy.

“I’m starting to like it,” he says. “Ryder thought phoenixes are symbolic of one thing or another.”

Did I say this was a bad idea? Terrible idea. This is why I ghosted him for a week. Well, technically, not ghosted him, just… put him off. As in, postponed him. Until I could deal with his sex appeal and the way I crave him.

The reports are in: it didn’t work. Time has lessened neither the annoyance nor the attraction.

Dammit.

“Now you’ve taken a good look, slide your right foot forward,” Zach instructs me, now bare-chested, obviously oblivious to my discomfort and just as obviously already over his brief attraction to me. “Coco?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I mutter, grumpy and not knowing what to do with myself. I’m aroused, can’t he smell that? Alpha senses are legendary. If he can and doesn’t care, then it’s even worse than I thought.

Then he just doesn’t care.

“Now turn,” he says, turn your back to me, “and elbow me in the stomach.”

“Elbow you?—?”

“Hard. Don’t be scared. You won’t hurt me.”

Probably not, because he has a stomach like solid steel, but I do my best anyway, drawing my fist forward and then slamming my elbow back.

He catches it easily, of course. Not that I had intended to hurt him.

Okay, maybe just a little.

“Good,” he says, “very good.”

There goes my pussy, calling to him. Zach…. Zach…

Dear God, he’s going to make me come with his words and warm voice and that sense that I’m obeying and doing it right.

Since when do I have a praise kink?

“Try it again,” he says, and I twist about to look at him, his bright eyes, his wide smile, that broad chest with the stupid tattoo on his pec.

Gulping, I nod and throw my elbow back, lower than before, though, and he grunts.

“Fuck. Fuck.” His voice is strangled, and I blink.

“Zach? What happened?” I turn to find him bowed over. “Zach!”

“Nothing.” He slowly straightens. “I gotta go.”

“Wait. Tell me what’s wrong. Did I hurt you?”

He shakes his head, his face white, his hand between his legs. “No. I just need. To go…”

“Oh God, I’m sorry. I hit you… there? But I didn’t do it that hard, I?—”

“It’s fine. It’s getting late. Practice those moves. We’ll talk.”

“Yeah… right.” I watch him go, hunched over, limping, his T-shirt forgotten on the floor, and wonder if I got in a lucky (or unlucky) hit because he seems to be in so much pain. “Let me come with you. Maybe we should go to a doctor?—”

“Fuck, no!” He throws me a glare over his shoulder, his eyes glittering. “Don’t even think about it. It’s bad enough that I’m like this all day and night because of you, I…” He seems to run out of words because he shrugs and leaves, pulling the apartment door closed behind him.

Because of me? Yeah, I elbowed him, but if he’s like this all day and night… Like what exactly?

Curiouser and curiouser…