Page 72 of Her Big Bad Wolf

“Right,” I said, knowing that wasn’t what I meant at all.

I needed her to go, leave, preferably never come back, because I was already in too deep. If she stuck around or even kept coming around, I wasn’t sure I could continue pushing her away.

“Do you want to come join me for lunch tomorrow?”

“In town?”

“Yeah.”

“No. We’ve been over this before. No one can know about me. No one can know about this.”

“You’re serious about that?”

“Did you really think I was joking?”

“Isaac, this is ridiculous. You do exist. That really just happened. It was not a figment of my imagination.”

She poked me hard in the chest.

“Ow.”

“See, that’s real, Isaac. This thing between us, it’s real. Unless you’re in some sort of witness protection program or something, then none of this makes sense.”

It would have been easy to lie and say that was it, but I couldn’t do that to her.

“This isn’t negotiable, Vanessa. And if word starts spreading around the Pack about me, I will be forced to leave and setup elsewhere.”

The look on my face must have told her how serious I was.

She shook her head.

“Ridiculous.”

With a huff she pushed away from me and started gathering her clothes and dressing.

I immediately felt her absence.

She was already pulling away from me.

Good. That’s what I wanted. Wasn’t it?

“You’re really going to do this?”

“What? Live my life off grid? Yes. I’ve been very clear about this.”

“So you’d rather be a ghost than actually be in my life.”

“I’m right here, Vanessa. I’m fine with being in your life. I’m not even fighting it. But that’s your life I’m willing to compromise on, not your friends, or the Pack, or the world.”

Just saying the words and being able to compromise like this was impressive as hell to me and still a bit terrifying. But I meant every word. I would make room to let her in. But her and only her.

“Well, I happen to live in the real world. If you can’t handle that, then I don’t see how we could ever have a future together.”

The pain of her words sliced through me from head to toe.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course, we can.”

I was grasping at straws here, terrified she was going to actually walk away from us.