FIFTEEN

CATASTROPHIC CATASTROPHE

MAGNOLIA

W ith a sigh, I use my straw to draw figure eights in my glass, dragging it through the caramel colored drink slowly, watching the ice swirl through the little bubbles with a stupid grin on my face.

I probably look like an idiot. Or like I finally cracked.

But I don’t care what anyone thinks, not really.

As long as they don’t ask a lot of questions, they can go on thinking I’ve lost my mind or whatever the hell else they figure is wrong with me, and I’ll keep daydreaming about a life I probably won’t ever have.

There’s not one thing wrong with me, though. I’m doing just fine. I’m great. Damn near perfect but it’s hard as fuck hiding it all the time. Well, most of the time. Especially since there are some very obvious things that have happened that I can’t cover up much longer.

I have a funny feeling tonight is going to change that.

Specifically my ability to avoid questions and continue with my terrible attempts to cover up some really big shit.

It’s only a matter of time. Minutes, probably.

This is my second Jack and Coke and with how determined Evie is for us to catch up tonight, I better nurse it or else I’ll be hammered before eight o’clock.

Which is exactly what Eve is hoping for because it means I’ll give her the Magdalena she gets a kick out of because she’s a little more loose lipped than I usually am. Again, what Evie is hoping for. Drunk, chatty, less doomsday-like Magnolia.

I hate hiding things from my best friend. I’ve been doing it for too long, and I’m getting severe anxiety about it.

Three weeks is too long for me to keep anything from her, and that’s how long it’s been since I solidified things with my pack.

I’m going to blow from the need to tell her.

That’s why I don’t make a habit of it. Plus, she knows me well enough to know when I’m lying. Eve can see right through my bullshit but she’s been nice enough not to call me on it yet because I think she’s waiting for me to come to her on my own.

Unfortunately, this is a situation I’m not really sure how to present to Evie. It’s not like I can mention it in passing on my way to the bathroom.

Hey, yeah, by the way. I found out two of my patients are my scent matches, they escaped from the asylum and broke into our apartment to fuck me senseless, then my mentor ate me out while I FaceTimed my dad in his office because he could smell their cum inside me.

The four of us banged after that, right on the desk by my laptop.

That beta you were hoping to treat? Turns out he’s the sweetest man I have ever met and after my alphas claimed him in a storage closet, he cried in my arms while the five of us made love.

Also in the office on Ward C. Bites have been exchanged, professions of love and forever have been shared, and I’m officially the focal point of a pack that I can never truly be with while we’re all affiliated with Blackhurst. How are things with you?

My best friend would lose her shit over that and I know for a fact she’s still going to because Isaak is meeting us in a little while and when he gets here, I don’t think I’m going to be able to refrain from touching him.

Which will seem weird as hell without all the other information I’ve intentionally avoided discussing with her.

Honestly, I need to talk about it.

I’ve been sitting on so much, biting my tongue over the best thing that’s ever happened to me for weeks, and if I let it fester any longer, there is no telling what I’ll do.

Aside from implode or something. I’m sure bottling things up the way I have been, not just now but my entire life, means some sort of catastrophe is on the horizon.

Yet, here I am in spite of it.

I agreed to come out tonight because I owe it to Evie. I owe it to her, I miss her, and she smells a rat. The rat being me, the smell also being me. She also sweetened the pot by saying we could go to the bar at seven so I could be home in time to sleep it off before work tomorrow.

Not that I had much of a choice. I couldn’t keep blowing her off, and I really didn’t want to, so here I am on a Thursday, drinking at an off-site campus bar and waiting for the bomb to drop. It will, I have no doubt, but I figure if we’re in public when it does, it can’t go too badly.

Hopefully.

”Look who I found!” Evie squeals as she holds a tray of drinks above her head, Maddox and Hendrix following her with matching smirks. “The Twins of Terror!”

I roll my eyes and smile as she sets down the gigantic circle loaded with alcohol. “Terror? Really? Since when?”

”Probably two or three screwdrivers ago,” Madds says as he drops into the booth across from me. “We’re terrific until she’s buzzing, then we’re terrors.”

”Both well earned nicknames.” Evie giggles as she slides in next to him, pulling the tray with her as she goes.

That must be phase one of her interrogation.

Eve was sitting across from me before she got up to get refills but when we’re out with the twins, she typically holes up next to me while they sit on the opposite side of whatever table we’re at.

She didn’t do that this time and since Hendrix just grabbed a chair and turned it around to sit in at the head of the booth, I’m flying solo in my seat.

I bet it wasn't a coincidence that the two of them showed up here, either.

Eve has probably been planning this since I brought home a mysterious, stinky duffle bag last Friday.

I watch as my best friend passes out the drinks, confirming she called the twins ahead of time as she hands them their usual orders.

Neither of us like extra dirty martinis but Drix drinks them out of a rocks glass and slams them as if they’re water, and Madds always starts things off with a White Russian, claiming it helps him drink less overall.

Funny how there were two of each on the tray with her screwdrivers and my Jack and coke.

A few moments pass as I watch Evie closely, giggling and poking fun at her cousins while they quickly catch a buzz to match hers.

I listen as they chat about Ward B—Maddox works there, too—and how quiet it’s been lately.

Hendrix grunts about his classes, about the rugby team and how they’re trying to talk him into running the sports medicine department on top of coaching, and how he’s still undecided about teaching at brU next year.

It’s all very normal, very on par for the four of us but the difference is, no one has asked about me yet.

Not that I’m over here pouting about why no one cares, that’s not it at all because not asking me is very intentional. I’m purposely being left out aside from what I ask them, and that is definitely phase two of this very planned interrogation.

I have a feeling I’m in for one hell of a night.

Proven to be one hundred and fifty percent accurate when Evie cuts Maddox off and switches her focus to me.

”So, what the hell has been going on with you?” She makes super intense eye contact with me as she sips her drink. “You have been extremely absent lately and I’d love to know why.”

My eyes shift from hers to Maddox, who’s shaking his head and settling in for what is going to be the show, then to Hendrix, who just arches a brow as he nods in my direction.

“Been wearing a lot of turtle necks this fall.”

“Yeah, well, it’s chilly out.” I tug on the collar of said turtle neck, shifting around in my seat a little while I do. “It’s a fall kind of thing to wear.”

He nods as he kills his second martini. “Sure. Good to keep warm, good to hide things.”

“What?” I start coughing uncontrollably, that comment dropped strategically as I took a sip of my drink. “Why do you think I have something to hide?”

Eve leans back in the booth and crosses her arms against her chest. “No one said you did.”

“Right. Drix was just pointing out the versatility of my sweater.”

He snorts as his twin laughs. “You know Hendrix. He’s such a fashionista.”

I giggle and shake my head. “Look, I’m not stupid. Obviously this was a setup and I’d rather just get the twenty questions over with now so we can have a little fun?—“

“Before your bedtime,” Maddox says with a nod before nudging Eve. “Told you the charade was silly.”

My best friend shrugs as she gives me a sheepish smile, dropping her defensive posture to reach out and fiddle with her napkin. “Sorry, Maggie. You’ve just been so secretive lately, I wasn’t sure how to get you to talk to me without putting you on the spot like this.”

“I’m sorry.” I lean in and take her hand, giving it a squeeze before I turn it over to look at the tattoo on her wrist. Our matching tattoo. “I didn’t mean to make you feel that way. I haven’t been trying to isolate myself from you three, you know I wouldn’t do that on purpose.”

”I know,” Evie says with a little bit of a sad smile. “I just miss you, is all. And I’m a little worried about you since you’re hardly home and we haven’t had a chance to really talk in a while.”

There have been a lot of late nights at the asylum ever since I found my pack and while most of them really do start out finishing some kind of work, they also usually end with a lot of orgasms. Which isn’t exactly something I’m on the clock for regardless of how much time I spend on Ward C.

“Let’s talk, then.” Madds nudges my leg under the table in reassurance as his brother grunts, “Starting with why you smell different.”

Leave it to Hendrix to jump right into the heart of it.

Evie nods as she sits up straighter, a rather devious grin forming on her face. “And why your bedroom has one hell of a funk coming out of it.”

Maddox’s eyes widen as he leans in. “Your bedroom has funk, Maggie? I know you’re kind of a slob but you don’t usually have funk.”

“Thanks,” I deadpan before I sigh, knowing damn well I’m already defeated. “I guess I can answer both of those the same way.”

“I’m all ears.” Now Evie is leaning in next to Madds and it really brings out the family relation.